ROBIN EDWARDS

ABBA Voyage – Part 2

Somehow it is now over three years since I first went to see ABBA Voyage, really doesn’t seem like that long ago. I was lucky enough to have the chance to go see it again yesterday and since I last went they have updated the show. Back in May of this year to celebrate its third anniversary they gave the whole show a light refresh. The set list was changed for the first time and they added four new songs ‘Super Trouper’, ‘Take a chance on me’, ‘The name of the game’ and ‘Money, money, money’. They also removed the song ‘When all is said and done’ to make space for the new additions. It seems crazy to me that so many iconic songs weren’t included first time around, and so I was delighted to hear about the refresh. I can confirm that the show was even better this time around than the first.

Abba Voyage

This time I also wasn’t in the VIP dance booth at the top and back of the arena, I was in the standing area at the front and this was so much better. Honestly unless you have mobility issues or are really old/ unfit it is absolutely fine to stand. There was people in the standing area in their 60s and 70s, with no issue. It’s really not that long to stand up and the experience is so much better. If you do want to sit I would advise definitely trying to get tickets right at the front of the seating area if you can. Knowing what I know now I wouldn’t book a VIP dance booth again, it is too far from the action.

Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club

Another theatre trip with my favourite networking group ICI. It is well over 20 years since I’d watched the famous film version of Cabaret starring Liza Minnelli and frankly I’d completely forgotten the story. To be honest I’d mainly booked this as I’m a massive Billy Porter fan and he was playing the role of The Emcee. Previous stars who had played the role in this run have included Eddie Redmanye and Jake Shears.

Without given any spoilers away we’d been advised to get there early to enjoy the pre-theatre experience in the bar before. You don’t enter the venue the usual way, instead you head through a side entrance and down. This is all part of the immersive experience. It also involves them putting a sticker over the camera on your phone, so no photos. You are also likley be offered a free shot of schnapps as you enter.

My top tip don’t stop at the first bar, but instead pass through and head one floor up to the Gold bar where there is a mini show before the show. Our tickets were in the dress circle, not my usual preferred stalls, but still a great view. Tickets for this show are on the expensive side and the stalls have been replaced with table seating so as to create the atmosphere of the Kit Kat club. The whole venue has been extensively altered in fact to create a circular stage or round in the centre of the venue. It is really cleverly done. I’d previously seen ‘Glencarry Glen Ross‘ at this venue, the Playhouse Theatre, when it was set up as a traditional theatre stage and it was fascinating to see how they had altered the theatre to fit the show. It’s been very well done and must have cost a fortune.

This attention to detail continues into the rest of the production which is very considered and stunningly executed. The whole cast was amazing. Billy Porter did a fantastic job at The Emcee, a role he was made for after his star turn in the excellent TV show ‘Pose’. Marisha Wallace as Sally Bowles was also brilliant, her voice is amazing. 

Cabaret

The Devil Wears Prada: A New Musical

The Devil wears Prada is one of my favourite films so when I heard they were making a musical version of it I was excited to see it, but then when I heard that they had cast Vanessa Williams as Miranda Priestly I got really excited. Apart from the highly unlikely possibility of getting Meryl Streep to reprise her role from the film, Vanessa was the absolute perfect casting, She was iconic as Wilhelmina Slater in the campy TV show. Ugly Betty, a very similar role to Miranda Priestly, though with more of a comedy edge. She was ideal for a musical and a fabulous singer known for her iconic early 90s song, Save the Best for Last.

Now since it launched this musical has had VERY mixed reviews, so to be honest my expectations weren’t too high. Better to set them low and not be too disappointed I always feel. However I enjoyed it, it was faithful to the film and they had a lot of the classic quotable lines and even a few funny new ones. The cast were universally brilliant, not a single duff performance between any of them. Vanessa was everything you could hope for and the actresses who played Andy and Emily were both fantastic. The ensemble cast were marvellous. The costumes and staging were great, they’d really made an effort to make sure they held up to the high fashion looks the film had done so successfully.

