Posts made in July, 2010
Blog Love – Ladybird World Mother
I’m cheating a little this week – we’ve featured Ladybird World Mother before. But in a week awash with blog posts lamenting the passing of children from nursery into school I loved this ‘other side of the coin’ post from LWM.
Port Eliot winner!
Hurrah! We managed to raise £166 for the Joseph Salmon Trust, and in the process the (very lovely when I spoke to him!) Mr Adefope gets to take his family on a surprise weekend away in Cornwall. Win-win-win!
Thank you so much to the original winner Claire from BeingAMummy for so sweetly offering up her tickets to the charity, it was a wonderful thought.
The festival begins tomorrow, and there are still tickets available.You can’t purchase online now, but there are ticket sales at the gate, and I’m assured you’ll not be turned away. It really does look like it’s going to be a wonderful festival (we’re hoping the winner of our other competition – Danielle Connors from Wales – will come back and tell us all about it).
What a night – go go go Joseph! AND your Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.
Hands up, who’s a big musicals fan? Yers, I have two hands waving in the air; Katy is sitting on hers. I know, they’re not everyone’s cup of tea. I do know that. Don’t understand it, mind, but I do know.
Way way back (many centuries ago, not long after the Bible began….) I was taken to see a touring production of Joseph at our local theatre. My very first ever ‘Musical’ experience. I was hooked. My parents had the LP, and I could think of nothing better than to spend an afternoon closeted with the record player, singing along and replaying the show in my head. Yes, I am that sad person who knows every word to every part. I performed in it twice at school. It started a life-long love of musical theatre, and will always be a special show for me.
But. I’m married to a non-musical-er (*gasp*), and my children have never seen a big musical show (panto has been it so far). So when we had the chance to review the currently touring Joseph production at the BIC, I of course jumped at the opportunity. I talked the male members of the family into accompanying me (I would of course have gone alone if necessary), and leaving the 3yr old with an able grown up we headed off to Bournemouth last night for opening night.
Excited? Oh my yes. But a little cautious – I had a feeling Middle Boy would love it, loving as he does all things song and dance. Wasn’t sure if it was No.1 sons cup of tea (he’s more Nickelback than Adrew Lloyd Webber), and the youngest 7yr old was really very tired and actually only fit for bed. And of course the husband was willing but wouldn’t have minded missing it either.
Eek! What if no one enjoyed it? What if this turned them off the theatre?
More importantly, what if I didn’t get to enjoy it as they fidgeted and huffed? *wibble*
So – the lights went down, and the music began to soar. First there was a session from the band as they played a medley of all the biggest tunes from the show. I quite enjoyed it, but it was rather a long introduction, and it lost the eldest two boys attention. Not knowing the tunes they were quickly bored, rummaging for the maltesers and I had a sinking feeling that the night was doomed. Eventually the narrator entered the stage for the Prologue (a new addition to my 70′s-version memories, where the narrator was a man, too), and they politely settled down to pay attention.
However, once the brothers made their appearance I noticed the boys sit a little straighter and start to watch more closely, so I relaxed and allowed myself to be swept along by the familiar story. Keith Jack fulfilled his promise from the TV show, and was satisfyingly fabulous – and a surprisingly dab hand at the comic timing too.
During the interval I had a chance to find out what the boys thought so far… No.1 was smiling and saying in a surprised voice that he was ‘actually quite enjoying it, and there had been some funny bits’. Middle Son, my fellow music lover simply said ‘well, it’s really nice of you to bring us and everything… but aren’t they ever going to SAY something instead of singing All The Time? It’s not that I’m not liking it (much!), but I think Snow White was better.”
(Great, Joseph is outranked by Chris from Cbeebies in panto…)
I turned to Third son, the so-tired 7yr old, who had been having a whispered commentary from Daddy to keep him up to speed with the plot. His eyes were shining, he was gazing around the theatre humming to himself, and simply absorbing the experience. Did I mention he’s quite my favourite boy? ;)
And so the second act began and after a quick catch-up from the childrens choir (again causing restless stirrings from my older boys) we were back in jail with Joseph. This is really where the plot speeds up, and the minute we hear Pharoah’s voice my two non-believers were craning their necks trying to spot where it had come from. They literally roared when Pharoah ‘Presley’ entered and quite suddenly they were leaning forward straining to see everything all at once, clapping and laughing and really rather looking like they were enjoying themselves. When Joseph accused the brothers of stealing the cup they were on the edge of their seats, and sat in frozen tension as the accusation of Benjamin unfolded.
By the time the encores began they were on the feet, roaring and stamping and cheering their approval. They just loved the replaying of the best songs now with the ease of familiarity and able to sing along, and when the brothers descended into the audience and they had Judah (their favourite brother) dance alongside them, I’m afraid they were hooked.
Keith Jack was a great Joseph, not only is his voice very special but he acted the part beautifully (*whispers* No.1 son admitted to getting quite emotional a couple of times). The narrator, played perfectly by Trina Hill, was engaging (even with a slightly dodgy waistcoat) and the interactions between the brothers rather stole my three boys hearts. The comedy elements which make Joseph such a great family show were excellent, and the costumes were wonderful. The set was perfect: the simple, stylish effect you would expect with the necessary ‘childrens choir’ on stage at all times.
The only issue we did have was that sometimes the sound just wasn’t clear – usually when Joseph or the Narrator were belting out the big numbers, their voices were simply too much for the microphones and we had distortion that made the lyrics unclear, and occasionally almost painful to listen to. We also lost the colours being chanted by the brothers at the beginning once Joseph began his counterpoint lyrics. In a relatively small theatre these very big soloist voices probably needed no microphones at all… but this was opening night, so hopefully that small sound point will soon be corrected.
I had such big expectations, and the night simply did not fail. Simply everything ‘Jospeh’ should be – stunning vocals, vibrant and colourful cast and of course the amazing music. On top of which, this latest production managed to gather up a whole new generation of followers. No.1 son couldn’t stop talking all the way back to the car, Middle son agreed that if he wasn’t going to see a panto (*eyes rolling*) this would definitely be his first choice to see instead… and Boy 3 simply skipped, spun, twirled and sang his way down the street.
I’m sorry, husband. I appear to have stolen your children over to the dark side…
(Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat runs at the Bournemouth Pavilion until August 14th – click here to book tickets, or see here for the rest of the tour dates and venues).
Read MoreBid to Win Port Eliot Festival Family Pass
We recently ran a competition to win two family passes to the Port Eliot family festival (worth over £360). The oh-so-lovely Claire from www.beingamummy.co.uk was the winner of the Twitter comp, but sadly she can’t make the festival. Now, being oh-so-lovely as she is, she had a brainwave, and decided to donate the family pass to the Joseph Salmon Trust (everyone in blogosphere has heard that name, yes?).
Well, they gladly accepted the offer, and so the tickets are now there, sitting, waiting for your bid, on ebay. Right now. This minute.
Oh yes they are.
But – no one’s bidding. Really? NO one wants to go to one of the UK’s top family festivals in Cornwall later this month, two adults, two children (under 8′s are free) and a full five days camping pass?
Bidding ends at 12.50 Tuesday lunchtime.
So Go! Bid! Make some money for a wonderful charity – and maybe win yourself a great time too…
Please do use the links and share this post on Twitter, even if you don’t bid yourself.
Read MoreFuturoscope Review – Just. Don’t. Miss. It.
Futuroscope – what to tell you?
First off, it’s in the Vienne – kind of smack in the middle of France, close to Poitiers. It’s been there for 23 years – and yet no one has heard of it in the UK.
Secondly, it’s the brain child of Luc Besson, one of my favourite directors and a Man of Genius.
Thirdly…Well. How to actually tell you about Futuroscope?
“WOW!” Just about sums it up. Or maybe ‘Brain Bafflingly Brilliant”.
We actually didn’t have much idea what to expect, as my French was not good enough to translate more than the basics form the literature we picked up in France, and I had forgotten to examine the English version of the website before we left (which is definitely worth a look round).
