Theatre tours

Hello again!
On Thursday we went on a field trip to some theatres where we got to go on tours! The first theatre was the Tricycle theatre in Kilburn, London and the second was the Calder Bookshop theatre opposite the New Vic. We also went to The Scoop@ More London although I had been there before. I'm kind of skipping over these for one reason... the last theatre we got a tour of was the Dominion where We Will Rock You is on in the West End! I've never been backstage at a west end theatre before and I've been to see the show three times while it was on tour in Birmingham. We were shown all the equipment that the stage managers use and then we got to stand on the stage! We also got to see the wardrobe department and under the stage where the traps are and where the set for Tottenham Court Road tube station is until it rises up to the stage. It really was amazing to go backstage and my dad was quite jealous because he loves We Will Rock You, but I got to tell him little facts about it like how the videos are live and they record it in a room with a blue screen (if you haven't seen it you won't have a clue what i'm talking about but basically there are screens on stage).

That all xxxxx

The Woman in Black

I went to see the Woman in Black at the Fortune theatre London yesterday. I have to say I didn't want to see it because it's jumpy and I don't like jumpy things. However I didn't think it was that scary although two people left o be honest I thought the begining was really boring and I really needed to cough but as it was quiet I couldn't (i've actually got a chest infection at the moment :/ ) It started to get good when the woman first came out and walked up the isle. I don't really have much more to say about it. It was an okay show but not really my cup of tea and the best bits were when the little boy infront of me fell off his chair and when someone from my group whispered over to another group (who were quite excitable) that 'It's not a pantomime!'
xx

Doctor Who Experience!!!

Okay so this was not technically theatre but I love Doctor Who so I just had to say something about it! It was really really good and there were other people like me (i.e adults) so I didn't feel stupid like I thought I would. The start was the interactive bit and it really made you feel part of a Doctor Who story with videos of Matt Smith and you got to 'fly' the TARDIS. After that you go into the museum-y bit where you can see lots of monsters and Doctor Who themed stuff. I got a lot of photos of Daleks since they are my favourite! I recommend you go to this if you love Doctor Who or even just like it because it's really interesting. It's on at Olympia 2 in London if you are interested, and it's not the same exhibition that went round the country a year or two ago!
xx

Ghost the Musical

On Wednesday we went to see Ghost at the Piccadilly theatre! I thought it would be a good opportunity to use my theatre tokens but to cut a long story short the £10 and £5 didn't work :( Anyway.... we got £25 tickets which was really good and we were sitting second row from the back in the stalls. We had 4 hours to kill so we went to Ripley's Believe it or Not which was really cool, especially the mirror maze (it took us a very long time to get out of there!) Back at the theatre we sat in our seats and were a bit worried we wouldn't be able to see because the tabs have Sam and Molly's face on them (the two main characters) and we could only see up to their noses because the bottom of the dress circle was in the way but when the show started it was actually fine. My view of the show was that some of it was really good but other bits were not good. The technical aspects of the show were amazing but the AV was quite distracting and at times I found myself watching that and not the actors. When people died it was very clever but I'll say no more because I don't want to ruin it. Sharon D Clarke was the star for me, every scene with her was so funny! In my opinion some of the songs were a bit random and if I had listened to them and not know they were from Ghost I would have thought they were from different musicals.
Because we were right at the back we were sitting next to the head of sound so we were talking to him and he is going to send us the sound spec for our essays. So obviously I'm doing my essay on Ghost now (which means I was writing notes all the way through The Wizard of Oz for nothing, but oh well!)
xx

The Wizard of Oz

So I am totally loving living in London and being able to randomly decide to go and see a show!! Me and my friend were in a very boring lesson in which we made a plan to go and see the Wizard of Oz because our next lesson was cancelled. We got really good seats, row M 29 and 30 in the stalls for £25 which we were very happy about! I've been to the Palladium twice before to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Sound of Music and both times I was in the grand circle right at the back so it was really good to see it so close this time. It was a Wednesday matinee and there were quite a few rows of empty seats at the back. The show was really good and there were quite a few understudies on, the witch was an understudy, they were very good. We were taking notes all the way through because we have to do a lighting and sound essay for a show for Mountview! Some of the songs though were quite rubbish, not that I could do any better myself but why they had to write new rubbish songs while they took my favourite song 'The Jitter Bug' out I do not have a clue! Just after the interval there was a very long pause in the show and a voice came over the speakers saying something along the lines of 'sorry, we broke the theatre. We'll start the show again when we've fixed it'. When it started again it became clear that the monkeys were meant to fly but they hadn't.

Overall it was a really good show (apart from the odd few songs) and Danielle Hope was really good as Dorothy. Also the dog was really funny because he obviously wanted the day off and Dorothy had to drag him along every now and then!

xx

Mountview does 42nd Street!

As a Mountview student I have to go and see Mountview shows and get a free ticket so me and half of the techies in my year went to see 42nd Street on Wed 28th at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre in Tottenham. It was the 3rd year musical theatre students performing and there were two casts. We saw cast 2 and there were some really amazing people in it. Not to say that some of them were bad because they were all really good and it was like going to see a professional show it was so good. It's finished now but Mountview do lots of shows every year so if you get a chance go and see one or two of them. The tickets ar really cheap, like under £10 I think which is very good for what you get to see. And just to mention the 2nd year technical theatre students did the stage management, lights, sound etc. for the show too and they gave us a tour of the theatre so we now know what one of the theatre is like that we will be working in next year!!
xx

Theatretrain

while I'm doing reviews I'll do a little one about the Theatretrain show at the Royal Albert Hall. It was called I don't Feel Like Dancing and it was a mix of songs of all genres and had singing and dancing. My little sister was in it which is why I went to see it and I'm very proud of her doing the show with a broken wrist (although she did look quite sorry for herself sometimes!) The soloists were amazing considering they were all under 18 and I really enjoyed going to the Albert Hall too.

Legally Blonde!

I have wanted to see this for absolutely ages, even before it came to London so I was really excited when me and my new housemates decided to go and see it on Saturday! We saw the understudy for Elle who is Nicola Brazil and she was really good. We were sat right on the back row of the grand circle but we didn't mind and it's not a massive theatre so we could still see quite well. The set is smaller than the one on Broadway but it's just like a more simplified version because the stage was not that big compared to some other theatres in the West End. I don't really know what to say about it except don't just think that it's going to be really rubbish as a musical because I have some friends who think that. It was really good and I would definately go and see it again!

Doctor Faustus

So I've just started my first proper week at Mountview. Last week was induction week and we got to go and see Doctor Faustus at the Globe! I was soooo excited because Arthur Darvill who plays Rory in Doctor Who was in it! We were very almost late but managed to get there just in time! To be honest I didn't really notice much of the play because I was too busy watching Arthur Darvil (whoops!) and it was in old English so I probably wouldn't have understood what they were saying anyway. However if you do like that sort of thing it would be good to go and see it and I enjoyed it just being able to watch something at the Globe! The end was the bezt because they started doing this funny song which we all thought was a bit random!

The Big Move!

So today I moved to London to start my new life as a technical theatre student! (Actually today is Saturday but I don't have an internet connection so it won't be posted straight away). I'm going home next week though because I forgot a lot of stuff e.g. my bin and cutlery and I won't get very far without them, and I want to watch Doctor Who but we have no TV here (that makes me sound really sad but I may just be the biggest Doctor Who fan ever!) I was really brave all the way here and even though I nearly cried 27 times, and yes I counted, I stopped myself each time. It's not that I don't want to be here because I really do but I just miss my family so much (uh oh, make that 28 times). I've got a little hamster and we have chickens too and I'm worried they are going to forget me. But now I'm sitting in my loft room 2 hours away from them all.

I have made it look quite nice in here though and I have brought a lot of stuff from home. I have no idea what I'm going to do tomorrow or the next day or the day after that though.

It feels weird being here

x

We Will Rock You (Again!)

The We Will Rock You tour was at the Birmingham Hippodrome and since my dad absolutely loved it last time we went again. I was really excited (and also dreading it a bit because last time my dad was singing and dancing along, which is just about the most embarrasing thing he could do). The scenery was fantastic again. They have big screens that they use instead of backdrops. Some of the cast were better than last time, but some of them from the first time were unbeatable! The killer queen from last time (she had been in X factor) was incredible and Alex Gaumond was a really good Galileo. This time we had the understudy for Galileo and he had a great voice but his acting wasn't as good. Scaramouche was the best, she was such a brilliant singer! One of the reasons I wanted to go was because Jenny Douglas was playing Meat and she was one of the girls that I wanted to win Over the Rainbow but I think Georgia Hagen was a better Meat when i saw her.





