Nicole schreibt...

For the first time in a long while I didn't feel much excitement about going to London - I guess that's what fangirling over a particular show and performer does to you. Luckily the low mood shifted as soon as I was back amid the buzz of the West End, where I only just had time to run a few errands and enjoy a yummy bowl of Vietnamese Pho Bo before getting together with an American friend and her friend at the Theatre Cafe. They had been enticed to cross the pond for the revival of "Company", which also happened to be my first show for the trip (and which is conveniently just across the road from the cafe). I had never actually seen the show on stage, just a cinema screening of the NY concert with Neil Patrick Harris, which our cinema had been clever enough to start with the second act. I was also not particularly keen on it, to be honest and would rather watch paint dry than a pseudo-clever Sondheim show about upper class couples and their woes. Still, it always felt like "Company" was a show one should simply had seen once and I appreciated this gender-swapped attempt at updating the show. So between that, the announcement that Broadway legend Patti LuPone was joining the cast and the fact that the Gielgud has these excellent slip seats at the side of the Dress Circle for all of £25, I was sold. So what's the deal? "Company" was written in 1970 (which, let's face it, old people reading this, is nearly 50 years ago) and had at its centre 35 year old bachelor Bobby. At his birthday party, his well-meaning coupled-up friends try to tell him that it's really time to settle down and of course by the end of the evening Bobby gives in, declaring that only coupled-up is Being Alive (sorry, I find the line "Alone is alone, not alive!" borderline offensive to us happy singles). These days, nobody gives a fig whether a 35 year old man is single or not, so director Marianne Elliot had the idea for a gender-swapped revival where 35 year old female Bobbie is under pressure from everyone to settle down because the biological clock is ticking. While this does make a lot more sense, I was still wary of the show because of Sondheim's ultra-conservative mindset, which had already bothered me so much in "Follies" last year. Luckily, with Elliot's female gaze and Bobbie in the very safe hands of the incredible Rosalie Craig, this revival succeeds. Sure, a modern (and/or female writer) would probably have added fresh and different aspects - it had been nice to see at least one happily single person to offset the couples, perhaps a divorcee and perhaps more modern issues for Bobbie like questioning having a baby without a man. And of course even for women it feels dated now, that everyone would aspire to marriage, when many couples are perfectly happy to just live together. Anyway, the show is what it is and Rosalie Craig does an amazing job, showing a slightly stand-offish Bobbie watching the couples with bemused detachment, while inwardly being torn over whether their way might not be preferable after all and that's something I can 100 percent get behind, having been there myself in my mid-thirties. She even managed to turn "Being Alive" into a manifest of just letting people live their own lives, no matter how and if she doesn't win all the awards come award time, I shall riot. To be fair, it's not just her, it's the entire cast that makes this show absolutely worthwhile. Richard Fleeshman (and his abs) as Bobbie's ditzy air steward boyfriend Andy, George Blagden (him again!) as hipster PJ and most of all Jonathan Bailey as Jamie with the best freak-out/nervous breakdown I might ever have seen in the West End with "Not getting married today". There was little to see of Patti LuPone in the first act, but she duly knocked her big solo "The Ladies who lunch" out of the park late in the second act. One of the most brilliant moments I thought was the number "Tick Tock" in which Bobbie watches/dreams several future Bobbies live out their messy lives between managing a job, a baby and a man who can't turn the toilet seat down and her sense of "do I really want this?" was palpable. So I'm definitely glad I went to see this production for the fantastic cast and refreshed story as such as certainly resonates with every woman who's been in Bobbie's situation in her 30s (my friend Emily explained this so much better than I ever could, so have a read here) It's simply as good as this dated show is likely to get and I now find it even more impossible to envision this done with a male lead. I was staying at the Travelodge in Bethnal Green for the first time, so since I had nothing better to do on Friday anyway, I first spent a long morning in the room before taking a look at the lovely Museum of Childhood, basically just across the road and full of toys from across the ages: A wooden "doll" from Ancient Egypt via 18th century doll houses to today's action figures and computer games. It's not large, but it's free and just a lovely way to spend an hour regressing back into childhood. Afterwards I curled up in the spa at York Hall next door to enjoy some warmth in the sauna and generally just chill. It wasn't until late afternoon that I finally left leafy quiet Bethnal Green behind to head for the bright lights of the West End - and the penultimate trip to the Batcave. While I was still lamenting the Andrew-shaped hole in the cast, I was looking forward to at least see the show itself in English again after the godawful mess in Oberhausen. And just as the difference between Andrew and Jordan had been so obvious when seeing the former again after the latter within two weeks in summer, the difference between the shoddy mess in Oberhausen and the original version here became glaringly obvious within the first 1-2 numbers. The sound was better, the cast bigger, the whole thing just ROCKED far more and sounded infinitely better in English. And speaking of Jordan, while I had greeted his first appearance on stage with some sort of "ugh, you again" the way you greet that obnoxious cousin you could really do without at family-dos, he had either massively improved or I was still stung by the Oberhausen mess, but for the first time I really liked his "Bat out of Hell" and general performance. Even though his chemistry with Christina is still zero and there's just something about his low-rent-Johnny-Depp-looks I don't like, it was good to say goodbye on a positive note. My hope to finally see another Falco was dashed as Rob Fowler was back after his foot injury, but when someone is that excellent, who cares? Missing once again was Danielle, but I got to see new Blake Ryan Anderson at last (eh) and Sam Toland as Ledoux, sadly not half as good as Giovanni Spano, still out after his X-Factor gig. Seeing the Dominion pretty full, the great audience reaction and the amazing energy of the cast, I just couldn't help leaving the theatre feeling sad that Bat didn't receive the love it deserves. Sometimes I can understand why shows don't work, even when they're personal favorites of mine, but in this case I will never understand why this amazing rock musical, so different from all the disco pop stuff in the West End, hasn't done better than it did. Saturday morning I spent some time in Waterstones and other shops around Covent Garden before crossing the river to meet a true legend of the West End fandom at last, Steve, aka Theatremonkey, whose website and information has saved me (and countless others) hundreds of pounds down the line, so it was lovely to finally put a face to a name and have someone to spill my Bat woes to. We parted ways for the matinees with my destination the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. I had been very positively surprised by this lavish production of 42nd Street in spring, but had missed seeing Ashley Day, who had been the main reason for booking. So with my newly formed plans to rather revisit favorites once more than force myself into seeing shows I don't really care for simply because "one should see them", I decided to give it a second go. But the fates conspired against me and Ashley was off again. The show also didn't feel as magic to me as the first time since I knew now what to expect and my mindset also returned to the woes of Bat closing as 42nd Street will also close in January after a a run of less than two years and this glorious old-fashioned spectacle would certainly have deserved a longer run, too. But I was still glad I had returned (to another £25 front row seat) because of its sheer entertainment value and its new leading lady Bonnie Langford as Dorothy Brock. While I thought Lulu had been "okay" in summer, it is obvious what a difference a proper all-singing, all-dancing showbiz veteran makes and she was fabulous. Otherwise it was some familiar faces with Clare Halse as Peggy and Philip Bertioli (sigh) as Billy Lawlor and a new face with Tom Lister (first cast Julian Marsh on this time). Meeting up with another friend crashed and foundered on the rocks of scheduling, so instead I spent an hour in Bangkok with excellent Thai food before moving on to the evening show. "Tina - the Musical" had been a last-minute decision when "Foxcatcher" with Iwan Rheon had folded early as I was mildly curious about it anyway and figured that if I forked out for this, it should be while celebrated leading lady Adrienne Warren was still playing Tina. After all, Bat had taught me what a difference a strong lead can make. Needless to say that she was absent, putting yet another damper on this trip. "Tina" is the famous story of Tina Turner, of course, the first act covering her upbringing in Nutbush and the marriage, marred by violence and abuse, to Ike Turner and their rise to fame, while the second act covers her spectacular comeback in the 80s. It flows along nicely enough, but didn't really rope me in. I kept thinking of how Bat and Tina started around the same time and how one was struggling and how one has been selling out like crazy and how unfair it seems to me. Yes, I can see all the obvious reasons people brought up: The book of Bat is bonkers and preposterous, while Tina is the genuine story of a strong woman and her career, popular doesn't always mean good and, probably most importantly: Tina is a show for the ladies and it's still ladies who buy the bulk of theatre tickets. I'd say at least three-quarters of the audience were women, often in groups (one group of four even turned up in Tina wigs) and boy did they go nuts at "Simply the Best" at the end. Simply the Best it just wasn't for me - just a decent enough biography musical like so many that have come and gone both in the West End and elsewhere, so why this of all of them has become such a hit, I just do not know. Might it have been better with Adrienne? Possibly. Aisha Jawando was decent enough, even managing Tina's deep growly voice in songs like "What's love got to do with it", but well, she just isn't Tina. With shows like Mamma mia, WWRY or BOOH, at least you never expect Abba, Queen or Meat Loaf, as the songs have been given completely fresh lives and interpretations, which is what makes biography musicals so lame to me. Oh well, at least I've seen it now and could form my own genuine opinion of it. The journey home on Sunday was uneventful and while this trip has felt tinged with way more sadness than usual, it was still decent enough thanks to Company, Bat and meeting lovely people. And now just the final lap of honour remains for the end of the month...