Lord of the Rings: The Stage Show

9+ hours of movies, three huge Tolkein books compressed into a West End production? Indeed it’s possible and the current show is very well done as well. Last Thursday I managed to see the latest book, turned movie, turned stage production based on JRR Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings. This show is set in three very compressed, though well timed acts, and broken up by two intermissions. It’s filled with entertaining characters, vivid costumes, finished off with a fantastic assortment of sets and visual effects. I especially liked the how-do-they-do-fly-and-glow fireflies at the start and the disapperance of Bilbo Baggins.

Most of the characters were well done though the Dutch-sounding Saruman and the Scottish Boromir sounded out of place on stage. The hobbits really looked the part – even though I’m sure they’re people of normal height, they somehow looked much shorter and stockier in their roles. Gollum, with the hard task of the voice and contortionist requirements did an amazing job playing his role. The Ents towered perfectly over everyone and though the orcs reminded me more of the hyenas out of The Lion King more than anything, still did an okay job.

A fantastic show that you have to see before it ends. It’s not like the books or the movie and is definitely a theatre experience worth seeing.

The Editors @ The Roundhouse

The Roundhouse is yet another magnificent venue walking distance from Camden station and recently reopened after renovations starting in 2004. On Wednesday I went there to see The Editors supported by two man band, I Was a Club Scout, and the bigger quartet, The Envy Corps. Out of all of the venues I’ve been to so far in London, this venue has a size ideal for more intimate gigs being slightly bigger than the Islington Academy. Only formed with two floors, the first is all standing directly underneath the dome, and the second being a circular row of seats. Most seats have a great view of the stage except for those unlucky enough to be directly behind the poles that hold up the roof.

The Editors

The support acts were not bad although most of the concert goers sat outside on the first level roof indulging in the long lasting sunshine and warm weather we’ve been having lately. I’m not quite sure how to rate The Editors – I found their set a strange choice combining their popular old songs with many of their new songs from their yet to be release album, An End Has A Start. Although I, like much of the audience, enjoyed many of their songs that I knew, I found it hard to react to songs that I’d never heard before. Watching from the second floor, the standing crowd also definitely didn’t know how to react with songs either receiving the all-arms-in-the-air treatment or the stand-and-listen-and-be-relatively-silent for all the new songs. They still played a decent set though I cannot say it was very memorable.

They still played well and I had a lot of fun listening to perform. I’ll now have to watch out for their new album.

TheKua.com Rating: 6 out of 10

Surprise Package!

About two months ago I read that the Arts Council were giving away 100 000 specially designed Oyster Card ticket wallets to celebrate their 60th anniversary. I applied not expecting to receive one and so was pleasantly surprised when I received one in the mail yesterday.

Arts Council Oyster Card Wallet by Michael Clarke

The page showing the wallets to be given out no long appears to be online. My oyster wallet was designed by Michael Clarke and is a birds eye view of London. Very cool to be carrying around!

Lime and Coconut Friands

This weekend’s weather has been very poor though apparently representative of classic English spring weather. Dreary grey skies, moderate to fairly heavy down pours put a damper on wanting to actually get out and do some stuff. Being slightly inspired to do something I thought I’d whip up a batch of some lime and coconut friands I used to make back home, and since I couldn’t find the recipe I previously used, adapted one found on the ABC website.

I had to improvise since I didn’t have a friand tin, though a small muffin tin worked out well. According to wikipedia, friands are popular in Australian cafes though I have seen a few in a number of French stores and cafes here in London.

Lime and Coconut Friands

Read on for the recipe. Read more “Lime and Coconut Friands”

Spiderman 3 @ The Electric Cinema

Spiderman 3 The MovieOn Tuesday I saw the latest Marvel comic based movie released by director Sam Raimi, Spiderman 3. I saw it at the amazingly stylish theatre on Portobello Road, The Electric Cinema, something I’ll write about another time and highly recommend anyone the cinematic experience it offers.

The movie met most of my expectations – some good visual effects, a nice adaptation of the comic book story to introduce and link some of the characters as best could be fit into a two hour movie, the standard cameo appearance of Marvel comic book writer Stan Lee and the poor acting and cheesy scenes that always seem to make it in.

It’s easy to say that none of the actors in the film will win any Oscars, and I think Tobey Maguire wins the award for worst overall performance with too many frustrating scenes of endless cheese. The choice of Thomas Haden Church to play new villain Sandman worked out really well, and very much looked the part after donning the classic green and black striped t-shirt though I though Topher Grace, playing Peter Parker and Spiderman’s nemesis Eddie Brock and Venom turned out as a poor choice as he was far too small to fill his role.

The movie, like most comic-based ones focuses excessively on the action with some fantastic fight scenes that are very enjoyable to watch, though the viewers need to suspend a certain amount of belief and logic to make it believable. The movie certainly wasn’t produced for die-hard fans and is a film worth watching if you want some light hearted action entertainment.

TheKua.com Rating: 6 out of 10

Parkour in Motion

Over the weekend I cross St Pauls on the way home and saw a bunch of guys practising the modern sport of Parkour in one of the gardens out front. They were leaping about the gardens and just having a go at random flips and some very impressive backflips.

Parkour in Motion

I have to admit it takes a certain amount of talent to do what they do and I’m glad I didn’t see anyone fall badly.

Porgy and Bess

The latest musical showing at The Savoy Theatre on the Strand is the apparently popular Porgy and Bess production. It’s set in the 1930s and revolves around the life of a group of African Americans, and the strange relationship that develops between the cripple and beggar, Porgy and wild seductress Bess after the murder of one of the town folk. From a story point of view, it shows the hardship of the poor, and something that I think is a rather tragic story all up.

Like most West End musicals, even on a Tuesday evening, the theatre was almost full. The audience was composed of much older people than many other West End shows I’ve been to, probably because I don’t think Porgy and Bess appeals to a much younger crowd. The music is entertaining, with a couple of songs that I’d recognised although I started to find them slightly monotonous towards the end.

I can’t recommend this show for everyone although it is something a little bit different.

TheKua.Com Rating: 6.5 out 10