Tuesday 3 October 2017

Legally Blonde (UK Tour), Bristol Hippodrome | Review


Legally Blonde (UK Tour)
Bristol Hippodrome
Reviewed on Monday 2nd October 2017 by Elisha Harris
★★★★★

Legally Blonde is an absolute must see! I've had the Original London Cast Recording on repeat ever since it was released and have always been obsessed with the soundtrack. The songs are upbeat, funny and so catchy and although I can't hold a tune; I often find myself belting 'oh my god' like it was written for me on regular occasions. That being said, I don't know what kept me from seeing this beautiful show for so long, but I can assure you it won't be long until I'm back! 

I must admit I struggled to imagine Lucie Jones as Elle before the performance but the second she appeared on stage she took my breath away, her vocals are completely out of this world I was in complete awe. I hadn't seen her in anything since her X factor days so I didn't know what to expect but she was incredible. The other standout for me has to be Rita Simons as Paulette. She had me in tears of laughter from start to finish, and has such a versatile voice; it gave my shivers! In the future, I'll make a conscious effort to see her in any other shows she does.

The cutest cast members have to be Bruiser & Rufus. Rufus didn't do exactly as he was told this evening as he wandered on stage before his cue and long story short, the crowd was in hysterics, and Lucie took 3 attempts to finish her line as she was laughing so hard.  The audience roared with cheer when she completed it, it was hilarious! Despite that little mishap, both adorable dogs stole hearts every time they took to the stage. 

The whole company gelled together so well, I feel so privileged to have witnessed such an incredible performance. 


Legally Blonde is playing at Bristol Hippodrome until October 7th, don't miss out; I promise you won't regret it!
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The Toxic Avenger, Arts Theatre | Review


The Toxic Avenger
Arts Theatre
Reviewed on Monday 2nd October 2017 by Olivia Mitchell 
★★★★

When seeing this show, you should take it like it takes itself: not too seriously. Based on the 1984 cult movie, The Toxic Avenger received its New York premiere in 2009 before enjoying a short run at London's Southwark Playhouse in 2016. Most recently it played at the Edinburgh Fringe and has now opened a limited run at the Arts Theatre. 

Set in New Jersey, where pollution has over taken the city, we meet Melvin the dweeby teenager (in love with the town's blind librarian) who is thrown into a vat of toxic waste, becomes the Toxic Avenger and vows to take justice into his own hands.  The plot is bonkers but easy to follow and the production celebrates this wackiness with a clever and genuinely funny script. The fourth wall is broken and it becomes a game of spot the musical theatre reference; from Hamilton to Mary Poppins to Phantom- they're all in there somewhere!

The humour is unashamedly crude and whilst this is refreshing to see on stage, it sometimes becomes a bit too much. With the same jokes repeated several times and therefore loosing any impact. The "blind girl almost walking off the stage" was especially repetitive.

Whilst not all of the music is particularly memorable, the cast perform it with exuberance and stellar vocals throughout. Mark Anderson is wonderfully awkward but gentle as Melvin and 'Toxie'; his voice is beautiful and he overacted just enough to avoid the whole thing becoming too silly. Natalie Hope's vocals are outstanding, both as Toxie's mother and the woman who's to blame for the pollution: the mayor! She is humourous, sexy and an all round, brilliant entertainer. Emma Salvo as Sarah is funny and crude but still sweet; her Oprah obsession is hilarious and her vocals are fantastic. The rest of the towns people are impressively brought to life by Ché Francis and Oscar Conlon-Morrey. From the town bullies to the hairdressers with "indistinguishable accents", they do a stellar job.

Takis have done a great job of using the space of the small Arts Theatre well, with a clever set design that means the stage never feels cramped. It's simplistic but effective as are the costumes which also have many musical theatre references within them. It's a very cleverly done show in terms of intricate details.

This is a non-pc show thats fun, lighthearted and silly. If you're easily offended then it's not for you but for a blast of fun and some sublime vocal performances then pop along to the Arts Theatre. 