However and it’s a big one, the songs were very meh, a lot of them sounded quite similar. not a single one that was particularly memorable. Elton John wrote the music and this sadly was not his best work by a long stretch. It was all entirely forgettable and really let the whole thing down. It is such a shame as the rest of production was so good, but this is meant to be a musical and sadly the key bit the music was lacking. I still enjoyed it and I’m glad I saw it, but this could have been amazing and sadly purely because of the music it’s just not. Everyone I know who has seen it has had much the same opinion as well.

The Devil Wears Prada musical poster
The Devil Wears Prada musical

Firebird @ The King’s Head Theatre

I first saw the film version of this play a few years ago now and loved it. The film and the play are both orginally based on a memoir by Sergey Fetisov called ‘The Story of Roman’. Despite having a copy of the book and even signed by one of the wonderful lead actors in the film, Tom Prior (who also co wrote and co-produced the film) I haven’t actually got round to reading it yet. My bad, it’s on my to read list, I blame the fact that I only have a physical copy of the book and I almost exclusively read on my Kindle nowadays.

Anyway the film is genuinely heartbreaking, I teared up during it, something I rarely do. Both are based on the true story of a forbidden love between a fighter pilot and a private in the 1970s in Soviet-occupied Estonia during the height of the Cold War. The play was a small production with just four actors. Quite short as well with no interval in the performace. The play was definitely a lot less emotional than the film, there was some more funny and warm bits in the play as well, which kept it a lot lighter. Also I knew the story having seen the film, so there was no unexpected twist for me and definitely no tears this time. The play felt a bit rushed though and I think could have done with a bit more of a longer run time to help develop the story further. I enjoyed it, but thought the film was better. 

Afterwards we met the actors and had a bit of a chat with them. Nigel Hastings, the actor who played the general is actually off at the end of this production to star in another play I have seen ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ as the solicitor. A role I can imagine he would be perfect for. I was surprised to find out that one of the main actors, Robert Eades, who played Serge was actually straight in real life, you wouldn’t have guessed it from the play, he was entirely convincing in the part and in the love scenes.

Firebird play
Firebird play programme

The Mousetrap

I’ve lived in London over 20 years now and in all that time I’ve never been to see the classic Agatha Christie play ‘The Mousetrap’. It’s the world’s longest running stage play ever. It opened in London’s West End in 1952 and ran continuously until 16 March 2020 when it was briefly forced to close because of the Covid pandemic, before reopening on the 17th of May 2021. In the foyer of the St Martin’s Theatre where the play is shown there is a wooden counter showing the exact number of performances, in February 2024 they had their 29,500th performance. As of 2022 the play has been seen by over 10 million people in London. Perhaps not realising quite how long it would last as a play, Christie requested that the story not be published as long as the play ran in the West End. As such the story has never been published in the UK.

The Mousetrap

I’m a big Agatha Christie fans and after seeing the brilliant ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ last year I was excited to see this. It’s a classic Christie whodunit murder mystery set in a B&B in the countryside during a snow storm. The tag line for the play is ‘Can you keep the secret?’ And so obviously I will and I won’t be giving away any spoilers, but I can say I kind of guessed who the murderer was at the beginning/ middle of the second half. The play reminded me quite a lot of the famous ‘An Inspector Calls’ I enjoyed it, but for me it was not as good as ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ which I think had a better twist and was particular enhanced by the stunning setting in County Hall.

The performance was also slightly ruined by an annoying idiot in front of me who checked her instagram on her phone every minute letting of light from her phone which kept on distracting me. It was highly irritating and I was very tempted to lean forward and tell her to stop it. It is so selfish, I paid a decent amount to sit in the best seats in house in the centre of the stalls and if she wasn’t interested or enjoying the show she should have left. Rant over! I’m glad I’ve finally seen it, but I’m not sure I’d rush back to see it again.