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Until a few years ago, I hardly ever set foot inside a theatre, but now, it is almost a place of sheer excitement seeing people perform on stage and admiring their talent after paying an almost reasonable price for a ticket, and sitting in a row which is closer to the stalls rather than the front, and trying to avoid Mr Six Foot Six is in front of you, blocking your view, (something that doesn't enter the mind when doing the "standing ovation" five minutes before the end), but at least one doesn't get a stiff neck all the time looking up. Oh, and I do purchase a copy of the programme as well, as well get some of the souvenirs near the entrance of the theatre.
Just before my birthday at the end of August I travel around the country each year to a relevant theatre so I can see what I want to see on my birthday, and not have to see it at the Nottingham Theatre Royal when it isn't my birthday, or have to put up with the stalwarts that happen to be Opera North, Shakespeare or Andrew Lloyd-Webber productions that they happen to have on instead. I saw the odd pantomime locally when I was younger, but my tastes haver changed a bit in the 30 years since I did that.
I am often on the mailing list of many of the theatres around the country, and they send me brochures in the post to my address where many of them look fascinating (the Cliffs Pavilion, the Yvonne Arnaud, the Beck Theatre and others) - I visit various theatres around Britain each year, and seeing a performance at a theatre in a town I have never visited before really brings the exciting thrill of doing that - something that wouldn't happen if I stayed in Nottingham. I even get some of the cast's autographs when I can keep track of where they will be performing around the country, writing to them at other times of the year via the incumbent theatre.
I try not to go too local to the East Midlands and also not to go to too many of the London West End theatres (especially at the moment), but I always try and go for areas that I have never visited before, and the combination of what the local theatre for that area has anything interesting on there.
My favourite genre are musicals because one gets the best of everything in a performance - drama, comedy, singing, dancing, and straight acting. The cast are so talented due to their acting, singing, dancing and comedy - it has almost everything - singers who can act, and actors who can sing, a bit similar to pantomimes. And at times, it feels so sexy! I always want the original actor as mentioned on the musical's website and in the programme to perform, and often get concerned when an understudy takes their place as each actor has their own take on playing characters. The character - actor combination is important to keep up for the benefit of having the quality of the performance intact. It is really nice that an actor has agreed to become someone else in character for our own benefit and leave their own identity aside for a couple of hours, which is what acting is all about of course.
The writers and producers are excellent as well - I quite like a lot of Bill Kenwright's stuff - I saw the sequel to Dreamboats and Petticoats - Dreamboats and Miniskirts at the Congress Theatre in Eastbourne of all places for a Saturday afternoon matinee in 2014, and two years later, I saw Save the Last Dance for Me at the Hall for Cornwall in Truro in 2016 starring Antony Costa out of Blue (ironically a week after they were in my home town, but I wouldn't have seen it on my birthday if I saw it locally!) My motto is to travel around and you will get to see what you want on a day that you want rather staying in your hometown, although as a rule I mostly do this once a year for my birthday - seek and ye shall find!
I enjoyed Grease the Musical at the Milton Keynes Theatre in 2017 (cue Danielle Hope singing "You're the One That I want", while wearing enough black Lycra to keep the Tour de France going for several years). Not on my birthday, but I saw Footloose in Weston-super-Mare as well. I am aiming for Fame the Musical this year at the end of August, and that means heading down to the Bournemouth Pavilion to do that - I might just try and watch a few episodes of the original 1980s series to keep me abreast of the characters and so on (I am just about familiar with the character of Carmen from their website). Travelling around the country to different theatres (just like the cast does) is rather a bit of an anorak thing, I know, but I do get such a huge buzz when my birthday comes around and I make plans to do that - one makes comparisons with the woman who saw Les Misérables nearly 1,000 times of the years (something I wouldn't do), and someone who had booked a ticket for every performance to see Cannon and Ball in panto in Wales a few years ago.
