Okay, so I’ve finally recovered from the crappy viral gastritis that’s been affecting me since just after the Blue October concert. Initially I thought I’d just overdone the celebrations for my birthday – after all I did rather cane the wine over the weekend, but as the illness progressed it became clear that it wasn’t the alcohol but some bloody virus. On the bright side I’m currently 1 stone lighter than I was this time last week (although unlikely to last with the amount of carby food I’ve had to eat over the last few days in an effort to get well – we all know that carbs (and bread especially) are not my friend).
The birthday celebrations started well enough. Thursday night was Bill Bailey night and this time we sat towards the front of the stalls. Once again the show was brilliant with more than enough differences to the earlier show to keep us entertained, in fact Mrs H3 and I both agreed that we probably enjoyed the show even more the second time. This time round was the added attraction of Kevin Eldon and their Kraftwerk tribute which I always find funny, and with the show so close to ending its run Bill was obviously in buoyant mood and performed many encores before ending with that still hilarious film.
Friday night was our visit to see Jen and the rest of Rainham Amateur Theatrical Society (RATS) in Mother Goose at the Oasthouse Theatre. I still remember the hilarity of our last visit back in 2005 when I, Andrea and various members of the Sinners spent the evening watching Jen performing as Prince Charming in Cinderella and was looking forward to seeing this final pantomime. Jen was on fine form as Jack, Mother Goose’s stupid son and the rest of the cast did an excellent job, especially Dean Caston who played Mother Goose and Simon King and Andrew Stringer as the evil baron and his gorgeously ludicrous camp son. However, Mother Goose isn’t the funniest or most interesting pantomime ever and it was a little hard to get laughing, although once Andrea started, as ever there was no stopping her.
Unfortunately Mrs H3 didn’t have such a good evening. Unaware that she had never seen an amateur production of anything, let alone a pantomime it didn’t even occur to me for one second that she wouldn’t realise that it wasn’t going to be like the professional ones that we saw in December. In retrospect I should have thought and warned her, but sorry, I didn’t. It soon became quite obvious that she wasn’t really enjoying herself, although to her credit she did try to join in albeit a little less enthusiastically than usual. As for me, I enjoyed it just as much as any of the others I’ve seen, and enjoyed it more than Aladdin, and will be quite happily attending any of Jen’s future pantomime showings in the future.
Now I’d love to have done something exciting for my birthday, but firstly it was on a Sunday (not known for being the most exciting day of the week) and secondly I didn’t get paid until the following Friday and so was pretty much broke. So Saturday night was spent in the Sherwood Oak with my friends, having a meal and drinking copious quantities of wine. Mrs H3 and I took the opportunity to try out some of the weirder features on our cameras (note the fabulous negative effect on her and Lynne) which continued once I got home and opened my presents. As ever Mrs H3 shone on the present front. Not only did I get the sparkliest, shiniest converse trainers ever to walk the planet, but better still another of her handmade masterpieces – this year a rather wonderful doll which looks exactly like her (and yes I can attest that her hair looks exactly like that before all that straightening takes place) – proof positive that she can’t get anywhere near a camera without that cheesy grin appearing!
On Sunday we had been intending to go to Howlett’s as something a bit different (and Mrs H3 had bought some spanking new Cyberman silver wellies specially for the occasion), but of course the weather decided not to be kind and instead it poured with rain all day. After spending most of the morning optimistically hoping for the weather to clear we gave up and went for a nice cooked breakfast at the café followed by a shopping trip at Bluewater and a visit to the cinema to see Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans. I really enjoyed the film, but then I enjoyed the previous two as well and it really is just more of the same. Finally we returned to the Sherwood Oak for dinner and some more wine (quite some more wine). And so my birthday was over, although I did have the Monday off just in case I needed it to recover (I didn’t).
Tuesday of course was the Blue October concert at Underworld and I was incredibly excited by the time we got there. I don’t think Mrs H3 was sharing my enthusiasm for the evening, especially once she found out that the venue was small and below ground, but as ever she tried to get into the spirit of things even when I tried, as usual to get as near to the stage as possible. The place was as hot as hell and heaving, with all 500 tickets sold out before the evening, which I admit surprised me somewhat. Whilst I love the band, I’ve only ever met a couple of other people over here who’d ever heard of them and so I hadn’t really been expecting as large a turnout as there was. Strange really when you think that in the US they play festivals and concerts to 50,000 people. There was some interest in the support act People in Planes and I wondered just how many of the people there were actual fans of Blue October and how many were just there for an evening out.
