Theatre Trip: ALW's Cinderella

ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER'S CINDERELLA

Gillian Lynne Theatre
Date: 13 October (Wednesday), 7:30pm
Seats: Circle, E51-52

(Seen with Richard!)

Another week, another weekday show! I bet this looks very exciting, but actually I'm going to need a break soon as my sleeping habits and caffeine consumption are not working super well together! In the, we were running late and we arrived at the theatre at 7, and through the doors at 7:15. They've recently redone the theatre though, so it was easy to get around, there were lots of places to buy drinks, and plenty of bathrooms (even for the ladies we never waited more than a few minutes) We were lucky enough to win lottery tickets with the chance to purchase tickets for £25. It turns out our seats were much better than I expected - they were up in the Circle, but the theatre has been resigned very well and all the seats in the house would have had a good view. Because we were further back we could easily see all the action and there was only a small amount of action that we missed.

The music of this new show - his most recent since School of Rock - is very good. At one point Richard and I turned to each other and said, 'This music feels very Gilbert and Sullivan', and it definitely does, but in all the best ways. There are 4-5 main themes which keep coming back being reused in different ways and it has a little bit of a pantomime vibe; but again, in a good way! We really enjoyed the music side of it.

The book for this was also quite good. Emerald Fennell has written the book for this and she got great fame for her recent movie Promising Young Woman, which I loved, and she has made this plot more modern. I felt like all the changes worked well and it definitely felt more modern than Cinderella usually is.

All of the actors in the chorus seemed great. There were some very hunky guys who did an excellent number with pretend weights and other such 'strong' showing off. The stepsisters (Georgina Castle as Mari, Laura Baldwin as Adele) were really funny and totally vapid. Laura I knew could pull off a role like this as she was Dawn in Waitress and while she was not vapid in that, she was quite a caricature and that works for her as an actress.

The older ladies were not my favourites in the show. The Queen (Rebecca Trehearn) was more genuine and she definitely had amazing costumes! Her voice was also very lovely and she was the right balance of silly and fun. The Stepmother I didn't actually like all that much. Victoria Hamilton-Barritt did a fine job of acting in the role, but the character she chose (as it said in the program) was a cross between David Bowie and Joanna Lumley, which I felt was way over the top and just too pantomime. It didn't really feel like it fit with the rest of the acting choices the other characters made.

The main prince in this Cinderella isn't actually Prince Charming but Prince Sebastian, Charming's younger brother. He was played by Ivano Turco, a new graduate in his first West End role. I feel like you could tell how new he was to being on stage, and his voice was more on the pop end of things rather than musical theatre. His voice was lovely though, if a little overpowered by the band at times. And boy, I'm trying not to spoil anything, but THE BOY CAN DANCE! I'd like to see him again in the role in a few months once he's had time to settle into things.

The biggest draw in this show for me was Carrie Hope Fletcher, playing the titular role. She seemed really at home in this show! The singing parts seemed to be written exactly in the best parts of her voice (maybe they were, as she has been Cinderella since the original workshop) and it meant that she could put everything she had into the big numbers. Her costume is very cool and she is witty and funny, which is refreshing for what is normally a Disney princess! I really enjoyed her in the role and am looking forward to seeing her again. I will be continuing to enter the lottery - Jess is too because she wants to see it with me next!

Theatre Trip: &Juliet (finally!)

 &JULIET

Shaftesbury Theatre
Date: 7 October (Thursday), 7:30pm
Seats: Stalls, P3-4
(Seen with Jess!)

Understudies: Anne Hathaway (Kirstie Skivington)

Finally, I get to see &Juliet! I had had tickets to this show twice already... But the first time I had a migraine and the second we were due to see it at the end of March 2020, and that got cancelled by the pandemic. But finally, our time has come!

We got great Stalls seats in row P. The Shaftesbury is smaller than I expected and so row P is actually quite close! Seats 3-4 are right on the right hand side, so there was a tiny bit on stage that we couldn't see but that didn't matter for anything important in the show.

The staging of this show is very simple. The stage isn’t big, and is framed as a musical within a play so the staff is kept pretty simple. It all looks great and it definitely doesn’t need big set pieces to hit home. The main feature is, of course, the music! This show is a jukebox musical, but rather than by an artist it’s about the composer/producer. Max Martin wrote and produced a huge amount of music since the 90s, so there is a lot of options to choose from. This means that it doesn’t feel at all like a jukebox musical, because the music fits so well with the plot of the show. But people my age who grew up in the 90s and 00s, you would recognise all the songs! So it’s such a trip hearing these songs in a new context.

I know a few actors in this show. Grace Mouat was in the chorus (with a leading role and a few mini solos tonight), and I remember her really well from being one of the backup Queens in Six. I really enjoyed watching her perform! Juliet’s father was played by a guy who I recognised instantly as Ivan de Freitas. The last time I saw him perform was in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Barbican, and he was very good. Mel la Barrie I remember from even further back, having seen her as Madame Morrible in Wicked, back in 2008 on my gap year. She was absolutely phenomenal in her role here and I was nowhere near prepared for her to be so amazing, or to be able to sing so well with a thick Jamaican accent! And David Bedella played opposite her, with a deep voice that instantly took me back to 2008. He was in the production of Chess then that I went to in the Albert Hall, playing Molokov, but in this he was so different! His deep voice and fake French accent were so good and he was really really awesome.

Romeo was played by Jordan Luke Gage, freshly returned from Heathers on the West End. He was so poppy and I felt like he really fit the character super well. His characterisation was really good (although Romeo is a terrible character - predictably, given the 'girl power' theme of the show) and of course, his voice is phenomenal! Miriam Teak-Lee played the lead role of Juliet and she was also amazing. Her voice at times, had too many riffs and felt a little out of place on a musical stage, but she was very very good. I would like to see her again so that I can hear if she does the same performance night after night, or if the riffs change!

The actors I was most excited about, are actually two who I have seen since 2008 when I first saw them as Fiyero and Elphaba in Wicked! Oliver Tompsett plays William Shakespeare and he was so amazing. His voice is like butter, even with a Cockney accent and they gave him a lot of great puns, on Shakespeares name and works, which I appreciated a lot. Sadly, the other person I was very excited about was out for the show. Cassidy Janson (who I have seen as Elphaba as well as many more!) is cast as Anne Hathaway, arguably the most important character in the show - as she is the one who interferes with Shakespeare's original plot and leads it astray. Sadly she wasn't in on this evening and so the role was played by Kirtie Skivington. I felt that she was very good, but especially during the big number I was thinking about how phenomenal CJ would be in that role. Also I would like to see the chemistry between CJ and Oli as they have history together!

I will definitely be going again though, as I messaged my colleague as I was walking out and told her that she would love it. In response, I have booked 3 front row tickets for myself and 2 colleagues for just before the end of the school year - and in the same week as Hamilton! It will be such fun to experience this on the front row.