GOLDEN (A) AWARDS 2013 - THEATRE

Last week we announced the winners of our Golden (A) awards in Film and Television, with acclaimed independent critical darling Beasts of the Southern Wild taking home Best Film and CIA thriller Homeland being selected as Best Television Series.

We now turn our attention the very finest in theatre, taking into consideration the wealth of theatre productions both West End-based and touring in 2012. Any performances seen in early 2013 (for instance Book of Mormon, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert the Musical, Cats and The Rocky Horror Show) will all be in contention for next years awards and were too late to be considered for this years awards (2012 performances only!).

GOLDEN (A) AWARDS 2013 - THEATRE NOMINATIONS

With the awards season kicking into gear at this years Oscar nominations having been announced (the full list of nominees can be found on the official site here) we are kicking off our own mini awards season by announcing the first set of nominees for our GOLDEN (A) awards - celebrating the very best in Film and Theatre from our first full year of reviewing, promoting and exploring these two terrific entertainment industries.

Please note that naturally the nomination process can only take into consideration performances and films which have actually been viewed and as such are at the editors discretion. Think of them as our (A)musings 'Editors Choice' of the Year awards.

BEST THEATRE PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR

Nominees:

* AMERICAN IDIOT - UK Tour, Birmingham New Alexandra Theatre

* AVENUE Q - UK Tour, Coventry Belgrade Theatre

* LES MISERABLES - The Queen's Theatre, London

* MATILDA THE MUSICAL - Cambridge Theatre, London

* SISTER ACT - UK Tour, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre

LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL - THEATRE REVIEW

LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL AT THE NEW ALEXANDRA THEATRE, BIRMINGHAM

Theatre Run: Tuesday 28 August - Saturday 1 September
Performanced Viewed: Tuesday 28 August

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

Legally Blonde: The Musical is one of those musical theatre productions from which you can glean a great deal before the curtain even rises and the upbeat frenzy of sparkle and feel-good whirs into action. It’s decidedly female-oriented (though with plenty of sex appeal and wit to cater to any husbands and partners who may be reluctant to tag along) and the first Act in particular is an explosion of humour and irony mostly focused around its central protagonists sorority-centred outlook on life; fashion, sisterhood, romance (of the most surface kind) and her handbag-carried pooch Bruiser. Whilst this may sound far too atypical (or Kardashian) to be bearable to some, it is a testimony to the strength of the characters involved and the clever handling of plot that, like the journey of it’s central protagonist Elle Woods, the initial surge of colour, camp and bling gives way to both characters and plot that, whilst confidently and re-assuringly over-the-top, are nonetheless refreshingly smart, brilliantly witty and hilariously post-modern. 

Based on the 2001 comedy starring Reese Wetherspoon in the lead, Legally Blonde recently completed a highly successful, Olivier-award winning run in the West End and is now touring across the UK. It tells the story of a heartbroken sorority girl, Elle Woods, who decides to enroll at Harvard Law School in order to pursue and impress her morally dubious ex boyfriend. It’s a relatively predictable affair from start to finish but is executed with such energy and conviction, and peppered with such irrepressible characters and sharp comedic writing that it’s extremely difficult not to be won over, charmed and thoroughly entertained.