An observed story part 4

Tonight I overheard one half of a conversation that somewhat changes our timeline. A man on the train was on the phone to a girl that he is involved with, called Sarah - so Peter's girlfriend now has a name. Various things transpired through the course of our journey. There was a story of a present that she'd really wanted so he bought it for her before they were meant to meet for a date but she stood him up so he gave it to a complete stranger. There was a man in prison that she was afraid of - sounds like Sarah's attempt to frame Peter for breaking into her house worked and now he's in jail and not happy about it! There were also some issues involving Facebook and since part of our story involves Peter and Phil finding each other on Facebook maybe Sarah's latest victim is Phil. So joining the dots, our story begins with a Facebook friend request. Peter and Phil, two old school friends, find each other on Facebook then randomly bump into each other not long after. Phil joins Peter, Evan and Sarah for a night out for Peter's birthday but ends up going home with Sarah.  The next day Sarah convinces someone to break her door down then publicly accuses Peter of breaking into her house. He's arrested and sent to prison. Any idea where the dead magician comes into all this?

An observed story part 3

Tonight on the train I met Peter's brother,  Evan. What I learned about Evan is that, when drunk he is very happy, friendly and trusting to the point of giving me hid phone and then nearly getting off the train without it! I think since he was the one that kept getting hit by Peter's girlfriend that the trusting nievity is there when he's sober too. I'm glad he now has a name so that we don't have to keep referring to him as Peter's brother.
I also overhead a lovely encounter as two lads that haven't seen each other since they were at school bumped into each other. This could be a nice positive thing to happen to Peter since it's all been pretty glum for him so far.  All I really learned is that Peter and Phil were in the same year at school, they've recently become Facebook friends,  Peter has put on weight since school and Phil was quiet at school.
Another couple of pieces of the puzzle slot into place.

An observed story part 2

This evening there has been another development. As well as being a people watcher I am also a magnet for random people who want to talk and tonight I had one of those. As I walked passed a man (carrying what looked like a large clear plastic bag if clothes) and woman talking in the street the man started walking away from the woman in the same direction as me, still talking away I assumed to the woman but then I realised he was talking to me! "I can't do it" he said. I made some non committal noise of agreement as seems to be suitable when a random person starts talking to you and you have no idea what they're on about. He continued to explain to me that he couldn't break the woman's door down. She could call the police and accuse him. Seemed to be a fair enough reason not to do it but I'm still not entirely sure why I needed to know this. Anyway, could it be that Peter's girlfriend tried to convince someone to break her door down then accused Peter and his brother of breaking in?

An observed story part 1

Life itself is full of theatrical adventures and I love to people watch. Commuting to work by train I overhear a lot of snippets of conversations and have wondered if these snippets could be pieced together into a story. Take Monday,  as a man and I crossed on the stairs I heard the following fantastic sentence:
"When he died he left my brother and I a load of magic tricks but no instructions."
Instantly we have three characters; a desd magician and two brothers with a load of magic tricks they can't perform!
I then went to the cash point and sitting on there was a yellow envelope, looked like a birthday card, addressed to Peter. Is Peter one of our brothers?  Does he know he's lost his birthday card?
Fast forward to today and two men are waiting at the train station (our brothers maybe) when a woman appears from nowhere and starts shouting and swearing at them. Most of it seems to be aimed at the one (Peter?) but the other isn't so quick to get out of the way so gets hit twice! When the police arrive it transpires that her home has been broken into and she thinks they did it but our Peter character shouts before making his get away that she was with another man last night. So is this Peter's girlfriend?  Did they go out for his birthday and she went off with another man? Is that why he abandoned his birthday card at the cashpoint? And who broke into her house? I have no idea but it might be fun finding out.

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

Sheytoons at the Dublin Castle

A while back I got a message from a friend asking if I was free Easter weekend and did I fancy going to London. I said yes...then asked what we'd be doing! So I found myself spending Easter Sunday at a Sheytoons gig, a band that I hadn't heard of until we started planning this little adventure; although in my defence they are relatively new having started out last summer.

Sheytoons are an indie folk-rock band fronted by Ramin Karimloo and Hadley Fraser. Any musical theatre fan like me will be familiar with the amazingly talented Ramin Karimloo who is currently playing the Phantom in Love Never Dies. I was pretty sure that in his capable hands I was in for a good night (my YouTube stalking backed this up) and I was quite excited about seeing him live for the first time - he did not disappoint. What did disappoint however was that a large proportion of the audience were quite obviously there just to see him and many (but not all) didn't give the support band, Dharma Sunset, the attention or encouragement they deserved. I really liked the set performed by this duo, made up of James Mackintosh and Joel Tudor-Owen, and I was quite surprised to read on their Facebook page after seeing them at the Dublin Castle that they were only formed in January this year. I thought they were a perfect choice to support Sheytoons and they definately desereved a better reception than they received.

As I've said, I was expecting great things of Ramin Karimloo and he completely lived up to my expectations. His solo, Lonely, was one of my favourite songs of the night and some lovely person has uploaded a video of it to YouTube so you can check it out here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iJeGxGDE0I&feature=related
Although award for favourite song of the night has to go to Steal Our Moments, which unfortunately I can't find a recording of from Sunday night on youtube but you can hear a version of it and many other Sheytoons songs on the official Sheytoons YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialSheytoons

So Ramin Karimloo was the known quantity to me and Hadley Fraser the more unknown, or so I thought. It turns out I've actually seen Hadley live before! I had no idea until we briefly spoke to him after the gig and he mentioned that he'd been in panto in Cardiff. He played the prince in one of the productions of Cinderella that made up my pantofest at the beginning of this year and I just hadn't associated the two (Hadley if you ever end up reading this I'm REALLY sorry!). It's had me baffled ever since as to why his perfromance in Cinderella didn't make more of an impact on me. I can only put it down to the fact that Brian Conley as Buttons didn't so much steal the show as take it over. However, Hadley very much made an impression on me Sunday night. Not only does he have a voice that I could listen to forever but he has a wonderful stage presence that, coupled with the fantastic relationship and banter between him and Ramin, made for a fun night filled with laughs as well as fantastic music.

The line-up for this gig was completed by Tom Deering on keyboard, Nick Pini on bass, Ruth Irons on Violin/Viola, Roy Pfeffer on drums and Rosalie Craig on backing vocals. If you'd like to know more about Sheytoons check out their website:
http://sheytoons.com/

Cranford

My review of Cranford on Tuesday 19th April for The Public Reviews:

http://www.thepublicreviews.com/cranford-–-new-theatre-cardiff/