From the light-hearted rock musical Rock of Ages yesterday to the more serious and considered Driving Miss Daisy I don’t think we could have a largest contrast in theatre performances! The main reason I wanted to see Driving Miss Daisy was to witness two legends of screen and stage in action – Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones (that voice!) And they were pretty awesome. We scored some seats in the Balcony so we were privileged to see them up close and personal (even if sometimes they did wander a bit too far to our side that they disappeared from our view!)

The story of Driving Miss Daisy itself is nothing more than a vehicle (pardon the pun) for the actors on stage to really strut their stuff. Back in the day it would have been quite a politically relevant story – an elderly affluent caucasian woman employs an African American chauffeur and over the years of civil rights movements and desegration of their two communities come to form a strong personal bond despite the existing political climate. But the story is more a focus on their forming relationship than the political background – and thus the vehicle for the two leads to really show us their worth. The to and fro between Redgrave and Jones was just something to behold – there was something about their chemistry and balance that was just simply enchanting.

A lovely evening.

I managed to score some free tickets to Rock of Ages so even if it ended up being completely horrible then it was no real big loss (except for time-wasted of course.) To our great pleasure we ended up having a lovely night and of course Laney was in quite her element as there is quite a sing a long aspect to this musical. What is great about the musical is that they do their best to really involve the crowd – for example, when we were sat down they handed out “lighters” (they looked and felt like lighters but were in fact like mini light beacons) so we could wave them in the air at the appropriate moment – just like an actual concert and of course throughout they encourage the crowd to really get into the songs, in fact they quite often broke the “fourth wall” to speak directly to the audience.

The introduction was quite funny. Something along the lines of “If you don’t like us we are We Will Rock You (in case you don’t catch the reference this is the other rock musical that is out at the moment.) If you do like us, we are Rock of Ages!!”. And then for the traditional lines around turning off your phone they had converted it into Rock of Ages speak – if you answer your phone you’re a douche etc. It’s nice to see the customisation at the start.

Despite the similarities in titles, Rock of Ages is completely different to We Will Rock You. Where We Will Rock You is almost a political statement on society and compliance (set in the future where everyone dresses and thinks the same and where music is forbidden or unknown), Rock of Ages takes the more traditional Hollywood story of two youngsters searching for stardom in LA although There was some sort of political statement in there about how big corporations are bad (via the big bad developer who was trying to tear down the Strip.) Music-wise We Will Rock You is based on the songs of Queen, Rock of Ages more on the 1980s classic rock hits of such rock stars as Bon Jovi, Pat Benatar, Poison etc.

In other ways the two musicals are quite similar with the fact that neither really takes itself seriously, both had great bands, singers and dancers. Shout out to the narrator, Simon Lipkin, in Rock of Ages – hilarious and fantastic.

The drawcards to Rock of Ages are menat to be Justin Lee Collins and Shayne Ward, known famously of course for his stint on X Factor and also for just being a generally a beautiful looking guy. Ha. He was actually almost unrecognisable in his get up and whilst I can’t say he was extremely convincing he really did give his all to his character. But the star of the show had to be Simon Lipkin as the narrator who really brought a great comedic spin to the dialogue. Overall, cast performances were great.

This is not the type of musical which the critics are going to love but the most important audience, the general public, will. Especially if they are up for a feel good experience, rocking in (and out) of their seats to some fine classic rock songs and some great laughs. Okay yes there are a lot of stereotypes and cliches going on but hey this just added to the comedic factor – this is not meant to be taken seriously and it doesn’t try to pander to this.

Come along for a rockin’ unashamedly good time.

Not the most awesome of musicals I’ve seen but this tribute to a range of female “divas” such as Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Dolly Parton, Whitney, Diana Ross, Madonna and Beyonce is touching and sweet enough that you don’t mind too much (especially for those of us with discount tickets!)

There is no real story to the musical and they did tend to wander from one song to another without a real sense of connection. Other than that it was a touch of nostalgia in the air as all four leading ladies, Sheila Ferguson, Denise Pearson, Katy Setterfield and Zoe Birkett (who I recognised from her stint as part of the original cast of Priscilla) belted their hearts out. The ladies were also ably supported by Andy Abraham (2nd in X Factor in 2005) who played host.

Let’s face it you don’t come to a show like Respect La Diva for the story but a chance to walk down memory lane and hear those classic songs of the past. If that’s all you’re looking for then you’ll definitely enjoy your evening.

Laney and I went to see The Flying Karamazov Brothers (FKB) tonight at the Vaudeville Theatre. Once again I didn’t really know what I had booked us in for but I was quite pleased to find that we had a very enjoyable night. In short The FKB are a comedic juggling group. The show was witty and funny and included jokes which showed tailoring to the audience, namely English culture. The juggling required incredible co-ordination and the brothers also demonstrated considerable musical skills with the piano, trombone, tuba, alto sax, guitar and recorder all making an appearance – there was one particular set which had each other playing someone else’s instrument whilst keeping balls in the air! In fact, quite a few of the acts demonstrated the link between the rhythm of music and the rhythm of juggling. They even juggled dry ice and a cava (which eventually exploded.) Not every set was a hit, I mean there was this scene where the boys all donned ballet costumes and flitted around on stage. Not sure what this was about.There was also crowd interaction with audience members being invited to submit items for juggling, with the finale involving one lady getting up stage to have flaming items juggled past her.

Overall just the kind of light-hearted entertainment that we were looking for.

