Florence has been taken to the theatre from a very young age and Jimmy of course too. It’s something I love to do with the children and maybe it’s because I trained in musical theatre myself but I love a musical more than most stage offerings. Until now, when we have been invited to come and review big West End shows Florence has been too little as mostly the age limit is 3. She’s not then had the experience of a major musical! She’s seen Ben and Holly, Peppa Pig and lots of children’s based shows and even been to big arena tours like that of Ice Age but never to a proper musical in London! Until now…
Shes been asking for ages actually and when we go past the big theatres in town she always looks and says ‘I want to go to that one Mummy’. Something about the green face of the witch on the poster for Wicked caught her eye and she has been asking to see that one (and a few others) for a while. It was with great delight then that I got to take her last night when we were invited to see the show. How many 3 year olds can say they’ve seen Wicked?! She’s a lucky girl and what an experience for her first ever West End foray! We have been waiting for the day for a while now and with great excitement last night it wasn’t a disappointment in the slightest!
I mean it’s Wicked… of course it wasn’t going to be a disappointment and I knew that! I didn’t know the story line until last night or how cleverly it works from the Wizard of Oz, I literally knew nothing but I KNEW it was good, it’s just one of those things isn’t it! I also know now that you will know it too and that there’s little point in me telling you just how clever it is (oh it’s SO clever), how the story line is just brilliant and how the costumes made me want to stand up and cheer! The staging, the setting, the acting, the singing… The SINGING! Not sure I’ve heard anything like that before actually and I’ve seen a lot of musicals in the West End! It was out of this world and at the end when I hesitate about giving a standing ovation not wanting to be the only one, I didn’t wait a fraction of a second and jumped to my feet with Florence in my arms! I ssee little point in saying it because everyone knows it to be true. Wicked is one of THOSE musicals, it’s just, well… It just is and it doesn’t need any introduction!
What I do need to tell you about is how good it is to take little ones to see it. I wonderd if Florence might have been frightened and there were occasions when she jumped, I can’t lie. But… She wasn’t really frightened and more just in awe of everything. ‘I want to be a princess’ she said when Glinda came on to the stage and she, with her three year old imagination, sat staring at the spectacle on the stage. She wasn’t too young and she loved it! The West End and Wicked in particular is for everyone and Florence is even more of a theatre fan now than ever before. It was the perfect first encounter for a big show yet it wasn’t a softly, softly approach in the slightest – this is a BIG, hit you in the face number with all guns firing and all lights dancing.
Wonderful, spectacular, amazing… What else can I say? Florence went off to nursery full of being able to tell her teachers what she did last night. I wonder if they’ll believe her! My tiny dot and I saw Wicked last night, what a night to remember!
I not paid to write this post but I was provided complimentary tickets to see the show for the purpose of review.
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