Practically Perfect.. in most ways anyway!

It has been over a year since Mary Poppins stopped captivating audiences in its original home in The Prince Edward theatre in London's West End. Now everyones favorite nanny is out on the road and is touring throughout the UK in a year long venture, and last night I had the delight of going to see the show in Manchesters Palace theatre.

The musical is based on the 1964 film starring the wonderful Julie Andrews and the book that inspired it. Fans of the film will be thrilled to know that many of songs featured in the film, and written by the Shermann Bros, remain in the stage show. New songs have also been written in a similar style by Styles and Drew.

The staging of the show is very much like it was in London. The scenery is spectacular - much better than any touring show I've seen. The lighting is particularly good, transporting you from the bank to the rooftops of London to Mary Poppins wonderland in a matter of seconds! The house has been slightly scalled down from the London production and appears to fold out now rather than appear as one solid set like it did in London, were it was set on three levels - the top most level dropping to ground level when it was in use. There are some nice new props though with Mary Poppins bed appearing from a pull out drawer in "Practically Perfect" - a lovely song that wouldn't be out of place in the film.

The new additions to the film generally fit in quite nicely. Mrs Andrews is a particularly nasty character who wants to poison the children with her "Brimstone and Treacle". Mrs Correy adds some colour to the famous Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious scene and the show is frightened up with the chilling "Temper, Temper!" when all the toys in the nursery come alive to give the children a telling off! The finale of the show centres around a new songs called "Anything can happen", which adds even more spectacle to the show, whilst hitting the audience over the head with another morale, but it works quite well and the tune is a catchy little number!

The choreography of the show is delightful. Matthew Bourne has created complex routines which give extra oumph to the piece and help move the story along. It is a highly energetic show. One such highlight is in an early park scene where all the statues come to life.

The performances are to be commended all around. Lisa O'Hare brought out a cheekyness to Mary Poppins which is much needed. She added life to the character who, if you think about it, is quite a rude person! After all, she never brings references because she thinks they're "old fashioned". And she dictates her evenings off! Lisa's vocals were also very good - you could hear every syllabel that she was singing. The lady who played the bird woman was also very good - she evoked alot of emotion from the character and sang "feed the birds" incredibly. The children playing Jane and Michael were good - their acting in particular was outstanding - much better than their voices. They had a natural chemistry with eachother which made it incredibly easy to believe that they were siblings.

There were however, elements which maybe didn't work so well. The show is, at 2h 45 mins including the interval, slightly long and so smaller children may get slightly restless. But having said that, there are several set pieces which will keep most children enthralled throughout the show - not least Bert walking around the procenium arch or the finale, which I wont spoil if you've yet to see the show. All in all, the show was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!

8/10

musical talk

If you enjoy your musicals then why not subscribe to this podcast on itunes! It has been running for over 2 years and has featured lots of stars from the musical world including Alan Menken, Summer Strallen, Bonnie Langford, Simon Callow, Oliver Thompsett and much more! Check out their website at http://www.musicaltalk.co.uk/ or search for their podcast in itunes! The site is run by Nick Hutson, a composer and lyricist from London.

OSCAR results!

The results are in! And for the most part I was relatively accurate! I correctly guessed most of the major awards! I guessed that Kate and Penelope would win in the actress categories.. I guessed that Heath Ledger would win Best Supporting Actor, and I guessed that Slumdog would win Best Film and probably alot of other awards! I was wrong however with my prediction that Mickey Rourke would win Best Actor! I was very wrong in fact! Sean Penn won the award with a late surge in votes! Now that may be that the academy thought he gave a better performance in Milk, but I have a cheeky suspicion that background politics played a part! I believe that Mickeys BAFTA and Golden Globes winning speeches turned off the more conservative voters among the academy. It also shows that the academy can, and will vote independently of any other awards show. I just feel that in years to come people will look back and say that 2009 was Mickey Rourkes year and that Oscar was robbed from him! I also didn't guess that Danny Boyle would win for Best Director. This was because I knew that Slumdog would win Best Film and felt that the academy wouldn't let another award go to the Brits - especially after Kate won Best Actress! Dannys awards speech was lovely though! I really enjoyed the whole theme to the night! It was slightly forced and contrived (the bits I've seen on Youtube anywayz!), but I really enjoyed the musical element! It gave the Oscars that Wow factor that you just can't get when Chris Rock or Steve Martin are throwing insults and one liners at the nominees in the audience. It was lovely to see so many stars - old and young - turn out for the show! My highlight of the night was definately Miley Cyrus' answer to the question - Who is your favourite person in history? Her answer.. Angelina Jolie! x

Oscar preds continued!

The stars have started arriving at the 81st Academy Awards and the anticipation is building! The whole oh Hollywood will be turning out for the most prestigious night in the motion picture calender. Even the child stars from Slumdog Millionaire have been flown over to enjoy the evening! And what an evening it will be! The Brad Pitt helmed vehicle The Curious Case of Benjamin Button leads the field with 13 nominations, closely followed by Slumdog which is nominated for 10 awards, and Dark Knight which is up for 8. Other films which are hoping to win big tonight include Milk, Doubt, The Reader, the Wrestler, Wall-E and Revolutionary Road.

As I have said earlier, my full list of predictions is saved onto another computer which I can't access at the minute, but I will predict the winners here and now of the big awards and some of the smaller awards of which I can remember!

First of all, I think that Slumdog Millionare will win Best Film. I don't necessarily think that it should win because I enjoyed Button much more - I feel that the hype however will ensure that the academy votes in favour of the smaller film which has steadily gained more media attention over the past few months. I feel that David Fincher will win Best Director to ensure that Button doesn't go home empty handed! It would be silly to vote for anyone else other than Mickey Rourke and Heath Ledger for the Best Actor and Supporting Actor. The academy loves comeback stories and Mickey Rourke personifies this completely! There would be a huge backlash if Heath didn't win - hes won every other supporting actor award in the awards season so far so I reckon that it is a dead cert he'l win. the actress categories are slightly more open I feel. I still think Kate will win Best Actress for her role in the Reader, but I just feel that its silly that her role in Revolutionary Road has been overlooked. I still can't understand either why Cate Blanchett hasn't been nominated for her role in Benjamin Button! The Supporting Actress category is quite open I feel, but expect Penelope Cruz to win on the momentum of her BAFTA win a few weeks ago.

I think that of the smaller awards most are quite open. Expect Slumdog to win best screenplay and cinematography, but button to win best visual effects. I reckon The Duchess will win a few awards for costume and scenery. I feel that the smaller awards will be split evenly between Button and Slumdog, and believe that Doubt, milk and Frost/Nixon will go home empty handed. Whilst I feel that these films are probably very good (iv seen only Frost/Nixon, which I loved), I also feel that they haven't really been very commercially sucessful and feel that this will go against it at the Oscars!

it will be a very good night, but I dont necessarily think that all of the winners will be the ones who deserve the awards! It seems to me that there are alot of background politics in Hollywood (wow, theres a suprise) and films that win big do so on the fact that they are build on a media bandwagon. At the end of the day I feel that it is just one big popularity contest, but that I supose is one of the reasons why I love it so much! Long may it continue, and congratulations to all nominees!

Oscars tonight!

Okies, we have finally arrived at the Oscars evening! Over the next few hours I will post my predictions of who I think will win the Oscars tonight! I did a full prediction earlier today but have left them on another computer and wont be able to access them until tomorrow so will try and remember who I am voting for! I have a few pondering thoughts at the minute though! Will Mickey swear lots and get the network taken off the air?! Will Kate gush again at her acceptance speech and make everyone cringe?! How many (or how few!!) awards will The Curious Case of Benjamin Button come away with?! Will Wall-E win the few awards it deserves, and finally.. can the film which was made in India for such little cash come away with the big acolade of best film?! Find out my thoughts and then the results here later on tonight!

Whats On Stage Awards!

I feel like a celebrity!!!

Walking into the foyer of the Prince of Wales theatre in central London on Sunday night was such a surreal experience! The sheer number of people surrounding the theatre was crazy! And the Paps! I've not seen anything like it in real life! I mean I've watched the videos of Britney and other celebs being followed by people with big lenses, and I've watched several series of Big Brother where housemates get snapped as they walk out of the house, but I've never seen so many of them, so up close and personal as I did at the weekend! I liked it!

