The Musical Traveller

For those of you who haven't seen my Instagram and TikTok, I spent last week in New York for my birthday! Whilst I was there, I got to see the Tina Turner Musical at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Broadway and it was incredible! The story follows the inspiring journey of Tina Turner from being a young girl growing up in Tennessee to the world famous performer she is now. It explores her turbulent marriage to Ike Turner, with whom she separated from after years of physical abuse, as well as her damaged relationship with her mother, who left her as a young child. Despite the clear difficulties that Turner has had in her life, the actual performance is both light-hearted and humorous in parts yet emotional when needed.  The score is the highlight of the show, due to it consisting of some of Turner's greatest hits, along with some of her lesser known but equally powerful songs. I went into the show only knowing a small number of Tina Turner classics, such as 'River Deep Mountain

  Last weekend, I went to the Manchester Opera House to see my favourite musical of all time- Waitress! Having seen it in London back in 2019, ( see my review here! ) I knew what to expect, but this time was even better than last.  I was fortunate enough to be able to see the incredible Lucie Jones as Jenna, for the second time, before she leaves the role at the end of the year to take on Elphaba in Wicked. In my eyes, Lucie is the best Jenna Hunterson. She plays the role effortlessly, with her outstanding acting and vocals highlighting that she really is at the top of her game. I've never seen a round of applause last as long as it did after she finished the emotional ballad 'She Used To Be Mine'.  I was very impressed by Matt Willis' portrayal of Dr Pomatter. Having seen David Hunter play the role last time, I wasn't sure what to expect from Willis, but I was very pleasantly surprised. He took the character in a different direction, taking on a more awkward and sh

  On Tuesday, I was invited to the opening night of Tell Me On A Sunday at The Lowry Theatre in Manchester. I wasn’t familiar with any of the songs (bar the title track) or really what the story was about, so it was exciting to watch it completely blind. The show wasn’t like anything I’ve ever seen before, as it is a one-woman show. Jodie Prenger plays the role of Emma, an English woman living alone in New York as she experiences the trials and tribulations of love and dating. The story is told through a series of letters to her mum back at home, as well as through songs directed at characters, such as Emma’s multiple love interests, who are never seen by the audience. The venue was very intimate, which enabled the audience to really connect with Emma’s story and feel apart of it. The simplicity of the set and stage keeps all of the focus on the music and the narrative. The nature of the show meant that all of the pressure was on Jodie to express to the audience exactly what was happen

Last week I finally got to return to the theatre, after over a year away! I went to the London Palladium to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Joseph was a big part of my childhood, as I used to watch the film, featuring Donny Osmond and Maria Friedman, every week without fail!  I was really excited to finally be able to see one of my theatre idols, Linzi Hateley, reprise the role of Narrator, that she first had 30 years ago. However, I found out a few hours before that she was ill so wouldn’t be performing. One day, I still hope to be able to see Linzi play the Narrator! Instead, I got to see Rochelle Sherona take over the role and I was not disappointed! She opened each act of the show with the iconic Narrator songs 'Prologue' and 'Pharaoh Story', two of my personal favourites, which set the scene for the rest of the show. From the minute she began to sing, I knew that the role I love so much would be in safe hands. The Narrator is especially deman

Hi! Last week I went to Devon, and I thought I'd share some of my recommendations for the best places to visit and what to do there. I had never been to Devon before this trip and I really enjoyed it! I'm going to post loads of photos onto my Instagram ( @musicaltraveller_ ) so don't forget to follow me on there for more content! Dartmouth: Dartmouth Harbour This was where we stayed for the week, and we loved it! It is situated on the West side of the River Dart and this was the town with the best atmosphere in my opinion. It was filled with a variety of different style restaurants, and we ate in town most nights. Some of my favourite places for food included Kendrick's, which was a grill style restaurant, and Beth's Bistro, which we went to for Brunch. Dartmouth is also a 5 minute ferry ride away from Kingswear, which is on the other side of the River. You can either take your car across or be a foot passenger and they came about every 15 minutes. This was home to

  Last Weekend I went to the Crystal Maze Live Experience in Manchester and I thought that I would  give a review. I know I usually discuss travel on here but with it still being quite difficult to visit other countries, I thought I would give you some ideas of places to go in the UK, especially now that things are starting to open up. For those who don't know, the Crystal Maze Experience is based on the TV game show 'Crystal Maze'. It involves a team going around 4 different worlds (Aztec, Futuristic, Medieval and Industrial) to play 4 different styles of game (mental, skill, physical or mystery). Each game lasts about 2 minutes and you have to try and win the game to collect the crystal. Failing to get out in time results in a lock in, meaning you lose the crystal. Each crystal equals 5 seconds of time for the final game, in the Crystal Maze, where you have to collect as many gold tokens as possible as they fly around the Maze. These tokens get weighed and then equate to