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Searching undeterred: The Gift @ParkTheatre

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I recently had a few parcels go missing from where I live. The first parcel disappeared without a trace. The second parcel's contents were removed, and the box was left alone in the lobby. It's one of the things that you have to put up with living in central London. Apart from complaining to the delivery company and filing a police report, it crossed my mind to think about what would happen if I sent myself something rather unpleasant for a future parcel thief to open up. Well, Dave Florez's new work, The Gift, is in this line of thinking, except that the lead receives an anonymous gift of a turd in the mail rather than sending it to himself. It is lovingly gift-wrapped in a cake box from a posh north London bakery. It's a fascinating and hilarious three-hander currently playing at Park Theatre .  Colin (Nicholas Burns) is a little obsessive at the best of times. He doesn't let things drop quickly and is obsessed with the details behind anything and everythi...

Theatre: Legally Blonde



I finally managed to catch Legally Blonde this week, the musical that channels your inner high schoolgirl almost as successfully as Wicked (albeit without the thrillifying sets or the deafening music), but snaps to the energy of the cast, which still holds up well despite not having Oliver award-winning Sheridan Smith in it.
It is easy to see why the show won the Olivier over the other contenders as it is a lot more fun than Love Never Dies, although the only similarity this show has with Legally Blonde would be that both have their theatres are located on The Strand. And even though there are a few cringe worthy superfluous musical numbers that could have been cut to make the show sharper (and possibly funnier), composer and lyricist Laurence O'Keefe (of Batboy fame) knows how to give a show perk and a showstopper when it's called for.

Susan McFadden as Elle does a fine job in the lead role, and she has a strong supporting cast to back her up including Denise van Outen and a set of rather cute performing dogs.

It is all very light stuff, but the mostly female audience loved it, and as this show brings out your inner high schoolgirl it is hard to resist... It is booking until October some year in the future...

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