'Oh What a Night' - Darlington Civic Theatre

Last night Sat Nav and I went to see Kid Creole (without his coconuts) at Darlington Civic Theatre in a show called 'Oh What A Night!'

We were to meet up with my sister and her friend. We were traveling to the theatre from different directions.... Sat Nav and I heading North while my sister and her friend headed South. We were to meet in the middle, at Darlington.
Sis and friend had decided to have a meal before the show, so when we arrived I phoned her. They were in the Indian restaurant beside the theatre and were told that if they presented their show tickets then they would receive a 10% discount!

I could see the Indian restaurant as we walked towards the ticket office. After collecting our tickets we came out of said Ticket Office and went into the restaurant. Or so we thought!

I looked around and couldn't see my sister anywhere.
A waitress said 'would you like to come this way' I said 'yes, but I'm looking for my sister'. By that time a waiter carrying pizza's walk past us - strange in an Indian restaurant - the penny should have dropped then really. By that time everyone had turned to look at us, probably wondering why we were looking so blank.

I said to the waitress 'is this the Indian restaurant' she said 'no this is the Italian....the Indian Restaurant is next door' lol!!!
How embarrassing is that?

In my defence even though they are next door to each other they do appear to merge into one.. lol!!! That's my excuse anyway...

So we eventually found my sister and her friend enjoying a curry next door in the Indian Restaurant, and they got their 10% off. And the very nice guy in the Indian restaurant brought Sat Nav and I a couple of After Eight mints. How sweet is that ?

On with the show.....The curtain went up at 8pm and the audience were on their feet and dancing in the aisles from then on.

Kid Creole (without his coconuts) but with some great dancers, absolutely rocked. I just love 70s disco music. Now...I know that some may call me sad, but I don't care....you can't beat it.

Here's a taste of the tunes, Celebration, We Are Family, Young Hearts Run Free, Oh What A Night, YMCA and I Will Survive, that we - the audience - took over......bloody marvelous.

The show had a fab finale with terrific audience participation. I doubt if Darlington Civic has rocked so enthusiastically before.....not since The Rocky Horror Show, at least!

That's two nights we've had out on the trot and we are 'in the doghouse' with our lovely dog for leaving him twice!!! Just to make us feel extra guilty he has refused to eat all of his breakfast this morning :-(
He'll have to have lots of special attention today to get us back into his good books. In true doggy fashion he is extremely good at making us feel guilty.....

The Magic of the Musicals

Last night Sat Nav and I were excited.
We were braving the traffic and heading up the A1 again, in the dark ugh, en route for Darlington to see The Magic of the Musicals Show at the Civic Theatre.
For once the traffic was a breeze so we arrived early but, when we got to the theatre, it was under siege. This was obviously a very popular show.

Settled in our seats in the front row of the dress circle - and coincidentally I was sitting next to a fellow author - we waited expectantly for the show to start. Wish the seats were a bit more comfortable though, and, we could have done with more leg room.
At 7.30pm the curtain went up and the theatre became alive with The Sound of Music (and so did Darlington), then together we Climbed Every Mountain, loitered High on a Hill with a Lonely Goatherd, and rode along in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Bliss.

Next up were two of my favourite Abba songs, Waterloo and Mamma Mia. Well . . . I had to sing along, didn't I? (Don't worry, I'd already asked the people around us not to throw their Malteasers at me when I sang!)

Along the way we had some Summer Loving from Grease and lingered for a while on The Street Where You Live (Sat Nav's favourite).

This was one hell of a show. Melanie Stace was the female lead vocalist, and gave a cracking performance. Dr. Hyacinth would have loved her glittery purple dress.
Robert Meadmore was the male lead vocalist. He kindly encouraged the audience to sing along with him - which we did with gusto!
The charismatic Wayne Sleep surprised us all with his vocal talents and his brilliant dancing. He is just so clever . . . his funky version of Swan Lake was brilliant.

We had the absolute joy of live music from The Magic of the Musicals Orchestra (Sat Nav is now seriously considering finding time to go for those Sax lessons she has been talking about for ages . . . I've ordered cotton wool for myself and the dogs to protect our ears!).
Then there were the singers and dancers who were very much a part of this show. What can I say about them except that the girls were as sweet as a Spoonful of Sugar . . . lol!
And my God they must all be really fit to sing and dance at the pace they do.

So, Sat Nav and I applaud them. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and if you can get tickets to see the show . . . GO.
There aren't many performances left as the show finishes its UK run on 19th November at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham.
BUT, it is in London at the Palladium for one show only on 18th November at 4pm. Don't know what the state of play is with tickets but you might be lucky.
Flying Music presented the show so you might like to check out dates and venues on their website Flyingmusic

Got to go now . . . I need to be On My Own for a little while . . . Sat Nav is going out so I will be Master of the House till she gets back . . . lol!
Wait a minute . . . I forgot to tell you what their finale was . . . very appropriately the entire cast performed I Am What I Am . . . and the entire audience joined in. Terrific stuff.

I'm in the news today!

I am thrilled to report that the Darlington& Stockton Times newspaper Darlington & Stockton Times has included an article about my attendance at YLAF, but not only that, they have talked about Hyacinth having her own myspace page.

For those of you who haven't read my novel, Dr. Hyacinth Dickinson is one of the leading ladies in Beautiful Strangers. She has grown into such a force that she has her own fan club and it's great fun to blog about her mischief making! And now she is in the newspapers. Well, there'll be no holding her back lol!

Check her out on Myspace

Terms of Endearment

Went to see the matinée performance of 'Terms of Endearment' today at Darlington Civic Theatre. We had what we would consider to be the best seats - front row dress circle. I was surprised that it wasn't a full house, although I think the stalls were pretty full - I don't like to look over the edge due to my dislike of heights - but there were empty seats behind us. I asked one lady if she had any idea why it was so quite when there was such a brilliant star cast about to perform. She answered me in all seriousness saying, 'Why pet . . . they'll all be at the bingo . . . it's the Snowball (big money!) this afternoon.' There was no answer to that.

Then the announcement came just before curtain up requesting all members of the audience to switch off their mobile phones. We almost burst out laughing as nearly every elderly female reached into her hand bag, got out her mobile phone and switched it off ;-)
(We switched ours off before we went in, aren't we the little goody two shoes lol)

It was an amazing play with superb performances by Linda Gray as Aurora Greenway, Suranne Jones as her daughter Emma and John Bowe as Garret the astronaut and cad of a neighbour. They portrayed a perfect blend of humour that had us laughing out loud, and heartbreaking tragedy. Suranne's final scene had us weeping into our hankies en masse.

I have to mention how convincingly well John Bowe burst onto the stage portraying a drunk - he was hilarious and his infectious laugh instantly had the audience giggling along with him.

What can I say about Linda Gray? She's a very beautiful woman, and a fine actress. Understatement . . . It was a pleasure and a privilege to watch her performance today and I am so pleased that she has come to the UK. I know I speak for all of her fans here. And I am lucky to have had the opportunity to meet Linda again today.

I'm not going to tell you anymore about the play . . . except to say . . . GO AND SEE IT!