Musicals.. (Broadway and West End!)

You can tell a WHOLE lot more money went into making TLK rather than TLM.

 

I was just looking on ticketmaster and Young Frankenstein, Mary Poppins, Grease, Hairyspray and Legally Blonde are going to be playing in NY starting in July and August ;D (TLK, TLM and Wicked are already playing)

 

I haven't been to NYC, but I've seen professional travelling productions or toronto productions of Annie, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Mamma Mia, The Producers, Rent, Moving Out and Hairspray. This summer, after I get home from ICP I'll be seeing Spamalot and Wicked in Ottawa. I love listening to all the music, even from productions I haven't seen. What are peoples fav musical songs?? I love On My Own from Les Mis, even though its an oldie.

 

I'm going to see Mama Mia in a few weeks ;D
I've been waiting for Wicked to come to Vancouver ever since I heard about it but I still haven't seen it. So whenever my first chance comes along I'm going
I'd really like to see a good ballet too. Like Swan Lake or the Nutcraker (saw it a long time ago) I just love the music ;D

 

I have so many favourite musical songs, at the moment it's 'I'm Here' from the Colour Purple. I have Fantasia singing it and it's just beautiful! And then also a couple of the songs out of Legally Blonde, So Much better, Legally Blonde and the Finale and Bend and Snap!

Then nearly every song from Xanadu are brilliant. It's one of the best cast recordings ever! lol I used to love Defying Gravity but Kerry Ellis just about spoiled that. As long as you're mine is pretty good from Wicked, as long as it's Oli Tompsett singing it!

 

We went to see the Lion King in the West End the other week. Not as good as I thought it would be. It might have helped if they could have balanced the mics with the orchestra, it was really hard to hear some vocalists! We did have great seats though... row E on an aisle! The animals made me jump haha. I loved the little elephant though. The girl playing Young Nala goes to my old secondary school.

I much prefered Mary Poppins which we saw at Christmas. Scarlett Strallen was AMAZING! (her sister Summer is the new Maria in Sound of Music) and from what I can work out, a lot different from Laura Michelle Kelly, who I've only seen on youtube but love her take on Mary Poppins too!

I saw Wicked twice last year, both times with Kerry Ellis (and Oliver Tompsett! whoop!) If I could be like anyone in musical theatre, it would be her. Her voice is amazing and she is always note perfect! She played other awesome roles such as Fantine in Les Mis, Ellen in the UK tour of Miss Saigon and the original Meat in We Will Rock You.

Then years and years ago we saw Joseph with Philip Schofield and Linzi Hately (who was also Mrs Banks in Mary Poppins!) and then Beauty and the Beast a few years later which I shall always love!

My Mum's seen Chicago and didn't think much of it. I can't comment until I see it!

We're going to see Dirty Dancing in May. I'm not a fan of the film, but I've spoken to a few people who didn't like the film but saw the show and said it was amazing, so we'll see. I always prefer to see things live.

Argh, hopefully I'll be off to see Les Mis this summer.... I love that show; I have the DVD and the music is so passionate, as is the soundtrack. I'd also love to see Avenue Q, Spamalot, Chess, Hairspray, Legally Blonde (though I watched it on MTV.... WOW!), Lord of the Rings, Mamma Mia.... all of them! I'd rather be in them though If I could choose any role I'd have problems! I'd love to be the narrator in Joseph, or Belle, or Eponine (I love 'On My Own'... I have to sing it for my vocal exam!) or anything really! I guess I'll just have to settle with my current role as Polly Browne in 'The Boy Friend' at uni haha. Which surprisingly was Julie Andrews first Broadway role... lets hope my career is as successful as hers

 

Out of the Disney musicals I think Lion King is up there as the best for me. Beauty and the beast will always be my favourite because I love the film so much. It's a shame the sound levels were so bad, it was amazing when we went. I didn't really like Mary Poppins, but then I don't really like that film so it's all relative I guess. I've seen Scarlett a few times and she is talented, she's gonna be around a long, long time! Same as Summer, I saw her first in Guys and Dolls, she's one of the best dancers i've ever seen. Vocally she's quite weak, she's very nasally but her acting and dancing make up for that.

I've seen wicked a good, 50ish times or so and just can't get used to Kerry. I was one of the original Kerry fans, seen her in everything but My Fair Lady, she amazed me in Miss Saigon and I even endured Les Mis 5 times for her (and Shaun Escoffery, phwoar!) but she doesn't do it for me in Wicked. She really just does not try. I've seen her be amazing and put in the effort and have these truly electric shows where you can't believe your eyes but then in Wicked you don't get that. I think mainly it's because she's scared of letting go after hurting her voice on her first night. That first show was amazing and since then she's just been mediocre. I know a lot of Americans are dreading her transfer... you've heard one Kerry audio, you've heard them all. She's consistent to a fault almost. People want new riffs and with Kerry, you don't get that. I've seen Shoshana, Steph J Block, Shona, Victoria Matlock, Kerry, CJ and Idina and Kerry has to be one of my least favourite Elphaba's. She's frequently referred to as Couch potatoe Elphie because she's just so lazy in it! I think she'd be the first one to admit it. The problem now for Kerry is that there are no roles in the west end for her and won't be for quite a while. That's why she's sticking with Wicked.

Dirty Dancing is an odd one, I haven't met anyone that liked it yet. But nearly everyone I know are Musical theatre fans and it doesn't rate in that scene. That's why i've never seen it yet, i've got too many people telling me not to go. I love the movie though so I probably will eventually, and i'll probably enjoy it.

I was really looking forward to Oliver, but after watching the programme and seeing that they voted Nancy off I can't be bothered with it. She was amazing and reduced me to tears during her audition and they just cut her. Scandalous! It means people get voted into roles because they're cute boys and not necessarily the right person for the role. Grease was awful, they just couldn't cut it. They weren't trained theatre performers honed to perform 8, 9 shows a week and it showed. Which is why it's finishing soon. It just means these shows are taking up theatres that could be housing some new original piece. There's not a lot of originality in theatre at the moment.

Sorry, this is one topic I find hard to not ramble on!

 

i saw avenue q in new york, and in london twice. its sooo funny! The front row iis reduced in price which is where i sat the first time i saw it in london. I recommend it!

 

Haha that's ok, I totally understand!

I so wish I'd seen Wicked that many times! It really annoyed me that Idina finished on Broadway before I got to FL to work, and then she finished on West End 11 days before I came home! I was so gutted it was unbelievable. So really I've no one to compare Kerry to, youtube and soundtracks just don't give you that same experience. I do love hearing British accents sing it after being used to a US soundtrack.

I've always loved Mary Poppins so it was natural to see it. I'm not sure about the Broadway version...ok it's still going to be a great show, but Ashley Brown just doesn't do it for me. She has a good voice, but she doesn't have that edge that all the other 'Mary's' seemed to have. And while her accent is good, you can tell she's not British... I just find the whole thing weird.

I'd love to see Once Upon a Mattress. I adore the soundtrack (especially the song Happily Ever After, it's totally how I feel about life haha!) but I can't find an vaguely professional vidoes on youtube; they're mainly all high schools.

We're seeing Dirty Dancing with a bunch of my Mum's friends; one of them is turning 50 and that's the show we're seeing... I wasn't going to say no! As I said, still a little aprehensive about it, but I can't knock something until I've tried it!

One thing I really hope goes to Broadway is Finding Nemo! I love the version in AK and if they can somehow make it longer that would be awesome! That's my favourite show in Disney (I liked Tarzan Rocks but possibly wasn't old enough to appreciate good music when I hear it!). Did anyone remember the Jungle Book show they had their? I so don't remember watching it, but we have it on video!

The TV reality shows make me cringe. I can't believe they voted Nancy out! I thought she was brilliant! I wanted to see Lee Mead in Joseph, but then he has theatrical experience, and I would have been really surprised if he hadn't won. I didn't get to see the Sound of Music one (being in FL and all) but I'm so not a fan of Connie Fisher. Not after she went on and on about how she wanted to do 8 shows a week, and then got a sore throat and lost her voice (at least I heard that's what happened... maybe she wasn't singing correctly :-\).

I need to see more musicals... but first I need mooooooney! This is one very expensive obsession LOL

 

I saw Lion King in London on friday and it was awesome ;D

 

Love the lion King on Stage...

I'd love to go see some of the many musicals mentioned, one of the ones that i will hate myself for not seeing is Beauty and The Beast

 

I know. Beauty and the Beast would have been amazing. You never know it may come back

 

I wish I could see that one! I can only imagine how amazing it must be!

 

Oh thats annoying the Lion King tour is in Tampa til June 22nd

 

Really? That's like to months to early for me!

 

Noooooo!! It should stay an extra week just for us lol.

 

But they have a great lion king show in Disney too! It's called The Festival of the Lion King and it's awesome!