I feel light

even in my darkest hour

The weight of this truth

it calms me

When this was first announced, I wasn’t overly interested, to be perfectly honest, and didn’t get myself a ticket – at that time, the only info we had was that it would star Rosalie Craig and Hadley Fraser, nothing more, and we all still thought that we would get some Tori shows in the summer, which she’d told several people about. As much as I adored the musical, I couldn’t picture it without a proper theatrical staging, and initially didn’t think I’d be missing too much if I skipped this. Well, time passed, and all the summer festivals announced their line-ups, and no Tori news were to be had, while more and more tidbits about this were surfacing, so in the end I decided that I’d fly to London for the weekend even though I already had a trip there planned for May – to have my annual Tori-reunion with my friends, but also to see The Light Princess one last time, in case this was the last chance I’ll get – in an interview, Rosalie referred to it as “closure”, so I didn’t want to have any regrets.

We met up at the venue around noon. It was a beautiful day, and we spent it catching up on the sidewalk by the stage door. The cast and musicians had been rehearsing since 11AM, and we saw them coming and going for their lunch breaks etc., and we also got friendly with the stage door security guard, who would sometimes briefly change the CCTV to show us live feed of the rehearsals, and even turn on the audio! We strongly suspected that Tori would be in the audience and would arrive closer to show time, and then got confirmation that she’d definitely be in attendance from Rosalie, from the fact that Spoon was on the sign-in sheet with four guests, and a really sweet girl who worked at the venue, who also casually mentioned that Tori had a broken ankle, which was complete news to us.

Before Tori got there, Mark, Tash, and a friend of hers from school had already been around. We were starting to fret because the show was supposed to start at 6:30 sharp, and from the way the stage manager kept coming out to check if there was an approaching car, she must’ve been later than anticipated. Sure enough, Tori got there with Spoon around 6-ish, and had a cast on her right foot (thankfully not her pedal foot!). Despite that, she was visibly excited to see us all, and she seemed to be able to walk and stand on the injured leg well enough, she just needed an arm to hold on to when climbing steps. She was in very high spirits, and it was great to see her in this off-tour setting, casual clothing, grey roots, and self-applied make-up included.

The front of the queue were all regulars, and she greeted everyone by name and chatted us up as a group initially, so here’s the run-down of relevant news:

She broke her ankle in Ireland, “dancing with leprechauns under the moon” – I think that just means that the actual reason is something embarrassing like “I tripped over my dog”, or “I drank one too many glasses of red wine and fell off my louboutins”, haha. She did mention that she could practice piano again with the cast she was wearing, as well as something about four weeks, but I didn’t catch whether she meant it had been four weeks since she got this new cast, or since the injury.

There won’t be a From the Choirgirl Hotel reissue.

The next album/tour won’t be until 2020, but…

we might see her in 2019 if talks with “those people” work out, or something along those lines, and if so, we’d have to look out for her “at a Barnes & Noble“. This is the most exciting news to me, my head is spinning with possibilities, and she was very clearly not supposed to talk about it. She kept walking further into the crowd, and was too far away for Spoon to tap her shoulder, but the crestfallen look on his face when he realized what she was saying was absolutely priceless. She kept going, so he yelled “TORI!”, and when she turned around he just furiously shook his head and made a key-turning motion by his mouth to get her to shut up, and we all laughed it up (Spoon included), and that was all that was said on the subject. I would love a follow-up to Piece By Piece, it’s been thirteen years and she should have enough material, but a friend also half-jokingly mentioned a Neil Gaiman collaboration and I would die if that were true. Since people are already speculating about a DVD exclusive like the Live From the Artists’ Den DVD, I want to point out that, to me, the B&N comment sounded more like she was just name-dropping them as a place-holder for a bookstore chain that would hold signings, but anything is possible, of course (2019 note: it turned out to be a political memoir, Resistance).

When it got to be my turn, it was almost show-time, so I just briefly told her how glad I was to be seeing the musical on stage again in some capacity, five years later, because I really thought that it was over for good, and she said that it had all been driven by Rosalie, and that she was excited and curious to see it herself, since she hadn’t been present at any rehearsals, and that it would definitely be very emotional for her.

We rushed to the box office to get our tickets and find our seats then, just as the final bell rang out. They had programs for sale, which were really nice, although they went with a cover design that sort of implies the wrong kind of light, haha. It’s also kinda mind-boggling to me that they’d go through the trouble of making a program for a one-off performance, but I’m glad I have a keep-sake, and perhaps practices are different in the musical theater world, I’m not that well-versed in it.

The Cadogan Hall is right by Sloan Square, in a pretty posh London neighborhood, holds around 950 people, and was almost, but not quite, sold out. It’s the resident home of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and a former Church of Christ, Scientist church. There were eleven musicians (three from the original musical cast), and seventeen cast members, eight for the ensemble parts standing at the back, and the nine main ones lined up in the front with Rosalie Craig in the middle – they only stood and stepped up to their microphone when they were actively singing a part, and otherwise sat on a chair. My seat was pretty central in row AA, which was almost too close for a performance of this kind; I had a fantastic view of Rosalie and Hadley, but could only see the top of Trevor’s head, and Gabrielle not at all.

Both Althea’s and Digby’s verses in the prologue had completely different lyrics, which I quite liked. My Own Land is probably my favorite in the whole musical, and I can still see the choreography if I close my eyes. Hadley Fraser, Rosalie’s husband, played the role of Digby, and was a worthy substitute for Nick Hendrix – he has a soaring voice, and he made it look super effortless. I personally wasn’t very impressed by Louis Maskell, who played the role of Llewelyn, Digby’s younger brother, but that might just be because I was very fond of Kane Oliver Parry, who actually had my favorite male voice in the original cast. Some of the dialogue was adapted to be more descriptive and move the plot along without the aid of stage decor, spoken dialogue, and acting, although Rosie especially could not help herself, and had a very expressive face throughout the concert. Laura Pitt-Pulford’s Falconer was always a favorite, and I was a little disappointed that some of her parts were shortened, as I find her to have an incredibly powerful voice. Anna-Jane Casey took on the role of the Sergeant at Arms, and while she’s certainly gifted (her credits in the tour program are really impressive), her vocals and her take on the role were very different to Malinda Parris’, so she stood out somewhat negatively to me – she had a bit of a staccato way of singing that I didn’t enjoy for the role.

They dealt with the lack of acrobats in a really clever way – different colored lights signaled whether Althea was floating or on the ground (or rising or falling), which was a really nice touch – and Rosalie would even take her shoes off to show a difference in height! She was visibly enjoying herself a lot during Queen Material, and sassy as hell – I love the way she rolled the ‘r’ on “reaping what you sow“, with a cackle at the end. Trevor Dion Nicholas was playing the role of King Darius of Lagobel, and if I hadn’t known he was a different actor, his voice could’ve easily been mistaken for Clive Rowe’s – perhaps even a touch more powerful; I really loved his performance throughout the show. There were some more (slighter) changes in the lyrics as Piper and Althea steal her brother’s car to describe the scene, for lack of an actual car. I also noticed that throughout the whole play, they never named Althea’s brother Alexander, but stuck with “brother” instead, perhaps to make it less confusing by having fewer names to deal with. Alex Parker, the conductor, was great – really animated, and he waggled his butt often.

Sealand Supremacy was always a stand-out to me because of the fantastic military choreography it came with (and the Falconer!), but it still packed a punch in this “stripped down” version! The following few songs, where Althea and Digby first meet and fall in love, were delightful to watch, especially knowing that Rosie and Hadley are married in real life. As they sat back down after Althea, Hadley winked at Rosie, it was really cute – they look so smitten. What was also really cute was Gabrielle Brooks’ (Piper’s) face during Scandal, leading up to the “she snogged him!” part – she was grinning like a loon, trying hard not to burst out laughing. Rosie always gave her all during Better Than Good, which seems like a really fun song to sing for her – she pulled at her pantsuit legs during the “edible, delectable, muscular cake” line. She seemed especially elated to be singing this one again, but also very emotional; she was misty-eyed throughout most of the show, actually, even during more upbeat songs. I can’t stress enough how absolutely brilliant Rosie is in this role – she IS Althea, I can’t see even conceive of anyone else playing her, while this concert performance proved that virtually any other character could be replaced, and it would only offend a purist’s nostalgia. Five years on, I’m still livid she didn’t win the Olivier Award, but that’s a rant for another day…

David Langham, the original Mr. Flowers, stepped into the role of all the suitors, and he was the comic relief of the evening for sure – The Solution was really fun to watch despite the lack of props, as Rosie did a great job at miming how the “cures” were affecting her with nothing but her facial expressions. One odd thing was that they called Mr. Grey a “mute” rather than a “stammerer”, although he did stutter his words. I adored Hadley’s Highness in the Sky more than Nick’s original – he has a really rich vibrato that is perfectly suited for the emotion in this song. Proverbs was completely cut, while Let the Bells Ring was heavily modified, to the point that according to the program it’s an entirely new song called Not a Fairy-Tale. No H2O was very touching, and it was the first time two of the cast physically interacted with each other – Gabrielle stepped over so Rosie could wipe a tear off her cheek before launching into the song’s goosebumps-inducing climax. Darkest Hour was always the lyrical highlight and center-piece of the show to me, and Rosie put so much into this performance, it was just stunning, and I was welling up right along with her.

