Ever since I’d seen the Rocky Horror Show at His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen back in 2006, I’d wanted to see it again.

I, along with my sister, one of my cousins and one of my best friends all headed to the theatre to see the show this time around. I’d booked early and had managed to snag 3rd row seats for us (given the small size of the theatre, these are practically on the stage).

On arriving at the theatre and purchasing a programme, we discovered that David Bedella wouldn’t be performing in this show and instead, the part of Frank-N-Furter would be played by Stuart Ellis. I must say, I was a bit disappointed by this as I thought David was brilliant back in 2006 and I was looking forward to seeing him play the part again. Nevertheless Stuart did a fantastic job stepping into the role.

The show started bang on 7.30pm, with the band bursting into life for the opening number, “Science Fiction Double Feature”. Hilarity ensued from there onwards.

Just in case you didn’t know, Rocky Horror Show is one of the few shows where you are allowed to shout back at the actors on the stage (at appropriate times of course). There were some absolute crackers in Aberdeen tonight . Now I know that my family read my blog, so I’ll refrain from putting some of the ruder callouts on here. Anyway, here are some of the funny moments-

Columbia: I loved you, I loved you and what did you give me?
Audience Member: Herpes!

Rocky: Is it true that you that you don’t like men with big muscles Janet?
Audience Member: Just one big one!

Gerrard Kelly (narrator) to loud, obnoxious audience member: “You’re sitting in the dark surrounded by 2000 strangers. I’m on stage with a microphone. God has a plan, you’re not in it. Zip it!”

I wasn’t really sure what was going on during “There’s a Light” as I heard a bit of a commotion in the middle of the stalls. As it turns out, some idiots sitting in the dress circle had brought water pistols to simulate the rain for the scene. Totally inappropriate for the theatre.

I think the funniest part in the show was the bedroom scene between Brad and Frank-N-Furter. Again I’m not going to go into great detail other than that there was a great deal of hilarity because someone coughed up a hairball. Mid delivery of a line, Brad guffawed with laughter. Midway through the scene Riff Raff popped in and he was on the verge of laughter too. The audience was in hysterics (and I was crying with laughter). It’s the first time I’ve seen actors crack up like that on stage

At the end, there was a encore, where the audience had to do the Time Warp (I think everyone knows the dance). Fantastic party atmosphere!  One question though: how can the men on stage dance in such high heels?!  It’s not fair- I can’t even walk in the bloomin’ things

Overall the evening was absolutely brilliant though and I’ll be there next time the show comes back!

Mood : chipper   Music : Time Warp  by  Rocky Horror Show Cast

Before I start on the main part of the review, I should mention that I actually wrote the majority of this aboard one of the last trains departing Aberdeen station.

So yes,I went to His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen to see High School Musical being performed on stage.  Yes I, Lynsay Shepherd, who constantly made fun of the whole “brand” went to see it.  Stop laughing.  Stop laughing right now.  In order to regain some of my “street cred”, I actually planned on purchasing 2 tickets- one for my mum and one for my sister, as Christmas presents.  However, they didn’t want the tickets as presents: they just wanted to go anyway.  I felt a little left out so I bought a ticket for myself too.  No, really!

We arrived in Aberdeen a little early and decided to head straight to the theatre, getting there with more than enough time to spare.

The doors opened at 7.30pm so we thought it would be best just to queue, rather than wandering off in search of food.  Besides, we weren’t that hungry.  Have to say that I’m glad that we just stayed put because before long, the foyer at the front of the theatre was absolutely packed.  There were a lot of kids there and I was beginning to think we were the oldest people there (thankfully, we weren’t).

Oh, one random thing happened when we were queuing- one of the cast members was snaking her way through the crowd- no idea who she was!

After queuing for about 30 mins, we got into the main area of the theatre and took our seats in row I, 9 rows from the stage (I was in seat I18, not that anybody really needed to know that…).

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the show as I hadn’t watched the film before hand (although I was well aware of the hype surrounding it).  I knew that it was a Disney production, therefore it was probably going to be cheesy and squeaky clean.

The lights dimmed at 8pm and there was an offstage announcement, referring to the audience members as “Wildcats”.  The fun and games were about to begin…..

I don’t have a clue what the name of all the musical numbers were (a number of the tunes are still stuck in my head though) but the singers were fantastic.  The choreography was excellent as well, particularly during a scene when all the guys were playing basketball- really well done.  Think the song was called “Get’Cha Head in the Game”.  If someone had dropped a ball, that song could have gone awry!  Should also mention that the guy who played Troy was gorgeous- reminded me of a young Paul Gross (at a glance).

Another great song was “Stick To The Status Quo”-dancing on the tables and air cello- great stuff

There was a really funny bit that totally cracked me up during the “Drama detention scene”. Basically, the class teacher was making the students pretend to be animals.  At the front of the stage, one of the pupils was pretending to be an earthworm.  I can’t really describe the way he moved but it was genius (note: I believe the move is called an “Inch Worm”- google it.  I really wanna try and do what that guy did!

The finale was fantastic- a ton of foil streamers were shot from the roof.  Remember I said there were a lot of kids in the audience?  Well all these kids ran into the centre aisle of the theatre and started fighting over the masses of foil which covered the floor.  Really funny.  I loved the foil as well- shiney!

I tried to phone my friend at the end, to let him hear the finale but a steward came in my direction and said no mobile phones.  I thought he ws talking to me but I realised it was directed at the woman sitting 2 seats down from me who was taking pictures.  Fool.

After that, we had a freezing walk through Aberdeen, back to the train station.  The driver of the train was really nice though- he started the train up especially for us and let us on because it was so bloody cold.  We sat on the train for about 45 minutes before we departed.

So yes, after all that, I’m ashamed to admit that I’m now a High School Musical fan- a lot of fun .

…wait, did I just confirm that in writing?

“Wild cats everywhere , wave your hands up in the air”

Mood : bouncy   Music : Breaking Free  by  High School Musical Cast