This blog began in 1997 as a single news page called Nucelus. In 2005, during a long wait to move into a new house, I decided to learn some php and MySQL and write my own blogging system, which became inkyBlog and which now powers this, my own Webbledegook blog.
Thank you to my brother, Murray Ewing, for help with some of the more challenging aspects!
In complete contrast to We Will Rock You, The Producers was dazzling. It was massively entertaining, hilarious, brimming with talented performances, and hilarious (again). I'm a fan of the film in that I think the first half is fantastic, but the second-half sags just a bit. Perhaps not surprisingly, the same is true of the musical. We missed seeing Lee Evans as Leo, as John Gordon Sinclair has taken over the role, but he was very good - once or twice I thought how Evans would have got a bigger laugh on some of the physical stuff. Fred Applegate was a great Max Bialystock, with a touch less of the manic that Zero Mostel conveyed in the film. The biggest laugh (and I mean gut-aching, tears in my eyes so I couldn't see) was James Dreyfus as Carmen Ghia... I want to use the term 'comedy genius' to describe his exit from Roger DeBris' boudoir. And he did it twice, the second one being funnier. It almost killed me.
The dancing and choreography was really fabulous, and the whole show just poured on the glitz, but with more than a bite of self-mockery about it. When you sit there and realise you're laughing heartily at an all-singing, all-dancing Hitler and his leggy brown-shirts, it just hurts even more. The girl who usually plays Ulla (Leigh Zimmerman) was 'indisposed' the night we saw The Producers, but her replacement, Lisa Donmall, was fantastic.
Little niggles come from, as I said, the slight loss of direction in the second half of the show (which, if I remember correctly, actually departs from the 1968 film quite a bit). It is never fully explained how Bialystock and Bloom can make their money from a Broadway flop, or go to jail if it is a success. But none of this matters! It is certainly one of the best West End shows I have ever seen.
"I've got a show I wrote coming on Channel 4 at 11.45pm on Thursday 19th May. Skin Deep is a sitcom set in a tattoo and body piercing studio in Leeds. Watch it. Make your friends watch it. Make your colleagues watch it... (also you could write to Channel 4 and tell them you demand to see a series)..."
One thing that will be a definite in the new humble abode: Broadband. I spend half my life waiting for pages to load in (ebay is torturous).
Order from the Engine Comics Website.
Things will be stalled for a short while, as Garen is currently between houses, with most of his stuff in storage. As soon as the new house comes through, a good working schedule can be returned to and The Rainbow Orchid will continue... in colour.
It didn't take long for disappointment to set in. The first thing to hit me was the 'stage-school' acting, like it was done by the kids from Fame. I feel slightly guilty saying this as the cast were obviously talented with great singing voices, but they're the kind of voices very much in vogue in today's pop-outfits - that sort of warbly-vibrato with the occasional growl to kick-start a note. The choreography was done by numbers and was about as original as anything you can see from the latest manufactured pop clones on Top of the Pops. Queen's songs themselves were a mixed bag. Mostly, I felt the songs were somewhat steam-rollered through with any of that delicious Queen sensibility completely flattened. A couple of the songs worked well. Under Pressure (perhaps because it was already a duet) and, surprisingly, a little-loved single off the Queen Rocks compilation, the sugary (sung by Brian May) No One But You (Only the Good Die Young). The band were good (nice lead guitar) though sometimes the bass did sound a bit like someone farting through a tuba.
The plot concerned the underground of 'true rock' fighting against the plasticised mass-market forces of bland everyman-pop, yet even the rock bits came across as Saturday morning pop-show-lite. I also felt the musical would actually have benefited from a wider repertoire of rock'n'roll music, which would have been more in line with the story. It wasn't particularly dictated by the Queen catalogue.
There were enjoyable aspects - I liked some of the humour, though it was usually of the build-up/let-down variety, and the music was certainly good because they are strong songs with a great variety of style. The whole GlobalSoft thing was better than I had anticipated. At one point I did feel as though I should have been living in the dark days before the Restoration as I suddenly felt how vulgar musical theatre was, and then immediately thought myself a snob (and a Puritan!). I came out of the theatre with mixed-emotions... Queen's music perhaps slightly cheapened (Freddie would have loved it, he always saw his songs as 'throw-away', and loved the theatrical, of course), but my foot was tapping throughout and I enjoyed a few chuckles.
I bought a beautiful book on Art Deco Graphics from Borders in Tottenham Court Road, and was disappointed (again) with Foyles. Had a lovely time with friends, and I do like the new 'digital' trains now on our line.
Edit: Rereading this some time later - what a grumpy post! Apologies.
The job is a poster for the musical Return to the Forbidden Planet. Rough sketches below... which one will they go for?
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