Why I love theatre...

I haven’t been blogging for a while now, I’m so sorry, but I’ve decided to pick back up where I left off…

And maybe it’s about time to talk about my ‘theatre addiction’.

What is about about theatre that makes it so special? What is it about theatre that makes it fuel my energy level? What is the difference with going to see a movie? What kind of theatre do I like, and why?

It might be interesting to share these thoughts.

I think of my self as a theatre-collector, I try to hunt down those special performances that just stick with you for a lifetime… Because, after all, some plays and shows one has seen, one hardly remember them after a few years. And there are other, when you think about them years after, you can still see them before your eyes, feel how you felt, how the show made you feel, and it does feel like magic.

First of all, nothing beats live theatre, not one performance is the same, sometimes differences in the cast, and always a different audience. It is a unique experience that particular audience shares, just one time. They audience comes together, shares the same experience and they part, going back home. I say sharing the same experience, but the person sitting next to you, might feel totally different about a show than you do. One time I was sitting next to a lady at the Les Miserables staged concert, and we both cried a lot! Except, while she was crying, I was OK, and vice versa, when I was bawling my eyes out, she seemed to be fine! Isn’t that just marvellous? And we both ended up having a great, and a very personal experience.

As I reminisce, looking back to more than 30 years of visisting the West End, my favorite shows are all plays. I love musical theatre, but looking back my favorites are all plays. I think great acting just does something for me. It just triggers something inside me, no other way to say it.

So, let me talk a bit about those favorites of mine.

The first is ‘Amadeus’ the 1998 Old Vic production with David Suchet as Salieri and Michael Sheen as Mozart. I still remember getting a half price ticket at the Leicester Square booth (now TKTS) and sitting stalls second row, and very central seats. Most of all I remember David Suchets performance, it was mesmerising, the way he switched from an old Saliere to the flashback, was out of this world. But the whole production, so so so perfect, the craziness and playfulness of Sheens Amadeus, the whole cast, the set design… everything was 100% perfection.

The next was 2019, and I’m talking about ‘Cyrano’ , the Jamie Lloyd directed play with James McAvoy as Cyrano. I didn’t know that I would like such a modern, ‘bare’ production, no real set, but a bare stage, no costumes, no ‘nose’ for Cyrano. Beforehand I liked the classic plays like Amadeus was, with all the sets and costumes and wigs. How on earth could one imagine James McAvoy as ‘ugly’. The answer is of course, with great acting! It was so fresh, so different, such a clever script, and most of all, it was sexy. It felt at times, just words echoing through the theatre with that amazing Scottish accent, words that just melted your insides…

The third one is a recent one, and it’s Andrew Scotts ‘Vanya’ (09/2023) Vanya is a Chekhov play, and I was a bit hesitant beforehand if I would like it, as I had a terrible and extremely dull experience with ‘The Seagull’. Modern formats of a play don’t always work. But I’ve always liked Andrew Scott as an artist, and he has been on my bucket list of ‘must sees’ for a while now. Andrew played all 9 characters in this play. So I knew beforehand it would be a totally new way to perform ‘Uncle Vanya’. He just portrays one character crying and totally upset, and switches playful to the next. I just loves how he, as an actor, just delves out of his own emotions, and plays around with them. It was incredible to watch... just a masterpiece. I was sitting in the second row stalls, and when he was crying, I just wanted to reach out and comfort him, I don’t think any play has had the same effect on me.

If drama is like playing the piano, and to be able to play all the range of emotions,like the black and the white keys of the piano... than Andrew Scott is Mozart! Just playful, making it look so easy and natural…

All 3 of these plays gave me an emotional reaction, Amadeus just ‘awe’, Cyrano ‘sexiness’ and ‘Vanya’ empathy…

I think that’s my ‘key’ for liking a performance.

