Take That Appear at The Band in Cardiff

My theatrical adventures of 2018 started last night with an unplanned visit to see The Band at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff. I'll blog about the show itself in another post but for now I just want to share the bigger adventure that resulted from this last minute visit.

To be honest, I wasn't that interested in seeing the show. I didn't follow the tv programme to find the band that appear in the show and, although I LOVED Take That as a teenager, it just hadn't grabbed me for some reason. But then, the opportunity to acquire a pair of tickets for Tuesday night came my way and I thought why not give it a go. The problem was this ticket opportunity didn't arise until Monday so finding someone to go with proved impossible at such short notice. I very nearly gave it a miss myself but instead I decided to go it alone.

How gutted would I have been had I not grabbed that opportunity, because none other than Take That themselves appeared for the encore! Now, I know they've been doing this at quite a few venues and, looking back at social media now, there were some not so subtle hints that they might turn up in Cardiff, but to me it was a complete surprise. As Mark Owen appeared on that stage my inner teenager freaked out a little bit, and by the time he was joined by Gary Barlow and Howard Donald teenaged Onion was freaking out quite a lot! I'd never seen them live so to have them appear unexpectedly in front of me was quite a moment. To be honest, I can't even tell you what the first song they did was! Luckily I got my brain back together for Never Forget and Shine. Okay, I might not have been screaming the loudest or dancing and waving my arms the most - I was on my own after all - but I was one happy Onion!

So grab those moments, go on the adventures, even if you're on your own. You never know, Take That might appear!

January Roundup

Here's the shows, a comedy gig and a film that I've seen in January 2017 with links to reviews, podcasts and tweets from me about them:

Mary Poppins, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff (5 January)

Peter Pan, New Theatre, Cardiff (6 January)

Impractical Jokers Santiago Sent Us tour, Manchester Arena (12 January)

La La Land, Vue, Cardiff (16 January)

Sunny Afternoon, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff (17 January)

A Regular Little Houdini, Chapter, Cardiff (27 January)

Theatrical New Year's Resolutions - One Year On

I'd completely forgotten about my blog post from last January, Theatrical New Year's Resolutions, until I just happened upon it. Considering, I haven't done too badly at sticking to it. The gist of it was to see more theatre, particularly Welsh theatre, but theatre in general - as much and as varied as possible.

Let's start with the productions that I've covered for The Reviews Hub. I completed just 7 reviews in 2015 and 18 in 2016...that's definitely seeing more theatre! Here's what I covered:

Play/Silence – The Other Room, Cardiff

Henry VI – Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff

Sand – The Other Room, Porter’s, Cardiff

Smash It Up – Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff

St. Nicholas – The Other Room, Cardiff

Mr. and Mrs. Laughton – Sherman Theatre, Cardiff

Cosy – Weston Studio, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff

Only The Brave – Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff

Tell Me on a Sunday – New Theatre, Cardiff

Jem & Ella – Sherman Theatre, Cardiff

Constellation Street – The Other Room, Porter’s, Cardiff

Mrs Reynolds a’r Cena Bach (Mrs Reynolds and the Ruffian) – Sherman Theatre, Cardiff

The Importance of Being Earnest – The Gate Arts Centre, Cardiff

A Sunny Disposition -The Other Room, Porter’s, Cardiff

Black Stuff – Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff

Blavatsky’s Tower– Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff

Before I Leave – Sherman Theatre, Cardiff

Swarm – Bute Town History and Arts Centre, Cardiff

I'm really pleased with the increase in reviews I was able to write last year but I haven't reviewed anything since August! Imagine if I'd kept up that momentum all year! So that's the aim in 2017, keep reviewing all year.

There are plenty of Welsh productions on that list, which is great and something that I'd like to keep up this year. I'm most proud of my first ever review of a Welsh language production, and thanks to one of my fantastic editors, it was published bilingually - a first for The Public Reviews!

Of course I saw plenty of productions that I wasn't reviewing but I'm rather rubbish at remembering what I've seen when so that's another aim for 2017 - keep a record of every processional production that I see.

I had two big theatrical adventures that I intend devoting separate blog posts to. I got my first experience of the Edinburgh Fringe last year thanks to a certain cloth puppet called Fred, and an epic weekend in London involving No Man's Land, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and Lazarus was our holiday.

I'm really lucky that working on Hijinx Unity Festival means that I get to see some fantastic international theatre and call it work. The highlight of the 2016 festival was easily Falling in Love with Frida - spellbinding from start to finish!

