The Light Princess

As a New Year's Eve treat we saw the Light Princess.  It's a new musical on at the National Theatre. I had no idea what it was going to be about, only that Tori Amos had written the music/words to it. Sometimes it's nice to go into a show with no expectations. It's a fairy tale based loosely on an 1840's novel about a princess who has lost her sense of gravity, hence the lightness.  Then there is the usual musical love story between star-crossed lovers.  It was pretty good, not as good as Matilda or Wicked, but probably deserves a chance on the West End.

What was particularly great about it was the staging.  Instead of having the princess on wires the whole way through, they had these 4 acrobats which would hold her aloft and manipulate her so it looked like she was floating.  Throughout all of this she was belting out her songs.  The princess was definitely the star of the show, her and the acrobats. There were some catchy tunes too, some reviewers didn't like it, but it was a sell-out when we saw it, and the audience was definitely enchanted. I would give it a go if you can't get into Matilda or Wicked and feel like a fairy-tale.  The only thing I would wish for was that the princess be a bit more pro-active in things.  She was definitely one for being rescued rather than getting out there and doing things.  That was a little annoying because they were pretty close with that, she definitely talked a lot about doing things, she just never actually achieved them.

As a double bonus when we went to see it the Landscape Photography Awards were being exhibited at the same time.  So after the show we could just go upstairs and take a look at some beautiful landscapes.  Weirdly it was sponsored by National Rail, not my idea of a beautiful addition to landscapes.  It was all places in the UK too, which I quite liked.  It's hard for the UK to compete against the wilderness of New Zealand, say, or the majesty of places in Europe, so just to have them by themselves allowed you to appreciate the UK more.  And there are certainly some pretty places in this country.  It's on until February and is free, so if you find yourself in the area I definitely recommend it.