I like to compare it to a ball of energy inside me, just in my chest, a ball of raw energy. The ball reacts to what happens on stage. Sometimes I can feel it grow and becoming a huge ball of sadness that makes me cry. Sometimes it just pulls me forward, to what happens on stage, and I barely realise there are other people sitting behind me. It can make me happy, it can make me sad, it just makes me ‘feel’.

I think the theatre is a safe space to feel… In a world where we aren’t allowed to feel most of the time, where society orders up to ‘keep on going’, theatre is a place to just be, to just feel, to be allowed to be human. In that way, theatre can be a kind of therapy.

I’ll keep on collecting plays and musicals as very special memories. Keep them in my head as my special ‘friends’, and remember them, always…

50 shows 4 my 50th birthday

13th October 2021, I set myself a goal, the year I was 50 I would see 50 shows! It could be a musical, theatre, concert, stand-up comedy, circus… it would all be good. So I had time untill 12/10/22 to reach my goal. Some people give a party for their 50th, I prefered to spoil myself with what I like best, all kind of live performances.

During the first half year, it seemed I wouldn’t reach my goal. Theatres in Belgium and The Netherlands had to close down again due to the pandemic, and lots of shows were postponed. Some as far as 2023. Trips to London became difficult due travelling in a storm, or during a train strike, but both these times I managed to get there somehow. And I got sick myself a few times, one time I had to travel back from London due to a bad infection and one time I got Covid.

But the second half of that year I managed to see a lot of shows, and things started to go lovely and smooth. Even ‘stage dooring’ came back to life after the pandamic.

Did I manage to see 50 shows? Yes, I did! I even managed to see 55!

To put it in numbers, I have seen:

55 shows in total, 8 in Belgium, 1 in The Netherlands and 46 in London.

34 musicals, 12 plays, 7 concerts, 1 stand-up comedy show and 1 interactive experience.

I did see some show multiple times, I’ve see & Juliet and Dear Evan Hansen 6 times each. I’ve been to back to the future 3 times. And I visited both Cinderella and Oklahoma twice.

I’ve seen 6 of my favorite actors (and some of them multiple times): Carrie Hope Fletcher, Eddie Redmayne, Bill Pullman, Marisha Wallace, Sam Tutty, and Willemijn Verkaik.

I’ve seen 3 shows I really didn’t like: The Seagull, Moulin Rouge and Dirty Dancing.

I absolutely fell in love with one musical, Dear Evan Hansen.

I’ve see two shows that were exceptionally good, like almost out of this world good: Cabaret and Mad House. Those two end up on my ‘the best of the best list’ and they join Amadeus and Cyrano, so that makes 4 of the best of the best shows I have ever seen, and two of them I saw during this last year. That alone makes this year a total succes for me!

So here’s the total list of shows I’ve seen:

Cinderella, & Juliet, Leopoldstadt, The last 5 years, The Mousetrap, Back to the future, Frozen, Les Miserables, Dear Evan Hansen, Luka Bloom, Moulin Rouge, Cabaret, Doctor Who Time Fracture, Henry V, The ocean at the end of the lane, Dirty Dancing, Come from away, Dadi Freyr, Cock, Bonnie & Clyde, Get up stand up, Oklahoma, Sarah Millican, Cristina Branco, Post Modern Jukebox, Soulsister, The glass menagerie, Harry Potter and the cursed child, Mamma Mia, The Seagull, Hamilton, Six, Heathers, Sister Act, The trials, Abba Voyage, Mad House, 2:22 a ghost story, The lion the with and the wardrobe, Pirates of the carribean concert, and Josephine B

It has been an amazing year! I know I am very fortunate to be able to see them all. After lockdown, I still had a difficult time when theatres reopend in London, but I wasn’t allowed to travel there. Things we took for granted were taken form us. Life has become uncertain and we have to learn to live with these uncertainties. It now seems it is even more special to meet like-minded people in a theatre or at stage door, and to be able to talk face to face to people about our mutual interests. It’s so much fun to meet people and find them the day afterwards on facebook, or vice-versa, sitting next to someone who recognises me from a facebook group.

What have I learned form going to the theatre that much. Well, a few things.

I really love it to see my favorite shows multiple times, and it is very interesting to see other actors in some roles, and different interpretations, or interactions within the same role. It also made it very clear to me that I do have ‘favorite actors’ and the feeling of being dissapointed when they aren’t ‘on’ for that performance left me with mixed feelings. I really want to give understudies a chance, and some are amazing performers. But when a certain performer blew me away, I really want to see that performance again. And I become very ‘faithful’ with my following of their carreer and wanting to see everything they are in.

Even if I have seen a lot of performances, they still remain special for me. I will never take theatre for granted. It is a magical space where for a few hours it becomes a world of it’s own. Storytelling is so important for us, some stories as escapism, so stories as therapy, some stories to reflect about life, some stories to shock us and face reality,… Every performance is unique, every audience is unique. I will always feel grateful to have been a part of it.

And it fills my heart with joy that we can, once again, meet actors at stage door. It just gives it a little bit of extra sparkle. Just to be totally clear, actors don’t ‘have’ to do stage door, it’s not part of their job. So I really, really appreciate the time they give when they do. I cherish my signed theatre programs!

The thing I also learned is that I love West-End theatre… like, I already knew for for quite some time, but this year it became clear, once again, that Belgium isn’t a country with a high quality of musical theatre. I do my best to try sometimes, but it just leaves me feeling very frustrated. I’d rather watch shows in the Netherlands, where the quality of their ‘Come from Away’ was as good as in London, even translated in Dutch.

So, have I ‘recovered’ from the shock of turning 50? Yes, I have. I hope I can see lots more amazing plays and musicals in the second half of my life, I know theatre is a love in my life who will remain with me till the end. I can’t wait for all that’s to come! With every new announcement of a show I get excited, I know I can’t see them all, and that I live too far away to see them all, but I love the diversity of shows to come! Thank you threatre Gods ;-)

& Juliet

Shaftesbury Theatre, London, stalls E10

When I started doing theatre trips to London, 30 years ago, I always rushed to Leicester Square, to the half price ticket booth, to see the offers and get some tickets. Nowadays, getting decent bargain tickets is a bit easier. TodayTix had online rush tickets, but for & Juliet I missed out on those. So I bought my ticket with TKTS online, TKTS is the old half price ticket booth from days gone past, but they now also have online tickets. It isn't really half price anymore, I got 40% off my stalls ticket, but it still was a good offer.

So seeing & Juliet was a last minute decision, and I really didn't know what to expect from this show. Beforehand I had mixed feeling whether or not I was going to like it. I really prefer original musicals instead a jukebox musicals, where they use hits of artists in the show. The songs of & Juliet are all by Max Martin. If you are going to make a jukebox musical, do it like they made & Juliet, it is perfect!

It is original, it is fun, it is modern, it is like like a glass of champagne bubbling away! It starts with introducing Shakespeare who just wrote Romeo & Juliet, and his wife Anne Hathaway, just didn't like the ending, so... she decides to change it! So what if Juliet didn't die? What would she do? Would she be able to follow her own path? Does she gets the chance to love again? Has she got enough 'girl power'? So we get a whole lot of unexpected twists and turns, filled with great songs, and a lot of laughs.

The whole cast was just unbelievable good! I didn't get to see Miriam-Teak Lee as Juliet, so I have to go back to see her in that role. There are a whole lot of performers I loved and I'll keep my eyes out for their future performances, like Cassidy Janson, who played Anne, and Alex Thomas-Smits, who played May. Oliver Tompsett, who played Shakespeare, has also left a lasting impression.

I know when a show is really, like really, really good, when I want to book new tickets during the interval. And for this one, I really can't wait to see this again! I also want to bring along family and friends to see it, just to also give them that buzzing, happy feeling when you've seen this show. This is just one of those feel good shows. I get a smile on my face just thinking about it.

