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?
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