Inspired by Punctuation’s post about the marvellous Edith Piaf the other day, here’s a video of Jacques Brel performing Ne Me Quitte Pas. Most of you will probably know the Nina Simone version, which is also good, but Brel’s version is just … unsurpassed. Even if you don’t understand the words, you can read the pain in his face and know that this is a man who is having his heart ripped out, slowly and painfully. Amazing.
I’ve been seeing a lot of shows over the past week or so. Being lazy, I’m not going to write full reviews, but I will say that Saint Joan at The National is far too long and not very well directed. However, it has some great central performances (particularly Anne-Marie Duff, Paterson Joseph and Angus Wright), and some fabulous music. As a disclaimer, I must say that I do know one of the musicians, but I do genuinely mean it when I say that the music is good and really atmospheric.
Little Shop of Horrors (now, sadly, closed – I went to the final performance) was, on the other hand, fabulous. Sheridan Smith as Audrey started off somewhat subdued – her portrayal of a battered girlfriend was a little too real for a piece of fun musical theatre – but perked up in the second half and showed that she really is so much better than the television show for which she’s most famous. Paul Keating as Seymour was also wonderful, singing and dancing up a storm – I think I have a new crush *sigh*.
On Sunday night I went, not to the theatre, but to Trafalgar Square, for the Chemical Brothers gig. Calvin Harris was supporting and was a bit disappointing. The show had been hyped to have 3D effects, and we were all handed 3D viewing glasses as we entered the square. However, as always happens with cheap cardboard glasses, the effects were somewhat lost. We spent more time debating which way round to wear the glasses than we did listening to Calvin’s set. Oops. The Chems, however, were fantastic, backed up by the most amazing light show. I didn’t stop dancing for the whole set, which, considering my ankle still hasn’t recovered properly, is testament to how good they were. I was in pain the next day, but it was definitely worth it.
Then last night I went along to Spamalot. Oh my goodness – I haven’t laughed so much in ages. Supremely silly and hilariously funny. Even though one knows exactly what’s coming next in the script, it’s kept fresh with the insertion of lots of new song and dance numbers. Hannah Waddingham, as the Lady of the Lake, deserves particular mention. She has fantastic range and the most unbelievable voice, along with being funny, and having a great sense of comic timing. Really, I’d like to kill her, but I’ll settle for worshipping her from afar. If Paul Keating is my new main crush, Hannah’s definitely top of the girl crush list.
A few weeks ago I went to see Avenue Q (fab – go see) at the newly renamed Noel Coward Theatre (previously The Albery) with my friend Alex. Alex is, like me, a jobbing actor but she very generously bought my ticket with the proviso that I give her a singing lesson in preparation for an audition which she has coming up. In our usual happy fashion we forgot to organise this until she phoned me the day before yesterday in a right flap, because it’s in 10 days’ time and she had no idea what she was going to sing – panic!
So last night she came around and we spent the evening going through songbooks. This was great fun – it’s been a while since I really went through a lot of my music. I have a few favourite songs that I tend to wheel out for auditions but have got a bit lazy in terms of learning new stuff. (I could do with getting myself along to a singing teacher every once in a while for a kick up the arse so if anyone knows a good one in London then let me know – however, I digress….)
We eventually decided she should sing You Can Always Count on Me, a song from City of Angels by Cy Coleman (click here for links to song samples). This brought back lots of memories for me – it was one of my standards at drama school, and I performed it at pretty much all of our first year presentations. Unfortunately the powers that be decided that I shouldn’t sing it at our final graduation showcase and it was given to another girl, while I sang Only He from Starlight Express, which really doesn’t do me many favours at all vocally. The jazzy style of You Can Always… suits my voice much better, as does the character – a cynical secretary, unlucky in love; as opposed to a starry-eyed singing railway carriage – er, yes, moving on…
City of Angels is a fantastic show, and I only wish that I’d had the chance to see it on stage. It’s set in 1940s LA, in the world of gumshoe detectives and seedy movie directors. The premise is that a struggling writer, Stine, is writing a film script centred around an ex-cop, Stone, who is looking into the disappearance of Malory, a poor little rich girl. We therefore have a play within a play situation and can see both stories unfolding throughout the show. Cleverly, all of the actors, apart from the ones playing Stine and Stone, double to play their alter egos in real-world versus film world. To prevent confusion, the show is colour-coded, with the film characters being in black and white. At the end of the show the two worlds merge, when Stone steps out of the film into the real world and confronts his writer, Stine. Sounds complicated when written like that, but the book is great and the music and songs are wonderful – one day I’d love to put it on, but it’s far from cheap to do, due to the complex sets and costumes, so I think I might have to find myself a millionaire sponsor first!
Alex is coming round again next week so that we can work on the song further once she’s had a chance to look through the music and learn it properly. She’s not a confident singer, but she’s one heck of an actress and it will be really interesting to see where she takes it. Despite me being theoretically the teacher, it’s going to be a learning experience for me too, as I try to look at the song from another point of view: I’m thoroughly looking forward to it.
That's what I am. It's been far too long since I posted over here. In my defence, it's ever so hard keeping up with blogs on two separate sites – maybe another good reason for actually deciding where I'm going to end up once and for all. It's just that each time I decide that 20six has had it, there's a sudden burst of new life and things sort themselves out. Although today's discovery of 572 (yes, you read that right – 572) porn and gambling trackbacks on my blog was a little disheartening, I have to say. Still, onwards and upwards…
OK, confession time. I have failed on the piano challenge. Or, as Mike might put it, I have deferred success 
. I have been practicing diligently (well, OK, I've been playing regularly – I know it's not quite the same thing) but have not finished learning the piece (The Heart Asks Pleasure First from the film The Piano, if anyone's interested). However, I am halfway through it and, for someone who hasn't played in a while and was never a musical prodigy to start with, I think that's quite impressive. It's a bugger of a piece to play, as the two hands are just similar enough to fool your brain into thinking that they should be moving in the same way when, in fact, they should not. That won't make much sense to non-piano players, but think of it in terms of trying to rub your tummy and pat your head at the same time and you'll have got the gist of it.
FYI, I can do the tummy/head thing no problems but this piece? Nuh uh. Hehe – back to the grindstone…
Inspired by a conversation the other night with the lovely Li'lo, I decided to play the piano this afternoon. Unfortunately, due to a combination of cold hands, lack of practice and a criminally out of tune piano, the results were less than pleasing. The tuning and the cold hands are easy enough to sort out (although the tuner can't come out for over a week, dagnammit), but the practice is more difficult. I've never been a particularly diligent person and if something doesn't happen for me instantly I lose interest. Hence not learning any new music now that I don't have regular piano lessons.
So…I am writing this down in the hopes of shaming myself into action. It's going to cost me 52 quid to get the piano tuned and I damn well need to justify that cost. So I hereby promise that I WILL learn one new piece of music (and learn it properly as well, not just skim through it and say, "that will do") by the end of this month. If I don't, I have to do a forfeit, which is where you lot come in – suggestions, please!
This is a shameless cheat post, but I listened to Fin de Siecle yesterday on the train and found myself in tears listening to this song. It's one that never fails to touch me – and if followed by Too Young to Die (also by Divine Comedy) I find myself an emotional wreck. Neil Hannon is a demi-god, in my eyes. If you've never heard this song then I order you to get yourself a copy and listen, because it's fantastic.
A butterfly flies through the forest rain
And turns the wind into a hurricane
I know that it will happen
'Cause I believe in the certainty of chance
A schoolboy yawns, sits back and hits return
While round the world computers crash and burn
I know that it will happen
'Cause I believe in the certainty of chance
And I believe
I can see it all so clearly now
You must go and I must set you free
'Cause only that will bring you back to me
I know that it will happen
Because I believe in the certainty of chance
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