I'm The Luckiest Fan In The World

I had a lot to consider when planning my trip to see The Sound of Music in Regents Park. I obviously had to fit it in between a busy work schedule, holidays and other commitments but I also had to consider when would be the best time to see Faye and what the weather might be.

I also wanted it to fall as close to Faye's Birthday on 3rd September as possible because I'd planned on killing two birds with one stone and giving her a present at the stage door after the show.

So after much deliberation I plumped for the Monday 26th August.

Checking the weather in the days leading up to my trip it seemed I had struck lucky because there was no sign of rain. So all appeared good until I read a ' Get Well Soon' tweet sent to Faye from a fellow cast member.

I contacted Faye and discovered that she had been off few a few days with a back injury picked up during the show and that although she was on a cocktail of drugs and receiving daily physio there had been little improvement.

This unfortunately meant she would not be in the show when I visited on Monday 26th and therefore she also wouldn't be at the stage door afterwards.

I'm sure you're now wondering why I'm the 'Luckiest Fan in the World' because that news could be considered unfortunate at best and for me closer to heartbreaking.

However, Faye could obviously tell I was disappointed and made me the remarkably generous offer to meet me after her morning physio session at Euston Station.

I was and still am completely blown away by this incredibly kind gesture because I'm pretty sure there aren't many stars that would put themselves out like that just so as a fan has the opportunity to say hello.

We actually chatted for about 1/2 hour about her injury, The Sound of Music, other roles she'd auditioned for, Atlantis and her future plans. It was a special moment I'll never forget and I can't thank her enough.

She missed out on some roles for being too beautiful but if you've had the good fortune of meeting Faye this wont surprise you at all.

It's difficult to explain just how much her act of kindness meant to me. It was such a lovely thing to do and I feel lucky to be a fan of such a wonderful person.

Faye is a very active person and loves performing so she's understandably feeling a bit down having to miss so many shows. She is also still in quite a bit of pain despite the drugs and physio so I'd like everyone to make a wish that she'll be back to full health very soon.

The show itself was every bit as fantastic as the reviews suggested. It was beautifully acted out in a magical setting but I still couldn't help feeling short changed knowing it would have been so much better if there wasn't one very important super talented cast member missing.

I would of course have loved to see Faye perform - it was the reason I purchased the ticket in the first place - and there is still a chance I may be able to squeeze in another visit before The Sound of Music closes on September 14th. However, all that matters right now and all I really care about is that Faye is feeling better soon.

GET WELL SOON FAYE xx

Faye's Precious Mulberry Bayswater Designer Handbag For Sale

You currently have an amazing one off opportunity to own one of Faye's most treasured possessions and grab yourself a real bargain in the process.

Her precious 'Mulberry Bayswater Designer Handbag' which was purchased during her time as Elle Woods on the Legally Blonde Tour is now up for grabs on EBay, with the proceeds going to charity.

So many good things have happened to Faye over the past few years that she really wanted to give something back to a good cause.

CLICK HERE TO SEE EBAY LISTING

"A Mulberry icon, the Bayswater is a timeless and classic style that celebrates the very best of understated and exquisite leather craft. It proudly features the signature postman’s lock closure, and has a soft, brushed interior, showcasing the exceptional level of leather quality. A bag for all occasions. Interior belted sides can be adjusted to give more space inside."

It's in excellent condition and as you can see you can 'Buy It Now' for £600 or take a chance in the auction with bids starting from £400.

It was originally purchased for double that and when you consider it belongs to one of the brightest young stars in the UK today, I think you'll agree it's an absolute bargain.

This bag has been through a lot with Faye over the past couple of years and she'd like it to go to a special home. Get your bids in now and it could be yours.

Thanks So Much Faye & Get Well Soon

Yesterday my heart sank when I learned that Faye is not currently performing in 'The Sound of Music' due to an injury.

She's receiving regular physio and is anxious to be back on stage but unfortunately she's unlikely to be fully fit when I visit the Open Air Theatre tomorrow.

On the plus side the weather is supposed to be fine and I'm sure I'll still enjoy the show but I also know it would be a million times better with Faye in it.

As I have a small birthday gift I was going to give Faye after the show I contacted her to wish her a speedy recovery and ask whether I should leave her present with another member of 'The Sound of Music' cast.

However Faye is such a lovely person and understanding my disappointment kindly offered to meet me after her morning physio sesssion.

That's such a thoughtful gesture and more proof that Faye is a special person both on and off stage.

