Theatre Trip: &Juliet (2)

 &JULIET

Shaftesbury Theatre

Date: 16 December (Thursday), 7:30pm

Seats: Stalls, Row B, 20-23

(Seen with Lisa and Louise from work!)

Understudies: Anne Hathaway (Kirstie Skivington), Lance de Bois (Ivan De Freitas), Francois de Bois (Billy Nevers)

We had booked this one a few months in advance. I had seen online that you could book the front row seats for the very reasonable price of £35. After seeing this the first time I realised that Louise, a colleague from work, would really love it, so I texted and suggested we see it together! After I mentioned it to Lisa she was in as well so I booked for the 3 of us in the front row for a few months later! It was actually good timing as Lou left us at the end of this term so it became a bit of a celebration for her.

We finished work around half 4 and headed straight in to Tottenham Court Rd station. Nearby was a Shake Shack, so we ate and chatted while we waited for the show to be ready to start. Then of course programs and getting to our seats.

And sitting in the front row was amazing! Even though we had 3 understudies it was such a cool party experience - and there were empty seats in the theatre (and also they had closed the grand circle and moved people down a floor) but everyone was really into it!

We had such a great cast - Kirstie Skivington was on again for Anne Hathaway, who we saw last time. I was disappointed I haven't had the chance to see Cassidy Janson yet (she is injured at the moment according to her Instagram), but Kirstie Skivington is amazing in the role and I love her portrayal. I just wish that I could get the chance to see Cassidy and compare it. We also had Ivan de Freitas in the role of Lance. He was great too - I do wish a little he was David Bedella as his portrayal is everything, but my friends said he was just as good and they wouldn't have known he was an understudy. And Frankie - the understudy was incredible! I preferred his portrayal to Tim Mahendran, actually, he had this amazing growl moment in one song that had me like WOAH. Billy Nevers, you were incredible!

Of course most of the regular cast was still in - Miriam Teak-Lee was awesome as always and my colleagues particularly loved Mel la Barrie (I swear she gets funnier every time!), but for me the draw is always the boys. Jordan Luke Gage was absolutely awesome as Romeo as he was the first time. But Oliver Thompsett is always the biggest draw of this show for me and it was an utter delight to get to see his facial expressions and reactions up close!

I had a couple of 'moments' during the show with cast members too. One of the perks of being on the front row! On Ollie's entrance, I may have made a rather loud noise which had him look and smile directly at me! It was a lovely moment. And at the end, Lisa pulled me up and we danced at the front, and at one point Kirstie looked over to us and did a little boogie at us, which was also awesome.

Such an amazing night, and I was really glad to introduce this show to my colleagues - they have both decided that they need to take their families to the show now! I can't wait to go see it again soon.

Theatre Trip: Hamilton (FINALLY!)

HAMILTON

Victoria Palace Theatre

Date: 14 December (Tuesday), 7:30pm

Seats: Stalls, Row C, 30-31

(Seen with Richard!)

Understudies: Alexander Hamilton (Alternate - Nuno Queimado), Aaron Burr (Jay Perry), King George (Aaron Lee Lambert)

This show we had been waiting SO LONG to see! Booking tickets to Hamilton was my 30th birthday present (which was in January 2020), and we booked for 6 months later to make sure we could get amazing seats. However, 2020 (and 2021) had other plans and our show was postponed a year, then again 6 months as the new date was one week before the theatres reopened properly! So it took almost 2 years, as I now turn 32 in just a few weeks. It was totally worth the wait though!

Richard and I got some sushi from Itsu for dinner and ate it outside the theatre before we went in. We had plenty of time and even though the queue looked long it was pretty quick to get in. Our seats were amazing! We were close enough we could see absolutely everything and with lots of detail but far enough back that we could see the whole stage in one go. The set doesn't move very much with helped too. We had a few understudies as well due to Covid sickness.

I thought the show was amazing. I knew the music well but I hadn't seen the Disney+ version so I didn't know anything about the staging or choreography and I thought it was amazing! Really dynamic and musical, and the ensemble was really amazing. They had a lot to do and did it all in their costumes, which I thought were really clever. They wore their base layers (which were vaguely period) and continued to add and remove additional layers depending on who they were in any number.

There were a few cast members who I thought really stood out. Angelica Schuyler (Ava Brennan) was fab, and every time I saw her I wanted to see her more. We did think that Hamilton (Nuno Queimado) was VERY good and that he got stronger throughout the performance. I also really liked Jefferson in Act 2 (Waylon Jacobs), he was an excellent balance of funny and witty and had a really excellent suit! I also loved King George (Aaron Lee Lambert) - he had everyone in hysterics with just his mannerisms.

It was also much funnier than I thought. This sounds obvious, but you can't see facial expressions on a cast recording. Some of the more deadpan lines were much, much funnier when you could see the visual gags that went along with it!

I am so grateful we finally got to see it! I am really looking forward to returning to see some other performers in the roles, particularly of Hamilton and Burr. It also turned out we had great timing - as due to more extended absences, Hamilton has been closed for almost every show since (I'm writing this almost a week afterwards, with shows not going ahead for Wednesday, Thursday (2), Friday, Saturday (2) or Sunday!) so really we should consider ourselves lucky that we go to see it at all. I am very grateful and will be returning when things settle down again.