COMING HOME: Jay Perry, soon to return to his roles in Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre

Pocket Size Theatre and Liza Heinrichs (Captured by Liz) have teamed up again and created our new series 'Coming Home'. In this new piece, we look at the reopening of Theatres in London and around the country and celebrate our industry coming back. We got together some performers who will be some of the first to return to theatres and created this piece to bring some positivity to the theatre industry which has been through one of the toughest years in our lifetime. Whilst it is important to acknowledge the hardships we've all gone through, it's important we pull together as a community and celebrate our beloved industry finally coming back! 

You may know him as a West End superstar, but here at Pocket, we remember Jay Perry from the absolute legendary pop group, S Club Juniors! Jay was a part of the group as a child but has gone on to have a wonderful career in theatre. Before the theatres shut he had been in the London production of the smash-hit Broadway musical Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre.  

Jay is a stand by in Hamilton, covering the roles of Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Marquis De Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson. He made his debut performance in the production at the beginning of 2020 and unfortunately didn’t have a long run until theatres all over the country closed their doors. Talking to Jay about what he is looking forward to when getting back to the West End, he says “I'm excited for the connection I get between being on stage performing and the audience receiving the performance, I love that buzz and the twinkle in the eye that you catch. The service we offer people is really magical.” 

REVIEW: Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre

So much had been written about Hamilton, the story of a long forgotten immigrant founding father of America, that it sold out for its opening months when it went on sale in January 2017, long before Cameron Mackintosh knew whether his refurbishment of the wonderful Matcham Victoria Palace would be complete in time. The cancellation of the first performances after a wait of nearly a year added to this anticipation and you could feel the excitement in the theatre before and throughout the show. The audience whooped and cheered at every entrance, look and song showing a familiarity with the production that is only possible in this modern internet world. For those not familiar with the style, historical background or music , the show takes time to adjust to. The opening number "Alexander Hamilton" sets the scene but too many of the words get lost.

The first half is unrelentingly fast paced hip hop and rap telling of the American war of independence and rise of Alexander Hamilton in first the army and then politics. It requires intense concentration to catch the fast talking verbose language set against the heavy rap beat and some of the cast lost the clarity of delivery in this breathless energetic non stop story telling. However in the second half that changes , the mood darkens , the music becomes more melodic, there is more light and shade and the emotional connections between characters and with the audience develops to create a much more satisfying and enjoyable piece of modern innovative theatre.

FIRST LOOK: Ruthie Henshall as Mrs Wilkinson in BILLY ELLIOT

Olivier award-winning actor Ruthie Henshall will be joining the London cast of Billy Elliot the Musical to play Billy’s straight talking dance teacher, Mrs Wilkinson. Her first performance will be 12th May 2014 (tonight), which is also the same day the show will be celebrating nine years at the Victoria Palace Theatre.

Billy Elliot the Musical: Theatre Review

Billy Elliot the Musical runs at the Victoria Palace Theatre where it originally opened back in May 2005. To this day Billy Elliot is playing too sold out audiences and remains one of the top West End shows, although I could not see why. On 23^rdMay 2011 I made my way to see the show; I have never seen the film before this but knew the story enough to be able to tell what was going on.

Elton John's score was truly uninspiring and the only memorable piece was the dance break in Electricity, which was the only point for me when I felt the music was uplifting and refreshing. Lee Halls Book was witty and Stephen Daldry complemented this with his direction.

Pete Darlings Choreography was good but nothing special; I feel as though my dance teacher in my old theatre school could have done the exact same thing, I felt no personality come through with the dance so it felt very impersonal to the audience and the characters.