Category: Theatre

Songs From Musicals – Recommendations

by melissay1, posted in Theatre

I was having a conversation with someone about how much I love musicals and they told me that they’d never seen one or could even recall any song from a musical but agreed if I could do an hour long playlist of songs that I liked from musicals that would be good for someone with limited musical to knowledge that they’d give it a listen.

I’ve had a little break from blogging to give more of a platform for those voices who need to be heard more than mine right now but I thought sharing my song choices would be a great reintroduction to posting again because I’m just eager to write something now!

Without further ado here is the songs that I compiled. Would love to know what other songs / shows you think I should’ve included in the comments –

Alexander Hamilton – Hamilton

I’ve never seen Hamilton and truthfully bar a couple of songs I’m not a huge fan of the cast recording on the whole – though I am beyond excited to watch it when it lands on Disney+ next week. However, a few years ago Lin-Manuel Miranda challenged Broadway shows to sing a song from Hamilton for charity to help fundraise and Dear Evan Hansen did a song from the show. It was at this point that I realised that I should give Hamilton more of a chance and this song to this day is my favourite from the Hamilton.

I had to include Hamilton on my list as the songs from the show are just so different to what people associate with stereotypical musical theatre songs.

Defying Gravity – Wicked

Wicked will forever be one of my favourite musicals so I couldn’t put together a list of songs without including Wicked . It was the one that truly introduced me into the world of West End theatre and I think it’s such a magical show that will capture most peoples attention. I love the storyline, the sets and outfits are some of the best I’ve ever seen in a stage production and all the songs are so great.

Defying Gravity was the song from the musical I chose to include due to the fact that when you think Wicked you think Defying Gravity. It’s one of those iconic songs that even if you don’t know where the song comes from you’ve probably heard of it. For me, Defying Gravity has basically set the standard that all other musical songs have to compete with – it just never gets old and the song just gets even better if possible when you see it performed on stage.

Falling Slowly – Once The Musical

I completely forgot this musical existed until I went to David Hunter’s online concert at the start of lockdown and he did a cover of this song as he was in the musical. I’m so happy to have rediscovered this musical as this song in particular is so good and it really is one of my favourite songs from a musical which is why I chose it because I just love it.

I’ve never seen the musical, it’s one of those that I just never got around to seeing when it was in the West End so I can’t comment on the show itself (or even too much about what it’s about) but the music from it is wonderful. I believe that sung by the right popular singer, this song could be in the charts as it doesn’t overly sound like a musical song – in fact its the type of song that could even be in the John Lewis Christmas advert. I tried to pick some songs that weren’t stereotypically what you think of when you think musicals and Falling Slowly from Once absolutely fits in the bill.

Found / Tonight – Ben Platt / Lin-Manuel Miranda

I wasn’t entirely sure this would class as being from a musical as its a mash up of You Will Be Found from Dear Evan Hansen and The Story Of Tonight from Hamilton. Two songs which listened to separately you wouldn’t think would work together but somehow it does.

Ben Platt and Lin-Manuel Miranda are two of the most popular performers and the fact they’ve done this song together for charity is fantastic. I love this song so much it’s one of my top played songs ever so I had to include this.

Freeze Your Brain – Heathers The Musical

Heathers is a beyond underrated musical and I saw this show with multiple people who aren’t the biggest musical fans and they all came out loving this show. I’m not sure if its one of those shows where you’ll enjoy the songs more once you’ve seen the show but I couldn’t chose songs without including one from Heathers. It was such a tough decision I love pretty much all the songs from this musical but whenever I get a song from the show stuck in my head 9 out of 10 times its Freeze Your Brain. This is also the entire reason why I had far too many Slurpees from a 7/11 on my last trip to America.

I chose the UK cast version as I saw this version of the show so I have the bias towards Jamie Muscato’s performance of this song as I felt his portrayal of JD was arguably the best performance on the West End in 2018.

Michael In The Bathroom – Be More Chill

I was so insanely torn about which song from Be More Chill to chose. It was narrowed down between Loser Geek Whatever (especially as Will Roland who sings this song was the entire reason I even started liking this show) and Michael In The Bathroom but ultimately I chose Michael In The Bathroom as its the first song from the show that I become obsessed with.

I chose the Broadway cast recording version of this song as even though both are sung by George Salazar I feel that the Broadway version is just that little bit more amazing. I think so many people can relate to this song and the biggest regret I have is not flying to America sooner so I could’ve seen this song performed on stage as it had closed by the time I arrived in New York.

One Day More – Les Miserables

Les Miserables is one of those iconic musicals so you just have to include a song from it. Les Miserables is 99.99% sung so I can appreciate that many people who aren’t overly keen on musicals will probably not enjoy it. One Day More is one of the more catchy songs from the show so I feel like its a good start for anyone whose not seen the show and you’ll absolutely have this song in your head for the foreseeable future after listening.

The Phantom Of The Opera – The Phantom Of The Opera

As with the above, can you really do a list of musical recommendations with including Phantom Of The Opera? Phantom Of The Opera was a show that had never been at the top of my list to see – what a mistake that was! The show is incredible and when you see the show the scene where The Phantom Of The Opera its mesmerizing.

She Used To Be Mine – Waitress

Waitress is a musical that I’d been saying for the longest time that I wanted to see but whenever I came to booking a show I always had something that I wanted to see more. Then fate played out and I got the show in my Broadway Roulette spin when I went to New York.

Jordin Sparks was the actress who I saw playing Jenna. She is simply sensational and honestly her singing this song was one my the best things I’ve ever seen on stage. It was a real wow moment. Her performance of this song was unreal and I feel Waitress is underrated so naturally I had to include this song.

Six – Six

Six is another show that I’ve not seen yet and Coronavirus had other plans about the two times that I had booked to see it this year. Six is the story of Henry VIII’s six wives sung by them from their perspective of the events. It’s such a genius idea for a musical and all I’ve repeatedly heard for years is great things about this show. Like Waitress, its a musical that I’ve been wanting to see but something else has always been out that I wanted to see more, but this show is absolutely straight at the top of the list to rebook when theatres reopen.

I was torn between Six an Ex-Wives but ultimately I chose the song Six because I think it captures what the musical is about well and I only had an hour worth of songs so it made sense to chose the shorter song too. I think Six a catchy song and it naturally seems the perfect choice to start when introducing someone to Six the musical.

Stick It To The Man – School Of Rock

School Of Rock is one of my favourite musicals of all time. I’ve wrote countless times on this blog how Alex Brightman playing Dewey in this musical cemented his as one of my favourite male performers. I feel the incredible performance by Alex Brightman even comes across on the cast recording.

School Of Rock is based on the film of the same name and the songs in the musical are not what you expect from an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. I think this show will appeal to a wider audience because of the film and this song is one of my favourites from the show.

