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.

Dial M for Murder

Dial M for Murder, Norwich Theatre Royal, 2020.

Cast: Tom Chambers, Sally Bretton, Christopher Harper, Michael Salami.

Writer: Frederick Knott

Director: Anthony Banks

Based on the book, I think, rather than the film, although that wouldn't have made any difference as I don't know either of them. Which makes me wonder why I went in the first place. I can only assume my friend wanted to go and Tom Chambers was likely to be good, even if there was no dancing in it.

Blithe Spirit

Blithe Spirit, Norwich Theatre Royal, 2020.

Cast: Rose Wardlaw, Lisa Dillon, Geoffrey Streatfeild, Simon Coates, Lucy Robinson, Jennifer Saunders, Emma Naomi.

Writer: Noel Coward

Director: Richard Eyre

I feel like I haven't had much luck with this play - the role of Madame Arcati just encourages people to overact and I hardly think Jennifer Saunders needs encouragement. I should probably never see this again, although I suspect I said that before I saw this - who can resist Jennifer?

 

The Normal Heart

The Normal Heart, Olivier Theatre, 2021.

Cast: Elander Moore, Daniel Monks, Richard Cant, Ben Daniels, Liz Carr, Luke Norris, Dino Fetscher, Robert Bowman, Danny Lee Wynter, Henry Nott, Jonathan Dryden Taylor, Daniel Krikler, Lucas Rush, Samuel Thomas.

Writer: Larry Kramer

Director: Dominic Cooke

I've seen the TV version they made of this and probably should give the DVD away as it's unlikely to be the kind of thing I'll watch again, just because it's not very good in that serious American way that's often disappointing. This was very different. It had an excellent cast and the drama was heightened as it was during those pandemic times when there were gaps in the seating to keep you away from people, or was it performed in the round so we went in through a different entrance. We all left in tears.

 

The bags

So that's all the theatre programmes from the boxes sorted out. I've kept about a third of a box, just the significant ones - things I remember fondly or starring incredible people. I was surprised at how many things I'd forgotten and it made me realise that perhaps there were a lot of things I shouldn't have bothered seeing.

When I ran out of space for more boxes of programmes my temporary solution was to start filling bags. This worked well actually as filling a bag for each year made it easier to do an end of the year round up. So now I need to start on these:

The first bag covers 2020 & 2021, because there was less on in those years for reasons we can't forget but don't really want to remember.

The bag itself makes me nostalgic as it's from a newsagents in town that doesn't exist anymore although I still think of it with that name. If it wasn't split I'd keep it for old times sake.

Sweeney Todd

 Sweeney Todd, London Coliseum, 2015.

Cast: Bryn Terfel, Emma Thompson, Matthew Seadon-Young, Katie Hall, Jack North, Philip Quast, Rosalie Craig, Alex Gaumond, John Owen-Jones, Marc Akinfolarin, John Barr, Alastair Brookshaw, Emily Bull, Ian Caddick, Edd Campbell Bird, Jacob Chapman, Scott Cripps, Ffion Emyr, Lydia Gerrard, Alexandra Grierson, Madeleine Harland, Nancy Hill, Gavin James, Frankie Jenna, Katie Kerr, Aaron Lee Lambert, Molly Lynch, Jeff Nicholson, Anna O'Byrne, Kane Oliver Parry, Leah Penston, Joseph Prouse, Verity Quade, Ashley Robinson, Vicki Lee Taylor, Gary Tushaw, Susannah van den Berg, Adam Vaughan, Gaia Wise.

Music & lyrics: Stephen Sondheim

Book: Hugh Wheeler

Director: Lonny Price

I miss the brief spell of big summer shows that Coliseum did. This was probably my favourite, and I expect it will be the only time I'll see Emma Thompson on stage (why would she bother now?). Looking at the cast list it's nice to see Rosalie Craig was in it before I realised who she was.