It became clear immediately when Justin and the guys appeared on stage that almost the whole crowd were there as fans of band. Everyone sang along to the songs; hundreds of hands waved in the air when Justin asked if anyone owned History for Sale and there was as great an enthusiasm for the new songs as for the old. I got the impression that the band was somewhat surprised at their popularity and the reception they received and hopefully they thoroughly enjoyed their evening. I know I, and probably everyone who was there enjoyed it too. Hopefully this will mean a quick return visit as I don’t think I could bear to have to wait another two years to see them again.
By the end of the concert we were, quite predicatably deaf and my throat was raw with my voice croaky, from singing too loudly I assumed at the time. I ached pretty badly too, but put that down to overdoing it at the weekend and it was worth it just for the pleasure of being at such a brilliant concert. Imagine then, my displeasure on waking on Wednesday morning when I found not only were my ears still buzzing, but my voice was almost completely gone, my throat was sore and I had a raging fever.
As I always do when I’m ill I took refuge in sleep – 18/20 hours asleep each day, fighting off the infection. By Friday I felt a little better, enough to actually sit up and watch TV for an hour or so, although then I seemed to relapse with a body temperature down in the hypothermic range and so it was back to bed along with more layers of duvets and blankets and the heating on full. By Saturday morning I had the added extra of dehydration, vomiting and diarroeah; something which didn’t diminish as the day went on and soon I was tucked up in bed for more sleep, although I did manage to listen to the sublime Elbow live in concert with the BBC concert orchestra on Radio 2 while I was there.
By Monday I had to admit that I wasn’t getting any better and I had to visit the doctors. It was of course sods law that it had snowed heavily overnight and there was no way of getting to the doctors but to walk – a journey which was very slow and saw me unsuccessfully trying not to throw up a couple of times en route. Then of course the doctor was late getting in and so by the time I got home again some two odd hours later I was just about ready to die. Sleep of course was the answer and for the rest of the week as well, although food was most definitely off the menu until Wednesday, when I finally managed to keep down a banana.
Now just about fully recovered I’ve finally got round to updating the blog and have just remembered that the UKS cybercrop started this evening too. So I’m off to check out the classes and see which ones I can do.
Apologies for the length of this, but once I got going I just couldn’t stop. Now you can see why I hadn't posted for so long!
So you’ll remember that Mrs H3 and I booked to go and see a few panto’s last, and this year after the success of our previous foray into the world of Peter Pan with the lovely Paul Michael Glaser in 2007. By the time we’d finished deciding which ones to attend we had booked quite a few and the full season is as follows:
29th Nov – Maidstone – Jack and the Beanstalk 6th Dec – Bromley – Cinderella 13th Dec – Croydon – Peter Pan 18th Dec – Tunbridge Wells – Aladdin 23rd Dec – Chatham - Cinderella 3rd Jan – Catford – Snow White & the 7 Dwarfs 23rd Jan – Rainham – Mother Goose
Jack and the Beanstalk
So on 29th November the Pantomime season began in earnest with a trip to the Hazlitt Theatre for the first night of their panto – Jack and the Beanstalk which starred Jake Hendricks (Father Kieron from Hollyoaks apparently – you know soaps aren’t a strong point of mine) and Michael Fenton Stevens (Mr Griffith from My Family, although he’s better known (to me at least) for all sorts of other things as I found when I looked him up on Google). It also starred a guy called Tom Swift as Simple Simon and he really was the star of the show.
Now as I mentioned in an earlier post the Hazlitt Theatre really is very small so it wasn’t the most lavish production ever staged and being the first night it was rather rough-edged, but the show had a certain charm about it that made it enjoyable for all that. Poor Jack seemed rather out of his depth in places and his lack of audience interaction (even though the cast went into the audience several times) showed that he had obviously never done panto before, but also quite probably had never seen one either. Fortunately, Simple Simon and the Dame more than made up for any shortcomings of the rest of the cast.
Sitting in the front row of the rear section of the stalls, Mrs H3 and I enthusiastically took part in the show, joining in with the singing and the boos and the hisses and maybe went a little over the top with our participation when we returned one of the outsize balloons during a quiet and poignant moment in the show. Mrs H3 also started the first of what was to become regular interactions with the cast when she shouted “Don’t do it!” when Jack asked Jill to marry him.
It was during this pantomime that the funniest child moment of the season occurred. Simon got the kids up on stage to sing Old MacDonald and each child had to choose an animal. Believe me when I say the whole theatre cried with laughter when one enterprising young boy chose a scorpion as his animal. Mrs H3 and I were laughing so hard that we never got to hear exactly how a scorpion sounds, but it was a brilliant comedy moment.