I also added the original cast recording to my spotify list, it is so good.

This is a 5 star show and I'm sure I' going to watch it again!

Cinderella

15/10/21 stalls L70

This is the show I have been looking forward to the longest!

This is the show that broke my heart because I had to miss it's opening weekend.

From the announcement of the workshop for Cinderella in April 2019, I kept my fingers crossed that Carrie Hope Fletcher would also be offered the part of Cinderella, and it happened.! Her first principal role in a new musical, and by Andrew Lloyd Webber no less, and the opportunity to be on the original cast recording. It all sounded pretty great!

And then Covid happened and my tickets had to be postponed a lot, like really, really, really a lot. I also missed out on the opening weekend because of travel restrictions. So when I finally made my way to the Gillian Lynne theatre in London, 15 October 2021, I couldn't believe my luck.

It certainly is a very entertaining night out, but does it takes us to a “ball”?

Is it important for girls to be strong, powerful and independant? Yes, it is. Is it Ok to be different, in size, style of dresscode? Yes it is. Is it Ok to say no to the whole beauty industry? Yes it is. Did girls and woman get objectified in the past, and is it Ok now do the same with boys and men? No, sorry it isn't... And yes, I am now talking about the half naked hunks on stage. So Emerald Fennell, who wrote the story and the book, totally reinvented the whole Cinderella story, into something new and unexpected. I can't say I'm in love with the result, even though I get the idea behind it. Girls nowadays just don't have to wait for prince charming to come along, but they can explore the world the way they want to!

The cast, they are simply all amazing, and perfectly cast in their roles, what a group of powerful voices! Carrie Hope Fletcher is a perfect Cinderella, she just puts so much soul and emotion in her performances. Every song sounds very recognisable as a Andrew Lloyd Webber song, and he remains my favorite composer. The ballads of this show are so dreamy, with my favorite 'I know I have a heart' on top, that song lingered in my head for so long, Carrie's voice, that dress, that lighting... just perfect! Ivano Turco's 'Only you, lonely you' was fragile and beautiful. There sure are a lot of songs that are on my playlist and will remain there, because I just love them. The ball itself, after the interval, wow, such fun! I wished I could join them waltzing the night away. But I will stop talking about that -spoilers-

The costumes are all glitzy and glamorous, beauty has a price and you can certainly see it in the costumes and the 'OMG' shoes!

But, will this show be a long running West End show? I don't think so... and the problem for me is the book. I am not into the storyline. It is like there are too much 'important actual themes' woven into the storyline, that it simply covers up the story too much.

I would love to go see this show multiple times, but to be fair, only to see Carrie Hope Fletcher perform, not so much for the show itself. I still give this show 4 stars!

Phantom Of the Opera

– Her majesty's theatre- London 20/09/21 Stalls A 26

On my first ever trip to London -a long time ago- I went to see Phantom of the opera. I had a seat all up in the gods with a terrible restricted view, but I loved the show! Later on I went to see it two more times. It remained one of my favorites.

So now in 2021, twenty years after my last visit, I find myself in her majesty's theatre, in the front row. For my 4th visit to Phantom, I just couldn't wait to see that chandelier falling straight at me...

As it was 20 years ago when I saw the original production, I really can't compare the old with the new. They have cut down a lot of musicians, and altered a few scenes I think.

I really can't review this show as I normally would, because right at the beginning of act 2, I had a panic attack. I was feeling uncomfortable in my seat from the first minute. The seats are very narrow, and there isn't much leg room in that first row, you are sitting with your knees against the orchestra pit. The person sitting next to me was also quite large and squished me in my seat even more, and wearing a face mask didn't help either. I really couldn't move and all I could think of was 'what if I get sick and have to get out of this row'. I managed to stay in my seat and concentrated on my breathing, but I really couldn't enjoy the show.

So what were the few impressions that I had?

