My London Reviews - Mary Poppins & Avenue Q

[ruthiefan_felix]

Posted: 9/24/06 at 1:25pm

Well, it's exeat this wkend, so I went down to London and watched 2 shows n Saturday - Mary Poppins & Avenue Q.

Mary Poppins (matinee)

Sat on the Grand Circle (the highest level) and for this show, that has to be one of the best seats, esp for the very last bit! It was a great seat anyway but the woman beside me was ANNOYING! She kept on explaining to her kid bout this and that and her husband starts humming along tunes... that's why I hate Mary Poppins is a kids show!
I saw the original cast 3 times and was not disappointed by them. But for this cast? It took me a whole Act 1 to warm up with them! The show abit different since the last time I saw it (last wk of original cast). There has been alot of cuts here and there, most obvious in the 'Jolly Holliday' scene where the park keeper literally just wander through and his role now is just... awkward. 'Super..cious' was much faster in pace than I remembered it to be and they had some cuts as well. Another obvious cut is the end of 'Cherry Tree Lane reprise' when Ms. Andrew comes out. They cut out the bit where Mrs. Banks tells Mr. Banks about the surprise and intseads of rushing off after hearing the surprise, Ms Andrews just turns up and Mr. Banks sees him and runs away. I did not like it.'Temper Temper' still remained a very strong song to me.

Scarlett Strallen (Mary Poppins) - I did not like her as Mary in Act 1. I find her voice to be too quirky at times. Her singing voice is veyr warm but weak at times as well. She's very good in dancing though! She totally reminds me of Dory in Finding Nemo and a touch of Bonnie Langford (her aunt). In Act 2 she was much better. [7/10]
Gavin Creel (Bert) - His opening number didn't disappoint. I loved his Bert more than Lee's. Gavin Creel's Bert is more young, fresh and fun... and hot :P His singing is SO amazing, so silky though at times he's gasping for breath at some heavy-dancing numbers like Step In Time and Jolly Holliday. And I find the songs abit too low for his voice and the score just doesn't show how brilliant a voice this kid's got. To my surprise, Gavin is a VERY good dancer as well! He's amazing in every aspect in the role... not to mention extremely CUTE! Go see him when you can! [10/10]
Aden Gillett (Mr. Banks) - disappointing performance... his acting was just... boring and stiff. His role was bad enough and with his bad performance, the Mr. Banks scene just seems to drag on. [4/10]
Annalisa Rossi (Mrs. Banks understudy) - I thought she was average. She definitely lacked the warmth and anxiety within the character that the legendary Linzi Hateley had. But she still managed to do a good job. I find her singing to be very... stiff as well. [5/10]
Louise Gold (Ms Andrew) - TOTALLY COMPLETELY stole the show. She was the next best thing in the show after Gavin! She was VERY different to Rosie's Ms Andrew. She's more fierce, her voice is more deep and manly! Her belts are scarily amazing and her 'Brimstone & Treacle' is just pure amazing! [10/10]
Diane Langton (Bird Woman) - bad bad bad... can't sing can't act... what the heck is she doing on that stage? I heard she was really good in everything but no not in this show! She sang out of tune for nearly EVERY note! [3/10]
Sarah Flind & Andrew Pepper (Mrs. Brill & Robertson Aye) - the roles has been cut down as well. And the two did not deliver a catching performance like the originals did so with the cut down lines, I find the roles as good as not being there. [3/10]
Overall the performance was average but Gavin & Louise boosted my ratings for this show. I was glad that they've added the 'super..cious' encore back into the curtain call! [8/10]

Went to the stagedoor and got autography of Annalisa. And waited for Gavin. And man is he tall! The extremely nice Rebecca Lock (Mary understudy) help me take a pix of me and Gavin. Seeing Gavin in real life just totally made my day!

[right click and get the URL of the pix and just delete 'th_' and you'll see bigger versions of these pixs]
Me & Gavin:

Pixs from the show:






Avenue Q (evening)

I sat on the 2nd row of the balcony (highest level) and it was a good view, saw everything. Even though, I've heard the CD, listened to recordings of this cast for alot of times but it's just so amazing to see them onstage. The jokes are still funny listening it for the god knows how many times! This London cast is MUCH better sung and acted than the Original Broadway cast. And their amazingly good looks certainly helped the enjoyment of the show!

Jon Roybns (Princeton/Rod) - amazing amazing amazing! Extremely talented. I can't really use words to describe him. His singing is so good... as well as his acting with his puppetry. And he's SO SO SO hot onstage! I can't stop my eyes off him a second! I never really liked the song Purpose but he made it all so enjoyable! [10/10]
Simon Lipkin (Nicky/Trekkie/Bear) - amazing as well and extremely hot onstage as well. His Nicky is very real... a normal buddy you get from your friends and his Trekkie monster is nothing but adorable and peverted and cute. [10/10]
Julie Atherton (Kate/Lucy) - wow as well! Her singing voice is SO SO SO amazing! It's so sweet and cute but she totally belted the sh*t out of 'Fine Fine Line'! [10/10]
Clare Foster (Mrs. T/Bear) - amazingly HOT! she had great chemistry with Simon... really wanna see her as Kate/Lucy. [9/10]
Matthew Henry (Gary understudy) - did a good job and I didn't really knew he was an understudy! But I still think a female Gary gives more edge to the songs! [7/10]
Yanle Zhong (X'Mas Eve understudy) - She was good but nothing compared to Ann. [7/10]
Sion Lloyd (Brian) - he was good as well but most of the time I dont understand what he's saying or singing. [6/10]
Overall the show is brilliant but I have to say it's more of a youngster's show as the poor old man beside found it vulgar and fell asleep and I wudn't blame him (I wudve if he snored). [15/10]

Went to the stagedoor and got everyone's autographs and pixs. And Jon is SO hot! And so are the others... extremely nice as well... they all chatted with some other fans for awhile before heading off for a drink.

[right click and get the URL of the pix and just delete 'th_' and you'll see bigger versions of these pixs]
Brochure/programme/free CD:

Billboard:

Lucy THe Slut calender at the back of Brochure:

2 pixs from the show:


Me & Clare (Mrs. T & Bear)

Me & Jon (Princeton/Rod):

Julie (Kate/Lucy) & Me:

Simon (Nicky/Trekkie/Bear) & Me:

Yanle (X'Mas Eve) & Me:

Updated On: 9/24/06 at 01:25 PM

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 9/24/06 at 1:29pm

Great reviews!!

I assume that Ann was out that day? She is still in London, right?

You may want to take out an illegal word though...

[JamesMacon]

Posted: 9/24/06 at 2:18pm

Thanks for the reviews! So glad you liked Avenue Q.

And yes, everyone does look pretty hot!

[ruthiefan_felix]

Posted: 9/24/06 at 3:52pm

The cast of Avenue Q London is unrealisticly hot. I mean, all the men were staring at Clare and the women at Jon/Simon... it's unreal... the most unreal thing is that they're so gd looking and yet so talented as well! Just go watch it if you can!
I was abit disappointed missing Ann... hopefully next time round...

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 9/24/06 at 4:55pm

I'm so jealous!

[joshy]

Posted: 9/24/06 at 5:48pm

What was Yanle like as Christmas Eve? I'm terrified of Ann leaving... can't imagine it without her. I'd love to hear more about her performance, I don't think I've heard about her going on before.

[Parks]

Posted: 9/24/06 at 8:33pm

Believe it or not, Ann can be replaced. Nobody can quite capture what Ann brings to the character--but when I saw Ann Sanders (Ann Harada's replacement) on Broadway, she did a fabulous job in a role I never thought I could laugh at after Ann H. left the show.

[Fiction Writer]

Posted: 9/24/06 at 8:57pm

Great reviews!

[ruthiefan_felix]

Posted: 9/25/06 at 3:28am

Yanle was good... but she was very flat and tried to imitate Ann at times and sometimes do her own stuff (which did not work). But she's a good understudy.

[thespian geek]

Posted: 9/25/06 at 4:04am

Gavin Creel should have created Bert for Broadway, not replaced Lee in London, IMO. But I'm really glad you enjoyed him (Creel) as much as you did. I hope I get to see him perform someday..

[ruthiefan_felix]

Posted: 9/25/06 at 5:22am

mwah... I hope he does another show in London before he goes back to US! Anyway, he was a more refreshing Bert than Lee. But Lee is gd, its just I enjoyed Creel more :P
I don't want Gavin Creel to leave Ldn... hope he stays longer!

[thejcm]

Posted: 9/25/06 at 11:19am

Why is the Kate puppet so big in that one picture? Am I mistaken that she's never gets that big in the Broadway version? Or is Julie just really tiny?

[Princeton78]

Posted: 9/25/06 at 2:18pm

Hmmmm...that looks like it's Jon in bed with Lucy the Slut.
HOT

Now if we can just get HOWIE to do the same pose here in NYC!

[Emilia]

Posted: 9/25/06 at 3:50pm

great reviews, I also saw Q in London for the first time this week, and I have to agree the vocal performances are outstanding and imo better than the obc. The chemistry in the cast is also amazing as was the atmosphere in the theatre the night I saw it, rarely in many years of attending theatre in London (I'm from here) has an audience been so enthusiastic in the sense they were practically cheering the characters on with vocal reactions to lots of things (such as a big oooh and hiss for lucy) something great british reserve usually prevents! I wouldn't like to see those sorts of reactions at every show but for Q it certainly added to the experience!

[ruthiefan_felix]

Posted: 9/25/06 at 4:12pm

The atmosphere are great! I wish the London cast did the pix with their own puppet in the white background. But the Jon sleepin with Lucy one is better XDD