Theatre Trip: Tim Minchin - Back Again Tour

Eventim Apollo

Date: 9 November (Tuesday), 7:30pm
Seats: Block 7, Row E 66-67 

(Seen with Richard!)

Even though it was a Tuesday night and we were already quiet tired (and with Richard due to fly to Spain early the next morning as well), but we had even more tickets booked! Tonight was a very exciting one, as we had been waiting a while for it. We had tickets to see Tim Minchin. Now he is probably best known for being the composer of both the Matilda and Groundhog Day musicals, but he has been a musical comedian for more than 15 years! He is an Aussie with a fab strong accent and a really irreverent and smart style.

We headed over to Hammersmith for this concert, to a new-to-us venue, the Eventim Apollo. It's very big but we were happy with our upstairs seats and a decent view. It did start a little late, I think they had people still coming in for a while after 7.30 so we didn't start until almost 7.50! This tour is just called Back (Again), but has the fun subline 'Old Songs, New Songs, F**k You Songs', so we knew we were going to get some fun songs we already knew!

He opened the concert alone at the piano with one of the songs from the new album, 'If This Plane Goes Down'. It was a more somber way to start the show but I liked it. In between each number Tim spoke a bit, a lot about what his life has been so far and his experiences and they were all really good interludes! I love his absurdist  but realist sense of humour and I feel as Aussies (and to a lesser extent, Brits) we really get his style.

After the first number he launched into one of my favourite really old songs, F Sharp. It's very musically clever and I enjoy the dissonance of it! I really love overall how Tim Minchin doesn't ever talk down to his audience, that every piece of humour is smart, even when it's crude or includes swearing (and in some other songs of his there is A LOT of swearing!). Tim even had us singing along with the F# at the end while he is playing in F, and of course Richard and I nailed it!

Then he included one of his beat poems - his first. Before it again he introduced a concept which came up a few times in the show: the 'Glossary of Terms'. This was partly to make sure everyone knew what he was on about, but also partly to point out how old we are and that THERE ARE ADULTS AT THAT SHOW WHO WERE BORN AFTER THE YEAR 2000. Crazy, right?! After the relevant terms, we heard Mitsubishi Colt. I really like that one, and Tim pointed out that it is also interesting because the backing to the beat poem is improvised every night. It was very cool!

Then he performed another of my old favourites - Thank You God. After that it was back to a new song 'Airport Piano' - and partway through the song, the curtains fell back to reveal the amazing band back there on stage! There was even a 3 person brass section! They were used really well throughout, I felt. They finished Airport Piano together, then followed it up with 15 Minutes and The Absence of You from the same album. Topping off the first half was another classic, If I Didn't Have You. It was an older song but in a completely reworked form, Latinising the song and giving it a super groovy vibe which had me grooving in my seat.

After interval we were back for just a few more songs. Starting with Leaving LA, which was accompanied by the projection of the video clip on the big screen (I liked it's stop motion vibe a lot!). And then he performed possibly my favourite Minchin song. He spelled out... C...H...E...E...S...E...! CHEESE! He even put in a break for a monologue right before the cheese puns, where he theorised that this might be one of the greatest songs ever written... Or complete crap. I'm going with genius though.

He finished up the second half with I'll Take Lonely Tonight and Talked Too Much, Stayed Too Long (which sounds like me to be honest!) We gave him a huge standing ovation, and after a minute he came back out for Carry You, a final song from his newest album.

It was such a fun evening. I laughed until I cried, enjoyed the new songs very much and absolutely loved seeing the old ones live. I wish that I could have seen it more than once!

Theatre Trip: Heathers

HEATHERS

New Wimbledon Theatre
Date: 5 November (Friday), 7:30pm
Seats: Stalls W10-12

(Seen with Jess and Linda!)

It's another touring show at Wimbledon! These are my favourite on a work day, because no matter when I say I'm going leave (5pm) versus when I actually leave (just after 5:30!), I can still have time for dinner and a quick catch up before a show. Today Jess and I met at McDonalds at half 6 to grab some dinner before the show. I also had her birthday present to give to her, as I haven't seen her since her birthday last week! Linda ran late and had to sneak in after the opening number, but it was lovely to have her.

As it is Heathers, I have seen it before on the West End several times. This production was essentially the same in plot and staging as on the West End. It has, however, been several years since we saw it and of course the cast has completely changed. We also had several understudies in our performance.

We even got drinks at the interval - it has been a long week after all! Being Heathers, they have slushies for sale, and I got us each one with an added shot of vodka for interval! Unfortunately, my drink was so frozen that it got stuck in the straw and I couldn't actually drink it until it melted, which meant I didn't get it to actually drink until after the show!

