Bloomfield Avenue – Live in London

This is a theatre blog so at first it might seem a bit strange to cover a band here. But if you take a close look at Bloomfield Avenue they are not just your regular party band. Its members have a variety of West End credits ranging from Jersey Boys to Mamma Mia, Beautiful, We will rock you, Jesus Christ Superstar, Shrek and others. You don’t find such a huge amount of talent piled into one band very often.

I have had the pleasure of seeing Bloomfield Avenue perform on numerous occasions. Their Sunday gigs at The Roadhouse in Covent Garden were evenings not to be missed. And their Rockaoke events at Freedom on Wardour Street always guaranteed a brilliant night out.

And while the band has been doing mostly corporate and private gigs lately they have not forgotten about the fans who were there from the start. To celebrate their 10^th anniversary they are playing a special gig at London’s Hippodrome Casino. You can expect an evening of incredible music and some very special guests – amongst  them Matt Thorpe, finalist on BBC’s Let it Shine, and Rachael Wooding (further guests to be announced).

If you are still unsure whether this is the right thing for you I urge you to take a look at the band’s website https://www.bloomfieldavenueband.co.uk and check out the video and audio section. And for all you Kinky Boots fans – yes, that is Paul Ayres on lead vocals and you can expect him to rock the house at the anniversary gig, too.

So, here’s the date for your diary: June 14^th, 8pm at the London Hippodrome Casino.

Book tickets for Bloomfield Avenue – Live in London here.

You can find Bloomfield Avenue on Facebook and Twitter @bloomfield_ave .

If you are ever looking for a band for your birthday, wedding, anniversary or any other occasion – these are your guys.

And make sure to join in with the celebrations on June 14th.

2012 – A look back

With 2012 coming to an end I thought it was time to look back at the past 12 months and sum up my theatre related highlights of the year. And what a year this has been! I have had the opportunity to discover new shows, keep re-visiting my favourite shows, spend time with some amazing people, travel to places I haven’t been to before and – thanks to this blog – share my views on shows and theatre in general with all you guys.

It’s impossible to name each and every fantastic theatre moment – there are just way too many. But I want to mention a few that have had a special impact for various reasons. Lets start with my show highlights.

First of all one of my all time favourites is still going strong: Jersey Boys. That show has been a huge part of my theatre life since 2008 and I’m happy I got to visit the boys and girls in Jersey a lot during 2012. Obviously I have my favourites in every part but all in all the whole cast of this show is doing such an amazing job. They are the reason I will never get bored of the show. A special thank you goes out to Ryan Molloy (you are totally mad but I love you for it), Jon Boydon, Ben Wheeler, Mike Conway, Matt Wycliffe, Eugene McCoy, Mark Isherwood and TeeJaye. You guys are amazing!

Another show that has had a huge impact on my 2012 is Les Miserables. Thank’s to (mainly) Ramin Karimloo I ended up seeing that show around 25 times between January and March 2012. Ramin’s Jean Valjean was quite simply one of the most stunning things I have ever seen in a show – breathtakingly fantastic all around. And his final show is definitely in the top three of my favourite theatre performances of 2012.

Next up is a show I wish I could have seen more often than just twice. But sadly a limited run (clashing with the Olympics as well) prevented me from that. It is, of course, Mack and Mabel which was staged at the Southwark Playhouse this summer. This show was such a perfect production, from set and choreography right through to the cast (led by the wonderful Norman Bowman and Laura Pitt-Pulford).

A show that restored my faith in musical theatre was Singin’ in the rain at the Palace Theatre. Shows like this are the reason I fell in love with musical theatre in the first place – from the dancing to the story to the amazingly talented cast, there’s no weak link in this production. I adore that show and it’s on my list of shows to see a lot more often in 2013.

One of the smallest yet most enjoyable shows I have seen this year is Boy meets Boy at Jermyn Street Theatre. My reason to book tickets was Stephen Ashfield who I always enjoy to see on stage. I ended up loving this gem of a musical and would be thrilled to see it get another run sometime in the future.

There were so many other shows I enjoyed (and still enjoy) watching. I can’t name them all but if you’ve been reading my blog and maybe even follow me on Twitter you probably have a basic idea anyway.

I’ll go on with some gig highlights of 2012.

The ones that had the biggest impact on me (and my travel diary) are Ramin Karimloo’s Road to find out concerts in May 2012. Without this tour I would never have ended up visiting cities like Newcastle, Cardiff and Birmingham. The tour consisted of 10 concerts and I am proud to say I managed to attend 7 of them – not bad considering I was flying over from Germany all the time. Was it worth it you may ask? Oh yes! I had a brilliant time. It was wonderful to see Ramin explore this new chapter in his career and I hope he continues to be successful with what he enjoys so much – making music.

Some slightly smaller but still memorable concerts were the Bloomfield Avenue gigs at Roadhouse, Covent Garden on various Sundays throughout 2012. If you haven’t heard of that band I urge you to check them out: http://www.bloomfieldavenueband.co.uk/. They are currently looking for a new London venue for 2013 so watch out for any upcoming gigs.

And finally some personal highlights that will remain a special memory of 2012 for me.

I still remember how thrilled I was when Dean Chisnall was promoted to playing the lead in Shrek the musical. I have known Dean for several years and I am proud to call such a wonderful and talented person my friend. And trust me when I say: Dean is by far the most dedicated performer you will ever meet. He so deserved to have a lead part in a big West End show and this year he finally achieved just that. It fills me with joy to see Dean on stage in such an iconic theatre as Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Here’s to more fantastic parts in great shows in the future!

Tim Howar taking over as Stacee Jaxx in Rock of Ages is yet another highlight of 2012. I first saw Tim on stage in Tonight’s the night (the Rod Stewart musical – some of you may remember it) in 2003 and fell in love with his voice straight away. Tim has to be one of the kindest people on this planet. I feel privileged to know him and I’m beyond happy that he is back on stage in the West End where he belongs.

My charity auction in aid of The Brain Research Trust was by far the most challenging theatre related project this year. Lots of emails, walking around the West End collecting posters and programmes and generally a lot of organisational work – but it was all so worth it. I couldn’t have done it without all the support from various lovely people (thank you again – you know who you are). It was great to see what a wonderful community the theatre world really is.

So, all that’s left now is a look out for what is to come in 2013. There are so many things I’m already looking forward to. In no particular order:

1. Once the musical
2. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
3. Book of Mormon
4. Seeing MiG Ayesa and Jenna Lee James in the We will rock you arena tour
5. Seeing my lovely friend Björn Klein play Emmett in Legally Blonde in Vienna
6. Seeing Peter Johansson as Stacee Jaxx in Stockholm
7. Finally seeing Ben Whishaw live on a theatre stage
9. Watching The Bodyguard again (slightly addicted I fear…)
10. Generally continuing to support my favourite performers

… the list goes on…

With that I will leave you for 2012. Thank you for sticking with me throughout the year. I really appreciate your support for my little blog. Hopefully I’ll manage to keep you entertained with more reviews and other theatre related posts in 2013 (watch out for my review of The Bodyguard which is coming up as soon as possible).

Happy new year everyone! I hope 2013 brings you all you ever wished for. Keep in touch – comment, tweet or email me. I love to hear from you guys. x

Next theatre trip coming up….

Been a bit quiet but unfortunately too much work and nasty shoulder problems have prevented me from any freetime writing. Will make up for that with some reviews soon.

So, my next theatre trip is coming up. I’ve got quite a few shows booked so hopefully there will be something for everyone once I’ve managed to review all of them. In case anyone wants a first taste, here’s the list of what’s to come:
Anna Christie (bit of Jude Law can’t be wrong!)
Les Miserables (hoping both Alfie Boe and Hadley Fraser will be on as scheduled)
Jersey Boys (twice – once with Jon Lee and once with Ryan Molloy as Frankie)
Parade (because I finally want to see that one on stage after missing the Donmar production and because Simon Bailey is in it)
Rock of Ages or Shrek (Rock of Ages is my first choice as I haven’t seen it yet but if I miss out on day seats for that I’ll try and get a ticket for Shrek)

And last but not least I shall attend the second West End Rockaoke at Roadhouse, Covent Garden on Sunday Sept 18th. The first one back in June was lots of fun so hopefully this one will be a great night out as well. Bloomfield Avenue are playing – if you haven’t heard of them go check them out now: http://www.bloomfieldavenueband.co.uk/ – and there will be performers from various West End shows.

Anyone who’s in town and free on Sunday evening should definitely consider coming down to Roadhouse. Doors open around 6pm and you get 2 for 1 drinks until 7:30pm. Rockaoke starts around 8pm.
Put your name on the guestlist as it tends to get busy (and you wouldn’t want to queue outside and maybe miss out on the 2 for 1 drinks, would you?): http://www.roadhouse.co.uk.

So, I’ll speak to you all next week! xx