Waving Through A Window – Dear Evan Hansen

I feel like I talk about Dear Evan Hansen and wear enough merchandise from the show for people to just roll their eyes when they see this song on the list.

I am beyond obsessed with this show and I relate to it more than any show that I’ve ever seen before. The cast recording has the likes of Ben Platt, Will Roland, Laura Dreyfuss, Michael Park etc, and every single song is amazing. It’s one of the few shows where every song is my favourite and where the cast recording truly captures just how emotional the show is.

My favourite song from the show rotates on a near daily basis but Waving Through A Window was the song that initially sparked my interest of the show and I feel its a good introduction to the show as a whole. For someone who hasn’t seen the show I think Waving Through A Window is a fantastic introduction to the musical which is why this song is on the list.

The Whole “Being Dead” Thing – Beetlejuice The Musical

When I went to New York last year I have to admit that the only reason I wanted to see this musical was because Alex Brightman was playing the title character. I’d not even seen the Beetlejuice movie which this musical is based on so I went into the show absolutely blind as to what it was about.

The Whole “Being Dead” Thing is one of the first songs sung in the musical and I think it captures the sheer amount of bonkers (in a good way!) that is this show. I think someone who has seen the movie would probably appreciate listening to a song sung by Beetlejuice more too which again influenced by decision to chose this particular song as the entire cast recording is fantastic so it was a tough choice!

Sadly Beetlejuice is no longer open on Broadway but I really hope this show comes back because it’s definitely one of my favourite shows.

Top Reasons To See Dear Evan Hansen

by melissay1, posted in Theatre

Its been a couple of weeks since I sat down and wrote a blog post, sadly I’ve just not felt up to writing. To bring me out of the slump I’m I thought I would write about why I love Dear Evan Hansen so much.

Dear Evan Hansen is a musical that I heard about a couple of years ago now. I instantly loved the songs and now that I’ve seen the show both on Broadway and the West End I’m more obsessed than ever. I have so many reasons why I love the show but here is some of my top reasons!

Songs

My number one reason to see Dear Evan Hansen has to be the songs. I wouldn’t be sat here today telling everyone why I think you should see the show if it wasn’t for the songs as they’re what got me truly hooked to the show. I actually heard Waving Through A Window and instantly loved it so then started to look at what show it came from and the rest is history. It’s one of the few cast recordings where you get a tiny idea of how emotional the show is and the lyrics are so relatable at times. Every single song is fantastic and I can guarantee that you’ll only enjoy it more once you’ve seen the show. I have listened to this cast recording probably more than any other album I own so I really recommend you listen more and its only proved how much I listen to it when Ben Platt was my artist of the decade on Spotify. Plus the cast recording is the original Broadway cast which includes now well known names such as Ben Platt, Will Roland and Laura Dreyfuss.

Relatability

I’ve said this time and time again but I relate so much with Evan and that is entirely why the show is so good. I think everyone watching will be able to draw parallels from characters to their own lives. You have a single parent mum working hard to do what she can to ensure her son has the best life she can give, a family suffering a loss of a loved one, a sister struggling to get to terms with the death of her brother, the dynamics of how a school reacts to the events of a suicide, a kid who so badly wants to fit in but every time he tries he worries about getting hurt…the list is endless. I’m sure every single person watch the show can relate to so many moments and that attachment is exactly what helps to make this show so good.

Important Messages

The show features so many important moments. For one, the show touches upon mental health in such a normal, believable way and I believe that it’s so important to have such a popular show that highlights these issues. Then you have moments such as You Will Be Found which reminds you that no matter what you’re not alone and Disappear which shows how no one should be forgotten no matter how insignificant you may feel you are.

Of course you have the popular quote, ‘Dear Evan Hansen, today is going to be a good day and here’s why…’ I say that quote in my day to day life more often than I should admit, to the extent that people around me now start the day with that quote without even realising they’re actually quoting a musical. It’s crazy how one line in a show can really hit home to you and personally the last monologue with this in it is the final heartbreak moment in the show but it’s so wonderful.

Social Media

Social media is something that I’m sure most of us couldn’t imagine life without nowadays. Dear Evan Hansen is one of the few musicals that taps so heavily into social media. It launches a whole campaign on the internet / social media and you seen see the horrible side of it when the Murphy family are hit with the backlash from the Connor Project being online. So many of us use social media but Dear Evan Hansen portrays the positive and negative aspects of it so wonderfully. I feel that I don’t post horrible things aimed personally at people online but since seeing the show it’s certainly made me think about what I do share and post online.

I think with everything going on in the world today it’s fantastic that a show does feature something as relevant as social media and focusses on the negative aspects as well as the positives.

Sam Tutty

My final reason only sadly relates to the UK’s London production of Dear Evan Hansen and that is Sam Tutty who currently plays Evan. I’m embarrassed to admit that I judged him instantly when the cast list was announced as I felt he looked far too cool to play Evan, but boy I have never been happier to have been proven wrong. Sam Tutty was truly born to play the role of Evan Hansen and his performance absolutely emotionally destroyed me in the best possible way imaginable. Tears were uncontrollable pouring down my face at multiple points during the show due to the incredible acting from Sam Tutty. His acting skills are second to none and if you’re half familiar with the show already, be prepared for his Words Fail! I may be bias as I adore this show but personally I think his performance as Evan is the best thing you can see on the West End at the moment and if you’re in the area do try to get a ticket to catch him in Dear Evan Hansen. Obviously no matter who you see perform as Evan the show is incredible but personally Sam Tutty is my favourite that I’ve seen in the role.

Have you ever seen the show? If so I’d love to know if you liked it or didn’t and why!

2020 Goals

by melissay1, posted in Other, Theatre, travel

First of all Happy New Year!

Normally every year I make New Years resolutions but then it gets to this time of year and I feel very deflated that in my head I’ve done absolutely nothing towards achieving them. I’m sure like most people, my resolutions are always the most unrealistic things as the chances of me becoming a millionaire or the likelihood of me ever being able to be fit enough to run a marathon a day is so unlikely.

I was told instead of doing a resolution that I should try writing down a list of things that I’d like to do in a year then this time next year I can look back and see how much I’d actually managed to do in a year rather than being fixated on the one thing I hadn’t achieved.

This is probably just a year bucket list but I thought I would share some of the things on my list for 2020!

Do you have a list of things that you’d like to achieve / do in 2020? I’d love to know some of your goals too!

Blog

My big aim for 2020 is to make sure I blog 52 times – so at least once a week. I’d love to do more but I don’t want to commit to it if I don’t feel like doing multiple posts that week.

