Music
She's my Sister
(from The In-Between)
Before researching for my showcase, I had not heard of the concept musical The In-Between. It was suggested for my and the girl I was working with to have a look at this duet and play with it to be in the show, and when we listened to it I really liked it. t had a very realistic sister relationship to me, one which reminded me of my relationship with my own sisters, which I loved and wanted to work to bring to life on stage. It was also exciting that there is not really a filmed video of a fully staged version of this song, so our ideas were original and we were able to interpret the characters ourselves and not worry about imitating somebody else's portrayal..
They don't make glass slippers
(from Soho Cinders)
What a beautiful song! I am ashamed that I have never heard of this song before now! This is yet another song we used in our end of year showcase that I was introduced to (spoiler alert, that is pretty much what the entire of this section is) and it just hasn't left my head. The music is amazing and the lyrics are hauntingly beautiful in a sad way (if that made any sense at all). I am interested to see Soho Cinders as a full musical one day and will be looking further into the soundtrack.
Bring on the Monsters
(from The Lightning Thief)
I appreciate a song with good harmonies and parts where people sing different things on top of each other (there is probably a technical term for that!), so this song is right up my street! Although there is no alto harmony in the cast recording when it is written in the sheet music with is a little bit annoying, this song is very feel good and quite empowering. I had no idea there was a Percy Jackson musical and I am totally useless when it comes to explaining the plot of the books/movies so I cannot say how faithful it is as an adaption, I'm just approaching this song from a "hey, this is a song I appreciate" perspective.
So in Love
(from Kiss Me Kate)
This is a song where I don't have an awful lot to say about it, I just listen to is and am like "that is a nice song". I'm not 100% sure of the context of the song, I have only seen Kiss me Kate once and did not really understand what was going on, but this is a song that I really liked.
Breathe
(from In the Heights)
I am one of those terrible rare people who have not listened to In the Heights (in my defence, it is one of those musicals that I would prefer to see first then listen to). But this is a song I have heard a few times being sung by people in my Musical Theatre classes, and it is a song that I really love. The fear of disappointing everyone you know for dropping out of college is something a lot of people can relate to - hey, even I was wondering if I had made the right decision at the beginning of the year and feared what my parents would say if I came home - and that sort of emotion is really brought across in this song. Again, I have no idea the context of this within the musical, this is just stuff that I have picked out from listening to the song a couple of times so I could be completely wrong in what I'm saying.
Daryl is a Boy (and he lives in my closet)
This is a song that I was contemplating doing as a solo in m showcase and is a song that I love. It is from a musical theatre cabaret and isn't in a full on musical, but it is still a very silly but good song. I was told to look a lot more at comedy in classes which is why I came across this song. Although I didn't do this in our show at the end of it, I still really like this song and would love to add it to my rep book!
Shopping
Mickey Mouse Bag and Purse
This might be the rainbow mickey mouse bag that everyone has been going crazy over in Primark. I absolutely loved these purchases, the bag was £12 and the matching purse was £6, and I have to say they were very much worth the money! I feared that glitter would shed everywhere when I initially saw it online and thought that after a couple of uses there would be little patches where there was no longer glitter, but this is not the case! This bag is all packed up now to take on holiday, which I know already this is going to be a holiday hit! The purse is just as lovely, it is very spacious inside with plenty of rooms for cards and money.
Minnie Mouse Ears
I have always wanted a pair of Minnie Mouse ears every since I first visited Walt Disney Wold in 2007, but the official Disney ears are rather pricey. For my holiday this year I bought custom made Minnie Mouse ears online and they are absolutely lovely! I cannot wait to wear these in the Magic Kingdom!
New Hair Style
So I changed up my hairstyle a little bit during the month of May. I have been cutting it myself for about a year now, and decided it was time to get it sorted. I got it cut and highlights added, and I absolutely love how it looks. As expensive as hair salons can be, I love how my new hair looks and it was definitely worth the money!
Showcase leotard and skirt
The end of this month was my First Year Showcase at University, so I needed to get my costume sorted! I bought this leotard and dance skirt off Amazon, not expecting much from them since they were inexpensive and were not from an official dance shop. However, I was very impressed with what arrived in the post. The leotard was very well made for the money it cost, and I am incredibly impressed with how the dance skirt looks on. The downside was that I totally underestimated the size that I needed for the leotard and we had a couple of wardrobe malfunctions during the dress run of our show. This was resolved though for the final show, I ended up having to sew myself into it, which meant that there were no bathroom breaks for me during the show! Still, I am very pleased with how it looked on the night of the
Revolution Pro Full Coverage Camouflage Foundation
My foundation was running out, and the foundation I had was the No7 Stay Perfect foundation. I bought this when I was at work and had a bit of extra spending money, but I couldn't really afford to get this foundation again once it had ran out. So I hit the highstreet trying to find a cheaper alternative to my older foundation. Then I came across this foundation. It is very full coverage, I accidentally put too much on my face the first time I used it meaning I looked like a ghost, so it needs to be used sparingly, but I love this foundation, and don't think there is another drug store foundation that I would buy alternatively to this.
Foundation available to buy here.
Revolution Pro Loose Finishing Powder
As with the above item, I needed a new setting powder and found this in the revolution section of my local Superdrug. I was a little skeptical at first, since the powder is completely white so I did not know how it would look on. But I have fallen in love with how this looks. I would say a downside to this product is that it seems to go all over the place whenever I use it, but I'm not sure if that is the product itself or if its just me being unable to function like a proper person. Still, this was a great substitute to my other setting powder.
Setting powder available to buy here.
Shows
Avenue Q
Avenu Q was a production that was put on at my university, about two days after we finished up with Bare: A Pop Opera. So I went with my fellow cast members to support the cast of Avenue Q and I was very impressed. I loved what they had done with the set design and was very impresses with what they had done with the puppets. I think that some people were cast very well in their roles and could easily be switched with some cast members on the UK Tour and people wouldn't realise that they weren't supposed to be there. Well done guys, you did a fantastic job.
Trouble in Tahiti
This is another production that was put on at my university, this time by my friends in the first year Performing Arts class. I had no idea what Trouble in Tahiti was before seeing it at the Stanwix Theatre - I believe this was the reaction of most people who came to see the show - but these guys did an amazing job with it. I believe it is actually supposed to be an opera, but the cast performed it in more of a contemporary musical theatre style which was anything but a bad decision. I don't think there was one member of the cast that felt out of place in the show. Plus the set design was phenomenal! I know that there had been a couple of unavoidable hiccups before the show, but I am so glad that you got over this and pulled this off since I really enjoyed it!
So there you have it! My favourites for the month of May. Let me know what your favourites were for last month, I would love to know! I have been doing this series since January and have a post for each month, so if you have not read those posts yet, click the links down below!
January Favourites - Here
February Favourites - Here
March Favourites - Here
April Favourites - Here
January Favourites - Here
February Favourites - Here
March Favourites - Here
April Favourites - Here