Was planning to see Avenue Q and We Will Rock You on the wednesday, Wicked on Christmas Eve and Hairspray on Boxing Day night.. but me getting so caught up in the whole thing bought a ticket on impulse to Sister Act for the Boxing Day Matinee. Opps :-S haha
I'm trying to take photos of every west end (and un-official west end) theatre there is to make a mini map. It's actually quite fun hunting them all down :-)
So far i have found 14 i think.. still many more to go. Hopefully track them all down on Christmas Day and the morning of Boxing Day.
Avenue Q in London is something. I knew it was going to be different.. but this was wack! Gary Coleman is actually played by a guy.. and all of his lines are different! Of course the choreography for the entire show is different to that back home, but every scene is something new! When we have the animals and boxes singing, they have 3 actors (all mains.. no ensemble/swings ever get on stage except for one girl!) come out holding box puppets.. it's so bizaar. It's easier to explain once you see my picture box i have from the show. Also they don't rely much on the animation on the screens like we do.. the way they do the purpose to propose scene is hilarious! A bride and groom with faces covered wander out as Princeton is having his freakout and remove the veils over their faces.. it's giant kate monster and princeton! It's classic! And then suddenly this massive kate monster begins to tear the top of the building off like in old thriller/sci fi movies.. it's insane! One of my favourite scenes for the entire show!
Their set is rather odd.. very much like the original which i wasn't really a fan of. I think the aussie set is better suited to the show. But i do have to say.. even though i hated christmas eve's outfits.. her wedding dress kills the competition!! It actually has lights all through it and glows! :-P Kate Monster looks odd.. her hair isn't tied back all the way so she sort of looks ratty.. but Cassidy (who plays Kate Monster) did an amazing job. Still think Michala is a god ;-) At first i thought 'oh, the aussie production is so much ruder' but the way the brits pull off some of the lines and the actions they do.. they take the cake. Except their puppet sex scene.. i wasn't a fan. Didn't seem to be as polished as the one back home.
Went to stage door after the show, got a few sigs and photos and then headed off to WWRY which was 10 mins away.
WWRY.. umm.. I'm still speechless over this show! I knew how good it was.. but i didn't know it was going to be THAT GOOD! The cast were all on song, hitting every dance move.. the costuming was out of this world. I saw 2 understudies for the night, and you could never tell that
they were understudies. I had understudies for Killer Queen and Meat.
It was so hard to pick a favourite performer and/or a favourite character for the night.. but i've always been a fan of Meat and Scaramouche. Scaramouche for her sarcasm and individuality, Meat for her costuming and determination. Really struggled to hold back the laughter when Meat did her thing.. makes me laugh to think that Amanda Harrison played that role once. She must have been a sex kitten in it to be pulling off those moves ;-)
The story is pretty well written, very far fetched.. but still follows a plot. At one point i got lost.. but i think that was cause i spent too much time watching the dance rather than following the story haha. But the way they have updated it over the years to coenside with today's society and world news is very smart.. keeps the show fresh over the years :-)
Loved the music.. because i knew the songs. Even though you didn't get to hear bohemian rhapsody in the show (you did after curtain call).. the entire show revolved around that one song. Ben Elton did a smashing job :-)
Went to stage door but as i was standing there it began to rain. Tried to do my best
to get sigs on my poster.. but the pen ink wouldn't stick on a wet poster :-( I gave up on photos.. was too hard to try and organise.
Even though it was raining, some of the cast still stopped to 'try' and sign my wet poster. Had a decent chat with Peter Murphy (Galileo.. also an aussie from the gold coast), Sabrina Aloueche (Scaramouche) and Jeanna De Waal (i think it was her.. so many blondes in the cast it's confusing! haha) about the show, where i was from and about West End in general. They begged me to come back to the show on Boxing Day but i already had tickets for 2 shows that day :-( But they did say they expected to see me back again soon.. especially in 2 years time (if they were still around West End) if i came over with NIDA for study.
Jumped on one of the final trains for the night and headed back to the house. Packed all my gear that night for the move to the hostel the next day.
Avenue Q in London is something. I knew it was going to be different.. but this was wack! Gary Coleman is actually played by a guy.. and all of his lines are different! Of course the choreography for the entire show is different to that back home, but every scene is something new! When we have the animals and boxes singing, they have 3 actors (all mains.. no ensemble/swings ever get on stage except for one girl!) come out holding box puppets.. it's so bizaar. It's easier to explain once you see my picture box i have from the show. Also they don't rely much on the animation on the screens like we do.. the way they do the purpose to propose scene is hilarious! A bride and groom with faces covered wander out as Princeton is having his freakout and remove the veils over their faces.. it's giant kate monster and princeton! It's classic! And then suddenly this massive kate monster begins to tear the top of the building off like in old thriller/sci fi movies.. it's insane! One of my favourite scenes for the entire show!
Their set is rather odd.. very much like the original which i wasn't really a fan of. I think the aussie set is better suited to the show. But i do have to say.. even though i hated christmas eve's outfits.. her wedding dress kills the competition!! It actually has lights all through it and glows! :-P Kate Monster looks odd.. her hair isn't tied back all the way so she sort of looks ratty.. but Cassidy (who plays Kate Monster) did an amazing job. Still think Michala is a god ;-) At first i thought 'oh, the aussie production is so much ruder' but the way the brits pull off some of the lines and the actions they do.. they take the cake. Except their puppet sex scene.. i wasn't a fan. Didn't seem to be as polished as the one back home.
they were understudies. I had understudies for Killer Queen and Meat.
to get sigs on my poster.. but the pen ink wouldn't stick on a wet poster :-( I gave up on photos.. was too hard to try and organise.
hey kiddo,
ReplyDeletelet me know how your friday goes. Wish you had that present to open, now hoping it gets back to oz ok!! Home all day tomorrow, but I know your day is going to be supr busy. x x x