Labels

A Round-Up of 2020.... 😳😳

HAHAHAHAHAHA

This is NOT how we thought 2020 was going to be.... In January, we were so hopeful, wide-eyed and innocent, optimistic at the start of a brand new decade. 

Little did we know it was going to go sour...

It wasn't all bad, I mean Joe Biden beat the orange turd in the US Election 😁

And we will have the first woman of colour (heck first woman end of!) as Vice President!!! 😁😁

AND BILL BAILEY WON THE GLITTERBALL TROPHY!!!! 😁😁😁

But we also had....

  • People from all creative backgrounds from on-stage, off-stage, freelancers, musicians, people in the Events industry and more essentially being told "You're useless. Get a Proper Job" by our Government
  • A North-South divide which felt like an episode of Game of Thrones with Andy Burnham being declared "The King in the North"
  • 99% of people's social lives being shut down to SOME degree
  • Loads of people finding themselves with no job and businesses having to close
  • The injustice and racial discrimination being brought to the surface from the Black Lives Matter movement
Anything I've missed:
  • Oh yeah we were introduced to the charming Ms Rona who gifted us with A F*****G GLOBAL PANDEMIC!!!!! Forcing the UK to go into lockdown not just once, but TWICE! And even when we came out of it, it all ended in Tiers.... 
Which meant all the theatres being shut down for months! ..... Interesting trying to run a theatre blog when I've not been able to go to the theatre for a long time....!

Source: https://giphy.com/gifs/cbc-schitts-creek-Jmt5MhNTrv3UFMXIM0

However, artists adapted and proved time and time again why they are so needed and VITAL for us all. Not just to entertain us, but also for our mental and physical wellbeing. 

So we had a lot of content being put up online until (and after) some productions were able to go ahead. 

2020 thus became the year it was perfectly acceptable to go to the theatre in your pyjamas 😅 

From the National opening their back catalogue of filmed performances; to Lambert Jackson Productions producing their Leave A Light On concerts; to specially recorded versions of musicals we hadn't seen in the UK before (or are produced very rarely); to more theatres up and down the country bringing out content for us to enjoy. 

And I would like to thank everyone in the Arts industry who think outside of the box, work tirelessly to ensure venues (when open) were safe for audiences, and those who fought and continue to fight for proper funding. Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU!! 

But this year also reminded me how strong the theatre community is. In March, I was reached out on Twitter to see if I wanted to join a WhatsApp group with other theatre bloggers and fans from across the country to help us all keep stagey sane; which ended up being the best thing about this year (well that wouldn't have happened without Ms Rona that is). 

A few Zooms later and we have become really good friends. I've already gushed plenty about them in another feature I did this year, which you can read by clicking here. 

So, while it has been quite frankly a s**t year, I would like to highlight the good it has brought us and still celebrate some wonderful theatre - mostly brought to the comfort of our own home! 

I would like to mention that these are for productions that I reviewed on this blog THIS YEAR, which means the following, which were re-aired and/or I have talked about before, will sadly not be eligible. You can however click the links to reveal what I thought when I first saw them:

Plus I should also mention that the Disney + recording of Hamilton, otherwise called the Hamilfilm will only count in areas where it differs from the stage counterpart. For example, it can be nominated for On-Screen Event of the Year, but not for things like Choreography or Costume that have been picked up the first time. Does that make sense? 

Let's Get Started

***

Performance of the Year Award: Before we go into this one properly, speaking of the Hamilfilm, I would like to give the Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton their own special mention. This is because every single person in that cast worked their socks off and have since become celebrities in their own right - even people who were in the ensemble at the time such as Ariana DeBose! So I didn't think it would be fair to single one person out, and decided to give them this very special honourable mention instead. 

Source: https://giphy.com/gifs/hamilton-alexander-musical-YjbjHBh4TDAVG

Male:

Nominees:

  • Theo James as Detective Stone in City of Angels at the Garrick Theatre
  • James Cordon as Francis Henshall in One Man Two Guvnors NT Live from the National Theatre
  • Matt Smith in Lungs filmed at The Old Vic
  • Marc Antolin as Jean-Réné in Romantics Anonymous filmed at the Bristol Old Vic
  • Hadley Fraser as Ben in Before/After filmed at the Southwark Playhouse
  • Oscar Conlon-Morrey as the Head Waiter and others in First Date by Lambert Jackson Productions
  • Oli Higginson as Jamie Wellerstein in The Last Five Years filmed at the Southwark Playhouse
  • Andrew Lincoln as Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol filmed at The Old Vic 

Runner-Up: This is a tie, but for good reason as they are from the same show: RENT at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre. As far as Rodgers go, Tom Francis is right up there with Will Chase and Adam Pascal. WHAT a professional debut! And for the other, Dom Hartley-Harris brought the house down as Collins. I’ll Cover You (Reprise) is the one number in RENT that makes me cry - Dom’s was no exception. Oh god, pass me the tissues.....

Winner: Yes this was very close indeed. But the overall winner is Matthew Tennyson as Connor O’Malley in A Monster Calls, filmed at the Old Vic. He was truly captivating and broke my heart. If they air A Monster Calls again, it is worth it for his performance alone. 


Female:

Nominees:

  • Divina de Campo as Baroness DDC in Sinderella at Manchester's Dancehouse
  • Elena Skye as Scaramouche in We Will Rock You UK Tour
  • Anita Harris as Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret UK Tour
  • Clare Burt as Ada Harris in Flowers for Mrs Harris filmed at Chichester Festival Theatre
  • Lauren Samuels as Cathy Hyatt in The Last Five Years from Lambert Jackson Productions
  • Clare Foy in Lungs
  • Carley Bawden as Angelique in Romantics Anonymous
  • Rosalie Craig as Ami in Before/After
  • Maiya Quansah-Breed as Mimi Marquez and Jocasta Almgill as Joanne Jefferson in RENT
  • Jo Ellen Pellman as Emma Nolan in The Prom on Netflix

Winner: Even though this performance was at the beginning of the year, when I sat back and thought about it, there was one person that stood out and set the standard for the year: Melissa James as Louise in Gypsy at the Royal Exchange in Manchester. Not one to be underestimated - meek at the start but during the reprise of Let Me Entertain You, did a complete 180. From the way she held herself, her confidence, her posture, even the tone of her voice! 


Understudy of the Year Award: Danielle Fiyamanya as cover Juliet in & Juliet at the Shafetsbury Theatre. I saw the concert version that the & Juliet company put on due to cast injury and annual leave; and chose not to write about it as I didn't think it was fair at the time. But I could not overlook Danielle's performance for this award just because of that. She is the only eligible nominee for me this year in that she stood head and shoulders above every other understudy I saw. In fact, my friend, who I saw & Juliet with, thought she was better than Miriam Teak-Lee! (Ironically, MT-L won my first Understudy Award. Funny how these things come around isn't it...?) If I remember correctly, it was only the 2nd or 3rd time she went on as Juliet too! Her next project will be the 1st cover Elsa in Frozen!

Almost-But-Not-Quite Award:

Nominees:

  • A Streetcar Named Desire NT Live from the Young Vic (I didn't end up reviewing this one but way that the set design was put together in the Young Vic did not mix with the panning camera)
  • Candide filmed at the Grange Park Opera
  • Fame filmed at the Peacock Theatre, London
  • From Here to Eternity filmed at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London

Winner: CATS. Now before you say anything, YES I know this was released in 2019, but I saw it in January 2020 when it was still in the cinema. So YES it counts. And since it counts HOW could I choose anything else?! It was panned so much to the point it became the embarrassment of the industry for a while. If you do decide to watch this, then have plenty of alcohol on standby, as well as your Statler and Waldorf impressions worthy to the point it could be a Gogglebox audition tape.

Leaky Eyes Award:

Nominees:

  • Flowers for Mrs Harris
  • Small Island NT Live from the National Theatre
  • The Last Five Years (both versions)
  • Lungs
  • Songs For A New World from Lambert Jackson Productions
  • Before/After
  • The Prom - just for THAT bit. If you've seen it you know what I'm on about 

Runner-Up: If I had seen RENT live like I had intended it to, it COULD have made it to the top spot. It certainly made me emotional, for reasons I have already talked about, but it didn’t made me bawl..... But you know what did......

