MUSICAL: Love Never DiesDATE: 30th July 2010
VENUE: Adelphi Theatre, London, UK
RATING: ***
CAST: Ramin Karimloo (Phantom), Sierra Boggess (Christine), Joseph Millson (Raoul), Liz Robertson (Madame Giry), Summer Strallen (Meg), Harry Child (Gustave)
MY REVIEW: My first exposure to Love Never Dies was through the cast recording and frankly I didn't care much for it but since my parents are interested in seeing this (at a full price!!), I decided to tag along. This was the first time that I attended a musical production outside Thailand that was late for 40 minutes. It seemed that there were some medical issues backstage with one of the leading actors.
After all the wait, the musical finally began. And I have to say that Love Never Dies was a lot better visually. I was really impressed with how they staged the Prologue with the projection of pictures that made you feel like you were traveling through time back to Coney Islands. As you know that the plot of this musical was very "daytime soap opera"-ish, but there wasn't anything bad I could really say with the cast. They were fantastic and full of emotion. I was very excited to see Sierra Boggess live since I really admired her work since she was in The Little Mermaid. She didn't disappoint us here at all. Ramin Karimloo as The Phantom was great. He has such a beautiful and powerful voice though I must say that his "Til I Hear You Sing" sounded quite off but when he belted, it was just amazing.
Joseph Millson was better live than in the recording. I think he portrayed this aspects of Raoul well, very different from the original Phantom. I also needed to mention Summer Strallen's wonderful performance as Christine's best friend, Meg Giry. As for Christine's son, Gustave, we got Harry Child who was just charming and handling the role very well, vocally and emotionally.
Having listened to the cast recording before hand, the show I saw was somewhat different, songs were cut and trimmed here and there which I thought was a good decision and it moved the show along better. But I still found that there were too many "talking" in this musical especially the scene where Christine first met Phantom and they sang for almost 15 minutes. It was boring. The story didn't make sense to me most of the time and the ending was just disappointing. I would still suggest to wait until they released a half-price ticket for this to go see. I would predict that this musical wouldn't last long on the West End and wouldn't be a big hit on Broadway either.
MUSICAL: Oliver!DATE: 31st July 2010
VENUE: Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London, UK
RATING: ****
CAST: Russ Abbott (Fagin), Kerry Ellis (Nancy), Steven Hartley (Bill Sykes), Ethan Smith (Oliver), Jacques Miche (The Artful Dodger)
MY REVIEW
Back in 1997, I played "The Artful Dodger" in an excerpt from this musical so I was quite excited to see this musical back on the West End. The theatre we went to was very large and beautiful and it was a Saturday matinee so there were lots of kids there.
The sets was grand and beautiful. I really liked the hydrolic stage that took you from London street above the ground to the underground lair where Fagin and his pickpocket boys lived. How they change the sets from scene to scene was very smooth and impressive.
Russ Abbott was a great Fagin. His comedic timing was perfect and his singing and acting was just wonderful. Kerry Ellis (who played Elphaba in Wicked in London) was our Nancy and she was such a great actress. However, I found her voice to be quite soft and lack of energy, but maybe it was just her way of projecting her voice. But when she needed to be really loud and strong in "As Long As He Needs Me", she nailed it impeccably.
Ethan Smith was our little Oliver Twist and he was adorable. I think his acting was still a bit stiff but he has a beautiful high voice. But the best actor for this show would definitely had to be Jacques Miche as the Artful Doger! From the first moment he appeared on the stage until he got arrested by the cop towards the end, I couldn't get my eyes off him. His singing, dancing, acting and all the gestures he made was just perfect for the role. His "Consider Yourself" was a showstopper.
This was a fun and great production of Oliver!. I had some hard time with the British accent and I didn't care much for scenes with Mr. Bumble & Widow Corney and the scene at the Funeral House. And I wish the ending wasn't that easy. Anyway, it's a good show and I would recommend it to anyone!
MUSICAL: Avenue QVENUE: Wyndham's Theatre, London, UK
RATING: *****
CAST: Paul Spicer (Princeton/Rod), Rachel Jerram (Kate/Lucy), Tom Parsons (Nicky/Trekkie), Sion Lloyd (Brian), Jacqueline Tate (Christmas Eve), Delroy Atkinson (Gary), Jacqui Sanchez (Mrs. T)
MY REVIEW
I promised Beau that I would take her to see Avenue Q and there we were for the 8 pm. show. The Wyndham's Theatre was very small but it probably suited the feel of this musical. I've seen this musical in Vegas (with original casts John Tartaglia and Rick Lyon) and I was quite curious to see how the show would be with different cast.
I would say I was surprised by how identical all the puppet characters were, compared to the Vegas production! Paul Spicer was no John Tartaglia but he did well for the role. I personally liked Tom Parsons even more than Rick Lyons. I think Tom's appearance suited the character of Nicky and Trekkie better. Rachel Jerram was actually our understudy but she did very well as Kate Monster and Lucy. I liked the people character less than the puppets and I found it quite weird that Gary now was really a guy.
I noticed some changed in the script, probably to suit the London audience, like changing "Korean Deli" to "Chinese Restaurant" or turned a mix tape into a CD with 2 discs. Still, the musical could make me laugh even though I already knew the story and script. It was pure fun to be sitting in the audience of Avenue Q and I think any musical fan should find the chance to see it. Beside from the fun, I think you'll go back with some nice message to think about for yourself that.. "Everything in life is only for now".
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