Grease

Grease has some great songs, a somewhat weak plot and a slightly pre-PC premise of "if he don't love you, change so he does" .. well, it is set in the 50s!.

This production, however, simply missed the spot for me ... it was less a musical and more a series of set-piece song and dance numbers linked by pace-sapping blackouts. As a consequence I couldn't relate to the characters or care about the story as these aspects of teh evening were given short shrift. Danielle Hope gave a good Sandy and has a lovely voice though some of the vocal arrangements seemed out of place for the 50s, and I particlarly liked Rosanna Harris's Jan. It is, however, the apearance of Jimmy Osmond as Teen Angel that stopped the evening being all frowns - a consumate performer and showman his cameo really lifted the second act.

Sorry, but this show just didn't work for me, ho hum ...

On another note ... the Bristol Hippodrome is one of my favourite venues and I am delighted with their special cocktail and local cider experiment; I wish it a long and prosperous life (I shall do my bit to make it a success!). I was less impressed by the number of retweets by them of audience tweets that included photographs of the stage ... you know, the one they hold up the "no photography" signs in front of!