Hi Everyone.
Last Monday 2nd October, I went to see a wonderful new musical called THE GREEN ROOM at the Comedy Store in London.
This multi award winning show has been very successful in the US and has now been brought to the UK.
Gemma Ashley (who played Anna), Phoenix Benham (who played Divonne), Reece Bollan (who played Jon) and Simon Curtin (who played Cliff) were all absolutely incredible.
It follows the story of four wannabe actors through three years of their college life, which takes place in the college theater green room, written by Stephen Foster, Rod Damer and Chuck Pelletier.
Sometimes in shows, there is one, maybe two principle actors, but in this show, each one of them shone through and their portrayal of the characters were so great that it became clear to me there is a piece of them in all of us.
They all acted and sang their hearts out. Some of the songs and routines were complicated and fast, but they never missed a beat. Kudos to them all for singing accapela in perfect time and perfect harmony while carrying out a routine.
The songs were all different styles. Stand outs for me were It's All About Me, Don't Try To Part The Water, Nothing Can Stop My Boys, It Comes Easy and In The End, but all the songs were absolutely fantastic.
I loved the subtle nuances, such as eye rolls and slumped stances when a character was irrated with another character. I also noticed that as they left the stage, they carried on acting right up until they went into the wings and couldn't be seen anymore by the audience. I put that down to incredible directing (Nathan Benham).
The comedy was outstanding and how they carried on when the audience was laughing out loud, is beyond me. In a way, that made it even funnier.
There were tender moments as well and going from laughing to being teary is testiment to their acting abilities.
The music was wonderful and the live band did an incredible job.
The subliminal messages that ran through the script and the songs during the show were clear and understood.
They received a standing ovation at the end, which was well deserved.
I've written this review without giving anything away and I highly recommend this show if you are in and around London till the end of November, or it comes to a theater near you if you are in the US.
Congratulations to all the cast and crew, you all went above and beyond anything anyone could have expected of you.
Good luck and break many legs for the rest of the run.
This is the link for tickets to the London shows....https://london.thecomedystore.co.uk/event/the-green-room-musical/