The Toxic Avenger runs until December 3rd at The Arts Theatre. 
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Sunday 1 October 2017

The Woman in Black, Fortune Theatre | Review


The Woman in Black
Fortune Theatre
Reviewed on Friday 29th September 2017 by Olivia Mitchell 
★★★★

To celebrate National Ghost Hunting day -which is today if you're reading on upload day- Raw PR invited a selection of bloggers to attend a ghostly evening of spooky fun at The Woman in Black. The Fortune Theatre is tiny but steeped in history and provides the perfect intimate feel for an evening of ghost stories.

We were treated to a pre-show supernatural tour of the theatre where paranormal expert Dr. B. Vilder told us about various presences seen or felt in different areas of the theatre. Being in the actual location was certainly spooky and I'd recommend being extra careful when booking your tickets, to avoid seat F17 of the Royal Circle on November 7th unless you want to be joined by a guest.....! Needless to say, we were all pretty nervous by the time the show started and as someone who literally jumps at EVERYTHING, I was extremely scared when I sat in my seat.

For those who haven't been brave enough to read of see this haunting tale, the story follows Arthur Kipps who wishes to lay his haunted story to rest by retelling his experience of visiting Eel Marsh House and his numerous run-ins with The Woman in Black.

The show begins innocently enough with jokes being told and a little time being spent on setting up the 'performance'. It does gets off to a bit of a slow start but once we get to Eel Marsh House that all changes as we are thrown into an intense and gripping world of mystery.

Adapted for the stage by Stephen Mallatratt and with set designs by Michael Holt, a lot of the story is left up to the audiences imagination, especially when picturing the location and surroundings of the house. The script is so descriptive that this is easy to do and depending on how much you've built the show up in your mind, allows it to be even more scary. I found myself thinking I'd seen things out of the corner of my eye so was on the edge of my seat even more throughout. 

Terence Wilton and James Byng as Arthur Kipps and "the actor" are a wonderful duo, managing to keep the audience engaged from start to finish and making their actions natural as opposed to over the top and unbelievably dramatic. 

If you are the kind of person that enjoys being scared witless (or even if you're terrified like me), it's worth making the trip to see this show. For edge of your seat, suspense filled, jump scare drama this is definitely the show for you and it's clear why it's lasted so long on the West End.

Watch my vlog of the event here
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Thursday 28 September 2017

Jane Eyre, National Theatre | Review


Jane Eyre
Lyttleton Theatre, National Theatre
Reviewed on Wednesday 27th September 2017 by Olivia Mitchell 
★★★★

The National Theatre are outstanding at championing new, innovative work and thinking outside the box to bring audiences spectacular shows, something which they have once again succeeded at with this Sally Cookson's production of Jane Eyre. In Bristol, the tale was split into two parts but artistic director Rufus Norris has wisely squeezed the action into one performance.

I'm sure I'm not alone in having gruelling flashbacks to A-level English literature when I hear Brontë's novel mentioned, and what's lovely about this adaptation, thanks to the minimal sets, is that it allows the audience to create the world of Jane Eyre with their imagination as they would do when reading the book. The set is extremely modernistic in it's simplistic design with no grand structures to show the various momentous locations in Jane's life but instead using wooden platforms, metal structures and ladders as a framework for the action. The use of lighting is particularly impressive with white cloth backdrop that surrounds the stage being changed to different colours to show the various moods. The shocking red room is especially effective.

What struck me about this production is not only how modern it is in terms of aesthetics but how contemporary the character of Jane herself is. She's feisty with strong morals and a real feminist side. Although having seen her as ahead of her time when I read the novel, I'd never realised how truly relatable she is until watching this production. Her quest for freedom whilst not compromising her passions is joyous to watch.

The strong use of physical theatre added an intensity to the piece, as well as flow, especially in the running transitions during Jane's travels. The varying motion from smooth lyrical to frenzied, perfectly mirrored the changes in Jane's physical and metal health throughout. Another particularly interesting aspect was members of the ensemble speaking Jane's thought's aloud. This was humourous at times but also a very clever way of developing the character more without her having to tell the audience anything directly.

