sbowns1 Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 http://www.facebook....&type=3 A cute pic of Gareth from someone's facebook.....hope the link works !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorksheather Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 Thanks for your great report Val , it sounds a brilliant show . Thanks for posting the other reviews Eternal, it was very good to read them and also great to see the pics from the show Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NicolaJayne Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 Lovely review Val, the show sounds fabulous and loved the other peoples comments on Gareths performance. Poor Doris being redirected to another station that would be my worst nightmare and the reason I don't do London on my own, do hope she got home OK. Also nice you saw Ann and Peter, he is very patient isn't he.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorral Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 Oh poor Doris, hope she will come on so that we know she got home safely. Just got home,81/2 for a 2hour journey ,from London to Manchester,had to go back accross London on the underground to the station Val had left from earlier,then a train to Reading.where I got a train to Manchester.,It was a Cross Country train,lived up to it's name,took nearly 4 hours. Going for a bath and a cup of tea,will catch up and report tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val4Gareth Posted January 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 I'm so glad you're back home safely Doris. You must be shattered. Your son must have been frantic waiting to come pick you up from the station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khelda Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 So glad you made it home ok Doris, but what a nightmare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowdrop Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 Lovely reports, thank you. John Caird was one of the original directors of Les Miserables (and many more), and I think he was involved in the new 25th production too, so he probably knows Gareth well already. It's possible Shonberg got a mention during his introduction. It's good to hear that he and Gareth get on so well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val4Gareth Posted January 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 A piece written here about the show by Shenton Stage. Don't think this man had much good to say about Gareth when he was first in Les Mis but it seems his opinion is slowly being changed. http://blogs.thestage.co.uk/shenton/2012/01/a-labour-of-love-and-a-love-of-theatrica/ This is the paragraph where he mentions Gareth A few passing thoughts: it’s interesting just how much the West End is increasingly owing to talents discovered by reality TV contests, whether Pop Idol (Gareth Gates), X Factor (Brenda Edwards) or theatre casting shows like Over the Rainbow (Lauren Samuels), all of whom appeared in Children of Eden; but never mind the means of discovery, we’re all the beneficiaries of their arrival now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowdrop Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 That is an interesting article. He has always been quite sniffy when it comes to people like Gareth (I don't think it has ever been anything to do with him directly), and he has chosenn to talk about the benefits of working your way through the ranks, but he plainly couldn't deny that Gareth, along with Brenda, and Lauren were genuinely good and an asset to the show and to the word of theatre. That's the power of concerts like Sunday evening's ones. He talks about the value of longevity, and that's what Gareth is setting himself up for in theatre. It's been a few years since he first did the Stiles & Drewe concert, and he's taken on a variety of roles, proving himself to be prepared to get stuck in and not be starry about it. People notice that - eventually. It may also have helped that just about everyone else has listed Gareth as one of their highlights, and that Russel Grant was there to provide an example of bad celebrity casting, just to prove the reviewers haven't gone soft! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorral Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 It was a last minute decision to go to the CofE concert,I am so glad I did,the show was fantastic.On the way to the theatre we passed the Stage door on the main street.Ann and her husband Peter were waiting,after a quick word with them, Val and I walked up the street when I spotted Gareth,Russell and Louise coming towards us.Gareth recognised us and said "Hiya Guys" gave Val a hug then turned to me and gave me one Russell and Louise went into the theatre whilst Gareth had a few words with us. The show was very different from the usual musical I had seen,a lot of imagination had to be used, with the help of the 6 Storytellers.There was no scenery on stage,the Orchestra were on one side and the choir on the other side lighting above the middle of the stage and sound effects set the scenes during the evening.I thought Matt Brinkler( Gareth's understudy) a Chloe Hart who were part of the storytellers had great voices. It can understand why Gareth has been mentioned by so many people on Twitter his voice was just perfect for the songs he sang,no off key notes at all ,which can't be said about a lot of the cast.Gareth's speech flowed which made his acting great. Russell Grant was perfect for the part of the snake,although he hasn't got a great singing voice along with the dancers he was very funny. Brenda Edwards deserves a special mention she rocked with the cast and received a tremendous applause from the audience.It was manic at the stage door after the show,there was also a meet and greet after the show so we decided to go back to the hotel. Val has given a more detailed report,we had a great time and was pleased I'd changed my mind about going. The journey home was horrific, but I had to smile when my son said on picking me up at the station. " well you will keep Gallivanting round the country after Gareth", Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val4Gareth Posted January 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Great report Doris. You've said all the things I forgot to mention like the orchestra and choir or on the stage. I thought it was beautifully done. Had to laugh at your sons comment. Is that the one who you told me is always encouraging you to go to see Gareth. Have to agree with you Snowdrop. Gareth is certainly letting everyone