Restoring the faith...

Two amazing shows in a week - hurrah!

I've just been to see "Sister Act - The Musical" at the London Palladium, and - yep, you guessed it - you HAVE to go and see it.

For fear of being a bit gushy about the show, everything about it was great, and sums up how good a piece of Musical Theatre can be. The Producers have done the show proud, and there appears to have been no expense spared on the casting, the orchestra, the sets, the lighting, the costumes - all of it.

Tonight Debbie Kurup was on for Dolores, and did a fantastic job. I'm sure that Patina Miller is awesome too, so you can be sure whoever is on will be great. Sheila Hancock is, of course, one classy bird, and she brings that class to the show. Not that it lacks it on it's own.

Sat in the auditorium with a friend at the end of the show, we both agreed we'd LOVE to be in a show like "Sister Act". It was so much fun, and a real joy to have a new show with a brand new score as well, nothing recycled or re-used. There a some catchy tunes in there... working to the (somewhat infuriating at times!) old adage of being able to hum the songs at the end of the show. And I bet you'll be itching to work on some of the Nun's moves too... go on, 'ave a go! Katie Rowley Jones does a great job with "The Life I Never Led" and the Mother Superior's song "Here Within These Walls" is gorgeous too. But then it's not as if you can't rely on Mr Menkin to write a good tune!

Well done to all those in it "wot I know" and all those I don't. I have no doubt it'll run and run, so get in there now so you can be the first to tell all your chums about it!

(Crikey - I should work in advertising or something....)

Live theatre rocks....

You could sit indoors and watch TV. You could spend your evenings assualted by an ever increasing glut of rubbish reality shows. You could say that it's too expensive to go out, and that it's REALLY too expensive to go to the theatre.

Well. It's worth it. There is nothing to beat it. The whole thing... sitting in the auditorium; waiting for curtain; orchestra striking up. The sound, the lights, the sets - it's all good.

As it happens, it was watching "Priscilla" at the Palace Theatre last night that made me think it. But it applies to anything really. And do you know what? There wasn't a recent reality TV "star" in the place. At least Zoe Birkett has trained!

AND, the only person in the cast with a recognisable set of TV credentials was Jason Donovan, who - I think it is fair to say - has proved himself as a theatre actor before this. He was great, but it was the whole show and whole cast that made the thing work. Especially Tony Sheldon, who was fantastic.

So go and see it. Or go and see something else. Just go and see stuff. And don't let people ask "Who's in it? Anyone off the tele?" - but encourage people to ask "Who wrote it? What's the story? What's the production like?"... anything.

The theatre last night was very full, and to a man (and woman!) everyone loved it, stood up, cheered, clapped and had a great time. Yep - it cost them more than sitting at home, but I bet it was better than X Factor!

Back to the drawing board...

I'm on the train heading down to London (despite the tube strike!) for rehearsals for "You Don't Being Me Flowers"

Of course, those of you who've already seen the show will be aware I'm in no need of the rehearsal and know exactly what I'm doing at all points during the performance - honest! - but we have a few new guys & gals joining the team, and they've been busy this week working on the material with the creative bods, so Tim & I are joining them today for some 'refreshing'!

It won't hurt - it's been over a month since the last gig, so a bit of refreshing will be ... well ... refreshing! ;-)

All the upcoming dates are on the You Don't Bring Me Flowers website, so have a look and see if we're heading your way.

Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch...Right!
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Turn, turn, out, in, jump, step,
Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch.
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