I thought the Heathers in this show were quite good. Heather Chandler, Duke and MacNamara were played by U/S Daisy Twells, Merryl Ansah, and Lizzy Parker respectively. Heather Chandler was much funnier than I remember Jodie Sam Steele was, but her vocals weren't quite as strong, especially up in the higher register. Heather Duke, I actually preferred to T'Shan Williams from the West End cast. Her vocals were stronger and she didn't fade into the  background as much in this version, which I liked. Heather Mac I also really liked. She had a very different, less silly portrayal than Sophie Isaacs in the other cast and I liked her vocals a lot. 

Ram and Kurt (U/s Callum Connolly, Liam Doyle) I didn't like as much. They were good jocks, of course, but I didn't think they were actually handsome enough! If you're going to spend more than an hour every night wearing just your underpants you need to be looking good. JD (Simon Gordon) was quite good - a little shouty at times but good. He didn't really get as creepy as I expected, either, until the key moments when his psychopath side actually came out.

Veronica (U/S May Tether) I really liked. Her comedic timing and facial expressions were totally on point! I thought it made her much funnier. Her accent was VERY strong and meant a lot of the vowels changed shape (and therefore sound) and it made some of them a lot harsher, but her notes were very accurate and I felt like she balanced the character of Veronica really well. I have to admit I was more impressed than I would have been given that she is the understudy rather than the usual Veronica. Unusual to have an understudy on a Friday night, but oh well.

In summary, it was a very good show and I loved being able to see a show I really like again! It's just that the original West End cast was the only cast of this show most people have experienced, and being on the recording too means that their versions of the characters feel like they are set in stone for me. So they weren't bad, just very different versions. And I did still like them a lot! It's nice to see different versions of familiar characters.

Theatre Trip: HMS Pinafore

 H.M.S. PINAFORE

Coliseum Theatre
Date: 30 October (Saturday), 7:30pm
Seats: Upper Circle A 21-22

(Seen with Richard!)

We were excited to come back to the Coliseum for another ENO performance! We decided that rather than rushing a takeaway dinner after our old favourite Mod Pizza has shut up shop in the UK due to the pandemic, we'd head to one of the many pubs near the Coliseum and eat there. Looking at the pubs there was one serving Thai food which we wanted to try but by the time we got there it was full! It was half 6 at that point so we popped into a nice looking Thai place just a few doors down.

By 7 we had ordered, received and finished our entrees and we were waiting for our mains. But unfortunately it got to 7:15 and we still didn't have our food. By this time I was stressing, so I went to the bathroom in the restaurant, but I got back and we still didn't have any food! By that time Richard had asked for it to go instead, so at 7:25 we were literally running out the door of the restaurant with our food all boxed up (they did give us the noodles for free for the trouble, which was nice) the one minute to the theatre.

We arrived, had to run down to the cloakroom (of course we couldn't take our food to our seats!) which had already closed, so find someone who could open it for us, check our food, then run up 2 flights of steps to our seats. Luckily we actually made it just while the orchestra was tuning up!

This performance was quite fun. As with other G&S performances we have seen, I knew the show well because of the version with Jon English in Australia in the 90s. This is definitely one of the more comedic operettas and I really enjoy the twisting of the plot in this particular show. They definitely added some things in an attempt to make the show even more funny, although we did feel a bit like some made them feel more like a panto - and not always in a good way. The addition of the Midshipmite was a good call, but they also added a silly Boris Johnson gag, a repeating seagull joke which was quite silly, and the worst one - one of the aunts who never lifted her head, walked with a cane (like a old person stereotype) and kept walking across the show or into parts of the stage. The rest of the audience seemed to think it was funnier than we did, so maybe it is funnier if you're British?

The main casting draw for UK people is Les Dennis, who is a famous comedian and was playing the role of Sir Joseph. He was fine, although it was clear he was not a singer. I much preferred the ENO cast proper though. There were a pair of Harewood Artists in the cast. This means that they have a special programme of training to boost and support their new careers. In this case, both Ralph Rackstraw (Elgan Llyr Thomas) and Josephine (Alexandra Oomens) were these artists and I was very impressed with them vocally. Particularly Josephine - I thought that she had a gorgeous voice and surprisingly good comic timing!

The 2 best performances were definitely Captain Corcoran and the Midshipmite (a new character created for this version to be the cabin boy, and played by a child). Rufus Bateman was the Midshipmite at this performance and he was appropriately cheeky and I felt like he added quite a lot to the performance. Turns out he also is a killer tap dancer! So was the Captain, played by John Savournin to a tee. He was serious when he needed to be and silly when needed too. They added some tap dancing into the show which I thought was very well placed.

Despite the drama getting in (and the fact we had to eat out dinner after the show when we got home!), it was a very enjoyable evening. After lots of modern musicals, I do enjoy an operetta to get back to my childhood, it feels like.

