The 39 Steps

          This show has been in the West End since 2006. It was first at the Tricycle Theatre for a month and then moved to its current home, the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus. I have never been to this theatre before, even when I was younger. For some reason, and I'm not really sure why, I've never really been interested in seeing this show. This is a very unique theatre in London. From the outside you would be forgiven for thinking the building you see from the street is the theatre. That isn't the case. The actual theatre is entirely underground. Surprisingly, even though this is the case I had an extremely good 3G connection on my phone.

          The show is based around the Alfred Hitchock film from 1935, the first of 4 film versions with a fifth "in development" by director Robert Towne. Hitchcock based his film on the 1915 book (of the same name) by John Buchan, though the the film departs substantially from its literary predecessor. As you can see from the image above, the play still has Hitchcock's name on it. As I said before I've never seen the show but I have also never seen any of the film versions, nor have I read the original book, so the story is entirely new to me. I was really looking forward to the fact the show only has 4 actors and I was wondering just how interesting/gripping this would be. After all the only thing I knew about it was that it involved a man and a train. Mind you anyone could guess tiaras the advertisements kind of give that away.
 

          The theatre itself is lovely, though one could say its very 'girly' with an excessive amount of red and pink. When sitting in the stalls, if you sit any further back than row L, there is a possibility you may be sat directly behind a pillar and therefore see very little of the stage. I was thankfully in row L and I had a brilliant view. From the outside it looks like a fairly normal and unassuming building, however you can't acctually see the theatre from the street. What one sees from street level is infact a hotel and a restaurant. The theatre itsself is entirely underground. If you find steps hard, go prepared for the decent. Being entirely underground makes it a very unique theatre in London. The audience was a good mix of ages and infact there was a large school group of young people who must have been no older than 13/14. 

          The set was lovely and simple but was used to an absolutely brilliant standard. The cast also acted brilliant, well maybe that's a bit of an overstatement, and infact made the show seem a lot more like an improv than a wel rehired show. These two things combined with the lack of an extensive amount of costumes and actors made the show seem more like something one imagines one might have seen at an old variety theatre. The show is funny, though not exactly laugh out loud. This was mainly helped by Greg Haiste and Nick Holder who play characters both simple called 'Man'. Their OTT performances and brilliant comic timing add another comic level to what is already a funny show. 
 

          There are lots of Hitchcock references throughout the show, which I'm sure most young people would miss. For them though, and adults who don't get the references, the show is still massively entertIning. Definitely one you can take the whole family to see as it verges close to slapstick. I hope they take that as a compliment as that's certainly how I mean it. Tickets and Info

 

 

War Horse

 

          This is a show I've always wanted to see but I've resisted as I didn't want to be disappointed. When my mother bought tickets for my grandmothers birthday however, I decided to tag along. 

          The National Theatre originally had this show on there own stage, however it has now moved to the New London Theatre. From the outside the advertisements for the show are massive, and it's a fairly new looking theatre compared to others in London, even the National Theatre. It's also a little bit out of the way compared to other theatres though the area is lovely. The theatre itself, once you got through the doors, feels very much like the National Theatre, even down to the semi-circular seating. Unlike the national theatre it doesn't seem particularly well suited to people with mobility issues. They do provide an escalator to the first level, however they fail to mention that after that there a a lot of steps for people to do, even if going to the stalls. One just assumes that now a days if there is a lift it would be well signposted and obvious. This isn't the case. I asked about a lift and I was told that you had to use one that actually was in the back stage area and led to the stage door. That was the only one available to us. This felt rather odd, as when I left with my grandmother we used the lift. As we were waiting for it to arrive we were being passed by actors who were trying to have showers and relax between the afternoon and evening show, some wearing very little. I jugs felt like I was intruding on what for an actor I would assume counts as a very private and personal space away from public. My grandmother loved it though as she got the congratulate the actors on their performances. 

          The actual auditorium itself is lovely, as I mentioned, and very much like the auditoriums at The National. The seating is very dark, a mixture of black and brown, which means when the lights go down the audience practically disappear and your attention can't helped but be drawn into the stage. The only annoying thing though was that I noticed the rustling of paper and sweet wrappers far more during this show than I have in any other. It took real strength for me to rise above saying something. My grandmother though did give a number of harsh looks at a few groups of people sat around us. A really good thing though is the price of the programme. The price, £4, isn't different to most shows, however the size of the programme is a lot bigger. I have got programmes this size before however the price is usually a lot more than £4.

          This is a show I know very little about. I know pieces, of course I know about the puppets, but I know nothing gather than the basics about the story. I haven't even seen the film but I certainly intend to see it now. I know the plot involves a young boy who's horse is taken away from him as the army need it to help in France during WW1. That's it. I know nothing more than that. I think like most people, I went more to see the puppets and to see if they helped, or hindered, me being taken into the story. I'm glad to say that they didn't have a negative effect what so ever. My mother said she forgot about the puppeteers and in fact after a while she didn't even see the. I didn't quite get to that point, but the puppeteers certainly began to become a little less noticeable. The horses are fantastic and really add a new and interesting dimension to the show. Even me, who doesn't really get that emotional at shows/films was taken aback by the emotional aspects in the show that were so well portrayed and executed by the whole cast.

          There are however two members of cast that I need to specifically mention. Jack Loxton, as Albert Narracott, and Sophie Crawford as the songperson/musician. Jack portrayed all the emotion brilliantly and you really could feel the love, hurt and pain that he was going throughout during the show. At times it was a little over the top but on the whole it felt real. Sophie has a sublime voice as I was always happy when she was singing. She was a great link between scenes and her songs were sublime. I will admit that the presence of a random person singing did at first confuse and slightly annoy me, but after a little bit I welcomed her presence.

