The Sunday Post (#13)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It's a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

I've been a bit busy lately, so this is two weeks' worth of Sunday Post.

Book stuff this week on Girl!Reporter
Fortunately...the Milk by Neil Gaiman (review)
Book of the month - June 2013
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (review)
Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter (review)

Non-book stuff this week on Girl!Reporter
Theatre review: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Music review: Michael Buble at The O2
 
Coming up next week on Girl!Reporter
I'm sort of going to be taking a mini-hiatus over the next month (Ramadan beckons) so my posting will be sporadic, but there should be some reviews coming through.

What have you been up to? 

Review: Michael Buble To Be Loved tour at The O2

Now Michael Buble is a man who knows how to put on a show, so much so that he's doing a 10 night residency at The O2.

The sold-out crowd at the North Greenwich venue on the fourth night of the To Be Loved tour were already excited before Buble came out, and things got hotter (literally) when flames burst out of the stage and the singer appeared, sliding (he must have special shoes) into place to sing Fever.

The show is a mix of Buble songs, and covers, with my favourite being a version of one of the summer's hottest songs - Get Lucky by Daft Punk. Trust me, it works, especially as Buble called on (phenomenal, go check them out) support act Naturally 7 to accompany him.

The group also work with Buble on a couple of other numbers, performed from a second stage towards the back of The O2 Arena (meaning, apart from the nosebleed seats, that everyone gets a good look at the singer without staring at a screen). Among them was an acapella performance of Michael Jackson's I Want You Back, which is brilliant.

While the acapella is great, Buble is mostly accompanied by a band, and I'm a sucker for people who can play musical instruments well. The band are fantastic, and Buble takes the time to introduce them properly during a long instrumental segment. While Team Buble are all fabulous, I particularly loved the drummer, who played a blinding musical interlude.

Buble's show is largely fun, the crowd (including me) getting on their feet for a lot of numbers, and there's a relaxed vibe throughout, with Buble sliding around a massive stage, parts of which move up and down, and with big screens projecting various images (some of the graphics feel a bit Gatsby-esque). There are some quieter moments, but they're still uplifting, such as when Buble sings Home, with a video projected onto the giant screen showing various people.

And then it livens back up again for the final segment of the main show, almost into a frenzy as thousands of red and white paper hearts flutter down from the ceiling and Buble sings numbers including The Beatles' All You Need Is Love, and his own It's A Beautiful Day.

Of course, he does come back out for an encore, the most impressive bit of which is the final number, A Song For You. Unexpectedly at the end of the song Buble steps away from the microphone and sings with just a piano accompanying him. If you're watching this at future shows, don't cheer (or you'll drown him out), just listen as Buble's voice fills up the arena, reminding you why you're a fan in the first place.

Review: The Nutcracker at The O2

Picture: Nigel Norrington

December has been a month of variety at The O2. Megastar Rihanna entertained thousands earlier this month, but the venue is currently playing host to a rather quieter show - and one that involves its stars wearing a lot more clothing.

Following the success earlier this year of The Royal Ballet's Romeo and Juliet, The O2 is having a second go at ballet by hosting the Birmingham Royal Ballet's production of The Nutcracker.

Telling the story of Clara, who dreams a Nutcracker doll she has been given is brought to life, the ballet is full of gorgeous dance sequences, stunning costumes and scenery, and the magic that makes many a little girl want to be a ballerina.

Seeing a ballet in an arena is, I imagine, very different to seeing it in a smaller theatre, but having never seen a ballet before it's all a new experience. What strikes me first is the diverse crowd, from older couples to ballet aficionados to cute little girls dressed in their pink tutus.

The large venue barely distracts from what is happening on stage. The sound of the fantastic orchestra carries throughout the arena, and despite the crowd of people surrounding me I feel like I'm the only one in the room, caught up in the world of Clara, the Nutcracker doll, the King of the rats, the magician Drosselmeyer and a host of dancers.

The set changes are brilliant, as the scene goes from Clara's living room to a battleground where the rats fight the toy soldiers. It all seems so smoothly and easily done, you can forget there's probably a dozen people backstage and months of work that have gone into it all. The highlight of act one is the closing sequence, after the Nutcracker has come back to life as the handsome Prince and leads Clara into the land of snow. With snow falling from the rafters the scene is set perfectly for a magical second act.

When the ballet reopens Clara, and the audience, are transported to a fantastic world conjured up by Drosselmeyer, who shows off dancers from different lands before turning Clara into the Sugar Plum Fairy. Barely has one round of applause finished before another starts, letting the dancers know their (jawdropping) talents are appreciated. When Clara wakes up by the fire, her dream ended, it's hard not to let out a sigh of disappointment that it's all over.

Although this is a brilliant production, it does have one major flaw - the depth of the stage. With The O2 arena being such a large venue, it comes with a huge stage, the front quarter of which is ignored for 98 per cent of the production. The vast amount of space between the dancers and the orchestra distracts me, and I spend a lot of time wishing the action would move to the front. The Birmingham Royal Ballet's production of The Nutcracker played to audiences in its home city before coming to The O2, and perhaps the stage there was not so deep. Here, I didn't see the point in having such a large space if it wasn't going to be used used properly. The wasted depth at the front also meant that I was forced to watch some of the action at the back of the stage on the large video screen, which I would have preferred not to do.

Despite its flaws overall this was a great introduction to ballet, and it made me want to see more productions, albeit next time in a more intimate venue.


The Nutcracker is at The O2 until December 30. For more information and to buy tickets click here.