Wednesday 28 January 2009

Entertaining Mr Sloane

Another £15 TheatreFix treat and last night I saw a preview of Entertaining Mr Sloane. I knew of it but had never seen or read the play so had little idea of what to expect.

I honestly can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. The theatre was absolutely packed - great to see for a preview on a rainy Tuesday evening at the end of January. I have long been a fan of Imelda Staunton (most recently loving her in A Bunch of Amateurs) but she completely surpassed my expectations - just hilarious.

I was disappointed with Mat Horne. I think he's great on TV (having recently been converted to Gavin and Stacey during the second series) but he came across as a typical TV actor who is still unsure of how to be on stage. He seemed a little awkward and his facial expressions were limited which was a shame as there was little, if not nothing, else I'd criticise about the production. I think he'll improve though - after all this was one of their first performances - and he certainly wouldn't put me off recommending it. Honestly, get a ticket now because I imagine the reviews will be fabulous and it'll be even harder to get a ticket than it was for the people queuing last night.. transfer on the way?

Saturday 24 January 2009

Hairspray

So a little slow off the mark, but thanks to TheatreFix, I finally went to see Hairspray on Thursday night. I'm still trying to work out if I liked it or not.

We had understudies for Link and Penny but Michael Ball and Leanne Jones were both on, which I was glad about. I'm not a massive Michael Ball fan but honestly, I completely forgot it was him after about five minutes. He was just brilliant, and You're Timeless To Me just made the show completely.

In total contrast, I was majorly disappointed by Leanne. Her breath control was dreadful throughout, but as soon as she had to sign and dance simultaneously, she was out of tune more often than not. She really seemed just to be going through the motions, and was gabbling half the script which made it seem like she just wanted it to go quicker. Having heard such fantastic things, she really let me down.

Of course it's good fun... I don't see how you could fail to come out after that finale feeling in a good mood and totally uplifted but aside from Edna/Wilbur and Penny/Seaweed, I wasn't massively impressed with the cast and felt that there was a lot of untapped potential in the show that was just wasted because the cast seemed to be very much in the middle of their three month dip. Still, not bad for £15.

Friday 16 January 2009

Piaf

Having had my plans changed at the last minute on Wednesday night, I rushed down to the Vaudeville to see if I could get my hands on a ticket for Piaf. I missed it at the Donmar and hadn't had chance to catch it in the West End and thought I was just going to have to resign myself to missing it, so was very happy indeed when the lovely man at the box office gave me a top price seat (central stalls) for £20. Lovely.

I have mixed feelings on it... the opening staging is fabulous - I wish it had lasted longer! Elena Roger is really as amazing as everyone says but I still felt a little disappointed overall and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's just because the Donmar have set the bar so high for themselves that my expectations are always much higher than pretty much anywhere else. I think it was the piece though... I know it seems a strange complaint to moan about the story constantly moving but it all just seemed a bit too quick. The pace was very fast throughout, without any real let up and I just wish it had paused, or slowed down a little bit even a couple of times to have some contrast.

We had a couple of understudies - Mensah Bediako for the Doctor etc and Nari Blair-Mangat for Louis. The latter was a bit of a weak link for me, which was a shame.

I did enjoy it, am very glad to have seen it and think the world has gone utterly crazy if she doesn't win an Olivier but yet somehow still feel just a little bit let down.

Monday 5 January 2009

Romeo and Juliet

I'd never seen a professional production of Romeo and Juliet before. Schools, yes. Amateur, yes. The Baz Luhrmann film version, many times. My motivation for picking this particular one was the involvement of Neil Bartlett as director and James Clyde as Friar Lawrence. Neither disappointed.

But above and beyond the wonderful and innovative direction, I completely fell in love with both the leads. It was so, so lovely to see Romeo and Juliet played in a way that I could genuinely believe that they were both a couple of giddy teenagers. From his CV, David Dawson (Romeo) must be at least 27 or 28 but managed the balance of wide eyed naivety and his rush to grow up so wonderfully. He completely stole the show for me.

The supporting cast were fabulous (with the notable exception of Eva Magyar as Lady Capulet, whose own accent was so thick I could barely understand a word she was saying) - particularly Owain Arthur as Peter.

The only moment that came a little close to spoiling the evening for me was nothing to do with the production itself, but with the woman sat a few seats down the row for me, who whispered (very loudly), as Juliet awoke to find Romeo dead, 'ooooh, is she alive now then?'. Gads above.