Les Miserables

Patrick Theatre, UK Life

Le MiserablesOn Wednesday my sister and I went to view probably the longest running (20 years!) musicals at West End, Les Miserables. We had fantastic centre tickets four rows from the front, giving us a perfectly clear view of the stage.

The theatre that hosts Les Miserables, The Queen’s Theatre, is aptly named because it is stunningly majestic. The two levels of circle seats as well as the stall seats are filled with chairs slightly offset from each other, giving people a better chance of viewing when they are unfortunately sitting behind tall people. I can say that the seats were extremely comfortable, though apparently not wide enough for some (the couple next to me seemed to overflow into my personal space, leaving me leaning to one side for most of the night). The intricately detailed ceiling is lit with a strange circular light, something that you really need to be there in person to fully appreciate.

Le MiserablesI had no idea what the story behind Les Miserables was about, but in short, it too was amazing. I can see the many reasons why it has been such a long running musical and won numerous awards. Between the story, cast, costumes, stage, lighting and orchestra, there was no one thing that I could really find much fault in. I think the stage transitions were probably the most impressive and powerful parts of this musical, with heavy use of the circular revolving floor allowing them to fade scenes in and out. One moment the audience is placed just outside some gates in one scene, and then suddenly, the audience is placed behind them, looking out. The sets that accompanied all the stage transitions were also just as stunning, really taking you to all the different places they depicted including a courtroom, a bar, the city at nighttime, the sewers, and a garden just to name a few. The cast were also just as impressive and obviously well rehearsed in all parts, and included a very professional young girl and boy playing children who would be no more than eight years old.

Les Miserables is one musical that may not suit all audiences as its story can be quite depressing, but I think people should still go to see it, at least just to appreciate how well a theatre production can be presented.

The Kua Rating: 9 out of 10

Midweek Theatre: James Thiérrée’s La Veillée des Abysses

Patrick London To Do, Theatre, UK Life

Once again visiting the Peacock Theatre, which likes to play host to visually spectacular events, I saw with my sister last night, James Thiérrée’s La Veillée des Abysses. It is best classified as a theatrical comedy. Take your typical theatrical comedy, remove all the dialogue and add a liberal dose of circus skills. Just like Momix, this show had amazing sets and leveraged each part of the stage, including the airspace above the audience. It certainly had much larger set changes, and focused on individual items to create clever and humourous situations.

This show had apparently once shown at Southbank and its popularity and positive reviews deemed it fit enough to return to London for another short screening. I think my most favourite aspect of this show is that with only five performers, the audience was constantly laughing and it was all through the use of visual comedy. It amazes me at how well the director and writer of the show could get five completely different performers (such as a contortionist, an acrobat, and a musician singing opera and playing the piano) delivering a seamless show that was visually rich and yet emotionally entertaining.

Momix – Opus Cactus

Patrick Theatre, UK Life

Add the maturity, style and choreography of Circ Du Solei but without the circus acts, add stunning lighting and visual tricks performed on stage by a set of dancers, all backed by a soundtrack as if made by Buddha Bar’s Claude Challe himself and that only begins to describe what the Momix show is all about. This visually rich show is held at the Peacock theatre, and my sister got us bargain stall tickets normally retailing for more than at least £30 for only £10.

It is much too difficult to describe what the show is about – perhaps it is best classified as contemporary dance as there is no singing and no real acting, but then it is not so much about the dancing than it is about the visual tricks that have been mastered by the performers. Their costumes and props in combination with the detailed lighting and music, take you from the real world where you are sitting and plunge you into a surreal world where what you see on stage may not be what you think.

A show that is best explained if you watch if for yourself and something that I can highly recommend.

What the Butler Saw at The Criterion

Patrick Theatre

Tonight my sister and I caught a preview of the play, ‘What the Butler Saw’ held at the Criterion Theatre. Our £10 tickets got us fairly close to the front and proved to be a rather entertaining night. I had no preconceptions of the play, and it was only until recently that I found out that the English colloquialism ‘What the Butler Saw’ refers to seeing something with voyeuristic connotations.

The play follows the script written well over thirty years ago by Joe Orton starting off with a psychiatrist’s misguided attempt to seduce his secretary. Thrown in his drunk and floozy wife, a young and ambitious Bell boy, the doctor’s overzealous reviewer from the city department, a dim-witted policeman, a handful of lies begetting lies, plenty of slamming doors and quick wit and you get an idea of what this classic English farce offers to its audience.

The script is extremely quick with rarely a moment for neither the audience, nor the cast members to actually breathe. The plot builds up momentum quickly and will have the audience laughing at the awkward situations in which the doctor tries to untangle himself with but finds him even more involved with lie after lie. The ending comes rather suddenly and slightly unbelievably but is still a good show to go and watch for those that appreciate British humour.

The Rat Pack @ The Savoy

Patrick Theatre

My sister and I were standing in queue for half price tickets on Saturday, and somehow ended up with some for one that we didn’t really know much about, The Rat Pack. Set at the Sands Hotel, this musical takes you back in time to a place to be entertained by the three great singers, Frank Sinatra, Samy Davis Jr, and Dean Martin (all accompanied by the Borelli Sisters). This musical will disappoint if you are after acting genius, with its story really setting the scene for classic songs to be performed including “Under My skin”, “Once if a Lifetime”, “The Candyman”, “Mr Bojangles”, “Amore”, and “New York, New York”.

Of what acting actually happened was quite well done, with all the little characteristics of each singer very well detailed. Sinatra had his strong New-Yorkian accent, even throughout his singing, Martin, his, if not overdone, constant half-drunk state for which he was well known by, and then the charismatic and energetic performances of Samy Davis Jr. The costumes were just as well attuned to each person, Sinatra’s being the most finest with gold cufflinks and a full suit, Dean Martin still classic but a little more rough around the edges, to the white socks and slightly short pants of Samy Davis Jr.

This performance is definitely not a musical for everyone and especially unlikely to appeal to anyone in my age group, but I still enjoyed the show for both its small bits of comedic acting and the stunning singing ability of the actors. Be warned though, that a number of big fans of each of these singers may attend, and sitting next to them can be hazardous to your health, as my sister will tell you, (unfortunately having to listen to their awful singing!)

The Doves @ The Arena

Patrick Music

The DovesThis weekend is the big Splendour in the Grass festival held in the camping fields of Byron Bay. Although I managed to miss out getting tickets because they all sold out on the first day, I was not terribly disappointed as the line up is not as it has been in the last few years. One of the side benefits of Splendour though, even if you do miss out on the actual festival itself, is the sideshows that a number of the artists do. So last night I went out to go see the Doves perform at The Arena.

With doors opening at 8, I was surprised when the support act, Neon, came on in shortly after and churned out a decent set that lasted for at least an hour. Having seen them more recently support Motorace, before that Jebediah, and then Muse last year, I am definitely impressed by how much exposure and popularity they seem to be gaining. The Doves, on the other hand, have not had much airplay in Australia for a while, even with their latest album, Some Cities released earlier this year.

It didn’t take long for the stage to be set for the main act and it was in no time at all, dazzling beams of light welcomed the full four person band to the stage. Describing the style of the Doves’ music is pretty difficult. Take your traditional brit pop rock, weave in the synthetic sounds of an electronic keyboard, throw in a little drum and bass and you still have something that doesn’t quite capture it. But don’t let this unusual mix stop you from watching an otherwise professional performance. You can easily distinguish the quality of the Doves performance from many traditional Australian bands, with every song carefully selected to move the audience, and accompanied by a co-ordinated yet effective light show that stunned the crowd. Another great performance to have seen at The Arena!

Lior @ The Soundlounge

Patrick Music

LiorLast night I managed to catch Lior play yet another gig, this time at The SoundLounge down on the Gold Coast. It was my first time to have gone to anything at The SoundLounge, a really intimate venue nestled within the Currumbin RSL (of all places!). As tacky as it sounds, it was a really amazing venue. A maximum of about three hundred people would have fit in there, and is perfect for a mellow evening accompanied by some fantastic music. Last night almost everyone was sprawled across the ground, encouraged by the small collections of comfortable bean bags, and solid looking, yet difficult to balance on cube cushions surrounding several knee-high level tables. After playing The Metro as his last gig, Lior appreciated his ability to be able to see his audience and interact with them in a more personal manner.

The last time I saw Lior, I missed the support act, the Dave Mann Collective perform, and after watching them (although this time it was just Dave Mann on his own) perform, I was terribly disappointed that I did miss seeing them last time. His style of music reminded me of people like Jack Johnson, the John Butler Trio and Xavier Rudd although his voice had a lot more force to it.

After Dave Mann performed, it was Lior’s turn and once again stunned the crowd with his amazing vocal range. The crowd lapped up his unique style of music that is best described as a Middle Eastern influenced roots style. As good as his CD is (and it really is good!), Lior and his band are guaranteed to give you and even better experience seeing them live, combining both the improvisation and such variation to their normal songs. Lior performed almost all of his songs from his current album, Autumn Flow and even performed his own variation of Neil Young’s Needle And The Damage Done that he composed for Triple J a couple of weeks back. An awesome performance!

The Kua Rating: 9 out of 10!

Motorace @ The Zoo

Patrick Music

MotoraceI knew that I would be in for another late night when I saw the tickets for tonight’s concert said doors open at 8:30pm (especially considering what time it is right now!). . The Zoo played host tonight’s acts consisting of Motor Ace and awesome support band Neon (wow, their website took a while to google). Even though Neon are mainly supporting many other bands at the moment (I also caught them at Jebediah a couple of weeks back), they have great music and know how to get the crowd rocking.

It has been a while since we had heard much from Motor Ace. Their last album was produced two years ago and the band has been through a lot since then, having dissolved, getting back together and somehow managing to find enough inspiration and effort for their latest album, Animal. When Motor Ace finally got on stage (almost at midnight mind you!), the crowd was more than ready for them. The crowd’s hunger was soon appeased with some songs from their first album, Five Star Laundry, followed by some songs from their latest album and then a select few from Shoot This. It was obvious this crowd had been following the band for sometime, with pretty much everyone I saw knowing most of the words to all of the songs played from previous albums. Another bargain act that is completely worth seeing for the measly $22 they were charging. I’d also keep a look out for their new album (its songs sounded were more reminiscent of their first album more so than their second though).