VERY excited for what must be my 8th time seeing this production when the cast-change happens.
A little sad as my friend Adam will no longer be appearing as Edna/Wilbur/MAF cover, which is a big shame, but I am a HUGE Sharon D. Clarke fan – *very very very excited!!*
More amazing news for Hairspray fans…
Phill Jupitus, Belinda Carlisle and Sharon D. Clarke are to join the UK West End cast from 26 October 2009 onwards.
I am not a fan of Brian Conley and so wasn’t fussed about seeing him, however Phill Jupitus I can definitely live with (my fella is especially enthused) and I absolutely would do ANYTHING to see Sharon D. Clarke! I think she’d be phenominal as Motormouth Mabel!
Phill Jupitus is also on twitter (@jupitusphillip) and so it’ll be good to keep up with his thoughts via that medium.
The story from whatsonstage.com is as below.
Belinda Carlisle & Phill Jupitus Star in Hairspray
Date: 2 September 2009Belinda Carlisle, former lead singer of 1980s girl group The GoGos, will make her West End debut alongside Never Mind the Buzzcocks’ comedian Phill Jupitus and Whatsonstage.com Award winner Sharon D Clarke in the new cast of Hairspray, which takes over at the West End’s Shaftesbury Theatre on 26 October 2009, ahead of the introduction of Sunday performances from 8 November.
Jupitus takes over from Brian Conley in the cross-dressing role of Edna Turnblad, with Carlisle as Velma Von Tussle and Clarke as celebrity DJ Motormouth Mabel. Also joining the cast next month will be Tony Timberlake (as Wilbur Turnblad), Nicola Brazil (Amber Von Tussle) and Gavin Alex (Corny Collins).
Based on John Waters’ cult retro 1988 film and set in 1960s Baltimore, it tells the story of geeky overweight teen Tracy Turnblad, who finds celebrity on a TV dance programme. Can she get the guy and still have time to change the world? The musical has a book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, with music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Whitman and Shaiman.
Hairspray premiered in August 2002 on Broadway, going on to win eight 2003 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The UK production, which is also directed by Jack O’Brien and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, won the sweep of Best Musical prizes at the Evening Standard, Critics’ Circle, Whatsonstage.com and Olivier Awards, amongst other accolades.
Belinda Carlisle as Velma Von Tussle
Phill Jupitus with his Edna alter-ego
Phill Jupitus as Edna Turnblad
Jupitus was seen in the West End last year in the one-man play Life Coach at Trafalgar Studios. He became a household name in 1996, when he joined BBC2’s pop quiz Never Mind the Buzzcocks as a regular team captain. He was a regular on the national and London comedy circuits for 11 years. On screen, he’s appeared in Mike Bassett England Manager and, for five years until March 2007, he hosted the breakfast show on BBC6 Music.
As lead singer of the The GoGo, Belinda Carlisle was part of the first-ever girl group who wrote and played their own music to top the Billboard Charts in the US. After the band broke up in 1985, she had solo success with hits such as “Circle in the Sand”, “Leave a Light on for Me” and “Heaven Is a Place on Earth”. Her screen credits include the film Swing Shift and appearances on Dancing With the Stars in the US and Hell’s Kitchen.
Sharon D Clarke is well known to theatregoers from musicals including Chicago, The Lion King, Rent, Guys and Dolls and We Will Rock You, for which she won a Whatsonstage.com Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical. Her TV credits include playing Dr Lolo Griffin on Holby City for three years.
The current Hairspray cast also features Chloe Hart (as Tracy Turnblad), Verity Rushworth (Penny), Liam Tamne (Link Larkin), Adrian Hansel (Seaweed) and Raquel Jones (Little Inez), who are all remaining with the show.
Marvellous news about the UK tour of Hairspray – I genuinely can’t think of anyone better than Michael Ball to lead this production! Despite having seen this about 7/8 times in the West End now, I will definitely try and see this at a regional theatre too! 
Below is a rather good article published in The Stage which gives further details:
Published Monday 10 August 2009 at 15:14 by Alistair Smith (The Stage).
Michael Ball will lead the cast of the new touring version of West End musical Hairspray, the show’s producers have announced.
A new production of the show – in addition to the London stage version at the Shaftesbury Theatre – will tour the UK from April 7, 2010, when it will open at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff, before visiting Glasgow, Southampton and Manchester. Ball will appear as Edna Turnblad at these venues with further star casting for future tour dates expected to be announced shortly.
