The Lion King - A Musical Phenomenon! - A Review

Hello my friends, long time no talk. My fault! I'm sorry!

Anyway this post is a long time coming (I saw the show on March 10th I know I know I'm a slacker please don't judge me I'm working on it!)

Without further ado a review of The Lion King the Musical

The Lion King arrived in cold and rainy Manchester in November 2012 before opening in December.  Even before performing a single show its stay in Manchester was extended due to record breaking ticket sales, as it makes its first long anticipated journey out of London. Manchester marks the second stop on the tour following an 11 week stint at The Bristol Hippodrome. It is a show that has a company of 52 performers, and it mixes puppets and actors to tell the classic Disney tale.

Now however the Lion King is coming to the end of its stay in Manchester as it plays its last show on the 20th of April, before heading over to Dublin for the third stop on a tour that is scheduled to visit 10 cities over a two and half year period. Having never previously seen the show I have always wondered exactly what it was that made this musical become the international phenomenon that it undeniably is. After all it can't solely be coming from the popularity of its source material in Walt Disney Animations classic 1994 film.

What I can tell you us that though I was excited to finally have the opportunity to see the show I was also a bit sceptical. I wasn't sure if I would be able to get past seeing someone with a lion mask on his head as just that or whether I would be pulled in to the point where I didn't notice. I hoped that the latter would be the case obviously. It's strange you'd a favourite character would be the obvious choice of Simba, but no the outstanding performance of the night for me came from the character Rafiki who was brilliantly portrayed by Gugwanan Dlamini. She provided a lot of the laughs in the show, alongside Timon and Pumba of course, who could forget about them.

Forget about the whole idea I had that I would only be able to see a human in a lion mask, my worries were quickly proved to be unnecessary. From the minute that the show began I was simply astounded by the sheer size of the production that was put on display. I don't think I will ever get the image of what was probably a life size elephant walking down on of the aisles of the theatre right past me during Circle of Life out of my head. It is a show that simply captures its audience and refuses to let you go. If there is anyone out there who is a fan of the film but isn't sure about seeing the musical [side note: I am told that the touring production actually uses a lot more dialogue etc from the film that the show in London does] go and see it. Please, I promise you won't regret it. The costume design alone was enough to just take my breath away and I would be lying if I was to tell you I didn't shed a tear at Mufasa's death like always.

(What can I say I'm an emotional wreck, my friends and family can vouch for that!)

For 14 years the Lion King has been wowing audiences at the Lyceum Theatre in London and when the show scheduled to close this Autumn is safe to say that this tour could well be your last chance to see it in the UK so don't miss out if it's something you want to see!

It gets a thumbs up and giant 4/5 stars from me!

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Oz The Great And Powerful - A review

Today was one of those days where I couldn't stand staying in the house for one more second. So I looked at Odeon's website and saw that Oz The Great And Powerful was showing. I remembered seeing the trailer for this film a while back and I decided I would go and watch it.

As most of you already know it stars James Franco as Oscar Diggs/ The Wizard of Oz. He is a con man magician making a living in a travelling circus, performing magic tricks, when a tornado hits and he finds himself in the magical land of Oz. Here he meets the Theodora played by Mila Kunis, who believes that he the prophecy come true and that he will rescue Oz from the Wicked Witch Glinda, thus taking is place as king. On his way to the Emerald City with Theodora, she falls in love with him and believes she will rule Oz by his side as Queen. They meet Finley the talking flying monkey who Oz rescues from a lion causing Theodora to believe whole heartedly that he is the Wizard.

Upon arrival at the Emerald City he meets Theodora's sister Evanora, who tells him that in order to become king he must kill the Wicked Witch by stealing and breaking her wand which is the source of her power, and that he can find her in the Dark Forest.

When they do eventually find Glinda it is revealed that Glinda is the good witch and in reality it is Evanora who is the Wicked Witch.

I will tell you no more than that because I don't want to spoil the rest of the film.

Personally I'm not a huge fan of the original Wizard of Oz film, I find it to be a bit tedious and boring however because I enjoyed the musical Wicked, another tale about the witches of Oz I thought I would enjoy this film more. Which I did.

I went to watch the film in 3D which normally I try to avoid because it costs more but this showing time fit in with when I would be near the cinema. Having said that I'm actually really glad I went to see this film in 3D it had its moments were things jumped out of the screen (and a couple of those moments had me jumping in my seat) but mostly the 3D was used in the same way that it was used in say Avatar, to give the landscape more depth. In that respect the 3D was top notch as were the special effects, I was presently surprised.

