Adelphi Theatre
Date: 25 January (Saturday), 2:30pm
Seats: Stalls Row S 26
Understudies: Mark Willshire (Cal)
Lulu was played by Lucia Kaplan in this show.
I am back in the diner! It has been such a busy few months that I have only seen one show (As You Like It at the Barbican with my family), and it feels like way too long since I saw a musical! So after my family had flown out and with Richard away, I had a few weekends to myself. Plus, tickets went on sale - so as well as booking to see this show in a few weeks (Sara Bareilles!), I decided to have a self care Saturday which involved taking myself to the matinee. I did almost run late (thanks to Apple customer care taking longer than expected) and got to my seat after the customary bathroom trip with literally 2 minutes to spare.
I do adore this show. It always brings me to tears, watching Jenna take control at the end, and grow into herself and the woman she could truly be. I will already be going back for my fourth viewing, and now I want to go more again - but I think I might have to continue the pattern of seeing a different Jenna every time!
For my third visit, I was really hoping to see Lucie Jones again. The cast is changing on Monday to have the role of Jenna played by the writer of the show, Sara Bareilles. Unbeknownst to me however, Lucie had been out for about a week already with a bad chest infection, and both understudies had also been ill or on holiday, so they had called the Jenna from the US Tour, Desi Oakley, to play the role. However, we were so lucky because she is fabulous! Her Jenna was more blunt and sarcastic, which I did feel was a portrayal which fit really really well with Jenna and how she would have reacted to the show. Her singing was amazing and she put in a whole lot of riffs and slides which really worked and made the songs which I literally know by heart seem fresh and new. I really liked her, and while I was briefly disappointed when Jenna came on and it wasn't Lucie, it worked out extremely well for me in the end. Oh, and her accent was definitely the most authentic to American Southern that I've seen
The other girls were great. Marisha Wallace was back on as Becky (although not in the program) - so I'm mildly confused about that, given we saw her last time and she was in the program then (there were actually 3 program inserts this time, with a new addition to the ensembles as well). She was fabulous, as always, and she did put in a few riffs which may be to match Desi and her love for vocal runs.
Dawn was another new actress - Hannah Tointon. She is apparently another TV star, but I wouldn't have guessed that from her performance. There was one small crack, but I really thought she was good and her comedic timing was great. I do still think that Laura Baldwin was better, but Hannah was definitely a really good Dawn, particularly after Ashley Roberts.
I did get to see the always fabulous David Hunter again. I can't really say how much I love him in this role, sweet, funny and goofy. I just want to give him a hug!
A lot of the boys were new to me though. the new Earl (Tamlyn Henderson) didn't really impress me, he didn't have the same presence as Peter Hannah. I may also have laughed when he stomped on his guitar and it barely did anything. Oops! Cal (Mark Willshire) was an understudy but I really liked him as Cal. He and Marisha worked very well together. And the highlight of the new boys was definitely Ogie. Joel Montague was a breath of fresh air in the role of Ogie for me. He isn't a stunt cast, just a real musical theatre performer. Given that my main issue with previous Ogie's was the lack of singing skill, he really was great. I think this was my first performance I actually paid 100% attention to Ogie... Oops? At least he is not a cover, but in the regular cast, so more people get to enjoy his performance.
I don't think there is much else to say, given I've now seen this musical 3 times! I have tickets already booked for #4, on Feb 3 with Sara Bareilles and Gavin Creel, so that will be exciting. Plus, after March I want to head back to see Lucie again - or Sarah O'Connor or Olivia Moore (the understudies) to round out my 'a different Jenna every time' thing? We'll see.
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