Where's the Theatrical Gone?

The observant amongst you will have noticed that the name of this blog has changed. It's a very small change, just one word (and the URL is exactly the same), but Theatrical Adventures of an Onion is now Adventures of an Onion. Don't worry, I'm not dropping the theatrical - those of you who know me are well aware that I could never do that! I just want to open the blog up a bit to discuss film, TV and other popular (or not so popular) culture topics as well as theatre. So, welcome to Adventures of an Onion! I hope you continue to enjoy my adventures and I'd love you to share your own with me and my readers too.

Brief Musings on La Cage Aux Folles

My first theatrical outing of February was to see La Cage Aux Folles at the New Theatre, Cardiff. I probably wouldn't have bothered going, having seen the wonderful version in London years ago starring John Barrowman, but my Dad wanted to as he'd never seen it before and I certainly wasn't going to object to seeing it again. I was a little worried that it wouldn't live up to my previous experience but I actually really enjoyed it. As it's not one of those shows who's soundtrack I play on repeat I'd forgotten how great the music is, and the cast performed it brilliantly. The big chorus numbers were particularly impressive and the cast in full flight all singing together was quite the sound. However, this was a Bill Kenwright production and came with the rough around the edges feel that I've unfortunately come to expect from this production company - costumes not staying done up, dancers not drilled well enough - a shame really as this cast deserves better. Still a good night out though.

February Roundup

I'm rather late posting this, I know, but here's my round up of theatre and films attended in February, complete with links to my reviews, tweets, blog posts, or podcasts that I've guest appeared on relating to them:

La Cage Aux Folles, New Theatre, Cardiff (2 February)

Lego Batman, Vue, Cardiff (5 February)

T2 Trainspotting, Vue, Cardiff (5 February)

Meet Fred, Soar Centre, Penygraig (6 February)

Sinners Club, The Other Room, Cardiff (16 February)

Cinderella, Phoenix Theatre, Ton Pentre (24 February)

The Wedding Singer, New Theatre, Cardiff (27 February)

La La Land and the Top 5 Musicals of All Time

Ross Keniston - writer, presenter, interviewer...and my partner! - has just launched his brand new venture, Micstand. It starts with weekly podcasts talking about, well, whatever people want to talk about really. For week one he wanted to discuss La La Land and, since he and I saw the film together and disagree on rather a lot of points, he asked me to be his first guest. I hope our discussion is of interest to people and I'd love to hear other people's views on the film. Do you agree with Ross, me or have an entirely different view? Have a listen to the podcast and get in touch with your thoughts.

For the second part, we shared our personal top five favourite musicals of all time. I won't list them here, you'll need to listen to the podcast, but again I'd love to chat to you about your own personal top fives, what you think we missed and what you think we definitely shouldn't have included. Leave a comment or get in touch.

There are plenty of ways you can listen to the podcast. It's on Mixcloud, YouTube and iTunes so there's no excuses - listen now! Oh, and you can follow Micstand on Twitter too!

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!

Play/Silence

My first reviewing assignment of 2016 for The Reviews Hub: Play/Silence at The Other Room, Cardiff. Have a read here:

http://www.thereviewshub.com/playsilence-the-other-room-cardiff/

I just wish I'd recorded myself and my friend discussing, comparing and contrasting the plays in the pub afterwards (well if you're going to go to a pub theatre it seems only right to enjoy the pub as well as the theatre). I think our chat would have made quite an interesting blog post...but instead it will have to remain in the pub. Maybe next time!