Live From London-One Off Show *Guest Blog*

This week we have our very first guest blog written by my wonderful girlfriend during my travels abroad to visit (meet) family. I hope you enjoy and if you want to hear more from Jenni check her out here.
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Sun 21st July - 7pm One Off Performance
Retford Majestic Theatre - £17.50 Ticket 

Hello! I’m Jenni, Glenn’s girlfriend and I am blogging for him today whilst he’s in Ireland visiting family. I’m almost as much of a theatre person as he is, and last week I was lucky enough to be treated to a night out at the theatre as part of my birthday present.

Live from London was a show put on by West End stars in a little, out-of-the-way theatre in a little, out-of-the-way town called Retford as a fund raiser for their local Operatics Society and to help repair and maintain the gorgeous Majestic Theatre that they regularly perform in. One of the organisers/performers had grown up performing in the Operatics Society so this was a fab way to give something back to the people that gave him his start.

There were 9 performers in total, all of them currently in West End shows and their voices were really fabulous. There was a mix of group songs, duets and solo pieces from a vast array of shows-some that I knew and some that I didn’t. Despite the fact that they had only rehearsed the full show for the first time that afternoon it was slick and professional and (apart from a few technical issues) you really couldn’t tell!

There were also some performances from the Retford Operatics Society and the Mini Operatics Bunch-which surprised me with how professional they were! I groaned inwardly when they announced that the kids were going to do a song (because I am very used to wildly out of tune, semi-shouting, ear splittingly bad children’s performances) but they actually sounded AMAZING. I was looking for adults secretly hidden in the wings when they all sang together because their harmonies were spot on and they were really really good!

There were songs from so many of my favourite shows that I can’t remember them all but there were definitely some from Rent, Wicked, Phantom of the Opera (that gave me goosebumps!), Oliver, Carousel, Hairspray (which was awesome as I went to see it on my birthday), Sister Act, Jekyll and Hyde, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Spamalot, as well as a lot that I had never heard before. They finished on a medley of songs from Les Mis, culminating in an amazing rendition of ‘One Day More’ which made the hairs stand up on the back on my neck. Me and my Dad left the theatre on a massive high with all of the songs in our head for the rest of the evening.

All in all it was a fabulous birthday treat, and although I can’t recommend it to anyone as it was a one off performance, I would if I could-it was a really great night out.

If you want to read more from me then I blog regularly over at My Every Day Adventure, where I write about my life and all that happens in it.

The 39 Steps (Touring)

Wed 17th July - 2:00 Performance
Theatre Royal Nottingham - £20 Ticket, £2.50 Programme

Unfortunately for most of you, you will now have missed seeing the touring version of this show... However don't be sad! The show is still running on the West End for your Viewing Pleasure (until at least March 2014 I think) :D

The 39 Steps is a hilarious tongue in cheek spy/murder mystery ( featuring 4 Actors pulling off the epic task of portraying 139 roles over 100 minutes. One of the male actors remained as the same character all the way through, the female actor played three non-overlapping characters and the rest were done by the other two male actors. The character transitions were therefore required to be extremely swift and so there was a huge amount of hat swapping and a myriad of different accents to switch between at high speed. At one point they were even forced to swap characters with each other as they were required to play different characters in conversation with the same one, it was kind amazing.

The set for the show was relatively simple as most of the scene changes were quite obviously and mockingly done by the actors. For example: there is a part where the two villains are waiting outside the lead characters house under a lamppost, as he goes to glance out the window they run on stage with the lamppost, put it down and stand under it, then when he stops looking they run off with it again. The simplicity of the set also enabled flexibility in location, for example: transitioning from a search of all the compartments on a train to running across the train roof. 

The 39 Steps employs heightened physicality and slow motion as comedic tools. This lead to the funniest death scene that I have ever seen, Epicly cheesy "love at first sight" world freezing moments, hair (and coat raising) moments and a fall from a great height. Oh and a shadow puppet chase scene! :D

A quality and humorous show, check it out if you get a chance.

PS. My apologies for the late Bloggage, however I have been busy with a rehearsal weekend, people and house hunting. The next post may also be a little late as I will be out of the country, though I will try to write something up and schedule it to post itself on Sunday (no promises though).

Hairspray (Touring)

Mon 8th July - 7:30 Performance
Theatre Royal Nottingham - £21.50 Ticket, £2.50 Programme 

I wasn't going to see this show, however my girlfriend and some of her friends were seeing it for her birthday and I decided to hang around for an extra day to see it and I am very glad that I did! I had only seen the movie for the first time less than a month before seeing this show. I am glad that I had seen the movie as it meant I knew the music and was able to dance and sing-along a bit, although this is not essential for your enjoyment.

Hairspray is a very fun and energetic musical set in the 1960's with suitably 60's music. Written in 2002, Hairspray takes a look back at the 1960's issue of racial segregation. Through the life of Tracy Turnblat and her pursuit of a role on the 'Corny Colins' show and then its transition to an integrated show. Thankfully society has moved on at least a little bit since the 60's and the ridiculousness that was racial segregation, however I think we can learn a lesson from how ridiculous we find it now and think about some of the issues we face in modern society and how ridiculous they are. Anyway enough political stuff on with the fun bit.