The tour also marks the first stage of a “closer working relationship” between Ball and producer Stage Entertainment. This will involve developing new work and roles both onstage and in a production capacity for Ball in the future, including a major, but as yet unnamed, musical revival in 2011.
Ball said: “I knew when I originally took on the part of Edna that she was going to be a big part of my life, in every way, but I never realised just how big. Hairspray is truly one of the greatest experiences of my career and the chance to have just a few more nights in those frocks was an opportunity I couldn’t miss! With so much on I’m unable to do all dates but I promise that we’ll have some brilliant performers lined up for our UK tour. Moving forward, to now be working as an associate producer with Stage Entertainment developing new shows, new roles and new opportunities in the future is an honour, and something I can’t wait to get stuck in to.”
Producer Adam Spiegel added: “We are over the moon that Michael has agreed to launch the Hairspray tour for us. The show has been a huge success in London, not to mention around the world, and Michael has been a big, big part of the Hairspray story so far. It’s doubly exciting that not only do more people around the UK now get to see his gorgeous Edna Turnblad, but we as a company get to work with Michael more closely than ever behind the scenes as we develop new work together.”
Hairspray’s West End staging at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London recouped its capitalisation in 29 weeks. The show opened in October 2007 and won Best Musical at the 2008 Olivier Awards, as well as Best Actor in a Musical for Ball. It is now booking at the Shaftesbury until October 2010.
… so it would seem! (Update: Confirmation and Edna casting available HERE)
The Southampton Mayflower is already listing the show, with tickets reported to go onsale on Monday August 3rd 2009 to Mayflower Theatre Club Members, with General Onsale on Monday 10th August.
Hairspray
Tue 11 – Sat 29 May 2010
Friday & Saturday 7.30pm
Monday – Thursday 7.30pm
Wed 12th 2.00pm
Thursday & Saturday 2.00pmThe West End’s favourite musical comedy, Hairspray, is coming to Southampton next spring!
Hairspray tells the story of Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart as she sets out to follow her extraordinary dreams, inspire her mum and win the boy she loves.
Hairspray is the musical with everything – the ultimate feel-good show which has played to sold out houses in London, on Broadway and at theatres around the globe.
Big Hair, Big Heart, Big Hit – Book Now!
It goes without saying that I would presume more venues will follow (presumably it will also do the Live Nation Theatre circuit too), so keep your eyes peeled for your local venue.
For those who have been unable to make it to the West End show yet, I’d heartily recommend that you go and see this musical – it’s an amazing experience (providing they get the casting correct of course!) and one of my favourite musicals of all time!
“Hairspray 2″ is scheduled to be released in cinemas in 2010 (an awful idea in my opinion, but I shall reserve judgement until I see it), so no doubt this regional tour will tie in nicely with that!
So, the Tony Awards are happening over at the world-renowned Radio City Music Hall in New York tonight, and I have to say, the build-up this year seems to have been huge!
All of the information regarding the broadcast, along with very good quality clips from the nominated musicals/plays and all of the nomination details, can all be found on their official website.
Unfortunately, there are no UK carriers of the awards ceremony, and so I will not get to watch the awards until later in the week. It’s such a pity that CBS don’t broadcast this further afield or re-sell the rights to foreign carriers!
Naturally, I am hoping that our very own Billy Elliot does really well on the night and, in the awards related to plays, I am hoping that God of Carnage also does well. I’ve seen both in London and thought that they were cracking!
I notice that Broadway has a HAIR! revival at the moment; I can’t begin to get across how much I am hoping that it also opens over here on the West End! I’ve been saying for the last 12 months that we could really do with something like it!
I must say, I do rather like the revival version from the look of the various trailers:
I would have LOVED to have seen this in Central Park!
Also up for several awards is Shrek: The Musical (surely best costume design must go to them?)
Rock of Ages looks to be a good show, and I wish them well too. I doubt we’ll get this over in the UK… it’s too similar to We Will Rock You – plus these kind of shows only seem to do well on regional touring productions.
I really do love this type of music though, so if it does come over to the UK, you’ll see me front-row centre on opening night heh.
In the same vein as Spring Awakening before it (who, arguably, introduced Broadway to the concept of a ‘darker’ musical, and collected many awards the other year), Next To Normal also looks to be a rather gritty and hard hitting musical – the story focuses on a mother struggling through life with bipolar disorder.
Get me to see this one too please!!
As a bit of random trivial, one of the chaps (Gabe) in this production, Aaron Tveit, will be the lead in Catch Me If You Can (The Musical) when that opens later in the year. CMIYC is a musical by the (amazing) song-writers of Hairspray, and based on the 2002 film. Tveit has played Link Larkin in the Broadway production of Hairspray (so is clearly a favourite for the writers!), and has also played Fiyero in Wicked.
Also up for a few (4) awards, is 9 to 5 The Musical – nominations which I’m sure that we Brits will be very interested in tracking - as I know that a lot of folk in the West End are eager for this one to come over here.
Also making it into the award nominations for 2009 is Equus (so much time seems to have passed since we had it in London (in 2007 and touring the UK in 2008); it seems strange for it to only just be qualifying for a Tony nomination!). Peversely, it is only recognised for a nomination in the ‘best lighting design of a play’ and ‘best sound design of a play’ categories… TSK!
There looks to be a rather exciting line up of shows that have been nominated and a great awards ceremony itself to be looking forward to (lots of performances and well known faces are appearing, as always, it would seem… DOLLY, followed by LIZA(!!) has to be a highlight on that score!).
Good luck to all shows that are up for awards this year!
Yesterday afternoon, my friend Adam and I caught the matinée for Sister Act – The Musical; currently in previews at the London Palladium and set to open on Tuesday June 2nd, 2009.
I was very fortunate to get chance to see the show as my original opportunity was for the week prior and clashed with Little Shop Of Horrors; so hurrah for Adam and the Hairspray outing! I was especially pleased to be watching the show with Adam as I was looking forward to an ‘insiders’ view of the staging to contrast with my own ‘enthusiasts’ view.
We both came out of it thinking the same thing really; the opening was terrible, but as it went along, it got a lot better, and we were both up at the end, wildly swinging our rosary beads with the rest of the jubilant (and upstanding) congregation.
Realistically, we’re talking about a a show comprising of Sheila Hancock and a sisterhood of disco nuns… so it’s hard to go wrong really! 
First, I shall tackle the thorny subject of the opening few minutes. You’re opening the London Palladium of all places… you want a huge opening, maybe a lounge act, a few bangs and sparkles, maybe Delores flies in over the crowd… and instead you get Mother Superior stood in the corner, meekly asking for someone to help the convent. Disappointing.
The pre-set of a purple curtain and a large gold cherub was like something ripped off the So Graham Norton credits… ugh! I do hope that the creative team behind the show tweak the whole opening before they get out of previews, as, if you open the show on a bad note, it takes a long time to recover in my opinion; which was true of this show.
The gangsters who were after Delores were comedic (and rarely in a good way… sorry!… script more than actors, of course!) and in my opinion should have been a lot nastier and scarier than they were.
However, those are my only major (and grudging) criticisms of what is otherwise a fantastic show!
Whilst Alan Menken’s soundtrack for this musical isn’t going to set the world alight I’m afraid to report, there are only two decent songs in the production (which they repeat endlessly!), it is certainly foot-tappingly fabulous.
The real winners in this production are the people behind the set design. It is absolutely remarkable how they turn the stage around… it really has to be seen to be believed. A very versatile set with some innovative mechanics behind it. I envisage several technical awards when it comes to award season next year!
Most of the characters were great, with my particular favourites being Sister Mary-Lazarus, Sister Mary-Patrick and, of course, Delores. Some great casting / portrayals in there from a very accomplished company of actors.
Patina Miller is a genuine gem and I think she’s great in the role of Delores.
Disco Nuns!
Disappointingly, Ian Lavender (of Dad’s Army fame, in Sister Act playing Monsignor Howard) was barely in it and didn’t really have much of a role to play, and I thought the back-story behind Sister Mary-Robert was surplus and bored me slightly.
There has been a lot of hype about this show (unfortunately, most of it self-generated by the Sister Act press office!), however I do think that this is a good show, and it managed to do something that a production has not managed to do for me in quite a while; which surprised me. I was actually welling up a little and felt very uplifted at the end of the show…! I’ve been jaded in my theatrical pursuits in the past few years, however this show really did give me that huge overwhelming feel-good-vibe that I’ve probably not felt since first seeing Hairspray (and them finishing on”You Can’t Stop The Beat”)
I give it a few years in the West End and think that it is definitely fabulous as a new piece of musical theatre making it’s debut.
