The second bag

 

This, if my filing is correct, should be full of things for 2022. It's bulging which makes me think I was busy making up for the lost couple of years before, although a lot of the stuff in there is brochures for country houses which I was doing with a vengeance. Hopefully my memory for things more recent will be a bit better.

Celebrating Sondheim: Sunday in the Park with Daniel

Celebrating Sondheim: Sunday in the Park with Daniel, Chichester Festival Theatre, 2020.

Cast: Daniel Evans, Clive Rowe, Hannah Waddingham, Gabrielle Brooks, Jenna Russell.

Director: Louise Shephard

 

A pandemic thing, the only thing I saw in the theatre after the lockdown began, taking place on the 1st November, probably squeezed in before all the rules changed again and life went back to being strange. You'd think I'd remember more about it but I'd forgotten that Hannah Waddingham was in it. I imagine there were gaps in the seating but can't be sure. Did we have lunch before? Did I drive? Surely I didn't venture on a train after so long not going on a train?

Six

Six, Norwich Theatre Royal, 2021.

Cast: Lauren Drew, Maddison Bulleyment, Caitlin Tipping, Shekinah McFarlane, Vicki Manser, Elena Gyasi.

Writers: Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss

Directors: Lucy Moss & Jamie Armitage

It took me far too long to get around to seeing this which was stupid as the first proper production of it after the Fringe was at the Playhouse in Norwich. I guess I was one of the many people who didn't realise how big or amazing it was going to be. Silly me. It was worth the wait. Clever and funny lyrics attached to great tunes, brilliantly staged. The sort of thing you could see repeatedly (I've already been back once).

La Cage aux Folles (the play)

La Cage aux Folles (the play), Park Theatre, 2020. 

Cast: Georgina Ambrey, Louise Bangay, Mark Cameron, Simon Hepworth, Arthur Hughes, Paul Hunter, Sarah Lam, Syrus Lowe, Michael Matus, William Nelson, Peter Straker.

Writer: Jean Poiret

Adapter: Simon Callow

Director: Jez Bond

I'd forgotten I'd seen this, probably because since then I've seen a much more memorable production of the musical. I hadn't realised how much theatre I'd packed into 2020 before it all fell apart and imagine that if life hadn't taken the turn it did it would have been my busiest year ever for theatre going. I don't think I've been back to the Park, which prompted them to send me a free ticket code that I haven't found anything to use it on.

Cabaret

Cabaret, New Theatre Peterborough, 2020. 

Cast: John Partridge, Kara Lily Hayworth, Anita Harris, Charles Hagerty, James Paterson, Basienka Blake, Gemma Archer, Joseph Dockree, Francis Foreman, Sophie Hirst, Mary Hodgkinson, Sara Morley, Hannah Nicholas, Oliver Roll, Ben Rutter, Catherin Saunders, Tom Scanlon.

Book: Joe Masteroff

Composer & lyricist: John Kander & Fred Ebb

Director: Rufus Norris

This was a revival of the production that Will Young starred in a few years earlier, which might have become the standard for this show if they hadn't gone and reinvented it in London. I'd seen John Partridge in other things and hadn't liked him but he was good in this. I'd see this version of the show again any time.

City of Angels

City of Angels, Garrick Theatre, 2020.

Cast: Hadley Fraser, Theo James, Rosalie Craig, Rebecca Trehearn, Jonathan Slinger, Nicola Roberts, Vanessa Williams, Marc Elliott, Rob Houchen, Jeremy Batt, Cindy Belliot, Michelle Bishop, Matthew Caputo, Nick Cavaliere, Emily-Mae, Joe Frost, Dickon Gough, Derek Howard, Manuel Pacific, Mark Penfold, Ryan Reid, Joshua St Clair, Sadie-Jean Shirley.

Book: Larry Gelbart

Music: Cy Coleman

Lyrics: David Zippel

Director: Josie Rourke

The last thing I saw before lockdown (although I think I had something booked for the following weekend, that ambiguous time when Johnson told people not to go out but didn't demand that places shut). This was such a good cast and a great show it's a pity it didn't get to do it's whole run - I'm sure this was a preview. I'd like to see it again to see if it's as good as I remember, or if I'd romanticised it in my head.

 

Curtains

Curtains, Norwich Theatre Royal, 2020.

Cast: Jason Manford, Carley Stenson, Rebecca Lock, Samuel Holmes, Ore Oduba, Leah Barbara West, Alan Burkitt, Martin Callaghan, Emma Caffrey, Mark Sangster, Adam Rhys-Charles, Nia Jermin, Minal Patel, J R Ballantyne, Samuel John-Humphreys, Thomas-Lee Kidd, Charlie Johnson, Kate Ivory Jordan, Gleanne Purcell-Brown, Kathryn Barnes, Robin Kent, Pamela Blair, Ben Munday.

Book: Rupert Holmes

Original book & concept: Peter Stone

Music: John KAnder & Fred Ebb

I loved this! A musical about a crime - the perfect evening out for a gay who loves crime novels. I liked it so much that I went to see it a few weeks later on the tour in Northampton. I'd have happily seen it again but then Covid cancelled the tour. They did an online screening of it which I watched and loved but when everything got back to normal all those things that were halted seemed to get forgotten about, as if people were ashamed of them somehow and wanted to forget they'd ever happened. Jason Manford was especially good.