Theatre Trip: Waitress

WAITRESS

Adelphi Theatre

Date: 17 April (Wednesday), 2:30pm

Seats: Stalls Row J 30-31

(Seen with Jess!)

Lulu was played by Fifi Christophers in this show.

Notes: After our success last night getting Rush for Six, we still planned to line up on Wednesday morning to get day seats for Waitress at the Adelphi. Jess and I had actually planned on going last week but we had both had to reschedule due to handypeople coming to do work on our houses. So even though we'd been out late the night before, we arrived at the theatre at 8:30am outside the Adelphi. Waitress isn't currently doing any offers on TodayTix or other cheap places, but they do day seats for 25 at the theatre itself. When we arrived, there were 5 people in front of us, which surprised me for a double show day in the holidays, so we managed to get J 30 and 31 in the stalls for just 25 each (the actual seats seem to be 72.50 full price!).

We spent the morning wandering around the city, until it was time to head into the theatre. One of the best things? The theatre smells like pie! They bake fresh apple pies in a room tucked away before every show and waft the scent into the foyer for that authentic pie smell. Our seats were on quite the angle, but the view was pretty great. During the interval we tried the pies that they sold in little glass jars - they were more like cheesecakes, and honestly, much too sweet for me! I ate about 2/3rds of my salted caramel one, but then spent the next 20 minutes or so feeling ill and regretting it (and I didn't end up finishing it in the end). I would recommend the souvenirs though, they have some really really sweet (pun fully intended!) things! I got a pair of tea towels which have pictures of pie and baking things on, which I thought were the perfect thing.

One thing I really enjoyed was the staging. With it being a show about baking, there are a lot of props, so the ensemble spent a lot of time flitting quietly around the stage handing bowls and ingredients to the main cast members. It worked really well, and they used real things on stage (sugar, butter, flour) so they must have uncooked mixtures after every show! The band also came on for all the diner scenes to add to the vibe for it, which added to it.

I adore the music for this show - I've known it a long time, having listened to the soundtrack for a while. The music is by pop singer Sara Bareilles, whose music I love already and it lends the show a really nice cohesive soft pop sound. There are also a few ballads which I love (What Baking Can Do is my favourite, I think). There are funny songs, but the show is a serious one which has a real proper message and that is the undertone throughout. It's all about living your best life, as they say, being happy and not just 'happy enough''.

Part of the reason I was so excited to see this show was to see Katharine McPhee! She was in one of my favourite short-lived series, Smash, a tv show about a Marilyn Munroe musical. And she is just so talented. Occasionally she came across as cold, but I think that is just Jenna withdrawing from the world and hiding so she doesn't have to feel. And her two best friends were phenomenal, almost more fleshed out than Jenna (I guess because they go through less of a journey?). Marisha Wallace (Becky) was so fierce and her song completely blew me away - I was just not expecting how punchy it would be! Laura Baldwin (Dawn) was wickedly funny and is almost the little anxious voice that everyone has in their head wondering if they'll ever be good enough. Their bond as friends was so tight and it was amazing to see great female characters supporting each other.

As to the gentlemen, I adored David Hunter (Dr Pomatter). He was super adorable and cute and kept making so many goofy mistakes which made everyone laugh as he was so earnest. Peter Hannah (Earl) was a great actor, but Earl is such an awful character (I mean, he's basically the bad guy) that his cheer at the end was actually equal parts cheer and boo! It was a great performance but it's hard to like him. And then there's Jack McBrayer. He is best known for TV and movies and was the 'star draw' for this show (while Katharine McPhee has also been in TV she is much less well known), and he was really hamming it up for the audience. It turned Ogie into such a caricature, which I didn't like. That being said, I also find Ogie a bit problematic at the beginning of his introduction, as he is overly pushy and doesn't allow Dawn to refuse him (with lyrics like "I'm not going, if it seems like I did, I'm probably waiting outside") which doesn't sit right with me.

But overall I adore the show as a whole, and it was sad to hear that despite the stalls being busy, that it isn't selling as well as they would like but they don't seem to have many offers for tickets other than day seats. I would definitely see it again, but it was a bit too cold to line up and I think I'd only go again if there was an online offer.

Theatre Trip: Six

SIX

Arts Theatre

Date: 16 April (Tuesday), 8:00pm

Seats: Stalls Row A 7-8

(Seen with Jess!)

Alternates: Vicki Manser (Anne Boleyn), Grace Mouat (Jane Seymour), Courtney Stapleton (Catherine Parr)

Notes: It turns out Jess is much better at getting rush tickets than I am, as she managed to score a pair for Six last night - and second row to boot! We even ended up having one of the themed cocktails beforehand (I had Howard - gin and rose lemonade) in the theatre as we wanted a drink and were there with lots of time to spare.

I didn't know much about this show except one song (the opening number, Ex-Wives), and the concept - that the wives of Henry VIII got together and put on a pop concert. And this was such a pop concert!