Janet Jackson is an absolutely legendary singer and her music played a large part of my life in the 1990s. I couldn’t believe it when I heard that she was coming to the Royal Albert Hall for a concert. I was immediately on the website looking for tickets but was put off by the very expensive prices! Jo wanted to see Janet too so we comprised and got tickets Circle … which is only one level down from Standing! and it was still nearly £60 …

Doors opened at 7.00 for a 7.30 start. We thought that she might have had a support act but to our surprise there was no one! Finally, after 50 minutes, Janet made her appearance on stage! I couldn’t believe how good she looked – you’d hardly believe that she was already 45 years old!

I went to one Janet concert when I was about 16 years old. I know – a long time ago! And I remember how amazing the concert was from the cool sets, to our outfits to her way over the top energetic dancing. It was so theatrical and more than just Janet getting up on stage and singing/dancing. We didn’t really get this tonight … perhaps it was the venue which was limiting and yes there was smoke, there was a dance troupe, but it was fairly stock standard. Apart from the fact that there were a lot of videos that were used to fill in time – like showing all her clips from when she was on TV (like on Different Strokes), and her movies (Mo’ Money), and all her photo shoots. Each clip went for what felt like 10 minutes. If I had to guess I’d say Janet was on stage for about 70 minutes at most?

However, that is not to say we didn’t have a good time. It was fantastic to hear Janet live again. She has lost none of her voice or her moves and she was very gracious to the audience – blowing loads of kisses, saying she loved us, tagging those in the front row etc. but she didn’t really chat much (so it was more Up Close and less Personal.)

From the audience reaction she is still a much-loved icon which was really lovely to see. When she sang Scream in duet with Michael – the crowd reaction was just ridiculous. Fan loyalty was very touching. Her encore was a tribute to Michael, singing Together Again with arms outstretched to the air – so beautiful.

It was a nice trip down memory lane and if there was anything Janet inspired me to do tonight, it was to get out all her old stuff and onto my iphone!

PS Disappointingly no wardrobe malfunctions! 😉

I’d been very worried that the weather would ruin our evening at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre tonight but thankfully we arrived at the park to this …

… and thankfully conditions stayed pretty much like that for the rest of the evening.

The Open Air Theatre was a very fitting venue for tonight’s Lord of the Flies theatre performance. The outdoor element of the theatre really emphasised the island feel and though I couldn’t quite say that I felt like I was only the island with them (we were sitting too far away for that! Side note: Great tapering on the seats!) it certainly felt like we were perhaps sitting on a boat not too far from shore. Heh heh.

The set was quite awesome to be honest. They’d even dragged on what seemed like to be the back part of the plane but could have equally been a cleverly built set. I love the luggage strewn all over the ground and clothes up in the trees. And for a set which really couldn’t take too much the production crew did well to transport us from one part of the island to another with just a few changes in the scenery and where the cast members were standing.

Most people are pretty familiar with the story behind Lord of the Flies and it’s a rare person (Laney being one of them!) who has neither studied the book at school nor seen any of the film adaptations with the 1990 version starring Balthazar Getty being the most recent. In contrast with Laney I both studied and the book and saw the movie! The basic story is that a group of British school boys are stranded on a deserted island who have to learn to survive, and more importantly, learn to govern themselves. It’s a commentary on human nature and the effect of selfishness versus the greater good. The dark themes are strong in this one.

There was some very decent character acting by the kids who displayed a certain amount of maturity in their acting that I was quite surprised by. The play is also very physical requiring the young actors to run and leap absolutely everywhere. And they all handled it with aplomb. The other unexpected element of the play was the number of musical scenes which involved much music, dancing and chanting. Along with the lighting it really added to the menacing tone over the overall play. Very well choreographed.

An all around fantastic evening of theatre.

I’ve never saw the hugely popular tv show The Wire, but knew enough of it to recognise lead Dominic West. When I saw he was going to be in a play on West End of course I jumped at the chance to go see it – without even reading what the play was about! Rehana was my willing accomplice.

Butley is revival of a play from the 1970s about an alcoholic English lecturer Butley, played by West, who loses his wife, and as we find out later, his male lover in the same day. He is both a bully and a coward, self-destructive, hypocritical and yet strangely charming. I couldn’t help be lured in by West’s energetic and lunacy! Seriously.

Centering around an English lecturer the play is very very wordy so you can’t check your brain at the door. I think it kind of helps if you had studied some English literature as there are many references during the play to various pieces. There must have been some English teachers or professors in the crowd tonight because there were certainly some rather outrageous and over the top laughter at particular moments that you suspect were insider joke moments.

The cast was very impressive and everyone really embraced his or her character. West and his timid male “lover”, played by Martin Hutson. The play itself was incredibly witty but as I said you have to concentrate to make sure you catch everything.

Overall an entertaining evening all around.

A new play by American playwright Neil LaBute, In A Forest, Dark And Deep tells the story of a sibling rivalry which takes you to some very dark and nasty corners which you certainly don’t see coming. All throughout the play (over an hour and a half straight with no interval) there are some serious dark undertones (encouraged by the storm raging on set) which keeps you on edge as you wonder where Neil is taking you. Olivia Williams is Betty who is packing up her “holiday home”. She calls her brother, Bobby (Matthew Fox) to help her out. Only, he can’t quite understand why he has called her – they have never got along and even with the first few words they are soon bickering and arguing. She is a college dean, an intellectual, settled, with children. He is a sexist carpenter anti-intellectual. As the play moves on slowly slowly secrets, dark secrets, of immorality and hidden desires are revealed.

The play is at once intriguing and uncomfortable. Because of the subject matter and the intensity of the performances, credit to Matthew Fox and Olivia Williams for delivering a very engaging performances, and because we were right in their vision it almost felt like you were a dirty little voyeur, or at best a third wheel on a very involved date. I’m not sure I walked out of the play liking either character, which happens when you play along the edges of morality, but I did walk out liking both of the actors. The best parts of this dark disturbing play.