Being familiar with the series Glee and the songs performed, I wouldn't mind seeing a touring musical version of that if one had been put together, and got a suitable cast together. I have been looking at the cast performances on YouTube which whets my appetite to be honest.
Do any of you go to the theatre, and if so, do you get to see any of the musicals, or do you go down the Shakespeare or opera route? (Again, something that I wouldn't do).
Just before my birthday at the end of August I travel around the country each year to a relevant theatre so I can see what I want to see on my birthday, and not have to see it at the Nottingham Theatre Royal when it isn't my birthday, or have to put up with the stalwarts that happen to be Opera North, Shakespeare or Andrew Lloyd-Webber productions that they happen to have on instead. I saw the odd pantomime locally when I was younger, but my tastes haver changed a bit in the 30 years since I did that.
I am often on the mailing list of many of the theatres around the country, and they send me brochures in the post to my address where many of them look fascinating (the Cliffs Pavilion, the Yvonne Arnaud, the Beck Theatre and others) - I visit various theatres around Britain each year, and seeing a performance at a theatre in a town I have never visited before really brings the exciting thrill of doing that - something that wouldn't happen if I stayed in Nottingham. I even get some of the cast's autographs when I can keep track of where they will be performing around the country, writing to them at other times of the year via the incumbent theatre.
I try not to go too local to the East Midlands and also not to go to too many of the London West End theatres (especially at the moment), but I always try and go for areas that I have never visited before, and the combination of what the local theatre for that area has anything interesting on there.
My favourite genre are musicals because one gets the best of everything in a performance - drama, comedy, singing, dancing, and straight acting. The cast are so talented due to their acting, singing, dancing and comedy - it has almost everything - singers who can act, and actors who can sing, a bit similar to pantomimes. And at times, it feels so sexy! I always want the original actor as mentioned on the musical's website and in the programme to perform, and often get concerned when an understudy takes their place as each actor has their own take on playing characters. The character - actor combination is important to keep up for the benefit of having the quality of the performance intact. It is really nice that an actor has agreed to become someone else in character for our own benefit and leave their own identity aside for a couple of hours, which is what acting is all about of course.
The writers and producers are excellent as well - I quite like a lot of Bill Kenwright's stuff - I saw the sequel to Dreamboats and Petticoats - Dreamboats and Miniskirts at the Congress Theatre in Eastbourne of all places for a Saturday afternoon matinee in 2014, and two years later, I saw Save the Last Dance for Me at the Hall for Cornwall in Truro in 2016 starring Antony Costa out of Blue (ironically a week after they were in my home town, but I wouldn't have seen it on my birthday if I saw it locally!) My motto is to travel around and you will get to see what you want on a day that you want rather staying in your hometown, although as a rule I mostly do this once a year for my birthday - seek and ye shall find!
I enjoyed Grease the Musical at the Milton Keynes Theatre in 2017 (cue Danielle Hope singing "You're the One That I want", while wearing enough black Lycra to keep the Tour de France going for several years). Not on my birthday, but I saw Footloose in Weston-super-Mare as well. I am aiming for Fame the Musical this year at the end of August, and that means heading down to the Bournemouth Pavilion to do that - I might just try and watch a few episodes of the original 1980s series to keep me abreast of the characters and so on (I am just about familiar with the character of Carmen from their website). Travelling around the country to different theatres (just like the cast does) is rather a bit of an anorak thing, I know, but I do get such a huge buzz when my birthday comes around and I make plans to do that - one makes comparisons with the woman who saw Les Misérables nearly 1,000 times of the years (something I wouldn't do), and someone who had booked a ticket for every performance to see Cannon and Ball in panto in Wales a few years ago.
Being familiar with the series Glee and the songs performed, I wouldn't mind seeing a touring musical version of that if one had been put together, and got a suitable cast together. I have been looking at the cast performances on YouTube which whets my appetite to be honest.
Do any of you go to the theatre, and if so, do you get to see any of the musicals, or do you go down the Shakespeare or opera route? (Again, something that I wouldn't do).
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