Winner: A Monster Calls. Oh god this play 😭😭 I remember writing that it is the saddest thing I have seen since Miss Saigon. In fact though, it could be WORSE than Miss Saigon. You all know how hard it is for me to cry at things; but this is the first thing in a long time that made me truly bawl my eyes out. By the time this roller-coaster of a play was over, I was in bits 😭😭😭😭 


Laughed-Till-I-Was-Sore Award:

Nominees:

Winner: I feel like I'm going to get schtick whatever I pick because this selection covers a lot of humour: slapstick, deadpan and sarcastic, something a bit adult.... After a lot of deliberation.... I am going to go with the one that whatever age or class you are in, there is something for everyone - and that is One Man Two Guvnors from the National Theatre. It kicked off the National's NT Live at Home scheme during the first lockdown and it couldn't have been a better choice if they'd tried. Incredibly funny and incredibly British! Plus while we now roll our eyes that James Cordon seems to be in every movie musical going, this is a reminder of him at his best. 


Danced-Till-They-Dropped Award:

Nominees:

  • CATS - though the film itself sucked, you cannot deny Andy Blankenbuehler knows how to choreograph and bring in the right people
  • Cabaret
  • Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (Another one I didn't end up reviewing, but will try and put that right once Season 2 airs)
  • RENT
  • The Prom

Runner-Up: While Fame may not have been the best thing I saw, the best thing about it was by far the choreography. It had every style in there: ballet, jazz, street, flamenco. You name it, Nick Winston had it.

Winner: I was going to give this to Fame. I really was. Until I saw An American in Paris. There is really no other show that merges the worlds of musical theatre and ballet together like this show does. It does have a whopping 17 minute ballet at the end of it after all! 


Surprise of the Year Award: 

Nominees:

Runner-Up: This is another tie, but that's because they're both BRAND NEW British works that had their premieres during the lockdown: Before/After and After You. Both beautifully written and touching; both beautifully sung by Hadley Fraser and Rosalie Craig, and Alexia Khadime and Bradley Jaden respectfully; and BOTH had plenty of surprises in them. Here's hoping they get to see another life with a real audience. 

Winner: This was VERY hard. There were three I considered for this spot, but I needed to think about the SURPRISE element of it. With two of them, even though they're not well known, they both had a lot of word-of-mouth following in the community. Whereas this one, I happened to discover by chance and had not seen (at the time) any of this creative team's work before (besides Olaf of course): but from the moment I started watching, I was obsessed, and by the time I finished the last episode, I dove into iTunes to find the soundtrack. And I have been trying to champion this show ever since because I still don't know how many people have seen it! If you haven't watched Central Park yet, get Apple TV and WATCH IT NOW!!! (Well, finish reading this first...)


On-Screen Event of the Year: HAHAHAHA ok, this is where it get's interesting. Due to a certain someone, A LOT of productions are eligible for this. So I had no option but to split it between ones of a Play, those of a Musical (any online Pantos also go here), and those which are a Film or TV Show. Just get ready for a massive list of nominees....

On-Screen Play Event of the Year:

Nominees:

  • One Man Two Guvnors 
  • Treasure Island NT Live from the National Theatre (I didn't end up reviewing this one but it was a lot of fun. And I got to watch Arthur Darvill dressed up as a pirate...! 😍)
  • Lungs 
  • A Christmas Carol 

Runner-Up: I was going back and forth with this one, but going with my gut. A Monster Calls gets the Runner-Up spot for me, for reasons I have already mentioned. A wonderful piece of theatre.

Winner: So what on Earth can pip A Monster Calls to the post? Well, one of the most important things I think theatre does is serve as a reaction to events happening across the world. Not to only entertain us but to make us think. Small Island at the National Theatre did exactly that. The National shifted its schedule around and aired this during the Black Lives Matter protests. It was a very powerful and moving piece of theatre which I think is so important to see, about a part of British history that not enough people know about. I will 100% be seeing this live the first opportunity I get. 

