Musicals, Musicals, Musicals!

A nice little selection of show-dedicated pages I've made, all about some of my favourite shows and Musicals! I'm a huge fan of many, but especially the ones below. So, grab a coffee and please enjoy this selection of some of my favourite fan pages :)

Parade the MusicalSEE FULL PAGE

Hairspray (Musical)SEE FULL PAGE

Equus (Dan Radcliffe)SEE FULL PAGE

The Lion KingSEE FULL PAGE

RENT by Jonathan LarsonSEE FULL PAGE

Rent Remixed (London)SEE FULL PAGE

The Edinburgh Festival 2012SEE FULL PAGE

Theatre Bingeing...

This month, I've seen quite a lot of stuff at the theatre. I saw Viva Forever, A Chorus Line, Merrily We Roll Along, The Cripple of Inishmaan and Much Ado About Nothing...the latter was actually at the cinema...but it's Shakespeare, so still counts, right?

The reason I saw Viva Forever was out of curiosity, more than anything - I got a great ticket for £20 - fab! I was OK, but the lack of story made it pretty boring, if you want to hear about its misgivings, I wrote a mini review about it here. At the other end of the spectrum that day, was A Chorus Line, which quite frankly, made Viva look like a school play. But the saddest part is, shortly after, ACL announced it's closing! So sad.

Merrily was without a doubt the highlight of the month. It was glorious. The acting was so good. I was really taken with Josephina Gabrielle's portrayal of Gussie, the way she seemed to get more innocent and quieter throughout the show really was awesome to see...well crafted character acting. If you don't know what it's about, you'll see why that's so fascinating to watch.

Inishmaan was very good. Everyone has gone nuts over Daniel Radcliffe, but to be honest, I just didn't get him. His irish accent wobbled on a few occasions, and there was something weirdly introvert about the way he took the scene in his hotel room, where he kept coughing. It was like he forgot he was in a theatre. I don't know. Don't get me wrong though, he was good, I just don't get what all the fuss is about.

Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing was fantastic though. An understated movie. Filmed over 12 days at Whedon's house and featuring familiar faces, for all Angel fans. The black and white tone gave this film a simple and classy edge. I really enjoyed it, and can't wait to get it on DVD.

LOVE NEVER DIES - More Musical Movies - Broadway Theatre on DVD...to avoid!!

Ok...I have another bummer of a show that was filmed on DVD. If you love Andrew Lloyd Webber, you'd love this...if you don't...then burn it...

Broadway Theatre on DVD: LOVE NEVER DIES





In short, Andrew Lloyd Webber shouldn't have made this show. As a stand alone show on it's own, I guess it's not too bad, but the problem is, it's a sequel! Yes, a sequel! To the classica musical, Phantom.

The thing is, when you watch it, you get caught up in the story telling being so different to the previous incarnation. We all knew Ben Elton shouldn't be let near a musical since he vomitted on the stage, added a guitar, and called it "We Will Rock You".

You know, just to put it in a nutshell for you..it sucks!

NEVER FORGET - More Musical Movies - Broadway Theatre on DVD

Something a bit different this time, that I feel I must express...This Musical on DVD SUCKS...Don't watch. Bad production. Boring story...zzzzzzzzz

Broadway Theatre on DVD: NEVER FORGET

Ok, I confess. This is the DVD I watched last night that bored me so much, I started to think "Hey, I need to blog this, with my Musicals filmed for DVD, to warn people about this one".

Ok, ok, ok, it's a cute show. It's original...but let's not beat about the bush - this show is so boring, and dull. The music is OK, it's the music of Take That. If you're a Take That fan, great. If not, stay away.

I watched the DVD extras about how they made this show. They said that when they were writing it, they didn't want to shoehorn Take That's tunes into the story. What a load of crap! The story is about some guys making a Take That tribute band...so they don't shoehorn the songs, they just SING them, because they are pretending to be Take That, not to help tell the story! Lame! Some of the songs help the story, but mostly, the songs are presented in a "now the boys will sing Take That's song Babe"...puuuuhleeeeeeeeeease...come up with something clever. It's clear the producers wanted to make a Mamma Mia, but ended up making a mamma of a mess!

