I’ve seen a lot of shows produced by Katy Lipson for Aria Entertainment over the past year that I’ve loved – Pippin, Yank, Spring Awakening and The Toxic Avenger were all brilliant – so when I heard she was bringing a song cycle to the Union Theatre, I was definitely interested. It’s Only Life brings together five performers following a story of longing, wisdom, fulfillment, loss and triumph, tying these feelings with songs by John Bucchino.
Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s smash-hit Into The Woods opened on Broadway in 1987, winning three Tony Awards, before being reimagined in hundreds of different ways. It was even developed into a feature-film by Walt Disney Pictures in 2014 and until Friday night’s opening of Into The Woods at The Cockpit, the film is my only real experience of the production. Teaming up with Trilby Productions, All Star Productions has delivered the London fringe theatre scene with a 21st century imagination of the Sondheim classic.
Immersive theatre doesn’t sit well with me a lot of the time. Whilst I always want to be as involved in the show as I can be, I want the fourth wall to stay very firmly up in a sense that I don’t want to be part of the production. Apart from when I got to sing ‘Ride Sally Ride’ into the microphone that Killian Donnelly thrust in my face during Mustang Sally at the end of The Commitments. I was very much okay when it came to being that close to the newly announced touring Jean Valjean in Les Mis. It put me off seeing Trainspotting as I’d heard bizarre things about it, but there was something about Julius Caesar at the Bridge Theatre that intrigued me. Immersive Shakespeare seemed like something I had to learn a little more about.
A show that I’ve wanted to see for around a decade now is Spring Awakening. Due to the themes, my parents wouldn’t take me when I had the opportunity. But I’m 24 this year, so I can gallivant around the country and see whatever shows I want. So I did. I gallivanted to the north to take my first trip to the Hope Mill Theatre to see a show that’s been on my radar since the cast of 90210 performed Mama Who Bore Me in 2008.