Review of VIVA FOREVER post changes

*WARNING: If you haven't seen the show, be warned that there may be spoilers in this review. 

Viva Forever! opened in December at the Piccadilly Theatre and opened to negative reviews, everyone seemed to hate this production! I for one actually enjoyed the show when I saw it; I honestly thought it was fun. It’s not a National Production, so I have no idea what people are expecting when they go and see this show! Admittedly, it was far from perfect and it needed to be revised but it wasn’t as bad as people have said. People just seem to be going in with a bad attitude. 

For those of you that don't know (where have you been?!) the show has been adapted since opening, script re-writes have been made, songs have been cut/added in, scenes have been mixed up and the show as a whole as a hell of a lot better. It’s still a tacky, Friday night show that is purely a good time but it’s now a lot tighter than before. First things first, the fact that Viva is adopted isn’t such a huge thing anymore. It is brought up and tried to use as a story to get her in the newspapers when they go to Spain but it’s not a big deal and genuinely comes as a surprise to the audience. 

Once the Musical: Theatre Review

Based on the film of the same name, Once the musical has transferred over from Broadway to London’s West End. The original production opened off-Broadway in December 2011, closing the following month and transferring to the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in February 2012 on Broadway.  Winning multiple Tony Awards, it still remains to be a huge success over seas. Before opening at the Phoenix Theatre in the West End, Once made a stop in Dublin (where the show is set) proving majorly popular with audiences already  its future is certainly looking pretty good at the moment!  

The musical follows the story of how the lead male (named simply, Guy) is helped and inspired to take his music career further by Girl (Maybe the writer couldn’t think of names...). They get a band together and record some songs, fall in love but don’t do anything about it. Can’t believe how they spread that over two and a half hours? Neither can I. 

Top Hat the Musical: Theatre Review

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers created the roles of Jerry Travers and Dale Tremont in the 1935 film of Top Hat, that one sentence would make anyone think ‘why hasn’t this been made into a musical sooner?!’. But in late 2011 the musical premiered at the Milton Keynes Theatre before embarking on a UK Tour and after that the show transferred to the Aldwych Theatre in London’s West End in April 2012. The show opened with Tom Chambers and Summer Strallen in the lead roles (With Charlotte Gooch taking over Strallen in November 2012) and since opening it has an almost entire new cast.
I've never seen the movie before nor do I know anything about the plot so going along to see this musical was pretty exciting for me. Jerry Travers (Gavin Lee) is a Broadway star and comes over to London to open a new show. Whilst there he stays with Horace Hardwick (Clive Hayward) who is producing the show, whilst in their hotel he awakes Dale Tremont (Kristen Beth Williams) who is staying below them and Jerry instantly falls in love with her, however she mistakes him for Horace who is her friend Madge’s new husband so she gets very disturbed when she realises this because they’ve basically fallen in love. They all go (separately) to Italy where Dale confronts Madge about this and after lots of tap dancing and plenty of scene changes the whole thing gets resolved.

We Will Rock You the Musical: Theatre Review

After almost 11 years after it originally opened, We Will Rock You is one of London’s longest running musicals to date. Receiving mostly bad reviews when it first opened back in 2002 it’s proved to be an audience favourite and still rocks the Dominion Theatre night after night. Over the years since its original premier its had loads of productions open all over the world; places include Australia, Japan, Las Vegas, Spain, Germany, Canada, Italy, Norway and plenty of other places with a 10^th Anniversary Arena Tour opening at the end of February. 

We Will Rock You follows the story of Scaramouche and Galileo who are outcasts in a world where clones are produced, music is made by computers and all the GaGa kids watch the same thing and learn the same moves. Meat and Brit (two ‘bohemians’) find Galileo and Scaramouche and take them to the heartbreak hotel but they get found out by Khashoggi who is the right hand man to the leader of the iPlanet, the Killer Queen. In the end they find an electric guitar and find real rock music and save the world. 

A Chorus Line the Musical: Theatre Review

Set on Broadway in 1975, A Chorus Line is a musical about dancers who are auditioning for a Broadway show. The original production opened off-Broadway in 1975 and transferred onto Broadway in the same year due to the production having a sell out run and the show also won 10 out of 12 Tony Award nominations. The show ran for 6,137 performances and closed in 1990. A West End production of the show opened in 1976, in the same year U.S and International tours started. Many international productions opened and a film adaptation was released in 1985. A Broadway revival opened in 2006 and closed after running for just under two years, this production recently transferred to the West End marking the shows first ever West End revival. The production is being dedicated to composer Marvin Hamlisch who died last year. 

