[Holidays] Fun times in London
This weekend I’ve once again been
down in London visiting my girlfriend. We’ve been talking about going to see a
show for ages, and this time we actually stuck to one of our resolutions,
seeing not just one, but two shows in one day.
Ah, London town. (Credit: visitlondon.com)
The 'Wicked' logo. Part of me thinks it's misleading actually, as it implies that Glinda
turns Elphaba wicked, which I'm not sure is the case. (Credit: thewestendvoice.co.uk)
What a show it was. It’s ages
since I went to see a proper musical in the West End, and Wicked was a good way
to revisit something that I love. As usual for a matinee we had some of the
understudies on stage rather than the main actors, but it made no difference.
I knew some of the music before I
went to see the show, having seen/heard/played some of it in various places,
but I was impressed by what I’d not seen before as well. As a soundtrack it’s
much more cohesive than your typical musical, with repeated themes and motifs.
I read on Wikipedia that it’s been commented on as more like a film soundtrack
than a musical one, and I can definitely see that. Regardless, the music is
awesome, and I bought the CD. I was also impressed by how much singing there
is. The ratio of singing to dialogue is very high, almost to a Les Misérables
level, particularly in the first half, but the quality of sound never wavered.
This confrontation between the two main characters takes place near the end of the film,
and is one of the parts that weaves in the existing Wizard of Oz story. (Credit: theatreguide.co.uk)
The way that the storyline works
into and around ‘the Wizard of Oz’ film is very, very clever. It puts a
completely different spin on things, without every ruining the immersion and
idea that it’s the same world. You never see Dorothy, but all of the other
characters from the film are there, and given back-story for their actions and
endings in the film. It’s ingenious. If you like musicals, you should
definitely see Wicked.
We were originally only planning
to see the one show, but on our way home we looked at each other, said “fancy
going to see something this evening?”, and had a wander down to Covent Garden. Sadly
Warhorse didn’t have anything left, but we were able to get cheap tickets to
see the Woman in Black (not together unfortunately).
'The Woman in Black' was incredibly atmospheric, and truly brilliant. (Credit: daysoutguide.co.uk)
After watching the film last
year, I was keen to see the play version of the story. It was a
completely different experience to Wicked, but incredible to watch (although
there was an unfortunate blemish on the situation that I’ll blog about
separately). There are only three actors in the entire play and one, playing
the Woman in Black, is never named. Seriously, we tried our best to find out
online, but could not find a scrap of information.
I won’t say too much for fear of
spoiling it, but the play is very atmospheric, makes you jump quite a lot (and
more effectively than the film in my opinion), and really immerses you in the
storyline with actors, on occasion, spending time in the stalls section of the
auditorium. The fact that there are basically two actors playing all of he
roles in the play doesn’t detract from the experience at all, and I rather
liked the minimalist nature. It’s told as a story within a story, and works
very well in that structure.
These two were the actors that we saw. They were great, and managed to play
a wide range of parts and manage the nested storylines very well. (Credit: theatrebreaks.co.uk)
It was a great day, and
made me realise how much I miss going to the theatre.
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