Last night we went to see ‘Mamma Mia!’ at the cinema. Now, I like Abba as much as the next ’secure-in-my-masculinity child-of-the-seventies-and-early-eighties’ - but I had seen the trailer… and Meryl Streep wearing Dungarees and prancing about didn’t fill me with confidence. ‘Chick Flick’, thought I.

It was, however, good. To my surprise.

Yes, it was contrived, yes it was corny. In a few places it was toe-curling - but nonetheless it was fun. Some of the sequences were genuinely great - Julie Walters in particular stole the show in a few places, notably the ‘Take a Chance on Me’ number at the end, a very understated start to it… ‘Chiquitita’ was also well done.

We burst out laughing in a few places. One memorable occasion was when Pierce Brosnan sang for the first time (S.O.S.), unfortunately it wasn’t appropriate here - but we just found a singing James Bond to be a little odd. The good thing was that it didn’t matter, you get the sense that people just went with it and enjoyed the experience - Pierce Brosnan in particular must have known when he signed on that it’d play on his existing profile.

If you see the film, do stay for the end titles (at least the first part of them). Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski and Julie Walters do some Abba numbers in full 70s Abba jumpsuits - joined for ‘Waterloo’ by Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgård. This got a big reaction from the audience. However, Meryl Streep looking out of the cinema screen saying ‘Do you want some more?’ was clearly not designed for a British audience - we were not dancing in the aisles - we were sitting there waiting for the recorded image to stop trying to be interactive.

It was silly, it was a chick-flick…. but it was also an enjoyable 108minutes.

Do watch out for Cameos by Bjorn and Benny.

Other Websites on this film

• Tonehall talks of how Meryl Streep got the part.
• Gratuitous Violins posted a review in which they say the stage show is better, but they enjoyed the film.
• Pajamas Media says it is a show to be laughed at, not with. I agree with the sentiment - I was certainly laughing during the ’serious’ S.O.S. number - and I don’t think that’s a problem - as the review says ‘I for one have seldom laughed harder. A laugh is a laugh…’ (though the review does indulge is mild racism and homophobia by equating ‘British’ with ‘Gay’ on page 2)
• The CellarDoorBlog didn’t like it at all: ‘It’s poorly made. Simple as that.’
• London Frequently says ‘It’s no cinematic masterpiece, but it is enjoyable, and kind of fun watching the audience try not to sing along’ (well, this is London Frequently, in other parts of the world people wouldn’t hold back…)
• Entertainment on DVD reviews this cinema release, saying that the bottom line is to watch it.

My verdict? Leave your dramatic sense at the door, don’t expect ‘art’ - though it’s enjoyable in a kitsch way. Stay for the end credits (at least until the credits scroll upward).

Annoyingly, I simply cannot watch Doctor Horrible at Doctor Horrible.Com .

Doctor Horrible is the latest project from Joss Whedon. Made without backing from a studio and released online.

When I try and view it I get the message ‘This Video is not available at this site’ message - I think that hulu.com, the video hosting service, have restricted it to US subscribers only, at least that’s what I thought until I saw that people all over the world have been commenting on how great it is.

Ack. There’s a buzz out there about this Joss Whedon project, and I’n stuck on the other side of the glass looking in.

Whaaaaa!

Hang on a cotton picking second…. I wonder….. if… No… it can’t be that simple….?

Fantastically, I’ve just worked it out - it was something to do with Firefox. It opened in the dreaded MSIE (browser conflicts are pretty rare these days, previously it would’ve been the first thing I’d have checked).

Nice opening - the evil laugh - and I want one of those big chairs at the end of Act 2.

It’s really good stuff, musically very similar to a certain well known episode of Buffy (of course) - thoroughly enjoyed it.

Felicia Day played a novice slayer in Buffy, and has recently starred in the online series, ‘The Guild‘ - the first episode of which is here.

Doctor Horrible, played by Neil Patrick Harris was the lead in Doogie Howser MD. Nathan Fillion appeared as a bad guy in Buffy, has ‘Mal’ in Firefly and Serenity, and as one of the leads in the ill-fated ‘Drive‘.

Doctor Horrible is free to watch online for a few days, and then it’s gone - having built the hype it’ll then re-emerge on DVD and itunes.

Random Reviews:

• Doctor Horrible, How I Love Thee from Binary Fortress (in which we are reminded of Dollhouse).
• Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog - a review from Can’t Keep Quiet.
• Doctor Horrible Act One - a preview from Thinking Animation.
• Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog - an exaltation to watch from Zalethon.
• Doctor Horrible kinda launches - Andrew P Mayer comments on the launch of Act One crashing the servers.
• Dr. Horrible’s Singalong is Pure Whedon, a post by meevee.

