Taking on the West End

 



It should be no surprise that I absolutely love theater. Love it. So being this close to the West End has completely tickled my fancy on getting to see some of the best theater in the world. Instead of having a million blog posts on all the theater and performing arts I get to experience while in London, I figured I'd keep a growing tally in one post.

Gypsy
Holy cow, I have always wanted to see Gypsy and this version did not disappoint. The only time I've seen the show was via youtube clips with Patty LuPone and Laura Benanti. (Which I loved) and was super excited to see it here in London. The woman playing Mama Rose was Imelda Staunton----and she was so fantastic. I liked everything about this show and wish I could see it again. It was literally perfect.

Bend it Like Beckham
This is one of the shows that our program organzied as a student event. I don't think I would have seen the show otherwise, but it turned out to be pretty cute. I remember liking the movie, and the way they did the music was fun. Will it win any awards? Nope, but it was a good night of theater. I especially liked the special apprentices by David and Victoria Beckham throughout the show.









King John 
Shakespeare's Globe. A place I knew I had to go regardless of the fact that I don't really enjoy Shakespeare (I blame it on one of my High School English teachers). I got a cheap yard ticket----the most authentic way to see a show at the Globe, also the most uncomfortable way as you're standing the entire show. It was really neat to see a show in this venue, there was some fantastic acting and I loved seeing the fighting scenes. I think I would have enjoyed a comedy a lot more, but for the one time I'm going to see a show at the Globe, it was great.

Miss Saigon 
I have wanted to see this show forever, kind of like Gypsy, because I have heard so much about it. It did not disappoint. Other than it being based in Vietnam, after the war, I had no idea what it was about. Talk about a love story----I could tell that it had connections to Les Mis, due to the way the music centered around the show. The acting was fantastic and the girl playing Kim had the most amazing voice, it gave me chills. 



 Concert: FourTunes Featuring West End Star, Kerry Ellis
Getting to see this show happened by accident. I was on twitter and heard about this incredibly low key event happening that night for only 10 pounds. FourTune is a quartet of two women and two men who are just out of college and have performed around Europe. They had a great line up of acapella songs----from all different eras and it was a lot of fun. The concert was at St. John's Court which is basically a gorgeous church venue. The best part was that Kerry Ellis was a guest singer...and although she is not well known in the states, I have seen her in various videos or clips. She is basically the British version of Idina Menzel. Her voice is amazing.

 

The Woman in Black 
This was another show that was a student activity. It is one of the longest running plays in the West End and one of the only "scary" plays that I have seen. I really enjoyed it as well. I have never scene the movie and I'm glad that this was the first way to experience it. I was sitting next to some theater students and I think that made the entire show so much more enjoyable. They were so into it and pretty darn freaked out. I thought it was creepy, and now I really want to see the movie to compare. Most of the students really enjoyed it, so that was awesome as well.

Wicked
I really do love Wicked. This is probably the third time I've seen the show and once again, it did not disappoint. For a musical that I basically have all the lines and the songs memorized, I wasn't sure if seeing it one more time would be too much, however it was just different enough to pull me right back in. Essentially, everything is the same (obviously) but the only difference was the British Accents. Oddly enough, I felt like the change in accents gave the show a different air. Don't know if that makes sense, but in my mind it does (and that's all that matters).

To Kill a Mockingbird
Well, this is one of my favorite books, so of course I was going to jump on the opportunity to see it in live form. I always get a little worried when classics and favorites are brought to life, because it can usually go one of two ways. A) Really well (ala, most of the Harry Potters) or B) Terrible and Horrible (ala, The Giver...why?!) Thankfully, for the most part, I was pretty happy with the way it was portrayed. I'll always love the book more, but for what it's worth, this was a great night of theater.