The is set in an empty Broadway Theatre where an audition is to take place, it follows 17 veteran dancers who are looking for one last job before it’s too late for them to dance anymore. Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban’s score has to be Broadway at its best; each and every song is catchy. When you walk out the theatre each person is humming a different tune! One thing they manage to do, along with the help of James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante’s book, is create 17 characters that all get an individual story making the audience create a wonderful connection with every single cast member. This is truly an ensemble piece and I’m pretty sure there isn’t anything else out there like this. 

Viva Forever the Musical: Theatre Review

After the world-wide success of the hit musical Mamma Mia! it was a given that producer Judy Graymer would take on another juke-box musical. She teamed up with Geri Halliwell and Simon Fuller to develop a new musical using the songs of the Spice Girls entitled Viva Forever. The show has been approached in a similar way to that of Mamma Mia. The production opened in the West End on the 11^th December 2012 at the Piccadilly Theatre to mainly negative reviews. Just over a month after it opened I went along to see it, I wasn’t expecting anything. In fact I was ready to hate the production. But I told myself I wouldn’t go in with any expectations or go in wanting to dislike the show and I actually had a great time! The show follows Viva on her journey to stardom through an X-Factor style reality TV show. She originally auditions with her 3 best friends as a girl group but she is singled out and decides to follow her dream on her own. Within the show you also see Viva’s mother coming to terms with what her daughter wants in life. If you break down the story it is basically Mamma Mia but more topical. What you see on stage in Viva Forever is going to be something that a modern audience is going to recognise, they use the reality TV show really well in this show.

Cabaret the Musical: Theatre Review

 

The premier production of Cabaret opened on Broadway in 1966 with a US Tour and a West End production opening in 1968. The iconic film starring Liza Minnelli was released in 1972 after the success of the musical. After three West End revivals and two Broadway revivals the show returns to London, playing at the Savoy Theatre after a short UK tour. The musical is based on the play ‘I am a Camera’ which was adapted from the novel ‘Goodbye to Berlin’.
The story focuses on nightlife at the Kit Kat Club in World War II Germany following the relationship between English Cabaret performer Sally Bowles and American writer Cliff Bradshaw. This recent revival reunites the creative team from the 2006 London revival at the Lyric Theatre, however they’ve re-imagined the show and given it a new life but stuck to the original idea that they put together for their last production. Rufus Norris really understand this production and what he wants to give to the audience, he’s presented an intelligent but entertaining piece which presents the story in a way in which the audience are completely engaged and the links he has created between the Kit Kat Club and 1931 Germany is astonishing.

9 to 5 the Musical UK Tour: Theatre Review

9 to 5 the Musical is based on the 1980 film of the same name, starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton. The film was adapted for stage, opening on Broadway in 2009. Parton, who wrote the title song of the original film, wrote the music and lyrics for the musical. The original production on Broadway closed after just 24 previews and 143 regular performances. However the musical didn’t just go away, it embarked on a US tour and last year came over to the UK and is currently touring the country. Set in the 1980s where the work place was a sexist place for women the show tells the story of three women Violet, Doralee and Judy who kidnap their horrible boss and give him a taste of his own medicine. They take over the office and show that just because you’re a women doesn’t mean you’re incapable of doing anything a man can do.

I must say that the score of this show is brilliant, for Dolly’s first musical she’s really done a fantastic job and really seems to understand each one of the characters plus getting the musical theatre style spot on, adding her own style to it too. She’s written a song for Judy which comes near the end of the show called Get Out and Stay Out, any person who likes musical theatre would know this song already but this has to be my favourite musical theatre song of all time. Patricia Resnick has written a great script, the thing I love about the show is that it’s a modernised version of the story (obviously still set in the 80s) but it still stays so true to the original essence of the film.