          If you haven't seen the show it's well worth seeing. Minot going to say it's the best show in London as it most defiantly not, but it's defiantly good. If your an emotional person go prepared to cry. At the interval it was like one big sniff rippling around the audience and the lifting of hands in unison to wipe away tears. 

 

          Other than London, there are currently productions in Berlin, Holland, South Africa and there are tours of the show going on in the UK and Ireland as well as North America. On the date I published this review, the North American tour will be ending in the 27 June and the UK/Ireland tour will be ending on the 14 February 2015). The following link takes you to the international sight for the show where you can select the production you wish to see. Tickets and Info

 

Miss Saigon

          I will fully admit that I know very little about this show. All I know is that it's based on the Puccini opera Madame Butterfly and has a story line that explores the relationship of an American GI and a Vietnamese bar girl during the Vietnam war (the opera features an American lieutenant and a Japanese girl). Although I am a fan of opera, Madame Butterfly has always been one that I have never liked. Infact I can't watch it for more than 15 minuets before I can't stand it any more. I cant tell you a specific reason for this, it just is was it is. This is unusual though as it's one of the most loved of all the operas. Why, if I don't like Madame Butterfly, would I go to see a musical that's based on it? Well firstly the producer is Cameron Macintosh and I have always liked his other work. Also I have heard the rave reviews, seen photos of the production from when it was last on the London stage and read descriptions of the production. I wanted to see if for myself and if it is as good as I'd heard but also, like most people, I wanted to see how they portrayed the helicopter on stage.

          The theatre is wonderful. I would go so far as to say it might even be the best looking London theatre I've been in. There is lots of red and gold giving a very oriental feel which suites the show perfectly. I've no idea how it would have suited the last production in the theatre, Jersey Boys, but it certainly suites this. The seats in the theatre are fairly new and you can tell. Looking at them you might not be able to tell but they are surprisingly comfortable to sit on. The backs a a little hard and infact for most of the show I had some form of back pain. The seats are also a little close together so if your a larger person you may be a little uncomfortable. There is also a slight issue with the rake (the angle at which the seats are in relation to one another). It's not particularly noticeable so the bottom of the stage had, for me anyway (and I'm not that short), a line of bumps, or the tops of people's heads, all along the bottom.

          One last negative thing regarding the theatre, I promise. They opened the doors 45 minuets before the production, which started slightly later than it was meant to by the way, and for those of us in the stalls we were ushered down to a separate waiting area. I normally arrive 30mins before a production and this time was no different. When I got into this second waiting area it was already fairly full and people were already a little squashed. The theatre staff however just kept letting people in and almost pushing them as far forward as they could to let more people in. I could stand this to a certain extent but when it becomes more crushed than the tube during rush hour it's just not good.

          There were no real big names in the production, however all have been in numerous theatre productions and some are at least known by theatre fans and critics. Jon Jon Briones is probably one of the best known by Miss Saigon fans, though not by me, as he was a member of the original production and has subsequently played the role of The Engineer in productions around the world. In the role of The Enineer he brings welcome bursts of comedy throughout the show. I say all the cast have been involved in numerous productions, however Eva Noblezada is making her professional and West End debut with this production. If that was nerve racking enough for her she has the role of Kim, which for those of you unfamiliar with the show is the title role of Miss Saigon. I must say she is fantastic and has both a brilliant singing voice and was absolutely captivating to watch. Alastair Brammer who plays the role of Chris, the American who falls in love with Kim, and Rachelle Ann Go who plays Gigi are also a good singers however I did feel at times I couldn't totally understand what they were saying as they were almost mumbling their words. This is surprising as Chris has had many West End roles including Marius in Les Miserables (he took on the role of Prouvaire in the 25th Anniversary concerts at the O2 Arena in London and again in the 2012 film). He had a much better voice quality in Les Mis so maybe having to have an American accent got in the way. Rachelle is also, according to her bio in the programme, is a well known pop artist and actress from the Philippines. I would therefore assume she should have a good singing voice, though you can never be sure of that now with many singers. Her acting was reasonably good though. There are a few others people may know, such as Tamsin Carroll and Hugh Maynard, but there performances were neither good or bad enough to warrant more than this passing mention. One more thing I have to say about the cast, and that is in regard to the female ensemble. As good as their individual singing voices are, they are truly a joy to listen to when singing in harmony. I would go so far as to say they were absolute bliss. I was transfixed.

          The scenery is brilliant, constantly moving and changing and always portraying the locations perfectly. I also need to praise the work of the lighting designer Bruno Poet. He has worked on many theatre ans operatic productions. The lighting of the production made myself and others in the theatre feel more like it was a movie rather than a West End show. The lighting is something people around me seemd to be talking about most about during the interval, something thats never really been a major basis for discussion at past shows. I mentioned at the beginning of this that I was interested, as are most people, to see exactly how the production delt with the task of a helicopter on stage. I must say although managing to get a helicopter on stage is impressive, I was left a bit deflated. Although this is the UK premiere of this new production, and the first time the show has been on a London stage in around 25 years, the production has been on stage at many locations around the world. Seeing as there have been great advances in technology I would have assumed so much more could have been done. Maybe I'm just being a bit fanciful, but nonetheless I was left deflated. 

          I know there has been a fair amount of negativity in this review however I must stress that I did really enjoy the show. It isn't my most loved West End show, though it's certainly up there. I would defiantly recommend going to see this as it's not only a one of the most well known pieces of theatre but it's also a great production. Tickets and Info