Bruno Mars' Moonshine Jungle Tour - The O2 Arena, October 2013

Back in February, I booked tickets to see Bruno Mars live at The O2 Arena. The time between booking and finally seeing him really felt like it dragged on forever. So you can imagine my excitement when the day finally arrived! And typically my daughter got to come with me as my friend was unable to come!

I have to admit, while I think the choice of support act was a good one as it really did fit with Bruno's musical style, the set was just far too long at 45 minutes. I ended up being fed up and just wanting Bruno to hurry up and get on stage as I had already waited long enough from when I booked back in February!

But it ended up being worth the wait, because when he finally came on stage, he was brilliant! The show was electric and so fast moving, that it didn't feel all that long (it was around a 90mins set). He performed a good variety of his songs, from stuff from the latest album, all of his classics and even the stuff he had featured on for other artists!

It turned out, as I had found out earlier in the day, that it was Bruno's birthday that day and he was still performing despite that. So his band got the entire audience to sing Happy Birthday to him! Hearing the entire arena sing was definitely a surreal thing! Bruno even looked a little embarrassed!

Overall, this show was definitely one of the best live gigs I have been to! Bruno knows how to command a crowd without the need for big theatrics, which is not something that is easy to do these days! Even better though, was that the tickets costs much less than other concerts I have attended at The O2! Next time Bruno Mars is over in the UK touring, I definitely hope to be there!

London Film and Comic Con Winter - October 2013

London Film and Comic Con Winter replaced last year's Entertainment Media Show this year. Despite not having planned to go, due to lack of funds, the line up was too good to resist, specifically because of the huge number of Doctor Who guests that had been announced for the weekend. Plus as it fell on Matthew's birthday again, it was great excuse for a Mummy/Mattie day as he calls them.

Due to the lack of money I had, I decided to keep the number of people I met to the bare minimum and to Doctor Who guests only. So in the end, we ended up meeting Bonnie Langford, Paul McGann, Noel Clarke, Neve McIntosh and Andrew Hayden Smith. So while it ended up being a quick trip in comparison to previous conventions, it was definitely well worth it. Especially considering everyone we met wished Mattie a Happy Birthday!

Once inside, we headed straight over for my only photo shoot of the day with Noel Clarke. It had just started when we got there and as we have an extra help pass, we were in and at the front of the queue very quickly. Noel was absolutely lovely and attempted to engage Mattie in a conversation but Mattie was having none of it! It seemed Mattie was not going to be in the best today as he had been at previous conventions!

Once done with the photo shoot, we headed down towards the back of the hall where the autograph area was and immediately jumped in the queue to meet Bonnie. I have to admit, besides Dancing On Ice, I have never actually seen Bonnie in anything (though this was to change) and yet I still knew who she was! She was absolutely lovely to meet. We ended talking about the musical she currently starring in, Spamalot. I told her I was planning to coming to see it very soon and she informed she was due to leave in a few weeks (which helped a lot when I came to book). I also told her I was not a Monty Python fan and she told me it was not necessary to do so as it was more of taking the mickey out of musicals. She also told me about her mum, who like me, does not like Monty Python but had seen Spamalot 12 times! This really put my mind at ease about booking tickets (which I did a week later).

Next we went to see Paul McGann, who, as I tried to explain to Mattie, used to be the Doctor. I think Paul may have taken offence to this (in a joke sort of way) as he jokingly went on the defensive and said he was the Doctor, putting simply that once the doctor, always the doctor, which quite honestly is true! I did admit I had never seen his stint as the Doctor but that my husband had! We then went to see Noel for an autograph, who was an absolute joy to meet. We ended up chatting about his small but important role in Star Trek: Into the Darkness. I won't say how the conversation went just in case you have not seen the movie as not to spoil it for you.

We then headed over to see Neve McIntosh. She had a ridiculously long queue, longer than the crew had expected. Perhaps as she is part of the current cast of Doctor Who helped towards how many people wanted to meet her and trust me, it was worth meeting her. She was very sweet to Mattie, explaining that she had chosen to wear her human make up that day (she play Madame Vastra on the show, the green lizard alien thing, sorry cannot remember what type) and on being told it was Mattie's birthday, she sung Happy Birthday to him! Definitely one of the best guests we have ever met at a convention!

Finally, we met Andrew Hayden Smith, but only after a long wait. He had been on a lunch break and then had interviewed Noel! While waiting I was discussing with the crew and some other fans about his role Byker Grove and trying to remember the name of his character. But he was worth the wait as he was very sweet, but quieter than I expected!

It was a quick day for us, but as always there was a fab line up of guests and some absolutely brilliant cosplayers! Cannot wait for my next convention in March!

National Paralympic Day - September 2013

One year ago today, I was up in London with my youngest child, Owen, waiting for the start of the Greatest Team Parade, despite having arrived four hours early. But it guaranteed us an amazing spot at the start of the route to see the athletes go by. Nearly one year later, I decided to take Matthew to the National Paralympic Day at Olympic Park to meet the paralympians who had amazed and inspired us!

On arrival, having had to walk for about to 15 minutes or so, we immediately saw a group of paralympians posing for press photographers. We quickly headed over to get a shot of them and got the chance to meet the lovely Olivia Breen. Mattie went all shy and refused to have a photo with her.

As we did not have tickets for the Copper Box, due to finding out about the event far too late to be able to get them, we headed over to the stall area to see what was about. We ended up spending most of our time there going back and forth between the Paralympics GB Tent, where there were signings with different athletes every hour. Mattie was quite shy meeting them to begin with but by the end, he ended up being very confident and a little gobby!

One of our favourite things we found was the Luminarium. It was this huge blow up tent, which each section beautifully lit in different ways. To me and Mattie, it was this huge and ridiculously brilliant sensory tent, which Mattie fell in love with immediately. He had so much fun in there and was so happy that it became incredibly hard to get him out, but eventually after bribing with him with me offering to buy him an ice cream, he agreed to come out! This tent is amazing and has made me want to have the chance to create a sensory room for Mattie, if he ever gets his own bedroom.

Between one of the signings, we headed over the bridge to sit and eat our lunch, when we spotted a huge crowd heading past us. It turned out to be Boris Johnson, a number of paralympians and a group of press photographers. We headed over to see what was going on and when the chance presented itself, we got the chance to meet Hannah Cockcroft, Sophie Christiansen and Will Bayley. Hannah was absolutely lovely and was so patient while waiting for Mattie to take my photo with her, especially as he accidentally turned the camera off! I also told her that my husband fancied her, which she laughed at (the husband is not happy I told her though).

I am not going to list the names of those we met, because I could not for the life of remember who each and every one of them were, but they were all so nice, offering us chances to hold or even wear their medals from London 2012 and one had even brought their medal they won in Lyon this year. The final one we met was the person I think everyone wanted to meet and the one of the main reasons we went, David Weir. It was a big deal for us, not because we had cheered him on but because he is the local boy. David lives not far from us and I grew up in the same town as him. When we met him and told him that, the journalist sat next to him immediately asked to interview me to which I agreed. I told him how proud I was that a local boy had done so well! David ended being the one person I did not need coax Mattie to have a photo with!

Cardiff Film and Comic Con - August 2013

Despite living in London and therefore having access to numerous conventions there, I knew I could not pass up the chance to attend a new convention taking place in Cardiff. Being that Cardiff is the home where the fantastic Doctor Who and Torchwood series are filmed, I absolutely had to attend. Despite the long wait from booking to attending and the lack of guests announced till literally just before the event, I made the right decision in attending as I had an amazing time!

The first guest we met, because surprisingly he had no queue at the time, was David Hasslehoff. The kids picked out the shot of him in Spongebob to get signed as they all love him in that, so I decided to have it made out to the kids. It was a good decision to make as we ended coming away with more than what we were entitled to. For £30, we should have had only one autograph, but because David recognises that as he is the only live character in the Spongebob movie, children are more likely to recognise him than the voice actors. As a result, he had made up postcard  of the shot we had chosen, specifically to give to children. He got two of them and signed them and gave them to the kids. He also gave the kids one of those face masks that are so popular, this one being of him, which I cheekily put on to embarrass the kids! David also generously allowed Rachael to have a photo of him! Definitely £30 well worth spending!

Next guest we met was Kai Owen, who played Rhys in Torchwood. I had been lucky to meet Eve Myles in July and purposefully picked out a shot of them together to get signed as I already knew I would meeting Kai at that point. Kai was an absolute delight to meet and he joked that I had my own personal photographer when Rachael took our photo for us! He talked about just how lovely Eve was and we told him how she had been so nice by allowing to take a sneaky picture of her with my son when we met her. It was obvious from the way he talked about her that they had formed a close friendship when working on Torchwood together! Admittedly I have to say his Welsh accent was gorgeous!

As we moved away from meeting Kai, we spotted K9, so we popped over to get some shots. Both me and Rachael got a shot with him, but poor Mattie just did not seem interested this time round! K9 kept moving about while we were by him which I loved! I am pretty certain that Mat Irvine, who was sat nearby and is the technical consultant on Doctor Who, was the one playing with the controls! 

On spotting Chris Rankin with no queue, we quickly shot over to meet him! He had originally scheduled to appear at Colletormania in Glasgow the weekend before but was unable to make it, so was rescheduled to Cardiff and being a huge Harry Potter fan, I was absolutely delighted he was there as was Rachael. When we arrived at the table, the excitement obviously got to me, as I said to Rachael, "It's Percy Weasley!", which Chris laughed at. Chris was absolutely lovely, nothing like his character in Harry Potter and quite happily came out from behind the table to have photos with both me and Rachael!

The next we met was the amazing John Leeson, better known to TV viewers as the voice of K9! He was absolutely brilliant to meet and so nice! He kept doing K9's voice, which was had us laughing and was very kind in allowing us photo and inviting behind the table to do so! Even better was the autograph from him and K9, which I love! After John, we had a quick break and then went onto to meet Kenny Baker, who is known R2D2, for Jon and got the DVD boxset signed for him!

Our last guest we met was the brilliant Brian Blessed. We got in the queue just as they were asking people not to have posed photos with him. That was fine by me as I had a photo shoot booked with him! He was very lovely to meet and very chatty as well! Rachael was impressed that he had been in Doctor Who (though in the much earlier series). When it was time for his photo shoot, there was a ridiculously long queue and thankfully as we had an extra help pass so we were able to jump it, but sadly Brian had done a disappearing act and ended being 15 minutes late. But when he finally turned up, despite the crew's need to get everyone through quickly and promptly, he kept on chatting away to crowd that was queuing and making everyone laugh. Definitely one of the most interesting photo shoots I have ever been to!

This convention was the first convention when I finally plucked up the courage to ask those in cosplay for photos! It didn't feel as though there were as many as at previous conventions, but they had their own section upstairs, so perhaps that is where most of them were. I have to give special mention to all the children dressed up as they all look so cute! One little girl we saw before we went into the convention was dressed in a pink Batgirl outfit and looked so adorable! Also loved the number of Disney costumes as well, specifically a brilliant Merida from Brave and a fabulously done Ursula from the Little Mermaid! But my favourite cosplay was definitely all the Doctor Who ones! Two guys I found, dressed as the 10th and the 11th Doctors, not only their costumes perfect with the correct sonic screwdrivers, but they really did look like their doctors, right down the hair! Next year, Rachael says she wants to cosplay, so I will pulling out her Disney Princess dresses for her to wear!

It was definitely a fantastic first convention in Cardiff. It was definitely busier than anyone expected as there was still a long queue to get in just before 3pm, just as we were leaving! But it has not put me off coming back in March for the next one!

Kids Week: Top Hat - August 2013

For Kids Week, we always see Wicked and at least one new show. Our choice this year was the Oliver Award winning, Top Hat. I have been wanting to see this show since it debuted on the West End last year. Having already seen the movie, I knew we were in for an amazing performance!

Having never been to the Aldwych Theatre before, I was surprised by small it was, but also by the gorgeous decor, which Rachael described as "posh". We had got seats near the back of the stalls, which were the only seats I could find for the date I wanted, but the view was generally quite good due to the size of the theatre. However, I was disappointed that I had no warning of the overhang of the dress circle partially obscuring our view. Luckily it only prevented us from seeing one very short section of the show, luckily nothing too essential. The theatre also does not provide booster seats for children like other theatres do, so Rachael had to move seats to be able to see properly, but luckily for us the seats next to us were not filled! If we ever return to this theatre, I will probably book for the dress circle instead.

The show itself was fantastic. The movie translates extremely well to the stage. The musical numbers are expanded due to the fact the original movie only has five songs, so the selection of other songs were taken from the back catalogue of Irving Berlin, specifically music that fits with the 1930's. Each choice fitted well within the show and added to the already fantastic musical score. The sets and costumes were fantastic, even causing me to gasp at points by just what an amazing job they have done to bring the essence of the 1930's to the stage! It was bright and colourful, elegant and stylish!

The cast were absolutely phenomenal, performing brilliantly choreographed complicated dances, particularly the tap numbers. Gavin Lee, who played the lead character, Jerry Travers, was fantastic and they could not have chosen a better person to play a character made famous the legendary Fred Astaire. Kristen Beth Williams played the lead female, Dale Tramont and was fabulous! She looked stunning in every outfit she wore, most specifically a replica of the famous "Cheek to Cheek" dress. I am not surprised she was chosen to take over the role from Summer Strallen, just looking at her past theatre credits was enough to convince me before the show that she would be amazing.

After the show, we headed straight for the stage door. Turned out we were the only people waiting to meet the cast! We met Kristen, Gavin and also Russell-Leighton Dixon (Alberto Beddini). Russell surprised me when he came out as it turns out that while he plays an Italian, he is actually a Kiwi! His change in accent completely threw me as did Kristen with her natural hair colour, she really looks great as a blonde, despite be a natural brunette!

Sadly, the show is closing this October, so if you can GO SEE IT!

Kids Week: Wicked - August 2013

It's Kids Week again! Well, more like Kids Month now! It has become popular now, that I was lucky to get tickets to two different shows! One of which is mine and Rachael's all time favourite musical, Wicked! This year, I booked slightly different seats. Still in the circle, but more towards the centre and slightly back a bit more. It gave us a much better view of the entire stage than we have had in previous years.

We had been really excited about coming this year as we got to see Louise Dearman in the role of Elphaba after seeing her two years ago in the role of Glinda, making her the first ever actress to having played both of the leading roles in the musical's history.

Luckily for us, thanks to my checking cast holidays, we only had one cast change for the performance, which was Marc McBride stepping in for Sam Lupton in the role of Boq. Otherwise the main line up remained the same: Louise Dearman as Elphaba, Gina Beck as Glinda and Ben Freeman as Fiyero. I was particular excited though to see Harriet Thorpe back as Madame Morrible, who I had been fortunate to see on my first visit to see the show a few years ago.

The show as always was phenomenal! Louise Dearman was absolutely blinding as Elphaba and smashed Defying Gravity! As she went into big part at the end of the song, she gave me chills, she was that good! Gina, as last year, had me in fits of giggles as Glinda and I have to say I was quite impressed by Ben Freeman. He actually does have a good singing voice! This year was the first year that I had given the cast a standing ovation and deservedly so as they were all outstanding!

As always, after the show, we immediately made our way to stage door to meet the cast! We met the main eight cast members: Louise Dearman, Gina Beck, Ben Freeman, Harriet Thorpe, Keith Bartlett, Christopher Howell, Marc McBride and Katie Rowley Jones. I have to say I was impressed by how quick Louise came out especially as she has to get the green make up off! I was also really happy that Gina remembered us from the Oliviers Red Carpet earlier this year! The biggest surprise though was seeing Will Young come out alongside Harriet after the show, though we didn't stop him as he disappeared away from the fans very quickly!

Overall, this was an amazing night as always! If you can, book tickets to go and see the show before October so you get the chance to see Louise as Elphaba! I am already looking forward to returning next year to see the new Elphaba in action!

Dirty Dancing - August 2013

I absolutely love the movie Dirty Dancing. It is one of my all time favourite movies. So I have been a bit dubious about going to see the stage adaptation since I heard about it a few years ago. I just didn't think it would translate well. So yesterday I plucked up the courage to go and see it along with my daughter Rachael and my friend Harriet.

I had not booked tickets in advance so we had to buy day seats. Unfortunately when we got there, they had sold out already, learning that I really need to arrive before the box office opens to have a chance of getting them. Luckily, there were still other cheap seats available, so we booked 3 seats at £24.50 each for the Grand Circle. I felt that was quite reasonable cost as it was only £4.50 more than the day seats cost themselves. On arrival back at Piccadilly Theatre, the box office spotted us and called us to change our seats as they were not originally together. We ended up being upgraded to the Royal Circle, sat together in seats we are pretty certain cost more than we paid and with a better view. 

The show itself was fantastic. For the most part, the original dialogue, music and choreography is kept with a few additional parts added for flow, costume changes etc. Some characters felt much more developed than within the movie. For example, Dr Jake and Majorie Houseman's relationship is explored a bit more, Neil Kellerman seems cornier, Lisa Houseman is much comedic and Mr Schumacher was far creepier! My only little moans is that I felt some of most dramatic lines were lost within the performance from how they were delivered in the movie. But otherwise I really enjoyed the show. When Johnny said that famous line "Nobody puts baby in the corner" the audience, or should I say females, went wild and that continued throughout the performance of the movie's most famous dance, especially when the lead couple performed that infamous lift! 

After the show, as always, we went to the stage door to meet the cast. Despite having attended the matinee performance, the majority of the main cast members came out at some point, even though one had to go inside to get two of them out for us! Each and every one of them were really nice to us, asking us what we thought of the show and thanking us for waiting!

I definitely recommend this show, whether or not you are a fan of the movie. The cast are extremely talented and done amazing job of taking on such iconic characters!

Cast Members met: Jill Winternitz (Baby), Paul-Michael Jones (Johnny), Charlotte Gooch (Penny), James Coombes (Dr Houseman), Stefan Menaul (Neil Kellerman), Wayne Smith (Billy), Emilia Williams (Lisa) and Callum Nicol (Robbie).