Wednesday 28th February 2018, (day one), my mini break begins with a trip To Bristol Hippodrome for two performances of the superb musical ‘Wicked’. This will be my last visit to this show here, until it’s arrival in Cardiff throughout November, so I’m making the most of it today. With the rest of the week off work I’m on a musicals short holiday (weather permitting) between Bristol and Cardiff over the next four days. Bristol is bathed in sunshine, but it’s freezing to go with it, lots of hot coffee and Costa’s to come.

For both the Matinee and Evening shows we have Amy Ross playing Elphaba with Helen Woolf as Glinda. I have yet to mention the role of Nessarose, played beautifully by Emily Shaw, who has a great singing voice, fitting into the role perfectly, and a real joy to watch. It’s a shame the character doesn’t have a bigger part, I think that’s the only thing I would change in this fabulous musical.

Yet again both performances were superb, the bond between the characters keep growing and getting better with every performance. Amy and Helen are just brilliant together, add in Aaron as Fiyaro, and you get a wonderful mix. All the cast are exceptional making this an absolutely stunning affair, one that I cannot stop watching.

The set, lighting and costumes are so bright and cheerful, adding a huge amount to the brilliance the show produces. With its superb music, played to perfection by the musicians in the pit, the all round quality just impresses enormously, just can’t get enough of it at the moment. So looking forward to November when I can see this wonderful musical again.

Wednesday 21st February 2018, another weekday off work for a trip to Bristol and the Hippodrome, to watch the best musical in the world, ‘Wicked’. A glorious day weather wise and perfect for walks around the river and a bit of shopping on the side, in my other favourite city, alongside Cardiff of course. Today is another milestone for me as I’ve reached a quarter of a century of watching Wicked, 25 shows in all and I still can’t wait to see the next one. As I’ve mentioned before I totally love this show, it never fails to impress on every level.

For this afternoons matinee performance we have the brilliant Amy Ross as Elphaba with the equally brilliant Helen Woolf playing Glinda, this is my third main lead partnership of this tour so far, the first time I’ve seen these two together, from what I’ve seen so far, I’m expecting another absolutely fabulous performance, and guess what, I was right, what a performance, these two are just superb together. Whatever team they put on, the performance is just out of this world. I also have to say that I’m really impressed with Aaron Sidwell as Fiyaro, he has a great voice and is growing into the role every week.

Wicked the Musical has just made my whole day so much better, for almost 3 hours I’m in another world, transfixed by the excellence of this show, and how magical I feel in myself while watching it. This is one of the reasons I’ve totally fallen in love with this musical.

Wednesday 14th February 2018, and after my visit to Bristol, I’m back in Cardiff for ‘The Sound of Music’ at the New Theatre, yet another fabulous show, and the second week in a row I get the opportunity to watch two different shows on the same day in two cities.

This epic musical has Lucy O’Byrne as Maria, with Neil McDermott as the Captain, although for tonight’s performance we have Katie Shearman as Maria, with Holly Willock playing Liesl, and yet again these two actresses are absolutely brilliant playing some of the lead roles, as I’ve always said the Ensemble are worth their weight in gold when they stand in and really shine.

This is such a feel good musical, with every live show I’ve seen being absolutely brilliant, and after tonight this one is just the same. The singing is exceptional, the nuns are so good, with such beautiful voices, you would think they had a full choir instead of 7 people. The children, again 7 in strength, were incredible tonight, so in tune, in step with each other all the way from Liesl to Gretl, with each and every one of them brilliant, there is so much young talent coming through the ranks these days, it’s no wonder these youngsters are so good.

In fact all the cast were superb tonight, it’s really worth a visit to watch this iconic musical just to feel good about the world and that wonderful things can happen from just a few hours at your local theatre.

Wednesday 14th February 2018, another day off work, so I’m back in Bristol at the Hippodrome, for another showing of my favourite musical ‘Wicked’. It seems as though the last tour never ended, because this latest venture is also just superb, with a different cast (bar a few names from the previous tour), who seem to be growing nicely into the roles they portray.

Talking of the cast, we have a few changes from last weeks show, playing Elphaba for this Matinee performance is the brilliant Nikki Bentley, who was again exceptional, she just oozes quality in every performance. Very difficult to separate Nikki and Amy at the moment, both are just brilliant.

Alongside the also brilliant Helen Woolf as Glinda, who, I must say was also incredible in this afternoons show. These two worked so well together a few weeks ago, its fabulous to get the chance to watch them again.

Yet again, another stupendous performance from all the cast. I love the character of Elphaba, the actresses playing her have been exceptional over the past few years, and the current two (Amy Ross and Nikki Bentley) are just superb. I have to mention the first Elphaba I ever watched, the utterly brilliant Nikki Davies-Jones, she was stunning in the role, and made me fall in love with the show, mainly for her immense vocal talent.

The show just gets better and better every time I watch, I don’t think I could ever get bored watching this superb musical. Still the good news is that I still have more shows to come in this tour, both at Bristol and Cardiff in November.

Thursday 7th February 2018, and after my trip to Bristol for Wicked, it’s a quick train journey back to Cardiff for a performance of Flashdance at the New Theatre. Might as well make a proper day out of my leave and watch an extra show in the Evening.

I’ve never seen this show or even the film before, so this is going to be a new experience, although it’s worth the entrance money alone to see the totally fabulous Joanne Clifton in the lead role, who just happens to be excellent as Alex, her dancing is fabulous, and she has a beautiful singing voice, which I never realised she had, really impressed with her all round talent, and from what I’ve seen so far, she could be in even more dance themed musicals for a few years to come.

Another good partnership begins with Joanne and Ben Adams as Nick Hurley, as with Wicked’s leads these guys work well together, with some lovely duets during the performance. Very impressed with Joanne and Ben, can’t fault anything they set out to achieve with this show, simply brilliant.

This is a really good musical with some impressive performances from all the cast, singing and dancing wise. It’s a feel good show, with lots of eighties music, superb dancing throughout and a good storyline.

I’ve seen two fabulous shows today, really glad I’ve had the opportunity to watch both in the same day, with another new show (Flashdance) to add to my growing list of shows I’ve seen.