LONDON TRIP REVIEWS

Manchester - London Nov 01

Well there’s a Match on in Cardiff. I know this as the average battery chicken has more space, than I do on this train. I mean when they announced, “the train was at platform …” Half of Paddington seemed to set off like a shot.

So as you may have guessed it’s the end of another trip and I’m thinking what to tell you lot…

Well what have I been up to? Well I undertook my own journey of discovery, that is I tried to discover Manchester. Well my favourite Miss was up there and I managed to get tickets…Well eventually managed would be a better description, but more of that later.

I decided to drive to Manchester, mainly as I had to be in London as early as possible the Friday morning as I was meeting a friend. So we set off from Merthyr at about 11am … “we?” I hear you enquire… well yea I dragged my brother along as co-driver, well it was gonna be a 5oo mile round trip.

The trip up was uneventful, long but uneventful, so we got to Manchester. First impressions well, dirty basically, well to be fair there was a lot of construction, and messy more than dirty would I suppose be a fairer description.

First thing I did when I got there was to try and collect my tickets, I was told they would be in the Box Office for me, well NO! The person said “no collections you have to wait till 6:30 and collect them in the foyer”, so nervous wait…

We found a car park right round the corner from the Theatre and set off to buy (his money not mine) brother a new wardrobe… Well I’d made the mistake of saying “wear anything”. Well he took me at my word and wore chinos and a t-shirt, well at the door of the Theatre we were greeted with a TV crew and dinner jackets, so feeling rather underdressed we set off to find a clothes shop open late. We succeeded.

I joined the long line of people collecting tickets, got to the front gave my name and ….. NOTHING. Well when they picked me up off the floor, the lady was saying “Who said they’d be here” when I told her she said “Oh they’d be at the Box Office” so the first person was wrong and I’d had a minor cardiac arrest for nothing. We entered the Theatre between Derek Hatton ( Ex-Politician ) now professional party goer, and two members of the cast of Coronation Street.

Good to her word the person I’d spoken to had reserved two seats centre of the front row, That is why my brother has now refused to go to the Theatre anymore, as the looks we got walking to those seats could be measured on the Richter scale.

So to the show, I haven’t told you yet although regular readers may well have guessed it was MISS SAIGON. Not only that but it was the first night of the first UK tour. So to quote another song “I’m in heaven”

Now a close friend has told me that I’d been neglecting the shows in recent reviews and concentrating on more what happened on the trip, so here we go…

MISS SAIGON – Is the story of a young G.I. who falls for a bar girl in Saigon towards the end of the Vietnam War. Chris (Niklas Anderson) is a young guy who is jaded at what he’s seen during his time there, until one night his best friend John (Kingsley Leggs) buys him a girl Kim (Joanna Ampil). They instantly fall in love and the story progresses from there, charting their time together, the fact that she was left behind at the end of the War, and Chris’s attempt to find her years later when John gets word that she survived.

This show ran for over 10 years at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, on Broadway for almost the same time, and has been produced in many other countries, it was written by Boublil & Schonberg the creators of Les Miserables. One other point of Interest, this was the 14th time I’ve seen this show.

There are three other main characters in the show Ellen (Nicky Adams) Chris’s Wife, The Engineer (Leo Valdez, The pimp that runs the bar where Chris and Kim meet) and Thuy (Robert Vicencio , Kim’s cousin who she was promised to as a child.)

The music in this show is excellent, the performances on this evening matching that easily, the technical side had a bit of trouble :o) Well the show is very complicated with computerised “trucks” making the scenery glide into place, a helicopter landing on the stage and a full size Cadillac making an appearance as well.

The problem this evening was one of the trucks decided it liked it’s moment of fame, and refused to leave the stage after the number it featured in. So the curtain came down, there was a suitably embarrassed announcement and a 10 minute wait. Probably made all the worse by the fact that the writers were in the audience.

I know the writers were in the audience as my brother nearly kicked one of them in the nuts… Well we were in the front row and he walked passed before my brother could un-cross his legs, Good first impression eh!

This minor hiccup aside the show went along without a hitch, and we were left to enjoy a wonderful evening.