The reason that half of London and the press were waiting outside of the theatre on a cold, miserable Sunday night was to see their favorite stars and celebs entering to watch the Whatsonstage.com awards show. They are the only theatre awards show voted for by the public, who can pay for a ticket and go and watch them being presented inside - the only one of its kind that I'm aware of in the UK.

And so into the theatre we went along with 1130 other people including many a celeb including Eddie Izzard, Sheila Hancock, Suzanne Shaw, Connie Fisher and lots of actors, directors, producers and general bodies from the theatrical world. James Corden and Sheriden Smith were presenting the awards.

I was slightly disappointed to learn that the cast of Spring Awakening weren't going to be performing as advertised and that no one else was going to be filling in their place. I still enjoyed the show however and was mesmerised during many of the performances. Two of the girls from "I'd do Anything" kicked off the proceedings along with Niki Evans who was in X-Factor last year and is now staring as Mrs. Johnstone in Blood Brothers. They sang 9 to 5 quite adequately but weren't the highlight of the evening in my opinion. It was a nice start though!

The awards were given out sporadically throughout the evening between performances which was good. I liked the fact that they were spaced out so that it didn't ever get tiresome or boring. I didn't like the fact that the awards were announced in lots of different ways e.g. James would say something like "Wow that Jersey Boys has been nominated alot - and it's won Best Actor". I like the formalities of award shows were they mention the award, read out the nominees and then the winner. It means that there is a build up of anticipation.. and that was duly lacking on Sunday night. Having said that, James and Sheridan were very good hosts. They were funny throughout, if sometimes bordering on rude (especially to Lee Mead, Daniel Boys and the poor crew member he continuously beat on!).

As it isn't that often that I get a chance to come to London to see most of the plays and musicals, I wasnt rooting for one particular show to do well. I was pleased to see the Donmar get so many awards because I've heard that the quality of their shows is second to none. I expected Jersey Boys to win everything it was nominated in purely because it was the biggest show up in the categories it was in. The only show I wanted to do well was a small show which was nominated in the Best Regional Production. I work as an usher at the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse theatre in Liverpool and so had seen one of the plays nominated in this category around 10 times and absoloutely loved it! I was thrilled to hear it was nominated at the WhatsonStage awards! It didn't have a chance of winning however seeing that it was up against the David Tennant/Patrick Stewart version of Hamlet from Statford! I was extremely happy to hear that 2 of the stars - Tom Oakley and Julie Atherton would be singing some of the songs from the show - Once Upon A Time At The Adelphi!

I don't think that many people in the audience had heard either songs which were performed from the show, but that fact didn't come across at the end of the performance when they received a huge round of applause. I love Julie Atherton - her voice is crystal clear and so strong! And she sang probably my favorite song from the show - "Just the next 10 seconds". Tom Oakley was ok - nothing special (I'll be honest) but it was nice to hear to "cheesy showtune" song sung live for probably the last time!

The rest of the performances were hit and miss really. There was a medley of Broadway songs performed at the beginning of the 2nd act of the awards show. Jimmy Johnston sang a beautiful song from Shrew the musical that touched everyone in the audience! The emotions and the sentiment washed over the audience so that the majority of people were affected! Kim Criswell sang a wonderful song from The Little Mermaid. Her powerful voice pushed you back against your seat and the her army of male dancers had everyone laughing with their fishy choreography! Bend and Snap from Legally Blonde on the otherhand had everyone wishing that they could bend and snap the writers and performers of that song! It was awful! The mics were turned up way too loud on Leila Benn Harris and Ramin Karimloo for their version of "When You're Gone" from In The Heights. I was so looking forward to hearing Ramin as well but was disappointed because I couldn't really distinguish the words. Elena Rogers and the cast of Jersey Boys were definately the highlights of the show! The Jersey Boys medley had lots of people up on their feet! It was wonderful but one feels like they may have given too much! I don't feel I can justify paying £60 to go and see the show when I have paid £15 for a medley of the best bits from the best songs! They were incredible!

The show was definately a highlight of my year so far and I will definately go back next year! Just to be sitting in the same room and sharing the same bar as all the celebs was an ego boost! I loved it! And it was all in aid of charity which was probably the best part!