It was another short show, 75 minutes without interval, and I can see why. It's set as a competition for the audience to decide which Queen had it worse, and they're all also each other's back up dancers, so it's basically a cardio workout with singing for the entire time - hard work. But they realise in the end that Henry didn't have to define them and they have a girl power ending.

The style of the show isn't what you would expect from a show about the wives of Henry VIII. The costumes are what I would call Tudor punk - Tudor inspired lines, and pearls but with exposed midriff, fishnet tights and chunky embellished boots. Very cool and of course practical for dancing in. Each costume also featured a look for their mics, as they used handheld mics to enhance the 'concert' vibe which they tucked away for more intense dance sequences. Each of the Queens also had a colour (gold, green, white, red, pink, and brown - in that order) which was featured in their outfit and their own songs.

I really liked the music. Lyrically, it was very clever with not only historical references but also popular references. And each Queen had her own style, with distinct musical influences listed in the program which mean that while it is a pop concert it's still diverse. Influences range from Beyonce to Adele to Lily Allen, so it's a whole spectrum of pop music in this show. There are also a few numbers which feature all of the Queens, mostly the ones which bookend the show. And every single song is a great jam - I've spent quite a lot of time listening to it since we saw the show, and dancing to all the fabulous bops!!!

Despite the fact we had all the alternates in various roles, I was really impressed by all the performers. There's so much exercise in that show, much more than a lot of others, and while some of them were dripping with sweat at times, they were flawless (well, except when Jane Seymour danced so hard that one of her earrings flew off!). I think my favourite vocally was Catherine Parr (Courtney Stapleton), who seemed to hide a bit in the beginning of the show, but blew me away with her vocals during her number. Another thing which was cool was the band, who were all female and stayed on stage the whole show. They weren't hiding at all and were even part of the action at times, which was very cool.

And my favourite queen? I thought that Catherine of Aragon and Anna of Cleves had the songs which most made me want to dance. I liked the characters of Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard best (they were so sassy!), but I think if I got cast in the show, I'd be playing Jane Seymour. So I can't decide!

Theatre Trip: Come From Away

COME FROM AWAY

Phoenix Theatre
Date: 13th April (Saturday), 2:30pm
Seats: Dress Circle, Row C 15-16
(with Jess!)

Understudy: Diane and others (Chiara Baronti), Janice and others (Kirsty Malpass), Beulah and others (Tania Mathurin), Claude and others (Alexander McMorran)

Notes: For the last few days, Jess and I have been frantically trying at 10am to get Rush tickets to a few shows - one of them being Come From Away, the other Six. We had also been enering 5 ticket lotteries (All My Sons, All About Eve, Mamma Mia, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, and German Life) and having no luck so far, with tickets disappearing so quickly it seemed impossible. But then a pair of tickets popped back up for the matinee and Jess got them!

The show...I mean, wow.

There are only 12 performers in the entire production, which I think ties for musical with the smallest cast (with Avenue Q) and they are all on stage for the whole show except for quick changes. They also move the set around, as the whole thing is a very mminimalist set which allows the actors to shine. And also, each actor plays multiple characters - everyone plays Newfoundlanders as well as Come From Aways (to represent that sometimes we all help and that we also all need helping sometimes, according to the program). We had 4 understudies in roles and I thought every actor was incredible. Standouts for me were Hannah (Cat Simmons), who was so raw and guttural, Bonnie (Mary Doherty) who was just so funny, no nonsense and compassionate as Bonnie in particular when saving the animals from the planes. Also Beverly (Rachel Tucker), who was the only performer I knew going in to the show was amazing during Me and the Sky (such a great song!)

It was also the best choreography I’ve seen in a show in a long time. They were totally in sync the whole show and there were lots of abrupt movements which were like one person rather than 12! It was so well it together, and the on stage costume changes were very well coordinated so that you barely noticed them. It is a very cleverly made show!

The music in the show was different to what I was expecting. I didn’t know very much about Newfoundland and therefore didn’t realise about the English and Irish influence in their culture, and therefore the music in the show. It gave the music a very raw, guttural feel at times and added to the warm, homely vibe that the whole show had. The band was also on stage for the whole show and even cam and joined the action at one point. And bonus to the fiddle player, who got down on her knees at the curtain call and did a guitar-style solo!

The audience all adored it. The theatre appeared to be packed, and while there are only 4 clap points in the whole 100 minutes (opening, finale, after Me and the Sky, and after one of the jokes), at the end of the show pretty much the whole crowd leapt to their feet and gave a standing ovation. It was definitely the fastest standing I’ve seen in a while! Also, while there was no interval (which meant long queues at the bathroom before the show started), I never felt like there was a time I wanted to look at my watch. It was exceptionally well paced and kept clipping along from beginning to end. I think the lack of clapping helped it to build momentum and tension, which wasn’t truly released until the curtain call, which made that all the more satisfying.

I am so glad to have seen this production, would recommend it to everyone, as it does a beautiful job of telling a heartwarming human story in an exceptional way. I just wish there weren’t so many other things I want to see and that I could see more things multiple times! The biggest of first world problems...