There were a couple of funny one liners in the film that gave it an added bit of light-heartedness the story was good. The acting was good also. A few people I know have said they were sceptical about the casting of James Franco as the Wizard but I can tell you that he plays the part extremely well. As do Michelle Williams who pretty much epitomises my idea of how Glinda should appear. So obviously the casting directors did a wonderful job.

With all that in mind I give this film 4 stars. It is enjoyable viewing for anyone; it's just one of those films that let you escape the really world for two hours. Be warned that there maybe a couple of parts that some children may find scary; this is after all a PG film.

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Tag! 7 Deadly Sins of Reading!

Wow two posts, in one day this is not like me, however I found myself scouring YouTube again today and came across this tag in the book community and felt the need to do my own, so I hope you enjoy it!

Questions:

1. GREED what is your most expensive book? What is your least expensive book?

I sat here for quite a few minutes trying to think of what my most expensive book is. I found it really hard because I am a cheap skate, honest to god I will see a book I want to read, but I won’t buy it on the spot I'll do some research and find the cheapest place I can get it (I'm a student okay don't judge I'm broke!) It’s probably going to have to be the Egyptology book I got years ago that I’m pretty sure it was over at least £10 at the time.

The least expensive book does one that you get as gift count? Technically they are free. Otherwise I'm not sure books are generally around the same price of £3/4/5. Wait no I know! There was a book that I really wanted to read but you couldn't get in any form other than in an eBook It was Ceaseless by Abbi Glines I bought it for Kindle (I don't have a Kindle I downloaded the app for my laptop) and it cost just £2.53, I'm pretty positive I don't have a cheaper book than that.

2. WRATH—what author do you have a love/hate relationship with?

Maggie Stiefvater. Easy one this. I absolutely loved the Wolves of Mercy Fall's Trilogy, however I went on to read Lament and Ballad and I found them to be rather boring. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed Lament well enough I just couldn't get into Ballad. I haven't read any of her others yet, The Scorpio Races and The Raven Boys. I do plan to read them because I enjoy her style of writing, I just wasn't a fan of Lament and Ballad compared the Wolves of Mercy Falls.

3. GLUTTONY—what book have you deliciously devoured over and over with no shame whatsoever?

Hmm I think a number of books would fall in to this category, the newest of these would be Gabriel's Inferno by Sylvain Reynard. I must've read that at least four times since I got it, and that was late December, I would put Twilight on this list but I'm ashamed of the amount of times I read it so it doesn't count!

4. SLOTH—what book have you neglected reading due to laziness?

Easy one I got Bram Stokers Dracula a while back, I picked it up to read got two chapters in went to bed and then never picked it up again. I will read it one day, perhaps this year will be the year I do.

5. PRIDE—what book do you most talk about in order to sound like a very intellectual reader?

That would most definitely be Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys. Before you ask no. It has nothing to do with Fifty Shades of Grey. You can find out more about this book here, and I hope it's not too much to ask that you do because I feel that this is a book everyone should read, bearing in mind that my dad doesn't like the kind of books I read except for this one. He really enjoyed this one so if you get the chance to read it, please do.

6. LUST—what attributes do you find most attractive in male or female characters?

I like a female character to be tough and pretty kickass like Katniss from Hunger Games, Lina from Between Shades of Gray and Tris from Divergent.

It's the same with the guys really, kickass pretty tough, but with a sweet side like Four in Divergent.

But then I'm also the girl that reads the generic romance stories, with the sweet innocent girl, and closed off troubled leading man.

7. ENVY—what books would you most like to receive as a gift?

Any books. People ask me on birthdays and Christmas what do I want and it's literally, books, I just send them my Amazon wish list and tell them pick one. At this point in time there isn't one book that I absolutely want to read more than any others.

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Gabriel's Inferno by Sylvain Reynard : A Review

Hi everyone!

As promised here is the first of a few book reviews that I'm posting over the next few days/ weeks!

It is the first book in the Gabriel series by Sylvain Reynard, titled Gabriel's Inferno.

