Do you hear the people sing? Les Miserables

Hey everyone. Here is Les Miserables as promised! I went to see it in August 2011 I think (I seriously couldn't believe it was that long ago when I was trying to think when I saw it whilst writing this!). It was at the Queen's Theatre and we had the understudy Javert for the performance. 

So, we had a bit of unbelievable luck when we went to see Les Mis, as since we had booked the tickets so far in advance, we had no idea who was going to be in it. As it turned out, Alfie Boe would be playing Jean Valjean and Matt Lucas was in the part of Thenardier and thank goodness, they were both there on the night! We had heard a lot about Alfie Boe and had listened to some of his performances online so we were quite excited, especially my Mum as she had been waiting to see Les Mis for a long time and by now was a big Alfie Boe fan and still is today. We had never gone due to the expense of the tickets and not really knowing the plot line. It is quite confusing but I had done it at college the year before, so we all knew the plot by now, well my Dad had some idea! Also, it is quite long so we had been holding off until we knew my sister would be able to cope and she was old enough to understand the plot. It helped her by seeing my show first as she knew the basics, we talked about it, and she was able to tell you basically all the different plot lines if you asked her after she had seen it and still knows it today! 

Les Miserables is the longest running musical in London, reaching 30 years this year, so again, as a theatre fan I did feel as though I had to see it, but I had been wanting to for quite a while. To be honest I had been struggling to understand the plot from reading things online and I wasn't up for reading the novel, so I am glad we did it at school and I learnt it! It is based on the historical novel by Victor Hugo, which was originally published in 1862, the first English translation was done in the same year. It was turned into a musical by Alain Boubill and Claude-Michel Schonberg. There have been many adaptions and interpretations since, most notably the 2012 film, but beware of Russel Crowe's singing if you intend to watch this, otherwise, everyone else is pretty good! 

In case you don't know, the musical follows the story of Jean Valjean. It begins in 1815 with him finishing prison time and this is also where we meet Javert a guard/police officer. We then follow the hardship Valjean endures due to him being a convict, before due to kindness of a bishop, he decides and is able to go and set a new life up for himself.  It then skips ahead to 1823, where he has a new life and we are introduced to new key characters such as Cossette. We also get more confrontation between Valjean and Javert and their conflicting points of views. It then skips forward again to 1832 in Paris, where we see the popular unrest, led by Enjolas and meet the final characters such as Marius. This is where the love story between Marius and Cosette is set up. Through the second act, we see the struggles of the students, the pursuit of Valjean by Javert and the more comical side of things from the Thenardiers! 

Oddly, I don't have a favourtie character in this musical. It does alternate between Valjean, Javert and Enjolras, depending on which song is my favourite at the time. I like Valjean as it is his story we are following and you can see how unfairly he was treated. Then again, Javert is only really trying to do his job. Then I like Enjolras as he is the revolutionist, with so much passion for his cause and he starts off some of the most inspiring songs in the musical! 

I'll start with the cast. Alfie Boe was as amazing as I expected him to be, from start to finish he was outstanding as Valjean. His voice was spot on in every song, showing his power in the Confrontation, but also how he could perform the softer songs such as Bring him home. This is my favourite song, so to see it being sung live and done with such emotion was a real treat and one of my fondest memories of a west end show. I obviously don't have anyone to compare him to directly as it is the  only time I have seen it live so far, but I can compare him to Hugh Jackman in the film and clips of others on Youtube. Regarding Hugh, I thought he was quite good, but his vibrato got a bit annoying and they should have cast Alfie really as he was the most current popular Valjean and he would have performed much better vocally. I know that lots of people like the original Valjean, Colm Wilkinson, but to be honest I don't really like his singing voice as it has an odd tone to me and I much prefer the singing voices of other Vajeans that I have heard. Matt Lucas was as funny as I expected as well, I wasn't a huge fan of Little Britain when I was younger, but I do like him in certain roles and interviews etc. I had no idea how he would be in a musical, but he had the perfect role. He performed Master of the House with Madame Thenardier brilliantly and had everyone in the room laughing. They seemed to worked really well together as their chemistry on stage was really good, they played off each others reactions and little facial expressions brilliantly. I really liked the actors playing the students, as they had strong voices and showed the passion that the students should have. The kids were good as well, we saw Daniel who ended up playing Gavroche in the film and the young lady playing Cossette was pitch perfect as well.

I have to admit (anyone who has watched Les Mis with me knows I hate this!) that I really don't like the Cosette/Marius love story. I much prefer watching Valjean vs. Javert and the political side of the musical via the students. I get really bored in love story scenes, especially when they have quite boring songs. The actor and actress playing those roles were fine, I just don't think that I personally paid that much attention as I always zone out a bit in love story parts. The part I hate the most in Les Mis is the incredibly high note sung by Cosette at the end of A Heart full of Love. I think this problem arose for me due to when we did it at school the girl playing Cosette could never hit it, and I also really hate high pitch female singing, so it isn't really the actresses fault but the composers for putting it in there, but obviously this is only my opinion and I know some people really like it.

The music is arguably the most important part of the show as it is sung-though musical (one that is sung the whole way through with no dialogue). The score overall is known to be amazing with so many strengths it is impossible to mention them all. As I mentioned before, my favourite song is Bring Him Home, as it is very emotional and a brilliant solo song for Valjean. I think the same also applies for Javert's Stars which is a nice song as well when sung properly! The most rousing song has to be Do you hear the people sing as it really makes you want to join in. It does help when the actors playing the students really do portray their anger and passion whilst singing and as I mentioned before, the actors we had were all really good (lots of them feature in the 25th anniversary concert, lots of clips are on youtube, in case you are interested).

SPOLIER ALERT!!! One of my favourite moments is the Confrontation as it really shows off the powerful voices of the two actors playing Valjean and Javert, but I also like the music and how their two different singing parts interact. It is also the only part where we learn a bit more about Javert really. The saddest moment is the death of Gavroche as building up to it isn't that dramatic but the tension when he is over the barricade is unreal, the whole audience was completely silent and motionless as though people thought if we did something it would harm him or his chances of surviving. The build up of the music after his death also helps to signify the importance of his death and how devastating it really is. The funniest moment has to go to Beggars at the Feast and how the row between the Thenardiers begins and then the song begins. I guess this is just a funny moment anyway, but the actors we had made it that little bit more special I think with their chemistry and perfect comic timings.

The sets are also incredible and I will always remember seeing the barricade for the first time. I had been really looking forward to seeing the barricade as we built a pretty good one at school so I was looking forward to seeing the real thing. As we were in the circle we could see everything from above and the barricade looked really good. I imagine from the stalls it looks huge and you can imagine yourself standing in front of it or feel as though you are behind it with the students at certain points. I like how the set moves, it sort of goes in a circle, which as I have spoken about in previous posts, aids with scene changes, but looks good visually as well. The inn is quite a nice set as well as although it is one of the smaller sets, it does the job perfectly for setting the scene. The costumes were as expected, lots of white for Cosette and the ghosts at the end, nice military costumes for Javert and some of the students and lots of dark, poor looking clothing for most of the rest of the cast. Lots of dirt make up as well! I do remember Valjean has some odd thick make up lines on at the end acting as wrinkles to make him look older, but I always think they look a bit over the top in every photo I have seen them in. Shout out to Javert's sideburns which are incredible!

I don't remember any sound issues at all, which is a bonus. The balance between the orchestra and the singing was also spot on which is good as sometimes when you have a large band, the balance can go off a bit. The lighting is nice, obviously lots of it is quite dark, but this does help to get you in the mood, I particularly like the opening scene where the sound effects are really powerful, along with the music and dark lighting to set the mood, showing you the struggle Valjean was facing. The theatre itself is a really nice one and was in a good condition when we went. We sat in the front row of the circle where there was limited leg room so jsut be warned if you are quite tall, our family is all quite small so we were OK!

I am so glad that I did see Les Mis and it is one that I would like to return to in the future, but I am not dying to see it again as I am with some others, some of the lighter ones. I still have lots of memories that I want to hold onto. My Mum loved it, but also isn't that fussed about seeing it in the near future as she loved seeing Alfie Boe that much she is worried no one will ever match him. I know this could seem a bit silly to some people, but I get what she means, I don't really mind not seeing it for a long time again as I was so happy with the performance I saw and it was really unique and special, if I went again and it wasn't as good as I remembered, would I be disappointed? It is really long and quite a heavy one, I am not rushing to see it again as I am with some others I have enjoyed like Matilda as I think I could slip back into that one quite easily, have a laugh and remember that performance in its own right. I can't help thinking with Les Mis that I would keep comparing it to my first time with Alfie and Matt and not enjoy it as much as I could. We've also had the film since I went so I wonder if that satisfied my need to go again or I got sick of it for a bit when everyone was singing the songs for ages.  If I leave it a few more years then I think my desire to see it again will reappear at some point.

If you have the opportunity then please do go and see it. It is quite expensive if you want a decent seat so get saving. If you are unsure about the plot then watch the film first and/or read sparknotes, and/or go along to a school production or local production as they sometimes leave some bits out to make it shorter and at least it gives you a sense of what is going on!

As always, here the website link: http://www.lesmis.com/uk/

Quick Announcement!

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the delay with Les Mis, it should be done tonight or tomorrow, I'm currently working on it in my gap between seminars!

Just to let you know that I am going to be going back over some earlier posts, adding more about the history of the shows and the plots, as some people have asked for short descriptions, which I am happy to provide!

It should be Jersey Boys after Les Mis unless anyone is waiting for something specific, then please let me know, see the list of programmes in one of the very early posts to see what I have left to do! Also, I will probably do the Jools Holland show that I saw last year and the English Youth Ballet I am seeing in November.

(p.s. I am trying to leave Chicago until I see it on tour in April, if not then I will add to the original post my thoughts on the tour! Same with Hairspray in May!)

Have a photo of Edna to cheer you up on this Tuesday afternoon! :)

 

Hamlet (part 2)

Hey everyone, I know I said I'd do Les Mis next (which is in the drafting process!) but I thought I'd do a quick Hamlet part 2 one as I went to see it at the cinema live event yesterday. I was at the City Screen cinema in York.

I really enjoyed the event and it was nice for me to watch the audience's reactions in the cinema as I assume most were seeing it for the first time unlike me. It was also interesting to hear the audience's reactions in the theatre as I noticed that different parts made the audience there laugh more than they did on the night I was there, yet we laughed more at other things. Some were pretty equal (the grave makers scene comes to mind). I guess that shows you that all audiences are different really. It was also nice to see it with different camera angles rather than just one view as you get in the theatre, even though our seats were really good.

I was able to remember a lot of it, (obviously not the words!) in particular I remembered when all of the comical scenes and soliloquies were coming up, which possibly suggests that they were the ones that had the biggest impact on me. I think that as I knew what was happening a bit more, I was able to focus on the words which the actors and actresses were saying during in their soliloquies a lot more and some of the more intense conversations, which to be honest I couldn't even remember some. I was surprised at this as I actually enjoyed them when I was listening to the words closely this time, in particular the scenes with Ophelia and the Queen interacting which we both got a bit bored in at the theatre, maybe it was because you could see their facial expressions a bit more due to the camera angles. I think I listened to Hamlet's words a lot more as when I was in the theatre I think I was just a bit overwhelmed at seeing Benedict right in front of me and was still getting used to seeing him there for quite a bit of the play.

The one part that I didn't like as much was the bit with the play and Hamlet's reactions (where he keeps interrupting!). I think that worked a lot better in the theatre as it felt more like you were watching the play with the characters and we were able to watch Hamlet's reactions all the way through a lot better. However, I liked that I was able to watch the scenes done upstairs a lot better as in the theatre where we were sitting it was quite hard to see them as we had to look up in an awkward position to see them. The sword fighting scenes were nice to see on camera as well as it gave me a different angle to see them from. I heard that people liked how the camera zoomed in a lot on Benedict's facial expressions, as he is really good at those. I liked them as well, but it wasn't that new for me as we were sitting so close in the theatre it kind of made no difference to me, but I love sitting near the front to watch their expressions and little movements so it was nice that lots of people could see Benedict's on the screen.

To be honest, my opinions on the cast didn't change that much, I warmed to Ophelia a bit more, I think she did really well, but I still didn't really like Horatio or Hamlet's friends that much. I think that the King and Queen were actually better than I remember, especially the King, his soliloquies came across really intense actually and I think I was more focused watching them than I was at the theatre.

I think that the set was much more effective live in the theatre. It did look big on the screen, especially when the cameras zoomed out. However, I don't think it looked as big as it really is, or the part that goes back looked as long on screen as it was in real life. The rubble and things looked better live as well, but it still looked really good on screen. I think this was because on screen we were looking down on it a lot, whereas at the theatre I was only looking up, so it seemed a lot bigger and that there was more rubble on the stage than it did on screen. I liked the end of the first half much better in the theatre as well as the sound and scale of the special effects and things was much more powerful sitting right in front of it. At the theatre lots of people jumped as well, where as no one did in the cinema which possibly suggests the audience in the theatre felt as though they were in the scene more and it was a lot louder and more shocking.  Overall, the sound effects were much more effective in the theatre for me as you could literally feel the vibrations and everything. When Benedict was shouting (or talking very loud) in Hamlet's angry and powerful moments, everyone in the cinema was gripped, but I preferred it live as it was unbelievable how Benedict's voice filled the room, after he had finished, you couldn't help but say 'Wow'. Again, there were some minor sound issues e.g. sound went off for a second and it was hard to hear some characters for a few words. Overall though, it looks like they sorted most of the sound issues that we had at the theatre and you could hear the cast when they were at the back of the stage more.

Overall, I am glad that I went along and re-lived my experience. I did prefer it at the theatre, which is pretty obvious as there is nothing better than live theatre and it was unbelievable for me to see one of my favourite actors live. It also allows you to feel as though you are with the characters more and you get the full impact of the set and sound effects etc. more.  The cast and crew did an amazing job and I can't even begin to imagine how nerve racking the whole thing must have been! Congratulations to all involved! Get to an encore screening if you can, there's loads happening all across the UK that I know of and probably around the world!

They gave us these mini-programmes (sorry it's folded, I only had a small bag with me!)

Extra: I've noticed that I get asked this question a lot, so I thought that I'd answer it on here! Basically, as a Sherlock fan, I get asked who is my favourite, Benedict or Martin, a lot and now I've seen them both live, lots of people ask who I preferred live and did it change who my favourite is.

Obviously, they are both very different actors and I love them both for different reasons. In Sherlock, my favourite actor is actually Rupert Graves, I love his character and he just seems like a really nice guy. Lots of people never guess this, the only person that really knows is my little sister who gets me anything Lestrade related that she can (p.s. they need to make more Lestrade stuff!)! 

Anyway, my favourite is actually Martin. I think I like the roles that he plays more and he is a better comic actor, which is what I prefer. I think he puts his own personality into a  lot of his roles which is nice and he gets involved with how the character would react to situations and adds his own take on things. I like that he has worked his way up and didn't go to posh schools or things which lots of the big actors nowadays did. He's always angry about something and sarcastic about things, which I get told I am a lot like, so maybe I am drawn a bit more to him because of his personality and the roles he chooses! Obviously I love Benedict and I like the more serious roles that he takes like Alan Turing, rather than the action movies, which I don't enjoy watching. My sister prefers Benedict as I think she likes Sherlock's character better than John, whereas I prefer John. 

I hate to admit it, but I actually preferred Benedict live. He got so into the role of Hamlet and I think the production allowed him to do this more. He was so good in his soliloquies and the amount of emotion he put into his voice and actions was so incredible, it is so hard to describe. He did really well in the comic moments as well, better than I thought he would,  I think he used lots of things from Sherlock as I recognised lots of expressions or actions from that. The way his voice filled the room when he was angry was unbelievable and I can't believe he still hasn't lost his voice. I think you could tell that Benedict had done more theatre recently as he seemed very comfortable there. Martin was very good at the comic scenes as expected and his facial expressions were brilliant. I think that Hamlet possibly gave Benedict more of a chance to display anger and these big emotional soliloquies compared to Richard III were more effective and allowed him to stretch himself as an actor. Both managed to command the stage and it was a close call. Maybe I preferred Hamlet to Richard III, I'm not sure, which I would find hard to admit as a member of the Richard III society!  However, I still prefer Martin overall and I would love to see him live in something else again! Therefore, our house is still split over who the best actor is!

Let me know who your favourite between the two is and why and who is your favourite in Sherlock, I'd be interested to know!

Les Mis will be next, give me a few days as it's my birthday today and I'm having the weekend with my family! 

Who dunnit? The Mousetrap (no spoilers!!!)

August 2014, St Martin's Theatre, we had no understudies for the performance.

I had seen The Mousetrap before when the tour came to my local theatre and I really enjoyed it. I have always enjoyed murder mysteries but The Mousetrap was one that I somehow had missed out ever seeing or reading. When it was coming to our local theatre I was so excited and couldn't wait to see it. I really enjoyed it so didn't mind seeing it again, especially in the westend as it is the longest running show in London and as a big theatre fan I almost felt obliged to see it! My Mum was the one that wanted to go in London, as she was meant to go with me the first time but was ill so I took my Dad. Even though he had seen it, he had managed to forget who had done it somehow, so it was a surprise to him again! We didn't tell my Mum or sister who had done it after we had seen it (see below to learn why!) so it was a completely new experience and surprise for them, which was a good thing.  

 For the purpose of this review, I'll stick to the London one, unless I specify otherwise. 

The play has a simple plot line, basically, reports of a murder are heard on the radio inside a hotel during a storm that sort of cuts them off from others and the owners and guests at the hotel end up being questioned about it. Things happen such as the phone line is cut off and the guests all have gaps in their stories or are a bit odd and the audience has to try and work out what is going on, alongside the policeman who is questioning them all. The characters are all very different and have very unique personalities, which is what makes this play, especially if you have the right actresses and actors in the roles! (Think Cluedo style characters!)

I really liked the westend cast as each of them matched the personalities of their characters perfectly. My favourite is probably Mr Paravinci as he is your classic mysterious character who all the way through you are never sure what to make of him. The actor was brilliant and played on the creepy side of the character really well and was very funny at points. The other stand out performance was by the young man playing Christopher Wren as his naivety came across a lot, and he acted out the comic moments really well. To be honest, I was not disappointed by any of the casts performances. The only one from the regional performance that I preferred was Giles, who was played by Bruno Langley (Todd in Coronation Street) as he had a slightly stronger stage presence, but overall, the cast did a really good job in London.

The set is very basic (especially compared to the huge sets in Hamlet for example!), but is very effective, you feel as though you are part of the action and it makes you feel very comfortable, I suppose this goes to show that sometimes these big flashy, expensive sets really aren't needed! The theatre really helps to set the mood as well. Most of it is wooden and fits the period and mood of the play perfectly. I think this is a bit of a coincidence and accident, but is a really useful and good one.  I think it is one of my favourite theatres in London that I have ever visited.

Whilst on the subject of theatres I'll tell you my favourites and least favourites I have been to in London so far. I do like the Palladium as I was quite excited to be going there due to how famous it is and the Prince Edward Theatre was done up really nice, the Barbican was nice as well once you get inside (the outside is basically grey concrete like its surrounding area!) and the seats are huge!  I think me and my little sister could have fitted onto one seat really. I was also pleasantly surprised by Trafalgar studios as it was quite small compared to some but really well looked after and comfortable seats. My least favourite theatre is probably the Adelphi, it is Art Deco style inside which I did find a bit ugly, I think it reminded me of the style of some of my old school buildings which put me off a bit! The Dominion was in a bit of state when I visited, I'm not sure if it has been done up since, but the seats were in a right mess, which is a same when people are paying such a lot of money to see the shows.

Anyway, the staging of Mousetrap was all spot on, the lighting, effects and sound were perfect for setting the mood. You can tell that it is an old play that hasn't changed much over the years, which is really nice to see for once. I am used to seeing ones that have been updated e.g. put in a different era, have added lots of effects or fancy sets, or new plays, so this was a nice change. When things needed to be a bit scary, all of the effects used were spot on such as the doors banging and surprising people. The sound effects were probably the best, my favourite is the use of the three blind mice song, which progressively gets more creepy throughout the play as the tension begins to build, especially with the reveal at the end! Again, I think the acoustics of the theatre helped a lot with this. It is quite an eerie looking theatre as well, which adds to the tension and unease of the situation that the characters are facing when the lights are dimmed down. I liked the use of the candle light as it makes you feel as you are inside the hotel with the characters and makes you quite nervous about what will happen next.

I can't tell you who did it, nor would I want to! You are sworn to secrecy at the end of the play, which I think is a brilliant tradition to keep going, it really adds to the play and your experience. My sister really loved it and felt as though she was now walking around with this special secret to keep! All I can say is it is a brilliant twist and please don't ruin it for yourselves by googling it or reading the play before hand, please wait until after so you get the full experience. I do think the identity of the murderer should be taken off Wikipedia as it is ruining it for people and ruining the tradition of the play which is a real shame.  It is quite fun to start a pool or have bets on who you think did it, if you just google all of the characters beforehand, or do it in the interval as I saw people doing! I'd never seen my sister so engrossed in something on the stage before and you could see in her facial expressions how much she was concentrating and trying to work out who did it! I've only ever seen her do that once since, whilst watching Hamlet, and I think that was because it was Benedict Cumberbatch's brilliant acting making her laugh and then upset rather than her interest in the situation!

Overall, it really is a classic and a must see for any theatre fans. I don't know why it took us so long to decide to go, we were still pretty new to play I guess before that year, but I am so glad we decided to go. I think it got a bit overshadowed in my mind because I saw Richard III with Martin Freeman in the night after, which is the one I had been waiting for as he is my favourite actor, but looking back I did really enjoy it. I probably would visit again, just see that so that I could experience fully again and not just be waiting for the next night. I would like to take some of my friends that aren't really into the theatre or plays and don't know the story to see their reactions. Even though I already knew who had done it, I still loved listening to the character's stories and how the plot developed, I can see why it has remained so popular.

If you have time, give it a go and remember to keep the secret afterwards!

Here is my little sister showing the performance number that we saw:

Ticket link: https://www.the-mousetrap.co.uk/Online/

No One Mourns the Wicked

Here we go with Wicked!

This one will be slightly different, but we'll give it a go. For this one, I'll do my own mini review, but it was quite a long time ago when I saw it so I can't remember huge amounts. Therefore, my sister agreed to let me interview her as she has seen it three times, once about four years ago, then twice this year, once in Manchester in July on a school trip and then last month in London. Therefore, this one will be slightly different as I'll write the questions I asked her and then her response. Please bare in mind that she is only just 13, I've only just started getting into the flow of reviewing things, and she has never done it before! My Mum was also in the room and wanted to join in a bit, she usually never answers with why she gives answers, but I tried to get some more information out of her!

So, I went to see it in July 2007 as part of a school trip. Basically, the school orchestra and jazz band did a week intensive residential course and part of this was seeing a west end show and dining at a famous London restaurant as the mid-week treat, I think it was the old Planet Hollywood that year. It was only the second west end show I had ever seen, so was quite overwhelmed by it. We were lucky enough to see lots of the original cast, except notably, not Idina Menzel but Kerry Ellis as Elphaba, which I didn't think about at the time, but am now a bit gutted about! However, Kerry Ellis is very good and one of my favourite west end performers now!

Wicked first appeared in the West end in 2006, after its success on Broadway. It was written by Winnie Holzman and the music is by Stephen Schwartz, but originally it is based on the novel 'Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West', by Gregory Maguire, from 1955. The best way to summaries it is by telling you its official full title: 'Wicked: The untold story of the Witches of Oz'. Basically, the musical follows the life of Glinda and Elphaba, who we see starting college (I think? Any Americans out there can correct this if they want!). I gives us a different perspective on the lives of the 'good witch' and the 'bad witch' and how they ended up the way they are. It makes us think about how we see people and should we see them for what we think they are straight away, as in the musical, Glinda comes across as the self-centered idiot, where as Elphaba is the nice one really, who is often left out or picked on due to her green appearance. The story follows the development of their friendship, relationships with men and the Wizard and the struggles that Elphaba faces. We also get to see their meeting with Dorothy to show how it matches up with the original Wizard of Oz story, 

The things that I can remember most about Wicked are the music and the sets. I still love the music and I listen to the soundtrack all of the time on Spotify. Kids at my sister's dance school usually perform at least one song from the show at every one of their shows as well! My favourite song changes, it used to be 'What is this feeling' when I first heard it, as I had a friend who was completely different to me, but we got on so well once we got to know it each other, so it reminds me a bit of that! I did like 'I'm not that girl' at one point because I played the piano for a friend when she sang it for her GCSE performance and I realised how nice the melody and harmonies are in it. At the moment I quite like 'For Good', I was listening to the album on Spotify and I think I used to skip the end ones, but I left it on and really liked it. I like what they are singing about, the harmonies and how the different verses fit together at the end. 

The sets are the other thing that I can remember. I have always remembered the dragon breathing smoke across the audience above the stage. It was one of the first shows in London I saw and I think I was really impressed by the scale of the sets, and I used to love dragons when I was younger! I can remember there was a lot of glitter and how amazing Emerald City was with all of the different greens and sparkly costumes. The theatre itself was one of the nicest I have been to and I remember reading how it had all been done up for Wicked, everything was green! It was before all of the chaos in the Victoria area really started I think as well, as we had photos outside the theatre and spent time looking around their before the show. I think it is the first time I spotted Billy Elliot and looked into what that was about. 

I can only really remember Kerry Ellis as Elphaba, as at the time, the only song I had really listened to was 'Defying Gravity' because there was so much hype about it. I can only say that she did not disappoint with her performance, and like many other people I suspect, it was my favourite part in the show and Elphaba is definitely my favourite character! I do remember getting a bit bored in the first half between some of the more famous songs such as 'Popular' and 'Defying Gravity', but I liked the second half as I think it is where most of the action takes place and the pace picks up a bit. 

I would love to see Wicked again at some point, if only to hear to music live again, and to see what I can remember! It is a shame that the tickets cost so much and I am always drawn to seeing new things in London rather than seeing the same thing twice if there is something new I fancy instead. However, as my sister loves it so much, and it is so popular, I am sure I will be visiting again one day! 

INTERVIEW TIME!!! (My sister is the Italics and my Mum is in red, for most it they are talking about the London production in August 2015)

Who is your favourite character and why?

My favourite is Madame Morrible because she is very loud throughout the show and is a very funny character.

I like Glinda, because she really does make you laugh. I also liked Professor Dillamond, because I liked his makeup a lot and he was a very good actor. 

Who do you prefer between Elphaba and Glinda and why?

Glinda, because I feel like she always tries to be good, it doesn't always work but at least she tries. I also like her part in 'Popular' and she is always just so glamorous!

Obvisouly Glinda, she is the funniest and I like how 'Popular' is performed. The actress was a really good singer and actress. 

Which is your favourite song from the show and why?

My favourite song is 'No good deed' because it stands out as a powerful song, I like the spell at the beginning as well it helps to build tension. 

My favourite song is 'What is this feeling' because I like how upbeat it is, compared to what they are singing about. 

What did you think about the costumes and makeup?

I think that they are very creative, I like the Emerald city costumes because they are all variations of green, but all very different. I think that the costumes reflect the characters personalities really well. The makeup is very impressive, it was very precise and well done, with a big impact so that even people at the back could see it clearly. 

I thought that Glinda's costumes represented her very well and Elphaba's represented how her personality comes across. I particularly liked Glinda's wand! 

What did you think about the set, lighting and sound? 

I thought that the set was very impressive and you could really tell where the characters were supposed to be and it wasn't confusing. My favourite part of the set was the Wizard's machine because it was cool that it had the face moving and how it turns around with all of the lights.  The lighting was used effectively and it help to set the mood. However, the sound was a bit off, it was varied between loud and then suddenly too quiet at some points, and during some of the songs we could barely hear even though we were on about the third row, so I imagine that the people at the back couldn't hear any of it. Everything, including the band, was really quiet, as though the mics had been turned down. 

The set is really good, especially the bubble! I love how bright and colourful lots of the sets are. The lighting makes is all very dramatic at the right moments! All of it was spot on except for some sound issues during the songs. 

What is your favourite part of the show and is the show consistent all the way through?

My favourite part of the show is when Elphaba goes to find her dead sister and her, Glinda and Fiyero have an argument because it is funny when they all point guns at each other and just end up going around in a big circle for a while. I think that it is consistent and goes at a good pace throughout. 

The best part is Glinda in the bubble, especially the line, 'we can't all travel around by bubble.' The first half is quite slow compared to the second half, which is much better. Even though most of the best songs were in the first half. 

For Izzy only, as you have seen it three times and one of those was when it was on tour in Manchester, could you tell any differences between the productions? 

You could tell small differences between the tour and the London show, but not many. The main difference was that the London cast were much better singers in general than the tour. However, the tour cast were much better actors overall. The set was exactly the same, even the words on the chalk board were written exactly the same! The dragon was there as well! 

Would you recommend this show? 

I would definitely recommend this show and I would definitely go and see it for a forth time. I think that Wicked is one of my favourite shows in London! 

Website link for London: http://www.wickedthemusical.co.uk/wicked-london.asp

If you want to throw the hammer- Matilda

Sorry for the wait, however, I must warn people that I am going back to uni late next week so posting may become difficult at times depending on my workload, but as I am enjoying this, I will do my best to keep it up and post regularly! I thought that I would do Matilda next as this is another one from the last few years that I really enjoyed.

July 2013, Cambridge Theatre, Matilda was played by Elise Blake, Bruce by Marcus May and Lavender by Ella Yard. We had no understudies for the performance.

I'll start with the cast, as I do think that the children in these kind of shows deserve a lot of credit. Lots of the children in this show are aged 9-11 I think, which can put people off. However, the adults, especially the Trunchbull, have a lot of stage time compared to other shows with children and lead a lot of the scenes with children in. I can only think of a handful of scenes when there was no adult present on stage as well as the child actors. Sometimes children, especially those from the famous drama schools in London, can overact and it becomes annoying, but in this instance none of that happened. The songs led by the children were probably the best ones.

Obviously, Matilda herself leads a lot of the scenes and songs, which to be honest, is not a big problem. The young lady playing Matilda was a very good actress and she was particularly good in the story telling scenes with the librarian. I must admit that my parents  and I were a  little disappointed in her performance,through no fault of her own, as we think we was ill. She was twitching her nose a lot and some of the singing seemed a but muffled as though she had a cold/flu. I've watched performances by her online since, and she sounded and acted differently in those which I think confirmed our suspicions that she was ill. This is a little annoying as they made her struggle through and it did obviously affect her performance which is shame for the audience (as we had paid quite a lot of money), when I assume they could have put one of the three other Matildas on in her place, or even switched her in the interval as it was quite obvious she was struggling a bit. That being said most of the singing was fine, I've seen better versions of 'Quiet' online, but 'Naughty' was very good. 
Here is Elise's performance of 'Quiet' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoBX7wZO3tE
Here is Elise's performance of 'Naughty' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1uimx6gbd4

The young man playing Bruce was very funny, 'Bruce' is a brilliant song and he also performed 'Revolting Children' very well. The young lady playing Lavender was a fantastic young actress, she was really funny when she was supposed to be and interacted with the audience really well, breaking the forth wall brilliantly. Lots of the other young performers were very good as well, in particular Amanda who get swung around by her pigtails (one of the most memorable moments as it is done in the audience). When singing as a group they sounded great, as well as when they were put with the older cast.

The outstanding performance has to be Miss Trunchbull. I was not expecting the Trunch to be played the way she was at all. I was a bit skeptical because it was being played by a man, and this can cause it to become just completely silly and not funny at times, which is what happened when I went to see Hairspray. All of the things I had seen on the internet before had Bertie Carvel in the part, who I love and I do wish I had seen him perform the role. However, we had David Leonard, who has brilliant! I don't think I have ever laughed so much at a musical performance. His facial expressions were fantastic and his comic timing was spot on. When she runs through the audience, all of the children did visibly back away and were afraid, which was quite amusing. The Trunch's power over the children is very good and she does come across as very scary and very mad.

We had Steve Furst as Mr Wormwood, who my sister was excited to see as he was in some of Dick and Dom's shows on CBBC. He was very funny and his version of Telly I did like, his interaction with the audience was very good and I like how they break the 4th wall with that song.  The other performance I particularly liked was Melanie La Barrie as Mrs Phelps. Her interaction with Matilda was really nice and her enthusiasm for Matilda's story really did come across to the audience. The rest of the cast were really good as well, Miss Honey seemed very genuine and the casting of her to contrast Mrs Wormwood was spot on. Mrs Wormwood did a spectacular job in 'Loud', which must take so much energy to perform.

Moving on now...

I'll be honest and admit that the only reason I went to see Matilda was because my sister had not stopped talking about it. However, as soon as I agreed to go I started listening to the soundtrack and loved it straight away. 'Revolting Children' is the most famous song and there is a reason for this. It is probably the most upbeat, and the children really do get into it. It is a very fun song but also gets you riled up a bit and wanting to join in. They get the audience clapping along and even throw paper areoplanes into the audience, and my Dad managed to catch one. It is Amanda's school report and is quite funny. I'll try and post a photo at some point, but my sister will go nuts if I unfold it and then can't get it back! If anyone is interested though as I had a few messages on Twitter about this when I first tweeted about it on there, I can post some photos of it in sections or just do some quotes! ' The Smell of Rebellion' is very strange, especially the day dream part, but is very funny at the same time due to Miss Trunchbull's expressions. 'Naughty' is another fun song and really gets you on Matilda's side. 'Telly' is another one of my favourites as it makes you see the Dad in a different light, that he isn't completely mean and just a bit of an idiot really. I think I prefer the Broadway version better, performed by Gabriel Ebert, but that might be because I like his style of singing more and the book title rhyming section is slightly different, which I personally prefer. As I said earlier, 'Quiet' could have been better and I think 'This Little Girl' could be a bit longer as Miss Honey's songs are quite short which is a shame as her songs are nice and the most emotional in the show.

Here is 'Revolting Children' performed by the original Stratford cast so a very early version when they were in rehearsals still, but I do quite like the Bruce in this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Kn-fEuRB0Q    There are lots of other examples on Youtube, as it usually part of the medley which is performed on lots of TV shows e.g. children in need.

Here is part of the Broadway 'Loud' at 4:10 as Mrs Wormwood is very funny in this, and part of Gabriel's 'Telly' is at 4:33 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7ECOMgQvas

The set is fascinating, the stage is surrounded by block letters and before the show and in the interval you can have a mini word search game of trying to find words related to the show in the letters. The desks rise and fall from the stage, which is a good way of avoiding big set changes. I liked how the swings are almost flying over the audience as it really makes you want to have a go and miss doing that as a child! The part where Amanda is swung around is really good as well as that is in the audience so puts you in the scene and you feel helpless along with the children against the Trunchbull. As I mentioned before, having the Trunchbull move through the audience was a fantastic idea! I'm pretty sure there were no technical issues with the sound at all. The lighting is also good, with very bright lights representing the happy scenes, and dark for Miss Trunchbull. The 'School Song' lighting is good as it plays on the idea of school being a prison and a very bad place to be with minimal lighting and having the bars reflecting onto the stage. Again, I don't recall any issues with this.

The costumes are what you would expect, and I did like how they go over the top with the colours for Mr and Mrs Wormwood's outfits compared to the dull uniforms and the browns/pale colours of the Trunch and Miss Honey. Mr Wormwood's hair throughout is very funny, so well done to the wig department for getting them on and keeping them fixed well throughout the show. The Trunch's costume is possibly the most interesting as they do try and make her as big and imposing as possible. They keep her looking very military like, with not a hair out of place, with big warts, making her look very scary to children I am sure.

Overall, I would thoroughly recommend this show, especially if you have children. If you have children who have never seen a musical before, this is a really good place to start. Even though it is mostly a children's and families show, please do go along as I think people will be pleasantly surprised with how much you enjoy it. I certainly was and my Dad really did not want to go but admits that it was very funny and the Trunch is his second favourite westend character (after Thenardier n Les Mis!).  The soundtrack I think is the thing that makes this show as well as the talent of the cast, especially Miss Trunchbull. I hope to go back in the near future as the cast is completely different and I would like to see another young lady in the role of Matilda and the new Trunchbull to see if he plays the role differently at all.

p.s. If you go to London, I'm not sure about the other locations, they sell really nice slushies in the interval!

Ticket link for London, but you can get to the other locations ticket websites through this: http://uk.matildathemusical.com/

Sparks inside of me- Billy Elliot

August 2015 at the Victoria Palace Theatre. For this performance, we had Ollie Jochim as Billy and Zach Atkinson as Michael, with the understudy Mrs Wilkinson. 

I can't really fault the casting, as all of the cast were brilliant, especially the two young men playing Billy and Michael.

Ollie's part of the programme 

I believe Ollie was the newest Billy when we went to see it, but you couldn't tell. He is a ballet Billy, meaning his version of Electricity is based more around ballet, rather than acrobatics or other styles as street Billy's have. Here's Ollie performing at westend live, his version of electricity is slightly different here due to the small size of the stage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVw5M5fJEZw
and here's expressing/finale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlWnGv205Ws

Other ballet Billy's that are good are Liam Mower and Elliot Hanna in case you want to see some different routines.

Just in case you are interested, here is a street Billy performing electricity, I think Harrison is one of the best, so I chose him, other good street Billy's are Fox and Bradley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJC6Vv4dOT4

Ollie was brilliant at facial expressions and making you believe the story. My favourite dance routine to watch was Angry Dance as it was very intense and he really put his heart and soul into it. He worked really well alongside the other cast members, especially Zach who was particularly strong when performing the funny lines. You could tell that they both enjoyed dancing Expressing Yourself together. If you want to see Zach in action, he played Michael in the recorded live version that you can buy on DVD that was recorded a few weeks after we visited. Ollie also features in the finale.

Zach's part of the programme 

I can't remember which young lady we had as Debbie, but her and the other ballet girls were excellent dancers. The young lady playing Susan Parks was very funny and stood out!  

Onto the adults, Deka and Chris were really good as Billy's Dad and Tony. The scenes between them were very tense at points and others showed a funny father/son relationship. Chris was very good at showing the frustration and anger of the miners. Ann Emery as Grandma was amazing to see as she had been part of the original cast, with only a small break in the middle. Grandma's song was very emotional and one of my favourites, here she is performing it 10 years ago! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMS18ShVrZw

David Muscat as Mr Braithwaite was also very funny and probably the person that made me laugh the most. His excellent dancing skills were a surprise and he made Born to Boogie to be honest. The fact that we didn't have Ruthie as Mrs Wilkinson was a shame, but the understudy did an excellent job and did remind me of how Julie Walters played the part in the film.  George was cast well as the actor playing him really did look the part and was very funny during Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher. 

The music is brilliant, a mixture of sad and emotional songs, with the intense angry dance, funny songs and then electricity made to show off Billy's skills. As someone who's family contains lots of ex-miners and a Labour party member, Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher was particularly fun and they allowed for audience participation by having the house lights up, making you feel part of the community.  The letter is a very emotional song and I liked that they brought Billy's Mum onto the stage alongside Mrs Wilkinson and it switched between them singing the Mum's lines to show how Billy had maternal role models in his life. Solidarity was also very impressive, I think it was one of the first songs I had ever heard from the musical so I couldn't wait to see it live. I have read a lot about the miner's strike and police actions and have even studied the police in the 1970/80s and this song does help to reflect how two different working class jobs were pitched against each other. This song does show the intensity of the situation and the anger and frustration faced by the miners and their communities. Yet, how people tried to carry on and how the children were put in an awful situation. 

The set and costumes match the period and mood perfectly. I've heard that Billy wears seven pairs of shoes in one performance! The best part for costumes and stage props is probably Expressing Yourself when giant dresses and trousers appear on stage with a sparky background, this is a very funny song and does lighten the mood up. Angry dance is very intense as the police are in riot gear so have the shields and batons, when they bang the batons against the shields it is very effective. If you like feathers, then you will like Shine as all of the ballet girls and Billy dance around with a sort of huge feather fan! The lighting is also very well done, in angry dance it is very dark so makes it even more intense and in electricity there is minimal lighting expect for a main spot on Billy to put the focus on him entirely as this is his chance to show what he can do. The set is quite clever at times, Billy's room and stair case come out of the floor and other rooms are pulled in from the side of the stage such as Michael's house and the toilets, which I guess is quite a quick way of doing scene changes and it did not slow down the performance.

Anyway, that is probably enough for now, as I am hoping to see it again when it goes on tour, if it comes anywhere close to where I live! I would highly recommenced this show to anyone. (Be warned there is quite a lot of swearing so I would think about taking children under 11/12 who aren't at high school so might not be used to swear words yet, and the bit between Billy and Debbie from the film is kept in as well, look it up if you don't know which line I am talking about!). Lots of shows talk about how many emotions you go through watching them, but in this one it really does happen, you can be upset by the letter scene, tense in the miners vs police scenes, laugh at Michael's scenes and be amazed by the standard of dancing. Visit it if you can!

It is still running at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London, but they are slowly announcing UK tour dates at the moment! http://www.billyelliotthemusical.com/

The Importance of being Earnest

27th August 2015 at the Vaudeville Theatre. We had no understudies for the performance:

Full cast list

This was my Mum's choice as I had seen it with her at a local theatre a few years ago and it had been very funny. I was a bit worried about Lady Bracknell being played in drag as I did like having a strong, dominating female lead on the stage last time. 

This production had two intervals, to allow for scene changes. This was a little strange but was fine as the sets were quite big and looked like they took a bit of setting up. There were two different houses and then the garden. The second house was probably the most impressive looking, as the period features and attention to detail was nice. All of the lighting and sound were fine as everyone could be seen and heard at the right times and the sound effects were all good. The costumes were good, obviously the females dresses were the main focus, with Lady Bracknell's being rather large and more over the top, which is what was needed to suit her personality. 

The casting was probably the best part of this production. All of the characters were cast brilliantly. The two male leads matched the personalities of their characters well, as Jack looked more sensible than Algernon, whose hair in particular matched the mischievous nature of his character. I did enjoy David's portrayal of Lady Bracknell as he was very good with his pronunciation and gestures, he even managed to stay in character when a member of the audience presented him with flowers at the curtain call which was quite amusing. I would like to see it played by a woman again though, in a production of that scale, so I could compare and contrast a bit better. The only characters that I found a bit boring were Miss Prism and Revered Canon Chasuble, which I don't think was the actors fault, more so that their charterers are probably the least interesting and you don't see how they fit into the story until the very end. The stand out performance was definitely by the young actress that played Cecily. Her facial expressions and comic timing were brilliant and everybody was talking about how good she was during the intervals and afterwards. She was particularly strong when playing off against Gwendolen who was very good with the more comical lines as well. 

Therefore, the standout performances were by the two young female leads, who worked well with other characters, but their scenes together were excellent. The rest of the cast matched their characters perfectly and to be honest it was one of the best cast productions I have seen. If you want to see a literacy classic then this is definitely worth a visit, especially if you want some fun, a laugh and not a heavy play!

It is on at the Vaudeville until November, here's the website which contains the trailer and some behind the scenes videos: http://www.nimaxtheatres.com/vaudeville-theatre/the_importance_of_being_earnest/

Just a quick note, it was shown live in cinemas across the UK, sorry I missed this and I'll look out for encore screenings, but you can catch recorded showings of it in cinemas in the USA on the 3rd November, here's the link showing you all of the options and links to buy tickets! http://importanceofearnest.com/cinema/

The Woman in Black

29th August 2015, at the Fortune theatre. We did not have any understudies for the performance.

The actress playing the woman is not named, to give the illusion that you have in fact seen the real woman in black! 

I had been wanting to see The Woman in Black in London since I first read the book and saw the play when I was 15/16 and studying it for GCSE English Literature at my local theatre. I really do like ghost stories and other horror classics, yet none of my family or friends had ever wanted to go. However, my Dad saw the film on TV and then we went to see the second film, so he agreed to go. 

The theatre is small which works really well for this play as the whole audience feels as though they are part of the set. The set is minimal in the foreground, with more going on behind a partially see through curtain that you can only see through when you shine light directly on it or behind it I think (if anyone knows the name of this material, let me know!). It comes out quite far into the audience with one central part basically where the rest of the front row should be which acts as the marsh where the pony and trap has sunk. The only props to begin with are a basket, a chair, a coat stand, a door and behind the curtain covered objects and a staircase. The covered objects act as grave stones and later make room for the famous rocking chair and the objects in a small boys room from the late 1800s/ early 1900s. The actors use the whole of the small stage well, as well as moving through the audience to create a few scares! 

The lighting and sound naturally have to be very good in a production like this and they are. The lighting is used to distinguish between where scenes are taking place, as well as building up the tension. The spookiest parts are when there is no lighting and you are relying on the light from the actors torch or candle to see. The shadow effects were my favourite part as trying to workout where the woman was is quite fun. The use of the smoke is really good as at one point you cannot see at all and are put in the exact same position as Mr Kipps and get to experience what he is supposed to be experiencing. Sound effects are key for ghost stories and they did work well. The music box is naturally quite spooky, but the most famous sound effect is the rocking chair pounding on the floor, which was really good. I think the screams of the woman were recorded, which could have possibly worked better with someone screaming live. It is all done without microphones, which is fine and everything can be heard well. 

Both the actors were really good, excellent at the humorous parts, especially Mr Kipps and then switched into the scary parts brilliantly. I really can't fault their portrayals of the actor and Mr Kipps. Their costumes were kept simple and in keeping with the time period, which obviously keeps it more realistic. The design of the woman's costume was nice, I think there was less to it than the one in the film and in the production I had seen before. However, the dress flowed nicely when she walked and the head covering wasn't too much so that you could not see her face when you wanted to. The make up was very good to give her the description that Susan Hill wanted. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the night. It didn't scare me as much as I thought it would, but as I knew the story really well I kind of guessed when some scares were coming. The final scare could have been a lot bigger I suppose but some of the other scares were very good. The build up to some of them was brilliant and did make me nervous about what was about to happen. The people sitting next to me jumped spectacularly every time! The actors all did a very good job and I think the thing I will most remember about this night was the tension in the atmosphere! Go along and see if it scares you!

Here's the website to book tickets:http://www.atgtickets.com/shows/the-woman-in-black-tour/fortune-theatre/ 

To be or not to be- Benedict Cumberbatch's Hamlet

So, I'm back from London and I said that I would start with Hamlet. If you have any questions or want to know anything else about certain cast members or more about the set etc., drop me a message or here or twitter @sophd221b 

 I had the tickets for my 21st birthday, as I said I am a big Sherlock fan and I couldn't miss the chance to see Benedict Cumberbatch live. Benedict is my sister's favourite actor in Sherlock so I offered the second ticket to her rather than taking a friend along, I couldn't let her miss this. I had never seen Hamlet before, but I had read the play, so was quite excited that he was going to take on this role. We got the tickets last July, so the wait had been excruciating!

We watched it on Friday 28th August 2015, at the Barbican Centre. We were sat on the 3rd row, slightly left of centre (about 3 seats from the middle, but due to the shape of the stage, we were basically in the middle for lots of the actions). We had no understudies on the night.

Full cast list

I'll quickly talk about things the press had been going on about regarding the audience etc. and what we experienced on the night. There were not as many young people in as the media would lead you to believe, In fact, we think there were more young people at Richard III (probably due to ticket prices). There were a few loud Cumberbatch fans in, who were running around and messing about whilst in the restaurants and waiting to go in, but once we were inside the auditorium, they seem to calm down when surrounded by other people. They did perform the ID checks, which I think are a good idea to be  honest, I hate those people who buy loads of tickets only to sell them on for ridiculous prices. They were very strict with the no phones/cameras, which I also agree with, the actors were very close to the front of the stage for lots of scenes, and the room was not big so it would be very distracting, as well as protecting images of the set etc. We only saw one person trying to take a selfie, who were immediately warned, and a few people trying to take sneaky pictures of Stephen Fry who was sat two rows behind us. Other than that, the audience behaved perfectly. One annoying thing is that some people missed the second half just to go and wait at the stage door. All the cast look exhausted afterwards, especially Benedict, so people standing by the stage door is getting on people's nerves a bit as they then feel obliged to stay and sign things. According to Twitter he even said he needed to go quickly as he had two shows the next day. It seemed better when they said they wouldn't be signing things and they can all go home and rest so they can give a good performance again the next day.

I'll start with the set, staging, lighting and sound etc. The stage is really quite big compared to the size of the auditorium and is very deep. The curtain is a sort of metal box that opens up to reveal Benedict sitting down listening to a gramophone. After this scene, another part of the set rises and reveals the whole stage and the setting for the rest of the play. This is huge, it is a to scale, country estate house entrance hall, including the staircase and chandelier. It goes back really far, and they do use the stage to their advantage. Especially in the second half set during the battles, as they have characters walking away into the darkness, which is really effective. The props were quite interesting, I liked the swords dotted around, and the toy castle and soldiers used to show Hamlet's madness were nice and showed off the childishness of him. They do use all of the stage, from upstairs, to the very front and the very back, running back and forth. There is a carpet which the actors need to be careful of as they did nearly trip on it a few times, especially in the dancing part which is a bit distracting as you don't want them to fall over! The costumes were sometimes quite basic, but were fine. Benedict's changed every now and then, with him wearing different parts of a soldier's uniform throughout the play alongside other things to show his madness. Him in the full uniform, including the hat, walking up and down a table full of serious documents when he was playing madness amused people a lot.

The lightning was nice and worked well with the set, it worked particularly well with the appearances of the ghost and no part was ever too dark. There were a few issues with the sound, at points it was hard to hear the actors when they were at the back of the stage and a buzzing sound kept appearing throughout. We were really close to the front, so I'm not sure people near the back or top would have been able to hear everything all the actors said. Benedict himself was always loud enough and his booming voice filled the whole room when he was shouting (you could hear Smaug at certain points!) Having him at the front of the stage for important scenes was very nice and he was very close to the audience so you could see all of his facial expressions and small movements e.g. of his muscles tensing, which was effective. When actors were upstairs it was sometimes hard to see and I think we got better views than people sitting on the far right as some scenes were done right in front of us, slightly to the left, which I imagine would have been hard to see if you were far away or high up.

Here's a a picture from the programme which is the end of the first half, this storm was accompanied by a huge bang which had people, including my sister, jumping out of their seats, this scene was very impressive. This is the main set as well: (sorry about the shine from the flash, it's too dark to take without the flash on)

Ghost of Hamlet's father

Onto the actors and actresses: Benedict is obviously the stand out performer. He really dominates the stage as soon as he enters each time. My favourite scenes were those he performed either with the ghost of his father or his mother, especially when discussing his uncle. Those with his friends were the funniest and when he was dancing around it was very amusing. The pace picked up a lot in the madness scenes and you could see Sherlock coming out of him in his gestures and how he was speaking the lines. The 'To be or not to be' was in in the right place and came after his madness on the table, which I think worked well as it flipped Hamlet's personality back from silliness to serious and vulnerability. His fencing skills were good, and the tension really did rise in this scene. In fact I heard my sister say 'Oh no' to herself, so people were really into it. I didn't want to even move a centimeter at this part. You can tell he has been working out (possibly for Dr Strange) as he was very fast when running around and looked quite strong and more muscly than usual. Here's his section in the programme in case anyone is interested:

Benedict's part of the programme

Image taken from the programme showing just before the fight scene

The rest of the cast did a good job as well. I liked both the King and Queen, as well as Hamlet's friends, Laertes and soldiers. As I said earlier, the Queen worked really well with Hamlet, especially when discussing her feelings over Hamlet's father and his uncle. Ophelia was a bit boring at times, the piano playing was a bit annoying, but the scene with her flowers and after were really well acted and very emotional. The only character that annoyed me a bit was Horatio. He was always carrying this backpack yet we were not quite sure where he was supposed to have come from and just appeared at random points. When he was supposed to be helping Hamlet e.g. watching the King's reaction to a play, you couldn't really see him  (he was placed upstairs) and to be honest Hamlet didn't really need his help. When Hamlet was dying, this could have been a lot more emotional as the actor didn't really do this scene justice or it had been directed wrongly.

Overall, I am so glad that we went and to see Benedict live was incredible. You could see the influence of other characters he has played, especially Sherlock in the faster pace or comical scenes, and I do think he was better live than on screen. The set was incredible and one of the best I have seen. The rest of the cast were good, with some stronger than others, which is a same as everyone needed to be quite strong to match Benedict really and you could tell that some were better than others. Fortunately the King and Queen did well, which saved it a bit a points. The tense moments were great and the comical moments helped to lighten it up a bit and keep interest. Some parts were hard to follow as reviews had warned, by moving lots around or cutting bits it can be dangerous, it did need to be shorter than intended obviously, but by putting it in a modern setting as well, some points were harder to follow than others. Overall, I think everyone will enjoy it really, if not only to see Benedict in a stand out performance.