Review: Yes, they both reached for the gun

Razzle Dazzle them and they'll ask you for more.

As a celebration of ending the first term on Friday, me and my friend went and saw "Chicago".

Having seen and fallen in love with the Hollywood remake of Chicago (2002), you can surely say I had high expectations of the musical.

The musical takes us to the 1920's when jazz, liquor and dance roamed the streets of Chicago. Roxie Hart, a simple mechanic's wife, dreams of a life on stage and the murder of her lover seems to be just the break she'd always wanted. But surely publicity isn't everything especially if you locked in and fighting over the same lawyer as the jazz star Velma Kelly.

Except for being slightly annoyed with Sarah Soeteart's (Roxie) screechy voice, I was peed-my-pants excited about all the actresses and actors. I particularly liked Vivien Carter as Velma who had the most amazing pipes despite her size. The dancers were just simply brilliant (not to mention the male ones -pathetically hot-)

Unlike the movie, the musical didn't have much of the jaw dropping sets and props, in fact they hardly had anything on that square metre of a stage, which was a slight dissappontment. But all in all it was 2 hours of pure joy. Several times during the show I found myself with the biggest grin on my face, that is when I didn't sing along. (Felt kind of sorry for the Swedish couple sitting next to me though).

"Hello, suckers. Welcome back."

Chicago (1997) Chicago Partnership, Cambridge Theatre, London
Performance: 28/01/11

Tiffany

A heart full of Les Misérables

It's not Lei Mise-raw-ble. Actually pronounced Le Mize-rah-ble, this 25 year running musical truly lives up to every spat of expectations I had. And believe me they were yey high.

For you who haven't read Victor Hugo's 900 page novel (if it was 700 page less I would), here's a recap; it's the early 19th century and the French people are mad at the state (seriously when are they not?). It goes so far that a group of youngsters prepare revolution. The story centers Jean Valjean, a troubled man struggling to put his past as a convict behind him, but it's not easy when your arrester is still hunting you like hounddog after all these years. However as the story evolves there are more substories with various characters, such as an orphan girl who Valjean raises as a promise to her mother, a young revolutionarian torn between battle and love and a greedy innkeeper.

The story seriously pushes the boundaries of being illegally sad (Mr Hugo must have been thorugh some serious shit in his life). The characters' misery is so emminent and overwhelming, your overly-stressed-demanding life appears as a charmed. Folks with hearts of stone might even shed a tear to Fantine's "Come To Me".

How depressing the story may be, the fantastic music (despite the depressing lyrics) keeps us from falling into deep depression. My Last.fm is an great example how the music captivates and makes you sing out loud whenever and wherever. In the interval my sister remarked that they never speak, not a word, they sing all their lines. For me the singing and conveying the lines at the same time felt so natural I didn't even noticed.

Not your typical happy-go-laughing musical, Les Misérables has a wonderful moral and mindblowing music. I strongly recommend.

Cheers,

Tiffany

Sad stalker

Me: Nick lives there, like now
My friend: Then it's not far from work
(It's literally 30 seconds from the Queen's theatre)

This was the highlight of the day, beating hot chocolate at Starbucks overlooking Tower Bridge, crossing the Tower Bridge, awesome buffet at China Town and Camden town.

Oh, Nick, if I could I would.