dance those magical musicals; a review

I think by now, most people know just how much Strictly Come Dancing – as well as the friendships that I’ve made through that show – mean to me. But even more than that, I’ve been able to find inspiration in the forms of the professional dancers on the show, as well as discovering new interests because of these friendships. Since I began watching the show (that’s an entirely different story in this blog post), I’ve always had my few favourites and I consider myself lucky that the professional dancers who I love on the show are ones who also do their own tours as well. 

This time around, as I’d already promised myself that I was going to attend Anton & Erin’s tour the minute I walked out of seeing their tour last year. (I wrote a blog post on that one too.) Anyone who knows me knows that I love musicals and will jokingly – okay, not always jokingly – fight with someone over their favourite musicals, as well as their opinions on them. By the time Anton & Erin’s 2019 tour – Dance Those Magical Musicals – commenced, I had already bought three tickets – both of their shows at London’s Barbican Hall as well as their show at the Brighton Dome. A part of me found even more excitement at the notion that, after attending their 2018 dates alone, I had managed to invite one of my friends to Anton & Erin’s first Barbican date, as well as the fact I’d be meeting another friend there as well. It should also be mentioned here that I’ve struggled severely with my mental health over the past year and these two friends have been constant support systems throughout it all, so the fact that I was going to see the tour with them meant even more to me. 

Instead of summarising all three shows, I’ll simply talk about some of my favourite bits from the tour as a whole, since I could go on four hours. As I loved the year before, I loved that importance of the guest singers – Lance Ellington and Laura Emmitt – as well as the backing dancers – Kelly Chow, Bethany Dows, Luke Field-Wright, Adam Lyons, Joshua Moore & Ellie O’Gorman. All of these people, as well as the London Concert Orchestra are stars of the show in their own right – as Dance Those Magical Musicals doesn’t just feature Anton and Erin’s talents – but instead the talents of everyone on stage. 

Throughout the entire show, I found myself even more struck with how much I was moved by each of the musical numbers – whether choreographed, vocal or instrumental, or a mix of all of the above. While neither favourite musicals aren’t currently on either Broadway or West End (Once on this Island and Seussical – in case you’re wondering), the show consisted of numerous songs that I have loved over the years. Like most people familiar with musicals, my favourite songs going into the show were all ones that I was familiar with beforehand – most notably “As Long As He Needs Me” from Oliver! – as my mother played Nancy in her high school’s production of the musical years ago. For each song that I knew, I found myself mouthing along the words, and it brought back so many memories of having grown up on these songs. 

I could go on for ages about what each number meant to me – as I can think of at least ten right now, but I’ll leave it as the fact that I’ve had the songs that mean the most to me playing on repeat in the back of my mind ever since their Brighton show. (And in a little list below.) I feel so grateful that I could see this incredibly talented bunch of people preform, and I sincerely wish the best for the last few weeks of their tour. And, of course, I can’t wait to see what they come up with next year.

★ ★

Top Favourite Numbers from Anton and Erin’s show:

✩Lullaby of Broadway
✩Edelweiss
✩One Fine Day
✩Jersey Boys Medley
✩As Long As He Needs Me
✩Me and My Girl / If The Rain’s Got to Fall
✩Don’t Rain On My Parade
✩The Lady is a Tramp
✩The Impossible Dream
✩I Dreamed a Dream
✩Hairspray Medley 

(See what I mean about too many favourites?!) 

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From Broadway to Hollywood, and back again

About a month ago, I wrote a blog post (here) about attending a professional dance tour featuring Strictly Come Dancing‘s professional dancers Anton du Beke and Erin Boag. (Okay, technically, Erin is no longer on Strictly, but you get the idea.) After seeing that show, I almost immediately made the decision that I would try to go back again and see it before it ended. Luckily, I found that their final show of the tour would be in Wimbledon, which is right outside of London and on the Underground service, so naturally, I got myself a ticket since I could do that trip in a day.

from broadway to hollywood; a review

As I’m sure, many of you know about how much Strictly has meant to me over the past two years or so, as well as the people who I’ve met through the show. Toward the end of 2016, I had the chance to begin starting to meet some of the people who I’d gotten to know of because of the show. Having lived in New York for the first (almost two) years of discovering my deep love for Strictly, and the happiness that it brought me, I decided that when I moved to England, I would save to attend the live tours of my favourite professional dancers. And a month before my move to England, I started making that dream come true.

a simple thank you…

Both 2015 and 2017 were incredibly pivotal years in my life, and I’m relating the confidence that I gained through watching Strictly to the incredible changes that I made in those years. It can seem sort of silly how much a show can impact you, or the people on it, especially when there’s a chance that you’ll never meet them (time has since proven otherwise after 2015), but the idea is the same. So this is a blog post to thank two incredibly wonderful women for being who they are and inspiring me to do the same.

be kind, be brave, be polite

“A person’s a person no matter how small.” – Horton, Horton Hears a Who

Strength, happiness and inspiration.

Inspiration is a weird concept, especially when it comes to finding a celebrity, or even someone remotely notable, who inspires you. You go off, choose someone who you’ve never met (and might never have the chance to) and decide that their ideas and persona inspire you to become a better person. The majority of the time, inspiration and idolization can come from the people around us, but more often than not, it comes from the people we see in the media.