'A Chorus Line' Review

For my birthday my boss bought me two tickets to see 'A Chorus Line' at the London Palladium. I chose to take my mum and you can see how the rest of our weekend went here. We went to the evening show which felt very glamorous. The London Palladium was beautiful, an old style, vintage theatre with lots of character.

When we got there we gave our tickets to the collector and he said 'Oh, the upper circle is closed tonight...' my stomach just dropped. If something is going to go wrong then it will happen to me, always. But that foreboding statement was followed by 'so you've been upgraded' yes! 'To the Royal circle' YES! We were really close to the stage but still raised up enough so that we could see the whole stage. I quite like sitting high because you get the effect of all the actors on stage, especially in a musical where there are often lots of dance routines.

 Around halfway through the show I realised that the whole show must be set like this, the whole thing focuses on the audition. I was a bit worried that it would be boring but the songs are so different, some fast-paced, some slower and more emotional, that it really mixed the whole thing up. The only things on stage are the auditionees. They each have a kit bag which they leave at the side of the stage and at some point in the show they have a hat to dance with. The only set change is the back wall of the stage which has rotating sections which show either black wall or mirror, like in a dance studio. There are no costume changes apart from the closing number. I honestly thought that I would be so bored but it was absolutely excellent. Its amazing how a mirror at the back of the stage can really change your whole perspective and shake things up a little bit.

The show is set in 1975 with an audition in for a Broadway show and shows the journey of a group of auditionees, the director (played by John Partridge) and his assistant. After the opening number, 'I Hope I Get It', a number of auditionees are cut, leaving the main characters which we see throughout the show. The director then asks each remaining person to tell him more about themselves, which they do reluctantly through funny, clever and sometimes heartbreaking songs. There are stories about growing up in a broken home, homosexuality and being unable to sing.

The Auditionees Source

There is also a personal story between the director, Zach, and one of the auditionees, Cassie, played by Scarlett Strallen.We learn that they used to be in a relationship but they split-up because he was having more of a relationship with his work. When the others go downstairs to learn another song Cassie stays to talk to Zach. Zach is angry with her because he thinks she's better than the chorus line. She sings a very passionate song, 'The Music and The Mirror' which tells all about her struggle in the theatre environment and her life in general.

Cassie and Zach Source

Zach calls another auditionee back who was reluctant to tell more about himself, Paul. He gives a very emotional account of his childhood, his homosexuality and his relationship with his parents. He breaks down and Zach comforts him. Later, during a tap sequence, Paul falls and hurts a recently operated on knee. He goes to hospital and the rest of the auditionees realise how precarious their careers are, they could end at any moment. They then sang (my personal favourite) 'What I Did For Love' which talks about how much they've enjoyed their careers and how they wouldn't change their experiences, mostly!

The final eight dancers are selected, four boys and four girls. I was genuinely sad. I had half hoped that we wouldn't see who was picked. Each person had different qualities which made them worthy of being in the chorus line. The main thing which I enjoyed about this musical was how relative the characters were, there would have been at least one person whom you could have related to. I saw many of my traits in a number of different characters and 'A Chorus Line' embraced these.

'One/Finale' Source

The closing number 'One' shows the auditionees coming out in identical outfits, they each take an individual bow then start to dance the routine. It is surprising how people, who had once looked and acted so individually, blended together and it was very difficult to tell who was who.

Leigh Zimmerman as Sheila Source

I absolutely loved the character of Sheila, played by Leigh Zimmerman. An ageing dancer who acts very provocatively and has some brilliant one-liners but she also has some heartfelt moments like in 'At The Ballet'. Leigh has won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical (which is a bit of a bloody mouthful!). I thought she was excellent.

When we came out we heard some screams from the side of the theatre and there was a group of fans waiting for the actors come out of their dressing rooms for their programmes to get signed. About ten actors signed my programme but it was really awkward because they looked so different in real life, I didn't recognise some of them!!

I would thorougly recommend this show, it has definitely been one of my favourite musicals to date, I've been listening to the soundtrack non-stop. Watch this space for more musical news!

London Weekend with Mum.

For my birthday my boss gave me two tickets to see A Chorus Line in the theatre and said that someone could sleep at ours for the night. I asked my mum to come up and we had such a lovely weekend! It was made even better by this weather, it was glorious. She got into Victoria at about 9.30am and after going for a coffee we headed straight to Hyde Park to relax in the sunshine. When we got there we decided to get a picnic from a supermarket before we settled down so headed off on our mission. The main thing that drives me a bit crazy about London (and it's probably true of most big cities) is that unless you know where things are, you'll never find them. There have been so many instances when I needed to get to a supermarket for example, and have waked three miles to get to one only to find out that there was one five steps from my starting point. I think this was the case on Saturday. We walked around two miles in the sweltering heat to find a Marks and Spencers or a Waitrose, ANYTHING.

Finally we saw an M & S and chose our picnic. We were hot and hungry by then so all of the crisp salads and glistening fruit looked so inviting. Our eyes were a little too big for our bellies and we chose salads, sandwiches, fruit, olives, cous cous, crisps and Eton mess. It was so delicious. We also got some still lemonade with ginger which was so refreshing and thirst quenching, great in this heat.

Hyde park was so busy. My mum couldn't get over the amount of people but I suppose that less people have gardens up here and the park is kind of the Londoner's answer to the beach. We set up our blanket under a shady tree and relaxed for ages. We even had a little nap after lunch. It was nice to just spend time together talking and people watching. I always feel guilty about being in London and not 'doing' something but I had never been to Hyde Park before so that satisfied me enough!

We then went to the theatre to see A Chorus Line. I'll do a full review about it in a few days but I'll tell you now that it was superb. It's the best musical I've seen to date (War Horse counts as a play hehe).

After the theatre we made our way back to Waterloo to get on the train and got a burger for the way home. We got to the house, mum managed to maneuver the stair-gates okay and not wake the children which was a bonus, and it was soooooo hot in my room. We were both knackered so we pretty much brushed our teeth and went to bed, after opening all the windows.

We got up about 9am the next morning, I got a cup of tea in bed which is such a luxury. We went into Richmond and had breakfast in Carluccio's. We both had a latte and an almond croissant which were gorgeous, plenty of marzipan inside. Before, when we came up for my job interview we missed the coach home by about three minutes. Mum was knocking on the door as he was leaving the coach station but he wouldn't let us on. Because of this we are both a little nervous about arriving on time so we went to Victoria straight away just so we were already there and didn't have to stress about travelling across London. We sat outside Starbucks and chatted for hours. It always amazes me how we can still have things to talk about even though we had been talking for hours the day before. I am so proud to say that my mum is one of my best friends and we have such  good time together.

Once I had seen mum on the coach I headed home. The tube was ridiculously busy because everyone had gone out to enjoy the sunshine and it was boiling. I went straight to bed that night and didn't need any rocking.