I am a great fan of musical theatre and this show is in my top 20 favourite musicals of all time. Based on the 2000 movie, this story puts the clashes between the striking miners/ police and a boy learning to dance and fulfilling his dream to music as well as dance. This piece has wonderful songs inspired by Elton John, with a mixture of silly and poignant pieces that will make you laugh out loud and cry with both sadness and wonder. The version I saw, July 2014 starred Broadway star Ruthie Henshall as Mrs. Wilkinson, who was just amazing and probably one of the best characters, apart from Billy (Mitchell Tobin) and above all Michael (Zach Atkinson) who just stole the show with every scene he was in.
This is just superb and I would recommend it as a great night out for family (over 13 probably due to strong language :) )
Spellbinding, magical, tender and sweet are the words I can use to describe this show and that is only the beginning. Based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, the play tells the tale of a heavily bullied teenager called Oskar, who becomes friends and falls in love with Eli (a young vampires.) The acting was great, with a brilliant debut performance from Martin Quinn as Oskar, who was just so sweet and genuine that you can really connect with the character on an emotional level. Also an amazing performance from Rebecca Benson, who nailed the out of the world and social awkwardness of Eli's character. The set design is a masterpiece with such an eerie and creepy score that fits the tension of the play beautifully.
Jack Thorne's adaptation is just so wonderfully done and well worth watching as it is a brilliant take on a magical book that truly captures the heart of the story, very much like the 2008 film of the same name and an overall great production from the National Theatre of Scotland. (Spoiler alert if you want, but this is the backstage video of the play, if you want to see some of what happens behind the scenes)
Based of the classic work of Mary Shelley, Nick Dear (the writer, who adapted the play) made this into a masterpiece that would hopefully stand in time as being a wonderful and thought provoking play, much like it's novel predecessor. I didn't have the chance to see this at the theatre, so I am grateful to the R.N.T to allow these productions to be streamed in cinemas so they can share the great work. What I found brilliant was the fact that director Danny Boyle, did not have one actor playing Victor Frankenstein and another playing the monster, but instead cast two actors to play the role alternatly, adding to the theme of what makes a monster and what makes a man. As for the actors in question, Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller, they were so flawless in their perspective roles. I saw the version with Benedict Cumberbatch playing the Creature and it was flawless. A finely talented actor, who gave the Creature a real "humanity" to the play. As for Miller he was just amazing, depicting the cold and driven character of Frankenstein perfectly.
The rest of the cast was great, in particular Karl Johnson, who played the character of De Lacey, the blind man who takes "the Creature" in and teaches him how to read and speak. Johnson made the scenes he was in touching and with Benedict Cumberbatch added (I can't say about Miller) made them very heart warming and sad at the same time and I think that is what makes a great play... if you come out feeling a powerful and gripping emotion. I have every intention of watching the alternate version if the play is released on DVD, but I have to say it was just an overall brilliant experience and a privilege to watch.
Hi and a big hello to any new readers of my blog(s) and an apology to my other readers. The format for Klarion was getting too muddled, so to keep on top of everything (and hopefully making it easier to navigate for yourselves... as it confused me to no end) all new posts will be going on this sight in a more logical manner. For those of you new to my blogs, I do reviews and profiles on comic books, video games, short films, movies and other stuff. I also am wanting to make it more interactive, so will have suggestion boxes to hopefully answer and work on things that you as a reader will be interested and will be very happy to work on those suggestions to give you as the reader stuff that you enjoy as well. The aim of this blog is also to make a peaceful and open place to appreciate love in the many diffrent aspects of life we all share. So again apologies to any reader who has been looking on Klarion for the last couple of days and found nothing. Many of those posts will either be re-written or transferred as a whole onto this blog and this will feature as my main blog from now on. So for now all I want to say is thank you and may you enjoy reading this as much as I love posting :) and just stay super.
I am a great fan of musical theatre and this show is in my top 20 favourite musicals of all time.
