Gatsby, Tempest, Peter and Alice, A Chorus Line , Wicked and Kensington Palace

It feels as though it has been a long time since I have posted in my blog and it has been a whole month and a half eeek !!! I try not to leave it to long but have been so busy over this time period again seeing shows, socialising and culture hopping as I would call it .I start this post with a weekend in London , I headed up their in mid April to see my lovely friend Adel and we managed to do quite a lot in the day we spent together. First things first we headed to Westfield Stratford to Forever 21 and for dinner , of course I spent to much in their but got a lovely blazer , which I have been hunting for for ages !!! On the Saturday we were up bright and early and headed to Kensington Palace , which I have to say ins my favourite of the Royal Palaces . It has been recently renovated to a lovely standard and has a very whimsical feel to it . Highlights included seeing some of Queen Victoria's dresses and the story about the queen who lost 17 children and sadly the one who survived till 7 . I look forward to going back in the summer for a Royal dress exhibition .

 

After Kensington Palace we headed for Lunch at Café Rouge and then to the V&A my favourite museum in London , we looked at the fashion, theatre and Jewellery exhibitions and saw lots of beautiful sparkly  rings and necklaces we would very much like to steal !!! The evening took us to YO SUSHI a new dining experience for me which was really tasty and then onto Wicked ! Wicked was a really interesting show telling the stories of the witches of Oz before The Wizard of Oz , I have to say the sets and costumes were amazing especially the dragon and  Louise Dearman stood out as Elphaba she had an amazing voice and let me see the green witches sweeter side and Katie Rowley Jones was a beautiful Nessa Rose . The next day I was in Brighton with my friend Jess at a vintage fair , we got some bargins and had some scrummy cupcakes , I love the acrylic fox necklace I found their very much a statement piece!!!

 

The next weekend saw me head back to London to watch A Chorus Line and the Tempest . I enjoyed both of these shows so much . A Chorus Line tells the story of people auditioning for a place in a Chorus , you hear all about different events in their life and eventually see who ends up in the chorus . I loved the simplicity of this show , and it was made for a stage the film is a bit iffy . The dancing was amazing and I loved how humorous the songs were . John Partridge was very firm as Zach , Leigh Zimmerman was a strong and sassy Sheila and Victoria Hamilton - Barrat sung beautifully as Diana .

The next day I saw The Tempest at the Globe and again it was brilliant .

           'We are such stuff as dreams are made on.'

Prospero, Duke of Milan, usurped and exiled by his own brother, holds sway over an enchanted island. He is comforted by his daughter Miranda and served by his spirit Ariel and his deformed slave Caliban. When Prospero raises a storm to wreck this perfidious brother and his confederates on the island, his long contemplated revenge at last seems within reach. I really enjoyed this production and knowing little of The Tempest I liked seeing something I had not seen before . Roger Allam played Prospero and gave a strong powerful performance ,I remember him as the sleezy writer  man being killed by a heard of cows in Tamara Drew , now I will remember him as Prospero. BBC'S Merlin or  Colin Morgan played Ariel his spirit friend and also was brilliant I loved his costume , simple but effective and it was good to see I'd do Anything Runner Up Jessie Buckley as Miranda she was fearless and graceful at the same time . I must say the most amusing scenes were those among Caliban , Stefano and Trinculo  when they stopped to look up a planes was so amusing and the spirit scene with the lady spirits was another favourite!!!

 

The last show I saw was Peter And Alice in London , it told the story of 

When Alice Liddell Hargreaves met Peter Llewellyn Davies at the opening of a Lewis Carroll exhibition in 1932, the original Alice in Wonderland came face to face with the original Peter Pan. In John Logan's remarkable new play, enchantment and reality collide as this brief encounter lays bear the lives of these two extraordinary characters.  The play was beautifully written and beautifully performed . Judi Dench gave a strong and emotional performance as Alice and Ben Withshaw was equally as strong and emotional as well . The play gave some strong revelations and some sad twists and turns , it was simply staged  with the addition of dropping in backgrounds and side editions . I also loved Ruby Bentall as Alice , she is one of my favourite actresses and gave a sweet humorous performance .  I also got to meet her afterwards which was great!!!

 

I also watched Mamma Mia in Mid April with my friend Tash which was fun for the third time it is a upbeat lively show which will have you dancing and singing at the end . Last Thing to report on is the Great Gatsby , which was realeased last week . I love this film not only because it was set in the 1920's but because of how true Baz Luhrman was to the book . The film was fast paced and classy with beautiful cinematography . Leonardo Di-Caprio was the right choice for Gatsby he was passionate and idealistic , with a touch of cuteness. Tobey Maguire narrated beautifully as Nick and Carey Mulligan was innocently strong as Daisy . Other loves were Elizabeth Debecki as Jordan Baker , she was sassy and elegant and Isla Fisher was a very sexy Myrtle Wilson. Also Joel Edgarton got Tom's cockiness down to a tea . The costumes were beautiful and captured the 20's wonderfully and the music was up beat and fitted well . Only critiques is thst Jordan and Nicks relationship needed to be developed more and Isla Fisher needed to be in it more also the music needed to be  a bit more Jazzy . But I still love it and will be seeing it again as I'm having Gatsby withdrawal symptoms .