Last night we went to see Cats at Woking’s New Victoria Theatre.

We’d never seen Cats before - despite it being in the West End for many years. We were familiar with much of the music, as well as the book of poems by TS Eliot.

The first thing about Cats is that the plot is thin. Paper thin - but knowing the plot won’t spoil the show for anyone, so I’ll lay it out here.

The Jellicle cats have an annual ball, at which various cats are introduced (such as The Rum Tum Tugger and SkimbleShanks the Railway Cat). At the ball, Old Deuteronomy picks a cat to ascend to the Heaviside Layer and be reborn. Grizabella, and old and decrepit cat is chosen.

(The Heaviside layer is an atmospheric layer of ionised gas, about 90-150km up, used in the musical to symbolise death)

The musical frankly isn’t about the plot. It’s about the spectacular that is Cats, and it’s very enjoyable. I particularly liked Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat - it gave me a big grin, as my cat is named for this cat (by the RSPCA). I also enjoyed Rum Tum Tugger and The Magical Mr. Mistoffeles, both big showstoppers, though some of the flashing pyrotechnics in Mr. Mistoffeles were so bright that they were uncomfortable.

Rum Tum Tugger in particular went down well with the audience, with the characters tendency to say ‘look at me, aren’t I fantastic?’ every time he appeared on stage, even if just in the background. That man could strut.

Some of the supporting cats were simply excellent, ooziing cattiness. There was one woman, a ginger and black striped cat on a white body who really let loose, and just captured the eye (she reminded me vaguely of a young Lulu, made up as a cat) - she just seemed to be really in the moment. She’s (currently) shown on the second image on the introductory page from Lloyd Webber. On the other hand the actress playing the white cat, though very good, did appear to relax a little too much when not centre stage. A few times when she was away from the focus of the audience her face dropped and she just looked bored. I think she had a bit of a cold, which can’t have helped.

For me, the only real disappointment is the famous ‘Memory’, it’s not from TS Eliot (though Grizabella is a TS Eliot creation) - and to me it sticks out like a sore thumb - it somehow doesn’t ‘fit’ with the rest of the show. It’s the only thing giving the show structure though - otherwise it’d be just a series of cats being introduced - but I wouldn’t have minded that too much.

It seems that I was in the minority on this, it got one of the biggest rounds of applause (superceded by Rum Tum Tugger and possibly Mistoffelees).

I have already been to see The Lord of the Rings Musical, but the BBC now has a piece on the official start of the run (video) which might help to show some of the effects used.

There is a nice piece of time lapse photography for the stage itself.

(The show leaves a better impression that this footage does).

With the wife on a business trip, I took myself off to see ‘Fiddler on the Roof‘ at the Savoy Theatre today. Whilst I’ve seen the film (which in turn was based on the show) - I’m not that familiar with it, and so it was as a new show to me.

And what a Show.

The staging was simple, yet effective, with one central piece of scenery which was reused in many ways. Tevye (the role made famous by Zero Mostel, and later by Topol) was played by Henry Goodman, and he was the perfect Tevye, just the right amount of Yiddish charm… oh vey!

The show opens with a big number, ‘Tradition’ and carries on with a good mix of humour, music and tragedy. The famous ‘If I were a Rich Man’ is dispensed with in the second scene, with great relish by the leading man.

My favourite scenes were all probably in the first act - the second act is darker. I loved the wedding scenes, the arguments between Tevye and Lazar Wolf and the dancing was great. You can’t go wrong with a bit of cossack thrown in! I also loved the Inn scene, where Lazar Wolf and Tevye have a misunderstanding about a meeting.

In the more tender moments, I would pick out Tevye and Golde’s duet, ‘Do You Love Me’, which Henry Goodman (who looks nothing like his programme photo) injects with some lovely humorous touches.

Miriam Elwell-Sutton, who was understudying for Tzeitel was very good indeed, as was Alexandra Silber and Natasha Broomfield (Hodel and Chava). Simon Delaney’s Tom Lorcan’s ‘Motel’ was very well pitched, I thought. He had a lovely sequence with Tevye, when he asks Tevye not to shout at him.

The flavour of the piece is maintained throughout, and the curtain call is done in the style of a yiddish dance, a lovely touch.

Comparing this to Lord of the Rings, which I saw on Thursday…. the Lord of the Rings has more of a ‘wow’ factor, but ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ is just so damned enjoyable, I’d say this is out in front by some margin.

I’d be interested to hear if you’ve seen this show, and have any thoughts upon it, if you’re considering going (perhaps based on this post), or even if this post has put you off!