I have to admit as much as I love blogging, I quite frequently leave it until Saturday to write up and edit my posts as I tend to feel quite stressed out in a week with work. I want to be able to have posts ready to go and set aside even 15 minutes in a week to write or at least brainstorm blog ideas.

I’d also like to become more involved in the blogging community. I spend a lot of time reading posts from blogs I follow but I very rarely interact with them. I’d like to go out of my comfort zone next year and make a real effort to comment on posts more.

Obviously I do this completely for fun, but from a growth point of view I’d like to aim to get 200 followers by the end of year. I know this is highly unlikely but it would be a nice bonus if I could achieve this.

Books

I always aim low with my book reading goal as although I really enjoy reading I never want to put pressure on how much I read, but as ever I hope to read 20 books in 2020 – a goal which I’ve always easily doubled.

I’d like to try and write up my review for most books that I read. Although I mostly do this now I go through stages were I just binge read and then never bother to write anything up on any of the books I read even if I really enjoyed them.

This year I would like to make a real effort to participate in a reading challenge. Every year I half think about doing the popsugar reading challenge but then I end up not bothering. So early on in the year I’m going to write out the list and associate a specific book with each option and try and read as many of them as possible. I’m not going to aim to complete it but it would be nice to tick some off the list. I feel like this will help me read books out of genres I normally choose.

I would also like to put myself on a bit of a book buying ban – though not sure how likely that will be! The amount of books on my to be read shelf now is getting slightly out of control so in 2020 I would like to read books quicker than I buy them.

Music

My aim for 2020 is to see 6 concerts which I hope will be achievable enough especially when I already have four booked so far.

I have a separate two goals on my list for seeing McFly and Taylor Swift in concert which I know (assuming they don’t cancel due to illness etc) will happen, I hoped having things on my list that I knew I would do would make me appreciate the year more.

I also have wrote down to go to a festival. I already have a ticket to Glastonbury so I know I can tick this one straight off the list but I added it on as I feel like I take it far too much for granted that attending a festival is actually quite a big thing.

Theatre

I have set a target of seeing 6 theatre shows in 2020. I already have three booked so I felt that even with the expense of tickets that 6 shows in 2020 was still achievable. I’m hoping aiming for six will give the the push I need to go check out the shows that are on tour in my local theatres too rather than sticking to the West End.

Like with concerts I have separately wrote down things I actually have booked to see already – Be More Chill, Only Fools & Horses and Phantom Of The Opera. I’ve started to realise it’s important to recognise that going to go and see things even if I booked them in 2019 its still a privilege that I’m going and I should still acknowledge how lucky I am to be able to tick them off my years list.

Under the theatre category I have a couple of extra options as I would desperately like to see Dear Evan Hansen again and I have another box to tick for seeing Sam Tutty as Evan. His Evan was one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen and I would love to see him in the role again.

I would also like to see Six, a show which I always half attempt to see then end up booking something else I want to see more instead. Six is currently touring so hopefully it will be easier for me to see it now.

Travel

Travelling is abit restricted in 2020 as money is tight after two long haul holidays in 2019, so sadly I can’t have any big long haul destinations planned for 2020 so I thought I’d try and save and visit a European city for a couple of days or even go to a day trip to Paris on the Eurostar!

I recently read a statistic which was a crazy percentage of UK residents that had never visited Stonehenge…I am ashamed to admit that I am one of those people. So next year I would very much like to tick that off the list! Also on that list was Cheddar Gorge and Glastonbury Tor, which although I’ve been very close up I’ve never walked up the hill. So this year I’ve decided to put more UK based things on my list on things to do to tick off these places that I should’ve seen before.

I’ll probably add a few more places to the list but as of now my full travel list this year is –

  • Visit A European City
  • Visit Cheddar Gorge
  • Visit Glastonbury Town
  • Visit Glastonbury Tor
  • Visit Harry Potter Studio Tour
  • Visit London
  • Visit Madame Tussaud’s London
  • Visit A Theme Park

Personal Goals

I have a few goals that I would like to achieve for myself too. Lots of these are too boring to even bother to include in this post or too personal that no one would particularly care about them other than me, but some things on the list include – finish writing a novel, spend time more productively, use social life media more healthily and raise money for charity.

Hopefully as the year progresses I can update the things I’ve done through the year in a blog post but if I don’t do that I think it’ll be nice to revisit this in a years time and see how much I’ve managed to achieve.

Thanks to everyone who reads this post and I hope you all have a wonderful 2020!

 

Cats The Movie – Review

by melissay1, posted in Television & Film, Theatre

I saw Cats in London’s West End a couple of years back and since that day I have repeatedly told people that its the worst theatre show I have ever seen. It wasn’t that the actors weren’t doing incredibly and seeing the shows hit song Memory performed on stage was every bit as amazing as I expected – I just didn’t get the show. I thought the set itself was quite dated and I just didn’t understand what on earth was going on. Despite this I have to admit that I have never dashed to a cinema so quick to see a film. The trailer looked so good and I hoped the film would help me piece together the parts of the musical that I just didn’t understand.

I walked into the cinema with below low expectations, how was I supposed to enjoy a film that I have spent years telling people not to go and see on stage? I went in with an open mind and nearly two hours later, I walked out having surprisingly enjoyed every second of the movie. I wouldn’t normally write a blog post like this as I absolutely don’t watch anywhere near enough films to know what is critically a good film to judge it but as Cats is getting slated in the press later I thought it was worth mentioning my opinions.

For those who are unfamiliar with Cats, it follows the story of the tribe of cats known as the Jellicle cats who meet up yearly to decide which member of the tribe will be chosen to go to the Heaviside Layer for the chance to new life. You experience the Jellicle choice through the eyes of Victoria, a cat who gets abandoned on the evening of the Jellicle cats meeting and gets shown the ropes by the group. In order to be considered to be chosen for the opportunity to be selected for the Heaviside Layer, the cats must sing and explain who they are and why they should be chosen.

The main reason why I didn’t enjoy the stage production is that it was just full of so many cats prancing around quite a boring stage set up for three hours and it was just a little boring. Although this is basically what the film is too, the different scenes really made it interesting to watch. Despite what the reviews are saying, I thought the Cats film was visually stunning. My personal favourite example of this is very early on in the film where the Jellicle cats are dancing around a Cat name tweaked London. I truly thought this scene was delightful to watch and really captured my attention from the word go. Whilst discussing how this movie looks I must mention how much I love the movie poster. I think it is beautiful and if the cinema sold movie posters I would absolutely have bought it to frame for my wall.

Cats is a very star studded cast and for non musical theatre fans this is likely to be the main drawer of this film. From popular celebrities such as James Corden to film legends like Ian McKellen to famous singers like Taylor Swift – this cast will have someone that everyone who see’s this film will like. To be honest, I would’ve seen this film without the celebrity casting but it was a nice added bonus to see some of my personal favourite celebrities in this film and on the whole I thought they were all very well cast for the role. Again, despite what reviews are saying, I actually liked how well they were turned into Cats.

