Property came furnished, so nothing that you see is ours. We intend on making some cosmetic changes, and hiding away a lot of the stuff that came with the apartment hehe!

Do bear with me, I am VERY excited in this YouTube, haha!

Regular readers of my blog will know that I am something of a musical theatre obsessive, however, tonight was my first time seeing The Phantom Of The Opera actually on a stage in front of me (a shocking revelation, right?!). I came out of the performance this evening and I was actually shaking. Seriously. Despite all my years of amassed musical knowledge, and the vast range of productions that I’ve sat through in my time, I can hand on heart say that The Phantom Of The Opera has totally revolutionised and changed the way that I think about musical theatre, just at a time when I though there was nothing more that could really excite me at present. Even in its 26th year, it still holds that magical power, and you really have to see the show before you to appreciate the true beauty and spectacle of this absolute masterpiece!

The production appears to have benefited well from the 25th Anniversary Royal Albert Hall production, though I really must stress that watching the DVD of this alone is simply not enough!

The staging itself was absolutely BREATHTAKING. We had the benefit of being in row H of the stalls, and so everything appeared ‘seemless’ and my eyes popped out of their sockets several times – especially during the Lair scenes, which were even more fantastic than I’d previously seen on the DVD or in photos in books etc. We were also directly under the chandelier, and I tell you now, when that bad-boy is hurtling towards you (they’ve sped it back up again now) then you instinctively duck for cover and yelp a little bit! Amazing!

I was fortunate to be taken to the show by my pal Paul, who actually saw the very original cast, in its first ever week – how amazeballs is that?! He was very surprised to find that absolutely nothing has really changed in the time since – something which amazes me, as the production looks so fresh, and, even now, 26 years on, it is still able to blow my mind, despite all I’ve seen on the stage before! I cannot imagine just how revolutionary this must have been back in 1986.

The orchestra was simply devine. I had goosebumps throughout the production; not just where I normally look for them (Overture, and The Phantom Of The Opera), but in parts of the score where I never usually get them! Absolutely nothing compares to hearing this score played live, and, though the word ‘masterpiece’ is bandied about a lot with this show, it is a very suitable word. This score is one of the ones that really made me get into musical theatre as a kid and regard Andrew Lloyd Webber so highly (I even used to help moderate the official RUG and Phantom message boards), and I genuinely cannot think of another score which moves me as much as this one does.

The ultimate treat was that the Phantom is currently played by musical theatre stalwart Earl Carpenter. For those who read regularly, you’ll know that this is going to be my last West End show for quite some time, as I’m moving back to Manchester on Saturday, and so Phantom was the one show that I desperately needed to see before I went, and, prior to tonight, Earl Carpenter was the only West End legend that I had yet to see before me on a stage. That the two massive desires that I had desperately wanted to fulfil prior to my leaving the West End behind (a massive deal for me!) were made true on the same night will stay with me forever I think (also in keeping with the advertising strap line ‘remember your first time…’ too, ha!). It was made even better as I didn’t even know that Earl Carpenter had returned to the show in advance of my attendance this evening – I only found out at the end! (I had a bit of a Phantom style revelation myself it seems haha!)

Several times, and owing to our proximity to the stage, I found myself staring right into the Phantom‘s eyes, and he chilled me to the core – I had to keep breaking my gaze! The depth of emotion that Earl Carpenter was able to convey was magnificent, and I’m not ashamed to say that come the end of the show, I was in floods of tears! Such a beautiful performance.

Sofia Escobar as Christine was an absolute find. I may get shouted down for saying this, but her voice was even more perfect, for me, than that of Sarah Brightman, who the role was written specifically for! Perfect look for the role, an astonishing voice for someone who is fairly fresh to the wider world of musical theatre, and I really hope that she stays with the production for a long time.

Killian Donnelly as Raoul was fabulous. Raoul is that slightly simpering second male lead role that I usually find it hard to attach to in a musical, however in this case, Donnelly totally grabbed Raoul and gave him a decent pair of bollocks, and completely sold the role to me! Really enjoyed his performance.

