Well this week I saw Mr Simon Burke in La Cage Aux Folles. It was my 5th time seeing the show. I never tire of it. It is one of the best things on the West End and sadly it is bowing out very soon. It is such a pity this show doesn’t run and run and I for one would have loved to have seen Simon Burke rock it out with Douglas Hodge for the last few months of the run. He is by far and away the best George I have seen. Philip Quast of course gets a look in, but Burke is seriously superior to the others. His voice is golden and his performance believable and true.

John Barrowman takes a while to warm to. Slightly over exaggerated even for Albin (aka ZaZa), Barrowman struts and thrusts his way to centre stage, while Burke glides and soars beside him. Barrowman definitely exudes more class as he goes on and becomes one of the more believable Albin’s with a beautiful rendition of 'I Am What I Am' and 'Song On The Sand' at the beginning of the second half is very powerful with this pair of performers. Though Simon Burke’s Look Over There took my breath away.
 
The Cagelles as always are outstanding and the new additions add pizzazz and colour to the already bright proceedings. I could see this show 100 times over and still be enchanted. Catch it before it closes, or regret it forever. Dane Quixall is and always will be my favourite Cagelle, mostly for his originality and the fact he is the only Cagelle whose characterisations on stage set him apart from the others in Ensemble numbers. He doesn’t have lines to play with or extra stage time, but he uses every second and as a result is memorable and wonderful to watch!

This evening I saw my first live production of Jason Robert Brown’s Parade. Sedos are an amateur theatre group of professionals in the city who have a passion for theatre. Their productions, though amateur are reasonable strong and certainly have quality. It wasn’t perfect by a long shot, but how many fringe shows are? There were definite technical issues and the band were exceptionally loud which drowned out the actors voices. This could have at a pinch perhaps have been excused if it was a massive theatre and seated further back than the second row. Unfortunately I didn’t know the storyline so as a result of the wayward and deafening trombone player me and my date Megan missed a crucial piece of the murder mystery puzzle and are still none the wiser about who really committed the murder the musical centres around. There were some performers who were a cut above the rest, and some that clearly weren’t, and yet the show left me feeling warm and fuzzy, because more than anything it is about people getting a go, and to be fair succeeding in their own ways. There were still so many amateur elements to the piece, but the enthusiasm and drive to succeed, coupled with an excellent set and good lighting and costumes (we won’t mention the sound problems, nor the excessive use of spirit fingers and over choreographed dance moves in a contemporary musical that just doesn’t need them) ensured my evening definitely wasn’t a wasted one.

Critically examining themes of bigotry, racism, intolerance and prejudice in the book by Alfred Uhry with a bold, powerful score by Jason Robert Brown, Parade is presented by SEDOS, a city-based theatre company, at the Bridewell Theatre (Bride Lane, the City) from 25th November to 5th December 2009. Tickets can be booked at www.sedos.co.uk