The West End Life

A week ago, my 17th trip to London since 2012 was finally happening – 10 months after booking three tickets to three different, new shows on the West End. And it may have easily been one of the best trips I ever made down there, with each show outdoing the one before, and to me, personally, maybe the three best Casts that are currently working in theatre on the West End.

But let’s take things one at a time.

1. “Come From Away” – Phoenix Theatre 11.12.2019

Thankfully for me, I didn’t read anything about the storyline beforehand – the shock/surprise was bigger that way, which I love about theatre. Originally, I was under the impression that this show was about refugees stuck on an island after escaping some terror or something; but after about 15mins in, I realized it was actually a story about the day when 38 planes on their way into U.S. territory were diverted to the town of Gander, Newfoundland, on 11th of September 2001 – the day two terrorists flew two planes into the World Trade Center.
It’s hard to find words to describe this show – despite the obvious difficult subject, Christopher Ashley has managed to turn it into something equally heartwarming, touching and entertaining. The Cast is amazing, considering each of them has to play at least 2 or 3 different characters during the one and a half hours on stage (without any interval), the songs are chosen perfectly for all scenes (especially “Screech In” got me smiling from ear to ear and bobbing my foot up and down), and which was the most wonderful thing to me is that you can see throughout the entire show that every member of the Ensemble deeply enjoys this show, that they’re in it with all their heart, and that they have nothing but fun bringing this great piece of theatre and music to the audience. The Standing Ovations going on for several minutes, even as only the band was on stage after the actors left it are practically speaking for itself. So do its 4 Olivier Award wins, by the way.

2. “& Juliet” – Shaftesbury Theatre 12.12.2019

Now this show I was something I had been going completely blind into – if you ignore the fact I knew all the songs beforehand, as it’s a Jukebox Musical where existing songs are brought to the stage in new ways, enwrought into the storyline. I anticipated seeing the best (for me, personally) male voice on the West End again, Oliver Tompsett (William Shakespeare), after knowing there were Backstreet Boys songs in it, where also dancing was required. Sadly, a cold bug had taken hold of him and also the female lead, Miriam Teak-Lee (Juliet), so I got to see Ivan de Freitas and Grace Mouat instead – WHAT A TREAT!
How to describe this show…well, basically, if you’re looking for the best and most entertaining night out on the West End – THIS IS DEFINITELY IT. The story is simple – what if Juliet never killed herself together with Romeo, but instead, decided to live and take her life and future into her own hands? And all this with the unmistakable soundtrack of the 90’s and 00’s  and also some recent radio tracks added to the mix (Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Katy Perry & Demi Lovato, to only name some of them).
What comes out of that is a show that has the audience in fits of laughter, in bouts of tears, and mostly, dancing in their seats (and on their feet at the last track, “Can’t Stop The Feeling”!). The stage set is also one of the best and most beautiful I personally have seen anywhere recently, with a lot of love for detail, and the message – or rather, messageS – of the story are powerful and some of the best any theatre show could have come up with, picking up current issues in our society. And the Cast, you ask? They’re phenomenal in every regard – singing, acting AND dancing. Seeing them on stage, simply doing their everyday job, you can’t help smiling when they smile, feel sad when their situation seems hopeless, and feel relieved when everything is sorted out for everybody in the end.
This show DEFINITELY deserves to stay on the West End for a long, long time.

3. “Dear Evan Hansen – Noel Coward Theatre 13.12.2019

This show…it was the one thing I had been looking forward to for about one and a half years, ever since I first listened to its Broadway Cast Recording and read the news that it would actually come to the West End. Along with “Hamilton”, that show is the one on the Broadway that it is near impossible to get tickets to – at least not the affordable kind of tickets. The anticipation for me therefor was HUGE in every regard…and boy, did that one not disappoint.
Where to begin…the story, maybe. It’s about a teenager with social anxiety who, with the help of a family friend, makes up a story of being friends with a schoolmate who commits suicide and in doing that, helps the grieving parents coping with their loss and changes things at his school and out in the Social Media world for the better, even if only for a short time.
There are not many words one could use to describe how PHENOMENAL every aspect of the show is, starting with the simple stage set, the small Cast (only 8 actors/roles) or the powerful message behind it. So I’m just going to talk about one single Cast member here, representative of maybe the BEST Cast the West End has to offer these days.

Sam Tutty.

This young man playing Evan Hansen is pure GOLD. The role of the anxiety-ridden teenager is so challenging, as it just has to be convincing even in the very last rows of the theatre, but Sam just does it as easily as he may eat his muesli in the morning. Never in my life have I witnessed something more convincing on a stage; you watch him do his thing, and you just can’t help BELIEVING it. Believing that off stage, Sam suffers the exact same anxieties that Evan does, even though that isn’t the case, of course. Every mimic and gesture, however small or big, is on point with him, and especially the movements of his hands is just out of this world. And his voice? Indescribably perfect. And funny enough, he sounds almost exactly like Ben Platt, who originated the role of Evan on Broadway.
The music that I’ve constantly listened to for over a year, was also giving me all the emotions that I had hoped and prayed for. I laughed, I cried, I had goosebumps, I was singing along silently to every line. What the band (that is positioned in the top left corner of the stage, so you can see them all throughout the show) did with their instruments and the tunes given to them is such a wonderful piece of music that it’s no surprise they got a ton of applause at the end, too. This entire show and its phenomenal Cast are just breathtaking, and like I said – maybe the BEST Cast that’s currently employed on the West End.

Three days, three shows – and every single one of them surpassed my expectations and proved once again why the West End and musical theatre in general have become such a huge part of my life in the past 7 years, and I am beyond grateful I had the opportunity to witness such a perfection and beautiful entertainment on 3 stages last week.

Until next time, London!

Cover Songs are bad spirit…aren’t they?

There is a saying out there somewhere among people that says that the basic thing the TV Show “Glee” does is ruining original songs by turning them into miserable, horrible covers. Now, I’m not as much of a fan anymore as I used to be at the beginning (because in my opinion, that series made a massive way downwards from a certain point in Season 3 on), but I still watch it, and yes – for the songs.

Over the past years there have been loads and loads of covers from the Cast, songs which were horrible, even before being covered (I’m just going to throw “Friday” in here, that says everything), songs that weren’t horrible before but then, after they were performed on the show, were ruined. And then, there are the songs that I seriously, seriously despised from the moment they were released. Each to their own, and basically, most of the songs I hate nowadays are the ones everyone else seems to like, so maybe I am the real problem here. But fact is, for me, “Glee” has these tiny moments that make me fall in love for a song that I hated before.

One of the biggest examples I can name is definitely “Defying Gravity”. I have never watched the musical “Wicked”, where that song is originated in. Neither did I ever have any ambition to – and the fact that Chris Colfer sang the song in Season 1 with one of the most annoying voices ever didn’t help. Now I’m going to be slated by everyone, so I’m quickly going to say that he has developed. His voice got a lot deeper, and when, a week back, the song was performed again on the current 5th Season (together with Lea Michele & Amber Riley) – I fell in love with it. I have heard the musical version of the song, and it has never been “mine” at all, I’m just not a sucker for love songs/ballads on a show (only very rarely). But the Season 5 version of the song gives me goosebumps to no end and – which is even more important – has now made me plan my 1st visit to the show at the Victoria Apollo Theatre in London somewhen in July.

Another good example are the songs “We Are Young”  & “Some Nights” of the band FUN. I never liked the band, neither did I like their songs, sorry. But the “Glee” Cast versions of these two songs always make me massively smile whenever I hear them. The vocals of everyone together are insane, in my opinion.

And then…there is Michael Jackson. Don’t get me wrong, may he rest in peace forever. I just always despised him. I had no respect for him due to all this face surgery thing with him, his weird character and behaviour and…I don’t know. His music gave me absolutely NOTHING when I listened to it. Then the Michael Jackson-themed episode on in Season 3 came. I’m not going to lie, until this day forward, the songs in that certain episode remain few of my favourites from the entire show. Whenever I hear “Smooth Criminal”, I’m totally rocking it in my mind, have the scene with Naya Rivera & Grant Gustin in my head. Listening to “Black & White” even makes me love Chris Colfers voice to a certain extent, because he has amazing vocals at a certain part in the song. Not to speak about the “Thriller/Heads Will Roll” mash-up in Season 2 – boom, that one always gets me.

There are so many songs on that show that in general don’t really bother me, but whenever I hear them being performed on that show, I notice how I start bopping my head to the tunes, tipping my feet on the ground. And hell, there are a few more than talented people on that Cast, especially Lea Michele, Amber Riley, Darren Criss & Naya Rivera (seriously, her version of “Girl On Fire” is loads and loads and loads better than that awful Alicial Keys version!!!). I think these 4 are few of the most underrated singers/actors that I have ever seen performing (on a screen). Their voices and performances give me goosebumps, and the songs that they are singing are most often the songs on the show that I disliked beforehand and fall in love with after watching them perform them.

So my opinion is: no, “Glee” does NOT ruin original songs (apart from the fact that they have a few killer songs that are originated on the show itself, “Loser Like Me” will always be my all-time favourite), neither does the show diminish the value that the actual performers have for their songs, whenever they sing them on a stage at a concert or even in a musical. In fact, I think that when certain songs are sung on “Glee”, they get even more attention than before, and that is everything else but a bad thing.

This all, of course, is only my personal opinion, but I feel sorry for the show/the actors for being slated so much after performing certain songs on the show, and it pisses me off to no end, because everyone on that show is talented in their own way and they deserve a bit of respect and appreciation for what they do. After all, it’s not as easy as everyone thinks to walk in the footsteps of a Michael Jackson, Adele, Madonna or whoever. It takes guts.

And these actors have them. Period.