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.