The movie stays relatively true to the stage production and that comes complete with the full musical score. Most of the film is largely driven by musical numbers and I think the musical nature should’ve been advertised more in the trailer. Personally, although I never enjoyed the stage show you can’t deny that the music in Cats is its real selling point and the movie did the songs justice. However, I feel like the large musical element may come as a shock to some watches of the movie. What I enjoyed about the movie too is that they added in a song for Victoria, something that was distinctly lacking in the stage show. The new song, Beautiful Ghosts, is very fitting with the film and I can only hope they find a way to weave it into the stage show too as it would be a real shame to not use it.

The plot I have to admit is relatively boring. You’re introduced to so many Cats in so little time and you don’t get to know enough about them to particularly care about any of them. The story is about all of these cats auditioning for the chance to go to the Heaviside Layer but as a viewer you never care enough about any of them to want them to be chosen as they’re all only on screen telling their story for 10 minutes max. Even when the bad guy cat Macavity (played by Idris Elba) comes along to sabotage anyone’s chance of winning you don’t really care if he does or not as you’re not invested enough in the characters to be bothered who wins the opportunity.

Overall I loved this film. I think I probably liked it so much as I had prior knowledge of Cats and I knew what the plot was and that it could be quite odd at times so when watching the movie I could just appreciate it for what is was rather than criticising the plot. I left pleasantly surprised about how much I enjoyed the film. Would I recommend it to others? Well, I didn’t hear one positive comment about the movie as we filtered out of the cinema screen, however I think if you do your research on the stage show before hand and like that then give the film a go! Don’t always listen to the reviews, you may be pleasantly surprised like I was.

Have you seen the film? What did you think?

Ben Platt – Radio City Music Hall

by melissay1, posted in Music, Theatre, travel

Still continuing on my theme of blog posts from when I went to New York last month comes todays post about Ben Platt’s concert at Radio City Music Hall. It was quite a while ago now but I love Ben Platt so I really feel like I still wanted to post this up.

I have been a fan of Ben Platt for a while now after joining the fan train from his role as Evan in Dear Evan Hansen. However, in the UK I don’t think he’s popular enough yet to do a countrywide tour and when he did come to London earlier in the year I had already tickets for another event at the other end of the country so I couldn’t go – gutted was an understatement. So it’s safe to say when he announced a one off date in New York and it fell when I happened to be on holiday there at the same time that I was thrilled to finally get the opportunity to see him perform.

Radio City Music Hall is one of those iconic American venues. so many shows and award ceremonies have taken place in that venue. It’s somewhere that each time I go to New York I think about going on the tour of the building but for various reasons it’s just never happened. If you’ve never been to Radio City Music Hall before from the moment you step into the lobby you’re in awe. It’s a pretty spectacular entrance hall and from the second you step foot through the door its clear why this venue was chosen for Ben Platt’s one off show. It was certainly more special than your average concert venue which was only fitting considering that Netflix was filming the entirety of Ben Platt’s concert that night.

I had such high expectations from the concert and Ben Platt didn’t disappoint in the slightest. I love the slight awkwardness that he has on stage, I love how he engages with the audience between songs and I could listen to him sing for hours. His voice is phenomenal and it’s so refreshing to go and see someone perform live and they sound just as incredible as they do on the album without needing any fancy dancing or set to distract you from his voice. Vocally, Ben Platt must be one of the best around at the moment and hearing him sing in person truly gives you chills at various points.

Truthfully, I believe Ben Platt to be a lot like marmite. He has quite a unique voice and I think that you’ll even really love his music or not be a fan. I obviously fall in the really love his music category so for me I absolutely loved the concert from start to finish. Ben Platt performed songs from his Sing To Me Instead album and even through in a performance of his newly released single, Rain. My personal favourite from the night was the song, If I Don’t Live Forever, which is my favourite song from the album and somehow manages to come across even more incredibly live.

The set was simple, it was a small rounded stage – nothing flashy in the slightest. I expected more of an over the top production with it being filmed for Netflix but to be honest, Ben Platt doesn’t need it. His voice is all that is needed for him to put on a great show and the simplicity somewhat reflects the scenes in his latest Netflix show, The Politician, in which he sings at various points throughout. What I liked about the stage was that it also highlighted the talents of the band and backing singers as they weren’t pushed at the back, they even had a moment to shine themselves which I found quite refreshing for a concert.

I still can’t quite believe that I was lucky enough to be in the audience for this concert. Ben Platt has one incredible voice and it was fantastic to be able to watch him perform. What’s even more exciting that sometime in the future we’ll be able to watch the show on Netflix and I know I for one cannot wait to sit through the show again!

Dear Evan Hansen

by melissay1, posted in Theatre

I’ve been waiting to see Dear Evan Hansen for so long. I absolutely adore every single song, I love the book and story, I just have never seen the musical on stage as it was only open in America. Sadly the last time I went to America it wasn’t open yet and currently (though not for much longer) it isn’t in the UK. Well, during my recent trip to New York I finally got to see the show! It completely and utterly met my high expectations that I had in my head for the show so naturally I have to write a post about it.

If you’ve never heard of Dear Evan Hansen, it revolves around a seventeen year old called Evan. Evan has really bad anxiety and in order to try and combat that, his doctor suggests writing letters to himself, hence the name Dear Evan Hansen! One day, Evan’s letter is discovered by his classmate and before he knows it he gets tangled up a web of lies that he just can’t get out of.

People seem to have a difference in opinion of Evan when you read reviews of this show. However, I really like the character as I feel like if I was in Evan’s position I would’ve done the exact same thing and I think that we can all relate to Evan’s longing to be accepted. For me personally, I find that the relatability of Evan gives me far too much of an emotional attachment to this show as at so many points I can imagine myself as Evan. However, the other point of view is that Evan is entirely at fault for lying so they struggle to feel sorry for him.

I have to admit that now Dear Evan Hansen is coming to London this month (and I do have tickets for it) that part of the reason I saw the show in New York instead of waiting a few weeks for my London show, was to see Andrew Barth Feldman playing Evan. Andrew Feldman is scarily exactly like how I imagined Evan to look like so I really wanted to see him do the role. However, the show I saw actually had one of the understudies, Josh Strobl playing Evan. Thankfully, my brief disappointment of missing Andrew Feldman was quickly forgotten! Josh Strobl was an unbelievable Evan and I do believe it was his Evan Broadway debut! I felt that he really captured Evan well and I felt so moved by his performance. If you live in the States and can catch one of Josh Strobl’s Evan shows I would highly recommend his performance! My show also had another understudy, Kaitlyn Santa Juana playing Zoe. Again, she was incredible for the role and I particularly enjoyed her version of Requiem. I felt like Josh Strobl and Kaitlyn Santa Juana had good on stage chemistry and I just can’t believe they’re both the understudies as I would never have known they weren’t the main cast actors.