The cast are fine, there isn't one performer who stands out as an exceptional performance. The story is cheesy. Euuurghhh...don't waste your money on this. Unless you LOVE cheese - then it's riiiiight up your street!

COMPANY - Musical Movies - Broadway Theatre on DVD

Welcome to more from my selection of Broadway Theatre filmed LIVE. This series of blog posts is dedicated to Broadway Theatre that is on DVD, and has been filmed LIVE. This is not about filmic adaptations of Broadway Theatre. These DVDs will help you feel like you are at the theatre, watching the show.

This page is NOT about Hollywood, it's about BROADWAY...on DVD!

Just wanted to make that clear...kthxbai

Broadway Theatre on DVD: COMPANY

I saw this exact production on Broadway in 2008...it completely knocked me over. The whole cast play instruments, sing and act...the talent is phenomenal. The story is simple, but so beautifully told. There aren't many memorable songs from the show, but what this show perhaps lacks in memorable show tunes, more than makes up for in style, class and exquisite production value.

Gimme a break...

Please excuse this somewhat erratic post that I'm about to bestow onto you. My mind is running 20 to the dozen and thought it was high time I posted something, suffice to say I've been slack of late, is quite the understatement!

...As far as Art goes, I don't have too much report on my behalf, but I did visit my friend Jackie's excellent exhibition recently. We share a common interest of painting without a brush (woop woop), but she uses oils...I'm an acrylic boy, myself. Check out her stuff, it's great.

...As far as Theatre goes, I've been pretty busy. When I'm not seeing it (recent outings include: Jonathan Larson's 'Tick Tick Boom' (bravo, Leon) and a surprisingly good Gareth Gates in 'Joseph'), or being concerned about shows closing (poor 'Spring Awakening'), or distracting myself with intriguing announcements (Julie Taymor and U2 bringing us 'Spiderman the Musical' on Broadway(!!??) or the sublime Sheridan Smith opening in 'Legally Blonde - the Musical' in London), I've been hatching some directorial plans (possibly including a large cast, possibly not...cards-firmly-close-to-chest) and umming and ahhing about returning to the stage (y'aaargh, it's been at least 5 years and promised it was all behind me) in a potential Theatre Company 10 year anniversary reunion show...all in the light of 'Billy Elliott - the Musical' sweeping the board at the Tonys this week - winning 10 awards...!

My new website is very nearly ready to go live...as soon as it is, I'll post the link :)

Until such a time...

All Good Things...

...Must come to an End. If you didn't know already, my exhibition: "Love. A Condition of Absolute Value" (hence the picture I've added to this post) ends tomorrow, so if you haven't seen it, you have less than 24 hours to get down to ModMod on High Street, Columbus. It's been a long and at times, hard process, and I've learnt so much from the whole thing. For my first show, I must say, I'm very pleased. I can't wait to get my "Comments book" back and post some of them on here, there are some absolute classic...and of course, Jenny's epic comment, bless her. I'm off to WashingtonDC this weekend, so when I get back I'll enlighten you all.

In theatre news, this week I've heard that AvenueQ is to close in the next few weeks, sad news. I don't know what's up with the West End this year, but everything seems to be closing, or reducing it's runs. It looks like Hairspray is still going strong though, but who knows if the 'economic crisis' will take it as it's next victim. A strange rumour I heard this week also, is that Zac Efron is to take over from Daniel Radcliffe in Equus on Broadway...not sure I can see Disney letting THAT happen!

Theatrical musings...

I work in theatre. Although, actually right now I don't. Right now I'm travelling around America and am currently in Albuquerque (NM), it's fine, there's sun and a pool, so I'm happy. I like to keep myself up to date with all things theatrical goings on. I'm a preferer of Musicals, I must say. I'm sad that I can't make it to the Musical Theatre Festival in NYC, there are lots of new shows debuting, so I'm going to have to do some catching up. Whilst on Broadway earlier this year, I got round to see one of Broadway's biggest buzzes Spring Awakening. The show has also been on the radar lately as they have recently changed their cast, and in their re-review, it didn't go so well. It would seem their lead guy is phenomenal, he used to be on 'Pushing Daises', but I've never seen it, so I don't know. For a show that won 8 Tony Awards in 2007, isn't it a bit weird that the reviews weren't that favourable this year? hmmm...the fickle world of the Broadway Critic.