Cinderella
The next visit was to Bromley where we had seen Paul Michael Glaser the year before, to see Cinderella starring Steve Guttenberg and Helen Lederer. From our seats in the third row of the stalls it was instantly clear that about ten times the budget of Maidstone had been spent on this panto – mainly on glitter which adorned just about every surface. The costumes were lush, Steve Guttenberg was excellent as were the Ugly Sisters and the whole pantomime was thoroughly enjoyable. Especially sweet were the incredibly pissed off looking Shetland ponies that pulled Cinderella’s carriage at the end of the first act.
The highlights of the show for me were provided (as is often the case) by Mrs H3. First was her excited and very loud exclamation in response to the ghost song (the ‘it’s behind you’ moment) of “Ooh I love this bit!” But without a doubt the crowning moment was when the glass slipper smashed prompting Mrs H3 to gasp loudly in horror and cry out “What’s going to happen now?” This reaction actually stopped the performance for a couple of seconds while the cast looked at her, amazed that an adult would have such a reaction. I didn’t react that way for two reasons. Firstly I’d already spotted that the silver glitter shoe that they’d been using throughout the scene had been changed for a (stage) glass one, and of course, I knew the story.
The other entertaining thing about this pantomime was the man sitting next to me. It was clear from the moment we arrived that he didn’t want to be there. Obviously dragged along to the show by his girlfriend – who was as enthusiastic about the performance as we were – he refused to remove his coat and sat with his arms folded, scowling, rolling his eyes and sighing throughout the whole evening. At the interval he looked very upset as his girlfriend began to recount to him all her favourite bits from the first half as he disappeared off to the bar. At the end of the pantomime he tried to leave before the cast came back for their final encore and crowd sing-a-long, but his girlfriend refused to allow him to go. Consequently, he was about the only person in the theatre who didn’t stand up and sing and dance along with the cast. It’s a shame that he didn’t just go with the flow and try to enjoy himself, although he did give Mrs H3 and I plenty of amusement.
Peter Pan
Next came the hotly anticipated Peter Pan at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon starring Brian Blessed as the wonderful Captain Hook and Mrs H3 and I were very excited at the prospect of seeing the great man in action. We had procured front row seats for this show and we certainly weren’t disappointed. I think it would be fair to say that the two of us joined in with the pantomime so much that we might as well have been on stage. In fact I’m sure that many people there that night probably thought that we were plants because there was so much interaction between us and the cast.
It began with the usual offhanded comment to me from Hook and Smee, which we of course reacted to. When Smee then forgot his lines because he was laughing so much Mrs H3 helped him and offered to get up there and do it for him. This really set the tone for the rest of the evening. Brian’s performance as Hook was superb and he really drew out every boo and hiss from the audience, stoking the crowd up until they raised the roof several times. His occasional interjections of seriousness, when he would pronounce gravely that there was a Shakespearean actor at work caused more laughter and even his come back to me on his pronouncement that he’d been educated at Eton – “Oh yes I was, read my book!” was brilliant.
He had a personal moment with Mrs H3 where he recounted various lines, including the ever-popular “Gordon’s Alive!” from Flash Gordon and then moved onto Star Wars before remembering that he was supposed to be doing the pantomime and people were waiting to come on stage. We were serenaded by he and Smee and even the other cast members were talking to and winking at us throughout the performance. There was a little over-zealousness with the smoke machine which left the whole of the stage and the first five rows of the audience completely hidden by fog, causing me to have a major coughing fit (luckily I had my asthma puffer with me) – which led to a bit of ad libbing from the stage as it took a while to stop. The sighs of relief from the cast as it cleared were audible, as was the groan when the machine restarted – fortunately it was turned off again pretty quickly.
At one point I was approached by a member of the Fairfield Halls staff and told off for taking photos, as it was apparently putting the actors off. This wasn’t true though as while I was being reprimanded Brian was standing a little way downstage gesturing that I should ignore the man and then announced to the whole theatre that his girlfriend had just been told off for taking photos.
And then once again the crowning moment when Mrs H3 shouted out “I love you Hook,” to which Brian replied in surprise, obviously not used to not being booed, “Well, I’m not used to that.” A moment later the room rang with the sound of kids all shouting out “I love you Hook.” It was an extremely confused Hook that had to admit that he’d never had that reaction before!
