I spent £49 watching Mary Poppins, and possibly the most well-spent £49 in a very long while.

The Mary Poppins theatre is in the SOHO (read: Gay) district of London, and very rightly so - because Mary Poppins is the gayest show I've seen in a long time, and by gay, I mean every non-homosexual definition of the word.

Everything went right with the show, that I can't think of anything that was bad about it at all.

The singing was awesome,
the songs were catchy (I must have bobbing along to quite a few songs),
the staging was SPECTACULAR and INCREDIBLE (as Pierre once told me, the things just appear on stage like magic, and now i've seen it for myself),
the cast are good-looking,
the lighting and sound design flawless,
and more.

To call this show is certainly no easy feat too. There are about fly cues and scene change cues all the time, on top of trap doors, lighting.... You would think what's so good about a musical meant to entertain kids. Well, this is a musical that entertains kids and adults alike. It's a fairytale unfolding on stage, just so beautiful. I shan't say more, except you have to go see it for yourself, even if you have to get full-priced tickets as I did. It's worth the money.

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Actually, I also went to watch Wicked last night. (Spending a little too much money on musicals I think) and after the rave reviews that I've gotten from people, I was somewhat disappointed after watching it.

I think the main reason for my disappointment was that the acoustics of the theatre was really quite horrible, especially if you are slightly further from the stage as I was, such that it was hard to hear all the words of the songs clearly. And also, I thought the 2nd half of the show was a letdown, especially after the build-up in Act 1. The songs also failed to leave an impression on me and I can't think of a song that I can identify with Wicked. I have a feeling the singers are not the original ones, and are lacklustre in performance. (Allan says the original Broadway singer has gone back, although I can't find any informatio on the website to back that)

But other than that, I think the lighting design was very creative and put to good use. The costumes were very pretty and well designed. The set was also quite impressive and staging overall was quite well done. :)

I'd give a 3-star rating out of 5? Or maybe I will watch it again another day. ;p

Labels: Mary Poppins, Wicked