Edinburgh Fringe 2012 DAYTRIP

I wasn't sure if I would visit my pals at the Edinburgh Fringe this year, but I booked a daytrip for me and Rob, an early train and a late train back to York, four shows of different genres and enough time for a big dinner at the steak and mussles place! I actually booked the trip when I thought my friend Suzie was coming from America so they were all chosen with her in mind! Suzie is into sporty things and arty things, also she is a published children's author/illustrator, so she likes kids things too! So the four shows I picked were Peter and the Wolf performed by two Russian clowns with minamilist puppets! Leo, a one man dance sensation! The Man Who Planted Trees, a nice little eco-puppet story half in French and my friends' comedy sketch show A Brief History of Scotland, so she could meet them! If I'd have known I was picking for Rob I would have cut the first three!! It turned out he did like my friends' show the best, lot of laughs! I have reviewed it before but there were new sketches and tighter old sketches, it was great. DBS are an excellent young theatre company, I'm proud to have been involved in a few of their ventures!



So we arrived in Edinburgh in the rain (August, of course it's raining!) went straight to John Lewis and had a massive breakfast while looking out of their cafe windows at the rooftops, this was a highlight! It didn't rain all day, Peter and the Wolf was good fun, the first half anyway, when they played the record and acted it out, the second half had odd new-age lift-muzak playing while they fucked about like a couple of idiots, that way you left the show with awful music in your head instead of the recognisable tune you enjoyed in the first half! We then had a coffee and went to see Leo. Flip!! He was amazing! I can't even begin to describe how clever it was, maybe there's a youtube video I can post here. Again, it went on a bit too long but otherwise I really liked watching it. Then The Man Who Planted Trees, which I saw last year and booked because I thought Suzie would like it, it was just as good as last year. Love that dog puppet. After seeing my pals' show and Rob meeting them and having a drink we had an amazing big meal at mussles and steak, then we came home- man we were TIRED!

The Nutcracker (The Bolshoi Ballet)

The English Ballet did a version on BBC4 this Christmas but me and Anna went to the cinema to see the Russian company's version being broadcast from a French theatre. It was fabulous and seeing snippets of the English version on Christmas Eve I can safely say it is far superior than anything we can do.
Those Russians sure can dance! Ah, it was the Christmas show we needed to really get us in the mood! Beautiful costumes and sets, nothing artsy-fartsy, traditional, Christmassy kitsch!

Black Swan (2011)

Think The Red Shoes crossed with The Fly- and Fight Club!

The gore was too much, it was horrific, shudder! The much talked about lesbian scene was boring, I don't understand why it was so talked about. I guess just because they are two beautiful tiny actresses, but surely, women making out is just women making out? I've seen better on the internet...

Anyhoo, above all it made me want to see Swan Lake- and watch The Red Shoes. The Red Shoes could have done with a gay scene, I reckon, Walbrook and Marius Goring. HOT.

The Pirate (1948)

Gene Kelly's wig was ridiculous and Judy Garland's real-life terror came though in her acting but together they were an excellent comedy and dancing duo. The film had some good songs and top-notch dancing. The ballet was a bit self-indulgent and Gene's black hot-pants were a bit campy, but hey, it's an MGM musical- and remember it's all in Judy's alcohol and drug-fueled mind!

Could have done without the reprise of Be a Clown though...

Ace poster!

Nine (2009)

Argh. I was so disappointed! I suppose that's what happens when you really look forward to something to the point of reviewing it before you've even seen it! (I did the trailer in June) It was weak- WEAK. And I'll tell you why.

Nine is the story of a man with the several women in his life he can't live without; his wife, his mistress, his muse, his mother and his mother-figure. Also some women who he's met and/or slept with... This CANNOT work if the man in question is portrayed as disgustingly sleazy and charmless. CHARM. Guido Contini is charming!! That's why all the women sing songs about how much they have loved him!! But Daniel Day-Lewis was CHARMLESS.

He was badly cast in all but one aspect; his looks. He looked Italian. And yes, Italian men are stereotypically sleazy- but as I have stressed Guido Contini is charming not sleazy! He put on a horrible ridiculous accent, not just while talking but while ATTEMPTING to sing songs he could not pull off! Songs that I used to LOVE!!! Argh, I'm even more angry now that I've seen it that Antonio Banderas did not get the chance to reprise his recent stage performance! He plays charming very well! Daniel Day-Lewis plays psychos and 'tards very well!

The thing is that all the women were very well cast (Not Sophia Loren but I suppose you had to have one Italian) and did very well with the songs, though I didn't like all the "sexy" dance numbers always in lingerie. You know, it is possible to show women being sexy without it being kinky or tacky... It's just that the central character was so hateful and badly cast it ruined the film for me. Also they cut all my favourite songs because DDL can't sing and the song Kate Hudson sang was jarring and out of place- and it was the one song they played twice.

La Cage Aux Folles (London's Playhouse Theatre)

It is what it is, and what it is is a sensation!

(Ugh, I wonder how many shite journalists thought of using that line as a review...)

Last night Laura and I went to see La Cage Aux Folles and it was wonderfully fabulous, up in the Gods we had great views of the choreography and we saw mostly everything apart from when that big-headed boy leant over, damn him... Douglas Hodge and Dennis Lawson return for the final weeks in the roles they created for this production, Lawson was good but Hodge as Albin and Zaza was amazing!

Lately the role has been played by Graham Norton and John Barrowman and I really don't think either of them would have been nearly as good as Douglas Hodge, I can't imagine Barrowman playing the part with such pathos, he can sing the songs but Hodge's Albin broke our hearts!! I'm glad we got to see his Olivier Award Winning performance, he was wonderful and he could really sing too!! So Could Lawson! There's a turn up for the books!

The dance numbers were great, costumes brilliantly gay, the songs were lovely and the comedy excellent, once again thanks to Hodge (and Syrus Lowe as the couple's ott butler/maid). And I liked the theatre, it felt like a sleazy 1970s drag club, it took me and Laura hours to wind our way to the tiny upstairs bar where four gay men sat and discussed other musicals they might see next, I'm told they settled on The Lion King.

Footloose (1984)

Alison and I are going to see John Lithgow in October. He's at the National Theatre reading P.G. Wodehouse. I told Nicola this news excitedly last week and went on to list many [possibly bogus] facts about Lithgow that include: "He's retired to Keighley!" I have no idea where I read this rumor, maybe I dreamt it, but I've told enough people now for it to be circulating as an actual rumor. A fact that is definite is that Johnny is most excellent at drawing, also he is pals with Jonathan Pryce- who also dabbles. All the actors I seem to like end up being friends with Jonathan Pryce, who is of course still numero uno with me and has been for coming up 10 years now (horror!)

Anyway, Nicola blocking out all blabbing from Amy made the connection in her chick-flick dominated brain that John Lithgow was mentioned and therefore Footloose was the film we should watch that afternoon when it was too hot to work.

When Andy returned from his week away from the house I said, "Hey Andy, have you seen Footloose? Well I HAVE." I then ranted for a good ten minutes about how I'd cooked my dinner and settled down to watch something while eating, glanced over the DVDs in the living room and realised after scanning them for a good minute or two (dinner is now cold) that there is not a single film there that I would EVER watch! Nicola and Laura's DVD collection is dire!! Dirty Dancting?! Flashdance!? Step Up to the Whatever- basically a million films about dancing...

The girls like 'lite' films, and a couple of days ago it was my choice and so looking at the selection of films I've brought with me to my new home I realised I didn't really have anything that would pass as 'lite' (How would you categorize The Elephant Man? -Romantic comedy?) so I chose Still Crazy (1998) and Nicola said when it ended "There was no romantic resolution!" To which I replied angrily; "It was never going to happen! She was always in love with Brian! And the resolution was that Jimmy Nail got to sing the song he co-wrote and Bill Nighy stopped being such a dick!!"

Anyway, back to Footloose. Kevin Bacon moves to a town where dancing is illegal. John Lithgow plays a preacher who hates dancing so Stan and Froggy and Kevin Bacon take him to see Singing in the Rain and they all dance home together.