Two weeks ago I slated the Light Princess, not for the clashing colours or brilliant imagery, but for a badly told story which needed editing and sadly it still does. That is unless you want a wriggly seven year old making a scene in a car park.
Round the corner is the opening of From here to enternity
Of course I am biased as I love my friend, Tim, but I can also have a sense of reason too.
The directors, and all involved from The National, really need to visit and learn from Sir Tim Rice and Stuart Brayson who have put on his latest musical From here to eternity. This is a story about Pearl Harbour, written in 1951 and turned into a film which won 8 oscars, by Fred Zinnerman with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr. Nothing could be more tricky to follow and questions pop into my mind, why now? We have seen such brutality in the Middle East that nothing surprises us, or does it? How can it be turned into a musical? Whether they have full houses or not, this musical has something.
I was actually shocked by the homosexuality, we are so brain washed about political correctness, that the word "queer" rang in my ears. At the same time, it occurred to me Jews were being rounded up and killed, actually the musical has depth, and America, hypocrisy. The world was as we know it violent on both sides of the fence. The point is Sir Tim and his cast have turned an out of date story into something worthy of remembrance. Poignant and touching the songs ring in my ears. I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon listening to early recordings of the musical. Some beautiful moments.
The story includes a lesson on fleeting romance and the bigotry within the army. A good old fashioned story, yet bang up to date as well. My friend Tim is old fashioned, and thank goodness for that. The new nowadays is just not that attractive in most cases. A dose of old fashioned could be a good thing?.
This is a Christmas Show for Granny and Aunty with enough raunch to keep the teenager in her seat and not punch you for taking her to a crashingly boring show. They may also leave with something to think about. Remember teenagers think they are teenagers aged 7.
The staging was brilliant, with clever choreography, in slow motion, the brothel scenes. the love scenes, held together well with Darius from Pop Idol giving his all. A musical for me has to be slick, fast paced with numbers ringing in your ears as you leave the theatre. It is not Mary Poppins but it seriously has a place next to Lion King where there is not a bad number. Actually Sir Tim and whoever he works with seem to be as near genius as you get when it comes to making musicals, so worth watching just to see he can do more than Beauty and the Beast and Evita. Let's face it, wherever you go in the world, however obscure, you see a banner of "The Lion King"
That is why I like him, and he can answer any question on the planet. With an after party in my favourite place The Freemasons Hall, I could not have wished for a better evening. Oh for clever men.
P.S I loved the tickets, invitation and website.
Round the corner is the opening of From here to enternity
Of course I am biased as I love my friend, Tim, but I can also have a sense of reason too.
The directors, and all involved from The National, really need to visit and learn from Sir Tim Rice and Stuart Brayson who have put on his latest musical From here to eternity. This is a story about Pearl Harbour, written in 1951 and turned into a film which won 8 oscars, by Fred Zinnerman with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr. Nothing could be more tricky to follow and questions pop into my mind, why now? We have seen such brutality in the Middle East that nothing surprises us, or does it? How can it be turned into a musical? Whether they have full houses or not, this musical has something.
I was actually shocked by the homosexuality, we are so brain washed about political correctness, that the word "queer" rang in my ears. At the same time, it occurred to me Jews were being rounded up and killed, actually the musical has depth, and America, hypocrisy. The world was as we know it violent on both sides of the fence. The point is Sir Tim and his cast have turned an out of date story into something worthy of remembrance. Poignant and touching the songs ring in my ears. I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon listening to early recordings of the musical. Some beautiful moments.
The story includes a lesson on fleeting romance and the bigotry within the army. A good old fashioned story, yet bang up to date as well. My friend Tim is old fashioned, and thank goodness for that. The new nowadays is just not that attractive in most cases. A dose of old fashioned could be a good thing?.
This is a Christmas Show for Granny and Aunty with enough raunch to keep the teenager in her seat and not punch you for taking her to a crashingly boring show. They may also leave with something to think about. Remember teenagers think they are teenagers aged 7.
The staging was brilliant, with clever choreography, in slow motion, the brothel scenes. the love scenes, held together well with Darius from Pop Idol giving his all. A musical for me has to be slick, fast paced with numbers ringing in your ears as you leave the theatre. It is not Mary Poppins but it seriously has a place next to Lion King where there is not a bad number. Actually Sir Tim and whoever he works with seem to be as near genius as you get when it comes to making musicals, so worth watching just to see he can do more than Beauty and the Beast and Evita. Let's face it, wherever you go in the world, however obscure, you see a banner of "The Lion King"
That is why I like him, and he can answer any question on the planet. With an after party in my favourite place The Freemasons Hall, I could not have wished for a better evening. Oh for clever men.
P.S I loved the tickets, invitation and website.
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