I would heartily recommend it as a fun and uplifting show – at times you want them to just burst into the songs from the film (and to hell with the copyright… I’ll pay my share!) – however the story does transfer well, and definitely works as a stand alone piece of theatre.
Sister Act is currently booking until February 2010 at the (gorgeous) Palladium Theatre, London.
The show runs for 2 hours and 30 minutes (including interval).
For a BBC interview with Sheila Hancock (Mother Superior) along with a few clips of the show, please click HERE.
For my previous Hairspray reviews, please click HERE and scroll through.
Last night, I went back to the Shaftesbury theatre to watch Hairspray (for what I think is the 7th time!).
Since my last review, there have been a few cast changes and so I thought that this would be a perfect opportunity to update my thoughts on this truly fantastic production.
Fairly new comers to the production include Nigel Planner (as Wilbur) and Verity Rushworth (as Penny). When some of the principal cast changes occur on 27th July 2009, the West End production will also have Brian Conley as Edna, newcomer Chloe Hart as Tracy and Wicked’s Liam Tamne as the ever-cute Link Larkin.
Liam Tamne
This was also my first showing with Liz Robertson as Velma and Zoe Rainey as Amber (both of whom I really enjoyed watching!).
Last night, we had Adam Price as our leading lady once again, and, as I commented in one of my previous reviews, I thought he was marvellous in the role! (I loved seeing Michael Ball in the role last year (and still love his Edna!), but think that the novelty of Michael Ball in a dress wears off quite quickly after the first show, after which you’re left with the actor and deciding which style you prefer).
We were very lucky that Leanne Jones (Tracy Turnblad) arrived just in the nick of time to be on for our performance (as I believe that she’s recently been absent due to illness), and I managed to get a great seat to be able to perv… I mean WATCH… Ben James-Ellis as Link 
Nigel Planner is an interesting addition to the cast… perhaps seen as a safe pair of hands due to his history in successful West End shows (recently seen in We Will Rock You and Wicked). I missed Ian Talbot’s Wilbur if I’m being completely honest. I thought that Planner just didn’t look right in the role, and didn’t seem to be having much fun with it. I hope that this changes the longer that Planner stays with the production.
As always, Penny (Verity Rushworth) proved to be my favourite character, shortly followed by Female Authority (Wendy Somerville), however there were really strong performances all round in my opinion. The Ensemble were all great and I found that I noticed and followed them a lot more this time round.
Vocal performance of the night has to go to Sandra Marvin as Motormouth Maybelle… I had hairs standing up all over the place during ‘I Know Where I’ve Been’ PHENOMENAL!
It was great to see that some of the cast have now started to be adventurous with some of the vocal parts as well (not that they weren’t perfect anyway!); however sometimes a little deviation in deliverance does give the song that extra ‘kick’ that comes with live music, and, in my humble opinion, also helped to differentiate the role from the previous actor’s portrayal of the character (perhaps not a big consideration for those lucky ones who are able to detach from the need to visit Hairspray much more than I seem to be able to hehe!).
We were lucky to get a really good audience last night and that really helped to add to the atmosphere of the whole event… towards the end it was simply electric!
Adam Price as Edna Turnblad
I have since decided that I really need to see Brian Conley and Adam Price headlining (Price is also Wilbur in Planner’s absence) as that would be one West End double act that I can’t wait to see! Having seen Price as Edna a few times now, I’d love to see how his Wilbur looks and whether he can resist the urge to crack open the feather dresses and the sparkles! I shall go investigate on your behalf dear readers… and I’ll update with all the goss!
If you’ve not already been to see Hairspray, you really do have to! It is the most infectious, uplifting and energetic production that the West End has seen in a very long time!
Remember, if you want to see the original West End three (Edna, Tracy and Link), you need to have been to see the show by Saturday 25th July 2009!
Personally, I’ll miss seeing these three cast members in the show, however I’m really looking forward to the introduction of the new cast members and seeing what they do with the role (and whether Brian Conley can actually pull it off… I have my reservations!).
Given my penchant for visiting this production, I’m sure that yet another Hairspray review is soon to come…
For my previous Hairspray reviews, please click HERE and scroll through.
*UPDATE : The show will start broadcasting on Sunday 31st August 2008, 19:00 BST, Sky One*
OH… MY…… GOODNESS!!!!!
I AM RATHER EXCITED!!!!!!!!
Hairspray : The School Musical is a new show that Sky One are set to broadcast with Denise Van Outen as the host, along side a strong team of coaches and with the valuable support of some of the current West End cast and creative in a bid to have a group of school kids performing the smash hit musical Hairspray.
For those of you who, like me, are without Sky, the programme will also be available on Sky Player (no Sky subscription required, though any programme watched through the Player is chargeable – usually around £1.00).
There’s no news on when the programme will start to air, other than “autumn”, and it seems to be gauging a mixed reaction from the public on-line. I, however, am unashamedly excited about this programme and think that I will be able to identify with it a lot more than I could with the recent I’d Do Anything programme (shock, horror, I’m not a huge fan of Oliver!).
Alas, there’s not yet been a lot of media released for this show and so it’s been hard to even find a picture! The official website for the show has a video and all of the information that you could ever need though.
In light of that, I have decided to instead post a picture that reflects the title of this new show - i.e. the amalgamation of Hairspray and High School Musical…. so here’s a picture of Zac Efron for us all to enjoy instead hehe!
I can hear the bells...!
Once I find a way of getting to watch this show (e.g. ‘randomly’ turning up at people’s houses just in time for this hehe), I am sure that I’ll have plenty more to say on the subject- woo!
Cor, so it’s been a little while since I made a personal post to my blog – mainly because I’ve been so busy recently!
Between Saturday 5th July and Saturday 11th July both Greg and I had a week off from work and decided to make the most of it. We had a lovely week, Greg came over and stayed at mine for the duration and we planned lots of fun things.
Saturday 5th
Greg’s 29th Birthday – whoop! It was also London Pride on this day too. Didn’t much fancy London Pride as it actually seems rather disunited and doesn’t have the community atmosphere that Manchester Pride has… well in my opinion anyway, I am slightly biased hehe!.
Greg had planned to have a birthday picnic in Regent’s Park, however due to the uncertainty over the weather, he postponed it until the Saturday after. Unfortunately/typically, the day turned out right nice (as we’d say up north) and so we should have stuck to the original plans really. Instead, Greg came over to mine a little earlier, we had lunch in ‘birthday park’ near me, and then Greg and I went to Ikea to pick me up some new pillows. I know it was hardly the best way to spend a birthday in the world, however with such short notice I couldn’t really arrange anything else 
(
I got Greg a few presents, including naming two stars after us (romantic really, see!), I had a Lichtenstein-style portrait made for Greg (with the tag “Will they still need me, will they still feed me, when I’m thirty-four?!”), I spent hours and hours making a set of 10 mix-CD’s for him (the personal present) and I also bought him tickets to go and see Wicked.
Going around Ikea was a lot of fun as always, and we even purchased a big bag of Swedish Meatballs, which we scoffed with chippy chips when we got back home.
Sunday 6th
Really lazy day – we basically planned what we were going to do in the week (on a geeky planner that I designed on Excel… well, I do work in accounting!). We also ordered some shopping to last the week from Tesco, to be delivered the next day.
Monday 7th
Shopping arrived – we’d ordered a little bit more for packed lunches than we’d planned to…
Oops! HEH!
Again, a bit of a lazy afternoon, in the main due to the rain that we had that afternoon. We figured that we’d be best indoors than outdoors splashing about.
In the evening we went off to The Dominion Theatre and went to see We Will Rock You (see earlier post).
Tuesday 7th
We had planned to spend the day in Southampton, and were fortunate that the weather held out for us. One of the reasons for us choosing Southampton had been due to their weather forecast! Alas, I really wish that we had not bothered. Greg and I found that we really really disliked the place! We arrived there at 14:10, and promptly left on the 16:10 train home. I was thinking “Titanic”; “Seafront”; “Harbour” and “Fish and Chips” – what we got was a deserted harbour area, a very thin strip of water, a tiny local museum which had a tiny Titanic area (we didn’t even bother going inside in the end – it looked better on the website!) and a city centre that frankly looked like a council estate. It was really weird, as the local estate agents had some gorgeous new build properties for ridiculously low prices… but yet the city centre was like Beirut! Apologies to anyone reading this who maybe lives there or likes the place, it just really wasn’t for me. Perhaps it’s one of these cities that is just a city and not really for visitors…
We did come across Martin’s Rubber though… apparently it humps for 320 yards…
… and the ‘Yummy Yummy’ Takeaway…
Wednesday 9th
We decided to go to the Vue cinema at the O2 Arena on Wednesday to watch the latest Indiana Jones movie; Indiana Jones and The Crystal Skull. I have a two-for-one card and this was one of the films that I could watch at a time that fit in with our schedule. The screen was pretty much empty, there was just Greg and I in there, and later on we were joined by one other person – delightfully quiet! The film was really good (up to a point) I thought… the ending was a bit rubbish though… it just seemed to build up to a hype and then deflate all at once. Certainly watchable though.
After that we headed across to the Tate Modern on the South Bank in Southwark. By this point it was hammering it down with rain, which really wasn’t bestest. We managed to spend a few hours looking around the galleries and whatnot, though were frequently impeded by children and adults standing in the way of the picture/the tag and saying really loudly “I don’t even like this picture”. If you don’t even like it, then move the fuck outta the way so that people who do like it can appreciate it properly! The people viewing the art in the Tate seemed to have no manners or sense of purpose whatsoever. Not a place I’m going to be rushing back to unfortunately (
We also went to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria – one of Greg’s birthday presents. As always, the show was amazing, and I must say, I think that the current cast is the best cast that I’ve seen thus far! Alexia Khadime makes an excellent Elphaba and really managed to deliver her songs incredibly well. Mr Greg loved the show as I knew he would do and so a successful night all round!
Thursday 10th
Our Thursday morning was spent outside the Shaftesbury Theatre in the queue to pick up day tickets for that evenings performance of Hairspray. Having seen it numerous times previously, I knew that Greg just had to see this show! Day ticketing at the Shaftesbury costs £25 per ticket for that afternoon/evening’s performance, and you’re normally able to pick up tickets for the front row. Despite being right at the front, you still get a really good view of the stage, and the leg-room isn’t too limited (especially if you’re only between 5’8 and 5’10). We got there around 9am and there were already a few people in front of us, although they were largely queuing for matinee tickets.
After purchasing our tickets, Greg and I embarked upon our planned day at a few of London’s museums. The bulk of our time was spent at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. I really enjoyed visiting the museum (and took an abundance of photo’s – honestly, I don’t think anyone will ever need to visit there in person again hehe) although I hear that a lot of the ‘better’ and more eye-catching exhibits were no longer there. We also briefly popped into the Science Museum and had a play around on some of the interactive bits and pieces for an hour or so (I also purchased some cool flying plane things), before heading back to Covent Garden for a spot of tea and then onwards to the theatre.
Whilst waiting outside the theatre, a gentleman was walking past me when his whole foot just fell off right in the middle of the pavement! Quite surreal – it was a prosthetic foot (obviously) though it was a bit weird handing it back to its owner!
I was also rather dismayed to find that Ben James-Ellis was not in my performance of Hairspray once we’d gotten into the theatre however, apart from that minor set-back, I enjoyed myself so much at Hairspray that I am already planning to go again (my fifth time) for my birthday in a few weeks. Greg absolutely loved it (surprisingly more than Wicked which I didn’t think he’d say as he loves Wicked) and has rated it his second favourite musical (after The Lion King). A whole heap of fun (I stand by my previous reviews completely!) and I sincerely can’t wait to go back!
Friday 11th
Friday was a bit of a wind-down day as we were coming to the end of our week. We went down to the London Aquarium (soon to be re-branded as a Sea Life Centre) on the South Bank, Waterloo and spent a good few hours in there, wandering around and whatnot. I was a good chap and only sang “Under The Sea” once… there may or may not have been some camp “Under The Sea dancing” which accompanied this…. Hehe! P Again, a huge number of photos were taken from the Aquarium – managed to get quite a few nice ones I think – hurrah! The Starfish which thinks it is Marilyn Monroe is my favourite (although it is digesting a crab – ugh!) along with the awesome picture of the Jelly Fish that I managed to take.
Saturday 12th
Due to the risk of rain, Greg unfortunately had to cancel the birthday picnic that he’d rescheduled from the previous week. Typically, and once again, the weather turned out nice. Grrr @ the weather man. Felt really bad that Greg hadn’t been able to celebrate his birthday properly – gah! I bought him a proper birthday cake on the way to make him feel a bit better though!
We decided to poke around the historic “City of London” and so passed the Stock Exchange, The Royal Courts of Justice and the Old Bailey on the way to St Paul’s Cathedral. St Paul’s itself wasn’t too busy given that we had gone on a Saturday afternoon in the middle of the summer and I for one really enjoyed looking around the place – the main dome is absolutely stunning! We were even brave and ascended the stairs up to the interior gallery, though once we got up there and saw how high up we were we quickly ran back down again after having spent about 60 seconds on the balcony hehe!
I finally managed to get to the Knight’s Templar pub on Chancery Lane at a time when it was actually open on the Saturday too. I’ve been trying for months to manage to get there for a meal, though usually without success. Unfortunately, the food wasn’t stunning and the atmosphere was non-existent and so it was a little bit of a let-down I thought, as I had built it up to Greg when describing how fab it is (you have GOT to see the ladies toilets at this venue [a few of my friends have pictures of them on Flickr]– they are the best that I’ve ever seen!). Still, we had a free meal out of it (I had some vouchers that their Head Office had sent me) and the peace and quiet was rather nice!
So there you have it, a rather action packed week spread into one blog post. I really enjoyed myself and it was really awesome to have Greg to myself for a whole week!
There are plenty of pictures of my week that I have posted to Facebook (far too many to post here – we’re talking around 600 pictures!) and so feel free to visit my profile and have a nosy through the galleries if you fancy it.
Thanks for reading xx
Currently sat at work, rather bored as we’re now in mid-month and come mid-month there’s always the day that you literally can’t do anything, today is that day.
My head of department, my line manager and my other colleague from management accounts have all headed up to the Manchester office for a day out, and so I’m feeling slightly displaced at the moment. There are only three of us in management accounts, and so when two people disappear, it can get a little bit secluded. We’ve also just all swapped desks, and so I’m now sat on a desk that’s bathed in shade and facing completely the other way from my old desk. It’s also more within the communal area as opposed to near the offices and so it’s slightly noisier too.
To cheer myself up, I have the Hairspray soundtrack on full whack through my earphones and am chair dancing and l am lip-synching along like there’s no tomorrow. Well, I may as well give my new work neighbours an idea of what life with me is going to be like hehe!
On the plus side, I get a good view of people coming and going, and my monitor is no longer overlooked by people in meeting rooms; or entering the floor; or by the head of department – hurrah! Plus I’m marginally nearer to the printer, and so it’s slightly less of a walk, though it’s longer to the bathroom… I hope that doesn’t cause timing issues! Hehe!
Tonight I’m taking a small group of friends to the UK premiere of The Chronicles of Narnia – Prince Caspian at The O2. They’re trying to host the biggest UK film premiere and whatnot… don’t know if our attendance would get us into the Guinness Book of Records or not… there’s been no mention of that. It’s not that bad a deal either – it works out at £4 per ticket due to a promoter offer that I’ve been able to benefit from, as opposed to the £50+ that these tickets were on general sale for. £4 for a huge screen, probably amazing surround sound, and a well behaved audience? WOW! That’s even better than going to a ‘normal’ cinema and much better value hehe!
I’ve just confirmed with work that I have Sat July 5th – Sun 13th July off work, which is the second week that Greg has off out of his two week holiday from work. It’s unusual for me to take random time off during the first couple months of the holiday year (we start on 1st March), though I normally take my birthday and the day before off, as well as a week in September for my annual vacation. Alas, I have no vacation planned as of yet for this year. Typically I get to about January and realise that I still have about 4 working weeks to take off between then and the end of February.
No major plans for the week off, a nice relax would be perfect! Really can’t wait for this time off! Greg’s birthday and London Pride are both on July 5th, and we’re going to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria on July 9th. No doubt Greg and I will find lots of fun ways to fill the week and it’ll be really nice to be able to spend time together without having to worry about one of us working the following day D
This weekend I plan to attend West End Live, which I missed last time I was down due to having to travel back up to Manchester – was completely gutted! So this year I am rather excited. It’s taken them since Monday to erect the stage and crowd areas in Leicester Square; they’re certainly putting a lot of effort in for a free show!
Anyways, that’s enough of my random ramblings for now. I just figured that it’d been a while since I did a ‘personal’ update to my blog and so I may as well while away my time at work productively (I enjoy being productive believe it or not hehe).
Thanks for reading xx
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