(Not-So) Misérable Saturday

I received a text this week from my dear friend Becca, about how amazing our London trip was. I wanted to correct her, as “amazing” just didn’t seem suffice... but we finally decided that no adjective in the English dictionary was adequate, except perhaps ‘indescribable’!

Last Saturday we were up extremely early in the morning to travel to Trafalgar Square for West End Live (a fantastic event showcasing the very best of musical theatre... for FREE!!), followed by a trip to Queen’s Theatre to see Les Misérables! I’m sure I could write a book the size of Les Mis itself about our trip, but for your sake I will stick to brief highlights!

It’s a 3 hour journey to London, and I am absolutely terrible at finding my way in cities so I was a little worried that we might miss some of the acts at West End Live but thankfully we arrived just on time and got settled in a good spot just before my very favourite show... Wicked!! Here is a phone snapshot of our view!

I wish I had more photos to show you, and preferably better quality ones, but we just got so caught in the moment that we forgot! Thankfully, other people were a bit more on the ball, so I will paste YouTube links for all my favourite performances. Here are the Wicked videos!

I adore Louise Dearman and Gina Beck as perfomers, and they never fail to blow me away! They both looked absolutely beautiful - gorgeous hair and fabulous dresses! For Good was so touching, and Lou's Defying Gravity was incredible!

Moving on to my other favourite show (do I really need to introduce it?!) Les Mis!! I don't even know where to start. This cast have only been performing for one week, yet they are absolutely astounding! As always, cast change is bittersweet. It's sad to wave goodbye to previous cast members, but it's also great to see the roles in a new light as different actors take them on. Of course, the person I was most anticipating was Carrie Fletcher. So, imagine my excitement when Carrie is the first person to walk on stage, singing On My Own!! Cue much nudging and squealing from Becca and I! I can't say that my eyes remained dry during her performance (and I'm not the crying type!), and I was so impressed by the entire cast throughout.

 

Another favourite performance of mine was Matilda, a fantastic show and a very talented little girl - Miss Cristina Fray. At this point Emilie found us and said hello - that was the first time I've met another sprout in 'the real world'! Lovely to meet you Em!

 

Next up was We Will Rock You, I'd been wanting to see Oli Tompsett's Galileo, and I loved hearing his American accent!

 

 

The Sound of Music performed, having only been rehearsing for a short while (you'd never know!) I had no idea Chloe Taylor was in this new production, so it was a pleasant surprise to see her perform again!



 

 

Later on, Sir Tim Rice himself appeared to introduce a song from his new musical From Here To Eternity. The song was stunning, I really loved it and I can't wait to hear more from this new show!
 

 

 

So those were the highlights of the day for me personally! I hate to miss out other performances, as so many of them were simply incredible (although I'm not going to pretend they were ALL incredible, the vast majority were!) Do search through YouTube for more, and if you haven't yet been to West End Live, why not?!! I hope to see you there next year!

 

 

 

Moving on to Les Misérables, the day only got better!! I have only seen Les Mis at the Queen's once previously, on June 20th last year. I was having a bad reaction to a vaccination from the day before, had a fever and was delirious... so it was nice to go back in a slightly better state! It was also brilliant to see a new cast.

 

Gerónimo Rauch of course, is no stranger to the role of Jean Valjean, and there's good reason for that! He has a wonderful ability to draw in an audience, and tells Valjean's tale with such passion, emotion and presence. Unfortunately, I noticed on a few occasions Gerónimo missed out words whilst singing, or merged words together. His accent also slipped through a couple of times. It barely impacted his performance though, and I'm happy to permit a multilingual Valjean some minor enunciation/pronounciation errors, since those who don't know the show word for word probably didn't notice!!

 

(Source www.officiallylondon.com)

 

I think last time I saw the show I was a little too preoccupied adoring the sight of Tam Mutu and Sierra Boggess on the same stage to fully appreciate Tam's performance! Tam is a fantastic Javert. I may even go as far as to say that his portrayal better resembles the stern, harsh inspector that my imagination conjures up than any other actor I have seen.

