Thursday 30th June 06:43
This morning I noticed just how ridiculous "London" Luton Airport has become. Now think back a few years to when it all seemed a lot easier. I was living in Germany and averaging around 30 flights a year, jetting back to my "fatherland" to visit family and friends and increasing my carbon footprint. This was long before "London" Luton airport introduced their new interesting drop off parking policy. Originally there used to be a large area next to the terminal building you could simply drive in, park where you like and deposit your partner, friend or colleague off to an exotic destination of their choice (or not so exotic as the case generally is when flying from Luton). Pretty much the same system as every other airport in the world. As of last year the brain boxes behind "London" Luton airport decided to charge people for this privilege. One whole English pound buys you the right to drop your friend or family member off next to the terminal building and stay parked for up to ten minutes. You may now come to the conclusion that it's not a lot of money, and i would happily nod in agreement. I actually think what they have done is a genius business model and maybe other airports should take note. Making people pay for what they need to do is somehow a new stealth tax. It's like being at a train station in London and being charged 50 pence to go to the toilet (which is another form of taxation, crap tax i like to call it). Whatever next? People charged tax on air...? "Yes from today we will ask every citizen of the United Kingdom to pay one pound every day for economical oxygen growth tax", I can already envision a certain Mr C saying.
Jokes aside, the main problem in this ingenious money making plan is they did not plan for the amount of congestion it would make during the flying rush hours. I am currently sat on my low cost flight to Glasgow deep in thought (on business and certainly not leisure), having been dropped a few hundred yards from the terminal building due to non moving traffic. Surely they should have thought if people are going to spend one pound, especially when we are "coming out of a recession", people will make the most of it. Therefore people are more than prepared to use nine and three quarters of their ten allocated minutes regardless of leaving hundreds of cars waiting their turn behind them. All I'm saying to "London" Luton airport is, if your going to do something so drastic please think of the consequences and act accordingly. Instead they have set up a van with signs informing the public if you do not drop your people off in the designated one pound payment drop off area, you get fined eighty pounds. What they should have done is change the road system to make it quicker and easier to drop people off, not threaten people with pay one pound or pay eighty pounds into our coffers. Have they never flown low cost early in the morning? I for one can tell you it's not pretty and the last thing you want is unneeded trouble prior to hitting the airport, because that's when it normally begins.
Thursday 30 June 2011
Wednesday 29 June 2011
Future of theatre
Hi and welcome to my first Blogging experience. I hope it's interesting and please feel free to leave me feedback.
Having spent the last 11 years of my life working in Musical Theatre, i find myself looking back and seeing how the industry has changed. When i left college, there was a lot of relatively home grown productions on the stage. Classic's from Gershwin to Webber. As everyone is probably aware there seems to be more and more shows based on movies or featuring the music from successful pop bands. Obviously the huge worldwide success of Mamma Mia has lead to more bands/groups cashing in and trying their luck. I am by no means a fan of Mamma Mia, but it's clear Abba found a niche in the market and even managed a transfer to the silver screen, which is some feat for a theatrical production. I think Our House was my favorite of the bunch (based on the music from Madness) as it was as close to the music as the show could be, cheeky and fun. Unfortunately this clearly didn't hit a note with the punters though. We Will Rock You has now turned into a European success, despite being completely flawed as a musical. I really rate Ben Elton as a writer and have read a fair few books, but i cannot understand what possessed him when writing this musical. The story is pretty horrific and after a few months of the show coming out it was going to be pulled, had it not been for Brian May playing guitar on the roof of Buckingham Palace at the Queen's Jubilee. Sometimes you cannot buy publicity like that. Don't get me wrong Queen's music is just fantastic and WWRY is as close as people will ever come to hearing it live. Unfortunately i missed Never Forget (based on the music of Take That), but as you can see there is clearly a trend.
Then we turn to Movie's being turned into Musicals. Dirty Dancing, Shrek, Ghost, Sister Act, Tarzan, Spiderman, Adams Family, Catch Me If You Can, Legally Blonde, some proving if doesn't even have to be a good movie to be seen as a money making experiment. Where does it end? It seems theatre goers no longer crave for new and interesting works of theatre, but for a movie rehashed into a stage production (or maybe that's what producers want us to think). Where is the new Wicked? The new Rent?
I'm yet to see Lend Me A Tenor, but I take my hat off to the creative team and cast for at last providing us with something new and daring. I am a huge fan of the old school musicals, and i am really looking forward to seeing this production. The problem is, i just cannot imagine it competing with Shrek or Ghost for business. Dare i say i did see Shrek on Broadway and the saving grace was Sutton Foster, who you could put into the worst piece of theatre and come out smelling of roses. I did also see Ghost in Manchester and its actually a beautiful piece of theatre and I cannot praise it enough.
I guess regardless of the production, there are some great shows and some not so. The thing I am missing in my life is a West End or Broadway just filled with fantastic, original musicals, or have we got to the point where we have exhausted these. There has to be an extremely large number of original musicals out there just waiting to be picked up, but instead producers don't want to gamble. I can't blame them, as everyone is struggling in this economic climate. Of course theatre is a luxury that comes after food, water and electricity. Sondheim's new production is just into previews as we speak staring Michael Jibson from Our House. I do know Sondheim is a complete legend and he does write thrilling and encapsulating theatre, but if he can do it, surely we must have some better idea's than movies on stage, featuring songs. The Book of Mormon which is currently smashing Broadway to pieces is a prime example. It took 4 years to write and now they are clearly reaping the rewards.
I just want to ask producers to please please please bring new and exciting productions back into theatres as it would put a huge smile back on my face.
Having spent the last 11 years of my life working in Musical Theatre, i find myself looking back and seeing how the industry has changed. When i left college, there was a lot of relatively home grown productions on the stage. Classic's from Gershwin to Webber. As everyone is probably aware there seems to be more and more shows based on movies or featuring the music from successful pop bands. Obviously the huge worldwide success of Mamma Mia has lead to more bands/groups cashing in and trying their luck. I am by no means a fan of Mamma Mia, but it's clear Abba found a niche in the market and even managed a transfer to the silver screen, which is some feat for a theatrical production. I think Our House was my favorite of the bunch (based on the music from Madness) as it was as close to the music as the show could be, cheeky and fun. Unfortunately this clearly didn't hit a note with the punters though. We Will Rock You has now turned into a European success, despite being completely flawed as a musical. I really rate Ben Elton as a writer and have read a fair few books, but i cannot understand what possessed him when writing this musical. The story is pretty horrific and after a few months of the show coming out it was going to be pulled, had it not been for Brian May playing guitar on the roof of Buckingham Palace at the Queen's Jubilee. Sometimes you cannot buy publicity like that. Don't get me wrong Queen's music is just fantastic and WWRY is as close as people will ever come to hearing it live. Unfortunately i missed Never Forget (based on the music of Take That), but as you can see there is clearly a trend.
Then we turn to Movie's being turned into Musicals. Dirty Dancing, Shrek, Ghost, Sister Act, Tarzan, Spiderman, Adams Family, Catch Me If You Can, Legally Blonde, some proving if doesn't even have to be a good movie to be seen as a money making experiment. Where does it end? It seems theatre goers no longer crave for new and interesting works of theatre, but for a movie rehashed into a stage production (or maybe that's what producers want us to think). Where is the new Wicked? The new Rent?
I'm yet to see Lend Me A Tenor, but I take my hat off to the creative team and cast for at last providing us with something new and daring. I am a huge fan of the old school musicals, and i am really looking forward to seeing this production. The problem is, i just cannot imagine it competing with Shrek or Ghost for business. Dare i say i did see Shrek on Broadway and the saving grace was Sutton Foster, who you could put into the worst piece of theatre and come out smelling of roses. I did also see Ghost in Manchester and its actually a beautiful piece of theatre and I cannot praise it enough.
I guess regardless of the production, there are some great shows and some not so. The thing I am missing in my life is a West End or Broadway just filled with fantastic, original musicals, or have we got to the point where we have exhausted these. There has to be an extremely large number of original musicals out there just waiting to be picked up, but instead producers don't want to gamble. I can't blame them, as everyone is struggling in this economic climate. Of course theatre is a luxury that comes after food, water and electricity. Sondheim's new production is just into previews as we speak staring Michael Jibson from Our House. I do know Sondheim is a complete legend and he does write thrilling and encapsulating theatre, but if he can do it, surely we must have some better idea's than movies on stage, featuring songs. The Book of Mormon which is currently smashing Broadway to pieces is a prime example. It took 4 years to write and now they are clearly reaping the rewards.
I just want to ask producers to please please please bring new and exciting productions back into theatres as it would put a huge smile back on my face.
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