The trio of onstage musicians added a whole other layer with a number of musical styles accompanying crucial moments and transitions. Melanie Marshall was absolutely fantastic both physically and vocally; singing atmospheric pieces to fit with other characters or her own, Bertha. Her voice is strong and angelic whilst having a menacing and painful side. Her rendition of Crazy was notably unexpected but brilliant and perfectly woven into the story.

As Jane, Nadia Clifford exceptionally plays the fiery 10 year old girl who transitions into a headstrong but more rational woman. Clifford perfectly shows Jane's unyielding side but also her pain and love for Rochester. Tim Delap is suitably brooding as Rochester but adds a depth and awkwardness which makes him charming and attractive.

 The entire ensemble are faultless but I must give a special mention firstly, to Paul Mundell who is hilarious as Pilot, adding some welcome humour. And secondly to Hannah Bristow who perfectly and distinctly plays Adele, Helen, Grace Poole and others.

 This is a somewhat lengthy (3 hours and 15 minutes) play, but a striking production of a classic. The start is slightly slow but as we get into the action the momentum speeds up and we really get to see is the power of one of the first literary modern women.
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Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Lyric Theatre | Review


Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Lyric Theatre, Sydney
Reviewed on Wednesday 20th September 2017 by Amy and Vic
★★★★★

The night started with two twenty something girls who had no clue who Carole King was (don't judge us!) and ended up with two brand new super fans, striding out of the theatre arm in arm, belting 'You've Got a Friend' and wistfully longing we could transport back to 1960s Brooklyn.

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is a Grammy winning musical which debuted in Sydney, Australia this week with a local cast after first dazzling Broadway in 2014. The show is a musical biography based on the early life of Carole King, whose music has been referred to as “the soundtrack of a generation” – admittedly not our generation but boy do we wish it was!  

Pyrmont's Lyric Theatre in Sydney was buzzing with Carole King devotees young and old, excited to take a trip down memory lane in joyous celebration of one of the world's greatest songwriters. It made the evening all the more sentimental, imagining our parents hippy clapping away, bellbottoms swinging to ‘Locomotion'.

From the opening scene and throughout, Esther Hannaford's Carole was an incredibly loveable and endearing character who engaged the audience with her humility, kindness and gentle humour. Despite her immense success and undeniable creative genius, Carole's personal life was tumultuous and peppered with periods of romance and heartache. The tapestry of classic pop and rock and roll music was powerfully nostalgic, and there was a sense of magic in watching the song writing process and hearing the contrast between the writers demos and popular pop reinventions (including, The Shirelles, The Drifters, The Righteous Brothers and Neil Sedaka).


Beautiful predominantly focusses on the relationship between Carole and her first husband, Gerry Goffin, famed lyricist and long-time collaborator. Josh Piterman provided a compelling portrayal of Gerry’s raw strife and passion and there was a genuine chemistry between our leading couple. The relationship between Carole and Gerry and their friendly rivals, fellow singer/songwriter duo Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann provided some belly laugh moments and showcased some of their own classic hits including “You’ve Lost That l Lovin’ Feeling” and “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place”.

The entire production was beautifully staged and the cast were uniformly superb. Beautiful was a magical, moving, musical feat and the perfect night to delight across the generations. We couldn’t have told you who Carole King was before this show, turns out we’ve been a fan of her work for years - Oh! Carol, we love you.


The musical will run until December 23rd 2017
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Wednesday 27 September 2017

The Addams Family (UK Tour), New Victoria Theatre | Review


New Victoria Theatre
Reviewed on Tuesday 26th September 2017 by Valerie Field
★★★★

The spooky, kooky classic, The Addams Family has made its way to the New Victoria theatre, Woking in its spectacular UK tour.

The Addams Family first become known to the public in the 1960’s as a TV show, they then made their way to the big screen in 1991 and on finally to Broadway in 2010. This production is the first ever professional one in the UK and has received brilliant reviews since it opened.