THANK YOU FAYE xx

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is another nice article about 'The Sound of Music' written by Susan Elkin.

THE STAGE
FROM STAGE SCHOOL TO STAGE

Earlier this month I saw the hugely enjoyable The Sound of Music, directed by Rachel Kavanaugh for Open Air Theatre, Regents Park.

It’s beautifully done with imaginative flair but without silly gimmicks and Charlotte Wakefield, as Maria, is a real joy. My colleague Mark Shenton reviewed it very favourably for The Stage although I don’t agree with him about The Lonely Goatherd number which is fun simply because it’s as silly as it’s intended to be. Several newspapers have run five star reviews.

As always, my education hat never far away, it was the achievements of the children – six of them in each performance which interested me particularly. The eldest, Liesl, is played by the adult and excellent, Faye Brookes. Cast by children’s casting director Jessica Ronane, three teams of children rotate in the six roles so a total of eighteen boys and girls are involved.

So where have they trained so far and what if, any, is their experience? Well Sylvia Young Theatre School continues to do a self evidently good job. No fewer than eight of these 18 children have attended SYTS either in the full time school or in one of the part-time options.

Also, never let it be forgotten that as well as developing fine performance potential in children, SYTS routinely achieves some of the best GCSE results in the borough of Westminster and when this year’s results are announced on Thursday I have no doubt that most SYTS students will have excelled as usual.

Two of the eighteen – more than 10% – are pupils at Redroofs Theatre School  in Maidenhead, another stage school which has a good track record. Of the remaining eight some have attended part-time schools and most have experience in other shows of various sorts with the exception of the naturally talented Alistair Blair as Kurt, for whom The Sound of Music is his professional theatre debut.

It goes to show, I think, that children with natural talent and a passion for performing often do very well in specialist schools where they can develop specific performance skills to a high level alongside routine academic work which must not of course be neglected. It was pointed out to me by Oliver ‘Buster’ Price, former academic head of Arts Educational Schools London, that pupils in stage schools tend to do well all round because they are exceptionally highly motivated and very hard working. Moreover, in some cases they had to persuade dubious parents that this really is the right school to allow them to attend – so they can’t afford to fail.

Well the ones in Regent’s Park certainly don’t seem to be failing. Six lovely performances, the night I was there. So successful has The Sound of Music been so far that its run has been extended for a week to September 14.

The Stage - SOM Review

THE STAGE - SOUND OF MUSIC REVIEW
Mark Shenton

“I have confidence in sunshine/ I have confidence in rain,” sings Maria in The Sound of Music. At the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park there’s always the possibility of both. The rain happily held off on the press night for its first-ever production of a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical (though it has previously presented the Rodgers and Hart shows Babes in Arms and The Boys from Syracuse), and instead only enchantment pours in.

Last year’s revisionist version of Ragtime at this address carelessly saw a musical based on a historical turn of the 20th-century period given a contemporary post 9/11 filter. But Rachel Kavanaugh’s production of this 1959 warhorse of a musical, set against the darkening shadows cast upon Austria by the rise of the Nazis in neighbouring Germany and its take-over of their nation, fortunately plays it straight and with utter sincerity.

There are, of course, parts of this all-too-familiar show that are cloying and annoying - is there a more irritating R&H song than The Lonely Goatherd? But this production glows with a radiant warmth in lieu of the big effects that swamped Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 2006 London Palladium version.

The action spills from Peter McKintosh’s splendid mansion set - which serves double duty as the convent and Captain von Trapp’s house - onto the grass verges and into the auditorium, and it has been beautifully cast throughout to focus on the human relationships at its core.

It is also splendidly sung throughout (though it’s odd that Stuart Matthew Price, one of our finest stage singers, has a non-singing role as von Trapp’s butler). Charlotte Wakefield, recently Sophie in Mamma Mia!, brings a beguiling charm to Maria, and is spiritedly reunited with her stage mum from that show, Helen Hobson, who is now playing a different kind of mother figure - Mother Abbess, lending lovely tones to Climb Ev’ry Mountain. Michael Xavier, a one-time Sky from Mamma Mia, is able to demonstrate a mature authority as the stiff von Trapp to prove he is leaving juvenile parts behind him.

Other stand-outs include Caroline Keiff and Michael Matus as the opportunistic Elsa and Max respectively, and of course the rotating teams of von Trapp children, led by the superb Faye Brookes as Liesl.

Reece Says No To Legally Blonde 3

There have been a lot of reports over the past few days talking about the possibility of a third Legally Blonde movie.

