West End Live

"Do you hear the people sing?" Of course you do, because more than half a million people are singing this weekend "thank you for the music" in Trafalgar Square.

The West End is well known because of its buildings, shops, monuments and tourist attractions. But one thing that makes this area unique, same that happens in Broadway, is the impressive amount of Theatres. The best plays in the World are performing, without any doubt, in the West End.

The only problem is that most of the shows are very expensive and many Londoners cannot afford to enjoy them. That's why West End Live is returning for its 11th year to bring the most impressive performances on stage for free.

Shakespeare in love

Shakespeare in love, a 1998 film, was directed by John Madden and starred by Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow. It was one of the most successful English films of all times. The movie is placed in 1593, a period in which William Shakespeare was suffering from writer's block. It is a story about true love and love about theatre, so bringing it on the stage seemed like a natural fit. 

Last year, it was the 450th anniversary of the birth of the English author, so it was the perfect moment to perform this adaptation. The chosen theatre to bring Shakespeare back to the West End was the Noël Coward. This stage was only about one mile away from where the playwright worked so, probably, he walked pass this theatre many times in his life to get to the Globe Theatre, in Southbank. 

The premier was the 23rd of July of 2014 and today, 18th of April, the curtain dropped for the last time. The play was really fun, from the beginning to the end, with some romance, tears and love. And all of this is possible thank to the work of one of the largest companies ever seen on a play on the West End with 30 performers and a dog.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, the musical

London has the flavours, sounds and laughs of Spanish because Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (known as Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios), the musical, finally started. From the 12th of January until the 9th of May, the Playhouse Theatre is going to be the capital of Spain. 

This fantastic film, directed and written by Pedro Almodóvar in 1988, won five Goya Awards, including the best film. But this crazy story was appreciated not only in Spain, because it also won awards and nominations all around the globe and it put the Spanish director on the international map.

This masterpiece occurs in the 80's. In that moment, Madrid was a city full of colours, music, fun, freedom and "mad people" like all these women.

The Lion King

More than 7 million spectators can't be wrong. 

With The Lion King, performed for the first time in October 1999 in the Lyceum Theatre, magic and fantasy came to London. Not just with old songs, a touching story or the moral, but with masks, puppets, lights and African sounds. 

A beautiful theatre, opened in 1834, and a great red curtain with savannah’s motifs help us to the wake up our curiosity. The lights turn off and, in that second, we can live the most powerful moment in the play. The curtain rises and we hear the amazing Rafiki’s voice, performed by Brown Lindiwe Mkhize. There are giraffes, antelopes, zebras, colours and even a big elephant moved by five actors. That is theatre. That is a musical. That is The Circle of Life. 

Sitting inside the theatre, a wonderful play lights invite you to travel around the African savannah. Orange tones show us the passage of time in just a couple of second. 

More than 200 clothes are required to perform this function. But the masks and puppets deserve a special distinction, inspired in the African culture, and some actor’s elasticity. They are capable of camouflage themselves with their own character. Without any doubt, you will amaze to see a Jaguar, a real master piece. 

The 46 actors do a notable work but I like to stress the remarkable Rafiki’s voice, a great interpretation of Scar, thanks to George Asprey, and the Stephen Matthews and Damian Baldet’s ability to move Zazu and Timon. 

With some jokes, at pure English humour style, the musical follows faithfully the Disney’s film. For that reason, it is a spectacle for all the family. Through the play, you will laugh, will cry and will sing. 15 musicals numbers, thanks to Lebo M, Tim Rice and Sir Elton John, will be mixed with the sound and rhythm’s Continent. The Circle of Life, I Just Can’t Wait to Be the King or Hakuna Matata, one of the funniest parts in the function, are not to be missed. And you will have a lump in your throat with He lives in You, a very emotional moment. 

And it’s true that the most intense scene in the film, Mufasa’s death, is not too dramatic in the play but I appreciated that. I didn’t cry so much and I think was an original way to represent a delicate scene. 

I don’t have anything else to say. The Lion King is waiting for you with 2 hours and 45 minutes of fun, fantasy, dance, love and music. Enjoy it! 

The 39 Steps

If you want to know the most creative part of London you must walk across the West End. This terminology includes mythical places like Charing Cross, Covent Garden, Soho, Leicester Square, Regent Street, the Seven Dials or Holborn. But West End is not only streets and monuments. It’s pure theatre. 

The Criterion Theatre dominates Picadilly Circus for 137 years. Today it is possible to buy, at a really good price, a ticket to enjoy The 39 Steps, a play performed in this auditorium since the 20th of September of 2006. 

Alfred Hitchcock used the John Buchan’s adventures novel to create, in 1935, one of the best Britain movies ever. Years later, the English playwright Patrick Barlow collected from these two classics, added English humour, in the Monty Python style, and wrote a story to be represented by four actors only. 

The play starts with a monologue of our hero, Richard Hannay, performed by Adam Jackson-Smith. The laughs were guaranteed. A new friend, a murder and the plot was served. The main character suffered chases and he must escape away from spies, cops, killers and beautiful women. 

Jennifer Bryden performances the main three female characters. Annabelle Schmidt, the super-spy with German accent; Pamela, the beautiful blonde woman; and Margaret, the Scottish farmer. 

Andy Williams and Stephen Critchlow hold the responsibility in the play. 100 minutes, 135 characters. Spies, farmers, cops, business men, women, hotels owners, mentalists… These artists can do all the personages that you can imagine, obviously in a comical way. They wear hats, clothes and wigs that allow them to change the character with a hilarious velocity. In a concrete moment in the function, they aren’t going to get their accoutrements changed behind the curtain but in front of all the spectators, in the stage. This situation will add, even more, mirth and fun. 

A special refer deserves the Chinese shadows, the toy trains, the waterfall and all the gadgets that the Director, Maria Aitken, uses to achieve theatre inside the theatre. And, evidently, mentions to the master Hitchcock. Vertigo and Psycho appear in the stage to add another touch of humour. 

This adaptation, this new form to do theatre, works. The play has won the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2007, the Drama Desk Awards for Unique Theatrical Experience and Outstanding Lighting Design the year later, and is the winner of two Tony Awards. 

This theatrical clownishness is to die for. So, do not miss it!