Theatre Trip: Young Frankenstein

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN

Garrick Theatre
Date: 28th December (Thursday), 3:00pm
Seats: Stalls AA4-5

(With Jess!)

Yesterday, I had a day with my friend Jess. She has wanted to learn to knit for ages, and because I know how, I invited her to my place to spend the day learning and hanging and eating junk food. At almost 11am, Jess made a comment about always entering the ticket lotteries for Young Frankenstein and Hamilton - we are desperate to see both of these shows! So I went 'oh yeah', and entered the Young Frankenstein lottery which closed at 11am, at 10.59. 2 minutes later, I got the 'better luck next time' email and I thought that was typical - except that my phone rang 10 minutes later! It was the same situation as Venus in Fur - lots of people hadn't claimed the tickets, and I was the first person to answer my phone! So on the day we were already hanging out, we got to see a show we'd both been craving to see! Such amazing luck.

I had wanted to see this show for a few reasons. First was Mel Brooks' the writer, who created the Producers movie and musical, and he created the movie and then musical for this as well. It is based around Dr Frederick Frankenstein, the grandson of Victor, who inherits the castle and goes to see what he has inherited. Then shenanigans!

It also had a few actors I was excited to see perform. Dianne Pilkington had a main role - she played the original Glinda in London and was fantastic! She had a few great songs too. Summer Strallen I had seen first way back in 2008 in the Sound of Music as Maria, and she was great then too. I loved her in this show, actually, she had a great costume and sang really well even through the silly accent! The guy who played Dr Frankenstein was really good (Hadley Fraser), and Frau Blucher was pretty good too (Lesley Joseph). The stand out, though, was Ross Noble who played Igor. He was hysterical!

We also had a great technical error! When they first arrived at the castle, they made a comment about the door, and then straight away the safety curtain came down. There was an announcement 'Please stay in your seats, there will be a short delay, we are sorry for the inconvenience'. Then the Dr and Igor came out in front of the safety curtain, and they adlibbed for about 5 minutes (well, mostly Ross Noble did) about how the door is usually further to the right, and how the men in black with strange headresses (their microphones) were swearing. We could hear the drills on the stage! After a little bit, Inga (Summer Strallen) came on and said the guys had stopped swearing, and the show went on. It was so funny.

We even had pyrotechnics right in front of us! It was the funniest show I had been to in a log time - it's a great humour, but not a subtle one.

Thanks again TodayTix lotteries!!!

(Christmas) Cultural Experience: St Pauls

This evening we walked over to the beautiful St Paul's Cathedral to meet some friends and go to the Christmas Eve carols service! We haven't actually been to St Paul's yet this year - not because it isn't beautiful, but because it's rather expensive (£18 or something like that), so we've been saving it for a time when we have a visitor who would like to go. That being said, it's free when you go to a free service!

We arrived just about 2pm, and chatted and snacked and knitted our time away. At 3 the doors opened, and the service started at 4 (after you all go through a security check, of course). It was a really really lovely service, with lots of carols. We joined in for 5 of them (Once in Royal David's City, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks, O Come All Ye Faithful), and there were others in both English and Latin to listen to amongst readings.

It was a lovely service, in what is most definitely a gorgeous cathedral. And the atmosphere was so lovely, letting it all wash over us even when we couldn't see the singers/speakers. And most definitely, it felt very Christmassy.

Now we are watching Carols from Kings (on the TV), about to have some dinner and then watch Die Hard (Husbando's favourite Christmas film). Bring on present time tomorrow!

Day Out: St Albans

The day after our adventure into the Surrey Hills, we were up again and headed to Victoria station to return the hire car. A small getting-petrol adventure later, we caught the Tube to St Pancras, then the Thameslink out to St Albans. We had been invited out to see my friend Bri and her partner Patrick, who had just moved there earlier in the month. It was also the beginning of the Christmas market there and the lights were being turned on that evening!

We started with a lovely long wander through the markets, a nice mix of decorations and delicious food stalls. We ate and drank a lot of samples! It was a very cold day though... So we headed to the cathedral. Last time I visited St Albans, I didn't go into the cathedral as it was closed, so I was keen to see inside. It is beautiful, and very interesting. Some parts are Norman, others Victorian, and as the new times came in, they not only mended what needed fixing, but often they changed old things too. There are many paintings with faces scratched out because they were 'not right' to the next era, plaster walls with lines drawn on to make them look like bricks (that doesn't really work, by the way), and bits of the cathedral rebuilt in different styles as parts had crumbled and been fixed. It had also been extended several times, and if you get married in the cathedral, it is the longest walk down the aisle in all of Britain... You have to walk done the entire length of the cathedral, and not even in a straight line!