Well my impressions of the show, the lighting in “Movie in my mind”, each Bar Girl had her face lit at her position around the bar, thus highlighting her inclusion in the sentiments sung by Gigi (Emma Jay Thomas). This time the character of Thuy, to this point this has never been one of my favourite characters, mainly as I’m a sucker for happy endings, but also I felt it was the least developed of the leads. I’ve seen various people play the role including Keith Burns whon created it, but the guy playing it in Manchester was the best. The emotion he put into his revelation scene with Kim was breathtaking. Add to this the way that Kim reacts to his death and I can tell you from the front row these scenes are worth the price of admission and the cost of getting to Manchester alone.

Stand out songs “Movie in my mind”, “I still believe” “Bui Doi” and “American Dream”.

I think that this cast is excellent, too often the touring company can be cast with the people who were “almost good enough” for the main production but not in this case Niklas, Leo and Joanna have performed these roles at Drury Lane.

So the show finished and I headed for London, well you know I’m a sucker for punishment, this basically meant I was on the road for about 7 hours out of 24. This leg was as uneventful as the initial journey except to mention the cost of things at road side services, when they know you can’t buy anywhere else they **** *** you they ***** *** you at the Services ( this last line will mean nothing if you haven’t seen the Lethal Weapon series of movies and remember Joe Pesci’s character ). I mean a pack of three sandwiches £2.99. Come on! Sleep … then it was Friday morning. I met with my friend Nikki for lunch and a quick shopping trip in the afternoon. Then it was to Cat on a hot tin roof that evenings show. We arrived early as we were supposed to be meeting another friend of Nikki’s (I’m really sorry here I didn’t catch your name, but it was very nice to meet you) in fact it was about 6:30 for a 8pm show, so we waited but unfortunately she didn’t make it for our meal, we later found out she had got lost and she made it to the Theatre with about 5 minutes to spare.

Cat on a hot tin roof stars Brendan Fraser ( The Mummy, Blast from the Past ) as Brick, Francis O’Connor as Margaret, Ned Beatty as “Big Daddy”, Gemma Jones (Bridget Jones Diary )as “Big Mama” and other supporting cast members. Admission here I’ve never seen a play in the West End before, well I’ve seen comedies and lots of Musicals but not what you’d call a “straight play” and what a way to start…

The show has 2 intervals starts at 8pm and you don’t leave the Theatre till gone 11. So add to this the fact that Nikki fancies Brendan Fraser and had got me to book us the front row, and we were in for a very intense evening. The performances and raw power on that stage was awe-inspiring. Brendan never left the stage for the full length of the show and considering the physical demands of the role he probably wished he were back fighting the mummy.

The story is of a couple Brick and Margaret living with his parents at their plantation in the 1950’s, The “action” comes from the breakdown of their relationship, and the other family tensions caused by something which isn’t fully explained until near the end of the play, but the journey to that realisation is the main thrust of the show. Set in the deep south with character names like: Brick, Big Daddy, Big Mama and Gooper this is not the most accessible of shows but for a beginner, but it sets a hell of a benchmark to live up to.

The front row of this Theatre is so close to the stage, at two points when Brendan ends up on the floor Nikki could have reached up and touched him, and showed remarkable restraint I thought in not trying this. I mean if it was Elizabeth Berkley in that position when I saw “Lenny” I’m not too sure I would have been able to resist ;o)

You can’t easily relate this type of show, no favourite songs etc. So we enter new territory for me a review of the old style.

For me stand out performances were Brendan, Ned, Francis and Gemma that’s not to detract from the other performers but these people commanded the stage to such an extent that when they’re on it that it was difficult to look anywhere else. The reviews outside the Theatre seemed to suggest that the “real” critics agreed with me but then again they’re not gonna post bad reviews outside are they.

After the show and upon my return to the Hotel I became concerned, and I must in relation to this concern say, that the couple in the room next door to the toilet on the 3rd floor of the Royal Adelphi Hotel really should get some treatment for the asthma they both obviously suffer from as that much heavy breathing at that time of night can not be doing their chests any good ;o)

So to my last day in London, Saturday and it was a day of … walking basically, I met Nikki just after 9.30am (sorry I was late) and we headed for Greenwich and the Cutty Sark, This was Nikki’s idea as she is really interested in that era of history and is even working on a book set then, so this for her was research. And for me the chance to spend a day with a lovely lady.

The Cutty Sark was interesting, I will say that people then must have been a lot smaller, as after an hour on there I was walking like Quasimodo. Another thing I didn’t realise although now it seems common sense, is that the sailors “lived” on the deck I’d always imagined them all sleeping in the hold. Obviously some of them did but the tiny cabins on the deck were amazing.