However, any plans appear to have been scrapped because Reece Witherspoon who played Elle Woods in the first two films has turned down the opportunity to reprise her role as everyones favourite lawyer.

In my opinion they're clearly overlooking the simple solution to this problem:

GIVE THE ROLE TO FAYE

The only problem is, I think I'd end up living at the cinema for a month if that happened.

Atlantis: Teaser

The first TV advert for this autumns big show Atlantis which will feature our very own Faye is now airing on the BBC.

However, as you can see, there not giving much away.

Daily Express - SOM Review

The more I read about this show the more I can't wait to see it. If you haven't already done so check out the video trailer in my previous post. Rarely has so much magic been captured in just 1 minute 16 seconds.

I've always wanted to see 'The Sound of Music' but for various reasons it hasn't happened until now. Maybe it was destiny that my first experience of this marvelous show would take place at Regents Park Open Air Theatre and feature the wonderful Faye Brookes.

I just hope it's not destiny that it gets rained off the day I go or that Faye is ill and unable to perform.

Here's the next review:


DAILY EXPRESS REVIEW (4*)

By: Julie Carpenter

I WAS rather looking forward to this. What better than the greenery of Regent's Park coming alive with the sound of music?

The Rodgers and Hammerstein classic about nuns, Nazis and the all-singing Von Trapp family is an unabashed crowd-pleaser.

So it proves in Rachel Kavanaugh's lively and gloriously enjoyable new production.

Yes, the open-air setting and our unpredictable weather does mean that there may be more raindrops on roses than the average punter bargained for.

However I could barely wipe the smile off my face as the assembled nuns burst into the old favourite How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? complete with ever-so-subtle synchronised steps.

That sets the tone for the production, which is traditional rather than radical but certainly none the worse for that.

I'm not sure having Charlotte Wakefield's Maria perform the famous title song from right at the back of the theatre quite works (a few cricked necks result) but as she sweeps through to the stage it quickly becomes obvious that she pairs a clear singing voice with a likeable effervescence.

If her scattily enthusiastic Maria won't entirely wipe away the memory of Julie Andrews twirling in the Austrian hills in the 1965 film it's still impressive.

Michael Xavier is Captain Von Trapp and while he feels a little young to play the authoritarian father-of-seven he has chemistry with Wakefield and his stuffy exterior soon melts.

The children are played (with the exception of the eldest Liesl) by three different actors depending on when you go.

The ones I saw proved endearing and un-stagey while refraining from slipping into saccharine sweetness.

Faye Brookes' Liesl is less naive and more knowing than some and adds a welcome sparkiness into Sixteen Going On Seventeen.

Effective touches in the second half include Nazi officers taking up menacing positions among the audience while the whole show maintains an all-important emotional balance, with moments that bring a requisite lump to your throat.

Buy a ticket and this may well become one of your favourite things this summer.

The Sound of Music Video Trailer

Sound of Music Extended

Due to its incredible success and public demand the Sound of Music has extended its run at Regents Park Open Air Theatre for an extra seven days, giving you even more chance to see this wonderful production in a unique and idyllic setting.

BOOK TICKETS FOR 'THE SOUND OF MUSIC'

THE STAGE NEWS

The Sound of Music has extended its run at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre until September 14.
The show, which stars Michael Xavier as Captain von Trapp and Charlotte Wakefield as Maria Rainer, began its run on July 25 and was originally due to continue until September 7.

The venue has reported that the show has taken £1.75million at the box office so far, claiming this makes it the highest grossing production in the history of the open-air theatre.

Cast members also include Helen Hobson as Mother Abbess, Michael Matus as Max Detweiler, Caroline Keiff as Elsa Schraeder, Faye Bookes as Liesl and Joshua Tonks as Rolf Gruber.

The production is directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, with choreography by Alistair David. Musical direction is by Stephen Ridley, lighting by Tim Mitchell and sound by Nick Lidster, with orchestration by Chris Walker.

London Evening Standard - SOM Review

LONDON EVENING STANDARD REVIEW (4*)
HENRY HITCHINGS

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s much-loved operetta about nuns and Nazis pulses with vitality in this crowd-pleasing staging at the Open Air Theatre. With its perennial cult status and panoply of memorable songs, it looks a sure-fire hit.

