[meerkat]

[topic="Zanna, Don't"]Upstairs @The Gatehouse pub, Highgate[/topic]

Just to let you know from the outset- I have no financial or family interest in this show - I saw the cast perform at West End live and on Saturday night I went to see them.

The show runs until Sunday 5 July. Performances are Tues - Sat @ 8pm and Sun @ 4pm.
Tickets are a bargain at £10-£15

The Gatehouse pub has a pretty mock tudor facade and has a beergarden and food so you can make an evening of it. You can walk from Highgate tube but we found it easier to get a bus from Archway tube ( Northern Line) The Box office and theatre is upstairs- ( Upstairs @ The Gatehouse !)
It has nothing to do with Xanadu by the way!!!!!
It is written by Tim Acito and Alexander Dinelaris and has won awards.

Refreshingly these days it is not a jukebox musical and it does have a storyline and a message, or two.

It has a cast of 12- all young- a 3 piece band- and clever use of props. Like the Landor, the theatre space is intimate with unreserved seating. In the interval you can go downstairs to the bar or get icecreams in the room next door with settees ( sort of like an old fashioned youth club room- sweet!)

The musical is mostly set in the high school locker rooms and a local bar.
The twist to this teenage "romance" musical is that the world they inhabit is one where to be in a minority is the norm. So the Chess club nerdy geek is the high school hero, everyone is a vegetarian and homosexual and to drink soft drinks in the bar is not considered strange.
( since two of those categories apply to me you can begin to see why I liked this tale)

The main storyline is about the matchmaking of Zanna ( Mike Shearer)- a sort of Fairy Godmother, narrated by DJ Tankman ( Naseem Crowe )
of girls with girls and boys with boys. To find out what happens you will have to go and watch.
However Zanna's altruistic act at the end is touching.

Its a lively musical- with refreshing original catchy tunes.
If you are part of the musical theatre/ drama school world you will appreciate the warm up exercises and the finger click moments.

The whole cast is talented ( an amazing scene is the "Fast" one) my personal favourites were Zanna-Mike Shearer, Roberta- Bonnie Hurst and Tankman- Naseem Crowe-- ( gorgeous voice only really shown off at end)

So my advice is catch it while you can.

[Weez]

Thanks to you and Miriam, I have just booked. Alas, can't make it until July, but hey, it's nearly July now! And at least I'm just catching it, as opposed to just missing it, right? :3