The story is about the very weird and spooky family whose daughter, Wednesday falls in love with a ‘normal’ boy. This causes many problems and some hilarious situations and she tries to tell her overprotective family and discovers that no one is really as normal as they seem. 

The energy was up right from the get go of the show. During the iconic opening theme tune music, the entire audience joined in with the signature clicks which was very funny and set the night off on a fantastic foot.

Carrie Hope Fletcher as Wednesday Addams and Cameron Blakely as Gomez were the stand out performances for me, with fantastic acting and singing from both. Cameron was suitably wacky and humourous whilst Carrie was suitably moody and full of love.

Samantha Womack looked great, but I felt that she didn't have the presence you would have expected from her character of Morticia. Whilst she looks the role and embodies the character well, she was a little underwhelming at times and could have played the character up a little more.

Les Dennis was unable to perform as Fester but his understudy, Scott Paige did very well as the man who’s in love with the moon. Dickon Gough' was the biggest surprise as Lurch. When he burst into song at the end, the whole audience were shocked at his fantastic voice.


All the scenery, stage sets and special effects were brilliant and all in all it was a very entertaining and enjoyable show. I would have liked it to be a little more spooky but its definitely worth a visit before the tour ends.

The Addams Family is at the New Victoria Theatre until September 30th before continuing its tour.

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Tuesday 26 September 2017

West End Live Lounge: Woman, The Other Palace Studio | Review


West End Live Lounge: Woman
The Other Palace Studio
Reviewed on Sunday September 24th 2017 by Olivia Mitchell
★★★★★

If you're a frequent reader of Rewrite This Story (which I hope you are) then you will know that I have been to the previous two West End Live Lounges and raved about them to no end, so it's no surprise that last night's concert completely blew me away too. As always this will probably be a pretty long review because I want to praise as many people as I can, so go grab your drink of choice and get ready to relive an amazing night, or cry because you missed it!

Each West End Live Lounge raises money, with all proceeds from ticket sales and collections going to a specific charity, in last night's case, Women's Aid which helps women who are in/have been in abusive relationships; a cause which i'm sure we all agree is super important. So not only do you have an amazing night hearing some of the best the theatre world has to offer but you get to support a fantastic cause!

Last night's incredible line up was made up of: George Ure, Marcus Ayton, Brady Isaacs Pearce, Marisha Wallace, Liisi LaFontaine, Rob Houchen, Natalie Green, Matthew Harvey, Paul Wilkins, Rachel John, Kelly Agbowu, Sabrina Aloueche, Jodie Steele, Carolyn Maitland, Laura Tebbutt, Madalena Alberto, Emma Lindars, Lauren Ingram and Sapphire Soul.

 Our compere for the evening was the ridiculously hilarious Samuel J Holmes who delivered gag after gag and was his own stand up act between performers.

 Sapphire Soul were flawless as usual when they opened with a medley of classic Bond songs- the ladies, as their name suggests are full of soul and are just powerhouse vocalists which they proved again in act 2 with Bang Bang. From then on the energy was high and the first act flew by with some dazzling performances. Lauren Ingram's version of Crazy in Love was slowed down and sexy; Marcus Ayton's I Who Have Nothing was heart-wrenchingly beautiful as was Matthew Harvey's, Gravity.

Brady Isaacs Pearce was stunning as always with her emotive and heartfelt rendition of Jessie J's Big White Room; her clear, smooth voice is just so stunning to listen to and as I always say, she needs to be in a West End show NOW! Natalie Green as usual was fantastic, with her performance of If I Ain't Got You giving me chills!

 The final trio of act one could not have been better; Rob Houchen had the whole audience in the palm of his hand with his insanely brilliant performance of I'd Rather Go Blind. I knew he could sing but man he's good! Kelly Agbowu then owned the belter One Moment in Time before Rachel John sent the whole audience to church with her Take My Hand/You've Got a Friend mash up. Needless to say, by the interval everyone was truly on a music induced high.

 Act 2 was equally as good, if not better with banger and banger being delivered flawlessly by each and every person. Emma Lindars delivered Rolling in the Deep perfectly, with some added audience harmonies. Rachel John again wowed with My Kind of Love followed by Carolyn Maitland exquisitely performing Sia's Chandelier which could only have been made better if Maddie Ziegler was there to perform her iconic dance routine.

 This act featured two impeccable duets; firstly Sabrina Aloueche and Matt Harvey with Girl Just Wanna Have Fun and secondly Paul Wilkins and Rob Houchen with Field of Gold. Both of which featured perfect harmonies and left me breathless. Kelly Agbowu's Chains was perfect and Jodie Steele's scarily relevant cover of Dear Mr President was beautifully, sincerely and emotively performed.

Liisi LaFontaine and Marisha Wallace are the definition of powerhouses, their vocals, stage presence and overall auras are just impeccable. Marisha along with her own back up singers brought the audience to their feet with her faultless Whitney Houston medley as she sang her heart out to the gods and slayed the entire audience. Liisi slayed equally with her stunning performance of Uninvited but it was their closing number, Listen which absolutely blew the roof off of The Other Palace Studio. Now I've heard Listen several times when I've seen Dreamgirls but this performance was just mind blowing and proved why these ladies are getting all the hype and praise they are at the moment. Absolutely sensational!

 So yes, this was an incredible concert. Shaun McCourt is a saint for putting so much time and energy into this impeccable concert for a wonderful cause and I hope the West End Live Lounges continue for a long time to come. If you want a night of hilarity, fun and vocal perfection then get yourself along to the next one and help out some wonderful charities!


Check out West End Live Lounge on Twitter for details of future concerts: https://twitter.com/WElivelounge17

 Vlog of West End Live Lounge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hClGUk1_Sxk

 Previous West End Live Lounge reviews: http://www.rewritethisstory.com/search?q=West+End+Live+Lounge
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In Conversation With... Oliver Ormson | The Addams Family | Interview


Oliver Ormson is currently playing the role of Lucas in the first ever UK Tour of The Addams Family. He was kind enough to chat all things Addams, career and Harry Potter with me...


Have you always wanted to be a performer or did you have a different dream when you were younger?

I think when I was really young I wasn’t too bothered, I think the first ever thing I wanted to be when I was really young was a policeman. But I was interested in football from a young age cause of my dad so probably a footballer really… But my mum was interested in amateur dramatics so I went that way when I was older. About the age of 16/17 I decided I wanted to be an actor.



Can you explain a little about The Addams Family and how your character Lucas fits into it?

The Addams Family is the classic everyone knows but it’s ten years on and in this story Wednesday (Carrie Hope Fletcher) is all grown up and she’s fallen in love with an American boy from a normal background and I’m that American boy! 

So the Addams invite the Bieneke's round for dinner because Wednesday’s got a little secret and it’s a secret she’s kept from her parents. So the main premise is inviting a ‘normal’ family into the Addams family mansion where there’s all sort of ghouls and ghosts going on. 

Lucas Beineke is that all-American boy but he likes the darkness and he’s intrigued by it. He’s come from a normal family and the first time he meets Wednesday she shoots a pigeon with an arrow and it lands by his feet in central park and he just falls in love with her straight away cause she’s so different from the background he grew up with.

So Lucas looks all clean cut but he does have a hint of the darkness as well!



Are you anything like Lucas and what drew you to the role?

It was more the project that drew me in. It’s the first time it’s been done in the UK by a professional company. It’s very rare these days that you get the opportunity to create your own role. So I am the first professional Lucas in the UK arnd Ireland so it’s really wow because I get to create and make things which doesn’t happen a lot. Especially on a tour which has been done time and time again; they tell you where to stay on a straight line but I had the chance to play with it which was amazing.

Probably the thing that I’d say that is the Oliver Ormson in Lucas is that I’ve tried to make him a bit  dorky. Just a bit silly in that embarrassing phase where you go round to your partner’s house for the first time as a teenager and you’re sort of tripping over your words cause you’re trying to impress so it’s that sort of dorkiness. He just reacts to situations and doesn’t really think about it; he’s trying to be cool so he’s a bit dorky!