To give you an idea of scale, that small orange dot at the bottom is Me...
Entry was simple – the reception area knew to expect us, had our tickets waiting, and directed us straight to the area inside which contained the English guides, and the translation headsets (Top tip from our courier – take your own headphones. We took the boys and not only saved a few Euros, but also they were far more comfortable than the cheapy in-ear ones available to buy).
So, deciding to be methodical, we began at the beginning, and followed the numbered guide on the map.
And there we were, suddenly, brilliantly sliding through wild terrains, able to feed the virtual monkeys, quickly knock the ghastly spider from our goggles, and see the person next to us turn into a seriously ugly octopus…. we left the ride (The future is wild) with an enormous, slightly dazzled grin and couldn’t wait to see what was next.
Voyageurs Du Ciel Et De La Mer (travellers by land and by sea) simply took our collective breath away. A nature film on an Imax screen – with a twist, as the screen rolls under your feet too, meaning you immerse yourself totally in the landscapes, and I became genuinely emotional as I found myself flying slowly over an immense and beautiful blue whale as it breached the ocean surface. We were all utterly transfixed, including the 3 yr old – for the full 20 minutes of the show.
Sticking your head out of a train moving at speed is not something I would recommend – and I know for sure what it feels like thanks to the brilliant ‘La Vienne Dymamique‘ which uses the dynamic seats system (where the seats rock, shake, twist and move with the action in the film), and totally took us by surprise. Driving a racing car through the streets, the wind whipping our hair, sliding round corners and (almost) crashing into flower sellers… I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it. I screamed like a big girl. Best of all the 3yr old was able to sit to the side and enjoy the film (which was very funny) without the jolting ‘exciting’ seats, so we were all able to enjoy together.
With a ‘Danse Avec Les Robot’ for the big thrills (only the 11 yr old and I were brave enough to take on the robotic arms flipping us upside down 30 feet in the air – it was wild and fab and I wouldn’t do it again!), and brilliant play spaces for some ‘down time’, the whole park has been planned meticulously. Following another tip from our Keycamp courier we didn’t arrive until after lunch as we wanted to stay to the evening lightshow which doesn’t start until 
22:45. Starting early would have been just too much for small legs. We were lucky that the park was relatively empty, and never had to queue for long, and although the day was scorching (38º and very humid) the park is laid out with so much care and attention to the shade, and so much running water everywhere that we coped with ease. Even the buildings were awe-inspiring, every single one imposing, beautiful, huge, weird and just wonderful. Food was reasonable and with a great selection, and we loved the fact that covered areas were available for picnicking (I wish now we’d opted for a meal at La Cristal).
We loved all of the ‘rides’ (shows, really – all designed to confuse and amaze your senses), but Futuroscope is about so much more, and far too much to be able to see and do everything in a day. We watched a stunning universe unfold in Cosmic Collisions as the boys learned about the formation of our moon (although the French commentary sounded more fun than our own rather serious Robert Redford one), the boys were thrilled by the Podracing in EcoDingo, we watched the feature film about a rather cute fly (yes, really) on the Moon Landing in stunning 3D, and we didn’t see nearly enough of anything.
The topmost, most fantastic, amazing experience of all was the Arthur 4D Adventure. Words just can’t describe to you how amazingly wonderful this was – I never wanted to get off. If you’ve ever watched a beautiful fantasy film and felt that just for five minutes you would love to be in there, know what it was really like… well, this is the ride for you.
The evening lightshow finished the day off in a spectacular laser light and water explosion of sound and colour and fantasy.
The entire magical day was finished for us by leaving after midnight (still in 27º heat) watching forked lightning flash all around us.
Theme parks are not my idea of a wonderful day out – I’ll put up with them, but can think of many more places I’d rather be. But this. This is different. The very first theme park I would seriously consider a two day break JUST to visit more fully. Quite the most amazing day we’ve had. If you visit the Touraine or the Vienne – do NOT miss Futuroscope.
C’est fantastique.
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