Theatre Trip: Disney100: The Concert

DISNEY100: THE CONCERT

The O2

Date: 4 June 2023 (Sunday), 6:00pm

Seats: Entrance H, Section 118, Row M, Seats 134-135

(Seen with Richard!)

Notes: We have really gotten into Disney lately! I went last year to Florida and had the most amazing time, that I convinced Husby to go for a day while we were in LA and he enjoyed it too! Now he wants to go to Florida because I talked so much about it. So when we saw the ads for Disney100 the concert, we were definitely on board! I even had Disney100 merch from LA to wear!

It was a Sunday evening over at the O2, so we headed all the way over. We had planned to get there early enough to eat food there but instead one of the trains were cancelled so we had to eat on the train and made it at just the right time to head pretty much straight in. We hadn't been to the O2 in ages and hadn't realised just how many food places there were there! Next time we'll go super early and grab dinner. We headed straight into our seats, picking up a programme on the way. We were sat on one side, but reasonably close to the front. I think it was a pretty good seat for what we paid.

The concert had a full symphony orchestra, which I always appreciate, it gives the musical such a lovely full feel. The show was hosted and featured about 6 main performers but it was the music people were mostly here for. The host (Janette Manrara) did a great job, when hosting and singing and dancing - especially given she was doing it all at what looked like 8 months pregnant!

The selection of music was loosely arranged into themes and it hit all the big songs. It did lean a little too recent for our taste - lots of recent ones got more play time, and some of the choices weren't what we might have picked (they could put me in charge next time!). We got Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Hercules, Princess and the Frog, Hunchback, Frozen, Fantasia, Tarzan, Aladdin, Encanto, Star Wars, Moana, Pirates of the Caribbean, Pocahontas, Little Mermaid, Marvel, Jungle Book, Toy Story, Frozen 2, Lion King and Mary Poppins.

The performers were pretty good. One of them I had seen about a week before in Bonnie and Clyde (Cleve September), but the other were new to me (Roberta Valentini, Earl Carpenter, Bessy Ewa, Georgina Hagen, Richard-Salvador Wolff)d. It must be a European tour as some of the performers have quite extensive European resumes. My favourites were definitely Bessy and Georgina, who I would love to see again in a proper role.

It was a pretty great evening. There were a few issues it seemed with sound mixing so the sound wasn't super great at times - we could sometimes hear an echo coming back from the back even though we were quite near the front. The biggest disappointment was actually the Fantasia performance. They chose the Sorceror's Apprentice, but it was out of sync with the video! So frustrating when you hear the chopping sounds which are big chords, then 3 seconds later you see them on screen. Very frustrating, although I'm sure we were the only ones who noticed or cared.

It was a pretty nice night, although I don't think I would go again. I'll stick to theatre.

Theatre Trip: Bonnie & Clyde

BONNIE & CLYDE

Garrick Theatre

Date: 12 May 2023 (Friday), 7:30pm

Seats: Grand Circle, C 3-4

(Seen with Jess!)

Notes: This was a show I went to see purely because it was closing and I was curious. It helped that I knew that Jeremy Jordan had played the lead in the original broadway cast and of course I've heard of Bonnie & Clyde but all I really knew was that they were criminals in the 1920s and they died in a shootout. There was so much more to it!

Jess and I met in the city for this show. She ended up delayed so rather than eating our customary McDonalds together, I ate in the city and she ate on the train but we still had our usual meal! We met outside the theatre around 7:15, plenty of time for the usual bits. I was actually really pleased because I couldn't get the app to load our tickets, so I went to the box office and asked - and I got given PAPER TICKETS! I missed paper tickets and will probably do this all the time going forwards so I can get them for my journals.We booked seats for £25, and it may be the best £25 we've ever spent on seats, even though with our seats labelled 'restricted view' we did lose the front right corner of the stage (but there wasn't really much happening there to miss, which was good). VERY good value!

This show started the way we all know Bonnie & Clyde end - driving their car and being shot with more than a hundred bullets, which of course killed them. Then you go back to the beginning with Bonnie, a waitress who wants to hit the big time as a movie star, and Clyde, who is a petty criminal who enjoys playing renegade. They meet and it's love (or lust) at first sight and they soon become inseparable. They follow each other as things unravel and they become famous, just like Bonnie wanted, but not for the reasons she wanted. She nearly leaves but then realises she loves him, and besides, it's too late. Throw in Clyde's brother and his wife and things get very crazy! I liked the story - it was wild and romantic and dramatic too which fit them as characters really well. I also thought the staging and choreography was really great and fit the style so well - a bit country, a bit 20s, it felt similar musically to Chicago which was fun.

A couple of the more minor characters I thought were played really well. I liked Ted, the sweet boy who is in love with Bonnie (played by Cleve September). His singing was so lovely! And the Preacher (Dom Hartley-Harris) totally blew me away - I really loved the song Made in America that came at the beginning of Act Two!

But there were 3 stand out actors in this show that I adored. Jodie Steele played Blanche, Clyde's sister-in-law. She sang so beautifully but more than that, she is a true triple threat! Absolutely gorgeous singing, great acting (she was actually very funny, unexpectedly in a show like this), and she also danced with the ensemble for the church numbers which she also did really well. I have seen her in Heather before but it seems that she is so much more than that. Incredible. Bonnie (Francis Mayli McCann) was beautiful, to look at, and she sung like a bird. I really enjoyed how fiery she was with Clyde, she clearly showed that Bonnie had such an equal relationship with Clyde. And Clyde. Jorden Luke Gage. I have seen him in &Juliet, where he played Romeo, and he had also been in Heathers at one point (but I had missed him). He was phenomenal. a gorgeous voice and just the right amount of intense and scary. His scene in the jail? Blew me away.

If this comes back, I'm seeing it again - I've been listening to the soundtrack and am annoyed I waited until a week before it closed to see it!