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Sunday, 6 August 2023

REVIEW: The Sound of Music at the Chichester Festival Theatre



The 1959 hit musical Sound of Music has one of the best scores ever written with wonderful Richard Rodgers tunes that tug at the heartstrings, delightful moments of gentle humour from Oscar Hammerstein II and an authentic grim context that still resonates today with the daily news of invasions. It would be tough to fail in mounting a revival of this glorious musical but equally difficult to escape the memory of Julie Andrews's performance in the 1965 film. Chichester Festival’s wonderful revival directed by Adam Penford certainly manages to not only do the stage show full justice but also beautifully differentiate itself from the memorable film version and magically make the most of the theatre’s tricky thrust stage.

The design by Robert Jones focuses us on the monastic lifestyle that oppresses Maria's free spirit but also creates a sense of entrapment by the mountains around the Von Trapp home as the Nazi sympathisers and invaders start to circle with the huge grey-streaked cyclorama cliff face and walls framing all the action. The design cleverly and slickly allows more intimate settings to be created in the Abbesses office and grounds of the nunnery and the Von Trapp’s Hall, bedroom and veranda as well as evocatively creating the Salzburg Festival stage with the powerful presence of the occupying forces. It does mean we don’t see the wonderful mountain scenery so memorably showcased in the film for “The Sound of Music” or the final uplifting escape over the mountains to the reprise of “Climb every mountain” and the staging with Maria laying on the floor of a rising trap in the first and climbing through the auditorium for the latter are compromises that don’t quite have the same joyous sense of freedom as in the original.
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Sunday, 25 August 2019

Hardest Female roles in Musical Theatre


Being a musical theatre performer is not easy in the slightest; from the auditions to getting a job, to the constant rehearsals and finally recreating an incredible performance to a paying audience night after night. This is even before you look at some of the challenges some roles might have within them; either emotionally, physically or vocally. Here at Pocket we have teamed up with our friends at LondonBoxOffice.co.uk and we've put together a list of roles we think are among some of the hardest. And don't just take our word for it, we've had help from some of our performer friends who have played the roles to give you an insight to what it was like from their perspective. 

There are so many more that could be on this list so if we've missed any, tweet us what you think should be on it! @PocketSizeBlog
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Thursday, 11 June 2015

REVIEW: The Sound of Music at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking


It’s hard to reinvent a production set in the 1930s but a little more imagination and panache is needed to rescue this latest tour of The Sound of Music.

If you’ve not seen the film (I haven’t so not everyone has!) this is the story of loveable and feisty Maria Rainer and her struggle find her place in the world. Does she want to dedicate her life to God and become a nun or can this free-spirit shake up the regimented von Trapp household and breathe new life into Captain von Trapp?
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Thursday, 21 August 2014

Michael Xaiver | Interview


Michael is currently leading the cast of The Pajama Game as Sid Sorokin at the Shaftesbury Theatre. his other credits include Captain Von Trap in The Sound of Music at The Open Air Theatre, Oliver in Love Story at The Duchess Theatre and Chichester Festival Theatre (Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical), Wolf/Cinderella’s Prince in Into The Woods at The Open Air Theatre (Olivier Award nomination for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical), Curly in Oklahoma! (Chichester Festival Theatre), Sir Galahad in Spamalot! (Palace Theatre), Rock Hudson in Rock (Manchester Library Theatre, Liverpool Unity Theatre and Oval House Theatre), Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre), Sky in Mamma Mia! (International Tour Original Cast), Freddy Eynsford-Hill in My Fair Lady (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane), Miss Great Plains in Pageant (Vaudeville Theatre and King’s Head Theatre), Nankipoo in The Mikado (UK Tour), Chris in Miss Saigon (Original UK Tour) and Prince Florizel in Sleeping Beauty (Corn Exchange, Newbury). Michael is a proud ambassador of the charity Action for M.E. He is also director of the Musical Theatre Sunday school West End Masterclass.

How did rehearsals go for the Pajama Game?

Rehearsals went really well, we only had three weeks so it was pretty intense. Richard Eyre was brilliant and really supporting of me joining the company and so was Stephen Mear and Gareth Valentine. They were fab to work with. 

In one sentence, how would you sell The Pajama Game to audiences?

Fun, frivolous musical comedy with fantastic singing, dancing and acting! Its a great night out! 
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Sunday, 23 February 2014

WhatsOnStage Awards: Full List of Winners and Nominees

Best Actress in a Play
Winner: Helen Mirren The Audience (the Gielgud)
Nominees:
Anne-Marie Duff Strange Interlude (NT Lyttelton)
Hayley Atwell The Pride (Trafalgar Studios)
Helen Mirren The Audience (the Gielgud)
Suranne Jones Beautiful Thing (the Arts)
Tanya Moodie Fences (the Duchess)
Best Actor in a Play
Winner: Daniel Radcliffe The Cripple of Inishmaan (the Noël Coward)
Nominees: 
Ben Whishaw Peter and Alice (the Noël Coward) and Mojo (the Harold Pinter)
Daniel Radcliffe The Cripple of Inishmaan (the Noël Coward)
James McAvoy Macbeth (Trafalgar Studios)
Lenny Henry Fences (the Duchess)
Rory Kinnear Othello (the NT Olivier)

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Monday, 30 December 2013

My Top 10 Theatre picks of 2013!

So now is the time everyone starts to reflect on the year that is about to end, personally 2013 has been a very good year for me and I am very grateful for the lessons I've learnt and the things I have achieved this year. With the new year about to start and this blogs first anniversary just around the corner I've decided to look back on my top 10 Theatre moments I have witnessed over the past 12 months. So with out further ado, here we go! 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

   Photo by Helen Maybanks
I saw the show twice this year and if you're a regular reader of this blog you may remember me saying that they're faults with the show, I'm not retracting what I have said in my review by all means but I think the scale of the show deserves recognition. It is a good show and definitely the best family show of 2013 and most likely 2014! Click here to read my review.

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Tuesday, 6 August 2013

The Sound of Music, Regents Park Open Air Theatre: Review


Regents Park is one of my favorite venues, its a beautiful setting and is truly magical with the right production. The parks musical this year is the widely loved The Sound of Music, a film most remember from their childhoods. I must admit, I saw the film quite a few years ago and thought it was a little boring. I knew the stage show would be very different because from what I heard this production was very stripped back and was more of a play with the addition of the iconic music than a fluffy musical which, from what I hear, is what other productions have seemed to have portrayed. 
The Sound of Music follows the story of Maria Rainer who is sent from a convent to be the governess the seven children of Captain Von Trapp, after struggling with her relationship with him they finally fall for each other and get married. Set against the backdrop of the Nazi take over this story is very powerful and shows the true meaning of love and family. 
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