The Wizard of Oz – Palace Theatre, Manchester

  You know the story.  And you know the main songs – Over The Rainbow, Follow The Yellow Brick Road, We’re Off To See The Wizard – although there are a few new-ish ones added in by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.   The actual plot sticks pretty closely to the book and the 1939 film, and all the characters are played superbly.  It’s particularly nice to see Jason Manford as the Cowardly Lion, as he’s only in the Manchester shows 🙂 .

However, a lot of special effects have been added in – mostly cinematographic stuff.   The Yellow Brick Road now has roadworks signs, which made me laugh, and the Emerald City (New York) has coffee shops called Ozbucks.   Also, there are a few new jokes thrown in.  When you think about, the Tin Man asking complete strangers to oil him is a bit … er, odd!   And the Lion proclaims loudly that he is a Friend of Dorothy.

It’s a very entertaining night out, and, even on a Thursday, it was a sell out.  Highly recommended!

 

The 1980s Supermarket – Channel 5

  I’d completely forgotten about Harvest Crunch bars!   I used to have one every day.  The idea was that I wouldn’t be fat because I was eating healthy “crunch” bars instead of chocolate biscuits … er, but it didn’t work.   And those ’80s food and drink adverts!   The annoying cartoon girl singing “I want a Trio and I want one now”.  And “Um Bongo, Um Bongo, they drink it in the Congo”, which would cause the woke brigade to have apoplexy if it were made now.

It’s funny how things change.   As the programme pointed out, before the ’80s, buying ready made food was something that only better-off people could afford to do.   Now, it’s gone the other way, and there’s quite a bit of snobbery about buying convenience foods – which I do all the time, because I am a useless cook and I haven’t got the time to cook things from scratch anyway.   I don’t buy supermarket sandwiches, though.  The cost of supermarket sandwiches for a week, never mind a year, versus making your own, is seriously horrendous.

It’s very weird when programmes about the ’80s appear on TV, as if “my” decade were some sort of historical period.  Which obviously it isn’t.   But it was a fun bit of nostalgia!

Jack and the Beanstalk – Manchester Opera House

I love the idea that pantomimes could soon be given UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status!   The pantomime’s a great Christmas tradition, and, in the age of iPads and Play Stations and whatever, it was wonderful to see the Opera House packed to the rafters for another year with Jason Manford and Ben Nickless.  Also, they used Prestwich for the tongue-twister bit, which was very exciting.  OK, it was only because they needed a part of Manchester which began with a P – the pythons hissed in the pit – but it was very exciting anyway.  I actually once wrote a pantomime (well, a bit of one) and cast my dolls and teddy bears in the various parts.  I was about 7 at the time, and had been reading In the Fifth at Malory Towers.

Most of the football jokes got left out this year … which was probably for the best, seeing as this season’s more of a tragedy than a pantomime.  Well, I suppose it’s a pantomime as well.  Anyway, enough about that.  They picked on two members of the audience, which made me cringe, but I suppose you can always shake your head and refuse if they pick on you and you don’t want to be involved.   Generally, it was a very good laugh, and I think we could all do with that at the moment … especially as the bit where Ben Nickless sang “And there won’t be snow in Manchester this Christmas time – just rain” is very true this evening!    Oh, apparently it’s going to be dry tomorrow afternoon.  Good.

Merry Christmas, one and all!  And bring on this UNESCO cultural heritage thing.