There may not be many hills in Regent’s Park, but the shrubbery is alive with the sound of music. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s much-loved operetta about nuns and Nazis pulses with vitality in this crowd-pleasing staging at the Open Air Theatre. And the intrusion of a little unseasonal rain and thunder only helps conjure the Alpine atmosphere.

It’s impossible to think of The Sound of Music without recalling the film —  above all Julie Andrews as Maria and Christopher Plummer as the widowed Captain von Trapp, to whose seven children she becomes nanny. Here those roles belong to Charlotte Wakefield and Michael Xavier, both somewhat younger than one might expect (Wakefield is just 22), and though they can’t eclipse the memory of their famous predecessors they are tremendously good.

Xavier brings a lovely understated poignancy to the Captain’s transformation from rigid patriarch into affectionate father. Wakefield has a perky likeability, obvious as early as the opening scene when she scurries through the audience. Her brisk physicality is matched by a bright soprano voice, and at times she positively glows.

Rachel Kavanaugh’s buoyant production is respectful rather than radical, albeit with smart touches of wit and some new musical settings. Although the staging could be bolder, it’s appealing. The cute performers playing the von Trapp children have been impressively drilled: 18 actors in all will cover six roles, with Faye Brookes the one constant as eldest child Liesl.

There are a few camp moments, some cloying ones and an occasional note of competent blandness, but there are also many pleasures. Peter McKintosh’s romantic set and costumes are highly effective, and Alistair David’s choreography is sharp. Helen Hobson, as the Mother Abbess, radiates a surprising warmth and sings Climb Ev’ry Mountain stirringly. Caroline Keiff makes a strong impression as the Captain’s joyless love interest Elsa Schraeder, and Michael Matus lends a welcome comedy to the role of pushy music promoter Max Detweiler. Of course The Sound of Music is an acquired taste, no more likely to inspire universal delight than Maria’s “favourite things” — including  such dubious treats as doorbells and schnitzel with noodles. But its sugar-coated charms are successfully realised here. With its perennial cult status and panoply of memorable songs, it looks a sure-fire hit.

Telegraph - SOM Review

There are countless glowing reviews of this wonderful production of 'The Sound of Music' at Regents Park Open Air Theatre so I'm going to be posting them fairly regularly over the next few weeks.

Next up is a 5 star review written by Charles Spencer, theatre critic for The Telegraph:


TELEGRAPH REVIEW (5*)

On holiday in Austria last year, I heard the story of one of the guides who had to dress up each day in leather shorts and a feathered hat and escort English and American tourists around the locations used in film of The Sound of Music. Apparently the punters sing all the famous songs in the coach throughout the trip, and one woman claimed to have watched the movie starring Julie Andrews twice a day, every day, for the past 20 years. She spent most of the trip sobbing with emotion, while the guide had grown to hate his job so much that only frequent furtive slurps from a flask of neat vodka kept him going. 

I must admit to being a bit of a Sound of Music fan myself, though the correct critical response is to say the show is tooth-rottingly sentimental and not a patch on such earlier Rodgers and Hammerstein classics as Oklahoma! and Carousel. 

But despite my best endeavours to despise both the show and the film, The Sound of Music always wins me over, and quite often I have to pretend that I have got something in my eye to explain the baffling tears that are running down my cheeks. 

This new production in the idyllic surroundings of Regent’s Park is the finest I have ever seen. Even on a cold damp night it generates great waves of warmth, and the sylvan setting, with Maria running over the greensward, trilling merrily, suits it perfectly. 

Rachel Kavanaugh directs the piece with exactly the right simplicity and emotional directness. There is no attempt to find a clever concept for the show, and Peter McKintosh’s design neatly conjures both the nuns’ abbey and von Trapp’s stately pile. There is even a small moat – and we know that Maria has won the Captain’s love when this pillar of rigid rectitude takes off his shoes and socks and paddles in it with her. 

Charlotte Wakefield is superb as Maria: funny, forthright and movingly vulnerable when the emotional stakes are high. Her voice has a lovely bell-like clarity, and her rapport with the child actors feels delightfully natural and spontaneous. Michael Xavier beautifully conveys the melting of Captain von Trapp’s grief-frozen heart under Maria’s benign influence and it is somehow deeply touching that the diminutive Wakefield has to stand on tiptoe to embrace him. The children are superb, with especially winning work at the performance I saw from Imogen Gurney as Brigitta, a girl emotionally wise beyond her years who recognises what is happening between Maria and her father before they do. 

