Julie’s pretty much said everything, but here’s my take on Friday. It was awwweeeesome!
I got up at 5am to catch a bus from Aberdeen to Edinburgh! I listened to The Lark on the bus and got stupidly excited… haha! I got there half an hour early, and went to meet Julie off her train! Then we got a bit lost because our taxi driver was useless… Oops! We faffed around Edinburgh and had some "early morning Magners" (eek!), ate a some cheese paninis, saw an upside down purple cow, were generally confused a lot, and I nearly got run over… then finally we went to watch the show!
The room that the show was performed in was a lot smaller than I was anticipating, but I quite liked it being so small, it made it more intimate or something! We followed some advice and sat in the middle about 4 or 5 rows back. They turned out to be pretty amazing seats because Sarah spent a majority of the show on the centre of the stage (where she belongs =P) so that was good! It was an interesting set up- I was expecting a properly staged musical, but it was almost like a concert with a story, if that makes any sense. (I’m not sure if any of you will know what I’m talking about but I kept thinking of the Les Mis concert at the Royal Albert Hall, which is the only thing I can think of for a basis of comparison! And not just because Frances Ruffelle and Rebecca Caine were in the cast…!!)
Ju pretty much explained how the stage was set out though, so I won’t bother! Lol! The cast were all brilliant! There wasn’t one person you could fault! The female cast members in particular were all fantastic (especially Sarah, but I am bias! =P) Rebecca Caine actually gave me shivers down my spine when she sang! But seriously though, Sarah was amaaaazing! Her voice is mind blowing!! There was one part where Sarah was singing with Frances Ruffelle and she let out this big belt and the hairs on my neck stood up! Like Ju said as well, her upper register is fantastic! I can’t help but picture her as an amazing Galinda in Wicked after seeing her in this, especially with the comic aspects of the character!
Without giving too much of the plot away Mathilde was a middle class woman, married to a clerk (Gustav), who desired to be rich and well respected. Sarah played their maid, Colette, who had once been a peasant. I think Colette was supposed to contrast Mathilde in that she was young and optimistic and had desires of falling in love, unlike her mistress who claimed love wasn’t real and seemed to think money was everything. Colette is in love with a boy from the market, who wants her to run away with him, but her loyalty to Mathilde makes her want to stay.
Sarah really just seemed to become her character. Really all we’d seen her do before was act songs on IDA, but her acting was outstanding - and she was hilarious! The boundless optimism of Colette just seemed to suit Sarah… haha! I can’t actually wait to see her in something else! In the show she wore the dress and shoes she wore on IDA to sing ‘Midnight Train To Georgia’, which is irrelevant but I thought you’d like to know! Haha!
Meeting her afterwards was awesome as well! She really is lovely! (I managed to make less of a fool of myself this time than the first time I met her! Hah!) She was carrying the teapot the Larkabouts sent her around in her handbag! Lol! And we briefly met Naimh and Cassidy Janson (who I practically squealed at:"IsawyouinWickedyouareamazing!" …Oops!) when they came over to say hi to Sarah.
Bring on Hamilton!!
