I know you are all aware of Lee's tour for next year, but I just happened to look at the website for Total Productions, who are organising this tour, and found these fabulous photos. We have seen some of them, but there are a couple I don't recall seeing before.
https://www.totalproductions.co.uk/lee-mead
Wow, thanks A/Liz, hadn't seen those, very nice :hugging_face: :yum:
Loving those pics, especially 'blue jumper, leaning on the chair' and 'white shirt, sitting on the chair, hands clasped, looking right into the camera lens and looking like Rufus Sewell'!:heart_eyes:
I hope I still have time to put a report on here before the Forum dies!
I was lucky enough to venture "oop north" for the first two nights of Lee's new My Story tour. We arrived in Halifax with no trouble whatsoever (that's a first!), and took a taxi to the hotel. Once settled in, we decided to get changed, go and find the theatre while it was still light and then get something to eat. How was it possible to get so completely and utterly lost in Halifax? According to the map, it was a straight line from hotel to theatre - not our way it wasn't! Then, after accosting numerous locals, we finally located the theatre but couldn't find a single place to get a meal! More locals were accosted, but any restaurants they recommended were fully booked (it was Saturday night). Eventually we found a pub with cheap grub and collapsed in a heap, a mere hour and a quarter's walking from when we had set out (we did have the option of returning to our hotel, which had several eating establishments around it, but by then I had almost lost the will to live!).
On to Lee's first show. The theatre was very large, so we did rattle around a bit. A more intimate setting would have been better, I think. I will try to set the scene and describe the show without giving away too many spoilers for those who want to be surprised …
The curtains opened to reveal a white piano and microphone on the left hand side of the stage, and two armchairs (one of which was Harry) and small table on the right hand side. There were large posters of Lee and a video screen as the backdrop. The lights dimmed and music started up, with accompanying photos of Lee being flashed up on the screen - some absolute corkers up there! Then Beverley came on stage and introduced Lee. They took their seats in the armchairs. I have to say there may be a problem with seeing them, as the chairs are set quite far back on the stage (also, in the case of Halifax, the big sound thingies were right in front of me, perfectly blocking the angle I needed to see Lee's face - grrr).
There were a lot more songs than I expected, much to my delight, each one reflecting or referring to something in Lee's life. I won't say what they were, but several new (to us) ones, with one in particular slightly naughty but hilarious one, and of course some old favourites.
Beverley was an excellent interviewer, drawing Lee out on his past. Some stories we had heard (remember Louise of first snog fame?), and some brand new anecdotes.
There were several videos of people who Lee has had contact with in the past (and present) - no spoiler to say that Penny from Mushroom is one of them. Unfortunately, the technical gremlins struck on the first night, and they had terrible trouble getting the videos to run at the correct moment, which was a bit frustrating, but they got there in the end.
As this was the first show, it was something like a preview, with general pruning and tightening up required (it ran for over 3 hours!). Afterwards we spoke briefly to Lee and Beverley at the stage door, and they both said straightaway that it was too long, and they would be working on it.
Back to our hotel (the right way this time), quick drink in our room (we had come prepared, as we guessed the bar would be closed when we got back), then to get our beauty sleep before round two the next day.
On our way to Halifax station, we popped along to see the Piece Hall. I had heard of this, having seen it on something on TV a few weeks ago. It is such an unexpected thing to find - all I can say is that it looks like a Venetian plaza! We couldn't explore fully, as we had our luggage with us, but look it up if you're interested. It's spectacular.
Halifax to Bradford - no problem. Station to hotel - even we couldn't go wrong, it was opposite the station! Right, let's go for a walk, to find the theatre. We won't take chances with restaurants, we will eat in at the hotel. Seven minutes to the theatre, the map says. I have back-up, using my phone map. Off we go. A couple of minutes later - Darwen Street. Yes, that's on the map, down this way. 15 minutes later - this doesn't look right. You'd think the railway bridge would be shown on the map, wouldn't you? Oh … it's at the bottom of the page, and guess what? The theatre is at the TOP of the page. Darwen Street goes two ways, trust us to take the wrong one. It eventually occurred to me that the blue dots on my phone map were the correct way to go, and that the little blue man was 'us' - way off course. At last we were back on course, and found the theatre - and yes, it was seven minutes from the hotel if we had gone the right way.
Show two at Blackburn was like a different show. They had all worked their socks off over the last 24 hours to hone the show to almost perfection. Much the same as before, but so much tighter as they say - yet I couldn't say that anything had been dropped! The audience response said it all, a spontaneous 100% standing ovation!
Lee's voice was stunning. There is lots of laughter and a few tears too. If anyone out there is wondering whether or not to buy tickets for this new style show, just do it! You won't regret it!
Thanks A/Liz!
Thanks ALiz for your review.
Your travels and experiences always make me smile and even though I couldn't be there you make us feel part of your group.
Just want to say that we are working hard to save as many of the reviews posted on here and hopefully a link on the website will allow them to be read over and over again.
Believe me when I feel down just reading these reviews perks me up no end.:wink:
