Still Dreaming of White Christmas

Hi everyone, a week last Saturday I had one of the best days in my whole theatre going life. Strangely this didn't happen in London, rather I was at The West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds watching the last performance of White Christmas. I had seen it once before, last year, so did know what it was all about, however, this time was extra special for reasons I'll get onto.

The show itself was very good and your classic type of musical, which is probably what you'd expect from a show originally written for film in 1954 by Irving Berlin. The story isn't overly deep, however, it's still very interesting, cute-sy, funny and extremely enjoyable and I strongly to suggest that you should either go and see a production the next time it's playing or buy the DVD. The music is, also, very quirky and funny, yet classic and jazzy with my top three songs being 'Snow', 'I Love a Piano' and 'Falling Out of Love Can Be Fun'. Overall, the show had a very classic and old-y world-y charm to it.

As for the West Yorkshire Playhouse production I thought it was absolutely brilliant. The set was incredibly detailed and had a certain wow to it with specific pieces such as the piano stairs that featured in the song 'I Love a Piano'. Everything flowed so freely and the show deserves true respect for showing that outstanding shows can happen anywhere across the UK and not just in the West End.

And then for the cast, Holly Dale Spencer and Emma Williams were just stunning and worked really well together as the leading ladies, the Haynes sisters. Darren Day suited the part of Bob Wallace down to a 'T', in addition to being a true gent after the show. Melanie La Barrie (Martha Wilson) had such a powerful voice and totally owned her song, 'Let Me Sing and I'm Happy'. Sion Tudor Owen was very comical as Ezekiel Foster and Andrew Jarvis (General Henry Waverly) commanded the stage with the respect him character deserved. My other favourites were Samuel Holmes (Mike) who was hilarious and Gaia Ottman who played the young Susan Waverly and with her voice and comic timing I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of her in years to come.

However, the main reason for going (and the true star of the show, in my opinion) was to see Oliver Tompsett as Phil Davis. Now in keeping with my New Year's Resolution I'm going to try and keep this short and not fan girl too much so... I have followed (or you could say stalked) Oliver since he was Fiyero in Wicked before he went on the play Drew in Rock of Ages and Galileo in We Will Rock You. I, also, had the pleasure of singing the We Will Rock You Medley with him at his concert in Birmingham in August when he asked for a member of the audience to come and help him on stage and I got picked...and breathe! Well, in White Christmas I was totally not disappointed as he was classy and charming and a true, gorgeous, superstar as always with his wow-ing tap number ('I Love a Piano') and comic fan routine ('Sisters (Reprise)'). 

To mark the occasion of it being the last performance my mum, myself and the rest of Team Tompsett (yes there is a fan club!) got our Christmas wear back out and truly went to town. Now I can't take too much credit for all the goings on as due to living a reasonable distance away from Leeds I arrived slightly later than everyone else so walked in to find that they'd taken over part of the bar with a Christmas tree, toys Santa's decorated with Olly's and Darren's faces, chocolates, lights, crackers and other festivities. Fans had, also, been made with Holly's, Emma's, Darren's and Olly's names on for us to wave in the finale number. What truly made the night though was that after the show, Olly came to our little area of fandom and spent ages taking photos with us including a massive group selfie (the man is seriously the king of selfies!) proving that not only is he super talented, he's, also, a super gentleman as well.

From Left to Right

Top: Darren's and Olly's Santa's / My Mum and I just about to set off / Me with Olly

Middle: Olly with his fan / Posters, programmes and tickets / The Christmas Tree

Bottom: Me with Darren / Me with Olly's fan / Our reserved sign

And just on it's own because I'm so happy with it...the Team Tompsett Selfie!

So, here's hoping I haven't gone on too much and hope you enjoyed reading about my trip to see White Christmas. If you want to ask me any questions about it, or happen to be an Olly fan yourself, please feel free to tweet me at @GreenGirlsRox and please follow this blog (by clicking the link towards the top on the right) and my Instagram.