I knew I would get emotional but I was not prepared for just how much I did. I had a few (and by a few I mean alot…) weepy moments throughout but my throat felt like it was burning as I tried to hold back the tears during You Will Be Found before I completely just broke down in uncontrollable crying. You Will Be Found comes across so strongly on stage. For me, that song on stage is one of my favourite end of act 1 scenes in any musical I’ve seen. That moment came as such a heartbreaking surprise for me as I hoped I would make it to Act 2 without having an emotional breakdown in a theatre but when you see the whole of act 1 on stage and this is the moment that even despite his lies Evan started to make a real difference and some of the words and performance just really affected me.

Dear Evan Hansen is such a simple concept for a musical but it provides so many story elements people can relate to which is why personally I get so attached to Evan. The waiting to be accepted, Evan’s longing to have friends, his need to help make people happy when given the opportunity, Evan’s dad leaving him and his mum working so hard to make a good life for Evan, Zoe’s reluctance to accept her brother was anything but a monster, a grieving family…I think every single person in the audience will manage to connect with at least one part of this story which is what I feel helps contribute to its success.

The set is quite interesting too. On the one hand it’s very basic, at the most you might just have a bed or table on stage. However, the screens permanently on stage play a massive part of the show frequently showing social media messages on them. The so heavy inclusion of social media is quite unique still in shows and I think Dear Evan Hansen uses it effectively. I think the heavy inclusion of social media completely makes it relevant to today’s society and it’s interesting to see how it can be used both for positive reasons and then flip for negative in the same breath. I’m sure everyone has had some degree of experience in the good / bad effects of social media and that really helps to connect the show to the audience.

Dear Evan Hansen is the first show that I’ve seen where I’ve been completely obsessed with everything around it but have never seen the show, normally I’ll know the odd thing or have casually listened to a couple of the songs then see the show and become obsessed that way. I’m so thrilled that it was every bit as good as I imagined it to be. Now, listening to the songs gives a whole new element of enjoyment as I can imagine them being performed on stage. I can completely see why Dear Evan Hansen gets all the hype as despite getting so upset watching it (and I wasn’t the only one as I certainly heard other people crying!) I enjoyed every single second and would see it again tomorrow in a heartbeat.

Have you seen the show? Would love to know what you thought!

Broadway Roulette

by melissay1, posted in Theatre

I’ve had a bit of a small blogging hiatus as I’ve been on holiday! Now I’m sat on the way home it seems like the best time to start my posts of exciting things I’ve done in New York this week. This first is something I did called Broadway Roulette.

Broadway Roulette is a really interesting concept and from the minute I read about it I knew I had to do it. You basically pick a day you want to see a show, chose if you want to see a musical, play or both, then rule out, if any, a couple of shows that you don’t want to see, pay the fee (which is extremely reasonable for a Broadway show) of either $49 or $59 depending on date, and then you’ll get a text and email on the day of your show telling you what show you’ve spun on the wheel!

I have seen a lot of Broadway / West End shows so for me putting control onto someone else to decide what I would be seeing was a great idea! I was completely open to seeing anything the roulette spun for me even if I’d seen it prior and I think if you chose to take part you have to be like this. If you have your heart set on seeing a particular show I don’t really think Broadway Roulette is for you.

As advised I got an email and a text in the morning telling me what show that I’d won and the ticket pick up instructions. Being overseas meant that I had very limited use of my phone unless I was connected to the WiFi so I was very apprehensive about pick up particularly as it stated if I had any issues to ring a number which obviously I couldn’t do without it costing me my phone bill twice over. However, the Broadway Roulette representative was waiting in the prearranged location as planned and he was very friendly and helpful in guiding us the best way to get to the theatre which added to the experience of the roulette.

The show that the roulette spun for me was Waitress! I was absolutely thrilled to get that show! I’ve been meaning to go see the show in London but every time I go to book it I see something else that I really want to see and book that instead. Getting the show on my Broadway Roulette spin meant that I finally had the excuse I needed to see this show.

To be perfectly honest I wasn’t expecting anything too great from Broadway Roulette when it came to the seats as the price was so cheap! I figured I’d just end up being back row so I was pleasantly surprised with how good the seats were! The seats were around half way back in the mezzanine and smack in the centre, I really couldn’t have asked for any better seats and if I was booking the seats myself I would’ve probably chosen those myself which proves how good the roulette service is.

Waitress Seats From Broadway Roulette

Now onto the show! Waitress is about Jenna who lives to make pies and she’s pretty good at making them too! She is stuck in an awkward situation at home and in order to escape to a new life she enters a pie making competition but of course things never work out as smoothly as people plan.

I enjoyed every single second and the songs were great (and I was actually surprised at how many of them I actually did know), the performers were fantastic especially given the amount of understudies that were on and they served amazing pie in the interval – my recommendation is the Cookies and Cream, delicious! It was also a nice added bonus to see Jordin Sparks staring as Jenna too. I’m so glad that Broadway Roulette gave me the opportunity to see the show as I really enjoyed it and I don’t think that I would’ve ever got around to seeing it myself.

I really wished Broadway Roulette existed in England as it is such a fantastic service. I love going to see Broadway shows but the element of not actually knowing what show you’re going to see until the morning of the day you’re seeing the show adds a whole new level of excitement. As mentioned earlier, if you really have your heart on seeing a particular show maybe don’t go for Broadway Roulette as it’s highly unlikely the show you want will be spun. However, if you’re open to seeing anything the roulette may throw at you then I would absolutely recommend Broadway Roulette. The price was incredible for a Broadway show, the seats gave a perfect, unrestricted view and I cant fault the service from start to finish! I know for my next trip to America I will definitely be spinning again!

Musical Influenced Tour Of New York

by melissay1, posted in Theatre, travel

I’m pretty sure I get subconsciously influenced by things more than the average person. The episode of Hannah Montana where Billy Ray is typing gr8ted cheese, I ran to Tesco to get grated cheese for about a month after that, in Keeping Up With The Kardashian’s they had bowls full of Nerds out the entire series…yep you guessed it I became addicted to them for a little while when I was binging Kardashian episodes. So it’s no surprise when at the moment I have songs from musicals playing on repeat and I’m watching too many YouTube videos of the cast performing them that I’ve started to build up quite a weird itinerary of things to do when I visit New York based on things I’ve heard in musical theatre songs. So without further ado, here is my musical influenced itinerary so far!

7/11

Freeze Your Brain – Heathers The Musical

More Than Survive – Be More Chill

I have to visit a 7/11 and get a slurpee. I’ve heard that 7/11’s aren’t the nicest of places in America but when JD In Heathers sings an entire song about having a Slurpee in 7/11 and Be More Chill’s Michael mentions going too – I have to go. Slurpee’s look like a Slush Puppy or a Tango Ice Blast but times hundred and I’m so insanely excited to try one. They look huge! To top off my 7/11 experience I need to have a Red Vine and hope that a guy dressed head to toe in black is wondering the aisles singing whilst drinking a Slurpee…

A La Mode

For Forever – Dear Evan Hansen

For the longest of time I thought that A La Mode was a place and it was put into Dear Evan Hansen is contextualise it and I just didn’t get the place reference because I’m British. I recently googled it and couldn’t believe it was an actual ice cream shop and New York has one! I’ll definitely be going to grab a scoop at A La Mode! I’m already eyeing up the pink sprinkle flavour.

JonnyPops

Jared Kleinman – Dear Evan Hansen

Jared Kleinman wears a JonnyPops shirt in Dear Evan Hansen and for that reason alone I need to have something JonnyPops when I’m in America.

Pinkberry

Sync Up – Be More Chill

I hope it’s warm when I go to America because this is the 4th frozen item that I’ve decided that I need to have when I’m there. Be More Chill mentions Pinkberry a couple of times but my favourite is in Sync Up. I will be going to Pinkberry and I will be that loser saying Jeremy’s exact line and asking how was Pinkberry and if no one answers with Brooke’s reply I’ll be very disappointed…at the moment they have a special Be More Chill based one to buy too so if they would like to extend that to when I go that would be fantastic.

Mountain Dew

Be More Chill

The short version of this is that in Be More Chill, Jeremy gets a pill which controls his mind and Mountain Dew activates it and Mountain Dew Red deactivates it. So naturally I need to have Mountain Dew. The musical also says Mountain Dew Red was discontinued in the nineties and I’m not sure if it just doesn’t exist in England or if it is actually discontinued but either way I need to have some kind of Mountain Dew whilst in America.

Corn Nuts

Heathers

Although lots of food is mentioned in Heathers, Corn Nuts are the ones that stick in my head the most – after the Slurpee of course! Probably due to the fact Heather yells the word repeatedly! I’m pretty sure I wont even like Corn Nuts but I’m dying to try them

Does anyone have anymore suggestions of musical related food places I need to try whilst in America? Let me know in the comments!

Be More Chill Broadway Cast Recording

by melissay1, posted in Theatre

As far as bad weeks though this got to be up in one of the worst ever – think bank fraud, coming home daily with stress related migraines and filling out thousands of job application forms kind of bad week. So to counteract the bad week my brain (or is it my squip…) decides it would be a great idea to write about something I’m absolutely obsessed with at the moment – Be More Chill.

Sometimes in life you become so obsessed with some music that it’s all that’s going around in your head, I sit at work thinking it, it’s the last thing going around in my head before I sleep, it’s the first thing I think of when I wake up in a morning…you get the idea I love the songs from this musical. The fact that I actually get to see the show when I go to America in a few months too is only heightening my love of these songs right now. Though Joe Iconis, who has done the music for Be More Chill is blooming amazing and I’m pretty sure everything he’s ever done is great, so its no surprise that these songs are so good.

I didn’t get into Be More Chill the same way as 70% of its fanbase did as the show has a massive online following and I didn’t find it that way. Truthfully I only heard of the show very recently when I saw some of my favourite Broadway performers tweeting about the show then when I found out Will Roland was in the show it fully got my attention. I’ve been a fan of Will Roland for quite a long while now so I’m very used to hearing his singing voice and all the tv appearances and promos I’ve chosen to watch are of Will Roland playing Jeremy. Plus I read the Be More Chill book before even looking at anything musical related so I’m basing my idea of Jeremy in my head from book Jeremy. Due to this I have quite a different perspective of the Broadway recording to most comments I’ve seen online, as for me although both recordings are great, I personally prefer Will Roland as Jeremy over the original cast recordings, Will Connolly. I think that’s quite an important thing to know as most of my song opinions revolve around how well cast I think Will Roland is for the role.

So without further ado, todays post is my thoughts on some (and by some I mean most…) of songs on the Broadway Cast Recording of the musical Be More Chill!

More Than Survive

Everything about this song is a complete upgrade from the original cast recording. More Than Survive is the perfect introduction to Will Roland’s portrayal of Jeremy and although I have no clue how any actor has played Jeremy on stage I feel like Will Roland’s version you can really can tell how much of a geek he is whereas I get the impression from Will Connolly’s version in the original cast recording that his Jeremy seems more of a middle ground kind of guy, absolutely no where near popular but feels relatively ok about how he is. The Jeremy in the novel is a complete and utter loser and Will Roland has such a knack for being able to capture this kind of character and portray it by a song alone.

Bit of a weird one but I’m slightly obsessed with the way Will Roland sings the last minute of the song compared to the original cast recording, again I feel like this section alone really captures the character of Jeremy and this is something I’m very looking forward to seeing live when I see the show! This song is a perfect opening song with Jeremy explaining his position in life to the fun introduction of Michael! This might actually be one of my favourite first songs from a musical!

The Squip Song

The Squip Song was one of my instant love from first listen songs from the original cast recording. Gerard Canonico is incredible on this song and I feel like the music on this song (and on the entire recording for that matter) has completely stepped up a notch. I also prefer Will Roland’s version of Jeremy in this song too as he has more vulnerability towards Rich which makes more sense to me given how they aren’t exactly friends.

The song itself is quite weird really as it completely changes throughout the song but that reason is absolutely what makes the song as good as it is and you as a listener completely buy into wanting a squip!

Two Player Game

It’s no wonder than Will Roland and George Salazar recently won the Broadway Choice Award for favourite on stage pair when you get songs like this. I think this song just capture the quirky nerdiness of the musical perfectly. You really see Jeremy and Michael’s friendship in this song as they discuss their position in life whilst playing a video game. Two Player-Game is my go to first song to play on the album or what song I tell people to listen to if they’ve not heard of Be More Chill, I just love it! Based on the performances the pair have done of this on television, I am ridiculously excited to see this one performed in the show!

Also, if you like this song check out The 8-Bit Big Band’s version too which also has George Salazar and Will Roland singing on it!

