Momix: Lunar Sea

Lunar Sea (Photo provided from the Peacock Theatre Website) Last year I saw Momix’s previous production and was so impressed by it (and gently encouraged by an offer from LastMinute.com) that I decided to see their current production, Lunar Sea. This production was once again held at the Peacock Theatre, a nice little intimate stage that tends to be very popular for acrobatic or rich visual movement performances.

Compared to last year’s production that included many more props and elaborate costumes, Tuesday’s performance was much simpler but much more evocative drawing upon large scenery projections, deep tribal like music and some impressive choreographed visualisations in costumes that lit up under a black light. The theme between the ocean and the moon flowed in and out throughout the performance with some exceptionally eye-boggling eye tricks.

Half the time I found myself wondering how they even accomplished some of the impressive stunts such as simulating a flock of seagulls flying, to simply sitting back and losing myself in the surreal world presented on stage. It’s definitely not a show that will whet everyone’s appetite, but it is distinctive enough to be well worth the ticket price.

TheKua.com Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Best of Broadway @ Royal Albert Hall

Royal Albert HallThis Sunday was my first time to visit the Royal Albert Hall, a large and majestic theatre with a capacity to hold an overwhelming number of people. It was here that I saw the musical bonanza titled ‘Best of Broadway’. This composition of this show was extremely simple – one song from the most popular Broadway shows ever all performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and a handful of West End musical stars. They performed a wide range of songs, from the more traditional shows such as Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera and Evita to some more recent ones including Wicked, Mamma Mia, and The Lion King. I was expecting a little bit more of a well rounded audience, but perhaps it was the choice of performance and the Sunday afternoon show that meant well over 70% of the theatre was filled with bus loads of a much older crowd of sorts.

I can only recommend this show to big fans of people that enjoy the music from the most popular musicals as each song does not last too long, and the show seems a little bit disjoint moving from one theme to another so quickly. I was at least still impressed to be sitting inside an amazing venue and listening to the impressive Philharmonic Orchestra.

After this though, I am even more intrigued to see what the performance of Modest Mouse will be like in this venue next year (23 May to be exact).

TheKua.com Rating: 5 out of 10

The Rocky Horror Show

Crowds of people congregating in front of a theatre dressed (or undressed) in various costumes including vinyl nurse outfits and outrageous fishnet stocking can only mean one thing… The Rocky Horror Show is about to begin. On Tuesday night I ended up seeing this classical musical and found it extremely bizarre especially since I had not seen the movie before and had no idea what the story would be about. If there is one thing I concluded from seeing this musical, people do not go see the movie for its story.

Of all the shows that I have seen so far, this one had much larger audience participation, boosted by a number of cast extras strategically scattered throughout the crowd. The extras throughout the night hassled the actors on stage by shouting out comments and obscenities at certain parts throughout the play, sometimes proving comical, but at many other times failing dismally as they missed their cue or as the band drowned them out.

I found the songs and the music piercingly loud, despite sitting in the middle of the stalls and not in front of any particular loud speaker. The crowd obviously had watched the musical, or at least, had listened to the soundtrack a lot as many of them sang along throughout the performance.

I think this long running musical has a lot of fun points and I think you will enjoy it as long as you don’t take anything too seriously. It is definitely not the highest quality musical showing at the West End, but its fame from the classic movie and quirkiness will easily win any fans over.

TheKua.com Rating: 6.5 out of 10

AvenueQ

Avenue QLast night I saw the musical Avenue Q, the show most well known as described as Sesame Street with adult themes. This musical had shown on Broadway for the last six months, has been on preview in the West End for the last three weeks and this week marked its first official showings. If you have never seen Jim Jimson puppetry live, the experience is completely worth it, and even though there are people manning puppets on stage, you slowly stop noticing the people as they take on the same character they are puppeteering.

The show is done in true Sesame Street style with the entire show about self discovery and purpose in life and even with “Idea!” screens popping up describing keywords in cartoonish manners. Unlike Sesame Street though it tackles some issues you would never see such as sexual orientation, internet porn and racism.

I was extremely impressed by the lead puppeteers with many of the actors playing multiple characters and having the difficult chore of singing in multiple voices as well as acting them out. Their body language shined and fit well with the subtle body language of each of the puppets. I really enjoyed the light heartedness of the entire play though parts of it were definitely not something you could bring kids to.

Thekua.com Rating: 8 out of 10

The Longest Running West End Play

The Mousetrap

Last night, Kath and I watched Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap” play at St Martin’s Theatre. London has been showing this play since 1952 and it is the longest running one out of all west end plays.

