Viva Forever

Viva Forever

Viva Forever, the new Spice Girls musical starts previews on 27th November 2012 and opens on 11th December 2012 at the Piccadilly Theatre in London’s West End, promising to become one of the mainstay popular choices in 2013 for group theatre breaks to London. Viva Forever itself, the song, was one of the Spice Girls big anthem hits. Refresh your memory by settling back and watching this footage from the SpiceWorld tour ‘The light that burns twice as bright burns only half as long, and you have burned very brightly” “Hasta Mañana, always be mine” Viva forever, I’ll be waiting Everlasting, like the sun Live forever, For the moment Ever searching for the one Viva Forever is the title song for the new Spice Girls musical, but if you thought this was going to be another semi-concert style jukebox musical then think again because there’s much more to it than that. For a start, the musical has been written by none other than Jennifer Saunders, the comedy genius behind Absolutely Fabulous. And the team who so cleverly wrought the international success of  Mamma Mia the musical and film out of  seemingly unconnected ABBA hits have worked the same magic on Viva Forever too. Viva Forever They’ve taken 16 Spice Girls classic songs and created a musical extravaganza based on the story of a mother and daughter moving through the stages of a TV reality singing contest. All the favourite girl-power hits are a backdrop to this cheeky life-affirming Spice Girls musical, from Wannabe and Say You’ll Be There to Mama, Stop and the title track Viva Forever itself. Lets see what we can piece together about the story from the full cast list, which has just been released: Viva Forever Casting The cast is led by Sally Ann Triplett and Hannah John-Kamen, who play  a mother and daughter called Lauren and Viva. Lauren is the mother of daughter Viva, so “Viva” is a person OK? Viva has a chorus comprised of three best friends, Luce, Diamond and Holly. These are played by Siobhan Athwal (Luce), Lucy Phelps (Diamond) and Dominique Provost-Chalkey (Holly). Lauren, (the Mother remember!) – also has a best friend called Suzi, played by Lucy Montgomery  who was in Absolutely Fabulous and also  The IT Crowd amongst other things, and a character called Mitch is played by  Simon Slater. The show is all about the modern culture of reality TV talent shows, and the show within the show has three judges, a musical director and    other roles. The judges are played by  Bill Ward , Sally Dexter and Tamara Wall from We Will Rock You, while Ben Cura is Angel, the musical director of the TV talent show, while Hatty Preston plays production assistant Minty. Simon Adkins is Leon the Stylist and Anthony Topham is Lance the presenter. There’s an ensemble cast too,  which includes: Tom Kanavan, Zak Nemorin, Curtis Angus, Luke Jackson, Oliver Roll, David Rudin, Darren Carnall, Myles Brown, Charlotte Gorton, Rebecca McKinnis, Lucy Thatcher, Roxanne Palmer, Charlotte Walcott, Sophie Carmen-Jones, Carla Nella, Kirstie Skivington and Helen Ternent. So we can surmise that the TV talent show probably takes up a substantial part of the storyline, whatever the result and effect it has on the life and family of Viva. Viva Forever Theatre Breaks Viva Forever theatre breaks are booking now for dates including the previews from November 27th but we think the show including a weekend out in London will be popular over the Christmas and New Year period in particular, appealing to both sexes from the generation who grew up in the eighties and nineties as well as musical theatre fans in general. I have a hunch that anyone who enjoyed Mamma Mia would want to see Viva Forever as soon as possible. Or anyone who has ever dreamed of entering a singing contest… Viva Forever poster at the Piccadilly Theatre

