"Allo Allo" on the stage

On Wednesday afternoon of last week, we went to the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry to see the matinee performance of "Allo Allo". This is the stage version of the successful BBC TV comedy series of the 1980's, set in World War II France. The stage show stars Vicki Michelle (Yvette, the maid) and Jeffrey Holland (café owner René Artois) who was a star of BBC's "Hi-De-Hi!". Original writers Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft have returned to put the script together, although they have resumed the "painting in the sausage" plot that seemed to dominate the series!

The usual innuendos and silliness were to be found in abundance in the two hour show. At one point, Monsieur Leclerc disguised himself as a "simple parrot salesman" and what followed were gags about "a cock or two". There were funny, if rather rude sequences with Rene, Yvette and Officer Crabtree doing something suggestive with a blow-up Hitler. At one point, René had a giant knockwurst under his apron and it kept rising up, much to the amazement of Lt. Gruber! Helga (played very well by Nell Jerram) performed a burlesque style strip as Herr Flick played on his violin - of course, we then had a gag about his g-string snapping! Rene's wife Edith performed a cabaret style singing act which was dreadful, but that's what it was supposed to be like!

It was nice to see Vicki Michelle involved as I loved her in the original show. She still looks really good after all of these years! The performances were OK, although certainly not as strong as the original TV cast. I felt that Nell Jerram gave the best performance of any of the new actors. Jeffrey Holland was fine, although maybe not as humorous to look at as Gordon Kaye. Maybe a two hour show is too long to sustain the humour, as I felt it was running out of steam a while before the end. Also, I felt the British airman characters were underused. Shame also that one of the prop based gags didn't work (an small explosion failed to go off). Anyway, here is a review, which I partially agree with, although whatever faults the production has, I certainly enjoyed going to see it!

We got tickets on the afternoon, although I was surprised at how busy the matinee show was, and that the majority of the audience were over 50! Also, I was pleased to see how easy it was to get there and park up in the new multi-storey car park at the back of the theatre. It looks as if that area of the city centre is going through a major re-development. Quite a fun afternoon out!

Bizarre happenings at the sci-fair!

On the morning of Saturday 12th May (prior to our "Eurovision" revelry that evening - see my last post) I went down to a sci-fi collector's fair at the Leofric Hotel in Coventry. I had never been to this particular event, and as it was local I thought I would check it out. I wish I hadn't bothered, as it was, well, rubbish! Still, it was free entry and I got a couple of laughs out of it, and I managed to chat to a pal who was there as well as some other fan types. Anyway, disorganised chaos and small (about 8 dealers) was the order of the day here, at least for the first couple of hours. Most of the celebrity guests I didn’t recognise as they either appeared in sci-fi tv or small grade-B films, so no real need to bother with autographs this time. Have a look here at the guest list.

There were fans milling around not knowing where to go, bored and confused looking staff, and a general sense of disorganisation about the place. I think the real chaos came from the fact that there was a Smallville/Supernatural convention ("Asylum") going on in the same hotel at the same time, hence hundreds of fan girls clogging up the crowded corridors getting excited when they glimpsed Jensen Ackles. I really think the two events should have been kept separate. One table sold me a photo of actress Alison Mack, which they said I could get signed. Ok, groovy. However, they failed to tell me that this actress was part of the convention ONLY and not the sci-fi fair. So in the other part of the hotel I wasn't allowed to see her as I wasn't a convention guest! Oh well, at least they gave me my money back for the photo (I then found the photo on the net later….for free!)

The most bizarre thing happened early on as the crew/bouncer types were escorting actor Jensen Ackles from one room to another: a mad fan girl leapt on him and kissed him on the lips! Of course, she was wrestled to the ground while Jensen was hurried into a nearby lift. She then tried the "lemur leap" attack again and was restrained and removed from the hotel! In 17 odd years of going to shows, I've never seen anything that bad! I guess they had a crowd control problem. When I left to pop over to Forbidden Planet, she was crying outside and her mother was giving her a talking to. Haha!

(Mentions it all here.)

Still, before meeting up with Sarah I managed to have a mooch around Coventry shops including Waterstones, where I picked up the fantastic "The Making Of Star Wars" by J.W.Rizler. This was as birthday pressie to myself. Great book, worth buying even just for the photos. It covers the original 1977 film from its early conception, script development, casting, filming, the visual effects and release. The hardback version has additional stills and drawings in the back, so go for that one, collectors.

Catch ya'll soon…