Loserville the Musical: Theatre Review

Loserville is a new musical written by James Bourne and Elliot Davis, the show previously played at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds and ran from the 18^thJune to 14^thJuly 2012. The musical then announced that it would transfer to the Garrick Theatre in London's West End, opening on the 1^stOctober. The show tells the story of 17 Year Old Michael Dork who is obsessed with computers. He and his friends are the losers of the school which is run by the 'popular kids', Eddie and his girlfriend Leia. Then a new girl comes to the school, Holly, who is also a geek. She starts working with Michael on his computer project and she gives Michael the credit he deserves whilst also falling in love with him. It's the classic 'High School Musical' and 'Glee' storyline, very cheesy. I honestly thought I'd hate this show, I added up everything I had heard, all the things I'd seen and the way it had been marketed in my head and that made me have my doubts about the show. However it impressed me!

Spamalot the Musical: Theatre Review

Spamalot is a musical comedy which has been “lovingly ripped off” from the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. As much as it stays true to the Monty Python legacy it also is packed with jokes about musicals, TV and the music industry which means there is definitely something for everyone in this show. The original Broadway production opened in early 2005, closing four years later. The West End production opened in September 2006 in the Palace Theatre, this production closed only a week before the Broadway production closed (January 2009). A UK Tour was planned in 2009 but this was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances however the tour went ahead the following year. The UK Tour finished mid 2012 and transferred back to the West End, playing at the Harold Pinter Theatre and later transferring to the Playhouse Theatre.Other productions have opened in Las Vegas, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Hungary, Sweden, France and loads of other places!
The show follows King Arthur and his knights on their journey to find the Holy Grail. The show has been scaled down a lot from the original production, just one set with a few small changes. Even though Hugh Durrant’s designs are very ‘panto’, it still fits in with the context of the musical. So even though it’s got a very cheap feeling to it, it still works. The only thing that is sacrificed is the dramaticness of the Lady of the Lake entrance which was, if I’m honest, dreadful. Eric Idle has done a brilliant job with the Book, Lyrics and Music (music with John Du Prez), they’re genius! It is truly a Musical Comedy, possibly one of the funniest musicals ever to be written.

Sister Act the Musical UK Tour: Theatre Review

Sister Act the Musical first premiered at the Pasadena Playhouse in California in late 2006 and moved to the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia in early 2007. The production was labelled as Broadway success from this first production. It transferred to the West End in mid 2009 and closed in October 2010 and was replaced by The Wizard of Oz, the Broadway production opened in April 2011 and closed in late August 2012.Other productions are planned for Stuttgart, The Netherlands, Paris, Australia, Mexico, Spain and many more.
The first UK Tour of the show opened at the Manchester Opera House in September 2011 and tours until October 2012. The story follows Deloris Van Carter, she auditions for a nightclub when she witnesses a murder and has to be put away in hiding. She gets put in a Nunnery where she is appointed the leader of the choir, this is something she begins to feel passionate about and she grows closer to her fellow Sisters. Based on the 1992 film, which itself just screams “Make me into a musical!!!” The show undertook a lot of changes when it moved to Broadway and these are included in this touring production, the show felt and looked like a touring production however this didn’t take away from the enjoyment and quality of the piece.

Cynthia Erivo | Interview

Cynthia Erivo trained at RADA and she is currently playing the role of Deloris Van Carter in the UK Tour of the West End hit, Sister Act. Before that she played Madeleine in the Umbrellas of Cherbourg at the Gielgud Theatre. Her other credits include Ellie Jackson in Marine Parade, Leila in I was Looking at the Ceiling and then I saw the Sky and Constance in The Three Musketeers and the Princess of Spain. Cynthia also was a support act for American Idol winner Fantasia Burrino and was nominated for a BEFFTA for best female act 2010. I caught up with Cynthia on her busy tour schedule to talk about her...

How and when did you realise you wanted to perform?
As cliché as it sounds, I knew I was going to be a performer when I was five, it's actually one of my clearest memories..... I was asked to sing silent night on my own in the nativity play that year, and I remember that after I ?nished singing there was applause, I remember loving how it felt to hear that and see people happy..... I was hooked.

Were your family and friends supportive about your career decision?
They always have they always will be, they've been with me every step of the way.

The In-Between: CD Review

The In-between is an up-coming musical written by Laura Tisdall. The show follows the story of Flick who has a sister named Alice. Their parents died in a car crash when they were both young so Alice has had to become a mother figure to Flick. Flick goes off the rails and rebels against her sister and one day she finds herself in the 'in-between' which is the space between parallel worlds. Flick must decide if she wants t go back to the world she knows with her Sister or go to the world where she can start again.
Laura has released a Concept album which is something that used to be done a lot; Andrew Lloyd Webber has done this with shows such as Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita.This new musical has a rock theme which means all seven tracks on the album are anthems in their own right. The thing which makes an incredible musical song is something that tells a story but then can easily stand on its own feet. The only show that I can think of which features more than about two songs with these qualities is Wicked; on this album they all have this quality.

Jersey Boys the Musical: Theatre Review

Before making it over the West End, Jersey Boys was already a hit over in the States. The Broadway production opened in 2005 and is now the 19^thlongest running Broadway show. The show started its first National Tour at the end of 2006 and after this, productions opened in Chicago, Las Vegas, Australia and New Zealand.
The West End production opened in 2008 at the Prince Edward Theatre where it is still playing. The show features songs from the Four Seasons and Frankie Valli to tell the story of their journey to stardom; you see how the group was formed, their rise in fame and eventually their breakup.
The show has been divided up cleverly into 'four seasons' in which each member of the group narrates each section.
The production is directed by Des NcAnuff who seems to really understand how to stage a production, he really worked with this show well and his direction really complemented the story, as did Sergio Trujillo's choreography.
The scenic design was interesting, at first I thought it looked a bit pants but the lights, screens and other small pieces of scenery made each location different and in the end it really worked, Klara Zieglerova did a great job. Very Clever.
Jess Goldstein did a perfect job on the costume design, everything seemed spot on and I kind of wanted to take some of the outfit's home!

Andrew Wright | Interview

Andrew Wright has become one of the West End's favourite choreographers recently, with productions that have astounded the public. His choreographer credits include Singin' In The Rain (Palace Theatre and Chichester Festival Theatre), 42nd Street (Chichester Festival Theatre and The Curve, Leicester), Wonderful Town(National Tour), The Showgirl Within(Garrick Theatre), Once Upon A Time At The Adelphi(Liverpool Playhouse, Union Theatre and Trafalgar Studios) ,By Jeeves(Landor Theatre) and many many more! His performance credits include Scrooge(London Palladium), Mary Poppins (Prince Edward), Anything Goes (Drury Lane), Cats (New London), Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Dominion and National Tour), A Chorus Line (Derby Playhouse and National Tour) and many more! His list of credits are endless, a career that anyone would be very jealous of! He was also nominated for an Olivier Award in early 2012 for Singin' in the Rain. Taking time out of very busy life, Andrew had the time to answer a few questions!

How did you first get into Dance?I went to a local dance school in Somerset and also danced at my main school, Millfield. However I didn't start to professionally train until the age of 17 at Arts Ed, London.

Is there any advice you'd give to any aspiring dancers out there?That there is no short cut to success. Put the hours of training in. The more skills you have to offer the better your chance of employment is.

Wonderful Town the Musical: Theatre Review

Wonderful Town is based on the novel My Sister Eileen, which itself is based on a collection of short stories by Ruth McKenney. It was then made into a play, then a film, then the musical! The musical originally ran on Broadway in 1953 and closed the following year. A production then opened in London in 1955 and starred the likes of Shani Wallace and Sid James and a revival opened in 1986 at the Queens Theatre. A Broadway production opened in 2003 staring Donna Murphy (Later Brooke Shields) which earned her a Tony Award nomination.

Recently we saw the return of the show when it toured the UK, this production starred 'How do you solve a problem like Maria?' winner Connie Fisher.

Wonderful Town follows the story of two sisters, Eileen and Ruth both of which want to make it in New York. Ruth who is an aspiring journalist and Eileen who wants to be an Actress move into the city and end up having a very hard time, they can't seem to catch a break. Eileen uses her charm to try and help Ruth in her bid to become a professional journalist but that goes wrong as someone who claims to have been able to help was just using the situation to get to Eileen, the Marilyn Monroe type character.

Mamma Mia! the Musical: Theatre Review

Mamma Mia! is a musical based around the songs of ABBA, It first opened at the Prince Edward Theatre in 1999 and later transferred to the Prince of Wales Theatre in 2004. The musical will be moving to its third home in September to the Novello Theatre. A film version of the musical starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried and many more Hollywood names was released in 2008 and is the UKs highest ever grossing film.

The story follows Sophie, who is getting married to her Fiancé Sky, She wants her father to be present at her wedding but she doesn't know who he is. She steals her mother's diary and reads the entries from the time when she was conceived and she finds out she has three possible dads. She invites them all to the wedding and when her mother, Donna, finds out they are all at her hotel she goes mad! The production is directed by Phyllida Lloyd who does a brilliant job at working with the set which was designed by Mark Thompson, the set is two white curved walls that move around to create different locations. This clever piece of design makes the production for me; too much set would have ruined this musical so Marks designs work brilliantly within this show. Howard Harrison also produced a fantastic lighting design in this show; it worked remarkably with the other design aspects of the production. Although the design is very simple, it's perfect. Something that people often don't think about when watching this production is how such a simple design could work as great as it did.

Ghost the Musical: Theatre Review

The image of Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore behind the pottery wheel is one of the most iconic images in Hollywood history; to translate this onto the stage could have turned out to be an awful way of making some money off the GHOST franchise or it could have been an amazing musical.
Ghost the musical first opened in Manchester for a 'pre West End' run, then opening in London at the Piccadilly Theatre. The show has since opened on Broadway and they are even panning on taking the production to Australia soon. When the show opened it received ok reviews, from what critics had said it wasn't that great of a musical but it was good entertainment. From what I heard from other people, it was amazing. I'm not one to have my mind made up by other people but I wasn't rushing to get a ticket to the show. However, when the opportunity had come up to see it I didn't turn it down. I was sceptical about the show and am still thinking I might struggle to put what I think about it into words.

There is a hype surrounding the show which I'm sure everyone knows about! Unfortunately the show doesn't live up to this, in fact it doesn't even come close to it. The show is ok, not much more can be said to be honest. Not everyone has seen the original film (I haven't... don't judge!) but you know a rough outline of the storyline even if you haven't watched it.

Marianne Benedict | Interview

Marianne Benedict is currently gracing the stage as The Wicked Witch of The West in The Wizard of Oz in which she took over the role from Hannah Waddingham, She was part of the original ensemble in the show and was recently promoted to full time Wicked Witch. She graduated from Arts Educational, Her credits range from playing Vivian in Dirty Dancing, Understudying the role of Killer Queen in We Will Rock You and Debbie in Debbie Does Dallas. Her other include Miss Mackintosh in The Sunshine Boys, Catherine in The Girl Dusty, Gloria and resident MD in Return to the Forbidden Planet, Sophie in the Misfits (film workshop), Alice and understudy Bonnie in Loveshack, Stella and understudy Polly Baker in Crazy for You and singer in West End Musical Theatre Celebration. I was lucky enough to catch up with her and talk to her about her career...

When and how did you realise that you wanted to perform for a living? Very early on in life, I never stopped singing and dancing around at home and putting on shows.

You attended Arts Educational, what did you learn from them that you still practise or use in your career today? So so much. It really is a fantastic college and I still hear words of wisdom from the staff ringing in my ears.

Is there anything that you didn't learn whist in training that you think is important for young performers to know? You can't possibly learn what it's really truly like to work in this business. Only by getting out there and doing it will you know.

Sweeney Todd the Musical: Theatre Review

The classic musical Sweeney Todd which was recently turned into a Hollywood movie starring Johnny Deep and Helena Bonham Carter in 2007 was first staged on Broadway in 1979 and closed the following year earning itself Nine Tony Award nominations, winning eight of them including Best Musical. The show transferred to London in 1980 closing later that year; despite the mixed reviews the show won Best Musical at the Olivier Awards. The show has since then had multiple revivals on Broadway in 1989 and 2005 and in London in 1993, 2004 and the most recent Chichester Production which transferred to the West End in March 2012.

The show recieved positive reviews from critics and was labelled a must see by everyone who saw it, so it was only right that the production made its way over to London so West End audiences could experience it. The score by Stephen Sondheim is intelligent and interesting, his lyrics are very powerful and every song was a moving moment for all characters. However I can't help but feel a few of the songs were a bit much to take in a at times, I zoned out in a few of them and was thinking about what I was going to have for dinner the next day. But they were delivered brilliantly by the cast and were modernised greatly in this production while still keeping the original essence that Sondheim intended to have.