Musicals and Other Shows

[floragord]

Some years ago a Swiss friend took a group of us to the theatre in London to see
ANYTHING GOES (the Cole Porter musical that's been running in the West End for aeons)! We all absolutely loved it, I'd never seen an audience join in with such zeal before! Highly recommended if you're looking for fabulous entertainment!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I found her [Julie Andrews'] performance in Torn Curtain, pretty awful.

I know what you mean - she could have at least mended the tears in the curtain, I was expecting her to get her sewing machine out, or at least a needle and thread to sew them by hand, but no.
Spoilt the whole film really.

I haven't seen Torn Curtain but Julie Andrews made up for that in The Sound of Music, when she made numerous outfits out of her old bedroom curtains!

[Tony Summerfield]

Some years ago a Swiss friend took a group of us to the theatre in London to see
ANYTHING GOES (the Cole Porter musical that's been running in the West End for aeons)!

I am not sure about your 'aeons' - its last West End appearance was at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and it closed in January 2004, 11 years ago!!

[Farwa]

I don't think Moonraker was that impressed, by his posting!

He was not impressed by Julie Andrews, but he did not make any comment on the story.

[Julie2owlsdene]

He was not impressed by Julie Andrews, but he did not make any comment on the story.

We've got that to look forward to then!

[Moonraker]

Oh no, you haven't!

[John Pickup]

Turning into a pantomime now.

[Courtenay]

He's behiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind you!!

[Julie2owlsdene]

I think maybe you've got your answer, Farwa!!

[walter raleigh]

I watched the old Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi film "The Blues Brothers" last night. Apparently John Landis the director gets annoyed by the fact that nobody ever thinks of it as a musical. I think he's got a point too. It's got some great songs, and a couple of show stopping dance routines. It's surely as much of a musical as "The Wizard of Oz" or "Mary Poppins" is!

[Fiona1986]

I completely forgot to add The Wizard of Oz to my list earlier. It's one of my favourites, too!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I've always loved the film with Judy Garland as Dorothy - it seemed magic to me as a child that it turned from black-and-white to colour partway through. The 2011 show at the Palladium with Danielle Hope as Dorothy and Michael Crawford as the wizard was fantastic too. Eye-catching scenery and special effects, and the dog who played Toto (a Westie, I think) was just brilliant - he deserved an award for his acting!

Mary Poppins is another one I'd like to have seen on stage if I'd had the chance.

[Courtenay]

I'd have liked to see Mary Poppins as well. I've heard that the stage production is a little more like the book than the movie, though, which would be interesting to see, as the two are very different. I loved the movie (with Julie Andrews) when I was little, though I think I only saw it the once, but was quite surprised when I read the original book by PL Travers a few years later. Her Mary Poppins isn't sweet and pretty and full of fun and sing-along songs at all; in the book, she's rather aloof and cold and strange and even quite scary at times, and yet, whenever she's around, magical things start to happen. (Which she herself usually vehemently denies afterwards, but the children know it really happened and it was because of her.)

I should mention West Side Story as another favourite. I liked the film, but the best version I've seen was a stage performance done by my former high school, to a quite brilliant standard. I was about 17 then and had moved to a different school a couple of years before that, but was thrilled to see several of my old classmates in the cast!

[Farwa]

I completely forgot to add The Wizard of Oz to my list earlier. It's one of my favourites, too!

Yes, mine too!

I think maybe you've got your answer, Farwa!!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I read several of the Mary Poppins books as a child, Courtenay, but didn't see the film until I was about twelve or thirteen. Because Mary Poppins was portrayed so differently I didn't actually like the film on that first viewing, but I eventually grew to appreciate it in its own right.