Sunday 16 November 2008

Oh What A Night !!!!



Well I’ve just got back to my Travelodge after watching a breathtaking show at the Dominion theatre. We Will Rock You really does have to be the greatest show on earth. Of course one of the main reasons for that are the incredible, eye catching performances from Rachel Tucker.

She proved tonight that she can make any role her own because although she has only performed Scaramouche a handful of times you’d have thought she been doing it for years. This is a very demanding role and to be told at short notice - as she was a few weeks back - that she had to step in must have been terrifying, but as always our girl rose to the challenge. Learning one of these parts – Meat or Scaramouche - is impressive enough but learning both is simply miraculous.

However Rachel doesn’t just learn these roles she makes them her own and brings a bit of that Tuckerness to the part as only she can.

I’ve raced ahead of myself here and should really go back to the events that followed my last blog post earlier this morning. At that point I think I said I was about to leave but unfortunately it didn’t work out quite like that.

Having decided at the last minute to stay over night, I had phoned and booked a single room at the Covent Garden Travelodge on Friday evening; £101.50 including booking fee. I didn’t fancy a late night trip home and lets face it, it’s worth it to see Rachel doing her thing on stage. Having packed the car, I belted up and was ready for blast off. Unfortunately the car wasn’t. I made some rather worrying noises before dying completely.

*I have left the above line in as that's how it was originally written. As previously mentioned I wrote this post on my laptop late on Saturday night and after publishing I noticed the above mistake. However my laptop battery died before I could correct it. I'm not sure anyone's actually noticed but I'd just like to put everyone's mind at rest that although I do sometimes make worrying noises, I am NOT infact dead.*

Panic set in at this point but I decided the best thing to do was to phone my mate who’s a mechanic. He was very busy but popped round as I told him it was an emergency; lets not forget I had David’s tickets. He had a quick look but he said it doesn’t look like a five minute job and I may need new parts. In other words, you won’t be driving that to London today.

Now I really was worried. The only thing left to try was to see if I could borrow my Dads car. This proved semi successful. My Dad has a Motability car which means it can only be driven when he is in it - as driver or passenger - otherwise he would risk losing his disability allowance. Thankfully after much persuasion I managed talk him into making the trip. This meant my Mum and Dog were also set for an unexpected trip to the West End. My Mum fancied Christmas shopping in London and Max a run in Hyde Park.

We eventually got going at about 1:00pm which wasn’t bad considering everything that had happened and we arrived at Reading Services just before 2:30pm. At this stage I thought we had plenty of time and treated my parents to some coffee and cake for being good enough to help me out in my hour of need. We left the services at about 3:00pm, still 3 ½ before our planned meet up at the theatre.

Soon after we got back on the motorway the traffic started to thicken and the electronic boards were warning of even worse delays up ahead. We made a snap decision to divert onto the M25 and come into London on the M40. It would be a little further but we hoped less busy. That proved to be the case and we cruised into the outskirts of London, passed Wembley Stadium and even David’s Travelodge.

That however wasn’t the end of our troubles. We had Sat Nav and the Travelodge’s address so you would have thought it was plain sailing from there but you’d be wrong. The time at this point was 4:30pm but Nancy as we like to call her was sending us down dead ends and one way streets THE WRONG WAY; half the roads in the area seemed to be closed and changing lanes in London doesn't seem to go down to well unless people were just tooting their horn to say hello. After travelling round in circles for well over an hour we arrived at our Travelodge at 6:20pm. Of course by this time it was pretty much pitch black outside and I was starting to give up hope; I cannot stress enough the sense of relief I felt when I saw the the Travelodge sign.

As I’d booked the room for 1 we had what appeared to be a fairly large SINGLE bed. It looks like my Mum and Dad might just squeeze on there but it’s going to be the floor for me. Still they have done me a massive favour so I could hardly have asked them to sleep in the car; could I?

I left them watching Strictly Come Dancing and raced round the theatre to meet David and the gang. I was about 10 minutes late but I couldn’t see a single person I recognised. Then out of the darkness came 3 beautiful faces, Rosie, Olivia and Jo. It appeared I had the date right after all. Not long after the equally beautiful Helen – my partner for the night – arrived and David with his lovely wife Heather and darling daughter Catherine; a future star of the West End I’m sure.

We then made our way up to the bar and had a few drinks where we saw a few other members of TT including Naomi who came up from the stalls especially to say hello. It was then time to take our seats for the main event. We had great seats but it would have been even better if I didn’t have to keep dodging the tall guys head sitting it the chair in front. I was determined to keep Rachel in view at all times.

