Hamilton West End: A Review

Phonebox's Cara Lee recently visited one of her absolute favourite musicals for the first time - having fallen in love with the soundtrack a few years ago due to its amazing success over the pond...here's her review:

You don’t need to be a theatre aficionado to know that Hamilton (which tells the life story of the eponymous American founding father who wrote his way out of poverty, into the American Revolution and eventually into ruin, all using the modern language of hip hop with a multi-racial cast) is a pretty big deal. It’s got 11 Tonys, Pulitizer Prize and Grammy – but is it really worth the hype? Well, I’m happy to say that I can answer that question with a resounding yes (I already could have to be honest, but that’s besides the point).

First of all, as most of you will know, the music is fantastic- insanely catchy tunes combined with swift and clever lyrics make for some of the best written musical theatre in years. This fast pace is also matched by incredibly energetic choreography which constantly fills the revolving stage. These words are brought to brilliant life by a fantastic cast, especially the surprisingly fresh out of drama school Jamael Westman who encapsulates in his performance both Hamilton’s more than slightly arrogant swagger in addition to his emotional side, without missing a beat of the show’s often dense libretto. Giles Terrera’s Aaron Burr (Hamilton’s mentor and friend turned rival) comes across as more of an outsider than Broadway original Leslie Odom Jnr’s cool and emotionless portrayal, especially considering his unique voice, but this suits the character brilliantly.

These two distinct portrayals also bring out an even starker contrast between Hamilton and Burr, which is of course the driving force of the entire show. And Michael Jibson practically steals the show as the often hilarious King George III, who pops in at a few intervals to comment on events across the pond. Jason Pennycooke also has a spring in his step which suits the roles of both Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson perfectly. Rachel John brings Angelica Schuyler’s strength to life wonderfully, whilst Rachel Ann Go has the exact combination of sweetness and the power that makes Hamilton’s wife Eliza such a great character. And those are just the standouts in what is an all-around stellar cast.

A surprisingly great aspect of the live production of Hamilton is the impressive lighting, which swiftly shifts from song to song in a very effective manner. The staging and costumes are simplistic, but this truly allows the music and performances to shine- additionally, the majority of the costumes take enough historical aspects to fit with the story, whilst reflecting on the modern atmosphere of its telling.

All in all, this is a fantastic production of a wonderful show, which is quite rightfully one of the biggest shows in the West End right now.

Celebrating victory in Europe: 70 years on

Reader remembers historic day with a personal poem

Celebrations are taking place across the country to mark the 70th anniversary of VE Day. 

It was a day that saw millions of people erupt into celebrations in the streets, as the end of the Second World War was formally announced. VE Day, on May 8th 1945, was a day where more than one million people celebrated in the UK, with more across the planet from America to Russia.

In London, people took to Trafalgar Square and The Mall towards Buckingham Palace, where King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and Winston Churchill appeared on the balcony to cheering crowds.

On April 30th, Adolf Hitler had committed suicide and his successor, Karl Donitz, authorised the unconditional surrender.

This year marks 70 years since the ending of the war in Europe, and a three-day weekend of events will mark it, with more than 100 beacons being lit on Friday, May 8th, to mark the occasion. 

For more information, go to gov.uk/government/topical-events/ve-day-70th-anniversary.

The public are being encouraged to celebrate with members of their communities who contributed to the war effort. Are you doing anything special today? Or maybe you even remember VE Day? If so, get in touch on (01234) 713298 and let us know.

Below one of our readers Ron Groom wrote a poem about his experience on the day...

323 wing, RAF Foggia, Italy - May 1945

VE Day was voiced, we cheered and rejoiced (we'd just had our ration of beer), 

But in Sergeant’s Mess, I have to confess, I sampled the wine there I fear. 

When men asked for a glass to them I would pass a bottle, no less “oh no fee”,

 The word spread around, faster than sound, “go there as quick as can be”,

 The chaps crowded in for wine from the ‘bin’, and space was just getting too short,

 So we had an idea, the tables to clear, and “out through the window? Good thought!” 

We were two storeys high so that's of course why the courtyard next day was a dump,  

And I'd drunk quite a lot, and felt sort of hot. My head, well it started to thump! 

I crawled to my bed, but let it be said, that day I remember so well. 

I was posted next day, though still feeling grey, but I had a great story to tell!

Five Guys in Milton Keynes

If you've been to America you'll have probably come across Five Guys, a burger restuarant which uses fresh ingredients and peanut oil and gives you 250,000 different ways of ordering a burger.

Starting as a family business, with five sons, Five Guys began in Washington DC in 1986.
Today there are currently 20 restaurants open in the UK, with lots more coming soon, and most interestingly to us, one looks set to come to Milton Keynes.

Not to be compared to the fast food burger chains of McDonalds and Burger King, probably the closest comparison would be GBK (Gourmet burger kitchen) which is situated in the Hub in Milton Keynes.

To add to the variety of recent updates and additions to Milton Keynes, the addition of a Five Guys when there are currently so few in the UK makes the city stand out yet again. As well as this, Milton Keynes is home to the only Banana Tree restaurant outside of London, and the only Byron Burger in Buckinghamshire, making it quite a home to a number of up-and-coming names.

Five Guys has a unique way of ordering as well as uniquely fresh ingredients. It allows you to choose the size of burger you want (and is one of the few places you can order a small and still be full!) and then customise the fillings and sauces, similarly to the way you build a sandwich in Subway, but with potentially even more choices.

It's very early days so there's no plans set in stone yet, but it looks like the restaurant will be added to the already wide selection of restaurants at Xscape in the city centre, so keep an eye on our blog for any more updates.

Free cookery classes and fitness classes on the NHS...

In a bid to tackle the country's obesity crisis, the NHS have revealed they are going to start offering Brits free cookery classes and exercise classes. A radical new programme to help prevent the rise in obesity and type 2 diabetes, which is closely linked to obesity, it is set to be trailed in Birmingham, Bradford, Durham, Herefordshire, Kent, Manchester and London, and analysed, before it is introduced nationally.

NHS staff, including doctors and nurses, are being included in the scheme, with the head of health service stating that the NHS need to 'practice what they preach' and slim down themselves, before tackling the rest of the country's waistlines.

GPs will start to offer tests for pre-diabetes to those overweight patients, as well as free cookery lessons, exercise classes and online coaching to encourage weight loss. The trial scheme at Britain's largest hospital will be where thousands of staff are offered free Slimming World classes, and those who are classed as obese could be offered help from psychologists and specialist dieticians.

Preventing obesity can cut diabetes and save lives, and so rather than dealing with the effects of obesity and diabetes, it makes sense to spend time and money educating people on healthy living and ways of slimming down.

Around 2.5 million people in England suffer from type 2 diabetes, and that number is set to rise if nothing is done to educate people on how to live a healthier lifestyle.

If the programme goes well, it will be rolled out into other cities across the UK; watch this space!

Alan Turing Institue for Data Science opened

Plans have recently been announced for a new Alan Turing institute for data science, to be based at the British Library. The institute will form part of London's 'knowledge quarter' and will aim to make Britain a world leader in the area of big data research. The world-class institution will work alongside universities across the country, in order to focus on new ways of collecting, organising and analysing large sets of data.

The Alan Turing institute will receive £42 million in funding over 5 years, a stark contrast to the £100,00 Turing had to fight to get during the war in order to build his decoding machine. Part of the institute's role will be to use big data to help businesses enhance their products and manufacturing processes, target their marketing better and provide more efficient services.

A timely announcement following the recent release of the film depicting Alan Turing's life, 'The Imitation Game', where many will have seen the work he did and how unjustly he was treated in the following years because of his personal life. Being described as a 'fitting tribute' to Alan Turing, the father of modern computer science and a national hero, the institute will help ensure that Britain remains at the forefront of and leading the rest of the world in this important field.

The amount being dedicated to the institute seems very high, with £42 million seeming a lot to be spent on research when there is so much else needing money across the country. However, the centre for Economics and Business research estimates that the UK economy could be benefitted by £216 billion as a result of the big data marketplace and create 58,000 jobs by 2017. Taking that into account, £42 million doesn't sound like a bad investment, if it all goes to plan and the projected figures are correct!

As mentioned previously, don't forget there is a year-long exhibition dedicated to the new film 'The Imitation Game' currently at Bletchley Park, where the film was set, right on our doorstep here in Milton Keynes. 

You're fired!- The Apprentice is back

It's that time of year again, The Apprentice is back on our screens... do you watch it?! Whether you watch it for the business side of things, or simply for the comic value of watching them all run about like headless chickens, it can be quite an entertaining show. This week has seen an introductory double-whammy of the Apprentice, with 3 people fired in just 2 days. With more contestants comes the chance of double eliminations out of the blue, which is what was seen last night as Robert and Scott were both fired.

With added members to each team compared to previous years, one might think that the inventions would be better and the teams more organised. Far from it. The show last night depicted a group of mouthy and argumentative members, who seemed to be acting more like teenagers than business men and women. 

Maybe it's a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth, and it did seem the case yesterday with the creations the team came up with. Having been given the brief of 'wearable technology', the boys came up with a jumper with a video camera on the front, which they advertised with the unfortunate words 'privacy is history' and which rather resembled a tacky Christmas jumper.

Similarly, the girls had a bit of a nightmare with their product too, a jacket which charged your phone, kept you warm with heat pads and had flashing lights on the front. A gimmicky product which was trying to be too many things to too many people and just didn't seem to make sense. For example, why would you be wearing a jacket if the sun was out? (the sun was the main source of power to charge the jacket through the solar panels) and why would you want flashing lights on a jacket, never mind the fact that they would need to be in the light to be charged?! More bizarre of all was the fact that they were pitching to a sports shop among others... they seem to have missed a trick here.

It seems that this week the team members were just too much for the project managers to control, and there was a definite conflict of opinions amongst some large personalities. However much we can laugh and shout at the television screen, it does make for good entertainment, even if it's just to see Lord Sugar's humorous remarks at the end of each challenge. It looks like it'll be an eventful series, and we're definitely interested to see what happens over the next couple of weeks!

WW1 remembered

The campaign: 'lights out', featured in this month's Phonebox Magazine, took place this Monday. The idea was that people across the country would turn out their lights and leave one light or candle on, in order to commemorate 100 years since the outbreak of WW1. A National Grid estimate reckons that over 3 million households turned their lights out on Monday, between 10pm and 11pm, and over 143,000 tweets with the hashtag '#lightsout' were tweeted over the course of the day.

With the aim of the hour to be to create a shared moment of reflection, it seems this was achieved, with not only households but also famous landmarks taking part. Watch the video below to see the significant lights being turnout out across the country to remember this day.

Did you get involved and turn out your lights and light a candle? We'd love to hear from you and see your pictures!

 

Tonight- ABBA Reunion Show

Tonight at the Bedford Corn Exchange is the long anticipated ABBA reunion show. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 'Waterloo' tour, the World Class international live ABBA tribute show gives ABBA fans the opportunity to re-live the ABBA phenomenon, from Dancing Queen to Waterloo, resulting in the perfect ABBA look and sound. You'll have seen us advertising the event across the last two issues of the Phonebox Magazine, and we're really excited that the day has finally come!

The tribute act have toured around the world, and their visit to the Bedford Corn Exchange has been highly anticipated. ABBA Reunion has been created by the original Director, Producer and Choreographer of the Award Winning Abbamania West End musical, and stars the original 'Frida' from the London cast played by Vikki. If you didn't see the interview with Vikki Holland-Bowyer in this month's issue you can read it below, or as always, make your way to the online magazine here.

International Nurses Day

Today is international nurses day, an opportunity to acknowledge the hard work and many hours which nurses put in to taking care of the health of people across the world.

Celebrated on the 12th may each year (the birth day of Florence Nightingale, the founder of professional nursing) the day is an opportunity not only for nurses to be recognised for their hard work, but for them to take a stand and share what nursing means to them, and allow them to be proud of what they do.

Florence Nightingale, also known as the lady with the lamp, became famous whilst serving as a nurse during the Crimean war. She later opened her own nursing school at St. Thomas' hospital, London, which was the first secular nursing school in the world. Her achievements helped to bring nursing to where it is today, and the significance of her role is why the day of her birth has been chosen as the day to remember and celebrate the work of nurses across the world.

Nurses are encouraged to share their experiences with their local communities, some going in to schools and doing talks, all to raise awareness of the job they do and to be able to share what they love about it. Equally, it gives those in the community the opportunity to understand a little better what it is nurses do on a daily basis, and to show their thanks and support.

Why not show your support by thanking a local nurse for all their hard work today?!