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).

London Anniversary Games - July 2013

Last year, I got to experience what was one of the most amazing summers of my life and a good part of that was down to being able to attend the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. I cannot believe it has been a year already, so obviously I was delighted to be able to secure two tickets to see the London Anniversary Games to watch our Paralympians back in action at the Olympic Stadium.

On arrival, Mattie and I headed over to the British Icons Exhibition in the Spectators Village. It was a chance for everyone attending to see a selection of trophies, medals, footwear, and equipment amongst other things and celebrate the amazing achievements of British Athletics at the Olympics. There was a TV in the corner showing highlights from the Paralympics last year and as we approached, it just happened to be showing the exact moment Aled Davies has won his gold medal, which also happened to be the day we had attended the athletics. The exhibition featured athletes right up to the present day, including a signed top from Jonnie Peacock and an amazing collage of shots, which Mattie had his photo taken in front of, with the biggest smile on his face.

The rest of the village was amazing, yet very busy. There were a selection of entertainers around the village, though I am not sure if they were part of any of the ceremonies from last year. There were also two vehicles from the ceremonies, one of which Usain Bolt had used to make a spectacular entrance on Friday night. There was also an Athletics Agility area, where you could try out a number of sports. As it was a popular area, Mattie just tried out the running and raced two children who had been stood behind us in the queue. Amazingly, he did not have a meltdown when he lost the race, but I think he was just happy to have had a try!

The approach to the stadium, across the bridge, was even more packed than it was the previous summer, but then again it was the only bridge open this time round. Even so, it was great to be back at this stunning stadium. Though it was weird seeing it without all the Olympic/Paralympic signs, even if the anniversary signs were just as good!

We had managed to secure seats in Block 125, which turned out to be amazing seats. The block was directly on the bend at the end of the finish line, near to where the Olympic Flame had been lit barely a year ago. I was definitely impressed as we had gone for the lower end of price scale. The stewards, as always, were fantastic, with one willing to take photos for those who asked.

Before the events began, the pre-show introduced a number of medal winning paralympians onto the track and there was a quick video allowing us to relive the amazing summer the year before. By the time the events were due to start, the stadium was full to the rafters, with so much love and admiration for these amazing athletes. It was as loud and as crazy as it had been the last time I was here.


Being able to watch so many of our British Paralympians compete was truly amazing. Hannah Cockcroft and Richard Whitehead stormed to victory to enormous roars from the crowds. Jonnie Peacock only came third and even apologised for not winning in front of the home crowd but no one cared, because we had been able to see him race in what was a truly great and exciting race. And then David Weir completely dominated his race, taking the lead and extending by a huge distance with two laps to go and to thunderous applause!

So glad I had the chance to attend and hope to attend more events like this in the future. Mattie had a great time, despite wanting to go home before we had even taken our seats. He was cheering so loudly for anyone who was British and was so excited every time we won an event. Definitely want him to attend these events more often as athletes are so inspirational for him, because as I told him, they do not let their disabilities stand in their way of being able to achieve their dreams!

London Film and Comic Con 2013

The run up to this year's London Film and Comic Con has not been as exciting as it was last year and one point I had actually contemplated not going as they were not enough people I was actually interested in meeting. But as is normal in the last few weeks in the run up to a convention, more names were announced that made me want to go. I had even said no photo shoots this year, as I just did not have the money, but two huge names announced made me change my mind on that as well.

This year, the team had learnt from problems last year and made the photo shoot schedule easier for those who were not able to attend till the standard entry time, by scheduling those with double shoots before and after 11am. This meant I was able to drop off Charlie at gymnastics and head straight up there with Matthew, rather than leave at ridiculously early time. Luckily as we had permission to skip the queues and head straight in, I did not need to worry about how long queue was, which according to Twitter, it had gone as far back as Earl's Court 1! I knew it was going to busy but I don't think anyone expected that to happen!

Guest 1: D'Lo Brown

The first guest we met had no queue and was one of the people Jonathan wanted me to meet, the wrestler, D'Lo Brown. I honestly have no idea who he is but he was really nice and quite happily posed for a photo with Mattie. We chose the right time to go and meet him as by mid-afternoon, when we had decided to leave, he had a sign stating no posed photos.

Guest 2: Eve Myles

Eve was the guest that made me decide to come to LFCC this year as she is unable to do Cardiff in August. As expected she had long queue, which was moving quickly. While waiting I decided to take a shot of her, which she spotted me doing and she gave me a smile and a giggle while I took the photo. Once up there, she was so nice to us. We told her how we loved Wales and how I loved the welsh accent (which I really do love). I asked if she was allowing posed photos, and she told me they wouldn't let her, from which I sensed she seemed disappointed by, but to make up for it, we decided to do a posed "unposed" photo of her and Mattie! Eve clearly stated to the crew member that she wasn't posing, even though technically she was!


Guest 3: Joe Dempsie

Joe was the reason I had to come on Saturday as it was the only day he was scheduled to appear and I was prepared to do so, as I absolutely loved him as Chris in Skins. I am pretty certain I was the only person in the queue who had not seen Game of Thrones and was only meeting him for the fact he was in Skins and I told him so and I think he really appreciated it. I told him that I had watched back the first two seasons of Skins and that he was amazing as Chris and that it is shame they could not get him back for the final episodes as his character died! He preceded to tell me about the rehearsals for his death scene. The producers/director (cannot remember who) had decided that they wanted his death scene to involve him bleeding from his nose and him covered in vomit. Now being that the character was meant to die from a brain haemorrhage, the medical adviser who was working with them protested and told them that this does not happen when someone has one, but they decided against it and went with the very disgusting, yet emotional death scene. This led Joe to giving me a great message on my autograph, "Chris is alive". I also got photo bombed in my photo with Joe!

Guest 4: Dan Starkey

For those who do not know Dan or even recognise him, he plays Strax, the Sontaran friend of the Doctor's in Doctor Who. He was absolutely gem to meet, even talking in the voice he uses, to help Mattie be convinced it was him. We told him that he had met Matt Smith, or in Mattie's eyes, the Doctor last year, which Dan preceded to talk to Mattie about. Dan has been kind enough to tweet me back after I posted our photo on there yesterday, with the word Splendid! I also did attempt to get some inside info on the 50th anniversary episode from him, but he refused, but as I said, it was worth the try.

Guest 5: Diamond Dallas Page

DDP as he is known on Twitter was another one of Jon's guests. Again, I have no idea who he is, except that he is a wrestler. But even so, he was very nice and thought it was funny that I had been sent to get his autograph on behalf of my husband. He very kindly posed for a photo with Mattie (which I had purposefully made sure Lena Headey was in the background for) and did his famous Diamond hand gesture. Sadly, my camera focused in on Lena instead of Diamond, so the shot was not as good as it could have been.

Guest 6: Armin Shimerman

Armin is probably best known for his role, and the reason I went to meet him, on Buffy as Principal Snyder, or as I see it the dude who got eaten by a huge snake on graduation day! Armin was very nice to meet and was more than happy to pose for a photo.





Guest 7: Courtney Gains

I have to say I was surprised when I went to meet Courtney that there was no queue (not complaining though) as he is an actor who has appeared of number of well known movies. For me, though it was his role in Sweet Home Alabama that had me add him to my list of planned meets. As I approached, it turned out they had just been talking about the movie! He even added a quote, "Hells Bells" from the movie to my autograph!


Guest 8: Frazer Hines

Even though I knew who Frazer was, this was another of guest Jon wanted to me meet. He was an absolute pleasure to meet and was even raising money for charity at his table, to which I donated. When I asked for a photo with him, I had planned to give my camera to the crew member as I had been doing all day but Mattie was adamant he could take the photo, which he did and it turned out really well. At this point, Frazer turned round and told Mattie he could tell his daddy that he had taken photo of mummy with her gentleman friend!

Guest 9: Louise Jameson


Louise was sat next to Frazer so we went to her next. I know her more for her role in Eastenders than when she was on Doctor Who, not I knew that until she was announced as a guest! Again, Mattie want to take the photo of us, which Louise was quite cute and which we showed her after he had taken it!


The final two guests were the huge names that really sealed the deal for me this year at LFCC; Danny Glover and David Hasselhoff! I knew that the chance of getting a photo with them at the signing table would be highly unlikely so I decided to just get a photo with them, even though I knew it would mean not having time to say anything significant to them, just a simple, "It is nice to meet you" and a thank you. But that didn't matter to me as I prefer the photos to the autographs! Both were great to meet and Mattie even got a Hi-Five from David!

The day was amazing! Kicking myself, for forgetting to pick up some comics for the boys and not getting more photos of those who were cosplaying. Though I did get one or a woman dressed as a cat from the musical, Cats. What was even better was that she stayed in character the entire time I spoke to her!