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Showing posts from July, 2007

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One hundred people’s ninth favourite thing: [title of show] @swkplay

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[title of show] takes you back to a time before the fast paced social media where word of mouth for a positive show came from chat boards, video diaries or (god forbid) blogs. A simple staging makes it an ideal (and economical piece to stage), but it’s sweet and earnest take on just putting on a show, and putting it out there and taking a chance gives this show its heart. With a strong and energetic cast and endless musical theatre references, it’s hard to resist and it’s currently playing at the Southwark Playhouse .  It opens with Hunter (Jacob Fowler) and Jeff (Thomas Oxley) as struggling young writers in New York City. An upcoming New York Musical Theatre festival, inspires them to write an original musical within three weeks to make the deadline. As they discuss ideas, writers block, distractions and endless other good and bad musicals, an idea for a show emerges. Which is about writing a show for a musical theatre festival.  Their friends Heidi (Abbie Budden) and Susan (Mary Moor
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Scenes from an office fig Tuesday 11.29

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Scenes from an office Tuesday 11.29 , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London .
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Scenes from Waterloo Sunday

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Scenes from Waterloo Sunday , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London .
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Concert: Carmen Jones

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Source: Carmen Jones publicity artwork http://southbankcentre.co.uk I had been warned that Carmen Jones was a bit of a dated show. It is afterall a "modern" 1943 reworking of Bizet's opera Carmen into a musical. Given that piece of advice (and that I was still probably jet lagged) I figured the cheap seats at Royal Festival Hall would suffice to see this new production of the show. If it were a bit dull then I figured I could always have a sleep (especially during the overlong first half). Of course I forgot that the cheap seats means that you are surrounded by cheap people. In this instance it was cheap people with body odour problems, weak bladders, and noisy crisp packets. For the first half I was detracted by the cheap people around me who felt that the people's palace meant it was their living room. I was half expecting belching and farting since there was every other noise... Well that's where socialist idealism gets you in the twenty-first century... By t
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Soundtracks: Hairspray

After Friday night's jet-lag cure I had to go and pick up the Hairspray soundtrack on Saturday. Movie soundtracks used to be crap compared to original cast albums (I believe this is the correct terminology for afficianados out there) but Hairspray follows the more recent tradition of being pretty darn good. It was refreshing to be back in a music shop that didn't just offer Michael Buble as its specialities. Mind you I did raise the point that the shop did not stock a lot of the new Australian musical titles that I heard while I was down under. After describing songs about shaving your balls and a musical about a gay love triangle set in a fun fair there was general concensus that some CDs are best left in the antipodes (or to be more accurate, in Melbourne)...
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Overheard at Clapham Sainsburys Sunday

Man: I took the number 35 bus last night and ended up falling asleep and waking up at Liverpool Street... Woman: Oh no... Man: Yeah but I found some mates nearby so it was still a great night...
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Scenes from Soho Saturday

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280720071940 , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London . Old Condom Street is quiet... Soho pride is Sunday...
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Movies: Hairspray

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"Hairspray" movie poster , originally uploaded by knoopie . To get over jetlag, I thought that an early session of Hairspray would do the trick. It did. There was so much energy on screen that it was impossible to fall asleep. And besides the prospect of seeing a movie with Michelle Pfieffer singing (and in a conga line), John Travolta dancing as a woman, Queen Latifah as a blond and Christopher Walken as a lovestruck husband was simply too good to sleep through. All the musical numbers were pretty impressive showstoppers and pulled off with enough homage to John Waters to avoid it being a sanitised version of his original movie. It seemed so appropriate that Waters has a cameo as the flasher in the opening number as well. And while at times the story seems a little earnest, it was clear that the movie had its heart in the right place. It has already had the biggest weekend opening of a musical, I hope it kicks Grease off its pedestal as the most successful movie music
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Scenes from the tube Wednesday 16:23

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, originally uploaded by Paul-in-London . Back to the usual...
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Travel: Nearly there...

Actually... I am in Singapore so I am not nearly back in London... I did manage to leave Brisbane last night and was not arrested by Federal Police... Then again I don't keep a diary that can be edited by anyone else, nor do I loan out my SIM cards... Oh and I am a white male (albeit a pasty one) so life isn't that tough... Now to catch that flight and get the hell out of this transit lounge in Singapore with the hippy pipe music and free wifi...
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