The Squip Enters

This song is 1 minute 17 seconds of pure screaming craziness. You know those little songs they always have in musicals but when you go and listen to the cast recording they’re never on the cd? Well, Be More Chill has scrapped that and put The Squip Enters on the recording. It is literally an entire minute of Will Roland screaming as the Squip takes over Jeremy’s brain and I feel like this is one of those songs that I am going to listen to once I’ve seen the show and be replaying the entire scene in my head as I listen. Its also the Squip and Jeremy’s first encounter together and I think it’s demonstrates Jeremy’s character well as you can hear that he’s somewhat in awe of the Squip and just the sheer confusion that the Squip is stood in front of him and is actually real, plus you also get to hear first hand how much work the Squip is going to have to put in to Jeremy!

Be More Chill Part 1

Will Roland is so unbelievably well cast for this song. I can completely imagine his face when it’s performed on stage and he has such an expressive voice which makes this song so good. When I listen to the Broadway version I hear Jeremy being quite ok and relatively proud at points over who he is and what he does in his spare time and then the Squip points out all of his flaws and you can hear the change in the voice as it dawns on him that every single thing he does contributes to why he’s a geek, whereas for me I don’t really get that in the original recording.

This song is the squip well and truly in dictating mode trying to make Jeremy cool and Jeremy just so naively goes along with it and it’s so, so good! Jason Tam as the Squip is another fantastic addition to the cast. Again this is just from the soundtrack alone but for me his Squip seems to come across much cooler than in the original cast recording and for me this Squip is someone even I would listen to every word of! Whereas I’m not going to lie the original cast recording sounds abit scarier!

I also love how the Broadway Jeremy talks to girls, I think its absolutely hilarious and truly demonstrates why he’s a loser even when following the Squips instructions, whereas original cast recording Jeremy comes across as being so much cooler! The last minute of so when the Squip is really instructing Jeremy is unreal and Will Roland and Jason Tam’s voices blend so well together.

I honestly didn’t care for this song much in the original cast recording but thanks to a combination of Will Roland and Jason Tam, it makes me love this song so much its now one of my favourites from the Broadway cast recording.

Sync Up

Again, yet another ridiculous catchy song! I swear, lines from this song have been going around my head on loop for the past week. “How was Pinkberry? Scary” is currently going around my head at least a million times a day! It’s also the first song in which we see Jeremy seeing the flaws in his peers that he didn’t notice when he didn’t have the squip which I find interesting.

Also, Jeremy and Rich’s squip’s syncing up…they’ve done it in such a way anyone whose ever played a video game can relate to and I think that its such a clever way to represent them syncing.

Loser Geek Whatever

Although this song is briefly sort of incorporated into the song Upgrade on the original cast recording it was never actual a full length song. Again, I have to admit that I know very little about Be More Chill pre Will Roland but I can only assume this song was added in for his Jeremy which for me is a fantastic addition and this song definitely deserved to have been a part of the show from the start.

This song is absolutely incredible and I can’t believe it ever wasn’t a part of the show. I think it is the perfect act one ending song and you really get to see Jeremy fully succumb to the Squip as it dawns on him that he now stands a good shot at being cool. The internal battle throughout this song is portrayed incredibly and its for that reason that this is one of the songs that I’m most excited about seeing performed. As a song it definitely stands up with some of theatres more iconic act one ending numbers and I’m very excited to see it performed on stage.

As an aside an acoustic version of this song is also out and if you thought this song couldn’t get any better then download the acoustic version, its amazing!

Michael In The Bathroom

I’m pretty sure that I’ve mentioned this on my blog before but Michael In The Bathroom is one of my favourite songs from a musical. This song seriously needs more hype as for me it is just as good as popular hits like Wicked’s Defying Gravity. Continuing on my theme of how well cast the Broadway show is, George Salazar is unreal and I just can’t imagine anyone else as Michael. Somehow even more emotion comes across in the Broadway recording and I think anyone whose ever had had even the slightest feeling of anxiety can relate to this song (I mean I know I have definitely made an excuse to go to the bathroom to avoid being in an awkward situation) and it’s the relatability and the sheer vulnerability of Michael that helps to make this song so good. Is this song going to make me and 90% of the audience cry when I go and see the show Probably…maybe…definitely…

If you watched the Tony Awards recently and saw James Corden singing James In The Bathroom and wondered what show that was from? Yep, it was a parody of Michael In The Bathroom!

The Pitful Children

This song was one of my favourites from the original recording and the Broadway version yet again doesn’t disappoint. When it’s asked what it is and Jeremy says it’s a supercomputer is hilarious. The Pitful Children is the song that I’m looking forward to seeing performed as I have such a clear version of what it could be like in my head. This song, like most of the songs on this recording, is insanely catchy and I just can’t want to see the production of it on stage.

The Play

First of all, Will Roland’s acting when Jeremy’s squip is glitching in this song is unreal. I’m so intrigued about if this part is actually in the show at all and if it is, is this part done live? I have so many questions about this part of the song!

Jeremy’s Squip is fully aiming for world domination in this song and he’s well on its way to achieving it, the cast all have squip’s and it seems like all hope is now lost. That is until Michael appears back on the scene! I love the part when Michael make’s his entrance and him and Jeremy do another small rendition of Two Player Game! The squip taking over everybody is something I can’t wait to watch on stage, I think it’ll be fascinating to watch the cast performing as they’re being squip controlled.

This song has abit of everything in it and I think everyone will love at least one section of this song. Songs from throughout the musical are so cleverly woven together to make The Play, which just makes this song the perfect climax to the musical.

Voices In My Head

Voices In My Head is quite possibly the catchiest song on the planet and if iTunes sold it, this song would absolutely be my ringtone. For that reason I couldn’t imagine a better song to be the ending to Be More Chill as I can guarantee every single person who leaves the Lyceum Theatre will be humming this song! Not only is the song catchy, I also think the lyrics to this are fantastic. The perfect ending to a musical.

If you’ve read this far as you can tell I just really love this cast recording and I can’t wait to go to America to see this show. Its very rare that I listen to a cast recording of a show and absolutely love every single song, particularly when I’ve not seen the show first! I’m loving these songs just for pure good song value at the moment. They are catchy, the music orchestration has completely stepped up since the original recording (not just in the songs but I need to mention how incredible the instrumental songs on this cast recording are too!) and the lyrics are fantastic. Top that off with a brilliant cast and I think this show has one of the best cast recordings on Broadway at the moment.

Have you seen Be More Chill, if so what did you think? I would love to know what other people think of the show and the music from it!

Theatre Stage Doors

by melissay1, posted in Theatre

I’ve been wanting to write my thoughts of going to stage door at a theatre for a while. Now I’ve started blogging on a Wednesday, I’ve finally got the perfect excuse I need to write this post.

I think stage door after a theatre performance is a lot like marmite, you either love it or hate it / don’t care about going. I for one, love it. I really enjoy seeing a show, loving the performance then heading to stage door to get my program signed by people whose performance I’ve just watched and enjoyed. My wall is full of framed signed programmes / posters from my favourite shows that I got signed at stage door after the show, for me it’s just the ultimate souvenir you can get from a show, and it’s nice to say hi to the cast and say how much you enjoyed the show. However, stage door has been increasingly making the news / social media sites over the past year and as someone who loves stage dooring that is why I wanted to talk about it.

Hands up – I have probably committed every single stage door sin in the past. Yes, I’ve waited at the stage door at a day that I haven’t seen the show (in my defence I had seen the show the day before and it was to try meet Daniel Radcliffe. People queued to get the prime spot to meet him hours before the play that day had even started!) and I’ve got photos with cast members when it was broadcast online that photos weren’t not allowed – but again I wasn’t aware of this until a few weeks after I saw this particular production, and I did ask the cast if it was ok, I didn’t just shove a camera in their face. I really feel that from both an actor and fans point of view that it would be easier if every single stage door followed the same rules and procedures so actors and fans alike know where they stood. For example, if the show that said no photos had signs up saying that or security shouting no photos (like on Broadway) then both actors and fans would know where they stood, whereas in that situation the actors must’ve known about no photos but fans didn’t.

Genuinely with the West End, unless someone relatively well known is in the show, I’ve found stage doors are a very casual affair. No barriers, no security, just a handful of people waiting to get autographs / photos after the show. But then when you go and see a show with a bigger name star in it, the stage door just turns into chaos. If perhaps every show did the same stage door people would know what to do. For example, at Daniel Radcliffe’s most recent play, if you saw the play and had a valid ticket for that days performance you were able to queue up outside after the show and were led inside in small groups to meet Daniel Radcliffe. Really, Daniel Radcliffe did not have to commit to do this at all (I was near the back of the queue and it took a good two hours to get to me meeting him and to this day I’m still shocked they didn’t just do the first handful of people in the queue) but if a performer is happy with it, it was such a great way to do a stage door and the theatre staff organised the queue very effectively. It eliminated people who hadn’t actually seen the show camping out at the stage door barrier and it was just the most calm, relaxed experience. In my opinion it was the best stage door experience I’ve had and I think all big name stars should considering doing stage door like this if they’re ok with committing all that time after the show.

Then at the recent production of Heathers, security had fans line up down the street at the front of the theatre instead of by stage door and the cast made there way up and down the line. I thought that worked well too as if cast members weren’t feeling up for stage door that day they would walk out the theatres stage door and go home, whereas if they felt up for stage door they made the decision to commit to it and walk front of house to sign programmes. It was giving the actors the choice and it kept fans happy and they knew that the actors who came to the front of the building would make the way up the entirety of the line.

Everything so far has been in relation to the West End now let’s move onto the horror that is Broadway stage doors. To be perfectly honest I don’t know too many Broadway actors (and the locations of stage doors in New York seem to be so confusing to find!) so I have only stage doored Broadway just the once so I have very limited experience but from that experience alone I would have to really want to meet the cast to attempt it again. Obviously as I’ve only done it once I’m not sure if it was just a particularly bad experience or if that is Broadway shows in general but I have seen photos of other stage doors and they all look just as hectic!

The stage door experience I had was at School Of Rock, I love Sierra Boggess and really wanted to try and get my copy of her album signed, plus I wanted to try and see Alex Brightman who became an instant favourite performer after I watched the show – no joke it’s been 3 years and I still tell people how much of an incredible performer he is! I ran out of the theatre after the show, my exit was the one bang next to stage door, I must’ve been at stage door all of 20 seconds after the show ended and yet I was still about 4 rows of people back – is it standard for people to wait at Broadway stage doors before the show has even finished or are people just insanely quick? The door was completely surrounded by barriers and if you weren’t at the front you had very little chance of getting anything signed particularly as I’ve never been in such a pushy situation when the actors started to filter out. People were literally whacking playbills, posters, vinyls around my head in the hope to get an actor to sign them – I wasn’t even anywhere near the front! Security were shouting as the pushing began and people were just uncontrollably screaming the actors names, it was just crazy and quite a different stage door experience to what I’m used to! As it happened, the cast had guests in that night and both Sierra Boggess and Alex Brightman came out quite late after the show had finished and only a half a dozen or so people remained meaning the barriers had gone down and the security had left for the night. Despite the hectic pushy environment earlier, when these two cast members came out it was extremely chilled. Alex Brightman in particular was truly one of the nicest people I’ve met at a stage door, he spent so much time individually talking and taking photos with every single person who was waiting.

I’ve booked to see Be More Chill on Broadway (even just writing that makes me want to scream with excitement that I’m actually seeing the show!) later in the year. I have been a fan of Will Roland, who stars in the show, for years now, I’ve watched an embarrassing amount of interviews he’s done and listened way too much to the cast albums he appears on – plus I’m sure most people have seen him singing the song about cookies and maybe yet not made the connection about who it is. Although my seats are pretty terrible, I never thought I’d get the opportunity to see him on stage so it’s safe to say that I just absolutely cannot wait to finally get to the chance to see him perform in a show. However, I’ve heard very mixed reviews about him at stage door as he apparently goes down the line very quickly signing after the show whereas I’ve heard other members of the cast spend a long time signing everything and taking photos. Honestly for me, I don’t know why people complain at that. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I’d love to get a photo or get a few moments to say what an incredible performer I think he is but frankly he’s the lead in Be More Chill and I can imagine that’s completely and utterly exhausting. The fact he even comes out of stage door at all is great and people should be ok with that rather than complaining how he rushes through it. I know after I had a tiring day at work and you just want to get home that I’d be leaving by a back exit to avoid having to do that! I know it’s an argument that’s goes around a lot at the moment but it is so true, you’re only paying to see a show and anything else is a bonus. It’s just sad when you hear multiple bad reports about performers not doing stage door when in reality if you put yourself in that situation you probably wouldn’t do it either.

As a fan of meeting theatre performers I love stage door. It gives me the opportunity to say how much I enjoyed watching them on stage and also getting something signed is such a great souvenir. Some of my favourite things are my (now framed and on the wall) signed posters from shows. Ultimately I think as long as the actors are willing and happy to participate in stage door and fans are respectful of the actors choices to do or not do it and of other fans around them then it shouldn’t be a problem. I think the problem starts when people start complaining about performers being too quick at stage door or even choosing not to do it at all, at the end of the day if people are respectful and considerate then I personally see no problem with stage door signings continuing. I know that I’ll still be trying to get my programme signed at the next show I attend.

I know this has been the biggest load of waffle but I’d love to know other people’s opinions, do you like / dislike stage door? Have you ever had a really good experience meeting someone there? I definitely look at tagged photos of shows on Instagram way too often to read people’s experiences at shows so I’d love to hear any stories!