When we had finished admiring the cathedral, we finished off looking at the markets, then decided that a pub lunch was called for (mostly so we could sit inside and stretch out our drinks). I had a fish finger sandwich and a yummy rhubarb G&T! We spent a while in the pub, just catching up and enjoying each others company. Then we returned outside, heading to the Clock Tower to catch the lights turning on.

We didn't judge this very well in the end. We bought our tickets to climb the Clock Tower (I didn't like the stairs, they were very claustrophobic), then climbed to the top with about 10 minutes to spare. However, about 10 minutes after they were supposed to be turned on, we gave up and went back down. They were still making speeches! We went back into the markets to make a few purchases (Christmas presents and Honeycomb whisky liqueur), and by the time we came back all the lights were on! That was a little disappointing, and by this time it was 6pm, very dark and still only a few degrees above 0, so we headed home on the train for chocolate pudding in our pajamas in front of the TV. All in all, a very successful weekend!

Day Out: Surrey

This weekend just passed, we were invited to a wedding reception in Dorking, so we hired a car for the day and decided to go and explore! We picked up the car at 10am and headed straight down to the beautiful Surrey hills. At this time of year, with the colours of the leaves all out and the roads through the forest, it is an absolutely gorgeous part of the countryside.

Unfortunately, I was not feeling very well straight away, and did spend most of the day feeling quite carsick, but I tried my best to look past this and enjoy the day. We headed first to East Horsley, which wasn't a place with anything in particular, but a useful place to start our exploring. We found a cute little pub with a yummy lunch menu to eat at, then drove through the winding roads to Leith Hill, a tall hill with a Tower on the top. The Leith Hill Tower is a single, freestanding tower which stands alone of the top of the hill. Having climbed it, and standing inside the top (you can't go outside at the top of the Tower) you are higher than the Shard, and can actually see all the way to London! It wasn't a bit affair, but it was a lovely place to take a look.

After Leith Hill Tower, we drove to another hill, up on a route which El Husbando has cycled up in the past to Box Hill. There are may walks around Box Hill, which is a National Trust site, and we checked out the visitor and information centre before we headed most of the way around the hilltop walk. We even managed to watch the very end of the sunset; watching the last sliver of sun actually disappear was really cool - I'd never seen it quite like that before. Afterwards, we did a little more driving before finding a nice pub for dinner, where we had a drink (it was too early for dinner when we'd arrived), watched some rugby, then had dinner.

A quick change in the back of the car later, we were headed to the Manor House that the wedding reception was in. It was a lovely reception, and we managed to arrive just in time for the first dance! There was drinking and dancing, and the bride and her bridesmaids had the loveliest 20s inspired dresses. It was a little awkward though, in that we only knew the groom, and so we spent a lot of our time just talking to each other and listening to the band in our black tie finery. The party continued until midnight, but at around 10pm after cake, we said farewell and drove home to London. We were even in bed by midnight!

Theatre Trip (Kind of): Go, Noah, Go!

GO, NOAH, GO!

Little Angel Theatre
Date: 22nd November (Wednesday), 10am
Seats: Many...

So this theatre review is a little bit odd... You see, we went to see this show on a school trip! The Reception and Year 1 students travelled to the Little Angel Theatre in Islington by bus. Always a fun experience with terrible London traffic and 4 year olds who keep saying 'are we there yet?'. When we arrived, we had just enough time for a bathroom stop before heading in to our seats (and yes, I have a real ticket for this just like all my other shows!).

The show was a Caribbean interpretation of the Noah bible story. There were only 2 actors, who used puppets, wooden animals and a small array of props to help them. They even sang a bunch of songs without any accompaniment.

Interval was time for biscuits and bathroom, then the same again afterwards. We even managed to stop any of them falling asleep on the way back on the bus (mine are really got at sleeping on buses, apparently)! The show was okay, but kids seemed to really enjoy it, and that's the main thing, isn't it?

Theatre Trip: Kinky Boots

KINKY BOOTS

Adelphi Theatre
Date: 17th November (Friday), 7:30pm
Seats: Upper Circle, H12

(With Bri, Patrick and Felicity!)