As Rachel was playing Scaramouche we didn’t have to wait so long for her to make an appearance this time and when she took to the stage an already buzzing audience really came alive. Rachel gave what I can only describe as a mind blowing, faultless performance - even that doesn't do it justice - and I loved everything about what she brought to the role of Scaramouche. Her singing was sensational, her acting INCREDIBLE and some of her stage antics hilarious. I particularly loved the backward role exposing what appeared to be Union Jack undies lol.

It seemed strange watching another girl in Rachel’s normal role of Meat. I thought she did very well if I’m honest but was still not a patch on our girl. As I said to Rachel afterwards I would have probably thought she was amazing had I not already seen Rachel in the role back on opening night. That’s no disgrace however because it must be very tough having to follow perfection.

Meat’s role is far less involved in the second half of the show but Scaramouche is in almost every scene. So unlike last time where I spent the entire second half thinking of how amazing Rachel’s rendition of ‘Only the Good Die Young’ was I was actually able to concentrate on the show.

Rachel maintained her brilliance right through to the end and her incredible acting ability really shone out in this role. I know I've used this word before but I was transfixed by her performance.

So which role do I prefer? Well to be honest I’m not sure. At the end of the day they are both great roles and we are just so lucky that we’ve been able to see Rachel in both and the show must think all there Christmases have come at once to have found someone as special as our girl.

After the show we purchased a prize for our next blog competition – more news on that later – and bumped into another TT member, Chris. I was able to make his night even better by informing him that his team Oldham had secured an excellent 1-0 away win at Northampton earlier in the day.

We then made our way round to the stage door; we just didn't want the night to end. I saw Olivia who I was about to chat to last time on opening night when Rachel burst through the stage door and you’ve guessed it, the same thing happened again. Sorry Liv I’m sure we’ll get chance for a proper chat one of these days.

It never ceases to amaze me just how friendly Rachel is. She really made a great effort to make sure everyone got an autograph and/or a picture and evened stopped to chat to the few of us that were able to get out any words in the presence of such a star. She really is one in a million.

I myself feel I made some progress because I did actually manage to speak to her this time. Who knows next time I might even be able to get out something coherent.

We then went our separate ways, although I walked back to Covent Garden with Helen as my Travelodge was in the same area she was heading. I eventually got back to my room around 11:45pm and I started writing this on my new laptop soon after.

You’ll have to excuse any spelling mistakes as I’ve had a few drinks - clearly one too many if the above mistake is anything to go by - and am getting pretty tired but I wanted to get my review on the blog while it was fresh in my mind. You’ll also notice there aren’t any pictures. Don’t panic, it’s just that I forgot to bring the lead for my camera so I’ll add them when I eventually get home tomorrow night; Monday at the latest.

Words cannot describe what a fantastic time I had tonight and I already can’t wait to go back and do it all over again. Although I’ll have to watch my step because David said more than 3 visits a year constitutes stalking lol.

*As you will see I have now added one picture but they'll be more to follow later in the week.*

9 comments:

Rosie said...

Ooooh i just beat you Andy!

Julie said...

Ohh sounds amazing! xx

Anonymous said...

Lucky people, we went on the 12th, and missed out on her being Scaramouche, and I've seen her twice in like a month a half, hope I'm not a stalker, :P

The Bjorn Identity said...

wow! sounds like you had an epic day Andy!... getting around London is traumatic isn't it. Glad you enjoyed scaramouche night. I can't wait to see her play when I get back to London in Jan xxx

Katie said...

Glad it was a good night for you all!
I hope to be able to recount Jessie's opening next weekend as well as you have!
x

Andy said...

I'm finally back home. Thankfully the return journey was far less traumatic.

You are so right though Karen, getting around London is a nightmare. I don't think I could cope with that every day.

Thanks for your fantastic review Rosie. I was sure I was going to be the first to post this time but you still beat me to it lol.

I've made a few amendments to my original post. I can't believe one of my mistakes appears to have gone unnoticed. Check out the line now in BOLD to see what I mean.

I couldn't bring myself to correct it.

Rachel as I've said was AMAZING. I really cannot praise this girl enough.

David said...

Haha Andy yes I noticed your little 'mistake' last night and thought it was hilarious.
Great review BTW and sorry you didn't quite manage to beat Rosie despite investing in a new laptop. That girl simply won't give in.
Great to see you again on Saturday!

Rosie said...

No I will NOT give in!!! Anyone else wanna try bring it on, but i'll still be first!

Thanks for the compliments Andy! I did in fact notice your dead comment but i was a little drunk at the time and i think it made sense to me. I thought something along the lines of "how odd, i'm SURE i saw him yesterday..".

Andy said...

LOL - I have a feeling even if I'd taken my laptop to the theatre you'd have still got your review in first Rosie.

Thankfully I'm not dead but if I was I'd join those ghosts you wrote about in an earlier post and haunt the Dominion. At least as long as Rachel's in the cast of WWRY lol.