The evening was an extremely pleasurable one, and for the cast as well as for us I think. They had done three performances that day and I’m sure that last performance was a hard one to drum up enthusiasm for, but hopefully we helped to make it more entertaining for them – certainly the speech that Brian gave at the end indicated that was the case.
This was definitely the best pantomime of the year and Mrs H3 and I agreed that for future pantomimes we really need to sit in the front row for maximum enjoyment (and because we’re good at starting the booing and cheering) and that we’d happily go anywhere in the country to see Brian Blessed in a pantomime.
Aladdin So next was a weekday pantomime – Aladdin at the Assembly Halls, Tunbridge Wells. To be honest this was a rather late addition to the programme, chosen purely for the fact that it starred Chris Ellison (DCI Burnside in The Bill). It was quite a journey to get to the place and I wasn’t feeling all that well, but we were determined to enjoy ourselves as we were in the front row again.
About fifteen minutes into the pantomime, I began to wonder whether we’d made a mistake in going. Obviously my headache wasn’t helping things, but Chris Ellison was awful as Abanazer, seeming to merely go through the motions rather than get into the role. As a bad guy he was a complete wash out, blandly reciting his lines without any attempt at interacting with the audience. The thought did occur that having enjoyed Brian’s performance so much might have dulled or ruined the remaining pantomimes for us, but I gritted my teeth and tried to enjoy the rest of the show. Unfortunately it was impossible. Widow Twankey was without doubt the worst Dame we’d seen – I knew as soon as ‘she’ started singing ‘The Boy Does Nothing’ that we were in the realms of truly terrible panto. Add to that the so-called ‘comedian’ who played Wishee Washee – a man who thought he was Elvis and had an annoying catch phrase that got more aggravating every time he appeared onstage, which was far too much for my liking. Then there was Aladdin who was so obviously female she was more feminine than the princess – and neither of them provided a performance good enough to sustain my interest. Finally came the genie of the ring, who did at least provide the one funny moment of the show when she told the audience that when the time came we were to tell Aladdin to rub his ring! (Yes that really was the best bit sadly).
One of the (many) places that the show fell down was in expecting the audience to remember and get involved in too many things – telling them to shout out “hello Wishee Washee” every time he appears is fine. Telling them then that they have to say different things whenever different actions occur makes it confusing and so the audience didn’t really interact at all without prompting from the cast which added to the lacklustre feeling of the evening.
At one stage I, wondering if it was just me feeling lousy that was putting a downer on it, asked Mrs H3 where on the pantomime scale she’d put Aladdin. Without a pause she said at the bottom and that it was rubbish – confirmation that I wasn’t alone. When the interval finally came some 1 hour and 45 minutes after the start of the show Mrs H3 said that she was happy to leave if I wanted to go. Obviously I didn’t want to drag her out just because I had a headache and wasn’t enjoying it, but she reminded me that after Prince Caspian we’d agreed never to miss a meal again because of rubbish, and the idea of a second half at least as long as the first (was this a world record for pantomime length?) with as little talent or fun was less compelling than the idea of watching paint dry. When Mrs H3 suggested we leave immediately, I took her up on her offer and we stopped only long enough to take the obligatory photo with the pantomime poster before making a run for it and heading for MacDonald’s.
Cinderella (again)
Now obviously after the event Mrs H3 and I had discussed the possibility of pantomime fatigue or disappointment after Brian’s sublime performance, but we were convinced that Aladdin was purely a terrible pantomime. The next on our list, Cinderella again, another weekday one, was the last that we’d added – and that of course was only because Joe Swash had won “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” and Mrs H3 wanted to see it. It had originally been dropped in favour of the Bromley one (as we only wanted to see one of each pantomime), but after Aladdin I was keen to see whether it was an enjoyable evening.
I have to admit that I didn’t go with high expectations (not knowing who the hell Joe Swash was and having even less interest in who he was) and I’m sure that Mrs H3 was much the same. Chatham is a small venue (although not as small as the Hazlitt Theatre) and after the splendour of the Bromley version I was expecting to be disappointed by the ‘small town-ness’ of it. Immediately on arrival came the first blow (for Mrs H3 at least) Joe Swash had been taken ill and wasn’t appearing (and ended up cancelling all his performances before Christmas). Instead his place was going to be taken by the show’s producer David Janson. Add to that the fact that we were in seats towards the back of the stalls instead of our preferred front of house ones and that there was already smoke billowing throughout the hall (necessitating the use of the asthma puffer again) before the performance and it wasn’t looking hopeful.
However, I have to say that the show was excellent. Not as grand as the Bromley production – although it did have plenty of sparkle, the performances were good - with the possible exception of the fat fairy godmother (although as a fatty myself I thought it was nice to see so many roles for fat people in this year’s pantomimes as all of them seemed to have one cast member who was plus size) and to my mind the replacement Buttons was probably better than Joe would have been. The Ugly Sisters were excellent, certainly as good if not better than the ones at Bromley. I was expecting a flatter climax to the first half, but it wasn’t to be – Chatham too had the Shetland ponies which elevated the pantomime completely. It should also be noted that it was the cheapest of the venues for ice cream – half the price of the Bromley and Croydon ones.
The second half, although not containing the breaking of the glass slipper, did have Mrs H3’s favourite “it’s behind you” scene and I was personally pleased that after being told to guard a big red button throughout the whole performance, they did actually press it at the end of the encore and released a roomful of confetti.
The crowd was a little muted to begin with, but we and a few other hardy souls soon got the place livened up and by the end almost everyone was joining in. Mrs H3 had her opportunity to take centre stage when Buttons complained that no one loved him. Of course her comment was “I love you Buttons” and she waved at him. His response was “I’ll see you after the show.” The hussy replied “You certainly will darlin’” causing a great deal of laughter.
The evening ended with a trip round some of the more interesting light displays in Walderslade followed by a stealth mission to get a photo of the Lindt reindeer car parked in the drive of one of my neighbours. All in all a good night and proof positive that we weren’t jaded – Aladdin really was crap. There was then a brief respite while we got Christmas and New Year out of the way. Although we could have gone to a pantomime between the two I was waiting for Jo to give birth (she was due on 26th December) so we decided to give it a break in case I got the call.
Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs
Mrs H3 had met the star of our next pantomime while at her work’s Christmas party in a local restaurant in Catford and had spent some time talking to him and sharing profiteroles and wine. She told Antonio Fargas (Huggy Bear from Starsky and Hutch) that we were going to see the pantomime on 3rd January and he said he’d look out for us.
There was some excitement as we took our places in the second row, although there was a feeling that we were seeing the show at the wrong time with Christmas over. But once it started we were soon carried away by the performances and enjoyed it every bit as much as the previous shows.
Huggy the Henchman was good, but better was the Wicked Queen played by Nikki Kelly (from Hi-De-Hi), as were the comedians Francis and Wheatley who as ever stole the show – especially when they talked over Snow White and the Prince singing their love song and introduced a puppet of Yoda into the proceedings. The Dame was fun and even the Prince played by Russ Spencer from Scooch was entertaining, although the comedians were right – he did wear more makeup than Snow White and his singing was pretty bad.
An entertaining and incredibly adult themed panto – caused by considerable ad libbing (they were at the end of the run and I think they’d given up worrying), I estimated that the show was probably about fifteen minutes longer than it had been at the start of the run.
As we left we saw Mr Scooch leaving but we weren’t that interested as we were on our way to take a photo of the giant cat on the Catford shopping centre that Mrs H3 is always telling me about. On the way back to the car we found Antonio and after a brief chat had our photos taken with him after he signed our panto fliers – a good end to the official panto season.
So now only the amateur one left to go to – Mother Goose at the Oast Theatre in Rainham, which I am expecting to enjoy just as much as the last one that we saw there a few years ago. It’s a bonus that my mate Jen is taking part, and Andrea is coming with us. She joins in with these things just as much as Mrs H3 and I so a good evening is assured. Yes, I know some of you are thinking that we’re completely insane – and that we should have better things to do with our lives – but we really don’t. And before you take the piss – try visiting the pantomime yourself this year and see just what fun it is! Oh and Mrs H3 tells me Bromley are doing Sleeping Beauty this year. No news yet on the star, but I’ll update as soon as we find out.
Blimey it’s been ages since I last updated, I hadn't realized it had been so long!
My visit to Spain was exactly what I wanted it to be, relaxing and a good chance to catch up with my parents. I was lucky enough to have lovely weather and even managed to go swimming, although it rained on the last day – but by then the decent weather had transferred to the UK so I got another few nice days when I got back. Haven’t had a chance to see ‘Mirrors’ yet, although we did see ‘Tropic Thunder’ again as Steve wanted to see it. I’m hoping that maybe this weekend I’ll get to see it (assuming it’s still showing), although Friday night is Halloween Fancy Dress party night at the Sherwood Oak (expect lots of photos as Mrs H3 and I are dressing up) and I’ve been invited to a party on Saturday.