The cover, I don't like it. It's quite boring I hate the colours, used. I wish the necklace was just one string of pearls like Julia wears in the book as I'm assuming that that is who it's meant to be, but that's beside the point, I can forgive a book it's bad cover if I enjoyed the pages in between which I did.

Now with this book I'm going to have to be brutally honest, however this is not necessarily a bad thing. So I got this book from W H Smith as an afterthought, they were having a buy one get one half price sale, and I already knew one book that I wanted to buy, I just needed to find another, and I picked this one based on the blurb alone which is as follows:

"One man's Salvation,

One woman's sensual awakening . . .

Gabriel Emerson is a man tortured by his dark past. A highly respected university professor, Gabriel uses his notorious good looks and charm to lead a secret life of pleasure where nothing is out of bounds.

Sweet and innocent, Julia Mitchell enrols as Gabriel’s graduate student and his immediate attraction to her, and their powerful and strange connection, threatens to derail his career.

Wildly passionate and sinful, Gabriel's Inferno is the first book in a sensual trilogy - followed by Gabriel’s Rapture - that explores the intense power of forbidden love."

Now then if I am correct then after reading that blurb you’re probably thinking exactly the same as me. This sounds like another Fifty Shades of Grey - a series which I not ashamed to admit I actually enjoyed (the third book more than the others). However this blurb is so far off the mark with what the book is actually like that it's not even funny. This is absolutely NOTHING like Fifty Shades of Grey. Now acknowledging the fact that I bought this book under the impression that it would be similar I was surprised to find that I actually liked this book a lot more (actually it wasn't that surprising, Fifty Shades of Grey isn't the best book is it).

WARNING! The following is a fan girl moment if you wish to skip this part and get to the real part of the review please scroll down past the paragraph!

Seriously how goddamn CUTE are Gabriel and Julia, I can't even, I'm totally in love with these too. Gabriel’s so sweet and I honestly did not mind the descriptions of his body if you have read the book you know what I'm talking about! I didn't like Paul from the start I was practically growling 'go away Paul!' every time he appeared. Awwh he takes her to Italy!! I want to cry it's so darn cute!!

Okay! It is now safe again; I have got it out of my system, on with the review!

I think this book is overly long; there were definitely bits that could have been cut a lot shorter than they were. I thought the writing was good, decent enough. I felt that the relationship was believable and that there motivations were well explained, the characters I thought were well fleshed out. One of my favourite aspects of this book is that it is told in third person, therefore we get to see parts of the story the point of view of both the main characters, which is different, but I actually preferred this method, I liked having both sides of the story laid out for me.

So would I recommend this book? Yes I most definitely would. Can I just say that if you have been contemplating buying it but that blurb put you off because you aren't interested in another FSOG, just ignore it, whoever wrote the blurb did not accurately capture the book, that is unless I'm reading a different book... but I doubt it.

Now I haven't bought the sequel yet, and I don't plan to for a while. Mainly because at the minute I'm happy with where this book ended, and the fact that I'm pretty sure the last book in the series isn't due out until the tail end of the year, so I'm going to wait until at least June/ July to buy the sequel. I did the same with Sylvia Day's Crossfire Series. The sequel came out in October I think, I waited until this month to buy it because the third one isn't out until May.

However as much as I did love this book there were times when Julia really infuriated me I wanted to scream at her to stand up for herself! She lets Gabriel intimidate her, she acts like a frightened dog around him at some points early on which I really didn't like Professor Emerson was a total ass and she should've told him. However what kept reading was that little secret. The secret that Gabriel and Julia had met before only somehow Gabriel had completely forgotten her. How did that happen you might ask, well I'm not going to tell you (but it does get explained), does he figure it out? I'm not telling you that either. The ending was sweet and some people have commented that it was slightly anti-climactic. I disagree I liked the ending, I liked that SPOILER!!! there wasn't a cliff hanger, yeah maybe it means that I’m not salivating desperate with need to get my hands on the sequel, but I feel I would have been annoyed with a cliff hanger it would have felt unwarranted to me.

So with that said I am reiterating that I think you should read this book, seriously go and buy it. Now. And if you don't like it my apologies, (but what’s wrong with you!) that said this is a book that girls would definitely prefer, I'm just saying.

So I liked the story, Julia annoyed me a bit; it felt over long, I liked the ending. Now I'm torn I can't decide between 3.5 stars or 4 stars. I think I'll go with 4 because I honestly did love the story, and the things I didn't like are pretty minor.

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