Love you lots

Kat

xx

Happy Birthday Without You

Hi everyone, I won't write much on here as on Thursday 22nd January I went to see Happy Birthday Without You at the Tricycle Theatre so as to review it for London Theatre 1. If you want to read the review please click here.

Top Left: The Twitter wall at the Tricycle Theatre.

Bottom Left: Programme's, tickets and leaflets.

Right: Me in the theatre bar

And for anyone who interested, here's a photo that details the history of the theatre:

I hope you enjoy the review and if you have any questions about the play please contact me on Twitter at @GreenGirlsRox and don't forget to follow this blog and my Instagram.

That's all for now really.

Lots of love

Kat

xx

Fairytales in the Woods

Hi everyone, well as well as theatre being rather fun, the cinema's at the moment have being doing us musical fans proud what with the release of both Annie (still to watch) and Into The Woods (what this blog is about). I know there is some skepticism, particularly when it comes to those who go to the cinema and come out gushing about how brilliant it was and how much they love musicals yet they have never seen a musical live on stage, however, I feel that anything that can bring musicals to those of us who don't have the money to spend on seeing a show live (not that it has to be that expensive) is a very good thing.
So, Into the Woods...now I'd heard mixed reviews about this before seeing it and was a bit wary as I'm not a massive Sondheim fan, despite loving Giants in the Sky. Well, I was pleasantly surprised and actually really enjoyed the film. There was quite a dark element to it (which is kinda expected from Sondhiem), as well as there being lots to think about and question; its was actually a really deep show. The fact that it was based of several fairytales aided my enjoyment as outside musical theatre I'm, also, a fan of the TV series Once Upon a Time.

I thought the cast was very well chosen, as well, with all of them gelling well together to produce a nicely rounded article. I know that some of the voices weren't quite as up to the standard that is normally set in a West End or Broadway show, nevertheless, as this was a film and stars were needed to draw in a wide audience I am willing to forgive a few, little flaws. I do have to give a little mention to Johnny Depp who played the wolf as even though it was a very little role I thought he was amazing, but then I do quite like him anyway.

As for the songs, I've already mentioned that I knew and loved Giants in the Sky before seeing the film, however, I, also, really enjoyed It Takes Two and Your Fault. For me there was quite a bit of variation in the music as well as a nice proportion of light hearted, lively songs in addition to deeper and darker songs.

Finally, the only thing that really surprised me about the film was the fact it was given a PG rating. Now, call me old fashioned but to me PG films are fluffy and cute; personally I would have thought Into The Woods was more of a 12A rating than a PG. What do you guys think; right or wrong rating?

Anyway, overall I really enjoyed Into The Woods and would be very interested to see it performed live, personally I think Disney have done quite a good job with it.

I hope you enjoyed this blog, please subscribe if you did, and if you've got any questions please either comment below or tweet me at @GreenGirlsRox, plus you can follow me on Instagram as well.

Love you all

Kat

xx

For the Love of Shakespeare

Hi everyone, so last Saturday I went on my first semi spontaneous trip to London of 2015. The primary reason of this was to meet up with one of my best-est friends, Meg, her mum and her sister. We had a lovely lunch at +Bill's in St Martin's Courtyard along with a good old catchup and chat. 

After this my mum and I decided to head over to see Shakespeare in Love at Noel Coward Theatre. We had booked tickets earlier that day at the London Theatre Bookings booth which is just next-door to the Hippodrome Casino in Leicester Square...so much more availability and so much cheeper than any of the other discount ticket places if you ask me.

I'd wanted to see Shakespeare in Love since it came to the West End last year and was delighted that I was finally getting the chance. To briefly sum it up it was a very different show to what I'd normally watch (mainly because if was a play rather than a musical), however it was enjoyable all the same. The story was quite cute-sey yet funny in places and was accompanied by traditional Elizabethan music and singing. Without giving any spoilers away the story is set in Shakespeare's era and documents his (fictional) relationship Viola De Lesseps (who at times dresses up as Thomas Kemp) which occurs while he is writing Romeo and Juliette; it is, also, based upon Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night. 

