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.

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

The Cripple of Innishmann

Sat 15th June - 2pm Matinee Performance

Noel Coward Theatre - £10 ticket, £4 Programme

I had a few reasons for wanting to see this show:

• £10 tickets
• I had seen and enjoyed Privates on Parade which was the first show in the Michael Grandage Season at the Noel Coward theatre (Unfortunately I missed out on seeing Peter and Alice
• I was intrigued to see Daniel Radcliffe in a live performance

The Cripple of Innishmann is still quite early in its 12 week run and with a name like Daniel Radcliffe in it, the place was sold out. I ended up with a standing ticket which really wasn't too bad and I watched most of the show sitting on the side steps anyway :P

The set for the show was reasonably simplistic. It was a three sectioned set on a rotating stage, one side was the shop owned by the Billy's (Radcliffe) Aunts, another was a bed chamber belonging to the mother of the towns gossip monger/a lodging house in Hollywood and the third was used as the towns makeshift theatre/a beach where boats were launched from. The lighting was naturalistic and remained partially dimmed for the beginning of transitions then moved into blackout.

The Cripple of Innishmann is a Dark comedy or a Tragi-comedy. Although it had me laughing a lot throughout there was a lot of darker material which quite often left me silent and solemn. The cast did a terrific job with the Irish accent which they maintained throughout.

Billy's two aunts were a splendid duo who's interactions were highly comedic. Billy's Love Helen was a sprightly lass who you couldn't help falling in love with, despite her putting on a tough exterior, breaking eggs, punching people and fecking all through her dialogue. Your heart breaks for her a little as her softer side is glimpsed briefly in the Bittersweet final scene.  The rest of the cast were also superb and likable characters despite all their obvious flaws.

Then of course there was Radcliffe as Billy. I could see Billy being an extremely difficult role to play and Radcliffe pulled it off Magnificently! Billy is a cripple, though the reasons for this are not expressed within the play it is know he has been this way from birth. Radcliff with the help of a movement specialist worked through the text to get as much in the was of details as they could and decided that Cerebral Palsy fitted the symptoms best (Info given in programme). Daniel donned a locked leg and a hand clutched close to his chest which he maintained throughout, the realism of his movements is difficult to express though suffice to say it was superbly done and if it wasn't a well known actor I think you could easily have though they had typecast the role.

All-in-All a superb show, which I would recommend going to see if you are able before it closes on the 31st August 2013.