BAFTA's

I'm slightly late in publishing this but it's been a busy week, what with working alot and going to London this past weekend (more on that later!!). I thought I'd just give some of my opinions about what happened at the BAFTA's and what it now means for the Oscars next week!

First off I must say that in the predictions game I kicked Peters bum! Before most of the major award shows we go through the nominations and pick out who we think will win. In the smaller categories, Peter faired much better - indeed at one point I thought he would predict more correct results than me! When it came to the big categories though, I romped home! I was 6/6 for the major categories of Best Film, Best Director, Actor, Actress and suporting roles. Peter was also pretty good, but he went out on a limb for Frank Langella for best actor and picked out Kate Winslett for best actress, but picked her for her performance in Revolutionary Road rather than The Reader!

Now I have seen quite a few of the Oscar films this year, but not nearly as many as I'd have liked. Part of the problem of the academy picking smaller films this year is that it can be quite hard for the more commercial cinemas to screen them - indeed the Wrestler, Milk, The Reader and Doubt all have yet to be shown in my local cinema. As a result I sometimes can't say unequivically who is the best in the categories that these films are in and so have to rely on bits of footage from youtube and information from the media. That said, I do believe that some of the films nominated this year shouldn't be gaining as much momentum as they are doing. I thought Slumdog Millionaire for example was a very good film, but there is no way it should be winning Best Film at all these awards shows. I went and watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button last week, and although it is by no means perfect, I felt the acting, the story, the setting, the directing and the music was much better than most other films out there I've seen this past year - including Slumdog Millionaire. A travesty, I feel is that Kate Winslett hasn't garnered a nomination for her role in Revolutionary Road. Whilst the film was very depressing and slightly overlong, I couldn't fault her performance and feel that it was a much better performance than Taraji P. Henson in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It seems like the Academy would rather "big up" films to have as many nominations as possible for the media attention (Button has 13) than actually acknowledge the performances!

Despite my thoughts, I still feel that Slumdog Millionaire will win Big at the Oscars - best film in particular. I think that David Fincham will get Best Director and that Button won't be as left out as it has been at previous awards ceremonies. Mickey Rourke and Heath Ledger have the acting categories sown up while the actress categories are a little more open - expect Kate Winslett to finally bag an Oscar. I will post a full list of predictions closer to the time - expect me to beat Peter again!

Post 1 & 2

4/02/09

The reviews for Spring Awakening are out!

The Independent and Whatsonstage.com have both given the show glowing reviews! Indeed they’ve both given this production 5 stars! The Independent says “that this is the best American protest rock-musical” since either Hair or Rent, while Whatsonstage.com says that “the show’s an absolute must-see and by far the best new musical in London for ages.” Nicholas de Jonge of The Evening Standard however wasn’t so kind with its 2 stars saying that he was “let down and left there by this multi-award winning Broadway show”

Spring Awakening is a new musical based on a play of the same name by a German man named Frank Wedekind. It was originally banned in Germany for its portrayal of rape, masturbation, abortion and suicide. It has also been banned several times throughout this century all around the world - most notibally in the National Theatre in 1964. The board of directors banned it because they believed they couldn't use public funds to stage such a radical show which would, in all likelyhood receive lots of complaints. Eventually, it was made into a musical off-Broadway where it garnered alot of support and acclaim before transferring to Broadway. It won 8 Tony Awards - which is generally unheard of these days and closed at the beginning of this year after playing 888 performances - or just over 2 years. It has just opened in London in the Lyric Hammersmith theatre, and rumour has it that it will transfer to the West End within a few months.

Having seen the musical myself last week on a trip to London with my friends I believe that the show very much deserves its impending West End Transfer. For a show that was only in its first week of previews, I thought that it was slick and well put together. The cast looked like seasoned pro’s and it was hard to imagine that for a lot of them this was their first “big gig”. The lighting in particular was just incredible – varying from hundreds of blue lowered lightbulbs during “The Mirror-Blue Night” to underground punk electro Germany complete with its neon shelf lights during “Don’t do Sadness/Blue Wind”

The choreography of the show was very good! It was intricate and complex, whilst not looking like a big west end production number. The band, as well as the cast should also be highly applauded. Lucy Barker as Ilse has a crystal clear harrowing voice that made the hairs on the back of my next stand as she shone through “Blue Wind.” Charlotte Wakefield as Wendla is a star in the making. Her emotions added depth to the character which may not have been brought out had a lesser performer been cast. Iwan Rheon may not have a great voice, but his Moritz was played with compassion and tenderness which meant that the characters fall into depression was very much believable. There wasn’t a member of the cast who didn’t do more that what the roles required.