Who else besides yourself would you like to see play Lucas?

Oh wow, that’s really hard! I think it would have to be, and I know it’s cliched cause he’s massive at the moment, but it’d have to be Ben Platt. You know, he’s a fellow Hufflepuff as well! He tweeted saying that Evan Hansen is a Hufflepuff and I tweeted saying so is Lucas Beineke so I think we have the same sort of taste. I think he has that character cause he’s done it everyday like that twerpiness and he would sing it like an absolute dream! Unfortunately he’d probably be much better than me but as long as I’m gone and out the picture he can happily have it! 

You’ll have to switch and be Evan while he’s Lucas! 

Yes! Please make it happen, I’ll get you tickets to the opening night if you can make it happen!


Who in the show would you say is most like their character?

I would say Cameron Blakely who plays Gomez Addams cause he is crazy. He’s full of voices and full of character and he has a little daughter himself, a beautiful little daughter who’s three or four and you can see he has that protective side that Gomez has in the show over Wednesday. But he’s also that embarrassing dad so I’d definitely go with Cameron as Gomez.



If you were one of the ancestors, what would your crazy cause of death be?


This is really cool… erm maybe something silly when I was drunk or something? Yeah something silly like falling in a lake and my ancestors prop would be a can of lager or a pint!



What is your favourite thing to do when you’re not on stage?


This sounds quite cliched but I like to keep fit cause you never know when this jobs gonna end. I do a lot of dancing, not so much in this show but I’ve danced in other shows so I try and keep that up. I don’t wanna  relax too much to think I just have to sing and act cause the next job you might wanna do could have a a tap number in it or something like that. 

Yeah just try and keep fit really, go to the gym and I’m quite a boyish boy so watch Netflix or football or play games like video games so very cliched unfortunately!


I know you’re a big Harry Potter fan, so if you could bring anyone or anything from the Potter world into our, what or who would you bring?

I would just like a wand. You know, just the elder wand would be fine, the casual elder wand! That’s what I’d bring because I was thinking about the invisibility cloak and stuff but I think after a while that might get a bit boring!

And if you have the wand you can get other stuff with it!

Exactly, like with the wand you can do crazy spells!



Well that’s a lovely segue as my next question is: what show would you wish to do if you had a magic wand?!

As I mentioned I love Dear Evan Hansen but I’ve always wanted to play Fiyero in Wicked. I watched it and thought it was really magical and cool and people always say to me “you could play Fiyero, you can do that!” so if I actually do it I can shut those people up… in a nice way 




If you could go back to any era, when would you go to any why?

I love the 80s. I was born in the 80’s, well only just by like 2 months in ’89 so I always claim that I’m an 80s child but to properly go and experience it and to actually live in that time I'd love. And I’ll see my mum and dad in their 20s which would be so weird!



Finally, what is your number one piece of advice for an aspiring performer?

There’s this amazing Bryan Cranston philosophy and he says to just act, just get yourself out there and act. Even if it’s just a local drama group, just hone your skills. Even if you’re doing an amateur production of Fiddler on the Roof you’re gonna learn things from that, you’re gonna be with people that have maybe done professional work before. So I’d say just act and be proactive and productive cause then you learn.

As professional actors we have stories of how we once did am dram and how that helped. So everyone starts somewhere. I think some people think that you come out of college and you go straight into the West End and all of a sudden you’re just a professional actor but you learn a lot of things before that. So just be creative and play and try things out, you’ll always learn things.


Do that and make sure it’s what you want to do and then pursue college or drama school which is an important route in my opinion but you can still do it without that. So go and learn, go and be proactive and just hone you’re skills.

Thank you so much to Oliver for taking the time to chat to me. The Addams Family runs at the New Victoria Theatre until the 30th September before continuing on it's tour.

Interview by Olivia Mitchell, Editor
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