Thursday 31 January 2013

Something's coming, something good

I have really been slacking with this blog, I was suppose to be off to see Taboo a couple of weeks ago  but then the snow came and shat all over that plan so I couldn't review that and then I've just been procrastinating and not watching all the movies that I planned to.

Anyway today's post is brought to you by the excitement of Broadway since we seem to be getting a lot of it coming to London this year. New York City is my absolute favourite city in the world, I've been lucky enough to visit twice but sadly haven't been for a good 7 years. Needless to say with a love of NYC comes a great love of Broadway.

Next month I'll be seeing Sherie Rene Scott at the Matcham Room, Hippodrome, I don't have tickets yet but am hoping to see A Chorus Line and Once at some point during February and March, I do have a ticket booked for The Book of Mormon in May and I'm also hoping to get a ticket to see Patti LuPone in June. Most, if not all, these shows I've seen come and go on the other side of the pond the last few years and now I'm rather excited that I get a chance to see them for myself.

Also yesterday the National announced their next season which also sounds incredibly, particularly the Tori Amos musical The Light Princess and the Simon Russell Beale/Sam Mendes King Lear. Unfortunately for me my entry pass membership expires when I turn 26 in May so no more amazing £5 tickets, here's hoping there are plenty £12 Travelex tickets to go around!

Sunday 13 January 2013

Review: Les Miserables



It's going to be quite hard to write this review without completely gushing, we're only in January and I think I may have already found my favourite film of the year. Les Miserables based on the stage show by Schonberg & Boublil follows Jean Valjean through decades as he's being hunted by policeman Javert. I saw the show in London a few years ago now and enjoyed it but was never a mega fan and I think that's the best way to see the film because from what I've seen online the mega fans are going to be more nit picky over the film.

Being a self confessed musical nerd, it's an exciting time anytime a show gets a big screen adaption and I think Les Mis is a particularly good one for showing all the people who can't stand them that they're not all cheese and jazz hands. That said if you're expecting to see some perfect belting singing then you will be disappointed, this film is all about the raw emotion of the characters and this was perfectly filmed with extreme close ups by Tom Hooper. I also think the live singing works well with this rather than having the actors mime to pre recorded vocals. 

The cast are all brilliant and I personally enjoyed playing spot the West End actor with all their cameos. In terms of the lead cast, Anne Hathaway is fantastic and she will be robbed if she doesn't win the Oscar for this performance. I also enjoyed performances by Hugh Jackman, Samantha Barks and yes although Russell Crowe cannot sing I think his Javert works well for this adaption. I left the cinema immediately wanting to watch it again and am hopefully going again next Sunday to see it in IMAX.

Thursday 10 January 2013

Award season

Only 10 days into 2013 and we're well into award season already. The BAFTA nominations were announced yesterday and the full list can be seen here, the Oscar nominations were announced today and can be seen here and finally the BRIT awards were announced this evening and can be found here.

Every year when we get the film based awards I realise how behind I am in seeing the latest films, I'm trying to make it up this year though and at the end of the month I'm going to take out a Cineworld card and try and see as much as possible. I'm very much looking forward to seeing Les Miserables tomorrow night and you can expect a review on it as I enjoyed seeing the show on stage a few years ago. I've also just seen the trailer for Lincoln the first time this evening and since that seems to be sweeping the nominations I'll have to get myself to that at some point too.

Looking at the BRIT awards I can't say I'm too enthusiastic about the list of nominees, I have to admit I am biased towards my favourite musical artists so when they aren't featured I'm not too fussed. We still don't have a release date for Lady Gaga's ARTPOP this year and I'm not sure if Florence's Ceremonials qualifies, if it does then it's an outrage they've only received one nomination. Emeli Sande leads the way with the most nominations and I think I'm one of the few who isn't bored of her and I've kept meaning to check out Paloma Faith's new album and seeing it nominated will give me the push to do that.

What does everyone else think of the nominees? Are there any films or music I MUST check out?

Tuesday 8 January 2013

Review: Starlight Express - Brighton Centre



Whilst I was off work over Christmas and sales shopping, I decided I needed to book myself some theatre tickets for 2013 and I thought what better way to start than a musical on the first Saturday in January. 

Starlight Express written by Andrew Lloyd Webber is currently touring the UK with this Bill Kenwright production. I pretty much knew nothing going in except they're pretending to be trains on rollerskates. IMO ALW gets a lot of unfair stick in the musical theatre world, Evita would have to be my favourite musical of his and I would recommend it to everyone, it's a real stunning piece of music. It's a shame I can't say the same for this show, I was bored and thinking now I can't remember any of the songs bar one and I only saw it 3 days ago. I did read in the program that ALW wrote this for his children so maybe I'm just not the intended audience but then again that's no excuse for shoddy work.

Part of the reason I think is because it's a Bill Kenwright production and they're nothing if not know for being cheap. There was no set bar a giant LED screen and two half pipes to skate on, I imagine the show was stunning when it opened at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London but it just wasn't working for me at the Brighton Centre. When I walked in I was handed a pair of 3D glasses which are used to show the race part of the show but again I read in my program this was introduced in 1993 and needs some serious updating. It did amuse me that Pearl is blonde in the show and suddenly in the 3D film she's ginger.  The actors have my admiration for dancing and singing on rollerskates even though most of their routines did seem to involve skating in circles and I thought the costumes were good but again looking a little tired. All in all I can't say it was worth the £50 I spent on a ticket.

Looking forward to the other shows I've booked, next Saturday I'll be off to see Taboo in Brixton which has had rave reviews so fingers crossed I'll enjoy that one a little more. Also when I get paid I need to book myself tickets for The Book of Mormon, Once & A Chorus Line, they're probably the shows I'm most looking forward to in 2013.

What about everyone else? Has anyone else got any shows planned they're looking forward to? Or other TV, music or film that I should look out for?