The 2003 film of the same name brought to the main stream attention the story of a group of Yorkshire women who produced a calendar to raise money for cancer research. The reason it generated so much interest was the fact that these ordinary middle-aged non-model women posed naked for the calendar! The film has many awards … I’ve never seen it but I’m really hoping the film was more engaging than the stage production.

That’s right – I was a little bored by the play. I thought I was being a little insensitive to the subject matter but apparently I wasn’t the only one that thought that – all of us who saw it tonight agreed!

However that’s not to take away from any of the actresses (including Jerry Hall, Jill Halfpenny, Jill Baker, Anita Dobson, Sara Crowe, June Brown and Gemma Atkinson in tonight’s incarnation) and actors on stage. Lines were beautifully delivered, characterisations were spot on and the posing for the calendar was handled very professionally. I just can’t understand what it was about the play that failed to engage me – maybe it was just too sad and sentimental? I think it was wondering throughout the whole production how the on-stage presentation differed from the movie and also thinking why did they bother?

I love the dancing performances at the Peacock Theatre so I thought I’d introduce Rita and Rache to something a little different. Insane in the Brain is the title of the dance unit Bounce’s interpretation of a hip hop version of the classic story “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” The story, set in a mental asylum, and its characters provide a rich backdrop for a number of creative interpretative pieces. It was so popular it came around the first time last year that it was back at the Peacock Theatre for another telling.

Bonce is a dance collective recently responsible for a Michael Jackson tribute in Stockholm. You can catch it here:

Its pretty cool!

But back to Insane in the Brain. The show opens with five dancers who are identity-less but for the white masks on their faces. Playing with our perceptions the dancers deliver a number that has them presenting their backs as their fronts and their fronts as their backs. This way we are slowly introduced to the mental hospital and its inmates who are struggling to find a way to rebel against the mean head Nurse Ratched and her crew of “heavies.” Entering the scene is a man who has faked insanity to escape a prison term and after this the hospital is never the same again.

The show is a bit hit and miss but mainly hit. And when the dance numbers hit you will be amazed and impressed. Not only are the cast supremely talented but the pieces, choreography and use of the set, are innovative, brilliant and great fun.

It would be difficult to explain the dance pieces but they ranged from what appeared to be a simple set up but actually required an amazing amount of skill and concentration – people in their bed dancing but the moves required and muscle control and strength required to keep the timing right and energy up must have bee incredible – to innovate use of the set – such as the dancing down a leaning wall and nearly falling to their faces on the ground. For example, for most of this last dance the dancers were practically 90 degrees to the ground! There was another dance piece which involved a guy dancing on crutches, there was a bollywood scene, there was this amazing rock and roll segment which was WAY loud but high impact. The dancers at one stage even “escaped” into the audience to “watch a film”. The film was one of the misses of the show I thought. Although it was cool to see the dancing on the film it went on for way too long.

Over all Insane in the Brain was entertaining and worth the ticket entry. Fantastic soundtrack too!

I’m not going to pretend that I came to see Naked Boys Singing for any reason other than what it says on the box – to see nekkid boys … singing! Heh heh. Naked Boys Singing has been a huge off-Broadway hit in New York (apparently its into its 10th year now) and even spawned a movie in 2007 (though I don’t know recall it being publicised much.) I can’t recall exactly when it was brought across to London but it started with a run at the Kings’ Head theatre in Islington and then was transferred to the West End after apparent success.

