The Phantom of the Opera - Her Majesty's Theatre - London

20th August, me and a friend from work went to see a show i have been dying to see for a while now, The Phantom of the Opera. The show was just breathtaking! Set, Costume, Singing, Orchestra, all of it was so great. I previously got a refund for tickets sold to me for The Bodyguard because they weren't we they were specified to be, so we were able to get top price tickets in the stalls for this one!

Where we were sitting was a great view and really good legroom, the only problem i found was the cushion in the seat. It was as if all of the stuffing inside of it had been forced to the front of the seat over the years of usage. So it was as if we were sitting of a plan of wood for 2hours 30mins!

At the moment, Ben Forster is playing Phantom, but as he was on holiday we had Scott Davies (Previously Phantom West End and on Tour) who was absolutely brilliant! The cast included Celinde Shoenmaker as Christine and Nadim Naaman as Raoul, both of which were outstanding and had a real connection on stage.

The moment the overture started, the atmosphere in the theatre was electrifying. The orchestra were incredible too. It was so exciting to see a show with such a large live orchestra.

Overall, I would give this show 4.5 Stars.

The Bodyguard - The Dominion Theatre - London

On 10th August, me and a friend went to go and see The Bodyguard in London. We booked our tickets in the middle of the circle for around £30 each. We decided to see this particular show because of the fact Beverley Knight was starring as Rachel Marron and we both loved seeing her previously in Memphis. This energetic, empowering and emotional musical has been one i have wanting to see for a fair while now so i am very glad i got to see it.

Our seats were reasonably comfortable, the legroom was what would be expected for a £30 seat but it was a great view.

The show itself was very entertaining, an emotional rollercoaster. The show itself is basically a concert/musical fusion with a very heavy storyline about stalking mixed in with Whitney Houston pop songs. Classics like Queen of the Night, How Will I Know, I Have Nothing and I Will Always Love You really bring the show to life and without these Whitney Houston masterpiece's i don't think the show would be even half as successful. Beverley Knight and Ben Richards lead an incredible cast of triple threats. Rachel John as Nicki Marron feels like a casting made in heaven. There was plenty of Comedic moments to keep the 'buzz' flowing round the theatre too.

After the show, we went round to stage door to meet the cast who were lovely and more than willingly to stop to sign Programmes, take pictures and chat.

Overall, I would rate this show 4 Stars.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Review #keepthesecrets

Well, where to start...

Before you begin reading, Please be aware there are NO 'Spoilers' in this review, I have only written about the theatrical experience.

All this began when I won tickets from the Friday Forty Lottery. Me and my dad have always had a love for the J.K. Rowling Harry Potter series of books. I have many fond memories of me and him reading them together when I was younger. I knew about the play the minute it was announced and have been waiting for tickets to go on sale but couldn't afford them. I was so desperate to take him for Fathers day and was over the moon when I got us tickets for £15 each per part right in the middle of the second row in the stalls (BB 18-19)!!

I really like how the whole experience is secretive. The story is told much more naturally because of how encouraged the audience are to #keepthesecrets! They even hand out badges at the end to help you remember!

PART 1: Saturday 11th June

The Story line is INCREDIBLE. It is clearly shown that J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany make an excellent team. It is full of clever twists and turns (and even some familiar faces!) that you would never expect. The auditorium is gorgeous. I really think it is the perfect place for the show, it is such a gothic setting with traditional features. The front of house staff are so nice and helpful. They genuinely want you to have a great time! One thing about the show that really stood out for me is the musical accompaniment (Composed by Imogen Heap). It is a more Modern/Contemporary soundtrack than the films but works so well with the Choreography (Movement Directed by Steven Hoggett). The casting of the show is wonderful. I have heard many different opinions on the fact that Hermione Granger (Noma Dumezweni) is Black. If you are doubting this incredible actress I would like to stop you right here. Noma gave one of the most brilliant portrayals of Hermione Granger, Every word she spoke I believed. If you have booked tickets then you will see what I mean hopefully very soon. Although Hermione, Ron (Paul Thornley) and Harry (Jamie Parker) were key roles in the show, I feel the main boys of the show were Albus Potter (Sam Clemmett) and Scorpius Malfoy (Anthony Boyle). The two boys were outstanding. After seeing them on stage, I went round to stage door to meet them and I can tell you they are the most down to earth actors I have met, they left no programme un-signed and no selfie un-taken! It was honestly one of the best nights of my life.

PART 2: Tuesday 14th June

I am writing this the day after seeing part two and I literally have no words. The story ends in the most perfect way, staying loyal to the novels. I really recommend not reading spoiler reviews or the script that comes out on 31st July if you're seeing the show relatively soon. The most brilliant part was that you had no idea what was going to happen. The movement and music again for part two was astounding. I did go to Stage Door again but this time it was absolutely jam-packed with people and there was a lot of pushing and shoving which I have to say was very upsetting to see. The idea of the Potter fandom is that everyone has each others backs. There was one girl who was practically climbing onto me to get her ticket signed. Although only a few cast members came out but again, Sam Clemmett and Anthony Boyle left no programme unsigned and no selfie un-taken and Anthony in particular really made an effort to chat to you which was really nice.

If you haven't got tickets to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, don't worry! Even though the show is sold out until July 2017, you can still get the Script when it comes out on 31st July (if you're desperate to know the story) plus J.K. also pointed signs towards a Tour of the show. You can also enter the Friday Forty Lottery for £15 per part (During Previews) tickets in the front rows of the stalls!! (Trust me, it's as amazing as it sounds!)

Overall, I would rate this show 5 Stars. (If i could rate higher, I would)

Alice Through the Looking Glass - Review

Wednesday 1st June, me and my friend Lois (theramblingsoflois.blogspot.com) went to see Alice Through the Looking Glass at our local Vue cinema.

The film was again visually stunning. You really notice when things suddenly change mood as the colours change with it. (you kind of have to see the film to understand what i'm trying to say!) but the real question is 'Is it as good or better than the first film' and my answer is unfortunately no. The film was good and a nice trip out to the cinema but it didn't trump the first Alice in Wonderland. I personally would've wanted to see more comical lines for the Queen of hearts (Helena Bonham Carter).

The story was about how Alice (Mia Wasikowska) would have to give away her fathers ship to her previously declined spouse Hamish (Leo Bill) in order to save her home where she lives with her Mother (Lindsay Duncan). She then follows Absolom, previously a caterpillar now a butterfly (Alan Rickman) to Wonderland/Underland (it was never really made clear which it was) through a mirror/looking glass. She arrives to discover The Hatter (Johnny Depp) very unwell after he discovered the first hat he ever made which brought back memories of his lost family and Alice goes to turn back Time (Sacha Baron Cohen) to save them and restore The Hatters hapiness. In the process she runs into twists and turns which gives the film no extra quality and I can only see makes the length of the story a lot greater. It's all very predictable and went on far too long.

It wasn't all bad though and I don't want to put you off seeing it, the delivery of lines from Helena Bonham Carter were just great. A particular favourite of mine was "Oh, Alice, you always were an irksome, slurvish, interrupting thing". And it was really nice to see her and Sacha Baron Cohen teamed up again as I thought they were a great pair in Les Miserables.

Overall, I would give it a 3 Star rating.

Teenager VS The World

Being a teenager is hard, stuff happens, you change, you learn things for life, you get more independence, but it's not all that pretty, When you turn 18 you're officially an adult, you get paid more, you can buy alcohol, life gets better, but these middle two years are hard, you want to do things people are doing but you're simply not old enough. You may even have more maturity than some 18 year old's (I certainly know I do) but that doesn't matter, it's all about the big 18.

I really don't understand why a 16/17 year old should pay an adults fee to go on a bus or to go and see a film when we get paid minimum wage. Being paid less means we can't afford to do as much as an 18 year old can PLUS we're doing exactly the same work! Having said all that there are places that I've worked that have paid the same to everyone then increased your wage the longer you're with them which I think is much fairer.

I can't really think of a way to explain the next thing I want to say so I'm just going to end this blog post with this which I found from the Metro website...

The War of the Worlds - The Dominion Theatre - London

On Monday 11th April, me and my dad went to see The War of the Worlds at The Dominion Theatre in London. I mainly wanted to see it because I knew that he was into sci-fi and 'alternative' sounds (plus it's a trip to the west end so the opportunity had to be taken). I listened to the recording and read several reviews before going. A lot of the reviews were very positive but I did stumble across a few bad ones but that didn't put me off since I was expecting to see a spectacle more than anything. We booked our tickets from LoveTheatre which had lots of deals on for loads of shows and I would really recommend booking through them. Our seats were 39-40 in Row N of the stalls which we got for £35 each (we were right on the aisle).

The Theatre itself is beautiful and has been set up really nicely for the show. When you walk in, there is strange extra-terrestrial noises playing and the stage is lit up with TWOTW logo. The arch of the stage is covered in cogs and interesting shapes aswell. 

The production itself was indeed a spectacle, It focused on the music and special effects. The 22 piece orchestra was on the stage and conducted by Jeff Wayne. I loved the fire effects, projections and lighting. What the technical team have done is incredible and I totally recommend it for that reason. The Cast were very good aswell, W had only one understudy which was Simon Shorten playing The Artilleryman who I think was vocally the strongest in the show.

There was one part of the show I didn't understand though...

The Voice of Humanity played by David Essex was possibly one of the most awful and pointless roles I've seen in a show. There was no real need for the role. It contributed nothing to the show plus Essex couldn't actually hit the notes required to sing the songs which made listening rather painful. It was a shame because when he was on stage, it was almost like a joke. He was originally The Artilleryman in the original cast but at least he didn't sing as much!

Overall I would give it a 4 Star rating