Saw a few more shows recently. Went to see Neville's Island on Monday night. It stars Ade Edmondson (Bottom, Young ones etc), Neil Morrissey (Men Behaving Badly, Bob the Builder), Miles Jupp (The thick of it, stand up) and Robert Webb (That Mitchell and Webb look, Peep show etc). So yeah, pretty epic cast. The set was incredible, the story centers around 4 middle managers getting stranded on a little island in a river during a company team bonding weekend. So the set was mainly made up of real trees, a stoney shore (complete with actual water front) and heavy rain. The front row all got free ponchos and it was clear from the off why, they were getting wet from the fake rain and then all four of them enter by 'swimming' up on to shore, creating lots of splashes. It was something I hadn't seen in a theatre before and that really excited me. The script was amusing at times and also quite dark. All four of the funny men were excellent though and I'm very glad I got to see it during it's short run on the West End.
Urinetown: the musical. An American musical from 2001 that has only recently opened on the West End which is odd. It's an odd one, at times it's genuinely hilarious and some times it's funny because it's so stupid that you can't help but laugh at the oddness of what just happened (I still don't know why at one point the entire cast break out in to 2 minutes of Michael Jackson impressions). The songs are absolutely brilliant though and the cast were phenomenal, their performances helped sell the songs to me with their outstanding vocal talent. I'd love them to do a cast recording. The set was interesting if a little limited, I did adore their circular rotating track though, they used that really well. Would I recommend it? Yes, if for the songs alone.