On-Screen Musical Event of the Year:

Nominees:

  • Eugenius filmed at The Other Palace
  • Flowers for Mrs Harris
  • The Last Five Years (again, both versions because I'm lazy)
  • Hamilfilm 
  • Songs For A New World
  • Godspell Online in Concert from the Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester
  • Romantics Anonymous
  • Before After 
  • After You
  • Showstopper! The Improvised Musical
  • First Date
  • Marry Me A Little from the Barn Theatre
  • [title of show] from Lambert Jackson Productions
  • An American in Paris
  • Cinderella: A Socially Distanced Ball 
  • Dick Whittington from the National Theatre 

Runner-Up: This is extremely difficult. Possibly the hardest one I've had to decide, purely because there has been so many: happy, sad, big, small, the full works. For this one, I am saying The Grinning Man. It's one I heard whispers about and despite a slightly slow start, loved it. It's dark, it's macabre, it's Victor Hugo, all things I love. 

Winner: Finally RENT gets the win here. It may not have been planned to have been an On-Screen Event, but the Hope Mill did everything they could to make it AN EVENT. I was given access to a pre-show Zoom Q+A with the cast: the theatre gave a programme and a party pack (albeit lost in the post but received electronic version instead). But onto the piece itself, it was the best version of RENT I have seen since the 2005 film and the 2008 final Broadway performance. Think that's nuff said. 

On-Screen Film/TV show of the Year:

Nominees:

Runner-Up: The Prom. I know there are A LOT of divided opinions on this film, a lot saying it's NOWHERE NEAR as good as the show it is based on (which I would love to see by the way, it's on the list). And yes, it is not perfect, but I really enjoyed it: especially any scenes with Jo-Ellen Pellman, Ariana DeBose and Andrew Rannells. 

Winner: Central Park. I won't go into the big reasons again, but it truly took my breath away. It is the Hamilton/Frozen crossover we never knew we needed - I know I said that before but I will say it again and again to try and get this show the attention it deserves. The team they've got for the voice cast is utter class, not to mention the whos who of Broadway actors for guest stars. Oh and one more thing: for his performance as Owen, Leslie Odom Jr was nominated for a fricking Emmy.....! 


Costume of the Year Award:

Nominees:

  • City of Angels - 40s costumes!!!
  • Eugenius - for the crazy superhero outfits! 
  • From Here to Eternity - again 40s costumes!!!
  • An American in Paris - again, 40s costumes!!!
  • Jingle Jangle - because I also loved period costumes

Winner: You may have realised that I have a thing for 40s costumes, but I did not choose Flowers for Mrs Harris because it is set in the 1940s... It comes down to that moment in the 2nd act where Mrs Harris has made it to Paris, she has somehow made the front row of a Christian Dior show and you see these gorgeous dresses float down the stairs.... Ones that I will never wear in a million years..... 

Blew My Mind Award:

Nominees:

  • Back to the Future
  • & Juliet (though it have been may be a concert version, you try sitting on the front row for a show with Oliver Tompsett in it and not be awed!)
  • A Monster Calls
  • Hamilfilm
  • RENT

Winner: For me, this goes to We Will Rock You, which I managed to see in Manchester as part of it’s UK Tour earlier in the year. It was the show that has been at the top of my list since 2014 and it melted my brain within just a few chords of the Innuendo. 


***

HOLY HELL!!! 

I find it incredible that even though we were locked in our homes the majority of the time, I have written more pieces this year than I have for any other! That to me shows how important the arts are. And how important it is that they are funded properly. 

My friend Lizzie in the Fellow Theatre Blogger tribe made this video on her IGTV before the package was announced from the Government, which explains it best in my opinion: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CB3xfYMJbtz/?igshid=bba41bcx6d82 

I would love nothing more than to put a lot of things about this year behind me and look to 2021... but I have decided to save that because I don't want to waste any more of your time.... 😅 

So I have decided to change things. I will be doing a Bucket List for 2021, as well as letting you know what I am HOPING (big word there) to see next year!

With all that... 2020, you've been swell. Now bugger off. *cracks open the alcohol* Happy New Year!!!

Source: happy new year drinking GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

Email Post
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment