Tag Archives: NYE

Is It Cool To Hate Andrew Lloyd Webber?

Posted on April 8, 2010 | Leave a comment

Don’t get me wrong, I think the Lord has done some pretty stupid things in his time, (*cough* Woman in White *bleurgh*) but for some reason a few blunders in the naughties have made a lot of people forget the wonder of ALW in the eighties.

Can we have a moment for Evita? Phantom of the Opera? Jesus Christ Superstar? Joseph? (apparently the most popular of his shows even though I hate it) CATS?!?

Okay okay, so he went a bit mental and produced Bombay Dreams… and we shan’t mention Woman in White any more than we have to… and he’s taken to parading his questionable mug on reality TV of late, but you can’t deny the man is a genius. Really Useful own some of the best theatres in the West End; the Palladium, the Palace, Drury Lane etc, and he’s ROLLING in it, Phantom in Coney Island stylee.

I may not like to look at his face, but I have a heck of a lot of respect for Andrew Lloyd Webber. If it wasn’t for him (and Cats, so let’s give TS Elliot a tiny bit of credit) I wouldn’t be where I am today.

So anyway, this is why I get a little bit agitated when people slag him off (not me, I do it with love) considering that they probably wouldn’t be in their jobs either without ALW. It’s an unwritten rule that pretty much anyone who’s anyone in this business has worn a RUG waistcoat and torn a few tickets at some point in their lives. This evening I caught up with NYE for a quick bite. I walked down to Covent Garden after work to meet him after his hairdressers appointment.

Foolishly, I forgot that NYE is the biggest Metro in the world and so I was waiting for ages while his stylist cut his hair follicle at a time, I swear.

We nipped into the nearest place, which happened to be a steakhouse – joy for the vegetarian – and got onto the subject of the industry. Obviously. I mean, what else do me and NYE talk about? If we didn’t we might have to cover the whole underlying sexual tension thing and nobody wants to do that! Anyway, talking about my new job and whatnot, I mentioned that in my career so far I’d encountered just about every producer worth their salt and if I stay with my current company (which I intend to do) I’ll probably get to work with all of them at some point in the next ten years, paving the way for my glorious takeover of the West End in the 20′s. Then I said the only one I hadn’t really worked with at all was Andrew Lloyd Webber. NYE responded; ‘Ugh, would you want to?’ in an incredulous tone, and then proceeded to go off on an anti Lloyd Webber rant.

Um… yes?

NYE, I love him dearly, but he runs a tiny little production company barely breaking even and works for an agent with practically no one on their books. I have no doubt that the future holds great things for him, but if he continues to diss the bigwigs he’s going to end up pissing the wrong person off.

NUMBER ONE RULE IN THE WEST END: Everyone knows EVERYONE. You have to beso careful what you say and who you say it to!

These are words of wisdom NYE. Sort it out man.

Anyhow, I’m actually in my bed now so I’m going to close my eyes and let my laptop fall to the floor. Just cleaned the house MANICALLY as Sneezey Kate (insert better name later roomie) is coming to visit this weekend and we’re going to go see hippies get naked in Hair tomorrow night.

Sweet dreams!

RitziCx

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Happy New Year!

Posted on January 1, 2010 | Leave a comment

Well well well, Happy New Year all!

I know I’ve been shockingly absent for a few weeks – have been having the most wonderfully relaxing time on a good old English Country Break. There was snow, and a log fire, and long walks in Wellington Boots and lots and lots of good food!

Did everyone have a wonderful yuletidey time? I do hope you all did :)

When it came to New Years resolutions this year I was slightly more involved than most, because of the whole turn of the decade thing. I thought about it quite a lot, and came to the horrifying conclusion that in 10 years time I am going to be… well… old. (Not that being old is such a bad thing!!!) But I decided to make a load of resolutions to be completed in the next ten years as well. Such as…

Learn to speak another language… fluently!

Read a whole host of books I’ve always meant to read but never gotten around to it (War and Peace, Les Miserables, Great Expectations and many others)

Travel outside Europe more (Austrailia, New Zealand, Canada etc) and don’t just travel for work (ie go to places other than NYC and LA!)

And plenty of others, because this decade is going to be a good one, I’m sure of it!

