Santa had gotten the family some tickets to go see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in London for Christmas. Bean’s always wanted to go to London, so now was his chance.
Bean loved the show, and so did the oldies.
Tag: west end
Cats review
Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot, and produced by Cameron Mackintosh. The musical tells the story of a tribe of cats called the Jellicles and the night they make what is known as “the Jellicle choice” and decide which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life.
Act I — When Cats Are Maddened by the Midnight Dance
After the overture, the Cats gather on stage and explain the Jellicle tribe and their purpose (Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats). The Cats, who constantly break the fourth wall, spot the human audience and explain how the different Cats of the tribe are named (The Naming of Cats). This is followed by a dance from Victoria the White Cat that signals the beginning of the Jellicle Ball (The Invitation to the Jellicle Ball) and Munkustrap tells us that tonight is the night when Old Deuteronomy will choose a cat to be reborn into a new life on the Heaviside Layer.
Munkustrap appears and introduces Jennyanydots (The Old Gumbie Cat), a large tabby cat. She “sits and sits and sits and sits” all day, while at night she rules over the mice and cockroaches, teaching various activities to them. Jennyanydots finishes, greets the other cats, but is interrupted. The music instantly changes, and The Rum Tum Tugger makes an extravagant entrance (The Rum Tum Tugger). The Tugger is a Tom with a wild mane and leopard spots on his chest. He is very fickle and unappeasable, “for he will do as he do do and there’s no doing anything about it”.
Hannah Kenna Thomas (White Cat) Natasha Mould (Jemima)Antoine Murray-Straughan (Rum Tum Tugger) Dawn Williams (Rumpleteazer)Benjamin Yates (Mungojerrie)
A shabby old grey cat stumbles out and looks around. It is Grizabella. All the cats back away. The cats sing of her saddened, unfortunate state (Grizabella: The Glamour Cat). Grizabella leaves and the music changes to a cheerful upbeat. Bustopher Jones, a fat cat in “a coat of fastidious black”, appears (Bustopher Jones: The Cat About Town). Bustopher Jones is among the elite of the cats, and visits prestigious gentlemen’s clubs. A loud crash startles the tribe. Could this be Macavity? The cats run off the stage in fright. Hushed giggling signals the entrance of Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, a pair of near-identical cats. They are petty burglars, very mischievous, and they enjoy causing trouble for human families (Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer).
Demeter (Zizi Strallen) & Bombalurina (Charlene Ford)
Finally, the Jellicle patriarch, Old Deuteronomy, shows up (Old Deuteronomy). He is a large old Cat that “has lived many lives” and “buried nine wives (And more, I am tempted to say – ninety-nine)”. He is the one who will choose which Jellicle cat will go to the Heaviside Layer. In most productions, at this point, the cats perform a song (The Awful Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles) for Old Deuteronomy. It is a story about two dog tribes clashing in the street and subsequently being scared away by the Great Rumpus Cat, a cat with flashing red eyes. After a few words from Old Deuteronomy on the destiny of Jellicle Cats and Pollicle Dogs, a second loud crash, presumably from Macavity, sends the alarmed cats scurrying. But Old Deuteronomy calls them back and the main celebration begins (The Jellicle Ball), in which the cats sing and display their “Terpsichorean powers”.
After the Ball, Grizabella reappears and tries to dance, but her age and decrepit condition prevent her from doing so. Once again, she is shunned by the other cats, but that does not stop her from singing a short version of Memory.
Act II — Why Will the Summer Day Delay — When Will Time Flow Away?
After the Jellicle Ball, Old Deuteronomy sings of “what happiness is”, referring to Grizabella. This message naturally goes over everyone’s heads, so he sends the message again and Jemima sings it for everyone to hear (The Moments of Happiness). Gus — short for Asparagus — shuffles forward (Gus: The Theatre Cat). He is the cat that was once a famous actor but is now old and “suffers from palsy which makes his paws shake.” He is accompanied by Jellylorum, who tells of his exploits. Gus then remembers how he once played the infamous Growltiger, Terror of the Thames (Growltiger’s Last Stand). He tells the story about the pirate’s romance with Griddlebone and how he was overtaken by the Siamese and forced to walk the plank.
