Annie The Musical

Anyone who knows me well will know that I love musicals. And anyone who knows me extra well will know that one of my favourite musicals is Annie. However, I've never actually seen Annie, it has only ever been on my bucket list.


Well now I can tick that off of my bucket list! When my Mum told me Annie was coming to Bristol and we had tickets I nearly cried. I have been wanting to see Annie ever since I got the film for Easter instead of a chocolate egg as a kid. 


I went to see it with my Mum and my (kind of) step sister. We sat down eagerly for the show with drinks in one hand and Malteasers in the other. The show opened with 'Maybe' where Annie is reading, or singing, the letter her parents gave to her before they left her at the orphanage.


The character of Annie is lively, positive and never afraid to stick up for herself. She meets many people along the way and always brings hope and smiles. She is longing to find her parents but instead ends up adopted by a rich billionaire who gives her the dream life.


My favourite scene in the musical was probably when they sang 'Hard Knock Life'. The kids did an incredible job on it singing and dancing and the actress who was playing Annie had an absolutely phenomenal voice. I also really liked the scene where Annie found Sandy the dog. The dog playing Sandy was so adorable! Every now and then throughout the musical Sandy would run across the stage, as if to be looking for Annie, and every time Sandy did everybody in the audience went 'Awww'. My only issues were that they didn't sing 'Dumb Dog' or 'Sandy' so I assume they were only meant for the film.


As a tap dancer it also made me smile when they had tap dancing! When Annie goes to the theatre for the first time they watch a film where the sailors and sailor girls are tap dancing. The tap dancer in me was bouncing in my seat!


Our seats were in the perfect place and the most excellent view but unfortunately there was a man sat behind us who kept burping and belching! And when I say belching I mean proper throwing up, sicky burps style. Yuck. So unfortunately I spent the whole time feeling like I was getting burped on and having that noise in the background throughout.



If you ever get the chance to see the musical Annie I highly recommend it. If not, I certainly recommend watching one of the films. It is the perfect family musical and it makes you really appreciate child actors. They must put so much hard work into their performances which is amazing as a child!



What is your favourite musical? Let me know!

Waterstones | Book Haul

Hey!

On Monday I went shopping (alone which wasn't half as fun) and one place I stopped off was Waterstones. I have loved and adored books as far as I can remember and they've always played a big part in my life so my boyfriend and sister knew what they were doing when they bought me gift cards for Waterstones. In total I had £30 to spend in Waterstones so I had fun spending an hour in there picking out 4 books to get.

First of all I spotted 'The Bane Chronicles' by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan and Maureen Johnson. For those of you who don't know, Magnus Bane is a character from The Mortal Instruments series and The Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare. I absolutely loved The Mortal Instruments and Magnus Bane is a flamboyant, bubbly character everyone loves from the books. The Bane Chronicles is a mix of stories from his life which I completely forgot was going to be published until I spotted it in the shop. So as a fan, I quickly picked up this book.

Next I picked up 'Dark Places' by Gillian Flynn. I was originally looking for 'The Girl on the Train' by Paula Hawkins as I heard it was similar to the famous and popular 'Gone Girl' by Gillian Flynn which turned out to be one of my top favourite books of all time. I couldn't find 'The Girl on the Train' no matter how hard I looked which was frustrating but I did see 'Dark Places' which, as you can see, is also by Gillian Flynn. Because I loved 'Gone Girl' so much I decided I would pick this one up to see what it was like instead.


Then I found 'Annie' by Thomas Meehan. You may all know the musical Annie with the famous song 'Hard-knock Life' and this is the book it is based on. I have loved the musical from a very young age when my Mum bought the DVD and it had been on my bucket list since to see it at the theatre. And luckily, I finally am going to see it at the Bristol Hippodrome at the end of the year. So I thought I would read the classic book in the mean time whilst I wait to tick seeing the musical off of my bucket list. :-)


Last of all I picked up the famous classic 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' with 'Through the Looking Glass' by Lewis Carroll. For many years I have been in love with quotes and illustrations from the book. I can't quite put my finger on it but I am so inspired by 'Alice in Wonderland' to the point where I want an 'Alice in Wonderland' tattoo and would quite happily have a 'Alice in Wonderland' themed wedding! When I was younger I used to cover my bedroom wall in quotes and would learn them off by heart. The films are pretty great too. But anyway, I didn't actually have the book in my possession so thought it was good time to get it so I can read it and gaze at the beautiful illustrations all day.


So there we have it! Even though I've got a million books to read already, you can never have too many books...even when your bookcase is over flowing like mine!

What book are you reading right now? Let me know!