In regards to New Years Resolutions, I’m often afraid to make ones like ‘lose weight’ or ‘go to the gym more’ or ‘stop drinking coffee’ because those are the ones that always fail! I don’t really need to lose weight, I’ve kept myself in pretty good shape the last few years and I’ll hopefully be able to keep it that way. I don’t get time to go to the gym very much, so that one would be doomed to failure anyway! And as for coffee… well, it’s basically my life force. And I got a shiny new espresso machine for Christmas, and have a cupboard filled with exotic coffee beans, so that’s just never going to happen. I did however, decide;

To give up starbucks. (ARGH!)

To be more Spontaneous!

To be more promiscuous (I’ll explain that one in a sec)

To go to Ireland. I’ve never been – and I’m sure one day I will marry an Irishman!

To cook something new every week.

To go for more walks and remember life exists outside of London.

The lists went on for days but I’m thinking these are the most important ones that aren’t too ridiculous! Let me explain my new attitude toward sex.

Now, after a year of heartache and emotional trauma, I’ve decided that I’ve spent far too much time getting involved and not enough time living for me. I’m not going to find the kind of man I see myself ending up with in my current environment – most of my relationships, or possibilities of relationships in the past few years have been actors, dancers, techies and most recently… TVboy. I had thought he was different – because I’d sworn off actors etc, but turns out he was pretty disappointing too! So I’ve decided to bite the bullet and realise that since I am surrounded by the kind of men who only want one thing, I’d do better bringing myself round to their way of thinking than trying to change their attitudes. It’s not like I’m going to marry any of them!

So with this in mind, I am setting myself the challenge of not getting too involved and of having a bit of good old fashioned fun. In the words that I shall use all the more often this year – WHY THE HELL NOT?

With this in mind, I met a man this weekend in a theatre bar in Covent Garden – he’s a young rogueish actor who was wearing braces and a tilted trilby, and invited me along to see his play. Why the hell not, eh? I’ll keep you posted.

Happy New Decade everybody! 2010 is going to be a hell of a year, full steam ahead into the teenies!

RitziCx

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You Can Teach Me How To WHAT???

Posted on December 18, 2009 | 1 Comment

This will make you laugh… or cry. I haven’t quite decided how I feel about it yet!

A few days ago I went to visit a good friend and colleague (who I accidentally bumped faces with last new years eve) in a slightly questionable area of south London. He and his girlfriend (yes – she was also his girlfriend last new years eve. SHAME ON US!) live in a beautiful flat – all modern and warm and cosy, with the cutest little kitten you have ever seen and really secure electric gates all around the little complex. The problem is, to get to this lovely little bit of real estate, you have to walk through said questionable area.

So I got off the train with the rest of the city types, all brief cases and suits, and felt relatively safe. Then, as I followed NYE’s simple directions and turned left at the traffic lights, I noticed that there was a severe lack of suited folk and significantly more loitering suspicious folk.

After a minute or two walking down the road, I realised a guy was following me on a bike. He started talking and I couldn’t understand him at first because his accent was so strong, but as I walked and he kept pace with me I began to realise that he was in fact talking to me.

“Do you live around here my love?” he asked, his glittering eyes peeking out from under the rim of a black, woolen beany hat.

“No, I don’t. I’m visiting a friend.” I said in reply, nice and polite but firm as well – in the tone that basically says; ‘so bugger off and leave me alone you weirdo, or my big, strong, male friend will kick your arse.’

Undeterred, the guy kept following me. “Will you show me where you live?” he asked, slowing down so he was following behind me now. I ignored him this time, because I could see the gates of NYE’s complex so I was feeling a little safer.

He was still lagging behind and kept calling comments after me.

“You’re beautiful, you know,” was the first one. I ignored it again, and let it slide.

“I like watching you walk away – you have a great ass,” came the second. This one confused me a little, because it’s december and I was wearing quite a long, thick coat that didn’t exactly flatter my derriere, but it was bloody warm. Again I ignored it, and because I was almost at the gate and his voice was so distant, I figured I was out harms way.

Then, came this corker;

“Hey beautiful lady, if you come with me I can teach you how to squirt!”

Erm…

YOU CAN WHAT???

I turned and stared, incredulously. The guy – hilariously – still looked hopeful, sitting on his bike waiting for me as if I looked likely to run over and let him rape and murder me. Nice.

In shock and disbelief, I pressed the buzzer to NYE’s place, thankful that the gate unlocked straight away and I could slip through easily.

I got to NYE’s and could still hear the guy chuckling away out in the street.

Had a very lovely evening with NYE, the girlfriend and the kitten who decided to use my £35 legwarmers as a scratching post. Aw bless.

Still reeling from said experience, and needless to say I called good old Addison Lee to give me a lift home to my door.

Any thoughts? Ha!

RitziCx

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