February 17, 2009 by dafyd
A quick snippet of a track from the brilliant Avenue Q, which describes pretty well how I feel about job hunting at the moment…
On a related note, the West End production of Avenue Q closes at the end of March. If you haven’t seen it, go now. If you have seen it, go again – I’m fairly certain I’m going to…
Category 1 | Tags: avenueq,jobs,music,theatre | Comments Off
November 25, 2007 by dafyd
Laura and I went to see the new London revival (ah – an oxymoron) of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat last Friday. It was the Children in Need gala performance, with all ticket proceeds going to charity – it was also the only show before February that still had tickets…
It was pretty awesome (Lee Mead is a most excellent Joseph) – and this post is really to prompt me to blog about it more at some point in the not-too-distant future, as soon as I’ve got my uni work out of the way…
[Photograph by Tristram Kenton © The Really Useful Group Ltd 2007]
Category 1 | Tags: andrewlloydwebber,london,theatre | Comments Off
July 8, 2007 by dafyd
I was catching up on my podcasts on the bus to Montreal yesterday, including MusicalTalk (“the UK’s only independent musical theatre podcast”), which included a review of The Lord of the Rings.
As it appears I never actually finished my review of the show when I saw it in May, I suggest you listen to this. It’s pretty much exactly what I thought of it.
In summary, for those who can’t be bothered to listen: Gollum: excellent. Staging, tech, lighting: best ever, worth every penny. Accents: huh? Laura Michelle Kelly (aka Olivier-winning Mary Poppins): wasted in her part. Acting generally: too modern dance-like. Music: not really a musical – more a spectacle with music.
Anyway, yes, I heartily recommend The Lord of the Rings (whether or not it’s a musical) – it’s truly bigger as a show than anything else. And MusicalTalk‘s quite entertaining, especially when it features the awesomely awesome Martin Ball and the über-talented Emma Williams.
[Image (clicky for bigger): Galadriel (Laura Michelle Kelly) at Lothlorien]
Category 1 | Tags: lordoftherings,podcasts,reviews,theatre | Comments Off
June 9, 2007 by dafyd
Two things before we start: I love musicals, and I hate TV talent and reality shows. I can’t stand The X Factor, Pop Idol, Big Brother and so on. I would much rather be sitting at the back of the Apollo Victoria. Past experience of TV talent shows suggest they’re no very good at picking successful acts – Hear*Say, anyone?
Anyhoo, clearly I wasn’t too hot on the idea of a TV show casting a lead for The Sound of Music. And yet, watching How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, it was clear that we were looking at girls who could sing, who could act, and who could hold a stage with what John Barrowman excitedly calls “star quality”. Of the twelve Marias who were in the series, I think I’m right in saying that five are now performing in the West End, including, of course, Connie Fisher and her standby, Aoife Mulholland. Did they get their roles because of the TV competition? Connie, obviously, yes. The others? I don’t think so. Clearly the exposure helped, but they are more than talented enough to hold their own at an audition.
It didn’t hurt that Graham Norton was presenting the series, bringing a knowing degree of [something - can't think of the word] and just the right amount of camp. The panel – Barrowman, producer David Ian, and vocal coach Zoe Tyler – was clearly knowledgeable, not just pretty faces. And Andrew Lloyd Webber – well, he was Andrew Lloyd Webber.
So, I enjoyed How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?. The show was a success, winning awards and finding, clearly, the right actor to play Maria. Connie Fisher is going to be around in the West End for a long time (especially if, as is rumoured, Lloyd Webber revives Funny Girl with her in the lead).
But it was great as a one-off. I wasn’t too thrilled to learn that NBC – and then ITV – were going to be doing a similar show to find the two leads for Grease. And I definitely had mixed feelings about the BBC following Maria with a search for a lead for Lloyd Webber’s revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Joseph is very near and dear to me – it was the first musical I ever saw. I’ve seen it – I think – four times, and performed in amateur productions twice. And I know what Joseph should be like. Jason Donovan – yes. Philip Schofield – yes. Luke Goss – no. Stephen Gately – meh. Donnie Osmond – really no, even though he seems to have become the definitive Joseph (in the film).