The Maritime Museum was an education, if only in that it was amazing how despite the Governments aims to make Museums more accessible some still feel they can justify a £7.50 entrance fee. So a one line summary…. Interesting but nowhere near worth the fee they charge.

Well not for me Nikki may disagree. Although I must say it did prove an education, I mean it proved one thing that I have come to realise in my later years, NOT THAT MUCH LATER! But you get what I mean, Things aren’t just black and white. When you’re a kid, although sadly it seems that matter some people never come to this realisation, things are either right or wrong good or evil.

Well there were bits of an old airship in this museum, it was used in the First world war by the Germans to bomb London. During the attack it was shot down and the survivors landed in the North Sea. A ship came past saw them there…and left them. The ship was British and the survivors German. One of the survivors has a means of writing and left a note in a bottle “the ship ****** saw us and left us here to die”. Not what we were led to believe from the movies of the day of the British spirit of fair play. Ironically the same ship that left them to die was later in the war sunk by the German navy, the survivors picked up and kept in a prisoner of war camp and released after the War. Just really brought home to me the need to stick to your beliefs and not to follow the crowd or the widely held view just to fit in.

We then had traditional Fish and Chips at a British Pub, and I’ll start by saying you are lucky I didn’t get the name of your place. As without doubt you have the most ignorant and uninterested staff I’ve ever come across. Your food was okay, but everything else left a lot to be desired.

Another abiding memory of that day was the Docklands Light Railway, I sat in the carriage and tried to figure out what was missing then I realised, a driver, well at least one at the front, they “drove” it using a key at any of the doors. Interesting, un-nerving at times but worth trying.Caught in the Net the new farce by Ray Cooney, starring Russ Abott “Stanley Gardner”, Eric Sykes “Dad” and Robert Daws “John Smith”.

The story is a sequel to “Run for your Wife”. The main plot is of a taxi driver who lives two lives as he is a bigamist and has two families at opposite ends of London. A wife and son at one and another wife and daughter at the other. This really is how farce should be done. A frenetic pace building steadily throughout the piece, culminating in the great revelation at the end. I won’t spoil the show by telling you the end, but definitely go and see it if this is your type of humour.

Performance wise it was faultless, Russ Abott a performer I could only take in small doses when he was at his peek of celebrity with his character lead shows is excellent in his role of the put upon lodger. Robert Daws who I loved in “Outside Edge” (a British Sit-Com about a local village cricket team) performed wonderfully, and Eric Sykes as the lodger’s “Dad” was a revelation. I have seen interviews with him recently where they mentioned his health problems, limited eyesight and almost deaf. Well all I can say is I started to doubt what I had heard. He was the consummate professional and wonderfully funny, he showed no frailty at all, and apart from corpsing at one point, which I find great as it seems to further include the audience into the evening rather than the “we are performing for you and never the two shall meet” approach, he was faultless all night. The supporting cast of the two wives ”Mary Smith” Carol Hawkins, “Barbara Smith” Helen Gill, Son “Gavin Smith” William Harry and daughter “Vicki Smith” Beccy Armory performed to a really high standard as well.

So back to the hotel with only a brief stop at the Nell of Old Drury for a quick pint and another trip had come to an end.

This will be the last trip of 2001 and what a year it’s been for Theatre and London. Many shows have closed, not too many new ones opened with any fan fair, and audiences have dropped significantly. Due in part to the Foot and Mouth crisis, and the atrocity of September the 11th. But this can’t be the only reason. Theatre has always had an elitist tag in many circles and some of the Producers of shows seem determined to keep it even at the risk of loosing money themselves. I’ve mentioned before about the comments I get when saying I’m off to see a musical or any “Theatre” really. And if they want this wonderful form of entertainment to survive I think their going to have to seriously look at their methods and realise that now the “upper classes” don’t exist in enough numbers to pay for the costs incurred to put on a show and they are going to have to try and encourage new blood into the audiences with the same vigour the try to find new talent. As without the audience who is going to applaud even the greatest performer in the world.

Food for thought, but not wishing to end on a low point I will say that I personally am sufficiently addicted to the roar of the greasepaint and the smell of the crowd to ensure I will keep returning and loving every minute of it.

Have a great Christmas, keep seeing shows and feel free to drop me a line to let me know what you think of them.

Rob
robert.okeefe@virgin.net
The After Show Party Page