Helen Hobson combines spiritual wisdom with a soaring voice in the role of the Mother Abbess and there is a winning comic performance from Michael Matus as the cynical impresario Max. The show becomes genuinely tense in the second half as darkness falls and the Nazi threat becomes ever more menacing, with armed soldiers sporting swastikas and patrolling the auditorium. 

Throughout, this wonderfully fresh and deeply felt production proves that there is much more to The Sound of Music than raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.

Mail Online - SOM Review

I thought it was about time I started to post some of the many glowing reviews of 'The Sound of Music' that are now available online.

Obviously a lot of these focus on the leads Charlotte Wakefield and Michael Xavier but most also go on to say how wonderful the entire cast is in what they all agree is a truly excellent production.


MAIL ONLINE REVIEW (4*)
Patrick Marmion

Now, it seems only about five minutes since Connie Fisher starred in the West End revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Alpine musical.

But clearly the chance to dress up as nuns and Nazis all over again has proved too much for producers at the Open Air Theatre to resist. And who can blame them? 

The Sound Of Music remains one of our favourite things. And it slots perfectly into Regent’s Park — turning a verdant glade into a  glorious Austrian mountainside teeming with music and song.
As we know from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s TV search, the show hinges on solving the problem  of Maria. Here, though, in Charlotte Wakefield we have an absolutely delightful and endlessly plucky Maria who climbs every peak in the part — and a few more besides. 

The shadow of Julie Andrews is banished by Wakefield’s girlish sunshine, and at first she runs on and off stage so fast she risks doing herself an injury. Once she settles down, the utterly disarming 22-year-old has a big, warm presence, a huge smile and a voice that peals through the evening air.

Crucially, Wakefield is adored by Von Trapp’s seven children. And what children! Alternating three sets of child actors in each role, they are sweet without cloying.

Faye Brookes, as the eldest, Liesl, leads by example: her blushing innocence cut with a streak of teenage bloody mindedness. 

Her younger siblings, meanwhile, have the audience billing and  cooing with joy and delight. My nine-year-old daughter was riveted (for the umpteenth time) by their exploits. Happily, therefore, the show ends just about early enough (10.15pm) to take a child as a treat.

Rachel Kavanaugh’s warm,  simple production does also have what Alan Hansen would call strength in depth. 

Caroline Keiff carries off the part of the wealthy, would-be stepmother without resorting to pantomime villainy. You even have to wonder if she wouldn’t have made a good match for Von Trapp — her satin dresses must at least have given him pause for thought. 

As the Captain, Michael Xavier is cast for soft pliable good looks rather than the impregnable military bearing of Christopher Plummer. He could do with a little more charisma, perhaps; but he gallantly allows Wakefield to shine.

The show affords no big Busby choreographic opportunities, but Alistair David has the actors charmingly falling into step in the intimate numbers and mercifully no one trips over the gorgeous ballgowns in the climactic waltz. Meanwhile, Peter McKintosh’s design is careful to take the play’s politics seriously, with the Nazi invasion of Austria signified by a shock of red, white and black  swastika banners. 

Otherwise this is a yellow, sunny arena trimmed with austere gunmetal casements and a sweeping staircase. 

The stage is left clear for the main event: a procession of songs that have passed into musical legend.

Gareth & Faye - It's Official!!

I'm absolutely delighted that Faye and Gareth have now made their relationship official and it's lovely to see the pics of them both looking so happy at this weeks official press night party for 'The Sound of Music'.


Gareth gushed to 3am: “I was here tonight to support my girlfriend Faye. It’s the second time I’ve been to see her in the Sound of Music..

“I’m really proud of her, she’s amazing.”


He's already seen the show twice the lucky . . . .

In all seriousness, I think they make a perfect couple and it would be nice to think Faye has found her life partner that will keep that beautiful smile on her face for many years to come.

Gareth seemed like a great guy when I met him back in December and I think he knows he's found someone very special in Faye.


Many glowing reviews of 'The Sound of Music' have started to appear online and I'll be featuring them here on the blog very soon.

Sound of Music Pics

This evenings performance marks the official opening night for 'The Sound of Music' at the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park. I'd like to take this opportunity to wish Faye and her wonderful co stars the best of luck for tonights special show.

Looking at Faye's dressing above it would appear she has plenty of support and rightly so in my opinion. Such an amazing girl who is an absolute joy to watch on stage.

Hopefully those Nurofen I see wont be needed.

Tonight is also Press Night and I'm hoping some pictures will appear online in due course but while we wait her are a few snaps I found of the show. Can you spot Faye in each pic?