West End addict

So far this week, we have seen both Fame and Little Shop of Horrors on the West End. And guess what? The tickets were only £5 each, of course. Best part of Graeme's job by far is the cheap theatre tickets, well, at least from my perspective. We're getting pretty good at co-ordinating our meeting time, finding the theatres without maps and knowing which places nearby we can get dinner in whatever time frame we have before the show. My collection of programmes is getting quite large (again - I already took a bunch home at Christmas) and we've realised that there are very few current shows left that we really want to see. Anyway, enough boasting - how were the shows...?

I remember seeing Little Shop of Horrors performed by the local high school when I was in about year 5, but I don't remember a whole lot about it, other than my babysitter was one of the shoop-shoop girls. I definitely didn't remember the ending, which I knew was different to the film version, but had forgotten how different. I like the stage ending better - too many stories end up predictably happy, I think. I really enjoyed this show - there was a great atmosphere in the theatre, the stage looked awesome and the actors were all great. It was funny and didn't take itself too seriously.

Fame was a little confusing at first - I guess it was because we knew virtually nothing about it and so weren't sure if it was supposed to be a stage version of the film or what. I quickly worked out (and confirmed later in the programme) that it's set in the same real-life performing arts school as the film, but several years later, when all the kids who attend have seen the film and therefore really expect to become stars by going to the school. There was some very impressive dancing, and although some of the actors were clearly twice as old as the characters they were playing and the plot lines sometimes seemed overly simplified, it was very enjoyable. Both Graeme and I agreed that the girl playing Mabel stole the show (which had nothing at all to do with the fact she was Australian, honest). I dunno that I'd be happy if I'd paid £55 for the tickets though (yeah, that's how much the top-price tickets are - per person) but it was still a good night out.