Back in the present, after Gus exits, Skimbleshanks is sleeping in the corner (Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat), a cat who is unofficially in charge of the night train to Glasgow. He is very clever and very important because if he is gone “the train can’t start”. Within his song, a whole locomotive train engine is assembled out of objects in the junkyard, with various cats spinning wheels, holding up the structure and lighting the headlights.
With a third crash and an evil laugh, the “most wanted” cat, Macavity appears. He is a “master criminal” and is never found at the scene of the crime. He is a horrifying looking cat and a “villain” of the Jellicle Tribe. Macavity’s minions throw a net over Old Deuteronomy and capture him. As the other cats try to follow him, Demeter and Bombalurina sing what they know about Macavity, as they have had some sort of past with him (Macavity: The Mystery Cat). When they are finished, Macavity returns disguised as Old Deuteronomy. When revealed by Demeter, he fights with Munkustrap and Alonzo. Though he holds his own for a time, Macavity is overwhelmed by the two younger tomcats; as the rest of the tribe begin to gang up and surround him, he shorts out the stage lights and escapes in the confusion.
Rum Tum Tugger suggests that the cats find Mr. Mistoffelees (Magical Mr. Mistoffelees). Mr. Mistoffelees is black and small and can perform many feats of magic that no other cat can do. Mr. Mistoffelees performs his dance, which is often one of the most intricate and challenging dance solos in the show. The magical cat restores the lights and brings back Old Deuteronomy, earning praise from all the cats. The Jellicle choice can now be made.
After Old Deuteronomy sits down, Grizabella returns to the junkyard and he allows her to address the gathering. Her faded appearance and lonely disposition have little effect on her song (Memory). With acceptance and encouragement from Jemima and Victoria, her appeal succeeds and she is chosen to be the one to go to the Heaviside Layer and be reborn to a new Jellicle Life (Journey to the Heaviside Layer). A large tire rises from the junk piles, carrying Grizabella and Old Deuteronomy partway toward the sky; he then steps off so she can finish the journey on her own. Old Deuteronomy gives his closing speech to the human audience (The Ad-dressing of Cats) and the show comes to a close.
We saw some astonishing leaps and bounds, beautiful ballet and jazz technique, aerials, splits, cartwheels, flips of all kinds. You could hear the entire audience hold its breath as they performed to utter perfection. There is something about the way a cat moves, where not a single cell of the body, not a single separate hair, is motionless, and yet it is all moves with fluid uniThe dancers incorporated this animalistic aspect into their movement and gave Cats its sense of power balancing on the edge of control.
Plus, you know, seriously bendy, curvy dancers in skin-tight lycra…. what’s not to love?
Cats, or Happy Birthday Katy!
Andrew Lloyd Webber is preparing to bring his 1980s hit musical “Cats” back to London’s West End for a limited run. Webber announced plans this week to revive “Cats”, his 1981 show based on poet T.S. Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats”, for a 12-week run beginning on Dec. 6. The musical was the fourth longest-running in London when it closed in 2002 on its 21st birthday. “I think it’s just a great opportunity for us to get a second edition … with this show I think it would be great just to have a go at it again and give it a bit of a rethink,” he said at a launch event held in a London theatre on Monday. Over the years, the show has attracted many stars to its cast, including Elaine Paige, Wayne Sleep, Bonnie Langford and Brian Blessed. The original show’s director Sir Trevor Nunn said: “There’s a whole new generation of kids who haven’t seen it or discovered it.”
And I bought two tickets for Katy and I to see it over the holidays :)
Les Mis 25th anniversary screening
On Sunday, 3rd of October, Katy and I were there :) Ok, so we weren’t there live and in person, but we did the next best thing. I am, of course, talking about the live telecast of the 25th anniversary performance of Les Mis at the 02, which we saw at the Cinema de Lux in Leicester.
With a cast of 600, including Gareth Gates and Matt Lucas, the world’s longest running musical was transmitted live via satellite to more than 130 cinemas nation-wide across the UK and more widely, throughout Europe, North America, Japan and Australia. European countries joining in the big screen birthday party include Germany, The Netherlands, Ireland, Norway and Denmark. It was also re-broadcast in Canada and the US.
Alfie Boe, who played Jean Valjean, was such a hit Sunday night that he received a standing ovation in the middle of the show as he finished the song “Bring Him Home.” Later even McKintosh said that in that 25 years no one had received a standing ovation during the show. It was a first.
I cried like a little girl throughout the presentation. I mean, big chest-heaving sobs and full waterworks. Katy laughed at me.
People were wondering what Cameron Mackintosh could have planned to out-do his 10th Anniversary Concert at the Royal Albert Hall. In 1995 the stage was stormed by no less than 17 Jean Valjean’s from productions around the world marching in full evening dress with their countries flags, singing snatches of “Do You Hear the People Sing” in their native tongues.
The answer, what Mackintosh referred to as the “Company of Companies”, was well worth the wait: the cast of the production which has toured the UK, “coming home” to the Barbican after 25 years and soon heading for Europe; the cast of the Queen’s Theatre show, a constant fixture of Shaftesbury Avenue and the West End’s longest running musical; the London company which created Les Miserables way back in 1985; and the assembled O2 concert cast all took the stage together. The best bit was they each brought a Jean Valjean with them!
Having created the role, there is no denying that Colm Wilkinson is the voice of Jean Valjean. His effortless falsetto for “Bring Him Home” has to be the reference for every subsequent performer. The highlight of the entire evening was to hear the four Jean Valjean’s (Colm Wilkinson, John Owen-Jones, Alfie Boe and Simon Bowman) perform “Bring Him Home” as a quartet. Even aged 66, Wilkinson gave the other three tenors a run for their money and he seemed to be loving every minute of it. This man has a voice that can make a stone weep with pleasure. It was… breathtaking. A performance of “One Day More” followed from the cast of 1985 and every one of them proved that a quarter of a century on, they’ve still got it.
“Les Misérables” originally opened in London at the Barbican Theatre on 8 October 1985, transferred to the Palace Theatre on 4 December 1985 and moved to its current home at the Queen’s Theatre on 3 April 2004 where it continues to play to packed houses. When it celebrated its 21st London birthday on 8 October 2006, it became the World’s Longest Running Musical. In January 2010 the West End production broke another record by celebrating an historic 10,000th performances. Seen by over 57 million people worldwide in 42 countries and in 21 languages, it is undisputedly one of the world’s most popular musicals ever written.
The original London show, a collaboration between the Royal Shakepeare Company and Cameron Mackintosh, opened at the Barbican on 8 October 1985. Despite mixed reviews – and a bum-numbing three-and-a-half hour running time – the musical found favour with audiences. It transferred to the Palace Theatre in December that year where it stayed until 2004. It then moved to the Queen’s Theatre, where it still runs today. Based on Victor Hugo’s door-stopper of a novel, it follows one man’s story of survival in the face of persecution amidst social and political upheavals in 19th Century Paris.
To mark the Silver Jubilee, here are 25 facts about the world’s longest-running musical:
1. The original French version of the show – by lyricist Alain Boublil and composer Claude-Michel Schonberg – ran for 107 performances in 1980 at the Palais des Sports in Paris.
2. The London production was co-directed by John Caird and Trevor Nunn. The English lyrics were by Herbert Kretzmer – who at the time was TV critic for the Daily Mail.
3. That didn’t stop the Mail on Sunday’s Kenneth Hurren writing in his 1985 review: “Watching it is rather like eating an artichoke: you have to go through an awful lot to get a very little.”
4. Michael Ball, who played Marius, has told the BBC since: “We thought we’d be looking for new jobs after the first night.”
5. In the original London production, the role of Inspector Javert was played by Roger Allam – who can currently be seen in the film Tamara Drewe.
6. The role of thieving innkeeper Thenardier was played by Alun Armstrong, who currently stars in the BBC series New Tricks.
7. There are approximately 101 cast and crew directly involved in every performance.
8. Each performance requires 392 complete costumes – and 31 wigs.
9. There have been almost 40 cast recordings of Les Misérables.
10. On 22 January 2010, the show celebrated its 10,000th performance in London.
11. The RSC is estimated to have made £19m from royalties from touring productions.
12. Productions have played in 42 countries including Iceland, New Zealand, Bermuda, Philippines, Mauritius, China, Mxico, the Channel Islands and the Dominican Republic.
13. Les Misérables has been translated into 21 different languages: English, Japanese, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, German, Polish, Swedish, Dutch, Danish, French, Czech, Castillian, Mauritian Creole, Flemish, Finnish, Argentinian, Portuguese, Estonian and Mexican Spanish.
14. The production has played over 45,000 professional performances worldwide to a total audience of more than 57 million people – that’s almost the population of Italy.
15. Contrary to popular opinion, the musical is NOT set during the French Revolution of 1789. The action begins in 1815, and follows events over the next two decades including the Paris Uprising of 1832.
16. Les Misérables is the third longest running show in Broadway history after Phantom of the Opera and Cats.
17. The Les Misérables schools edition was launched in the US in 2001 and in the UK in 2002.
18. In school productions, the entire cast must be 19 years of age or under, and must be amateurs.
19. The biggest single live audience for Les Misérables to date was 125,000 at the 1989 Australia day concert in Sydney.
20. In 2004, a special concert performance was given at Windsor Castle in honour of French President Jacques Chirac to celebrate the centenary of the entente cordiale – Britain’s friendly agreement with France.
21. Les Miserables celebrated its 10th anniversary with a gala concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
22. The concert starred the original Jean Valjean, Colm Wilkinson. The finale featured 17 different Jean Valjeans from around the world singing in different languages.
23. Les Misérables became the West End’s longest-running musical on 7 October 2006. On that night super-fan Sally Frith from Gloucestershire saw the show for the 740th time.
24. In 2009, Susan Boyle sang Les Mis song I Dreamed a Dream on TV show Britain’s Got Talent. It became one of the most watched videos on YouTube.
25. Producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh is currently developing a film version of the musical. (The first movie version of the novel Les Misérables was a silent film in 1909. There were no songs.)
Current Mood:
Contemplative
Wicked and meatball subs
Now how random is this post title?
It makes perfect sense though, then I tell you that I made kick-ass homemade meatball subs for dinner on Friday and that Katy and I went to see Wicked in London today.
The subs were nummylicious! Take herbed pork meatballs, brown them and then simmer them in tomato sauce with lots of basil for 30 minutes. Slice open some nice baguette, dress with sliced havarti and then smother in meatballs in tomato sauce. Serve and enjoy but we warned, it’s a messy meal :)
Wicked? was good. I’d booked some tickets for the matinee today. We took the train to Tottenham Hale and the tube to Victoria. We got some food from M&S and had some tea at the station. The timing worked out well because as soon as we’d finished our tea, Victoria station was evacuated. The rumour was a bomb, but it was more probably just some idiot tourist leaving his bags unattended and the powers that be making too much about it.
We went for a bit of a walk but we didn’t go far. We ended up at a small belgian cafe having fresh waffles :) The smell suckered us in.
After a very satisfying snack, we went back to the theater to pick up the tickets from the box office. I have to say that we were not impressed with the theater organization. There was a “line” to get the tickets but, once we were almost at the head of it, some overly-polished junior manager-type told everybody that they had to go outside and line along the outer wall of the theater. So of course everybody rushed out and we? were stuck at the back of the new line. So this message goes to the management of the Apollo Victoria theater: fuck you, you suck!
The show itself was fun. I had to real expectations or idea what the show would be like. It was really fun because it took the well-known Judy Garland story and turned it on its head. The wicked witch of the west is actually a very nice girl with a kick-ass signing voice. I had two critiques about the show. The first is that some of the musical numbers with the whole cast were very loud and musically un-coordinated (and the acoustics of the place aren’t ideal). The second critique has nothing to do with the show and all to do with the stupidly big party of stupidly big (and loud, annoying, smelly and generally unpleasant) asian lads that monopolized the seats in front and next to us. They just made the experience less pleasant than it could have been.
The nordic girl sitting next to me who showed me half her butt when she got up at the end of the show was an unexpected bonus though (her jeans had ridden down something fierce!).
We got back home, had prawn, bacon and pea risotto for dinner and Katy is now inflicting some weird documentary about speed eaters and how they can train for their competitions. They mentioned a woman who ate 64 eggs in 6 minutes. What we have here is a failure to communicate, indeed ;)
Current Mood:
Tired