Weekend Away: Paris Getaway!

 Over the half term break, we didn't have time to go away for very long (as the Husband didn't have much leave for taking off work), so we booked a long weekend break away to Paris! It was also dictated by the travelling procedures and how much testing we had to do, which made Paris an even better choice! Add in that our 5th wedding anniversary is only a few weeks away (but during school time - and on a parent teacher night no less!) so we decided to splash out a little on this trip.

So after I finished work for the half term on Friday night, we packed our stuff ready for Saturday morning. We had a train around 9 am so we headed to the station at 7 to St Pancras. The train journey was fine - I always forget how much I like travelling by train! We had things to do and naps we could take, so even when we were delayed an hour we were not that bothered by it.

We arrived in Paris around 2pm and headed straight to our hotel in the 7th Arrondissement, right near the Eiffel Tower. We stayed at a cute hotel called 7 Eiffel in a deluxe room. It had a living space and a small terrace (although it was too cold to use it really), and we had breakfast included. We couldn't actually check in yet though, so we dropped our luggage off and walked over to the Tower itself. We decided to go up it and had a little bit heated discussion about how we were getting up/down it. In the end the line for the lift was actually shorter, so we got that ticket for all the way to the top! We headed up to the 2nd floor on the lift then joined the queue for the summit, as that has a separate lift! The top was such a good view, and we bought a tin of macaroon and a glass of champagne to share while we admired the view!

We then took the lift back to the 2nd floor (that's the only option) and walked the rest of the way down. By the time we got to the bottom it was just after 5pm so we headed back to the hotel to check in and chill for a little bit before dinner. We wanted something 'properly French' for dinner, so we settled on a Brasserie only 5 minutes walk from the hotel, Le Recrutement Cafe. It was exactly what we had hoped for! Husband had french onion soup and I had hot goats cheese for entree, then we had a steak (he) and a salad (me - although mine was better because my salad included an egg, bacon, half an avocado and blue cheese!). We thought about going to a creperie for dessert, but He wanted to go for a walk, so we headed off towards the Louvre. It was a lovely walk along the river, even though I was super tired by that point, and it meant that as soon as we got back to the room we rolled straight into bed!

Sunday we woke up in time for our room service breakfast, which was actually 40 minutes late! He was planning on going for a run, so once it arrived we had a bite to eat together and then I was able to get ready while He went for his run. Then we headed out (around 11ish) to Les Invalides and the Musee d'Armes. We did about half of the museums floors before deciding we needed our lunch. Rather than having an overpriced and not great baguette in the cafe there, we actually left the museum and headed a few blocks away to a local boulangerie (one of the only ones open on a Sunday, apparently) for fresh rolls and sat outside to eat it picnic-style. We had a lovely sunny spot so it was great! Then we headed back in for Napoleon's Tomb and the other bits of the museum we hadn't done yet. By the time we finished we headed back to the hotel to change and get ready for the highlight of our trip - the Moulin Rouge! 

We were headed for dinner and the show and after arriving and queuing were shown to our seats. As we ate and shared a bottle of champagne, there were a pair of jazz singers who serenaded us, even inviting people on to the dancefloor at one point! There was a family with 3 girls there who basically took over the dancefloor after a while... I'm not sure why you'd bring your young kids (one was like 8!) to the Moulin Rouge, but oh well. After dinner it was time for the show! Unfortunately the dinner didn't fully agree with me and I had to duck out at one point (there isn't an interval so I couldn't wait for that to come around), but oh well. The dancing was pretty awesome, especially when everyone on stage is doing a unison jump split!

I do think that the highlight of the performance was the can can, although there wasn't actually as much high kicking as we thought there would be! And some of the side acts were incredible. There was a couple on roller skates who did tricks where the girl went up in the air and that one amazed me the most - I think I gasped 3 separate times!

After the show we picked up a souvenir, then headed back to the hotel - via a crepe stand for dessert!

Monday morning He had another run to do, but given how slow the breakfast was we ordered it for earlier - and then it showed up 5 minutes before the allotted time! We couldn't time it exactly right, but oh well. I got ready and packed up most of the room then He got ready too and we checked out, leaving our bags at the hotel. We didn't have the return train until 6 or 7pm, so we headed up to Montmatre. We pottered through some fabric shops (the main reason for going to that part of town in the first place!), I bought some double gauze, poly viscose and some sweatshirting which I am very excited to sew with. We had lunch at a cafe at the foot of the hill looking up, and after we ate we walked up and then back down to look at the view. Then we headed back to the hotel to grab our stuff and head to the train!

We got back to London around 8.30pm local time, and were home with dinner by half 9! Not a bad way to start a half term break.