Mrs H3 and I went to see Chas & Dave at Catford Broadway Theatre on 18th October for an enjoyable and entertaining evening and were lucky enough to meet them after the performance as you can see from the photos below. We promised to go and see them again when they play Maidstone next month so we've asked a few other likeminded individuals to come too so hoping to get a bit of a crowd together for the gig at the Hazlitt Theatre, Maidstone on 20th November.
We’ve added another couple of panto’s to the schedule – Aladdin at Tunbridge Wells (18th December) starring Christopher Ellison from ‘The Bill’ and Mother Goose at the Oasthouse Theatre, Rainham (23rd January) which my friend Jen is in.
Although ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’ is still 260 days away (although that’s much better than the 333 it started at) Warner Brothers seem to have released a new trailer. Completely different from the teaser trailer it shows Ron and Lavender, Romilda Vane and the attack on the Burrow, as well as the cave and what appears to be Dumbledore’s damaged hand and a lovely closing scene featuring Hermione and Harry.
As I’m off to Spain on Sunday and might not get round to updating again till who knows when, I thought I’d have a general round up on the things I’m looking forward to in the next couple of months.
-- Movies --
At the moment I'm considering going to see 'Brideshead Revisited', although I love the 1981 TV series with Anthony Andrews and Jeremy Irons so much that I'm a little worried I'll be disappointed with the film, just as I was with 'Pride and Prejudice'. I suspect though that the next film will be Kiefer's 'Mirrors' which is now out on 10th October instead of this week as originally scheduled (sorry Mrs H3, apparently it really is scary).
The good news is that 'Twilight' has finally been brought forward. Unfortunately not to the spot vacated by Half Blood Prince as I was hoping, but to 19th December (the same day as my work's Christmas party - guess which one I'll be going to!)
So now I’m focussing on possible upcoming movies. The one I really want to see is ‘Good’ starring Viggo Mortensen, Jason Isaacs and Mark Strong but as yet there’s no release date for it in the UK. I just hope it isn't going to go the way of ‘Bottle Shock’ and ‘Nobel Son’, the Alan Rickman films I’m still waiting to see (now released (or just about) in the US but still with no sign of a release date over here – I guess they are going to be another ‘Search for John Gissing’ or ‘Snow Cake’). Other than that there seems to be a dearth of movies until the new Star Trek film which isn’t slated to be out till next May after being delayed.
And look! Only 288 days to go now till the release of Half Blood Prince - the time's just flying by isn't it?
-- Music --
Well still no sign of that philanthropist giving me free tickets for the Roundhouse next weekend *sigh* but Elbow’s new found fame from winning the Mercury Prize has apparently launched them into the big time and they are doing a show at Wembley Arena (yep, really) on 14th March 2009. Not wanting to miss out this time I’ve already bought our tickets!
And I’m seriously considering Johnny Bramwell at Night and Day on 27th November. Of course I was anyway, but news on the IAK board that he’ll be doing a 90 minute set including NEW songs is more than enough to have me champing at the bit to go. All I need to do now is work out the logistics (and cost of course) of getting to Manchester.
Other than that there are two more concerts planned so far for this year – Chas and Dave (yep those perennial favourites) at the Catford Broadway Theatre on 18th October and the Bootleg Beatles (who I last saw at Glastonbury in 1994 and completely stole the weekend) at the O2 Indigo on 20th December.
-- Panto --
It’s soon going to be that time of year again (…oh no it isn’t; oh yes it is!) and so to get in the Christmassy spirit Mrs H3 and I decided that after the excitement of last year’s Peter Pan with Paul Michael Glaser we’d take in a panto or four this year. It was a matter of making some tough decisions (there was NO way I was going to see Joe Pasquale in Dartford) but finally our panto season looks like this:
29th November – Jack and the Beanstalk (Maidstone) 6th December – Cinderella (Bromley) 13th December – Peter Pan (Croydon) 3rd January – Snow White (Catford)
Among the ‘stars’ we’ll be seeing this year are Brian Blessed (yay, we love BB!), Steve Guttenberg, Antonio Fargas and Helen Lederer.
I'm a proud Slytherin with many interests, some of which I occasionally blog about. I still love Kiefer Sutherland (always) and Gary Numan is my god. K-Pop is my current major interest in life. EXO is my ult band, although Pentagon runs a close second. Currently WAYV are giving both a close run for their money. Onew (SHINee) is my ult, ult bias. When I'm not listening to music I'm probably watching Korean or Chinese drama.
