Becca Jane St Clair

Over the summer, my friend Dani stayed with us and one thing Dani and I have in common is that we are both Theatre Nerds. We’re both former theatre, choir, and band nerds and it’s just one of the many ways she and I connected. Anyway. She was staying with us for five weeks this Summer and one of the things she does when she’s back in the UK is attend theatre as much as she can and she asked me if I wanted to go with her to some of the shows…and then I added two to our list!

The first weekend Dani was here, we headed up the smoke and did a triple feature – two I had seen before and one that was new to me. A few years ago, Dani and I went to see Les Mis together, so it was only fitting we went to see it again. Neither one of us know how many times we have actually seen Les Mis (I frequently saw it on Broadway in the 90s and 00s), but it’s one that we both love. And we were NOT disappointed! Hilariously, we both turned to each other when Javert came on stage and whispered “We’re not supposed to think he’s hot!” But oh, was he ever:

Sam Oladeinde as Javert Photo By Danny Kaan*

Fortunately, he had a set of lungs to match and we both soon absolutely adored him. The entire cast was fantastic, and we truly enjoyed ourselves.

After Les Mis, we attempted to have a quick dinner at the Porcupine – a pub that I have frequented in the past who had no issues with my food allergies….until this time. I got to eat a side salad and a piece of burnt grilled chicken as they refused to accommodate me. Dani’s meal wasn’t any better and so they gave us 20% off our total bill, but frankly, we both felt as though they should have comped the whole meal.

Then it was on to show number 2…Oliver! This was my second time seeing it on the West End, third time in the UK as I previously saw it in 2008 when one of my favourite actors, Burn Gorman was Bill and Rowan Atkinson was Fagin and I saw it again in 2010 when it came to Lincoln. This time around, Simon Lipkin was Fagin and honestly, he’s become my favourite Fagin! He was superb and his ad-libbing was fantastic. We got to see him a few weeks before he left for paternity leave, so I’m happy we had the chance.

Simon Lipkin as Fagin (photo by me)

We spent the night in Stevenage (cheaper hotels if you stay outside central!) and we were back the following day for a new to me musical, Hadestown. My sister from another had been preaching the joys of Hadestown to me and had sent me the Broadway cast recording, so I was familiar with the music. Once again, I was not disappointed! What a fabulous show and an amazing start to Dani’s trip!

About a week later, we were off to Oxford to see Carrie Hope Fletcher in Waitress. Unfortunately, Carrie developed laryngitis and we saw the understudy instead…but we both still loved it. Dani had never seen the film, but I had, so it was interesting to see the way they turned it into a musical. I especially loved the pie crust curtain!

While we were making plans and discussing theatre trips, theatre ads pinged my algorithm. I attempted to get us tickets to see Sound of Music in Leeds, but unfortunately the only availability on the matinee (the only show we could get to without an overnight) was the very expensive seats and even though it was a touring company, I didn’t want to spend that kind of money for a show not in the West End. BUT, I did see ads for 9to5 in Peterborough and I quickly booked us tickets for that!

Dani hadn’t seen the film, so the day before we went to see the show we watched the film just so she would be familiar with the storyline. We had seats way up in the last row, which turned out to be an amazing spot to see everything from! The theatre wasn’t sold out and an usher told us we could move down if we wanted to, but we stayed where we were. 9to5 was amazing, and after Dolly’s death later in the month, I was really glad we had seen it when we had.

The other show I booked for us was actually a play – the Market Deeping Railway Society – AND I got Tim to go! This probably deserves it’s own blog post, but the Market Deeping Railway Society play is about real events where a railway club’s exhibition was vandalized. Market Deeping and the location of the show isn’t that far from where we live, so we were familiar with the story. We loved the show and it was surprising to me to see Adrian Scarborough in the lead role!

The curtain was neat as it even featured a model railway going back and forth and even the scene changes showcased model railways. For Tim and I, the best part was at the end, where they brought out the actual layout that had been broken and repaired for people to come up and see.

It was good to have Tim join us as he isn’t really a musical fan and the only musicals we have gone to together have been Spamalot with his siblings and Oliver! when Burn Gorman was in it. Other than that, I’m pretty much on my own for musicals!

It was coming towards the end of Dani’s trip and she was spending the week before she left down in London to see more shows and she decided to invite me down for the first show of her last week…Cabaret. Dani further surprised me by booking us the VIP experience which included early access to a private bar for (included) drinks and canapes. Dani even told them about my allergies and they made me special food! They put a sticker on your phone camera as photos are not permitted inside the Kit Kat Klub, but the show and the whole experience is well worth it!

I rounded out my Summer of theatre by seeing Waitress again, this time in Nottingham and with Carrie Hope Fletcher performing. The theatre itself was not suited for musicals (even the actors commented on it!) but it was still a great show and I was thrilled to have finally seen Carrie.

I can’t wait to see what show shenanigans Dani books us for next summer!!!!

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*Photo By Danny Kaan, courtesy of the official Les Mis website

The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission.

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