But, once again, my fears were allayed by the series itself. Ten Josephs started in the series two months ago. Of those ten, I think there were three who I thought could be Joseph. Two have since been voted off the show, but Lee – who is Joseph – remains. The final is tonight. Let’s see what happens.
There was, I know, criticism and concern from within the acting profession – casting leads through a reality show devalues proper stage training and experience. But let’s face it: since the start of Maria, more than 30 shows have opened in the West End. Evita, Wicked, Spamalot, Avenue Q, Whistle Down the Wind, Little Shop of Horrors, The Lord of the Rings… Thirty shows (including the two biggest casts in West End history – The Lord of the Rings and Wicked), that must make about 500 acting roles. Two have been cast by talent show.
Update: Well, my faith in the British public is intact. Lee did win. Everyone is happy. Tickets for September, I think…
Category 1 | Tags: theatre,tv | 2 Comments
April 6, 2007 by dafyd
It appears that I have not made a bloggy post in a week (apart from yesterday’s video – I started this post before that…). Oops. I don’t even have Rob’s excuse of, you know, working. I have been posting on Twitter, not that it’s much help…
Anyhoo, my desk seems to be rather a mess at the moment, which ought to suggest I’m doing quite a bit. Alas, that’s not the case, but a guided tour of the mess seems to be an easy way to catalogue what I’m up to.
1 – Canadian Work Permit Application
I’m in the middle of applying for a Canadian work permit, to enable me to go and work in Quebec for a few months as soon as possible. With any luck, I should have the permit by the middle of May (I’m waiting for Nottinghamshire Police to confirm that I don’t have a criminal record…), and then I’ll be able to go and complete my year abroad in Canada. It’s been, to say the least, rather frustrating over the last few months, sitting around, knowing that I should and could be somewhere else improving my French and Arabic… but it looks like the wait is almost over.
2 – Microsoft Windows Vista
Yes. I upgraded to Vista when it was released at the end of January, having been using the beta and release candidate versions since last summer. It is a fairly funky overhaul of what we know as Windows – it looks pretty, even if it doesn’t necessarily add six years’ worth of missing features…
Anyway, Vista died on me last week, refusing to boot. So I formatted my hard drive and started again. Rather annoyingly, I’d deleted my backups about a fortnight ago, so I lost my work from between last Easter and now. Gah.
3 – Le Nouvel Observateur
Just because I’m at home, doesn’t mean I’m not keeping up with my French. Honest. We saw Mr Bean’s Holiday at the weekend, too – lots of French in that! (“La mer, qu’on voit danser le long des golfes clairs, à des reflets d’argent sous la pluie, la mer…“)
Also, just to join in with election fever… “Ségo, Ségo, Ségolène!” (she’s on the cover of the magazine…)
4 – Rushcliffe Borough Council Recycling2Go
I was bin-minding for some neighbours while they were on holiday, and their bin was not collected by the council. So I rang the council’s call centre, and they came and emptied the bin. True story.
5 – E.M. Forster’s Alexandria
Seeing as my essay on Alexandria was on the un-backed-up version of Windows, I lost it when I reinstalled Vista. So I’m writing it again. Typing in Arabic, at about one character every 30 seconds, is a very slow business…
6 – Mini Eggs
‘Cos it’s nearly Easter. Obviously.
7 – Sniffles
I think I’m coming down with / recovering from a cold. Meh.
8 – Theatre tickets
A group of us are going to see Avenue Q next Tuesday. I can promise that I’ll write something about it, but from past experiences, that’s unlikely to actually happen…
9 – Music
Music is good. For some reason, that small pile contains Wicked, Avenue Q, Little Shop of Horrors… and Bryan Adams. All of which are already on my computer (and backed up!), so I have no idea what the CDs are doing there.
Incidentally, on the right-hand monitor there is Twitteroo, a nice Windows-flavoured way of posting to Twitter. It’s the closest I could find to Twitterrific (for Macs), of which I am, frankly, rather jealous. And no, I still don’t really know what the point is of Twitter. Just that it’s strangely addictive.
Category 1 | Tags: desk,me,mess,theatre | Comments Off
February 9, 2007 by dafyd
I was muchly saddened this morning to hear of the passing of Ian Richardson, one of the UK’s greatest character actors of recent years. He died unexpectedly in his sleep, according to his agent.
He could always be counted on to bring a degree of gravitas to any role, from the grotesque Lord Groan in Gormenghast to the Magician in the Sunday afternoon drama The Magician’s House. He was most excellent as the traitor Bill Haydon in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy opposite Alec Guinness 25 years ago, just as he was as the Chancellor in Bleak House last year. Among his other roles were Dr Joseph Bell, the “real” Sherlock Holmes, in the Murder Rooms series, and Canon Black in the patently bizarre supernatural series Strange. Of course, he was perfect as Francis Urquhart, the Machiavellian (count how many of his obituaries use that word…) Chief Whip – and later Prime Minister – in the House of Cards trilogy… so perfect, that he would later complain that people assumed he was Urquhart.
When I read that Sky One were planning to adapt Terry Pratchett’s novel Hogfather, the biggest concern I had (among many) was who they would get to play Death, who speaks only in capital letters. Ian Richardson, of course, was born to play the role, and performed with aplomb.
When I saw his name in the Radio Times, I knew the programme would be top notch. British drama lost one of its true characters today. He will be missed.
Category 1 | Tags: ianrichardson,theatre,tv | Comments Off
September 17, 2006 by dafyd
So, it looks like Connie won the BBC’s How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, the televised competition to find the Maria for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new production of the Sound of Music.
For a change, I think the right person has actually won one of these talent shows! She was clearly the best from the very beginning.
I’ve missed the last couple of weeks, obviously, but it seems that the final was between Siobhan, Connie and Helena – both of whom were, I think, not very good in the first place. I’m intrigued, though, by a text I got from my mum a fortnight ago that read “Simone and Siobhan out”… which is weird, if she was in the final. Sigh.
Anyhoo – I’m going to have to find a chance to see the show now – along, of course, with Wicked and Spamalot. Sometime straight after Christmas, I think…
Category 1 | Tags: theatre,tv | Comments Off
August 20, 2006 by dafyd
Just a quick post to make sure that I don’t forget to write up Evita and Whistle Down the Wind from the 10th August. Otherwise, I’ll never remember. And that would be bad. Prod me.
Category 1 | Tags: theatre | Comments Off
February 5, 2006 by dafyd
No, not another Channel 4 greatest-ever films show. This was the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s Complete Hollywood (abridged) at the Theatre Royal Newcastle.
The RSC is very much a one-trick pony. They do the same thing, in much the same format, in all their shows: Shakespeare, the Bible, American history, classic books… and now the American film industry. Three young, Converse-clad Americans take the stage and dash, pantomime-style, through a subject that shouldn’t possibly fit into an hour-and-a-half. With Shakespeare, the original, it works brilliantly, as do the Bible and the books. But I think the problem they encountered here was how to make their show sufficiently different to, say, Scary Movie, or Naked Gun, or Young Frankenstein, or any of the many self-parodying films that Tinseltown has produced itself.
But that is not to say that this show doesn’t work. There are whole chuinks of the performance when the audience simply can’t stop laughing – the picture-perfect “silent movie”, complete with caption cards and train about to run over the “heroine”, or the world’s first (surely?!) live, on-stage “bullet-time” sequence.
But by trying to bolt a plot onto their sketches – the three actors are trying to make an “independent epic blockbuster” – it seems to lose itself. Not too much, but enough to slightly spoil the effect. Shakespeare (abridged) works because they take themselves seriously (ish), as does the audience. But here, telling the audience that they are all extras for this film serves only to unsuspend our disbelief (if you can actually say that).
There is a lot more audience participation in this show that in the others, with the whole front row on stage at one point, acting as zombies, and “Tony” (they’re all called Tony) standing in for a close-up. Morale: don’t sit on the front row, or wear a bright shirt!
There is a fabulous monolgue made up of memorable quotes, a fantastic running gag with a character called Mr Henderson (“Hellooo, Mr Henderson” – after all, “Mr Anderson” would be violating copyright) which the audience seems to get well before the punchline arrived… and when one of the “characters” is called Luke, you just know that “I am your father” well turn up eventually!
While possibly not quite up to the standard of previous Reduced Shakespeare productions, the Complete Hollywood (abridged) is nevertheless great fun. And you really should go – after all, “no one goes to the theatre anymore…”
Category 1 | Tags: theatre | Comments Off
