Wish #45: See a stage musical
February 7, 2010
Why? I have a friend that is part of the Birkenhead Operatic Society Trust (BOST), a local company that put on annual musicals, Christmas carol services and perform at private events. I love seeing her perform and I’m very proud of her, she’s such a star! She was involved in the Stage Musical Society in Leeds during her University days, where their production of “Fame!” blew me away. I do love a good musical and, in 2006, my then boyfriend and I went to London for a weekend and we saw “The Phantom of the Opera” at Her Majesty’s Theatre. Wow, what an evening that was! As a child I saw “Blood Brothers” at the Liverpool Empire and I have since seen it a further 4 times, during which I can’t help but sing along. It has always been tradition since i was very young that my family and I book tickets for a play during the festive period too. Being surrounded by theatres and musicals, and remembering the thrill of seeing a West End musical a few years ago made me long to go back to London and see another.
My friend in University of Leeds productions of stage musicals "Anything Goes" (L) and "Fame!" (R)
One weekend in January, my Mother and I had planned to visit our cousins living in London as a graduation present. Part of the present was seeing a West End show and, after much deliberation, we settled on “Billy Elliot: The Musical“. Travelling south by train, I got excited looking out of the window at the changing landscape and felt glad to have a weekend of my Mum all to myself. We checked into our hotel, had lunch with a friend then went to see our cousins in the afternoon. Wanting to spend as much time with family as possible, we ended up not leaving ourselves much time for a nice dinner out. Instead we rushed a sandwich and looked online at the journey from the hotel to the Victoria Palace Theatre. Marching down Vauxhall Bridge Road, we realised we’d skipped the pre-theatre drinks that we’re used to and debated whether or not to reserve drinks for the interval. Instead, in the most snickering, naughty schoolgirl fashion, we nipped into a newsagents and bought ourselves a couple of one-glass bottles of wine.
Mum and I outside the Victoria Theatre
Feeling rather giddy as we swigged our wine on the move, we finally found the theatre and joined the back of the queue. It was clear that the other audience members waiting to be served were divided into one of two categories. People were either foreigners visiting London for a spot of culture, identifiable by indecipherable languages, or had bought a package deal online, easily spotted by the A4 printed e-tickets that had to be handed to the beefy guys at the theatre doors. My mum and I were members of the latter category. On hearing people ahead of us being asked to open their handbags for inspection, I thought of the wine bottles in my bag and panicked. I did my best to hide them and it took a big grin and a shameless compliment to Security to get us in. I got us two glasses of ice from the bar and as we settled into our seats, I poured us each a lovely drink (below the level of the seats in front in case anybody spotted our antics).
“Billy Elliot: The Musical” is very much like the original film. The storyline didn’t deviate and the songs were very apt. There were some scenes which disappointed me a little since the film equivalents were so poignant (the toilet cubicle scene with Billy and the ballet teacher, Mrs Wilkinson, in particular). Still, there were very moving moments, catchy songs, heart-breaking scenes and witty jokes, as well as beautifully portrayed ballet. If you can look past the exaggerated “Geordie” accent, it’s a really fantastic show to see. My mum and I both loved it, and it was a perfect choice of musical. I’m glad we didn’t go for a heavy classic like “Les Miserables” in the end, which we were tempted to do, since Billy Elliot was so fun and made the trip to London well worth it.
