Seen any good theatre recently? Or any bad theatre for that matter!
In Celebration
London
£15
Apparently, Orlando Bloom’s theatre debut (according to the playbook). It detailed the 40th wedding anniversary of a Northern England coal miner and his wife. Their 3 sons came up to visit and various family troubles come out. I have to say ( And I LOVE Orli) that he wasn’t really that great. His accent was all over the place and he seemed almost “Keanu” wooden. Still, I didn’t mind staring at him for 2 hrs.
Lord of the Rings: The Musical
London
£10
Visually it was spectacular. The hobbits catching fireflies, the Nazgul, Shelob, the Orcs - all just amazing! the The songs were sort of take 'em or leave 'em though. I was very lucky to get cheap £10 preview tix as they are going for several times that now.
Les Miserable
London
£20
All I can remember is how cramped the seats were. Production was ok but nothing marvelous.
Avenue Q
London
£20
Blindingly hilarious. I was pissing myself and the songs are really catchy. It was in a relatively small theatre as well so even our “cheap” seats had great views. Must see if they have a cast cd.
I’m seeing The Lion King in 2 weeks so I’ll let you know how it goes.
Last week, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks’ production of Shaw’s Heartbreak House. And the week before that, same company, The Merry Wives of Windsor. Windsor was the better of the two, but it clearly wasn’t one of the Bard’s best. The combination of casting, costumes, and makeup was absolutely inspired, though: Falstaff and Quickly couldn’t possibly have looked more exactly like they should have. Both were free, with lawn seating.
We just spent the week in Vegas. Didn’t see any theatrical shows, but if we count other staged productions:
Penn and Teller - All sorts of fun. El Perro Fumando got pulled onto stage to participate in the first trick of the night, and we kept talking about various tricks for days afterward. The only down side was Penn’s proselytizing, which dragged some of the tricks down with their context.
Second City at the Flamingo - Not too bad. I wasn’t super impressed, but there were plenty of truly funny moments, skits that were truly excellent. Not enough improv incorporated into the show, but the bit that was there was pretty well integrated. It would qualify as a consistently good week of SNL skits.
Sadly, it has been too many years since I have been to the theatre. I think the last thing that I saw was Les Mis. That must have been 7 years ago. We do have local theatre and I used to love to go, but I just haven’t.
The Tempest by Shakespeare. $5 in the park, bring your own dinner and chair/blanket. It was performed by a troupe of traveling players (The National Players?). It was great fun. Shakespeare in the park is greatly enhanced by starting at 7 (rather than waiting until dark), simple but distinctive costumes, and being able to sit near the stage. Almost no set, limited props, but fun.
I saw The Year of Magical Thinking Tuesday, and Eurydice the Friday before that.
Magical Thinking had some strong points, and Vanessa Redgrave was good, but it was pretty clear the whole thing worked better as a book (my girlfriend has read it and agreed). Eurydice was imaginitively staged and powerful, although sometimes it was a bit clunky.