Unlike the New York version the London version of Naked Boys Singing does not feature naked boys in the show from the get go. All the boys start the show fully clothed and, except for some moments of shirt lifting or shirtless-ness, they remain so until about 50 minutes into the show and then all is revealed and I mean ALL. The show lasts about 70-75 minutes and I’m actually glad that they weren’t naked for the whole show because actually it was more than just about gratuitous nudity, despite the cheeky opening number. I’m not sure how much I would have absorbed if the flesh was revealed early on because, and I can admit it, after the great reveal I did lose my concentration and train of thought for about five minutes so I have no idea what was sung or said in that five minutes (I couldn’t help it – the boys had such different “talents” …) but a while I got the hang of being able to watch AND listen again 😀

Nudity aside I truly enjoyed the musical. It was smart, funny, had engaging show tunes (loved “Nothing But The Radio On” and characters you could genuinely like. For the most part the performances were very engaging and remember at this stage they still had their kit on. The musical starts off with an audition process, then rehearsal, then finally the great reveal. Through the rehearsal we hear the stories of how they all come to like being naked – whether it was the “naked maid”, the Jewish boy who loved the thrill of the brisk, the porn star, or the boy trying to attract his neighbour all stories were witty and fun to listen to. There were five core characters plus the Stage Manager running the auditions and the Piano Player. One of the more moving moments was the romantic piece about the boy getting his man as represented by a ballet piece which required another two of the cast to get very up close and personal.

The show could have been awkward but the clearly the cast are very close-knit and extremely professional so they handled it, so to speak, quite well.

Quite a charming show though note the audience is likely to be 90% male, 5% hen night and 5% random curious others, like Rache and I.

So earlier this week Rache tried to get us standby ticket to Hamlet at the Donmar but it proved too popular and we missed out. This time she got there for 7.45am! over an hour earlier than on Tuesday. She STILL wasn’t the first person in line! Two friends of Rache’s were also supposed to turn up to get tickets (each person can get a maximum of six tickets and there were five of us planning to go) but they never did. Rache did some fast talking and managed to get a person in the line to nap an extra ticket so she had three in total. Thankfully that meant that Rita and I could go along with Rache.

Hamlet, the season, at the Donmar has I think been sold out for quite a while and with a draw card such as Jude Law its no wonder. The tickets we were going for, there are about 30 released every day, are literally standing tickets with about ten in the Stalls and twenty Upper Circle which is where we ended up. To say that to stand for over three hours was going to be tough work was a bit of an understatement.

This is the view that we had:

Actually, it wasn’t too bad in the end. Yes it was a bit uncomfortable to be standing for the whole play (shoes came off within about ten minutes of the play starting) and yes the people in the back row of the upper circle could get in the way but there is actually a freedom to be standing. It was kind of cool.

As for the play itself – let me just say that I was sooooo glad that I read a cliff note’s version of Hamlet to refresh myself on the story. The language of Shakespeare is not exactly something I read or listen to everyday and so takes absolute concentration on my part to keep up. I did find myself drifting off now and then during the play but luckily it didn’t interrupt the feel or flow of the play at all. It was a very good production but mostly I was impressed with Jude Law. He was absolutely amazing. I think it was because he absolutely threw himself into the role – physically and emotionally. As a result he kind of outshone the other actors but I forgive him that. 🙂

Utterly charmed.

A big giant tent, or two (one for the bar), sits in Kensington Gardens this summer to host a new stage production of Peter Pan. I’ve never really thought about why there’s a bronze Peter Pan statue in Hyde Park. Apparently it was gifted to the park by J.M. Barrie who wrote Peter Pan, inspired by his relationship with a family that began in Kensington Gardens. And now the circle is complete with the production of Peter Pan.

First the positive points. The theatre itself is cool, very cool. The stage is in the round so the audience sit pretty much all the away around it like a traditional circus. However, also wrapping around the upper half of the tent is a 360 degree screen on to which is projected the relevant background scene whether it’s the sky as the kids and Peter fly off to Neverland over London (truly spectacular), or the water as they sink to the depths of the ocean or the greenery of the jungle in Neverland. With the circus-theme to the tent there is also lots of acrobatics as the cast bounce up and around the tent.

My favourite cast member? The puppet dude especially his crocodile (remember the one with the clock as its heart and who eats Captain Hook’s arm) and the dog. Hilarious.

The negatives. Unfortunately, overall Peter Pan the play was a bit disappointing. I felt like it was filled with amateurish, obnoxious acting characters none of whom I felt any sympathy for. Maybe the only character I could feel any sympathy for was Captain Hook – and he’s supposed to be the bad guy. The opening scene, where Peter Pan is supposed to inspire the kids to fly with him to Neverland, was just a yawn-fest. After that at least it
became a bit more animated with the screen, changes of scenery and more flowing characters and, of course, the crocodile.

In addition to truly unlikable characters the story line felt quite bleak and nearly black. I’ve not read the original story by J.M. Barrie but if this production was a direct interpretation then it’s definitely not a story for kids. I found it a little hard to follow and felt it bordered on some very adult topics. The worst character was Tinkerbell who was a real b!tch I’m sorry to say, and Wendy and Peter weren’t exactly lovable either. In fact it was the relationship between Wendy and Peter which bordered on uncomfortable and weird. Then there was Tiger Lily – what the heck was up with that sexy dance she did for Peter – even Peter Pan looked perplexed!

For all the technology put into the tent it was surprising that the sound got lost a lot up in the tent ceiling so we didn’t always hear everything. It also didn’t help that there was a festival/concert going on nearby.

Did I hate it? No – that seems a bit extreme but I’m not really sure I could say that I particularly liked it either. Still, if you can find discount tickets, the theatre itself and the 360 degree screen is pretty cool.

I’m not sure how Pauline convinced me to go come to see Here Come The Boys but I’m not too sad about it. Yes it was all entirely Pauline’s idea. 🙂

The website says of Here Come The Boys that it “artistically encapsulates a wide range of sensuous and visually stimulating performances that offer the perfect blend of live music, hot dance moves and muscle! All choreographed by Cris Judd (choreographer to Jennifer Lopez, lead dancer for Michael Jackson during his History Tour).” Its basically like the Chippendales (some of the crew, actually 75% of the crew, were originally from the Chippendales) but under a new name.

Hmmm …

We walked into the Watford Colosseum and were confronted with this:

We almost walked straight back out because we were worried that we were the only people there. In honesty, there were a couple of times on the way to the Colosseum that we nearly turned around from sheer embarrassment of coming to a “review.”

We decided to give it a chance, we’d paid for our tickets already after all, and walked in to the bar/café and thankfully we found that’s where everyone was waiting. When I say everyone I mean the women. Okay there were a few men in attendance but they were all clearly of a certain persuasion or had been dragged along by their girlfriend. It wasn’t a particularly young or classy crowd either though everyone was nevertheless in attendance for a good time.

Pauline and I met this girl who was at the show on her own. Before we said anything she started talking to us claiming to be dating one of the guys on stage and though she was a perfectly nice girl she didn’t really seem to even look at her guy or he her so we were a bit suspicious. Still, it was rather entertaining to hear her try to convince us she knew the guys.

The format of the show was basically a bunch of guys dancing or moving (some of the guys were fit but were clearly not dancers) to dance hits. Now and then Nikk Mager, known first for being a reject on X-Factor, would come out and belt out a few tracks. He was actually quite a good performer but he never got down to more than having his shirt open. For ease of reference Pauline started to nickname the guys including one of my favourites Keanu (he really looked like Keanu Reeves), old guy, bad dancer, big old guy, watford boy (one of the lads had apparently grown up in Watford), … I have to admit that some of the guys were pretty hot. Pretty d@mn hot. 🙂 though there was definitely a large variety to cater for all tastes. Interestingly, however, all but one of the guys were dark-haired and even the one guy who wasn’t was probably naturally a brunette as he had peroxided blonde hair (he had to have been the hottest.)

Unfortunately we could take no photos or videos throughout the performance but you can get an idea of what we saw on stage here and also from my photos from the end of the show (at the end you can go up and pose with the guys and they’ll give you a Polaroid for a fiver!)

As with any show like this you knew they were going to come into the audience. I was sitting on the edge so I was extremely nervous that I’d be pulled up on stage like three of the poor women were. Happy to have the guys in my lap (heh heh) as part the audience but up on stage? No thanks! Though I have to say the three women delighted in being up there. I would have died!

There was no intentional nudity in the show by the way for those of you reading this and thinking naughty thoughts! They did have two scenes where one boy had the stage to himself and he had his kit off but one scene involved him (bad dancer) writhing around on a bed with bed sheets strategically held in place and another involved watford boy in the shower. Unintentionally he flashed his treasures but it was only because we were kind of off to the side and accidentally caught a glimpse. Lol.

An interesting, and different, nights’ entertainment that’s of sure…

Ironically the show that Rehana and I were seeing tonight was called “Been So Long”. Ironic mainly since its been a while since I’ve seen Rehana.

I love shows at the Young Vic. Yes they tend to be a little less polished than the bigger and main stream than the productions at West End but the intimacy you get at the venue makes up for it. The set was actually quite large though not in the round like the production I last watched at the Young Vic. We arrived at 7.15 and even with the show starting at 7.30 we still got decent seats. I’m sure there’s not a bad seat in the house as the rows go back only about 6 or 7.

Been So Long is the musical version of Che Walker’s poem about love and well, to be frank, s3x. We open to a bar which is soon to be closing and a young man, Gil, rapping about murder ladies’ man Raymond for stealing his girlfriend. Cut to the next scene where Simone and Yvonne are on a girls’ night out when Raymond comes into the bar. Simone is the more quiet and retiring of the two whereas Yvonne is the ballsy one whose loud manner leaves no room for misinterpretation. Though she makes a play for Raymond, he ends up falling for Simone who can’t help herself falling too even if she knows better. Meanwhile in the background tying everyone together is the barman who is madly in love with Simone. Love is never easy.

The production was slow at times but also inspiring at other times. Also, I totally agree with Rehana that some parts were a bit rough and ready but it was difficult to know if it was meant to be that way or not. There are definitely some outrageous moments in the show with plenty of the f-word and other s3x-type words being thrown around. Clearly its meant to grab the audiences attention but, due to how blatantly outrageous some monologues were, were also hilariously funny. Behind the speaking parts we also have the music. The main reason I came to see this production was promise of r&B music. All performers were excellent with a decent soundtrack overall. The individual performers were also supported by a 3-woman “choir” who were pretty good.

Overall I enjoyed myself tonight even if I couldn’t relate so much to the particular aspects of the story-line like the hinted at former abusive relationship that Simone had endured, unlike the woman next to us who could really relate if her constant shouts of “oh yes” were anything to go by. The crowd appreciated the performance as well with quite a long ovation at the end.

I adored Sister Act the movie (though I adored Sister Act 2 more) and as a musical movie I thought it would lend itself very well to a theatre conversion. After tonight’s performance I’m fairly convinced and in fact some parts of the show were even better than seeing it on screen.

For those unfamiliar with the Sister Act story line – Deloris Van Cartier (don’t you love the name) is a wannabe superstar but has to content herself with singing in a small lounge bar. Her boyfriend/agent, unfortunately, is actually a gangster so has bigger concerns than promoting her career. Just when she reaches the breaking point with him in both their personal and professional relationship she witnesses him killing someone. He sees her and sets his goons on him. She realises her life is in danger. She is no cowering mouse though and rather than run she goes to the police to report the murder. The policeman, who turns had a childhood crush on her, arranges her to enter a witness protection program … with cloistered nuns. Of course the inevitable clash between the strictly run nunnery and the vibrant, boozing, smoking, outrageous Deloris happens but along the way both sides learn to depend on each other and in the end cement a bond of friendship. Although of course the music used as a vehicle to tell the story it is mainly featured when Deloris takes the very rubbish nuns of the choir and turns them into a rocking one.

