Literally, come alive!
Words / Lou Andrews
Sometimes you just know you’re living in a future memory...
Dose of Dopamine is usually where me and Lax find the funniest things possible and laugh ourselves silly for hours on end whilst putting it together for you! However, this one is different! It’s different, because I have just been to see Come Alive, The Greatest Showman at The Empress Museum...and I am so ramped-up that I am writing this in the car on the way home! Yes, it’s that good! So, grab your popcorn, follow me back into the bright lights of the big top tonight and I will tell you why...
Even from the 10 minute wait in the queue outside of the Empress Museum, you can literally feel the magic beginning to evolve, casting a hypnotic spell over any nearby dwellers. There are staff outside dressed in full-on circus attire checking tickets and a happy swirl of laughter and conversation amongst the eager crowd.
Upon entry, you are at once immersed into the ambiance of what is to come. You are faced with a cocktail bar filled to the brim of showman themed cocktails…the ‘Showman Royale’ was a good, but brutal choice! Above the bar there is a giant silhouette light (similar to the one Hugh Jackman gave his daughters in the movie), ricochetting a dazzling dance of lights around the room.
...we walked through a mini-street echoing some of the scenes from the movie. It was littered with more circus-themed joy in the shape of a fortune teller, acrobats, stalls selling merch and a little haven where you can get face jewellery and cowboy hats etc.
As we continued, we were drawn into a mini side tent which was buzzing with the presence of a circus juggler performing some impressive little tricks, people cheered as he interacted with the audience all whilst juggling about 6 batons in the air! Next, we walked through a mini-street echoing some of the scenes from the movie. It was littered with more circus-themed joy in the shape of a fortune teller, acrobats, stalls selling merch and a little haven where you can get face jewellery and cowboy hats etc. My two kids obviously got the face jewellery and of course somehow some of them ended up on myself and my partner...and in various other places around the house for weeks on end after! It’s a given with kids!
Finally, it was time to take our seats for the show and my kids were now buzzing with excitement! The circus tent is not massive - which creates the feeling that you are somehow involved in the show...little did I know that later we would be!
It was dark for a moment, almost the perfect calm before the inevitable musical storm brewing. And then just like that it exploded...lights, music, acrobatics, cast members in the audience, people cheering! I honestly couldn’t tell you who was doing what or even what song was first because from that first moment, I was hooked on the feeling!
As soon as ‘Come Alive’ began, pretty much the whole audience were joining in singing and clapping...and that is the way it stayed throughout – a beautiful chaotic palette blended with top class performers, singers, actors, dancers and let’s not forget the band. There isn’t a stitch out of place in this very well-crafted tapestry. They were all simply incredible...oh and what I didn’t realise until much later (as I was so distracted!) is that the cast were the very same people that were entertaining the crowds before the show!
Simon Bailey played the part of the showman, and he nailed it. He managed to project that same charismatic swagger and enthusiasm that Hugh Jackman did in the movie and his vocals sliced through the crowd like a hot knife through butter. Like I said, everyone in that show was simply brilliant, however, there was one vocalist that stole a corner of my heart, being an ex-performer myself. That man was Jaz Ellington. He duetted on ‘Never Enough’ which is one of my favourites and no easy feat to sing. His power and vocal range is off the scale! Honestly, that man’s voice has such a beautiful earthy tone that it resonated through my soul like the natural after-tremors of a seismic wave! Simply moving!
And then just like that it was all over. The dust began to settle and as the sounds of the bustling circus became mere echoes in the distance, I was hit with a sobering realisation – this show is exactly where you can go to get an intravenous hit of pure joy straight to your veins...this IS the vital dose of dopamine that so many of us are in need of!
I have left there tonight with a sore throat from singing and cheering, red hands from clapping too hard and bruised thighs because I was hitting them like drums! It’s the sort of place where you can go and just leave your inhibitions at the door, you are there for one reason and that is to lose your soul to the thrill of the performance.
It’s way more than you would ever get from simply going to a theatre show…and I know they are doing a Greatest Showman theatre show…but I’m sorry chaps…you can’t top this!
Sometimes in life we forget to embrace those opportunities to just let our hair down and forget the outside world, and I think we all need that from time to time, don’t we?
This, for me, was one of those life experiences that you simply don’t want to miss. We spend so much time rushing around and not living for the here and now…Come Alive …. you stole my heart and etched upon it a lifetime memory for me and my kids...and that my friends is priceless.
Lou x