Notes: Well, this was spontaneous! Bri messaged me around 4:30 this afternoon, asking if perhaps I was free and would like to go to the theatre. Turns out that a friend who was going to go was sick, and I was the first person she thought of! Of course, I said yes. It's been too long since we caught up anyway...

We met at the theatre just before the show, and headed to our seats. We were quite a long way up, but we had no trouble seeing all the action. I think that it was actually better to be able to observe some of the choreography from higher up.

I didn't know much going into this show - it was about drag queens, shoes, and written by Cyndi Lauper. That's it. But the story was surprisingly touching, and the songs were good, while very pop-oriented. I didn't walk out singing any of the songs, which is usually not the best sign, but it was wickedly funny! Also, the Angels (Lola's backup dancers) were incredible - and all guys in drag, that looked fabulous and danced like demons in 6 inch heels. They were amazing.

The leading characters were pretty good. They both had a few vocal hiccups that were definitely noticeable, but they were good. I liked Lola best. One of the things I thought was odd, though, was that even though the show is set in Northampton, all the characters sang and talked in American accents. Being in London, I would have thought it was easier to do Northampton properly...

All in all, a really fun night. While this show wasn't high on my list, I'm glad I saw it. And now, I think I need new shoes...

Theatre Trip: Apologia

APOLOGIA

Trafalgar Studios
Date: 9th November (Thursday), 7:30pm
Seats: Stalls AA3-5

(With Joel and Jess N!)

Cast Changes: Isaure Barbe-Brown (Claire)

Notes: We got these tickets from the TodayTix app too, on Rush. You can only buy 2 at a time, so thank goodness we got next to each other! We met at the theatre, grabbed dinner, then in to get tickets and programmes before the show. That was when I saw all the signs (and there were a lot) that said that Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones from Doctor Who, for those of you who don't know her) was out and her understudy in. That didn't affect my friends, but I am still disappointed. Freema played my favorite companion, and I wanted to say thank you to her for that. I guess I'll just need to find another play she's in.

When we bought our programmes, we were given a slip which repeated the fact that Freema Agyeman was out, and also said that the understudy for Kristin was playing tonight... When we looked in our pragrammes, we found out that Kristin was Stockard Channing's character! She was the main draw to see this play, so we were very disappointed. In fact, one of my friends almost simply left the theatre... Except we are very glad we didn't. As soon as the play started, the first character walked on stage... And it was Stockard Channing - thank goodness! We all looked at each other in relief.

The play itself was really compelling. It focused on a family gathering for dinner - the matriarch (Stockard Channing's character), her son and his partner (fiance, although they don't know it yet), and the partner of her other son, as well as an old family friend. As the dinner progressed and more and more is revealed, everything begins to fall apart, and by the end, everyone is separated. It was like a mix between funny family comedy and shocking drama!

Apologia contained 5 actors. The understudy was pretty good, and so was the family friend character. He was played by Desmond Barrit, who I saw on my GAP year (2008) as the Wizard in Wicked! He was essentially the comic relief throughout the play. The main male actor (Joseph Millson) played both of the brothers (they never appeared on stage together), and he was really good. The brothers were played well enough that even though they were the same actor, their personalities were vastly different! Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith from Downton Abbey) played the fiance and she was brilliant. Her character was non-confrontational to the extreme, but still managed to keep putting her foot in it. In fact, she reminded me of myself, making weird out of context comments in an effort to defuse the situations. Her American accent was also great! And then there was Stockard Channing, the absolute legend (possibly best known for playing Rizzo in the Grease movie). She was fabulous, still really great. She had great long monologues, emotional moments, and pulled them off brilliantly. The whole play ended with her sobbing, the kind of sobbing that you do when you are so upset you can't even cry. That got all of us a bit, she was just so full of regret and sadness.

After the show we went to the stage door. We didn't have to wait long this time! We met Laura, who was very sweet, took time to sign and take pictures for us. We commented on the fact that she was so different in this to Lady Edith, which made her laugh. Then Stockard came out. She was much less receptive. She did still take photos and sign for us, but she seemed like she wasn't interested and wanted to leave. It was a little disappointing (especially after Natalie Dormer being so amazing the night before), but it was still lovely to have met such a legend. We were so glad that we were able to see her perform.