Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, UK Tour for 2022

In August my husband and I went to watch Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium. It was such a great show that I wanted to write about it but it was only there for a short 10-week run in the summer. So I was thrilled to hear that the Palladium production will go on tour in 2022. At the moment there are limited dates announced, starting in the Spring and continuing through the year. At the time of writing, there are sixteen venues agreed with more to be announced. 

You should check the cast list for your chosen venue but it has been confirmed that Jac Yarrow will continue with the lead role of Joseph, Jason Donovan as Pharoh and Alexandra Burke and Linzi Hately sharing the role of the Narrator. In London, we saw Jac, Jason and Linzi in those roles and each was amazing. It was extra special for us as we saw the original production around thirty years ago and Linzi was in that too! 

Covid Measures

When we went to this show in August, it was our first foray back into a large theatre after Covid and all the closures. We had to queue outside the theatre, we're encouraged to use sanitiser as we entered and asked to wear a mask. We had been told to take a lateral flow test in the 48 hours prior to the show but no one asked to see any proof of this. Ushers asked people to wear masks and a placard was taken around the auditorium prior to the show to remind patrons. Most did wear masks, but many wore them below the nose and of course, they are impossible if you are eating or drinking. We're all waiting to see how things develop and whether masks and testing will continue to be required into 2022.

My London Musical Theatre Bucket List

Theatre Chairs Image from VDB Photos, thanks to Shutterstock

If you were to grant me a wish of doing anything I wanted to for the day, I would easily know what to ask for and it would always include a trip to the theatre in London. For years I went regularly and saw all the big shows, some I even saw a number of times. I think the Phantom of the Opera still reigns as my absolute favourite but I did see Blood Brothers around six times as I loved it so much, so that must be a close second.

Then the kids came along and things changed, we had a massive salary cut and of course evenings out then involved costly babysitters too, so I really felt the London theatre scene was passing me by and I missed quite a number of shows that I wanted to see, ones like The Sound of Music and Dirty Dancing.

Then about four years ago things started to change again and I found myself staying in London at least a couple of times a year and of course I wanted to see a good West End show whilst I was there. So in the last few years I've seen Wicked (twice), 42nd Street, Dreamgirls, Mamma Mia and Beautiful - The Carole King Story. Every one different and each with their own merits but the thing I really love about musical theatre is that you can lose yourself for a few hours in a world of bright lights and great songs.

Musical theatre is definitely my preferred genre and I'm so pleased that there are still dozens of shows that I haven't seen yet, so here is my bucket list for the next few years. You never know, if I'm really lucky maybe I'll get to book three sets of tickets for London shows each year and then I can crack this list in just over three years!

La Petite Soirée - The Most Amazing Family Show

We just had the most amazing time at @lasoireelive, well the Petite version, suitable for all the family. 👄👄 I've honestly never seen anything like it before. We all loved it. My 14 year old was roaring away in laughter along with my 44 year old husband. It's amazing fun for everyone. 👄👄 A little risqué, so much talent, amazing showmanship, the most friendly hosts. It truly is unique. Do book, I want to see the original adult version now. Showing in London at the Aldwych theatre until 3 Feb 2018.

A post shared by Michelle Pannell (@michelletwinmum) on Dec 9, 2017 at 8:32am PST

La Petite Soirée was everything I hoped it would be and more. This extraordinary cabaret show deserves every award and glowing review it has ever received.

Upon arriving at the beautifully refurbished Aldwych theatre in central London my family's expectations were a mixed bag. I'd done some research so I sort of knew what we were heading in to see but my family had no real idea apart from the little I'd told them and you really can't do it justice until you've seen the spectacular for yourself. The girls were up for the ‘posh circus’ as they'd named it and I could see that my husband and 14 year old son were reserving judgement.

We headed in to collect our tickets, not knowing what the PR agency had booked for us and were pleased to find we had ringside seats. These are general admission seats so we were given a wristband and able to take a seat wherever we fancied within the ringside area. Our arrival at 2.40pm (20 minutes before the show started) gave us a good pick of the seats but the closest we could get was 4 rows from the front. I'd imagine you’d need to be at the theatre about another 20 minutes earlier to get front row seats but of course you also need to be prepared to join in and be a good sport if you sit in the front row!

Looking forward to La Petite Soiree at Aldwych Theatre, London

Our family love going to the theatre, especially when it is a show in the West End but to be honest it doesn't happen all that often nowadays as we live a couple of hours outside London and I can't deny it, London theatre can be expensive for a family of five.

But La Petite Soiree has tickets starting from as little as £15 and that is really affordable. Its not even just the Grand Circle that has seats at this great value price either, there is a child price (for age 15 and under) on the higher price seats too and that remains at £15 throughout (excepting what they call the posh seats), which I am very impressed with.

I suspect you might be wondering what La Petite Soiree is though, I certainly was when the press release first arrived in my in-box. This is what they publicise about the show -

"We love the fact that the powers that be have, for some unknown reason, allowed us into London’s Aldwych Theatre to cause some trouble and bring our own brand of mischief to the West End over the festive season. LA SOIRÉE is a show that has created a shorthand with worldwide audiences in understanding what makes a wild and unforgettable night out at the theatre… joyous, celebratory, hilarious, cheeky, irreverent and at times quite saucy. With LA PETITE SOIRÉE we will deliver all of the above, minus the sauce. The spirit of LA SOIRÉE will run deep through the veins of its afternoon offspring but we look forward to welcoming a new audience with a brand new show." Creative Producer, La Soirée

Review: Wicked, the Musical at the Apollo Victoria

Images courtesy of the Wicked Musical website

I'll start off by being totally upfront with you - Wicked is an amazing West End show and we absolutely loved it. In fact last week was the second time I've seen it. A show doesn't run in a theatre that seats 2,300 people for over ten years if it isn't good, does it?

I found the Wicked story line so very clever, it isn't a prequel, nor a sequel to the Wizard of Oz, it runs alongside it and some of it does happen before the classic story that we all know but I love the way the two stories intertwine together, it is very, very clever. The story keeps you hooked from the moment it starts right through to the end.  I easily could have watched for another hour.  Needless to say the show ended with a standing ovation from the crowd.  The performances were absolutley sublime.

I really don't want to tell you too much about the story line though as that would take away some of the fabulous surprise elements. Although having said that, I saw it in 2011 with my mum and then this time with my husband and I didn't recall the story line at all, how bizarre is that? I know I loved it first time round though as I have the evidence here on my blog.

So many themes are explored as part of this theatre show- friendship, falling in love, being disappointed, being different and learning to accept yourself, not being one of the popular kids and standing up for what you believe is right to name just a few. Probably my favourite angle to the show is that things are not always what they seem, so you mustn't judge a book by its cover because bad isn't always bad (or wicked in this case).