Out of the cast Tom Bateman (Will), Abigail McKern (Nurse) and Anna Carteret (Queen Elizabeth) were my favourites...with Bateman being helped along by the fact that as well as being a very good actor he was, also, rather gorgeous! Although I loved Lucy Briggs-Owen's portrayal on Viola as a girl I was a bit uncomfortable with her when she dressed up as a man as I felt she could have shown that her character had a bit more confidence; I suppose what I'm saying is that the two characters didn't really relate even though they are the same person.

Overall, I enjoyed the play and it was interesting to see something that isn't in my usual viewing spectrum.

I hope you enjoyed this blog if you did please follow me on BlogLovin by clicking the link at the side and if you have any further queries and or comments please either comment below or feel free to tweet me at @GreenGirlsRox. Also, for picture updates of my theatrical adventures please follow me on Instagram.

Love and jelly tots

Kat

xx

A New Year, A New Start - 2015 Resolutions and 2014 Reviews

Well hello everyone and a happy New Year to you all. I hope you had a good time on New Year's Eve and there aren't too many sore heads this morning.

Anyway, 2014 wasn't the best blogging year for me, what with finishing uni, my mum having breast cancer and trying to decide what I want to do with life (I'm going to start my PGCE Teacher Training in September 2015) I didn't have much time for blogging. This leads nicely onto my New Year's Resolutions for 2015:

1. Start blogging again and keep up to date with things. However, try and keep posts short so they are more manageable to write (and read!).

2. Develop my YouTube channel...I got a tripod for my phone for Christmas to help with this! I'm going to start making videos of me singing but more importantly doing duets with my puppet (called Dog)...it's a bit crazy, a bit silly but hopefully should be lots of fun for you all to watch.

So that's my resolutions for 2015; now the other part of this blog links back to what I was saying earlier about not blogging much in 2014. Below is a list of shows I saw during the past year with a short comment about each to give you a hint as to what they are about. If you would like more details about the show or the venue please either comment below or tweet me at @GreenGirlsRox.

21st Jan - Matilda at The Cambridge Theatre: A brilliant show, written by wickedly, humorous Tim Minchin that will make you laugh and cry at the same time!

23rd Jan - Les Miserable at The Queen's Theatre: A show I forget far too often that is beautiful, moving and has some amazing songs

24th Jan - Mamma Mia at The Novello Theatre: The perfect girly night out...need I say more?

25th Jan - The Duckhouse at The Vaudeville Theatre: A witty, satirically comedy that I would greatly recommend if it came back to the West End or toured at any time

28th Feb - Priscilla Queen of the Desert at The DeMontfort Theatre, Leicester: Anyone who has read my blogs before will know how much I love this show and how I think everyone should see it. This was the last time I saw the 2013/2014 tour with the amazingly talent Regan Shepard who I'm secretly hoping gets the part of Felicia if the rumours about a 2015 tour are true.

1st Mar - We Will Rock You at The Dominion Theatre: Queen? Check. A cheese-y yet meaningful story line? Check. The chance to jump around at the end? Check. Oliver Tompsett? Check. Equals one happy me!

9th Apr - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at The Theatre Royal Drury Lane: Great Box Office team who helped us get seats that worked well considering we were going with a child with special needs. It actually made me enjoy the story even though I usually hate it and the mother of the boy who played Charlie asked him to give my friend's child with special needs a hug which made the day extra special.

30th Apr - We Will Rock You at The Dominion Theatre: A final visit before it closed and of course another chance to gaze at Oliver Tompsett again!

13th Jun - Rock of Ages at The Theatre Royal Nottingham: A little different from the West End version and found it quite hard picturing Noel Sullivan as Drew when I'm so used to him being Tick in Priscilla but still amazing all the same...I mean there's rock music, come on people!

30th Jul - Matilda at The Cambridge Theatre: A special birthday treat of having use of the VIP Room, special birthday cake, personal usher, private toilet (no interval queuing!!!) and lots of other special treats. Oh and by the way, the swing scene at the front of the stalls is even more tear jerking than anywhere else...sob.

5th Aug - Miss Saigon at The Prince Edward Theatre: Not my usual cup of tea but good all the same; and the score is beautiful.

6th Aug - The Pyjama Game at The Shaftesbury Theatre: A little weird but still fun to watch.

13th Aug - Wicked at the Victoria Apollo Theatre: If any of you know your dates well you'll know that Kerry Ellis was back in Wicked at this time...now I wonder why I went to see it then? Let's just say it's my favourite show and Kerry is just astounding and so Elphaba.

14th Aug - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at The Savoy Theatre: Funny, clever and generally a superb, glitzy night out.

24th Aug - Oliver Tompsett Concert at The Birmingham Box Theatre: Great to see the grand superstar himself and good to see him encouraging up and coming talent. Oh an can I just mention that I managed to get myself picked to be the audience member that sang the We Will Rock You Medley on stage with him and got a kiss as well, swoon!

10th Sept - Book of Mormon at The Prince of Wales Theatre: Hilarious, uplifting and the perfect show to take your man to...put it this way I don't even like South Park (which Book of Mormon is written by the same people) and I love this show!

4th Oct - Evita at The Dominion Theatre: Wasn't what I was expecting and liked it a lot more than I thought I would; was definitely worth the watch.

11th Oct - One Man Two Guvnors at The Curve Theatre, Leicester: Seriously the funniest thing I have ever seen, just could not stop laughing.

25th Oct - Made in Dagenham at The Adelphi Theatre: So much fun, such a great meaningful and empowering story; I think this may be a show I return to again and again and again...

8th Nov - Fairy-Tale Heart at The Cockpit Theatre: For a full review please click here as I reviewed this for LondonTheatre1.com

4th Dec - Made in Dagenham at The Adelphi Theatre: ...and again and again. However this time was more powerful as at the end the lyrics to the song are, 'Stand up, stand up, if you're with me then put your hand up' and during this the audience started by putting their hands in the air and then stood up...was just such an amazing moment.

28th Dec - White Christmas at The West Yorkshire Playhouse: Umm Oliver Tompsett tap dancing and other jazzy stuff with great music by Irving Berlin and a Christmas-ee theme, equals the perfect end to a theatrical year...and p.s. I will fully review this as after seeing it we couldn't resist booking to see the final show on 24th January.

From top to bottom, left to right: Miss Saigon, The Duckhouse, Evita, White Christmas, Dirty Rotten Scoundrals, Enjoying Leicester Square before seeing Fairy-Tale Heart, In the VIP room at Matilda, Oliver Tompsett's Concert, Wicked with Kerry Ellis, Outside Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

So that's my 2014 life in theatre and I promise to be better at blogging in 2015.

Love you all

Kat

xx

Musical of the Month - Minchin Around

Hello everyone...do you know what being at the end of July means!?! That it's my 21st birthday really soon, as in on the 1st of August...eek!!! Anyway this month the Musical of the Month isn't really a musical at all but, panic not, it is relate to a musical.

Basically, I was in HMV recently and in the 'Soundtrack' section there was a CD from one Tim Minchin's stand-up concerts: So F***ing Rock. Well, I was tempted as I love the music from Matilda (for those who don't know he wrote this as well) and was interested to hear more of what he has written. 

To start off with...it's incredibly random and very rude (as you've probably guessed by the title), however if you aren't easily offended and can cope with a good dose of randomness then it's absolutely incredible...so much so that I'm turning it into an honour musical so I can feature it as a Musical of the Month :p 

I think the best bit about every song is that there's a catchy or beautiful tune and all are very intelligently written. Another thing that's brilliant about the majority of the song is that, in addition to the comedy element, they are littered with an awful lot of home truths about the way we live out lives. Also, it's clear how brilliant Minchin is at playing and composing for the piano as it's this that really makes each and every song. 

Currently my favourite songs are 'Canvas Bags', 'Some People Have It Worse Than I' and 'Not Perfect'. 'Canvas Bags' is probably the most random song on the entire album yet it is all very true...basically it's a song about remembering to take your canvas bags to the supermarket...umm total genius! 'Some People Have It Worse Than I' is very catchy and the perfect song to make you realise that your life could be much, much worse than what it is now. Finally, 'Not Perfect' is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard; Minchin describes it as a song about the feeling you have when you feel like you're the smallest doll in the Babushka doll. To me the song is very good at explaining how wealthy we all are just by having a little bit of earth, a body and a brain to call our own. Also, this song is the one that can be related most to Matilda as it sounds like a mix between 'When I Grow Up' and 'My House'.

Overally, I strongly recommend you buying this CD was even though it's not a musical it is we'll worth the title of Musical of the Month!

Have any of you listen to Tim Minchin's music or been lucky enough to see him perform? If so let me know either by commenting below or tweeting me at @GreenGirlsRox. 

Love you all

Kat

Quacks and Laughs

Heya everyone, finally here it is my blog about The Duck House, which I saw back in January (January 25th to be precise)...OMG that's really bad, please forgive me! Anyway, The Duck House is an amazing political satire which was playing at The Vaudeville Theatre. For me it is quite strange to see a play, particularly when I'm down in London, as musicals tend to be more my cup of tea. However, I'd seen this advertised and decided to pop along as I'm rather into politics and love anything that can make a joke out of it; yes i'm an avid watcher of 'Mock the Week'! The other advantage The Duck House had was that it was starring Ben Miller, who I've always found to be really funny, so this was just a bonus in my book. 

I was sat quite near the back of the stalls for seeing the show, which felt quite restricting as the overhand from the Dress Circle was very low. We'd (my mum and I) had been assured by the booth we'd brought the tickets from that they weren't restricted view so were quite shocked when we got to the seats to find how low the Dress Circle was, in addition to the fact that the tickets actually had 'Restricted View' printed on them (check your tickets before you walk away people). Nevertheless, when the show began all the action happened on the ground so we didn't really miss anything in the way of the action of the play, it just would have been nice to not feel quite so hemmed in.

The play itself had just the right level of humour and actually had some bits that made me laugh out loud...for someone who really likes comedy I'm not really your rolling round the floor laughing type of person so this is a real mark of respect to the show. The plot, as simply as possible focuses on the MP's expenses' scandal and the way MP Robert Houston and his family try to worm their way out of the trouble that they are now in by not paying for everything quite legitimately. Anyway, I won't say too much more incase the show goes on tour and I promise the show is a lot better than my description.

As for the cast they were all brilliant and worked well together with all the relationships being believable. As previously mentioned, Ben Miller led the cast as Robert Houston, the MP whose life the play focuses on. Nancy Carroll plays Houston's wife, Felicity, a very snobby and stuck up woman who believes the way to impress people is by things looking good. Debbie Chazen played the hilarious Ludmilla, the Russian housekeeper to the Houston's, with James Musgrave playing the Houston's student son, Seb, Diana Vickers playing Seb's girlfriend, Holly, and Simon Shepherd playing Tory grandee, Sir Norman Cavendish. I think all the cast have to be commend for their fabulous portrayal and quick delivery; they were what made the show so hilarious.

Overall, if comedy plays centred around politics is your idea of fun I'd definitely recommend you see this show if it ever goes on tour, and if it's not, why not give it a go anyway; you could surprise yourself. If you have any more questions about the show, or anything else musical theatre related, please comment below or tweet me at @GreenGirlsRox; I'd love to hear from you.

Love you all.

Kat

xx