I can't recall if I've blogged before about Tori Amos, so I might have to just start at the beginning and apologise later if I've repeated myself.
My first association with Ms Amos came when my best friend Miranda sent me a mix tape of her songs. I immediately fell in love with her song writing and her unique way of singing, and informed my brother that she was simply amazing. It was then that my brother revealed that he owned one of Ms Amos' most successful and acclaimed albums, Little Earthquakes. I think I 'borrowed' that album for a good few years before I bought my own copy. At least I think I bought my own copy but now I come to think of it the CD I own may well be his. If so, apology number 1 goes to my brother!
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I very much liked what I heard of Ms Amos, but for reasons unknown, whenever Ms Amos toured, I was not Miranda's choice of concert companion. That duty fell to our mutual friend, for anonymity sake, I shall name her Scarlet. Scarlet was never aware of my desire to attend a Tori concert until after Miranda passed away. And so now, whenever Ms Amos makes an appearance in the UK, Scarlet and I always go to see her.
Despite my lack of enthusiasm for musicals, when Tori decided to turn her hand to writing one, I wanted to see it. Something Scarlet thought she might need to convince me to do. So much so that instead of just buying tickets for the musical, Scarlet decided she would only purchase tickets for us to see Tori, and writer Samuel Adamson, give a talk about the show at The National Theatre.
On the day of the talk, I decided that if tickets were still available for that night's show, we would go. And luckily for us, they were! With tickets for the talk and the show in hand, we decided to spend the day in Camden, wandering around the market and having lunch at a delightful diner, funnily enough called The Diner.
After the hearty lunch - mine was pancakes as I felt like having breakfast for dinner, and Scarlet's was a huge burger - we headed to the National for the talk. Tori and Samuel talked to Paul Gambaccini about their reasons for taking on the project, how they found working together to be easier than they thought it would be, their similar approaches to the work, and then they took questions from the audience. For videos and more information please visit the Tori fan site http://www.undented.com/.
It was an insightful look into the musical and I for one was incredibly pleased to have tickets for the show that night, as it gave us an insight we might otherwise have forgotten by the time we saw the show. We had a quick intermission in order to quench our thirst and as we took our seats in the auditorium we realised that two rows in front of us was Tori and her family! It hadn't even occurred to us that she would stay to watch the show. We could not believe we were seeing the show with her, and this just made the whole thing even more special.
During the first half of The Light Princess we discover that the princess in question, Althea, is floaty light; she becomes light hearted rather than allowing herself to be filled with sadness over the death of her mother. Without sad emotions keeping her grounded, she floats up into the sky and has to be tethered to her family with ribbon, so that she does not float away. Meanwhile, across the wilderness, lies another kingdom, this one with a prince, also without a mother. But unlike Althea, Prince Digby has a heavy heart over his loss, and is trained as a soldier to defend his kingdom.
He meets Althea by chance, by a lake that both kingdoms require for sustenance for their people and their land, and they fall in love. But with their kingdoms at war, will the two ever be able to overcome their obstacles and be together? And will Digby be a strong enough pull to keep Althea's feet on the ground?
I am the first to admit that I am not a fan of musicals. Years of being forced to watch little orphan Annie and poor homeless Oliver saw to that. So I didn't love The Light Princess as much as Scarlet did. Having said that, I did like it, which is a lot more than I can say for those ghastly 80s musicals.
The songs (by Ms Amos) were fitting to the theme, and really quite refreshing for a musical, which despite being new, still has to adhere to certain musical theatre rules. And given the difficulties faced by the performers, Rosalie Craig in particular, they really did a stunning job.
I also found that the sets, in particular the way the lake was staged, was really a sight to behold. I had never seen water look this way on stage before and I thought it was a fantastic use of the materials.
If you are a fan of fairy tales, or just looking for something a little bit different, I would highly recommend you see The Light Princess. And if you don't feel a little bit more floaty upon exiting the theatre, you might need a little more light in your life.
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