The story is a combination of elements to form a typical Agatha Christie murder mystery – a guest lodge isolated from the rest of society by deep snow drifts, filled with guests, most anticipated and another who turned up out of the blue. There is a murderer on the loose and a policeman shows up predicting the murder of two more people, both linked somehow to the person who was murdered the previous day. A character finds the phone line cut and tension builds as the play slowly unveils a common thread linking several of them together in these suspicious circumstances. As per predictions, another of the characters finds one of the members of the household murdered and further hostilities ensue, as each member’s potential for being the murderer is uncovered.

The play introduced each character marvellously and you get a strong idea of the nature of each character very early on. The entire cast performed brilliantly in each of their roles, with perhaps the only misgiving being the stronger English accent coming from the man that was supposed to be Italian. I could not guess the ending of this play, and in true murder mystery fashion, can also not give it away. The Mousetrap is a legend on London’s west end and despite being the butt of many jokes and comics is definitely worth watching when you get a chance.

The Kua.com Rating: 9 out of 10

Blue Man Group

Last night I went to see the Blue Man Group (BMG) at the New London Theatre. I find it very difficult to describe the show the BMG puts on other than very original. The show, best categorised as performance art more than theatre, is composed of a series of skits and musical performances that are richly visual involving various types of mime, percussion and illusion. At the centre of each of the skits are three men covered in blue-coloured masks. Their generally expressionless faces would easily be recognised by most people since they fetured in a number of Intel ads several years ago.

Throughout the show I was either laughing or just simply stunned by the visual richness each skit contained. The show is not cheap at £40 but is something that no one else is capable of executing as well as them.

TheKua Rating: 9 out of 10.

Les Miserables

Le MiserablesOn Wednesday my sister and I went to view probably the longest running (20 years!) musicals at West End, Les Miserables. We had fantastic centre tickets four rows from the front, giving us a perfectly clear view of the stage.

The theatre that hosts Les Miserables, The Queen’s Theatre, is aptly named because it is stunningly majestic. The two levels of circle seats as well as the stall seats are filled with chairs slightly offset from each other, giving people a better chance of viewing when they are unfortunately sitting behind tall people. I can say that the seats were extremely comfortable, though apparently not wide enough for some (the couple next to me seemed to overflow into my personal space, leaving me leaning to one side for most of the night). The intricately detailed ceiling is lit with a strange circular light, something that you really need to be there in person to fully appreciate.

Le MiserablesI had no idea what the story behind Les Miserables was about, but in short, it too was amazing. I can see the many reasons why it has been such a long running musical and won numerous awards. Between the story, cast, costumes, stage, lighting and orchestra, there was no one thing that I could really find much fault in. I think the stage transitions were probably the most impressive and powerful parts of this musical, with heavy use of the circular revolving floor allowing them to fade scenes in and out. One moment the audience is placed just outside some gates in one scene, and then suddenly, the audience is placed behind them, looking out. The sets that accompanied all the stage transitions were also just as stunning, really taking you to all the different places they depicted including a courtroom, a bar, the city at nighttime, the sewers, and a garden just to name a few. The cast were also just as impressive and obviously well rehearsed in all parts, and included a very professional young girl and boy playing children who would be no more than eight years old.

Les Miserables is one musical that may not suit all audiences as its story can be quite depressing, but I think people should still go to see it, at least just to appreciate how well a theatre production can be presented.

The Kua Rating: 9 out of 10

Midweek Theatre: James Thiérrée’s La Veillée des Abysses

Once again visiting the Peacock Theatre, which likes to play host to visually spectacular events, I saw with my sister last night, James Thiérrée’s La Veillée des Abysses. It is best classified as a theatrical comedy. Take your typical theatrical comedy, remove all the dialogue and add a liberal dose of circus skills. Just like Momix, this show had amazing sets and leveraged each part of the stage, including the airspace above the audience. It certainly had much larger set changes, and focused on individual items to create clever and humourous situations.

This show had apparently once shown at Southbank and its popularity and positive reviews deemed it fit enough to return to London for another short screening. I think my most favourite aspect of this show is that with only five performers, the audience was constantly laughing and it was all through the use of visual comedy. It amazes me at how well the director and writer of the show could get five completely different performers (such as a contortionist, an acrobat, and a musician singing opera and playing the piano) delivering a seamless show that was visually rich and yet emotionally entertaining.