I cannot discuss the cast without mentioning Wendy Ferguson’s Carlotta – I genuinely cannot imagine anyone more suited to the role. A gorgeous voice, a fantastic way of portraying the role, and I love just watching her, even if she’s not in the foreground. She’s secretly my favourite!

You only have to flick through the programme to see what a wealth of musical theatre royalty is in the current cast – everyone has really fabulous experience in the field, with many people previously appearing in significant roles that I really look up to!

I genuinely, genuinely cannot implore you enough to go and see this show, I guarantee that you will not regret it. I’m not normally a fan of the premium seating model, however for this show, I would definitely recommend those seats, and in fact, for the 25th Anniversary touring production, soon to be in Manchester, I am insisting that Max and I splash out on the premium seating!

I thought that no musical could ever affect me in such a significant way again – I thought that I’d seen all that the West End had to offer, and was ready to face the final curtain, and retire a contented man; especially as I thought I knew what I was getting tonight. However, seeing this show, in the ‘flesh’, has totally reignited the passion that I have for musical theatre, and I now find myself wishing that I could see this show a couple more times before I leave; if only!! For a show to do this, and totally blow my mind, it has to be worth a look, right?

The Phantom Of The Opera is playing at Her Majesty’s Theatre, and stars Earl Carpenter as The Phantom up until 17th March 2012. For further information, and to book tickets, please visit the show’s official webpage.

This will be my last Miz for quite some time!

I’ve just come back from seeing Les Misérables at the Queens Theatre, London and have once again had a thoroughly amazing evening, made all the more poignant because this is the penultimate show that I’ll get to see before I depart the West End for a bit! (the final curtain call, will be The Phantom of the Opera on this – Tuesday – evening).

The casting team for this show are currently famed for their three-month contracts, which currently includes Phantom-extrordinare, and current West End ‘IT MAN!’,  Ramin Karimloo, as Jean Valjean (and who unfortunately does not play on a Monday or a Thursday evening); thus this review is unable to comment on the interesting though historically traditional transition that he’s made over to this other West End stalwart, nor comment on how well he takes on this monumental role.

However, Les Misérables is definitely not a one man show, and for me, I really value to get to see the understudy, as you tend to get someone without the gimmicks or biased pulling power, thus it makes it so much easier to review the performance, as you’ve got no preconceptions, and you tend to get blown away! Plus, in an era of such short contracts, it also affords some longevity to this review, in addition to hopefully reassuring that subset of people who oft tend to be a little hard-to-warm to the concept of seeing an understudy.

Incidentally, I also think that the character of Javert is definitely the more interesting of the two principal adult male roles, but that’s by the by, and for another day!

So, Monday 23rd January, and the overall performance was, as ever, FANTASTIC!

We had a rather large number of understudies on owing to Principal cast holiday/performance schedules, including Christopher Jacobsen as Jean Valjean, Zoe Doano as Cossette, and the (incredible) Shaun Dalton as Inspector Javert.

I’ll start with the good, and say that Shaun Dalton as Javert was perfect, in my opinion. It’s the one role that I look at closely in this musical, and I found Dalton to be note perfect, incredibly commanding on stage, and a real force to be reckoned with. My plumed 19th Century Inspectors hat comes off to him, and I’d love to see him in a more Principal role come the next cast change.

I was very pleased that Alexia Khadime was in tonight’s performance, as her Eponine is absolutely gorgeous, and always a pleasure to watch. I’ve also warmed a lot more to Craig Mather’s Marius, and Katy Secombe was fantastic as ever in the role of Mme Thénardier. It was my first time seeing Cameron Blakeley as Thénardier, and I thought he did a great job in the role, making it distinct from the great shaping that I felt Matt Lucas brought and added to the role immediately prior.

Christopher Jacobsen took a little while to grow on me as a plausible Valjean, and I was initially a little worried… certainly during the opening numbers, and right up until At The End Of The Day, I felt that his voice lacked the operatic depth that I’ve perhaps become spoilt and used to with previous Valjeans. Having today learnt that he is a meer 23 years old (@tobiased makes a good point in that Valjean is never this young at any point in the entire story); I feel that this explains a lot. However, the ‘older’ Valjean got, the more I found that I became comfortable with Jacobsen’s performance, with his voice becoming more resonant, and, ultimately, I think that you end up with a passable, though not authentic, Jean Valjean. Credit where due, some of the songs were sung with great emotional depth and absolutely pitch perfect.  I probably wouldn’t shy away from a Monday/Thursday performance to deliberately avoid his Valjean, were you not too fixed on definitely seeing Ramin Karimloo.

It was my first time seeing Liam Tamne in the role of Enjolras, and I have to say, as I’d expected, I wasn’t keen. On all my previous visits to the show over the last 9 months or so (and there have been quite a few!), I’ve always had Scott Garnham, and I do much prefer him in this role, if I am honest. Similarly, I still haven’t warmed to Caroline Sheen as Fantine, though, as ever, it is worth noting that the audience are usually receptive to her, and perhaps it’s just that she’s not right for my own vision of Fantine.

Overall, and it’s made harder to judge with so many understudies on this evening, I feel that the cast is fairly strong, though definitely not as strong as when it had its full June 2011 complement, and underwent the mini-re-invention.

Technically, the show was great, and I was very fortunate enough to have had a private tour of the stage a few months back, and so it was great to watch the production with more ‘technical’ eyes. The orchestra sounded brilliant, and the surround sound which was recently installed back in 2011 also did a great job during the first barricade battle scene – even when we were right at the back of the Dress Circle you felt in the thick of it!

As ALWAYS, I ended up having a bit of a blub at the end, it’s just such a fantastic show, story and score, and coupled with a great cast, and thus I had a really fab time.

Les Misérables is currently at the Queens Theatre, and running pretty much until forever! If you would like any more information on the show, please visit their official website!

(if you have not, you simply must! It’s currently being splashed all over the Internet by NBC).

Having watched the pilot, can I just say that I was suitably impressed, and the many many months that I have been looking forward to this were all well worth it – simply, this smashed it for me!

Unfortunately, I can already see all the comparisons with GLEE, which I wouldn’t mind so much, were they not what people are going to say that they are!

The thing that I like best about SMASH is that it actually has its roots in musical theatre, and not, as is the case with GLEE, where they’ve just bought in some Broadway talent – SMASH actually has a decent creative team behind it, many with a musical theatre background, and the cast are, technically, more accomplished than the season regulars in GLEE. In addition to this, you cannot mention SMASH without rejoicing at the talents of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, whose scoring is, as ever, sublime! There are original songs in SMASH from the outset, and, I would argue that these are actually stronger than the covers (Let Me Be Your Star deserves an award imo!).

Unlike GLEE, which rams a song down your throat every 6 minutes or so, over a tenacious story arc, SMASH is able to tailor the songs to the content in a far superior way owing to the talents of Shaiman and Wittman, and so the whole show just feels a lot more organic, and flows better. Vocally, the voices match the songs a lot better, and there is a distinctly more mature sound to the show. Scripting is also far superior, and plot holes are not as obvious. They’re originally going in for 15 episodes, rather than GLEE’s 22-or-so, and I think that this will help keep the pace up on the story more.

Anjelica Houston is a huge draw, for me, absolutely love her, and I do hope she gets a musical number, or similar, as the show progresses!

It is reported that the pilot cost a staggering $7.5m – and it is very very clear from all the promo that is being done across the World, that NBC are determined to make this show a success, which is great to see.

From the original concept, I note that the plan was to do a new show each season, and for the actual musical at the end of the show to go onto a Broadway stage. This excites me no bounds, and, if this still occurs, then it would be an amazing way to get new, fresh, content onto the Broadway stage! Original musicals, exactly what we need more of – especially if Shaiman and Wittman are involved.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not hating on GLEE, I was watching it well before anyone else in the UK had probably even heard of it, and I still love it, when it’s on form, but I do think that there are a lot of broad differences between the two, which will sadly be overlooked or mistakenly dismissed by the majority. Whilst SMASH is absolutely my current/new favourite thing on TV – I’m on the fence about whether or not SMASH will breakthrough and recoup all the money being plowed into it. Whilst it’s already had rave reviews from the pilot, I can see a shelf-life already, which concerns me a little, thus I am very interested in this new season, new show concept very much. I can already also see the haters and the GLEE maniacs who will try to kill this, ultimately more sophisticated, show off. SMASH is by the Company, for the proper musical fans, and I am not too sure if musical fans alone will be enough for a show – GLEE successfully also taps into the influential and lucrative teen market and subtly introduces them to the concept of musicals, and show tunes, whereas SMASH assumes that the interest is already there. Whilst this is great for me, it’s not going to be great for people who don’t live and breathe musical theatre already.

SMASH is WELL WORTH a look in, and if you’re reading this blog, or following me on Twitter, then I can confidently say that SMASH is going to ring all of your bells and toot your whistle!

For those who have seen the pilot, I’d be very interested to know your thoughts

Yes, yes, it is only a fleeting mention, however the Londonist is an awesome site, and it’s great to get a mention, no matter how small! Ha!

Whilst I quite like my pictures, using a camera phone in the pre-dawn light was always going to be a challenge, no matter how good the phone. The picture that the Londonist got is simply stunning!!

I decided to head on down, based on the previous popularity of this real life Trafalgar Sun style photo that I shot just before Christmas 2011 – plus, I am always intrigued by some of the art that goes on display in Trafalgar Square, especially that done on a grandiose scale, for all to see.

Here are a few of my pictures (I used camera effects on only the white and the blue one):

(Click any to enlarge – please credit these back to http://garidavies.me.uk if you use them anywhere! )

A great art installation, and well worth the 05:20 wake-up call (my images were taken around 07:15). They’re there until around 19:33 this evening (three hours after sundown), and so if you’re out and about in the West End, this is well worth stopping by to see – with the equivalent light as that coming off of 60,000 light bulbs, it literally lights up the whole Square!

Saturday 21st January 2012.

There is also a MUCH better still image coming too once YouTube updates its servers properly ha!

Sorry, in this video, not only did I prattle on with myself, but also YouTube has cut off the bottom of the video, so it hasn’t centred me!

If you want to keep up to date with what’s happening, do please follow my blog (there is a button at the bottom of the page).

Thanks to all for your continued support and interest!

Gari x

Regular readers and friends will be aware that I suffer from a condition called Hyperhidrosis.

(I’d really recommend http://www.hyperhidrosisuk.org/ if you feel you may be suffering from this or need further support with this condition)

Before you read the rest of this post, it’d be incredibly beneficial to read my previous post on the subject, and the funding cuts that have adversely affected my usual treatments.

Today, after two months of continuous ‘suffering’ from this condition after my last treatment wore off, and which also, incidentally, marred my Christmas, I finally had to cave in during a moment of desperation and get private treatment for my condition.

At a limited time ‘cut price’ rate, I had to pay £324 for Botox injections to my underarms, to help me deal with what is a widely recognised medical condition by the NHS. Normal price on the Private market is around £495 per treatment. Typically, you need two treatments per year.

Whilst I appreciate that Botox is an expensive treatment, if the NHS were to actually limit it to the more severe cases, of which I would qualify, they would protect the service for those who actually need it. More and more hospitals in the London area have pulled funding for these treatments, and now there are just one or two left, and a waiting list in excess of five months simply isn’t good enough! I’ve yet to see what the state of play is up in Manchester, however a quick Google of the services offered at Dermatology clinics across the NHS indicates nothing (fairly common across the UK, to be honest).

Simply, I cannot afford to keep dipping into my savings each year to fund this. This totally has to be just a one-off, and I now find myself with the very worrying prospect of needing further treatment in 6-9 months, and not being able to access anything. I move next week, and from then, I have 6 months to find somewhere, before I run into trouble again. Northern GPs are likely to be less sympathetic, I would imagine, so I am expecting to get absolutely fckd over by this, if honest.

The Doctor who I saw on Harley Street actually said that at the moment they were offering it at near cost price, as their board of Directors thought that the withdrawal of the treatment by the NHS was, frankly, scandalous and thus they saw themselves as providing a service to the man on the street. As you’d expect, their patient rate has gone haywire, and people are apparently beating their door down. It may have been spin from a Private sector Doctor, but I doubt it, as I went in there fully convinced and ready to pay up, and he knew that! He also said that, generally speaking, the profit margins (even at full price) on these treatments were absolutely tiny – it genuinely is that expensive.

It angers me that I don’t particularly lean on the State for anything in my life, bar this, and that the ever-increasing National Insurance payments that I (and we all) make are clearly not being collected or apportioned properly if the NHS are making cuts to services rather than bureaucracy. I certainly don’t begrudge the NI charge, and far from it (I’d happily pay more if it were ring-fenced and directly helped improve front-line services), but when services are being cut and the door slammed in people’s faces in this manner, it just isn’t right! During this latest period, I was feeling so depressed, and other issues flared up. You’re robbing Peter to pay Paul, and thus not saving any money. In the long-term, you’re probably costing more to the NHS by failing to address the root cause! Even if the NHS were prepared to contribute a small amount to fund these treatments privately instead, with the patient left to pick up the difference, that would be a massive help.

I know that there will be people thinking that in times of austerity, that this is something of a luxury, and I cannot stress to you how wrong this idea is. If you had any idea just how much this destroys life as you know it, you’d come to see this for what it is, rather than something trivial. It has cost me a fortune in new t-shirts and hoodies in the last two months whilst I try to deal with this, and emotionally, I am drained.

All that said, the clinic that I went to were absolutely fantastic – same day service, and they weren’t stingy with the injections (you have around 15 in each area… again, not as glamorous as people say it is, it hurts!!) – so this time, I had a lot of Botox (one benefit of going Private!). The whole experience was so much better, and frankly, you get a much more qualified person doing it, who is a specialist in the area, and really knows his stuff. If I had the money, I’d go back again in a heartbeat! Whilst I do really champion the NHS, I have had a very mixed experience with them in the administration of my prior treatments.

The service was amazing, and from the moment I went into the grand waiting room (see below), I caught myself thinking that I could never go back to the NHS ever again!! ha!

So yeah, there you have it – I’ve now seen a Doctor on Harley Street! How glam am I?! ha!

It felt rather Victorian, terribly grand and slightly macabre to be seen dipping into one of the imposing houses on Harley Street for untold processes, especially knowing that all up and down the street, loads of secret procedures were also going on behind closed doors!

Now, if anyone happens to know a sugar-daddy who can slip me a couple of hundred in six months time, that would be fantastic! Also, if any companies would like to offer corporate sponsorship, I would totally shave your logo into my underarm hair! #justsayin ha!

In all seriousness though, this is a serious problem for me, and moving to Manchester represents a huge and scary void on this aspect, as I have no current idea as to service provision up North, and there is simply no way that I can afford £500 to go privately once again. I genuinely have no idea what I am going to do, and for now, I simply cannot even think about it – it upsets me quite a lot!

My message remains the same Mr Lansley – pull your act together, and start sticking to the promises that you and your cronies made in the Manifesto. No cuts to the NHS. 

All I want is a Welfare State that actually gives a flying fuck about my welfare. The clue is in the name, and when we’re talking about a service that directly affects all 65 million of us, NHS cuts are far from trivial. Sort it out, stop being frivolous with public money and allow the NHS to be able to dig deep!

* NB – content is age restricted, so you may need to double-click to view on YouTube / sign in.

Not at all a Jedward fan, but it’s good to see they’ve finally exposed their true talent…