Wednesday 5 August 2009

Saturday Outing

Had a lovely weekend, starting with an afternoon off on Saturday while Ashley looked after the little princess. After a somewhat rainy lunch in a nevertheless super-crowded Borough Market, Nadia (Ashley's colleague Gerhard's wife) and I headed to the Menier Chocolate Factory. No longer making delectable sweet treats, it's now a cosy theatre and restaurant.

Playing at the moment is a fun revue, Forbidden Broadway which skewers current -- and not so current! -- musicals left and right. Among my favourites was the big pre-intermission number, '10 Years More', about the ever-running Les Mis; another was 'Gotta Have a Puppet', covering Avenue Q, the Lion King, and, er, one more show that has puppet-type gimmicks.

The parodies flew thick & fast, from 'Andrew Lloyd, TV Star' (Jesus Christ, Superstar tune, all the rest covered as well) and 'It's All Camp' (Hairspray, Legally Blond, Priscilla'); Wicked, Chicago, and even Annie got it as well.

Funnily enough, one of the women in the 4-person cast reeeeally reminded me of Bernadette Peters, but when they did an homage to Sondheim (Sunday in the Park, Into the Woods, and, er, another), it was the other actress who specifically said 'I'm Bernadette Peters'. Ah well.

Fortunately even if I haven't seen all of the shows they covered, I knew enough to get most of the jokes. Though will have to check out what 'Spring Awakening' is all about... seems to be quite scandalous, as it was compared to Equus and Hair in terms of pushing things on stage! (Though checking out the link, it appears to have closed -- wonder how long it will last in FB then?)

No comments: