Either not much happened in February or I didn't keep my calendar up to date. I'm hoping it's the latter and not that I didn't have anything to do.
I do remember going over to the Lavers after a Huddersfield work day mid week and finding out that we were all going to be up in Stockton at the weekend. Mum & I went to Northallerton Saturday morning to order picture frames and then met Dad for lunch at the lovely Roots Farm Shop. Saturday night Vicky, Charlie and I went out for drinks, in true old woman style we also had chips and were home by 10.30pm!
At the end of the month we went to see Beauty and the Beast in York. As always with York Light Opera it was well done, it's not one of my favourite on stage musicals but I did find myself singing along to a lot of it and the actor playing the Beast was really good.
And that was February.
Showing posts with label Musicals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Musicals. Show all posts
Sunday, 28 February 2010
Monday, 30 November 2009
November 09
November seems like it was pretty quiet. The usual work and travelling, Saturday nights critiquing Strictly Come Dancing with Gillian and Naomi, a catch up dinner with Susie and Emily from my old work - although I don't think I was so well at this one and ended up being sick at the restaurant and going home early. Went to see High Society, done by an amateur group in York. I also had someone come do a valuation on my house and I went to view another house, having had the idea put in my head that I might think about moving I decided to look into it a bit. I decided not to do anything more about it then but haven't completely dismissed the idea. That seems to sum up November.
Sunday, 1 November 2009
October Musicals
At the end of October Sal and I had another musicals weekend in London so I decided that needed a whole post of it's own.
We both travelled to London on the Friday after work, my train got in a bit later than Sal so after the initial confusion of where we were meeting (why does there need to be 2 H&M's so close to each other but in opposite directions from the exit of the tube?), we found each other and dropped my bags off at the hotel. We decided not to bother with dinner until after the show so headed straight off to the Price Edward Theatre to see Jersey Boys. Sal had seen it before but really wanted me to see it as well and I really enjoyed it. There were moments when the woman next to me became quite distracting by insisting on singing along, which wouldn't have been so bad if she'd had been in tune, but still it didn't spoil it.
Saturday we had a shopping trip for my Christmas present and was successful in getting me a lovely new handbag which I was allowed to start using straight away. Then the afternoon was a showing on Billy Elliott, another good show. The language in it is really blue which the family in front obviously hadn't realised having brought what looked to be a 13 year old daughter and much younger son with them. But amazing dancing in this one.
Saturday night I think was my favourite for the weekend, La Cage Aux Folles with John Barrowman in a role that seemed absolutely perfect for him. If he hadn't been in it, it probably might not have made it onto our list for this weekend but I'm glad it did, good singing dancing and very funny. And even a little mouse running down the stairs before it started!
Now what to see next time...
We both travelled to London on the Friday after work, my train got in a bit later than Sal so after the initial confusion of where we were meeting (why does there need to be 2 H&M's so close to each other but in opposite directions from the exit of the tube?), we found each other and dropped my bags off at the hotel. We decided not to bother with dinner until after the show so headed straight off to the Price Edward Theatre to see Jersey Boys. Sal had seen it before but really wanted me to see it as well and I really enjoyed it. There were moments when the woman next to me became quite distracting by insisting on singing along, which wouldn't have been so bad if she'd had been in tune, but still it didn't spoil it.
Saturday we had a shopping trip for my Christmas present and was successful in getting me a lovely new handbag which I was allowed to start using straight away. Then the afternoon was a showing on Billy Elliott, another good show. The language in it is really blue which the family in front obviously hadn't realised having brought what looked to be a 13 year old daughter and much younger son with them. But amazing dancing in this one.
Saturday night I think was my favourite for the weekend, La Cage Aux Folles with John Barrowman in a role that seemed absolutely perfect for him. If he hadn't been in it, it probably might not have made it onto our list for this weekend but I'm glad it did, good singing dancing and very funny. And even a little mouse running down the stairs before it started!
Now what to see next time...
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
September 09
So in trying to get my blog back up to date I've decided just to have a look at my diary and see what I did each month and try and remember the highlights. Probably won't be all that interesting but we'll give it a go for now.
So September, I went for a weekend to Sal's. Always a good weekend, this time we went up to London for a day on the Saturday to see Les Mis, my fourth time, Sal's sixth I think. Of the six of us that were there I think we'd seen it 22 times between us by the time it was finished. Great show as ever.
The following weekend we had a girls evening out to Harewood House to see Grease as a drive in movie. We did the same 2 years before at York Racecourse (much more convenient for getting to but Harewood wasn't too far). After a slight rearranging of cars when we first got there and ignoring the stewards waving us in so that we could get all three cars together and not park behind the tallest 4x4 there, we settled in for some food first. It was a good evening for the film and as always involved a lot of singing along - still surprised at how much of it I can quote only watching it every few years!
The rest of the month seems to have been filled with the usual work, travelling around Yorkshire, fitting in a visit to the Lavers when on a Huddersfield work day, and the start of Strictly Come Dancing seems to have marked the start of many Saturday evenings with Naomi and Gillian passing commentary on the dances - in my no so expert opinion.
Now onto October....
So September, I went for a weekend to Sal's. Always a good weekend, this time we went up to London for a day on the Saturday to see Les Mis, my fourth time, Sal's sixth I think. Of the six of us that were there I think we'd seen it 22 times between us by the time it was finished. Great show as ever.
The following weekend we had a girls evening out to Harewood House to see Grease as a drive in movie. We did the same 2 years before at York Racecourse (much more convenient for getting to but Harewood wasn't too far). After a slight rearranging of cars when we first got there and ignoring the stewards waving us in so that we could get all three cars together and not park behind the tallest 4x4 there, we settled in for some food first. It was a good evening for the film and as always involved a lot of singing along - still surprised at how much of it I can quote only watching it every few years!
The rest of the month seems to have been filled with the usual work, travelling around Yorkshire, fitting in a visit to the Lavers when on a Huddersfield work day, and the start of Strictly Come Dancing seems to have marked the start of many Saturday evenings with Naomi and Gillian passing commentary on the dances - in my no so expert opinion.
Now onto October....
Saturday, 27 June 2009
The Likes of Us
Went to see another York Light Opera Company production last night. This time The Likes of Us, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's first musical together. I can't say that it was a great story, there was one couple in it that did a few songs but there didn't seem to be any reason for them being there. The main story is of Dr Barnardo and the setting up of his first children's home in London in 1870 and the musical is told by a narrator who introduces a lot of the songs. The narrator in the production, Ian Small, was very good and really helped to keep things together. You could see a likeness with the use of the narrator to that of Joseph, but by then they'd obviously had more experience writing musicals together and used the idea much more effectively in Joseph.
Still another good performance, particularly from James Parkes, playing Barnardo, he had a great singing voice. The only slight annoyance of the evening was that for an audience that was largely made up of little old ladies, I managed to get a seat behind the only man that was over 6 feet tall!
Still another good performance, particularly from James Parkes, playing Barnardo, he had a great singing voice. The only slight annoyance of the evening was that for an audience that was largely made up of little old ladies, I managed to get a seat behind the only man that was over 6 feet tall!
Saturday, 2 May 2009
New York, New York...Part 2
Saturday was another early start. I blame Sally for saying that she always wakes up at 5am the first morning in America, and so we did. Kept awake early by the marching band that made it's way down Broadway at 7am and set up camp in Times Square just outside the hotel so we eventually got up and made our way over towards Planet Hollywood to collect our New York Passes. This was made slightly more difficult by the 40,000 people gathering to take part in the Revlon 5k Run/Walk for Women that was setting off from Times Square at 9am. We found a very cheap little cafe for breakfast with pancakes and french toast that we went back to all weekend and by the time we got back to Broadway all the runners had set off but the roads were still closed to traffic so we took advantage of being able to walk down the middle of the road and take lots of pictures.
We then made our way to the Empire State Building, the weather forecast suggested
that it wouldn't be quite as wet on Saturday as it would be all the other days that we were there, so we planned a trip to the top to see the sights. The rain didn't quite hold off so we did have to shelter inside for a little bit but we still saw the view from all sides while listening to Tony's Audio Tour. The weather started to brighten as we got back to ground floor so we went over to Pier 83 for the Circle Line Tours, rather than waiting over an hour to get the 2 hour cruise we decided if we were going to wait an hour we might as well be seeing more of the views so we had a shorter wait and got on the 3 hours cruise for a round trip of Manhattan Island. The sun finally came out for a while so the pictures look great for that afternoon and we got to see all the main sights so it was worth spending the extra hour on the boat.
We got back to Times Square and went straight for dinner and then to our second show - The Little Mermaid. Completely different to 9to5 but still another great performance. I never thought there would ever be a good use of 'wheelie' shoes but it turns out it gives a good swimming effect for all the mermaids! It was just a shame that Mum and I were both so tired by then that we were really struggling to stay awake throughout. It was absolutely no reflection on the performance at all, but we had to spend the second half nudging each other throughout to keep awake. Next time we come I think we'll need to factor in a bit more sleeping time for the second day....
We then made our way to the Empire State Building, the weather forecast suggested
that it wouldn't be quite as wet on Saturday as it would be all the other days that we were there, so we planned a trip to the top to see the sights. The rain didn't quite hold off so we did have to shelter inside for a little bit but we still saw the view from all sides while listening to Tony's Audio Tour. The weather started to brighten as we got back to ground floor so we went over to Pier 83 for the Circle Line Tours, rather than waiting over an hour to get the 2 hour cruise we decided if we were going to wait an hour we might as well be seeing more of the views so we had a shorter wait and got on the 3 hours cruise for a round trip of Manhattan Island. The sun finally came out for a while so the pictures look great for that afternoon and we got to see all the main sights so it was worth spending the extra hour on the boat.We got back to Times Square and went straight for dinner and then to our second show - The Little Mermaid. Completely different to 9to5 but still another great performance. I never thought there would ever be a good use of 'wheelie' shoes but it turns out it gives a good swimming effect for all the mermaids! It was just a shame that Mum and I were both so tired by then that we were really struggling to stay awake throughout. It was absolutely no reflection on the performance at all, but we had to spend the second half nudging each other throughout to keep awake. Next time we come I think we'll need to factor in a bit more sleeping time for the second day....
Friday, 1 May 2009
New York, New York...Part 1
Friday started a little earlier than usual as Mum & I set off to Manchester Airport to meet Sal for our flight. We both panicked a bit about making sure that we got there on time, having to travel round Manchester during morning rush hour traffic. Turns out there was no need to be so over cautious and after 1.5 hours we were parked and ready to get on the bus to the terminal. In fact we were in the queue to check our bags in while Sal was still at Nikki's house where she'd stayed over night. Sal arrived and we'd moved about 4 places in the queue as the Continental crew checked all the passports of people in the line, asked all the security questions and then still took ages to actually check bags in and give us boarding passes. Having checked in online on Thursday night most of the process seemed quite pointless as we'd had to put all the passport details, accommodation etc in online already so why they needed to ask for it again I have no idea.
Anyway after that the flight was fairly smooth, a bit of turbulence but nothing too worrying. I watched Benjamin Button, about 1 minute before Sal so if I'd missed anything on screen I could just look across to hers and catch up on it! I didn't want to watch another film so I went for a couple of episodes of House instead and fell asleep for a while.
We knew that the weather wasn't going to be so good for the weekend and the drive to the hotel started off a little grey but by the time we pulled up at the hotel it was pouring down so it was a quick jump out of the car, pull the bags from the boot and run instead - and we still got soaked. After finding our way all the way up to the 50th Floor we found our room and the fantastic views from being so high. It had been a fairly long day already so we lay down and closed our eyes for a bit before braving the rain again for some dinner and out to the Marquis Theatre to see 9 to 5. It was a great show, being very new (just a month of preview performances and the opening night) we didn't know what to expect but it was really good. The songs, cast and set were all fantastic. Sadly one of the most exciting things (I thought) was that I forgot in America that the programmes -Playbill - and they are free!
Anyway after that the flight was fairly smooth, a bit of turbulence but nothing too worrying. I watched Benjamin Button, about 1 minute before Sal so if I'd missed anything on screen I could just look across to hers and catch up on it! I didn't want to watch another film so I went for a couple of episodes of House instead and fell asleep for a while.
We knew that the weather wasn't going to be so good for the weekend and the drive to the hotel started off a little grey but by the time we pulled up at the hotel it was pouring down so it was a quick jump out of the car, pull the bags from the boot and run instead - and we still got soaked. After finding our way all the way up to the 50th Floor we found our room and the fantastic views from being so high. It had been a fairly long day already so we lay down and closed our eyes for a bit before braving the rain again for some dinner and out to the Marquis Theatre to see 9 to 5. It was a great show, being very new (just a month of preview performances and the opening night) we didn't know what to expect but it was really good. The songs, cast and set were all fantastic. Sadly one of the most exciting things (I thought) was that I forgot in America that the programmes -Playbill - and they are free!
Friday, 20 February 2009
42nd Street
I went to the theatre tonight to see 42nd Street, I didn't really know what the story was apart from being a musical about making a musical and that there was lots of tap dancing in it. It was a really good performance by the York Light Opera Company who I've seen quite a few times before, which for an amateur company put on a fantastic performance. I'm amazed that they found enough people within their company (or just within York) who could tap dance so well, or that they managed to teach them all in the time that they've been rehearsing for this.
The only slight disappointment for me were a few minor problems with the sound. I'm not sure whether the microphones were the responsibility of the sound desk or the individuals but on a few occasions they weren't doing their job properly and switching them off when they'd gone off stage. Although luckily there wasn't too much to spoil the performance, just one particular comment about some boxes in the wrong place, but all in all another good night.
Now I'm looking forward to being on the actual 42nd Street in New York in May!
The only slight disappointment for me were a few minor problems with the sound. I'm not sure whether the microphones were the responsibility of the sound desk or the individuals but on a few occasions they weren't doing their job properly and switching them off when they'd gone off stage. Although luckily there wasn't too much to spoil the performance, just one particular comment about some boxes in the wrong place, but all in all another good night.
Now I'm looking forward to being on the actual 42nd Street in New York in May!
Sunday, 7 September 2008
Musicals, musicals, musicals
As usual Sally managed to blog about the weekend before me so if you want a full run down of all the musicals that we saw at the weekend click here. So rather than repeat everything that she has said already, I'll add on a BIG thank you to Sal for such a lovely weekend in London. This was my birthday present that she gets to enjoy as well so we had 2 nights in The Royal Trafalgar hotel at Leicester Square, which was lovely and very central so we didn't have to spend too much time on the tube and could walk to most places.
Friday night was Joseph at The Adelphi Theatre which we really enjoyed and could sing along with all but one of the songs. Saturday matinee was Spamalot at the Palace Theatre and Saturday evening was Hairspray at Shafetesbury Theatre. Hairspray just pipped Joseph to being my favourite of the weekend. One of the main draws for this one was Michael Ball, which after being a musicals fan for so long was surprisingly the first time that we had seen him in a show. The whole show was great with fantastic singing and dancing so now I have the soundtrack on order!
Other than musicals over the weekend we managed to do a bit of shopping on Saturday that mainly consisted of me trying on bridesmaid dresses and being very pleased to have found one that we really liked. It might not be the final choice in the end but definitely made me feel much better about wearing a dress! (not something I do very often, if at all). I also had chance to meet Kelda for lunch on Sunday who had been living in London for just 2 weeks after being in York all last year. Sally had to leave early to get a flight from Southampton to Austria so Kelda and I had lunch and chatted for a couple of hours before I had to get my train home. Being the over cautious person that I am I wanted to get to King's Cross no later than 15 mins before the train was due to leave. However after using Sal's oyster card all weekend it suddenly ran out of money just as I needed just one more trip (and only for one stop!). There were two counters open and two people at each having the longest conversations with people but for some reason at this point I hadn't even thought that it was getting closer to my train time. It wasn't until I walked up from the underground at Kings Cross to the platform that I realised I had just 4 minutes to get on the train. My reserved seat was in coach B so after walking almost the full length of the train I sat in my seat and the train immediately starting pulling away! I'm glad I didn't check my watch whilst waiting to top up the oyster card as I would have become quite panicked if I'd realised I was cutting it so fine.
It was a fab weekend altogether so another very big thank you to Sal for such a lovely birthday pressie xxx
Friday night was Joseph at The Adelphi Theatre which we really enjoyed and could sing along with all but one of the songs. Saturday matinee was Spamalot at the Palace Theatre and Saturday evening was Hairspray at Shafetesbury Theatre. Hairspray just pipped Joseph to being my favourite of the weekend. One of the main draws for this one was Michael Ball, which after being a musicals fan for so long was surprisingly the first time that we had seen him in a show. The whole show was great with fantastic singing and dancing so now I have the soundtrack on order!
Other than musicals over the weekend we managed to do a bit of shopping on Saturday that mainly consisted of me trying on bridesmaid dresses and being very pleased to have found one that we really liked. It might not be the final choice in the end but definitely made me feel much better about wearing a dress! (not something I do very often, if at all). I also had chance to meet Kelda for lunch on Sunday who had been living in London for just 2 weeks after being in York all last year. Sally had to leave early to get a flight from Southampton to Austria so Kelda and I had lunch and chatted for a couple of hours before I had to get my train home. Being the over cautious person that I am I wanted to get to King's Cross no later than 15 mins before the train was due to leave. However after using Sal's oyster card all weekend it suddenly ran out of money just as I needed just one more trip (and only for one stop!). There were two counters open and two people at each having the longest conversations with people but for some reason at this point I hadn't even thought that it was getting closer to my train time. It wasn't until I walked up from the underground at Kings Cross to the platform that I realised I had just 4 minutes to get on the train. My reserved seat was in coach B so after walking almost the full length of the train I sat in my seat and the train immediately starting pulling away! I'm glad I didn't check my watch whilst waiting to top up the oyster card as I would have become quite panicked if I'd realised I was cutting it so fine.
It was a fab weekend altogether so another very big thank you to Sal for such a lovely birthday pressie xxx
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