The only problem with the production was that this show attracts a certain type of audience which I’m not particularly fond of, which is silly on my part because it is the demographic of audience which the show is aimed at! During the performance I attended there was a large school/college group who were sat behind us who annoyed me to no end! They laughed and talked through the most inappropriate moments, for example there is a scene where Moritz’s father slaps him hard across the face because he has failed an exam. I genuinely felt part of the action and my heart was in my mouth... until the group behind me started laughing and I was removed from my trance like state. Other moments where they annoyed me included the sex scene before the end of the first act and during the final scene.

Brilliant – a show for angst ridden teenagers everywhere!



My trip to London also included a tour of the National Theatre! It was so interesting to go inside the auditoriums and to learn about the different stages and storage space. My favourite part I must confess was going out onto the Lyttleton stage and looking out to all of them empty seats! It must be so wonderful performing to an audience of that size every night – it looked so intimate! The props room was also a highlight! I got to have a little play with one of the horses which was used in War Horse – the sell out show which is transferring to the West End in March.


We also went Ice Skating which I really enjoyed! Now this has nothing to do with the theatre, music or film, but I wanted to mention it because I learned how to skate backwards which was amazing! I’m thinking that I should go more often, get famous and then do the next series of Dancing on Ice!!!!!


16/01/09

It’s only two weeks away now until we make the journey to the Big Smoke to watch the Broadway Smash Hit musical Spring Awakening! I’ve heard amazing things about this show from across the pond! I’ve watched the trailer many, many times and youtubed the videos more times than I care to admit and now its nearly here! Can’t wait! Don’t think the others are feeling as excited about it though! But neymind! I hope this does quite well in the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre! If it does then it will more than likely move to the West End later this year! I have a feeling that this is a little ploy by the producers to test the waters and build up a fan base before they can open in a bigger theatre. Have just noticed that the reviews for Oliver! are up as well and they seem pretty good! Michael Billington has given the piece 3 stars, and other reviews vary from 3-4 stars – and they’ve generally praised Miss. Prengers performance which is nice! I do like Jodie – even if she is a fame hungry diva! Looking forward to travelling down to London (yet again!) to see this in the future!



Who’d have thought it eh?! Kate Winslet winning two Golden Globes in the same year! Hopefully the Oscars will be kind to her because they’ve had a history of snubbing her! 5 Nominations she has had so far and yet she’s won nothing! Hopefully this will be her year! I have a feeling it will be a Martin Scorsese all over again – took him a while to win a statue didn’t it! She def deserves is as well! It’s been announced this week also that she has 2 BAFTA nominations for Best Actress! I’m slightly confuzzled now though because for the Golden Globes she was nominated in two different categories! For the same two films! The criteria for awarding the nominations must be totally different! Anyway, I predict that she will win an Oscar for her role in the Reader, but am unsure about whether she will even get a nomination for the Sam Mendez directed “Revolutionary Road”.


Hello, and welcome to my brand spanking new Art’s blog! This is where I will be putting down my thoughts and ideas about anything theatre/music/film related. I have an interest bordering on obsession with theatre – particularly musicals and so I thought that it would be an idea to put down my thoughts about any news that may pop up regarding theatre. I also love watching films – I’m always at the cinema, and this is a great time in the year for films because we are currently in the awards season! So what better time to start my blogging! I will also sporadically mention anything that interests me about music – from reviews of albums that I may buy – to any news on a popstars drugged up ways! (That’s the Perez in me coming out!) The top and bottom about this blog is that there is nowhere online that I have seen which gives the information that I love together on one website! I’m always flicking between various sites – from news sites to then trying to go to forums to find out what people think and then back to sites which have the official facts and figures! I thought it would hopefully save a lot of time if a lot of this information is located on one site – so here you have it!!! The “DAVID’S ARTS BLOG” ßInsert better name if you can think of one – im poo at thinking up names! HAHA