see that he's prepared to work hard to earn his stripes so to speak. I also think concerts like this one shows how good he is at adapting to anything. As Doris said that certainly couldn't be said for some of the performers who had trouble staying in key once or twice, although most of the time they were fine. Nothing like that happened with Gareth or with Brenda. Every note was spot on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ValR Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Poor Doris, I'm so sorry that I wasn't with you, thought we had a bad enough time when my purse was stolen but to have to do all that yesterday on your own sounds a nightmare! I'll bet you were more than ready for your cup of tea, it would have been a glass of wine for me! Thanks for your report - sounds as though the whole show was fantastic. Take care Love Val xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khelda Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Thanks for your report Doris, loved reading all the details, makes it easier to imagine it. Sorry about your terrible journey home, but pleased you had a fantastic time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flower Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Take care, Doris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueEl Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Life with Gareth is an adventure, but must be worth it, eh?! Thanks ladies for the lovely commentaries about the show, certainly have an idea of it now. Just wish we could hear Gareth's songs, would be lovely. Sigh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorksheather Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Thanks for posting Doris , I enjoyed reading your detailed report . Your journey back sounds like my worst nightmare ,but it doesn't sound to have put you off travelling down to see Gareth . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternal Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 So glad you decided to make the last minute decision Doris and be able to give us even more details of what sounds like a fantastic show. Let's hope some of these great photos http://westend.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo-Coverage-Kerry-Ellis-Louise-Dearman-At-CHILDREN-OF-EDEN-Gala-Night-20120130 help put that nightmare of a journey home, into a distant memory. Thanks for keeping us informed. Gareth recognised us and said "Hiya Guys" gave Val a hug then turned to me and gave me one This sounds like quite a bonus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val4Gareth Posted January 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Apparently Gareth did make an appearance after the show on Sunday. Vivienne a lady on Facebook who is a huge musical theatre fan managed to meet him and take a few pictures of him. I'm sure she won't mind me posting them up here, but I won't post the one she had taken with him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternal Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Well a big thanks to the facebook lady. Those photos are really lovely. I am sure you have thanked her already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowdrop Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Brilliant photos, and thanks for your additional, and detailed report Doris. What both you and Val are saying about Gareth being a stand-out reflects a lot of what I picked up on twitter and elsewhere, so you aren't just being biased. Brenda was getting a lot of praise too. In fact, I saw one twitter conversation where the man didn't much like the show, and thought some of the performers were dreadful, including one he was expecting to like, but conceded Gareth was really good. mongst other things, he said that Gareth stole the show, not that there was much to steal, but congratulations to Gareth on his tuning! His biog described him as some kind of musician, so he knows in tune and out of tune when he hears it. Joking aside, I do think that it's the accumulation of these little comments where people admit Gareth "wasn't half bad", or amongst the better performers, or simply listed as one of the talented performers the West End benefits from, that are the foundations to Gareth having a long and credible career in musical theatre if he wants to stick with it. It's making it OK to rate Gareth, and for the sceptics to take the gushing reviews seriously, and not dismiss them as deluded fans. How lovely then that some people who are taken seriously are giving glowing feedback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NicolaJayne Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Thank you for bringing the lovely pics of Gareth over and nice to hear Vivienne was there, she must have been to the most musicals of anyone, I agree she is a big musical theatre fan and a really nice person. Its also lovely to hear that Gareth is getting glowing reports from people in the business, he has worked hard for this and it has eventually paid off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzie Posted February 1, 2012 Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 Thank you Val and Doris for both your detailed reports glad he went down a storm. Cheers to everyone for all the tweets, links and pictures brought over too. Really does sound like he and Brenda stole the show Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPG MY IDOL Posted February 1, 2012 Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 Thank you Val & Doris for your great reports, glad you both had a great time, would love to hear Gareth songs, Great pictures too on Rex and from Vivienne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val4Gareth Posted February 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 COE have got an auction on eBay to bid for the pictures which were on sale on the night (unfortunately we didn't realize they were being sold until after the show and it was too late then). They replied to someone on Twitter who asked why they didn't have one up for Gareth or Oliver and they've just said their ones were all sold on the night. Bit of a bummer, but shows who was in demand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maria_1981 Posted February 1, 2012 Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 Its lovely to hear Gareth's and well as Oliver's pictures were all sold on the night and others wasn't couldn't be more pleased with the demand for Gareth and to me rightly so Awwww love Vivienne's pics Thank you to Doris for your report too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts