Avenue Q at Wales Millennium Centre

 

So I went to see the 'best puppet musical around', my words, (I'm assuming it's the only puppet musical around, I don't know if it is though) - Avenue Q at Cardiff's WMC. I loved it but my sister hated it - here's her review:  http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/theatre-in-wales/2011/06/16/avenue-q-wales-millennium-centre-hhiii-91466-28885383/

I loved Sesame St, love The Muppets, I love musicals and I love smut (who doesn't?) - so I loved this. I was actually rather surprised that the musical part of it was really good, I had imagined that more work would have gone into the comedy side and the songs would've been a let down - they weren't of course, it wouldn't have won so many awards and critics' plaudits if that was the case. I didn't find it as funny as the man behind me, although the way he was laughing I don't think anything is that funny. I've wanted to see this show ever since it opened on Broadway in 2003 while I was in New York, those Muppet-style characters were on posters everywhere, I had to wait 8 years and I wasn't disappointed.

Last year was quite full, theatre-wise. I went to see something every month, except October - there was nothing I wanted to see anywhere, with gigs filling in the theatre-shaped gaps (Ray Davies, Elvis Costello, Pet Shop Boys, Scissor Sisters).

Here's a list - 

Chicago (WMC too big a venue for this show)
Witness for the Prosecution
Rocky Horror Show (Amazing as usual)
Oliver (Almost got lost trying to find theatre, Griff R Jones was good, Jodie Prenger's last show - clear why she won)
Oklahoma
Hairspray (Brilliant, hilarious again)
Blood Brothers (Almost cried)

Les Miz

I was put off seeing it when it started the tour in Cardiff because of Gareth Gates but when everyone raved about it I regretted not going. Went to Bristol instead, not that I don't like the Wales Millennium Centre but it's just to big. Bristol Hippodrome on the other hand is tiny, that's the kind of theatre that I like.

 The show itself of course was awesome! Quietly proud of the amount of Welsh people involved. I didn't cry at the end, and Gareth Gates wasn't awful after all. 








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Spamalot

This was fun! The amount of trouble it took to get friends to pick what tickets they wanted. After telling them we'd be up in the nosebleed section if we got the cheapest... for the sake of a quiet life I got the cheapest! Again, after telling them how high up we'd be, (honestly, the WMC upper circle rows of seats have handrail/barriers in front of them, to avoid death I can only assume) come the night one of them says "are we sitting close, 'cause I forgot my glasses"!

Note the handrails!

The show though, well it was what it was - a one hour and twenty minute live Monty Python show, as near to one anyway. It wasn't the full West End, definitely not Broadway, show so there was a paired down set and cast. Talking about the cast, from where we were sitting it could've been anyone down there on stage but I believe it was Todd Carty, James Gaddas (from Bad Girls) and Hayley Tamadon, along with the rest of the quite small cast, were comically and musically excellent.

Morecambe: The Play

I don't think I can say how much I loved this one-man play! And the amazing Bob Golding. Being a child of parents of the 60s/70s Morecambe & Wise were essential viewing. This play was brilliantly written with affectionate nostalgia and acted amazingly as Golding it seemed, as pointed out by many critics, was born to play Eric Morecambe. The inclusion of Ernie Wise as a ventriloquist dummy was done with great affection. When Golding said Eric's ice-cream van joke at the end of the play I felt quite sad yet I left smiling.
I loved the pair of glasses projected on the curtain at the interval, at the first performance of this in the New Theatre the audience were given pairs of Eric Morecambe style glasses, disappointed even though I already have my own specs. I went on a matinee but was still surprised and disappointed at how small the audience was, the theatre was almost empty. I would have seen it again if it wasn't the last day at that venue.


Chess

 

Chess was one of the musicals that I wasn't fussy about seeing, with its troubles history and short runs I wasn't desperate to see this, but when it came around to it I decided I did want to go and see it. It was a sexy and camp production - what more can you expect from Craig Revel Horwood. Didn't think much of James Fox to be honest, but the rest of the cast - Daniel Koek especially, Poppy Tierney, and Shona White who I must admit I took a particular partiality to.

I loved the set, as I was in the stalls I couldn't get the full extent of the disco style floor.

 

We Will Rock You
Not a big fan of jukebox musicals. Most musicals are quite cheesy by nature but WWRY was almost migraine inducing it was do cheesy. I never fancied seeing it but when it came to Cardiff on tour I decided I might as well go as I wouldn't go to London to see. All this being said I did enjoy it, it is Queen after all. Even though I did enjoy it, I think it is probably the weakest of the shows I've seen lately.

I like the Queen logo on the curtain.

First post: mark II

OK, so nobody wants to read my rubbish, I'm gonna blog anyway. That woman did in that film about Julia Childs, and she seemed like a tediously whiney woman, the film would've been much better if had just been Meryl Streep. Anyway, I digress.

I was originally gonna blog about the arts, but I'm gonna do it about anything, doesn't matter, nobody'll read it. This is the geek part (most blogs are just geeky diaries aren't they?) - I like taking photos of show sets I'll post them on a blog I thought to myself.

#1 Priscilla Queen of the Desert - Palace Theatre, London 2009

 Who doesn't love a massive shoe on the outside of a building?! Needless to say, after loving the film, I LOVED the musical! Tony Sheldon was by far the best, Jason Donovan proves himself to be a musical theatre star and Oliver Thornton's understudy put in a great performance too. 

# 2

Hairspray - Wales Millennium Centre 2010
When I took my Mam to Hairspray in London for Mother's Day in 2009 it wasn't exactly a selfless present. I wanted to see Michael Ball in drag too! Needless to say I had to see it again when it started the tour in Cardiff the year after.

 

It is slightly worrying how well my face fits in with the rest of the image.