I loved Ian McKellen 's one man show within the first five minute of it opening
Reading Tolkien with a voice like chocolate he bellowed out his famous Lord Of The Rings shout of
"YOU SHALL NOT PASS " before encouraging the only child in the audience to come on stage to have a Polaroid selfie with Gandalf in his floppy grey hat.
Thus he set the scene for a tribute to his love of theatre,
His love of people
And his love of humour and whimsy
It was a lovely performance by the 80 year old actor who held centre stage for well over two hours with stories ranging from his childhood days in Wigan, his early experiences on the stage, hilarious side swipes at the Queen's dress sense as well as asides into poetry, Northern panto, Shakespeare, gay rights and film.
The audience loves him and it's obvious that he loves the audience just as much and when he described falling in love with an empty theatre's star filled backdrop for the very first time , there wasn't a squeak from the auditorium nor a dry eye in the stalls.
Oooh, I'd love to sit and listen to Sir Ian spin yarns. How nice for you!
ReplyDeleteNot a dry seat in the stalls, more like.
ReplyDeleteYes the demographic was older than I expected
DeleteI never knew he grew up in Wigan. I have learnt something today.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'd loved to have been there with you. Sigh! A night, an amazing person, and a performance to remember forever. Lucky you!
ReplyDeleteHugs!
Now THAT is a man whose life has been well-lived and he is not letting age define who he should be. I admire him so.
ReplyDeleteHe’s awesome. Outstanding actor, too. I love hats he’s absolutely best pals with Patrick Stewart and it’s an absolute riot to see them together.
ReplyDeleteHe was super good looking when he was young, too. Imagine that, looks and talent?
http://www.hintmag.com/blog/may13/hotties/ian-mckellen.jpg
XoXo
He IS one of the greats!
ReplyDeleteI'm in love with his and Sir Patrick's bromance. I would also have loved to have been there. An unforgettable experience, no doubt.
ReplyDeleteI would have loved to be there with you ! Sounds so wonderful.
ReplyDeletecheers, parsnip
I think he's fantastic, and am kinda jealous you got to see him!
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful!
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful that must have been! I wish they would make a recording of this so his fans around the world could see it.
ReplyDeleteHe's a natural. They don't come round that often!
ReplyDeleteGood that you got that ticket for the show at the last minute.
ReplyDeleteHe's.......erm....'okay'. Seen him live on stage several times in various plays as well as doing his one-man 'shows' at least twice. I've found that as he's aged he's been given more and more to mumbling (his TV version of playing Iago in 'Othello' some 30 years ago was a particular downer in that respect) and that is disappointing to say the least for an original theatre actor supposedly trained to project his voice. Very much in the same class as BBC news reader Fiona Bruce, who keeps lowering her voice as though she's speaking in a public library where she doesn't want anyone else to hear (though neither can we!) but everyone's too afraid to tell her to speak up so some of us have to turn on the subtitles. I feel that with McKellan's now stratospheric reputation no one is similarly brave enough to tell him to "Project, dammit!"
ReplyDeleteHowever, I can only trust that last night his voice was relayed to you and the audience to your satisfaction.
He's a lovely man. Lucky you for seeing him live.
ReplyDeleteLucky you! And thankyou for writing about it
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you enjoyed the evening and that it was everything you would have wished it to be.
ReplyDeleteOh John it all sounds wonderful. Wish I could see him.
ReplyDeleteBest review I have read about his show.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds absolutely amazing. I'm glad you got to see him.
ReplyDeleteSir Ian supports The Guild of Little Theatres, and in that capacity, gave up a precious free Saturday evening to come and see a production of The Odd Couple (female version) that I was involved in. The photo of me and him hangs in the hall for all to see.
ReplyDeleteI also saw him in King Lear with his kit off. He has an enormous willy.
Well, you're just about the luckiest duck in the room!
DeleteOhhh errr
DeleteMarvellous stuff! He lived here in Wellington for a fair old while during making of LOTR, as they filmed all three movies together, but it was while I was living down south so I never ran into him. I did try and run into Stephen Fry while he was here for the Hobbit ones, but again no cigar. Ah well!
ReplyDeleteOh you are so lucky to have experienced this!
ReplyDeleteI've loved his work since his role of John Profumo in Scandal. I love it when the real person is as splendid as the characters they play, sounds like a great night x
ReplyDeleteWow -- he's 80?! I hadn't realized he was that far along.
ReplyDeleteOh, delightful.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful! So glad you went!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a lovely evening lucky you to see him life.
ReplyDelete