 

(Source www.broadwayworld.com)

Na-Young Jeon was ill on Saturday, so I got to see Melanie Bright's (almost) debut performance! What a busy day to debut - Melanie played her ensemble role at WEL, then performed both the matinee and evening shows! I was very impressed by Melanie's performance, she's definitely one to watch!

(Source www.twitter.com/melanie_bright)

 

Cameron Blakely (Bamatabois in Les Mis 25th) and Wendy Ferguson (Carlotta in Phantom 25th) were very funny as the Thénardiers and I thought they were a fantastic duo!

 

(Source www.kherrigan.tumblr.com)

 

So... Eponine! You all know I'm a fan of Carrie Hope Fletcher, but I am not the only one to have come out of that theatre raving about how brilliant and faultless her performance was. She brings something new to Eponine that I haven't quite seen before, and can't quite put a finger on. I know when it was announced that Carrie had been cast, there was a lot of controversy. Those who knew Carrie only as 'Tom from Mcfly's sister' or 'that girl off YouTube' believed her to be a 'bums on seats' casting, a girl who did not have the talent, simply the fame. However, this girl does not need those labels to stand out, her talent is pure and her voice is HUGE! As someone who identifies as a 'hopeful', I can understand if you are skeptical regarding whether my opinion is biased, but I urge you to see her live before you make your opinion! To my fellow dedicated 'sprouts', it's ok to love Samantha AND Carrie. They are both wonderful in their own way - they need not be rivals, in fact they are good friends and big supporters of one another!

 

(Source www.facebook.com/lesmisofficial)



 

Samantha Dorsey is so beautiful, the very image of Cosette. I do enjoy her portrayal, although I felt as though there wasn't anything particularly striking or unique that she brought to the role. However, considering this was her 3rd performance of the day I will not criticise! Unfortunately, thanks to the delirium I cannot remember my opinion of her performance last year!!

 

(Source Les Miserables Souvenir Brochure, Delfont Mackintosh Theatres)

 

I am often unsure and picky about the casting of Marius. He should be youthful, handsome and a little fragile in appearance and demeanor, yet this is a musical and his voice should be still be appealing, although gentle rather than strong! Perhaps I am too fussy, but I find that a lot of Marius' either look right or sound right, but not both. Rob Houchen however, ticked all the boxes for me! This is his West End debut, and he's certainly another one to watch!

 

(Source www.allthefights.tumblr.com)

 

I think it's fair to say that the vast majority of people walking out of the Queen's that night were enthusing about the new Enjolras (and his ponytail!) - Anton Zetterholm! Anton really commanded the stage with one of the strongest portrayals of Enjolras I've ever seen. His voice is so powerful, and he gave Enjolras the perfect authoritative, confident, courageous aura.

 

(Source www.allthefights.tumblr.com)

 

I promise I won't ramble on much longer, but I don't want to finish without showing my appreciation to the wonderful ensemble of Les Mis! Ensemble performers often get forgotten, but in truth they are the backbone of any show. It was lovely to see two of my favourites again - Sarah Lark and Nicky Swift. It was also brilliant to see Niall Sheehy on the stage as Feuilly. Wicked fans will know him, and if you're not following him on Twitter yet, do it - he's pretty funny!

 

(Source www.kherrigan.tumblr.com)

 

 

Thanks for letting me share my day with you, and congratulations if you managed to read this far!!

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Emma Kate

xx













Oh, What a Week!

This week was one of much excitement in the musical theatre world! I remember sometime last year I was chatting to my friends and trying to predict who would be cast as the next Éponine, and who would be Elphaba in the UK tour which starts this September. My top choices were Carrie Fletcher (for the former) and Nikki Davis-Jones (for the latter). Now, I’m terrible at predicting this sort of thing - whenever I watch a TV talent show, my favourites tend to be sent out of the competition the very day I decide they are my favourite! So, imagine my surprise when not only was Carrie announced to be the new Éponine this June, but also that a very green Nikki will soon be flying around the UK!! It has been suggested to me that I should buy a lottery ticket or take up betting . . . !

