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I'm off this week for a dance with the devil dressed as a finance exam. Wish me luck with that one..

Oh, look - pictures!









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Miss last week? Check out my favorite post from Jacqueline's adventures in New Zealand's glow worm caves.

You know what to do - link up below!

Rose, who I like to describe as a 'momager' to the extreme,
will stop at nothing to bring her children, June and Louise, to fame.

Choreographing a few [terrible, but hilarious] musical acts, she grabs a couple of outsiders as well as Lousie
to make up an ensemble to center around Baby June, who, in her eyes, is the 'star of the family.'

June becomes frazzled with the constant pushing and takes off.

An unfortunate circumstance for Rose to realize she has a second daughter,

but nonetheless, she grabs Louise and seizes the opportunity to make her into a star.

There is always a buzz about big shows coming to the West End,

but I have never heard so much praise for a performance than for Imelda Staunton as Mama Rose.

Obviously I had to see for myself to make sure they were right.

And yes. They were right.

Imelda Staunton is loud, raucous, and determined.

She lit up the stage with energy and carried the show beautifully.

Her performance of  Rose's Turn is one of my favorite performance I've seen.

STUNNING.

Lara Pulver takes on the role of Louise

and makes the beautiful transfer from a shy and untalented daughter

into the fierce, confident, and grown-up Gypsy Rose Lee.

The ensemble was fantastic as well.

It was a different set up than I had seen,

where each of the ensemble only made a major appearance in one act.

The show was extremely centralized, with Imelda and Lara on stage more on their own

than with others.

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This is possibly the hottest ticket in town right now,

and I think it's going to stay that way for a while.

They are pretty pricey, but day seats are available for £25 at the box office.

I was a little weary - I will admit, I am a stalls lover when it comes to the theatre.
I like to sit on the floor, and normally quite close.

These seats are in the upper circle, so I was very hesitant.

BUT the seats were absolutely fantastic!

I enjoy sitting close because I love the connection you can get with the performance;

you can see facial expressions, little movements and things you may not catch from farther away.

In the Savoy Theatre, though, I didn't miss a thing.

I did not feel as far away as I initially thought I was, and felt right in the action.

Which is very telling of both the theatre as well as the performers.

Simply wonderful.

To sum it up,

SEE THIS SHOW!

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The running time for this show is approximately 2 hours 50 minutes with one interval.

Matilda the Musical is based on the novel of the same name by Roald Dahl.

I'm going to hope that you had a childhood and already know this classic story;
five year old Matilda, blessed with a magical brilliance beyond belief,
shows that you can be small and still have the power to stand up to the bullies that are knocking you down.

The musical opened when I lived here in 2012, and for some reason I put it off
until I was headed back to the states and missed it completely.

Very similar to my Sweeney Todd horror story - which really just sums it up to that being my year of stupidity when it came to good theatre.

 This show had a lot of hype when it came out - both in the West End,
and when it made it's debut on Broadway.

It's still got a great reputation, which only told me that I needed to FINALLY get to it.

All that I expected was children. A lot of children.
And that's exactly what the show was.
A ton of insanely adorable, and freakishly talented children running around
and making this show absolutely incredible.