The music and dancing in this show is quite stereotypical 60's and I absolutely love it! The show involved a massive 60 wigs to provide the cast with suitably ridiculously giant, hairspray ridden 60's hairstyles. The set and costumes are all brightly coloured and flashy as we expect from the 60's and had some really cool features strewn throughout. One of the features (Sorry if this is poorly explained) was a store front, which in the opening song Good Morning Baltimore was just a flat part of the set featuring an image of three women in red glittery dress, later in the show during (Hey Mama) Welcome to the 60s the image is now three women in red glittery dresses who step out of the 'store front' and dance. This cool transition of image to reality was fantastic and it was these sorts of cool things which made this show.

The drag role of Tracy's Mum, Edna (John Travolta in the Movie), was played by Mark Benton (Hustle). Mark did a superb job of balancing the reality of being a man and playing a woman, he used this as a superb tool for comedy. There was a hilarious and heart-warming moment during (You're) Timeless To Me where Edna and her Husband (Paul Rider) are dancing together where Mark and Paul corpsed (broke character and laughed). This was greatly enjoyed by the audience who joined in with a well time wolf whistle setting them off again. The band did extremely well (as did Mark and Paul) to pull it together and continue the song without any issues (like the singing and music getting out of sync). As an audience member I love it when I can tell just how much fun the actors are having and this always makes me wish I was back up on stage again (There was a moment when I saw singing in the rain where one of the dancers made eye contact with us, saw how much we were loving getting spashed, he grinned at us and proceeded to send an extra large splash our way).

Overall it was an extremely enjoyable production and if the touring show (or any production really) happens to be within relatively easy reach I recommend seeing it! Tour dates below.

Tour Dates:
Nottingham - Theatre Royal                       Closed
Dublin - Bord Gais Energy Theatre             6 Aug - 17 Aug
Leeds - Grand Theatre                               20 Aug - 31 Aug
Edinburgh - Playhouse                             3 Sep - 14 Sep
Aberdeen - His Majesty's Theatre              16 Sep - 21 Sep
Norwich - Royal Theatre                            24 Sep - 29 Sep

Once

Fri 28th June - 7:30 Performance
Phoenix Theatre - £25 Ticket, £6 Programme

It is difficult to decide where to start with this show other than to say, I absolutely loved ALL of it! I very, very, very strongly recommend seeing it if you are able at any point. It is quite a unique feeling musical and the sub-line: A New Musical hints towards this. This show still feels fresh, young and vibrant, as if it was fresh from a fringe festival. It has a raw energy which runs rampant and toys with the audience's emotions.

The set for Once is a stationary Irish Bar, with an eclectic mix of differently shaped mirrors and bare light globes lining the walls. The actors mostly remained on stage at all times as they were also the band and provided support to those in the scene. This was done from seats down the sides of the stage behind which their instruments were stored. The scene changes were choreographed over music and stuck quite well with the overall feeling of the show.

The show begins 15 minutes before show time with the West End's only on-stage bar which the audience is encouraged to give their patronage. I of course took the opportunity to get up on stage but didn't buy anything as it was quite expensive and after a quick look around went and sat down. At show time, the Actor-Musicians come onto the stage with the audience and start playing, this creates an instant closeness between actor and audience not available to most shows. After several Irish Jig-like songs, the audience are asked to leave the stage and the story begins. I very much regret leaving the stage before the actors entered and we were asked to, as I feel that this experience is one I really shouldn't have missed. 

The bar was re-opened at interval and I decided to buy a drink purely for the souvenir cup as I was loving the show that much! The feeling which came over me standing up on that stage in front of an audience (not that they were paying any attention) is extremely difficult to describe. It was an extreme feeling of RIGHT, it made me hot and cold at the same time and I guess kinda like this. It is a feeling which I think only other theatre people (and I suppose other performance people) could comprehend and the only thing further I will say is get me the hell back up on-stage already!!!

I went into the theatre fully expecting Once to be nothing but a cheesy love story because of the tag line "The only thing his music was missing was...her" however it turned out to be anything but. Once is the tale of a heartbroken Irish man who is about to give up on music when he meets an equally heartbroken though more resilient Czech woman. She, after hearing him play and recognising the soul and talent behind the music encourages him to keep playing music, some other stuff happens and I will say no more because *Spoilers*. Needless to say the story is quite unique and it doesn't end as expected.

The music is amazing if you love a little bit of Irish Jig/flair, which I do :) There are also some lovely slower and ballad-y ones thrown in and is all around an awesome score.

Overall an extremely lovely and powerful show which I very strongly recommend seeing if you want something a little bit different to your more standard West End Musical fare. Tickets are currently booking until 31st May 2014 though if you walk in on the day like we did you can pick up some pretty awesome half price day seats. And as cheesy as it sounds it will not be a show I will only see Once.