I was looking forward to seeing Douglas Hodge as Albin in La cage aux folles yesterday, but unfortunately I wasn't very impressed. He was funny enough, but I...uhmm...didn't find him to be convincing. First impression: Too nasal. I warmed towards him throughout the first act, but then at the end of the second I was almost back to scratch. The reason? Well, I am comparing with Spencer Stafford (who, luckily, was on stage as one of the fabulous Cagelles yesterday, and I spent more time staring at him than at anyone else there, it feels), and I personally feel that they (as in Philip Quast and he) had a much better rapport. Also, they were a much more loving couple than the current Albin and Georges, who are more acerbic and right-out bitchy towards each other. Hodge had his moments, of course; some scenes were terrific, but then others were just...not quite what I was after.

Of course, I have no say in this. Why would and should I?

Stayed a bit after the show to gather autographs (I didn't gather any, one of my partners in crime did, and we didn't mind waiting with her as "moral support"...or just to take in the lovely sight and sound of Philip Quast again.) This was after we'd made a three-person standing ovation at the end of show. The others in the audience were just too lazy and ungrateful to stand up.

In other news, they have postponed the heavily overdue (by about a decade) release of the UK version of Whose Line is it Anyway? (the two first series) here in Great Britain, which annoyed me at first, but then I realised this means it will arrive in the post at around my 30th birthday, when I believe I will be in dire need of a proper pick-me-up.

Saw Juno earlier, and must say it was actually very good! It did not feature the stereotypical dysfunctional families of the usual Hollywood films about teenagers, which was a breath of fresh air. I throughly enjoyed it. It also made me want to sit down and watch Arrested Development again, since both Michael Cera and Jason Bateman were in it. I bought the third series the other week, without having worked through the second one yet (but I know it was worth it, because that series was brilliant.)

I am going to end this post with a story about a yucky guy I met in the lift the other day. Some people are just too desperate and have no concept of EQ. So I was in the lift, carrying two bin liners, and this quite sleazy-looking man entered from the third floor. Picture this scene, which took literally just three floors:

Man: (horrible accent, difficult to understand) "Where are you from?"
Me: (too perplexed to lie) "Uhmm...I'm Norwegian."
Man: (something unintelligible)
Me: (smiling awkwardly, not knowing what the hell he was asking) "Y-yes."
Man: "Nooo, you can't be married!"
Me: (EXCUSE ME???) "Uhmm...yeah." (help!)
Man: (as the lift stops on the ground floor) "What's your name?"

At which point the doors, thanks be to the gods, opened up and I said "sorry" and pushed my way out of there (I usually wait for the others to exit the lift). Thankfully he did not follow me and he does not know on which floor I live. So, tell me, WHY ON EARTH do I seem to attract these weird, marriage-seeking slimes? EWW!!!

Labels: comedy, film, greg proops, musicals, personal, philip quast, theatre, TV