Pygmalion 27th - 31st May 2014 Milton Keynes Theatre
If you remember the classic film "My Fair Lady" starring Audrey Hepburn, then you will know the story that is George Bernard Shaw's social inequality play Pygmalion - it's the same story, just without the music!
BAFTA award winning Alistair McGowan stars as phonetics expert Henry Higgins. McGowan, better known for his impressions, shows a different side to his talents in this role - he plays the over enthusiastic boyish professor amazing well (even down to shuffling nervously with his loose change in his pockets...hopefully!?)
He is aided and abetted by the language aficionado Colonel Pickering (Paul Brightwell) to pluck a caterwauling cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle (Rachel Barry) from the gutter. Brightwell and Barry give sterling performances, but just a tad wooden at times.
The pompous Higgins makes a bet with his friend Pickering that he can transform the manners and speech of this "guttersnipe" into a Lady. Neither one thinking what would become of a common flower girl, once the bet was won.
The highlight was Eliza's father, Alfred played by the scene stealing Jamie Foreman (Easters Derek Branning) his unorthodox preaching and shunning of the middle class excites Professor Higgins and propels this unlikely man into the the gentry (rebelling all the way!)
The wonderful Rula Lenska plays the very proper and indifferent mother to Higgins, not a huge part, but regally portrayed.
The cast bring this enduring masterpiece to life, the scripting is sublime bringing out the best of the memorable dialogue.
Jonathan Fensom's versatile set works wonders to allow lots of swift, slick movement from London's Covent Garden to the Professors abode, to Mrs. Higgins's drawing room and back again.
This play exceeded my expectations in every department and is a great evening's entertainment.
Lily B X
Fame the Musical - Milton Keynes Theatre 12th-17th May 2014
"You want fame? Well fame costs... and right here is where you start paying - in sweat"
Since its West End launch in 1995, Fame The Musical has established itself as one of the country's most successful theatrical productions.
Forget the 1980's sweat band, florescent leg warmer clad wannabe's - this is Fame brought bang up to date with the performing arts students taking "selfies" on their iPad's and iPhone's. There's not a huge ghetto blaster in sight!
Directed and choreographed by Gary Lloyd - the man responsible for shows like "The Tina Turner Experience" and "Thriller Live", this is a high octane musical from the start, it's infectious.
It's the dancing that holds this show together, especially the amazing Alex Thomas as Tyrone Jackson - as sadly some of the songs, performed with heavy New York accents means that most of the lyrics are lost, which is a shame.
However that said, the musical number that proves a breath of fresh air (due to the many sexual innuendos coming thick and fast) in the "Can't Keep it Down" number sung by the very funny Joe Vegas (Joseph Giacone). It's a total audience pleaser!
Jodie Steele plays the lead as tragic wannabe star Carmen Diaz, at times she has a very pleasant voice but she seemed stretched when trying for the big high notes.
The action takes place in front of a Times Square backdrop, the set is quite basic with rotating blocks to form classrooms - there's a mezzanine flooring area above the actual stage on which a brilliant five piece band are housed. The music is great throughout the show...you get little snippets of the iconic title song that you are literally itching to hear, but it's not until the very end you are indulged in this 80's Irene Cara classic.
The whole cast certainly gave it everything they could and when the finale finally came you are invited to join in - after saying "'I'm sure you know the words...?" and of course most of the audience did and were up on their feet before you could say...FAME!
Lily B x
Dance 'Til Dawn Milton Keynes Theatre 5th - 10th May
Director and co-choreographer of Dance 'Til Dawn, Karen Bruce has worked with Vincent and Flavia since the Strictly Come Dancing Tour in 2010 and said that working with them again was "magical".
Dance 'Til Dawn follows the totally amazing Midnight Tango - I wowed and raved about that show... and wondered if that could be topped. Dance 'Til Dawn exceeded all my expectations.
This production has everything - sensational dancers, wonderful vocals and comedic moments too...but it's when Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace walk on to the stage, the magic starts. The minute they float on to the stage, there's such a buzz of anticipation it was almost audible. They are quite simply stunning together. Every move is effortless and so precise, you have to sit back and appreciate the amount of difficulty in their steps as they rise and fall in total synergy.
Dance 'Til Dawn showcases every dancing style the pair posses from the Charleston to the Waltz (and of course the Tango!),but don't think that this show is just a string of dances - it's a 1940's style gangster movie and has a love story bubbling in the background that blossoms between Tony (Vincent) and silver screen starlet Sadie (Flavia).
If you were lucky enough to see Midnight Tango, you will have recognised one half of the silent slapstick comedy husband and wife bar owners. Teddy Kempner returns as the private detective Tommy Dubrowski, a lovable rogue who gets mixed up in a murder cover up. Dance 'Til Dawn allows the very funny Kempner a voice and therefore the ability to showcase his comedic talent and timing, he is brilliant.
The femme fatal Lana Clamenza (Abbie Osmon) is girlfriend to a big time gangster, who wants to cover up her infidelity by retrieving some pictures she'd rather her boyfriend didn't see. Osmon shone in this role, her signature saying "I'm not happy" made the audience chuckle time and time again and stunned us all with her amazing vocal talent.
Someone who needs to be mentioned is simply billed as "The Voice", Oliver Darley - former NME vocalist of the year and who has sung with best selling artists including Ray Charles, BB King and Sir Tom Jones. Darleys' voice is faultless.
Dance 'Til Dawn will wow you in every way from the talented cast, the fantastic live band to the wonderful costumes and clever staging. If you only book tickets just to see Vincent and Flavia dance it will be worth every penny. They are at their very best - slick, smooth and their performance throughout will blow you away. Vincent was his cheeky, charismatic talented self and Flavia was totally captivating, her body shape and movement on stage was mesmerising.
As the final dance finished, the audience rose to their feet in appreciation...I, like them wanted to watch it all over again!
Enjoy!
Lily B x
Tonight's The Night - The Rod Stewart Musical 21st April - 26th April 2014
Milton Keynes Theatre
Ben Elton's Tonight's The Night rocked into MK theatre this week. This all singing, all dancing jukebox musical showcases over twenty hits of the rock legend, Rod Stewart.
The story is of a shy, geeky mechanic from Detroit who sells his soul to the devil. Desperate to overcome his shyness, he sees this as the only way to win the heart of Mary (Jenna Lee-James) the girl he's fallen in love with. The aptly named Stewart (Ben Heathcote) gets his wish when the devil swaps Rod Stewart's soul with his own and is transformed into a "wanna be" rock star, ready to take on the world.
He meets a leggy blonde bombshell promoter Baby Jane (Tiffany Graves) who takes him on tour bumping into another rocker, Stoner (Michael McKell) along the way. McKell gives a faultless performance and shows impeccable timing to bring this Mick Jagger-esque character to life. He was hilarious, bringing a comedic interlude to the show, which was very much appreciated by the audience.
You will enjoy some of the most memorable songs by Rod Stewart, all performed brilliantly by the cast and backed by the fantastic rock band sat high in the rafters on stage - the sound is phenomenal!
The story loosely jogs on, fitting the hits in one after the other - at times the story is rather insignificant. It is the music and performances by Heathcote and the exceptionally talented Jenna Lee-James that holds it all together, especially "Stay with Me" and "I Don't Want To Talk About It".
It's a raucous, sexy production - the rockers amongst you will love it, as well as the ardent Rod Stewart fans. It's all about the music and energy on the stage and the very talented cast doing justice to all the big songs throughout.
The audience, like me however, were a little disappointed not to see Jade Ewen (one third of the multi-million selling pop group, Sugarbabes) on stage on the night as Dee Dee. It would have been the icing on the cake.
Even so, the reaction from the audience said it all as none of them could wait to don their paper sailor hats and sway rhythmically when the big moment arrived as "Sailing" closed the show.
As the encore began the audience jumped to their feet to dance and clap to a mega mix of classic hits, you could just tell that the majority of them had been itching to do all night!
The show grows on you, you won't go to see it for its story line - you will want to see it to listen to some hits of the mega star that is Rod Stewart performed with flair, heart...and Soul!
Lily B X
Robin Cousins' ICE 8th -12th April 2104 Milton Keynes Theatre
It's scary to think that Robin Cousins has been working "on ice" for nearly 50 years. From little acorns great oaks grow...and that is so true of Cousins.
Starting from a local ice skating club as a youngster to go on to become the men's figure skating Olympic gold medal winner in 1980 and European Champion in the same year - you'd expect anything with Cousins name attached to it to be out of this world...and ICE is right up there.
Robin has said "skaters can move like no one else can, they can be motionless, yet travel at great speed. We can soar across a frozen stage in ways a dancer can only dream of doing..."
To get this ice spectacular to the stage takes an amazing feat of engineering. To produce the flawless platform for the ice skaters to perform, the Milton Keynes stage has to be totally transformed.