The only bad bit was the fact that my dad was singing and dancing along again and the finale was so long my arms hurt from clapping ;)

New Layout!

As you can see my blog has had a little bit of a make over! Just thought it needed something a little bit more theatre-y than the last layout (which i've had since the blog began). I'm not too great at computery things and spent ages trying to make my own template but gave up when I couldn't get it quite right! However I quite like this layout but be prepared for it to change again if I can figure out how to make my own :)
Hannah xx

X Factor Auditions!!

I went to watch the X Factor auditions in Birmingham yesterday (well I obviously wasn't auditioning was I?) I was soooo excited! When we got there we got X Factor stamps on our wrists and kind of got herded into 'pens'. It was really sunny and hot (at least it wasn't raining!) but the morning audience hadn't come out of the LG Arena yet so they were running late. After a few rounds of 'I Spy' and a bit of sunburn the queue finally started moving (2 hours late!) and we got to go inside. We were really lucky and got seats right in the middle so had a great view. Then the X Factor music started and a man came on stage. We honestly did not know who he was! At first we thought it was Dermot O'Leary (yeah, don't know if that's how you spell it) but then he came on stage too so it couldn't have been. Anyway, he warmed up the audience and filled in the gaps between the auditions. There was such a range of people auditioning and I don't really want to give much away but there were some fantastic auditions, some hilarious ones and some not so good. So watch it! Don't know when it's going to be on TV but the first auditions are always the funniest anyway!

Blood Brothers

I went to see Blood Brothers on tour yesterday at the Belgrade. I saw the tour about 2 years ago but I think this time was better (although I didn't cry at the end!) I saw the understudy for Mrs Johnstone which meant that most of the women were playing different parts to the ones they normally do. The understudy normally played Mrs Lyons but I saw her playing that part in the last tour. Infact, quite a few of the cast were in the other Blood Brothers tour I saw. Anyway, she was fantastic and could really belt! The gun shots made me jump at the end even though I was expecting them (and I has my ears covered). If you get the chance to see it do!

Comedy of Errors, Swan Lake and uni :)

I went to see the Comedy of Errors and Swan Lake quite a while ago at the Belgrade theatre. They were the first Shakespeare and the first ballet I had seen. Comedy of Errors was kind of confusing and although I could follow the story I didn't really understand everything they were saying but then I knew Shakespeare wasn't one of my strong points anyway ;) The set and costumes were modern but they still spoke in old English which I didn't see the point of. If they wanted it to be modern then make it modern!!! (Can you tell it wasn't one of my favourite trips to the theatre?) I did enjoy Swan Lake however. I had to read the programme to understand most of the story but once I knew what was happening I was okay. I think the stage was a bit too small for ballet though and it meant that they couldn't do a lot of the jumps and leaps.

I also wanted to tell you that I have conditional places at East 15, Colchester and Mountview! MOUNTVIEW!!! I still can't quite believe it! I'm still waiting to hear from ALRA but I will most probably accept Mountview (even though it's £10,095 a year!)

That's all for now :)

Hairspray and the Secret Garden!

Hiyaa! Just realised I didn't review Hairspray! Don't really remember much now except it was incredibly funny and worth watching. The story is a little different from the film version but it goes along the same lines and I actually like the stage version better because it's a bit more realistic! Brian Conley and Les Dennis were really funny during their song together and had the whole audience laughing.



The Secret Garden was on at the Birmingham Rep (which is an amazing theatre, unfortunatly it's closing for two years). All the cast had amazing voices but some of the actors playing the children were not child like at all. The story does not really lend itself to musical theatre, at most points it seemed like they thought 'we haven't had a song for a while, lets put one in now', 'The Cabbage Song' being one of these moments. However I don't think you could fail with a story such as this one and the staging was very clever. It may sound like this is a good show for young children but there were lots of kids getting restless during some of the songs and quieter moments.