The costumes up close are so amazing! All that detail, all that beading, for the costumes it really is a plus if you are sitting so close to where the action is. I really liked Killian Donnely's version of phantom, strong and threatening where he has to, and broken and fragile in other moments. The falling of the chandelier was really something from the front row, real scary!

I know I was totally wowed by Phantom of the opera all those years ago, I wasn't this time. I have been thinking what may have caused it, but I can only guess. I have seen so many amazing shows over the years, I may be a little more difficult to wow these days? I still absolutely love the music, but it didn't have that big powerful impact on me like it used to have, it may be caused by the smaller orchestra? Maybe front row for Phantom isn't that good, as “Masquerade” and the boatscene with the candles, miss a bit of their effect. A person also changes over the years, and my likes and dislikes may have been changed. Or maybe it was just me, feeling not 100%....

I still give Phantom 4 out of 5 stars, as it remains what it is, one of the truly great musicals in theatre history!88

Anything Goes

Barbican London 19/09/21 Stalls Row A seat 9

How do you describe pure perfection? How do you describe the feeling of pure joy that lingers in your heart for hours after you leave the theatre? If you would like to get an idea of what perfection looks like, go and watch “Anything Goes” in the Barbican before it's too late!

I had very high expectations beforehand. And sometimes those high expectation can't be met, but this time, oh boy!

It is an old school musical, “Anything Goes”, back then, the songs came first, and the story was written around those songs. So it's natural the Cole Porter songs are stage center. I just love the atmosphere of those old songs, I would just love to put on a ballgown and quickstep the night away.

I didn't expect much of the storyline, but it is fun, full of comical twists and turns, and of course with a very happy ending!

So what is needed to make “Anything Goes” this kind of perfect show? Some great actors with good comical timing: the amazing Robert Lindsay, and Felicity Kendal and Gary Wilmot: check! A couple of star eyed lovers: Samuel Edwards and Nicole-Lily Baisden: check! Some really funny characters like Erma and Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, played by Carly mercedes Dyer and Haydn Oakley: check An incredible ensemble, high energy singers and dancers: check! And a star, and what kind of star!!! Reno Sweeney played by Sutton Foster!

Miss Sutton Foster is a triple threat, her acting is superb, her singing perfect and her dancing, wow, she can tap like the best! But besides that, she has a quality beyond that, and that is a real charismatic presence. She just ooses joy, her energy towards all the other cast members is electric, a wink here, a smile there... And she 'playes' the audience, she has the audience in the palm of her hand.

The best theatre is about energy, its the subtle exchange of energy between the stage and the audience. And with “Anything Goes” the energy was pure, pure joy. If you are a bit down and need a boost, this is the show for you.

If I could I would have seen this show multiple times, this is one I would love to have on DVD. So after coming home, I ordered the CD online to catch a bit of this magic. It is the broadway cast instead of the London cast, but it's better than nothing.

I am sure I will remember this show for the rest of my life, I am utterly grateful to have seen it. It gets 5 stars from me!

The only slight problem I have now... I would really want to go to Broadway to see more of Sutton Foster. She will star in “The music man” on Broadway soon, I would love to go...

Hairspray

London Coliseum 18/09/21 Upper Circle Row E seat 2

After a matinee performance of 'The Prince of Egypt', and a drink in the Theatre Café, it was finally time to go and see “Hairspray”! It was one of the shows I was looking forward to, and because the run of this show is almost finished, I was really content to get to London in time to see it.

Why was I looking forward to it? I really like the songs, I like the story, and some of my favorite performers are in this show so it seemed a win/win/win situation.There aren't that many fun, uplifting shows who have a deeper message. It's story is the story of Baltimore in the sixties, in a time when segragation still existed. But it's a story about all kinds of prejudice, also about fat-shaming and not including people because of how they look. It's a story about being yourself, and defending what you believe in. It is also a story about love, young puppy love / loving your spouse even when they grow older and most of all, loving yourself.