Q. What is BB?
It is very much about the music with little attempt (more when on tour) to follow the plot of the film. For your money you get the 'Blues Brothers', the Bluettes (backing singers/dancers who also have their own numbers), an impressively talented band (the brass section thrown in for free *grin*) and if you're lucky a couple of techs wondering around the stage. To sum it up... 2hrs of music and sketches, superbly performed.
A. For the myriad of you that have seen it, you know, but for the few of you that haven't, it's basically a musical with no plot; better than it may sound to you sceptics! It is based on the music sung by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi while performing as their alter-egos Elwood and Jake Blues.
Q. How did the unlikely Gummis get into it?
It was SUPPOSED to be a 4hr drive. It wasn't - 8hrs after setting off we arrive, a little the worse for wear, in Copenhagen. The saving grace of the journey was the abundance of Gummi Bears and Blues Brothers CDs. The driver (otherwise known as Nick) wasn't so sure, but we were quite happy bouncing along in the back seat. The car probably still has the imprints of Gummi Bears stuck to the window. When will the world learn that Gummi bears (of all varieties) and confined spaces don't mix?! *squeak*
Anyways a little trouble with tickets, finally resolved by Nick and a lovely girl called Camille, allows the rest of us to bump into Paul McGee and Mark Lawson, otherwise known as the Blues Brothers. Anna also spots a guy in a BB tshirt with a suspiciously saxaphone-shaped case who later turns out to be Ollie Weston. We see the show... simple enough - we love it. The funniest moment being Mark and McGoo asking for a 15mm "schrempsscroigner" and a "ventapist" *. These two must be the only non-fluent Danish speakers who can say this phrase with confidence! (We also later learn that no other city fits 'Living in America' better).
*Apologies to all native Danes about the phonetic spelling!
Q. What happened next?
Moving on slowly (due to the lack of cash - thank you Euro Rocky Tour), we find ourselves in Bromley. This is the first time we see the UK Tour. We have a horrid feeling it might be the last, until a lovely Scouse man/hamster (later to be known as Richie) tells us they're coming to London for a run. We manage to meet everyone from the cast and several techs *grin*. Anna, having no shame, convinces Gert (sound tech) that it would be a good idea to swap t-shirts (it is A LOT less sexually depraved than it sounds... which is a shame!!) The show rocks... we know we're staying!
Being the independent types that we are we make the conscious decision to head north(ish) to Leicester to see the show once more before it ends. This would have been a foolproof plan had it not been for the train times. We end up spending the day (the longggg day) in Leicester eating Tortilla chips, dip and teacakes (to this day we shudder at the sight of them) and playing the newly acquired 'Pass the Pigs'. (Since this trip both pigs have passed on as such... one into the depths of the infamous purple fluffy bag and one into a bush somewhere in Leicester, where Jules has thrown it after being beaten for 3hrs on the trot. *ahem*, no pun intended).
Finally we get to see the show. This is probably, still to date, the most moving show we've ever seen. We find ourselves mysteriously in the front row (this IS row E, but who are we to question ???) and establish what are to become 'our seats' - technically A20 & 21. No one in the audience sits down after Flip Flop Fly and there is even a Rockyesque moment in UBW when everyone gets their lighters out. We are suitably chuffed after the show when everyone gets confused because they thought we were 'the Bromley lot' and therefore shouldn't be in Leicester. This is the moment we point out the little escapade to Denmark and all is understood (Ahh! London!). We bid our goodbyes on the understanding that we shall shortly be seeing them all at the Whitehall, which after all is handily located in our hometown, London.
There is a freaky moment when we get 'home' (actually Vicky and David's): we walk through the door and bump into Adam, look at each other and say 'Graham' (there's a funny story behind this one, but sadly Jules is not permitted to say..!). Anna's family do bear an uncanny resemblance to members of the band... we're still looking for a Richie look alike though!!!
The first week, we were there (having heavily berated Jules' ex-journalist father for being, well, EX-journalist so that we missed out on the press night... which incidentally led to crap reviews [the press night that is not our absence... though we do like to think...!]). Our first thought on entering the theatre was how much like the Playhouse it was - similarly tiny basically, which sadly meant NO TECHS at the beginning. Still, the real techs were all there of course (and here was born the desire to feed Gert ice-cream in his sound-box... *ahem*). Asides from that the format was pretty much the same, as obviously were the cast. Sadly 'From the Bottom' (much amusing line-dancing involved!) was cut owing to lack of space, and 'The Old Landmark' was majorly sobered-up (no more straddle jumps from Gareth, ahhh). But wahey, it rocked, even though the theatre was going to take some getting used to. But we did, spent a very happy few months there and were even foolish enough to don our heels once more and head up to Nottingham for the first night of the Spring tour 2002.
Q. *Another* tour?!
Chichester was one of the highest points of the tour - a great theatre revealing the previously undiscovered joys of Blues Brothers "in the round" and with the dancing duo Dave & Richie leaving us in giggles on the floor. Richie later proved himself to be King of Karate & High-Kicks with his Dancing Hamster routine, and the Scouse elbow will never be forgotten.
The tour finished at one of our favourite venues, Leicester's De Montfort Hall. We decided to honour the occasion and strip. Almost. It caused considerable amusement (them) and embarrassment (us) leaving a certain guitarist blushing - bless. As always at the end there were many prolonged goodbyes keeping Anna's dad waiting an indecent length of time. Not that that was the only thing indecent about the night..! However we managed to drag ourselves away before the dawn chorus set in after a memorable evening, on which Sarge's presence - along with the really gorgeous sound tech accompanying him - (AWOL from Godspell) brought things full circle.
Okay, that's it for the moment, the rest to follow shortly if you do, for some insane reason, want to read more about our lives...!
A. It's a funny story... we were minding our own business in February of 2001 planning a trip to Hamburg to see Rocky (the *other* love in our life) when we clubbed together with this bizarre couple we'd only met twice before (no, they didn't try to sell us into the white slave trade as was at one point feared) and decided to all go together to Hamburg. There was one small condition to this arrangement: we make a small detour to Copenhagen, just for the day, to see BB. We had no real objection, we couldn't see Rocky that day, so off we went.
A. A great deal. One night in Copenhagen just wasn't enough - though it would have been longer if Nick hadn't threatened to ban us from Gummi Bears for the rest of the trip...
A. Yes, the Whitehall indeed... basically, from late April to October 13th 2001 the show became a *pretty* major part of our lives (well, we thought we might as well take advantage of it being so close on such a 'permanent' basis!).
A. Yes, another tour, and another fabulous job done by all involved. It started well when we managed to pleasantly surprise poor innocent (hah) MD Sarge on the first night by hurling ourselves shamelessly at him across the sound desk. Brad attacking us with the microphone was not so well received however, and we were forced to spend the rest of the tour's preshows hiding a long way back with Gert.