On top of this wonderful casting news, Rachel Tucker's new website was recently launched, alongside a release date for her debut album! I'm so excited for all three of these ladies, they are some of my favourite performers. I'm currently drawing a picture to send to Carrie, and I'm hoping to draw one of the gorgeous new photos from Rachel's website too. Until then, here's a drawing of Nikki from this time last year, after I saw her in the Little Women concert.

 

 

And just for good measure, some videos of the lovely Carrie, Nikki and Rachel...

Carrie Hope Fletcher singing On My Own





Nikki Davis-Jones singing Count On Me

 

 

Rachel Tucker singing Oh What A Night



 

  

Have a wonderful week!

 

Emma Kate

xx

Post Pals

Yesterday, the lovely Carrie Fletcher tweeted about Post Pals... isn't it just the best feeling when two of your favourite things unexpectedly collide?

Now I know many of you have heard me chat incessantly about this wonderful charity, but it seems that a few have somehow managed to escape these natterings! I'm taking that as the perfect excuse for a new blog post, as I love telling people about Post Pals and spreading the word!

Post Pals is a charity which allows people to send happy, cheerful post to children with serious illnesses to make them smile! On their website, www.postpals.co.uk, each child (AKA Pal!) has their very own page with lots of information about them - their interests, condition and updates on how they've been doing. The great thing about Post Pals is that siblings don't get left out. It's hard being a child with serious illness, but it's also very hard having a brother or sister who is so poorly. You will be able to read about siblings and send them post too.

It really is very simple - just visit the website and click on 'Find Pals'. You'll see a list of all the kids Post Pals are supporting. Just choose one of the Pals, read through their page, then use the postal or email address on their page to send them a message that will make them SMILE! :D You would not believe how a simple postcard saying "Just dropping by to say hello!" can absolutely make a child's day!

So that's it!! You have the power to make a big difference to a poorly child's day! And I really do mean YOU! Absolutely anyone can volunteer - the Pals love to hear from other kids, other countries, older people, even animals! I started volunteering when I was 14, and sometimes my kitty Maisy and doggy Badger like to 'write' too!! You may spot our names on Pals' pages... my little friend Ruby likes to call me 'EmmaBadgerMaisy'!!

At this point, people often tell me "I'd love to volunteer, but I wouldn't know what to write!" Never fear - wonderful Viks who founded Post Pals (and herself suffers from severe ME) has written a fantastic guide to help you out!

Post Pals also have several projects running if you'd like to give an extra helping hand, I won't go into great detail about these, but if you're interested just pop me a message and I can let you know who to contact!

•  Fortnightly Writers Scheme - volunteers are assigned a Pal or sibling to write to on a fortnightly basis.

 

• Monthly Projects - every month, a theme is set (such as books, space, nature or underwater) and volunteers can be assigned a Pal or sibling to send a small gift related to this theme.

 

• Pillowcase Project - this is the project I run, we design, print and send personalised pillowcases for Pals and siblings thanks to kind donations. We also sell personalised pillowcases, cushions and images, with 100% of profits going to Post Pals. (£941.08 raised so far! Temporarily on hold whilst I'm at uni, but watch this space! The new payment page is here.)

 

• Dottie the Dalmatian - read about her here and here!

 

• Elf Project - this is a Christmas project, for December of the Monthly Project Scheme where volunteers (AKA Elves!!) are assigned a child to send little Christmas gifts to, with a specified total price.

 

• Reindeer Project - another Christmas project, volunteers are assigned a child and asked to write 12 letters over the Christmas period, from each of Father Christmas' reindeers!

I will leave you with this brilliant video about Post Pals from 2009, which was also featured on Russell Howard's Good News!

 

 

Be sure to friend Post Pals on Facebook - this is the best place to keep updated, and to meet other volunteers and Post Pal parents, it's a lovely community. If you have any questions about Post Pals, I'd absolutely love to answer them for you, and if I'm unable to help I can point you in the right direction :)

Thanks so much for reading!

Emma Kate
xx