Weekend of culture

This weekend, my mum and I saw Matilda in the West End and then Les Mis at the cinema.

Matilda

 

Mum and dad were given theatre vouchers for their thirtieth wedding anniversary but never got to use them as my dad fell ill shortly after. Mum has said that I can now use the vouchers with her and the first thing went to see was Matilda, based on the Roald Dahl book. I love both the book and the film but was not worried at all about the show-except that in my role as a teacher, I often find children on stage irritating.
This was not the case at all. Every single cast member was incredible, the girl playing Matilda and the boy playing Bruce were excellent and the whole show was enjoyable.  The songs did not necessarily stick in your head but they were good and I really liked them all.
What I particularly loved, though, was the set.  The Cambridge Theatre is often host to shows with simple sets and the Matilda set is a little more advanced, but still quite simple.  What I loved though was the decoration to the set - all made of letters, which spelt words.  Had much fun trying to spot the words!

Les Miserables

I absolutely adore the music and story of Les Mis, have done for such a long time and have seen the show on Broadway and in the West End. I was slightly apprehensive of seeing the film though because, alongside a devastating storyline, it was very much a mum, dad and I thing and we would be seeing it without dad.
I thought of him a lot during it and I cried for most of it, but oh my gosh the film was just incredible. The singing live instead of singing to a track made such a difference and the whole thing just worked. It wasn't a show, it wasn't a musical film, it was an epic and I loved it. Even Anne Hathaway was fantastic-and I have only ever loved one Fantine live, the wonderful Haviland Stillwell. Loved playing spot the West Ender and loved the film. Our cinema gave the family a round of applause at the end, dedervedly, and almost everyone was in tears. Amazing film.