It's done with over 15km of pipework, filled with coolant which then spills over on to a matrix of rubber pipe that carries the fluid through the refrigeration units (and acts like a giant freezer) Water is then sprayed over the top of this mesh work and "hey presto" the perfect icy stage. The whole process takes over 24 hours (non stop) to produce the finished product.
The music choice and Cousins' choreography works in perfect synergy and is absolutely spellbinding. You will see some very talented figure skaters perform some of the most difficult moves on ice in such a restricted area, it's hard to believe how they do it! It will take your breath away, quite literally.
This production is slick, quick and totally fantastic - the whole cast of skaters are just amazing and this show is a spectacle not to be missed.
Enjoy!
Lily B X
Fallen Angels 18 March - 22 March 2014 Milton Keynes Theatre
Noel Coward's Fallen Angels first opened in 1925 - its story line of two, ever so slightly bored middle aged housewives, who's perfect lives are shaken up by the arrival of an ex-lover of them both, still seems scarily fresh and relevant.
The play is set in a time where the "little women" sat prettily around waiting, whilst the men strode off to their thing...and in this case, it's a weekend of golfing.
However, our respectable housewives Julia (Jenny Seagrove) and (Jane) Sara Crowe do more than sitting pretty awaiting the return of their respective husbands. The pair find out that the man that they had both had a romantic interlude with before marrying their husbands is back in the country and about to make a visit! The expectation of seeing him sends them both into a heady spin, both pretending that they are not at all excited by the thought of having him seduce them once more.
To cope with the sheer panic that befalls them, they both agree to just run away, as neither of of them would trust themselves around him. Unfortunately, they don't manage to flee...as they sit down to dinner and have a few too many glasses of bubbly...and get totally steaming drunk! The pair share memories of their time with Maurice Duclos (Philip Battley) revisiting the feelings that they both had and secretly would love to feel again...
Seagrove and Crowe make the most of the scenes of drunkeness (sometimes a little too much where it started to look contrived) However, the pair bounce cleverly off of each other with slapstick style comedy.
The other characters seem really just to bolster the two leads. Tim Wallers (husband, Fred) and Robin Sebastian (husband, Willy) give robust and believable performances.
Fallen Angels is definitely a play worth watching, the audience chuckled loudly and left the theatre pleasantly surprised just how good it was, and I totally agree.
Lily B X
Wicked 4th February - 8th March 2014
Discover the whole story about the Land of Oz! This brilliant re-imaging of the stories and characters created by L.Frank Baum in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Wicked tells the untold story of an unlikely friendship between two very different girls who first meet as sorcery students...
If you think you will see a potted version of this stunning musical, you will be pleasantly surprised. The touring production of Wicked may have a smaller ensemble, however they deliver in every scene and the vocals are awe inspiring and pack such a punch. The production still screams West End quality throughout.
The story is so clever - just how did Elphaba become the Wicked Witch of the West, why was Glinda made "Good", did they start out that way or did they both have their titles trust upon them? Have you ever wondered why the tin man, scarecrow and lion end up as they were...this wonderful tale will tell all!
The unlikely friendship of the two young sorcery students, grows from their loathing of each other - one an unconventional outcast (being green!?) and one, a pretty blonde vision of perfectness. The pair step into the wonderful world of Oz, where being green is a prerequisite.
Both the leads are extremely talented and gave a faultless performance - the wicked but wonderfully green Elphaba (Nikki Davis-Jones) was absolutely fantastic, her vocals are strong and plays the misunderstood not quite as wicked witch to a T! Glinda, The Good (Emily Tierney) plays the fluffy, perfect popular one oh so well! Tierney possesses a real comedic quality as an actress.
Their duets were actually spell binding - they both squeeze every last drop of drama and comedy from the good versus bad relationship.
In fact the entire cast will knock your socks off! The stage sets, lighting, creative costumes and music are just exceptional.
The global musical phenomenon Wicked on tour has finally hit Milton Keynes Theatre. If you have a ticket, you won't be disappointed - because if like me you will be counting the days until you get to experience it in all is wonderful glory! If you are thinking about getting tickets, you MUST get them or I guarantee you will kick yourself having missed such a fantastic musical production right on your door step! Book them before it flies off in to the sunset on it's continuing tour of the Country.
Don't forget to pick up a CD on sale in the Theatre of the Broadway cast, just so you can remember your Wicked night, as I bet you won't be able to get the brilliant original songs out of your head. The productions biggest anthem has to be "Defying Gravity" it will cast an irresistible spell over you!
To book your tickets visit www.atgtickets.com/miltonkeynes
Enjoy!
Lily B xx
