Once we arrived in London on Wednesday it felt good to be back. St Pancras has to be my favourite train station in the UK - all the glass fronted shops and the high ceilings make it the perfect place to begin your journey.
I really don’t understand people who don’t use the underground. I know it’s not the nicest way to travel, but realistically it’s the quickest way to get from A to B. After we’d purchased some sandwiches from M&S we wanted to find somewhere nice to eat them, where better than Regents Park? It’s one of those idyllic get-aways from the hustle and bustle of the busy streets on London. The flowers looked absolutely beautiful, and it was the perfect place to enjoy our lunch!
Afterwards, it was onward to Oxford Street (shopping heaven). The sad thing is, we didn’t really get much time to shop, we had a quick coffee and a look through the glass windows but nothing major. Probably a good thing really, I could have easily spent the entire day in the likes of Selfridges, Abercrombie & Fitch, Diesel and Harrods. Time was pressing on and at 2:00pm we made our way to the London Palladium.
“We’re off to see the Wizard… The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”
The London Palladium is possibly my favourite theatre in London, from the outside it looks tiny… but as soon as you get in it’s absolutely HUGE! We took our seats and we were right in the middle - perfect view.
As the lights dimmed and the orchestra erupted, there was only one thing on my mind; please let Danielle Hope be Dorothy. The crowd muttered into applause when she finally ran on stage.
One highlight would have to be the set, everything is so much bigger and better in The West End and the digital effects of the iconic tornado scene in this show were magnificent. The main stage involved a centre rotating yellow brick road where scenery would be changed accordingly.
The set is only one of many things to be recognised. The Wizard of Oz sees some of the best acting The West End has to offer. Aside from winner of ‘Over The Rainbow’ Danielle Hope, Michael Crawford returns to the stage to play the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. My two favourite characters who stole the show have to be Paul Keating who played the scarecrow, and Hannah Waddingham who played the Wicked Witch of The West. Oh, and of course there was Toto - yes, it is a real dog!
Aside from the usual songs turning up like “Follow The Yellow Brick Road” and “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”, a few new ones written by Andrew Lloyd Webber for this special adaptation appeared. One particular that stood out was “Red Shoes Blues” sung by The Wicked Witch, it was performed so well you couldn’t help but love such a, well wicked character!
The Wizard of Oz goes up there with the top musicals I’ve ever seen. I advise you all to go and see it!
After the show we went for a gorgeous meal at Brown’s in Knightsbridge, it was on the right side of fancy where you got a decent meal and not a pea size piece of meat and 4 carrots! Unfortunately, by the time we’d finished there wasn’t time to do much else - so it was back on the underground to get to St Pancras. A quick Starbucks stop in St Pancras and we we’re on the train, gliding back to Nottingham. In true Oz fashion… “there’s no place like home”.
The Sound of Music tour arrived in Nottingham late last month and I finally got to see it! Yesterday was the third time I’ve seen the show and it didn’t disappoint. The set had a lot of similarities to the west-end show, of course on a smaller scale.
All of the much loved songs were there: “Do Re Mi”, “The Lonely Goat-herd” and “Edelweiss”. My favourite part had to be “Climb Every Mountain”. It’s the song just before the end of the first Act and Maria has gone back to the convent where she feels like she is ready to take her vows. It’s here the Mother Abbess tells maria that she can marry Captain Von Trapp, and still be happy. At the end of the song, the whole set is taken away to reveal a white screen, the mountain tops and smoke to imitate clouds, it gives you goosebumps!