There is one that will definitely stick in my mind from last year. I had a very proud dance teacher moment seeing one of my girls dancing in the RCT Theatres pantomime, Dick Whittington!

I also intended blogging more in 2016 and didn't make it past January so let's see if I can do better with that too!

Mike Thomas - Different Man EP

Many moons ago in my teenage years I joined a group called the Rhondda Rock Choir and Orchestra, which is where I first became friendly with the incredibly talented Michael Thomas. Even back then when we were kids he was a budding singer/songwritter. I remember well scratching away on my violin in amongst the rest of the orchestra accompanying him singing a song he'd written himself. Tho rock orchestra may no longer exisit and my violin playing days are well and truly over but Michael has gone from strength to strength. I am very proud to say his first EP entitled Different Man is out now!

The EP kicks off with the upbeat Don't Wanna Play Anymore. The changes in rhythm and timing make it fun and interesting to listen to and there's something about the arrangement that puts me in mind of some of The Beatles songs. In a complete change of feel, the title track Different Man transports the listener to the winding down phase at the end of the evening in a smokey jazz club.

(You'll Always Be) A Better Man is by far my favourite track. Even without Michael telling me I instantly knew that this song was very personal to him. He has pitched the lyrics perfectly to not only make it sound personal to him but also be personal to the listener. I defy anyone not to relate to this song. It really is beautiful and even if you only listen to one of his songs, listen to this one.

Picking up the pace again, Since the Angels Left the Tower also uses interesting rhythms to keep the listener hooked. Although it's still a great song, it's probably my least favourite track on the EP.

I know this will probably mean nothing to most of the people reading this but it's what pops into my head every time I hear the final track, Marsha Brady. It outs me in mind of a band called Brothers in Sound. It's not exactly their style but there's something about Michael's sound in this song that reminds me of them. Anyway, I liked them so it's a compliment!

Michael will probably be mortified with what I'm about to say but a lot of the reasons why I list musical theatre performers as my favourite artists are the same reasons I love listening to Michael sing. I'm not talking about cheese and jazz hands - he couldn't be further from that. In musical theatre the songs are often an integral part of the story telling so it is important that every word be understood. Michael writes lyrics that tell stories and describe situations and emotions that the listener can relate to and he sings them so that every word can be hears. He, like my favourite musical theatre performers, also beautifully expresses the meaning of the lyrics in his vocals, conveying the emotion behind each line.

It's refreshing to hear an artist producing new songs that don't conform to normality, experimenting with styles and rhythms to create a fantastic sound that is like no-one else out there at the moment...but don't just take my word for it. You can get a taste for Michael's music on his myspace page:
http://www.myspace.com/mikethomasmusic
And you can catch him singing live tomorrow (Thursday 30th June) as part of the Unity Festival's cabaret night in ffresh Bar at the Wales Millennium Centre. The evening kicks off at 8.30pm with Michael's set at about 9pm.

Mike Thomas, Different Man is available to download from iTunes now for the bargain price of £3.95:
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/different-man/id438355145?i=438355177&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Margaret John

At around 2am on the second day of the second month Wales lost a national treasure in the wonderful actress, Margaret John. Recently, she has had the whole of Britain in fits of laughter with her portrayal of Doris in Gavin and Stacey, but in Wales I think she will always be remembered as Mrs Hepplewhite - everyone's favourite Mam! For those of you that don't know the Welsh comedy series High Hopes, the motherly relationship of Margaret's character with her agoraphobic, conman son and his two apprentices won the hearts of the nation, to the extent that people wanted to hug her in the street! Mrs Hepplewhite was full of tales from her past as an exotic dancer, told in that sweet old lady kind of way that Margaret performed to perfection. Not forgetting the totally innocent delivery of classic lines such as (when talking about aliens):

"You know, Richard, I fear the moment they come knocking on our door with their testicles!"

Of course, there was far more to Margaret's repetoire than just eccentric old women. She had a highly successful television and theatre career that spanned over fifty years. I was lucky enough to catch her playing Lady Cravenshire in Calender Girls at the Wales Millennium Centre last year, and she made a huge impression with such a small role. Her stage presence was incomparable and my only complaint was that it was indeed such a small role. With Jean Boht being rather a disappointment in the role of Jessie, in an otherwise fantastic production, I couldn't help but sit there and think how wonderful it would have been to see Margaret playing that part.

The huge number of tributes on social networking sites are testament to her popularity, with moving messages from her fans, friends and co-stars alike. She was a true star and will be sadly missed.