Theatre Breaks by Coach

Theatre Breaks         Theatre Breaks by Coach September 30, 2012 at 10:01 AM   Theatre breaks by coach to London give you a chance to do more than just see a show. I’ve been looking at some 3 day breaks and one of those turns a theatre break into a mini-holiday. How Coach Breaks Work Theatre Breaks by Coach You get a coach from a nearby town down to London. There are lots to choose from so you should be able to find something handy for you. I looked at a three day theatre break by coach from Doncaster. The coach picks you up on Friday and takes you down to London but not straight to your hotel. We stopped off at ‘a place of interest’ along the way. I won’t spoil the surprise but it was lovely & much nicer than stopping at the motorway services! Chatting to other people on the coach I soon discovered that many of them had been on these trips before and book their next one as soon as they get home. I think they must be addictive! Now these breaks are great for couples, romantic weekends, anniversaries, that sort of thing, but I fancied a weekend break with a couple of our oldest friends. All four of us have been friends forever, watched our families grow up together, been on lots of holidays together and generally get on like a house on fire! All four of us off to see a show and hit the London shops just seemed like a great idea. The coach trip down is fun with everyone chatty and excited. The London traffic, even on the outskirts, is bad enough to make me glad we didn’t opt for the self drive break. Hotels in London The hotel  for these three day breaks is not in the centre of London so you can get much better value for money. It is a 4* hotel so it has everything you’d expect for that. You have a nice evening meal in the hotel and settle in. Is it just me or are you a hotel bathroom fiend too? Once I’ve luxuriated in the en-suite bath and tried out the bubbles it’s time to dress up and off down for dinner. I love a night in a good hotel, don’t you? It’s partly the joy of knowing you can indulge in a nice meal and a glass (or 3!) of vino and not have to worry about getting home. No designated driver, no feeling left out because everyone else  can have a drink. The meal was just as good as expected and the staff were lovely. They even made sure my friend got her special meal and she assured us it was lovely too, Then on Saturday morning after breakfast you are off into London by coach. Now I like to have a good mooch round somewhere like Covent Garden on a Saturday morning. There’s always something to look at or listen too. If you like a bit of light opera don’t miss the busking opera singer at the cafe. The singers vary, sometimes male, sometimes female but always of a very high standard.  It’s just inside the main building and has a great balcony where you can stand & listen if you are not ready for a coffee just yet. Then of course time for a little retail therapy before the show. Try to keep your purchases to a minimum as no one wants to lug lots of bags around, just little expensive trinkets maybe? There’s a lovely stall that does hand died silk scarves in the Apple market. Ooh and talking of bags, don’t miss the bag stalls but make sure you get real leather  A Cornish pub in London! The Cove, Covent Garden, I have to mention there’s an unexpected pleasure for the blokes in Covent Garden. The upstairs of the Cornish Pasty shop is a Cornish bar called The Cove, complete with real ale! It’s the perfect place for them to hang about for a pint or two while we have a quick wander round the market.  The pasties  also make quite a nice lunch and not too expensive at all! They do a good coffee too if you are not into real ale Jersey Boys is at the Prince Edward Theatre       The Jersey Boys The 3 day theatre breaks include tickets to the Saturday matinee of West End musical of your choice. The one I looked at was offering a choice of 9 shows and I picked Jersey Boys just because it has the most amazing selection of songs. The matinee show on a Saturday is great fun and the cast are in good voice. You don’t need to worry about them holding back! This lot are professionals and if you don’t come out 2 and a half hours later singing “Sh, er, ree, Sherry babe,eee!” I’d be amazed! I found a video on Youtube to get you in the right mood: Jersey Boys runs 2 hours 40 minutes, with a 20 minute interval. As it started at 3pm this means when we come out it is only late Saturday afternoon with lots still to look forward to! Time to meet up with your coach and driver. One of the really nice things about this break is that you have the same driver and coach so it’s not at all impersonal. Our driver was a lovely chap, polite and friendly. He really knew London well and I was glad it was him not me weaving through the London traffic! Everyone has been to see different shows and the coach is soon buzzing with everyone’s stories. We find ourselves thinking about what we’d like to see next time. I fancy Les Miz but our blokes surprise us (not!) by opting for We Will Rock You. We’ll see Once back at the hotel there’s time to freshen up. I’m back in that bath again Then there’s a Dinner Dance to look forward to. It’s more of a disco than an old fashioned, stuffy dance but they’ve got the sense to play quite a few classics from the 60s and 70s and a good time is had by all, dancing the night away. I’m still singing “Sherry Baby” as we waft off to bed in the wee, small hours. Sunday morning has a slow start, with  a little gentle packing before we wander down for breakfast. Some of us are delighted to see the full English. For some reason I opt for the continental Tower Bridge from the river After breakfast it’s back on the coach for a short hop into London. Sunday morning in London is a great time to do a little sightseeing. We’ve no bags with us so we can just relax and please ourselves where we go. We opt for a river cruise from Westminster. It’s a lovely way to see the city from the river and is surprisingly reasonable! It takes about an hour for the round trip, but you can get off and on again at various points. I am persuaded to get off at St Katherine Docks and we spend a happy  hour or more drinking coffee, eating in the sunshine and wandering round eyeing up the gorgeous boats in the marina there.  This sparks a discussion of cruises, but we decide they are a bit less of an affordable luxury than theatre breaks! Back on the boat and off to meet our coach for the journey back to Doncaster. This does not take very long at all as traffic is quite gentle at this time on a Sunday. Even so, the drive out to the motorway  does make me glad that we didn’t bring the car. It’s been lovely not to have to think about driving all weekend. Great Value Theatre Breaks by Coach On the way back I can’t help but think about what good value for money this break has been. We’ve had travel to & from London, 3 nights in a 4* hotel, tickets for a smashing show, 2 evening meals and 2 full breakfasts for well under £250 each. Even with a bit of spending money that is still great value and means that we could afford to come down for a We Will Rock You1 theatre break, by coach again  in a few months time and still start saving for that cruise ** Book theatre breaks by coach here **     did I mention I was over-ruled? LOL!