London Calling...

A couple of weekends ago, I had, what can only be described as, a big musical weekend and it all took place in London! London is probably one of my favourite places in the UK because there is so much to see and do. However, because we were only going to be there Saturday and Sunday, arriving saturday and leaving Monday, plus seeing two shows ( I'll get on to those in a bit), we didn't really have time to do much sightseeing. Anyway, here is my run down of what I did with my family (including 2 reviews...yay!)

Saturday:

Saturday was quite a busy day as we had to be in London at a good time, due to going to the theatre. However, all was good as we arrived at the hotel at about 1:30 pm. We stayed at the Landmark, which was in a convenient place, considering what we were doing on Sunday. Anyway, once we were settled in, we got a taxi and headed straight to the Prince Edward Theatre for our first musical day; we saw Aladdin: the musical...

REVIEW: Aladdin at the Prince Edward Theatre - 16/06/2018

For those who have seen Aladdin, you will know the story and the songs but for those who haven't seen the disney film (seriously...where have you been?!), Aladdin is the story of a poor street boy who falls in love with the Princess, whilst coping with the fact that she can only marry a prince and that the Sultan, who is the Princess's father, has an advisor, who is plotting to be Sultan himself...

As soon as the curtain opens, you are immediately transported to the city of Agrabah, and you meet the genie, played by Trevor Dion Nicholls, who introduces himself to everyone, accompanied by the familiar sounding Arabian Nights.

From then on, it is lights, camera action, as we meet Aladdin and all the other characters, including Iago, in the form of a man rather than a parrot. However, this worked as it gave Iago a personality and more of a character. Okay, Iago the parrot has a bit of a character but I just take human villains more seriously sometimes.

Oh and of course, there was Jasmine. Played by Jade Ewan (girlband fans of the early to late noughties,  you will recognise her name from the Sugababes),  she showed that not only was she good at singing, she was also good at acting, taking us through the emotions that Jasmine went through, as she tried to prove to her father that she was going to be an independent woman and marry who she wanted, even it was a street boy from the market place.

For those expecting the story and songs to be exactly the same, you may be surprised to learn that there are some slight differences between this and the film. For starters, we learn about Aladdin's background, in the form of the melancholic song about his mother who died, Proud of Your Boy. Aladdin also has some friends to help him along his adventure (minus the genie of course), called Babkak, Omar and Kassim, played by Leon Craig, Julian Capolei and Daniel de Bourg respectively, adding a bit of comedy to the show. There is a well known saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," but this definitely did not apply to the show.

It wasn't just the characters who made the show, it was the set and the costumes that were great, as it really felt like you were in Agrabah. Also, the transitions between the sets worked, e.g. the market place morphed into Aladdin's roof top home, the interior of the cave of wonders swiftly became the interior of the palace etc, meaning the show flowed, rather than be really clunky. However, the best part of the whole set was when it all went dark bar twinkling lights, with Aladdin and Jasmine floating on the magic carpet, as they sang A Whole New World, which will make you want to cry.

Overall, for fans, new and old, of Disney and looking for something to do, Aladdin - The Musical is perfect for the whole family. So, grab your magic carpet and fly off to a whole new world.

*****

Sunday

After a bit of a busy day on Saturday, it was a chance for us all to chill a bit on Sunday. It was also Father's Day. The whole family basically spent the morning and early afternoon watching Doctor Who (much to my Mum's annoyance!) and I gave my Dad his card and present, which was The Darkest Hour on DVD (We still haven't watched it yet and Father's day for the UK was a few weeks ago...).

After, we decided that we had a bit of time before the big finale to our weekend (more on that in a bit...) so we decided to have wonder around London, near where we were staying. We walked a bit through Regent's park, found the Sony studios and the 20th Century Fox London studios and...Sherlock's House (no...Benedict Cumberbatch was not there...sorry!).

Anyway, after we had seen that house, we set off back to our hotel and got ourselves ready for the big finale of the weekend...Ed Sheeran at Wembley!

REVIEW: Ed Sheeran at Wembley Stadium - 17/06/2018

Ed Sheeran, the biggest pop act on the planet right now, last played Wembley Stadium back in 2015, in support of his mega popular album Multiply (X). Well, since then, his success has since...erm...multiplied, earning him another stint at Wembley Stadium.

It's always a concern when you see someone attempt to perform in a massive stadium on their own, as there is a worry that there wouldn't be much atmosphere. However, Ed proved that it was simply a walk in the park for him, getting the audience going with feel good hits, like Bloodstream, made them want to dance an Irish jig, with songs Nancy Mulligan and Galway Girl, and made the audience cry, with gentle tearjerkers, Perfect and Thinking Out Loud. He also sang a cover of Nina Simone's Feeling Good, which suited his voice so well, and I See Fire, a song from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

The other concern about seeing someone on their own, particularly in a venue the size of Wembley Stadium, is whether they would be able to build a relationship with the audience and yet Ed managed it. He connected with the "super dads" (Dads who got dragged to see Ed by their children on Father's Day!) and those that think they can't dance, telling them to dance anyway...and dance they did.

However, whilst Ed was good a creating an atmosphere among the audience, as well as interacting with them but in all honesty, there is a danger for someone like Ed to become a bit repetitive and becoming a bit of "what you see is what you get." In other words, there is a question about whether you would see Ed again once you have seen him. Saying that, judging by the number of people who turned up to the show (Bearing in mind that Wembley holds up to 90,000 people), it seems that his popularity will not diminish any time soon.

Overall, Ed proved that he is worthy of the success of his albums, along with his many awards that he has won, including the Global Success Brit Award in 2018. Ok, he is a bit like marmite but when it comes to performing, he really does put on a good show and proves why he deserves the popularity and success that he has.

Setlist:

Castle On the Hill
Eraser
The A Team
Don't/New Man
Dive
Bloodstream
Happier
Lego House
Galway Girl
Feeling Good/I See Fire
Thinking Out Loud
One/Photograph
Perfect
Nancy Mulligan
Sing

Encore:

Shape Of You
You Need Me, I Don't Need You


***

So there you have it...a little run down of what I got up to in London including reviews of both events I went to. Hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed going to, and writing about, these events.

Em x