The first third of the musical was a little slow as we watch Deloris sing in the lounge, break up with her boyfriend, witness the murder and enter the nunnery but after that there is no holding back this musical. Admittedly there were quite a few laughs to be had in the first third but its really in the rest of the musical that you really start your toe-tapping and swaying. What follows is a class display of how to really deliver disco-anthems. Patina Miller, who takes on the part of Deloris, had some really big shoes to fill following in the steps of Whoopi Goldberg and though, like the musical, she took a bit of time to get going when she hit it, well, wow – she really hit it. That girl can surely belt out the song and she really brought the performance home. She couldn’t carry any of it off though without a good supporting cast, who were excellent and actually were spot on to the characters from the movie, great band, who were awesome, and set.

The set was pretty awesome actually – with lots of huge constantly moving pieces. In particular the standout act had to be the series of song sung by the nuns in the church. Each song representing another week and a growing congregation, increasing donations and subsequently steady renovation of the church. Not only does the set get fancier and fancier so too do the nuns’ robes.

I didn’t think I wasn’t going to enjoy the show as much as the movie especially having heard that all the songs were newly written for the musical with none carrying over from the film. However, the show is a great and once it hits its stride doesn’t really have a slow moment. Lots of great disco hits and lots of great fun to be had.

When I left Madrid last week I left Teesh to spend her last week in Europe, in Paris. Today she got back in to town and of course, to make the most of her time in London, I made sure to whip us off to another musical. This time – one we were both very familiar with – Grease! I think Teesh especially likes the show because she feels she can relate particularly to the tough chick Rizzo (she absolutely loves that whole bad boy thing.) For my part tonight’s performance made me feel quite nostalgic – remembering back more than fifteen years ago to the school production that I’d been part of.

Grease is a very enjoyable night out. It proved to be as cheesy as I have always remembered to be but in a very endearing way. It had its great moments but surprisingly some less stellar moments but overall a strong performance from the cast, a very colourful set and a very good band.

I must say, however, that Ray Quinn absolutely stole the show for me. The rest of the cast were superb and gave 150% but Ray Quinn was simply fab. He had his John Travolta character down pat – mannerisms, voice and all. And can I also say that he certainly fills a pair of jeans very nicely. Mmm … very very nicely. 🙂

After the fantastic experience that was Priscilla on Monday night I knew coming into Hairspray tonight that it was always going to be hard for it to compete. However Hairspray is still one of the bigger musicals in town at the moment so I think it did hold its own (though I still loved Priscilla more.)

I saw the movie a little while ago and because I was impressed enough with the movie version this inspired me to bring Teesh along to see the musical. Hairspray deals with all sorts of diversity issues from the obvious race issue to the image issue (that is, that everyone has to be body perfect) so not only is it a good musical it is also a story with morals of tolerance and acceptance. Chubby teen Tracy Turnblad is the central character of the show and we follow her as she attempts to join the Corny Collins Show, a popular TV dance/music show, win the boy, and, most importantly, end racial segregation.

One of the things that Hairspray didn’t have going for it was the big party hits that Priscilla had so some of the musical pieces to me lacked a bit of the energy that Priscilla had. Though delivered well some of the songs seemed to stretch on and on. However, what really impressed me was that the set was constantly moving even in the middle of the songs so there was always something to keep your eye on.

Hairspray is a physically demanding show and this was most telling on the lead female, Leanne Jones, who played Tracy. At the beginning of the show she was really hitting her numbers and when the last, and arguably the biggest song of the night You Can’t Stop The Beat, came on she really lagged and could barely even lift her arms. Poor thing! She was pretty good anyway despite the lack of energy at the end however the contrast between her and her best friend, who undergoes a transformation from mousey shy girl to vibrant and ball of energy, was very dramatic. Otherwise the cast were superb and you felt like you were transported back into the 60s they were so energetic.

Interestingly the crowd really got into the musical tonight with lots of cheering and cat-calling. Great atmosphere. At one point this infected even the cast as Tracy’s parents, played by Michael Ball (brilliant as her mother) and Nigel Planer, the comic foil, were singing a duet of sorts, a rather funny song, and it was all they could do to stop themselves from laughing. It was actually quite charming.

In fact, charming is how I’d describe Hairspray. It’s the musical with the big heart.