John OHara (RTT) and the CAT cast

We had bought 7 tickets to CATS opening night at Burswood about 6 months ago.  Cliff & I, B, M, C and J & P ended up going.  The stage set was pretty good and extended out from the front to both sides.  The Cats came on and off the stage both sides during the entire show.  Cats were in the audience and as we were in the second row came off the staged and interacted with those in the front row.

The two favourite cats were Mr Mistoffelees (Adrian Ricks) and No#1 Cat Rum Tum Tugger played by John O’Hara who was the star of the show.  In fact, without RTT I think the whole night would have been yawnable.  I must say I was very disappointed in the musical score, not the orchestra or the caste but the actual original score itself which, compared to Miss Saigon or Phantom, is very second rate, repetitive and quite boring really.  The story itself, though is based on TS Elliot poems, also is very slight and without some speccy dancing by the caste would have been a totally boring night.  However, theatre is enjoyable because of the overall affect so with the stage set, the individual brilliant cast members, lighting and brilliant performances by Adrian and John it was an overall enjoyable night.  Certainly not a show I would see again (as we did Miss Saigon) but certainly we were very glad we saw it.

Beth and Cliff

Bethany and Cliff decided a few months ago to book to see Slava’s Snow Show.  They weren’t sure exactly what it was going to be…. it had received rave reviews in sell out seasons across America and the UK.  All I knew is there were clowns and snow so I went with an open mind.  Mitchell and Bethany’s friend from Canberra (Carlos) came with us to the Regal Theatre on Wednesday night to see it.

When we arrived at the theatre it was filled with smoke from a smoke machine and it was pretty dark.  The theatre is old and small and quite personal and there was ’snow’ (made of white paper squares all over the floor, chairs and stage)……the lights dipped and the show started at 8pm.  Just one yellow clown, Slava, appeared…. during the show another 6 green clowns joined Slava.  The show was quite simple

Slavas finale

with slow movements, no words and things were funny because of the slow, deliberate movements made by the clown in the context.  The audience became more and more in awe as the show went on.  The ’skits’ again were all simple, but we were just spell bound.  It was funny in its simplicity and very hard to explain to anyone who hasn’t witness the show.

The audience was mostly adults in their 40s with many younger couples with children of around 10 or 12 and teenagers.  Snow fell during the show… lots of snow.  We had a blizzard so ferious it felt like it was real… wind howled at us… snow came straight at us so thick we were covered with piles sitting on our laps.  It was just amazing…. people were just stunned.  People laughed.. and cried they were so in awe of what what happening.  There was a lot of audience interaction.  The clowns came into the crowd walking over us balancing on the back of audience members chairs.  We were rained on.  We had a huge spider web that was a thin, white layer of kapok or something (like the man made stuff that is inside pillows) that covered the width of the stage and then enveloped the audience from the front to the back.  We passed it over our heads to the audience beind and the entire place was covered all at the same time with the stuff.  Cliff put his arms up through it and got all tangled up.

The show finished and the yellow clown sat on the edge of the stage and huge balls, filled with helium came out onto the stage and were pushed and hit up high into the air by the clowns.   There were about 10 huge

Slava meets the gang - Tues 15 Sept 2009

balls…. so large that 3 of us could reach up and push the ball up above us… there were dozens of huge helium filled balloons too.  Snow fell down on us, the clowns danced around, the yellow clown just sat on the edge of the stage smiling watching the audience lose themselves.  The audience sat there laughing, talking, crying while the snow lightly fell, the music played, the balloons and balls bounced up and down moved along by the audience…. this lasted over 1/2 hour.  Eventually people started standing up to leave.

People filed past the yellow clown, still sitting on the edge of the stage, and thanked him and shook his hand… I’ve never seen that before (an audience just so happy and so in the moment that they were impelled to thank and shake a hand).  The feeling was just so over whelming…. we all felt like we’d spent two hours like a child, 2 hours inside a magical, snow globe, 2 hours inspired into a magical, amazing and innocent world.  People slowly left.. the snow continued to fall…. the snow was everywhere and went out into the street where people were still hushed and smiling.

I have got to say this was the most magical, amazing two hours I have spent in a theatre and I would recommend every adult sees it and every teenager or primary school child.  Mitchell (18), Bethany (21), Carlos (23) all felt the same… the it was the most amazing thing they had been part of.  Slavas Snow Show 2009

Phantom of the Opera - Anthony Warlow, Perth 2009

Until recently I had not seen any musicals.  I do not like opera but there are several more modern musical scores that I love - Les Miserables, Miss Saigon and Phantom of the Opera.  A couple of years ago I saw Les Mis but it was only showing at the Regal Theatre which is a very small, old theatre in Subiaco so the sound was not that good and the stage set had to be small.  Last year Miss Saigon came to town and played at the Burswood Theatre, a newer, sound superier theatre in Burswood Perth.  The stage set was just magnificient and even if you didn’t like the music it was well worth watching the stage set changes and special affects.  I absolutely love the music of Miss Saigon and I saw the show a couple of times.

February 2009 saw Andrew Lloyd Weber’s “Phantom of the Opera” came to town at the Burswood Theatre.  I booked two lots of tickets and went with B, P & J one night and with Cliff, I & C on a second night. Anthony Warlow was the Phantom and his voice was wonderful.  The stage sets were amazing and seeing it the second time around made it even better.