With a couple of theatre at the cinema visits I’m going to add them to my list for 2024. Catching a performance at the cinema can be a great way to watch a play/show, it’s generally local and a much cheaper ticket ; I’ll quite often watch a performance live then also watch it on the big screen, it gives a different perspective. February felt like a quiet month, but the proof will be in the listing.
6th February – The Gruffalo’s Child – Chelmsford Theatre. This was an unusual one, I went along as a helper with around 150 schoolchildren, from Years 1 & 2 and a few from Reception and Year 6. It was an enjoyable experience and the kids had a lovely time. A first theatre experience for many of them. (9)
7th February – Living With Luke – The Harlow Playhouse. I had no idea what to expect with this one, I went along with a friend and a few of her friends. A wrestling ring was set up in the middle of the stage and we were introduced to 2 wrestlers. Then along came Luke, an Autistic boy, we were told the story of how Luke’s Dad had felt/coped with his son and his diagnosis. The play is based on the blog written by the real life Luke’s father Danson Thunderbolt. With his feelings portratyed by a round of wrestling. An incredibly powerful insight into life as Luke’s Dad; there was hunour but also a lot of heartbreak. This was the final performance after 10 years of ‘educating’ people. The theatre was predominantly full of women, it struck me it should have been full of men. We saw a video of Luke at the end of the play, which was wonderful! Sadly I can’t find the cast list. (10)
9th February – The Simon and Garfunkel Story – Chelmsford Theatre. I’d seen this 3 times in the West End and knew it was a good show. I took my friend Sue. This tells the story of Simon & Garfunkel from the beginning, with the actors playing the 2 men at the front of the stage. They’re supported by a v ery good band and historical videos running on a screen behind them. Both Benjamin Cooley (Art) and Taylor Bloom (Paul) do a great job of representing the stars, with their rendition of Bridge Over Troubled Water in particular being spine tingling. (11)
12th February – The Addams Family – The Palladium. This was listed as a concert, but proved to be a fully staged show. My main reason for being there was Ramin Karimloo but many in the audience were there to see Michelle Visage from the cheers that went up when she arrived on the stage. She was good in her part as Morticia; Ramin was his amazing self as her husband Gomez. Chumisa Dornford-May as Wednesday was outstanding, she has a wonderful voice. A thoroughly enjoyable show, in spite of the sound being a little iffy at times. Sam Buttery played Uncle Fester (and was great!), Lesley Joseph played Grandma, Nicholas Mclean – Pugsley, Dickson Gough – Lurch, Sean KIngsley – Mal, Kara Lane – Alice and Ryan Kapel as Lucas. (12)
14th February – The Rogers & Hammerstein 80th Anniversary Concert – Vue Cinema. This one was very much a concert and one I couldn’t afford to buy a ticket for. One of my favourite performers was taking part, Julian Ovenden, I saw him twice in South Pacific and was blown away. I was not blown away by Michael Ball singing Some Enchanted Evening, he said he’d never sung it before and that was surely for a reason! He butchered it! That was a crazy decision with Julian involved. I’m not sure MB has ever had the voice for such a song but he most definitely doesn’t now! That aside this was a beautiful concert full of stars alongside MB and Julian Ovenden was Joanna Ampill, Daniel Dae Kim, Lucy St Louis, Aaron Tveit, Marisha Wallace and Patrick Wilson . Some wonderful performances!
15th February – The King and I – The Dominion. A 3rd time of watching this, this time with my friend Cory, we were in Row E in the Stalls and for some reason it felt a little dated this time round. Helen George is really very good in this show as is Darren Lee and of course the songs as just as good as they always were. (13)
19th February – King Lear – The Almeida Theatre. I thought I’d watched KIng Lear last year, with Sir Kenneth Branagh, I really enjoyed the play but wasn’t blown away by Sir B, I booked this production on my way home though. The Sir B version was a mere 2 hours, this one 3 hours and 10 minutes, so I’d seen a kind of King Lear Lite! This production was one of the best things I’ve seen. The Almeida Theatre is an intimate venue and that meant the impact of many of the scenes was incredibly powerful, I jumped on more than one occasion. Danny Sapani as King Lear was amazing as was most of the cast, it felt like I was watching a totally different play: Lots had to be cut out to fit things into 2 hours. My ticket for this version cost me £25, The Sir B version was £125, wow this was so much better value! The use of music and singing really added to the play. Cast – Hugo Bolton – Oswald, Oliver Cudbill – Duke of Burgundy, Edward Davis – Duke of Cornwall, Fra Fee – Edmund, Michael Gould – Earl of Gloucester, Akiya Henry – Goneril, Geoffrey Lumb – Duke of Albany, Alec Newman – Earl of Kent, Gloria Obianyo – Cordelia, Faith Omole – Regan, Clarke Peters – The Fool, Steffan Rizzi – Knight, Captain, Danny Sapani – King Lear, Matthew Tennyson – Edgar. (14)
22nd February – An Enemy of The People – The Duke of York’s Theatre. A Henrik Ibsen play adapted by Thomas Ostermeister (Director) and Florian Borchmeyer. Ibsen died in 1906 so the original version of this play will have been set in a very different time. This version is hugely relevant to today, Matt Smith plays Dr Thomas Stockman, he discovers that the water in the local spa is contaminated and causing visitors to be unwell. The spa is the source of income for the town so the powers that bet, being his brother, Peter Stockman played by Paul Hilton, don’t want that news shared. The first part of the play contained more than a little humour, the 2nd a dialogue from Matt Smith which was incredibly thought provoking and then involved audience participation. It’s good to go to the theatre and find yourself challenged! This was a stellar cast and Smith and Hilton were joined by Jessica Brown Findlay, Priyanga Burford, Zachary Hart, Nigel Lindsay and Shubham Saraf. (15)
22nd February – Vanya – Everyman Cinema. The tickets for the live version of this one were a bot too rich for me, so an evening at the cinema it was. A one man play? I’d never seen such a thing before – Andrew Scott was remarkable! It was possible to tell which character he was playing by the look on his face as well as his tone of voice. A truly remarkable performance!
26th February – The Hills of California – The Harold Pinter Theatre. A Jez Butterworth play, I’d seen The Ferryman in 2017 and very much enjoyed it, I was expecting good things. I was not disappointed, I don’t want to give much away on this one, it was set in a guest house in Blackpool and was at times laugh out loud funny, then came a sinister twist. A tale of a family of sisters, both as adults and teens. The set is very clever as the play goes.back to the childhood of the sisters. It’s another cracker! Cast Helena Wilson, Natasha Magigi, Richard Lumsden, Opheila Lovibond, Lucy Moran, Alfie Jackson, Leanne Best, Shaun Dooley. Bean Dick, Laura Donnelly, Nancy Allsop, Nicola Turner, Sophia Ally, Lara Mcdonnell, Will Barrett, Stevie Raine. (16)
29th February – Jesus Christ Superstar – The Churchill Theatre, Bromley. A first visit to a very nice theatre for me, unlike the Harold Pinter it has comfortable seats and great leg-room. I’d never seen this live before and at the start was a little blown away by the volume, but that ‘settled in’ (if that makes sense). I found out after the fact we had an understudy Jesus on the afternoon, Charlie McCullagh was outstanding, this is clearly a show with very challenging songs and he was fabulous! Shem Omari James played Judas and again his voice was amazing, both actors portrayed the agony of their pain in betrayal and the result of that betrayal. Hannah Richardson playing Mary sung beautifully. Ryan O’Donnell playing Ponies Pilate was similarly excellent. Jad Hibachi as Calaphas and Matt Bateman as Annas made an excellent pair of ‘villains’. Dance was used to portray emotions and was particularly cleverly when Jesus was being ‘punished’. Julian Clary had a short appearance as Herod and was really quite funny, I’m not so sure that was appropropriate. Overall this is a great production of one of the classic Time Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber productions. (17)
Best Performance in a Play – Danny Sapani – King Lear
Best Performance in a Musical – 3 for this month – again they couldn’t be separated – Charlie McCullagh, Shemi Omari James and Hannah Richardson – all from Jesus Christ Superstar.
I’ve only picked from live performances for my bests, but Andrew Scott was remarkable in Vanya and Julian Overdone has a wonderful voice! I type that as I’m watching him play a Police Officer in Trigger Point – a versatile man! Turns out February wasn’t such a quiet month after all!
365 Happy Days 