I went to stand to the side to talk to my friends during the interval (we were all scattered in the stalls), and the whole clan (Tori, Tash, Mark, and Spoon) walked past us to go backstage to meet the cast, and she stopped to briefly talk to us. You could tell that she’d been crying, and she said that she thought it was amazing, and mentioned that the orchestra had only had four days to learn and rehearse the whole show, which is really impressive. Tash is done with exams and excited to get to enjoy her summer! They all walked back shortly after, they were sitting in the central stalls with Samuel Adamson, and people were very respectful and only spoke to her at most, but didn’t ask for selfies or anything, which was nice to see – then again, people tend to behave at the theater, it was the same when she was in the audience at the musical during the original run, from what I saw.

When the cast got back on stage for Act Two, there was a funny moment when Rosalie just sat down while everyone else stood, and she made a really funny ”oops“ sort of face before hurriedly getting up to join them while they waited for the applause to subside, it was adorable. Amphibiava was really stunning, and Rosie and Hadley held their gazes throughout most of it – Rosie also had a very mischievous look on her face during the short instrumental bit where it’s implied that they’re having sex. Nothing More Than This was slightly changed – they scrapped the teenage pregnancy storyline completely (they have a child – Isadora – at the end, but it’s implied that she was born some years later), and I loved that change (he wanted to build a house for “the day when you’ll leave the lake”, and not for “when the stork brings a child”). I never liked the pregnancy storyline at all, it was the one qualm I’ve always had with the musical, and I thought it was so much better without it! Due to this change, the Lagobellan king’s song My Little Girl’s Smile was cut, which also happens to be my least favorite in the musical, so this altered plot detail really only had positive sides in my eyes. The latter part of Queen of the Lake was mind-blowingly good, I loved watching the other cast members looking at Rosie belting it out, they were so in awe of her. She returned the favor during The Whistleblower, where Gabrielle finally got to shine the way she deserves – the pipes on that girl are incredible, the treason verse was really powerful, and delivered in a different way than Amy-Booth Steel did – less mockingly, but more accusingly, if that makes sense. Trevor also did really well with his part at the end of this song, especially considering that he didn’t get to sing his “change of heart” song right after, but you still got a sense of the character development that happened with those few lines alone. This one got the longest applause, it lasted for a good half minute, and Rosalie enthusiastically joined in.

Bitter Fate is a shortish song that I love dearly, and the way Nick Hendrix sings “I turn my back on all delight” is possibly my favorite single musical moment in the whole musical, but Hadley did it differently, and with my not being a fan of Louis’ voice, it unfortunately wasn’t as good as the original. The Wedding was changed and shortened to make way for the plot alterations, and I have to admit that even having seen the musical multiple times, trying to follow this one without the acting and stage props was a little hard! I overall had the impression that someone who hasn’t seen the musical (or at the very least isn’t already familiar with the plot) would be hopelessly lost seeing it in this format – and the way the floating was staged, and all the acrobatics that went with that were a really big part of what made this musical so magical. I missed the ensemble choreography and acrobatics during Crash in the Universe especially, where obviously all the dragon slaying, dam-breaking, and eye-plucking action couldn’t be conveyed.

Althea still went to university to become a marine biologist, Piper still became Lagobel’s first Prime Minister (and Llewelyn her husband), but the bit with the Sergeant at Arms and the Falconer having a fling was cut. I loved the epilogue a lot, they added in a scene and short My Fairy-Story reprise with the king on his deathbed which was really touching and had the melody of the “I could weep” bit from No H2O and Tears as he passed away – it was a really nice little detail. Then they launched into the possibly most gorgeous Coronation I’ve seen yet. I’ve never been able to get through this song without crying, and the waterworks finally opened for me on this one, when Rosie started her verse. There was a new acapella section that was just stunning, and on the final climax my goosebumps got goosebumps of their own.

There was a standing ovation at the end, and before they took their final bow, Rosalie pointed at the crowd, and everyone turned around to applaud Tori. We did try the stage-door again afterwards, but she just waved at everyone and drove off as soon as she came out – I did however briefly speak to Rosalie and Laura, who stuck around speaking to fans for a very long time and seemed to be on cloud nine. Both of them repeatedly mentioned crying in rehearsals out of sheer joy to get to revisit these songs again.

All I can say is that it took a fuck-ton of money to make this weekend happen, I spent a sleepless night at Heathrow airport waiting for an early morning flight so that I could go straight to work without missing any days, and subsequently trudged my way through a miserable Monday shift running on no sleep, and I don’t regret a single thing. The Light Princess is one of the pinnacles of Tori’s creative career to me, and this was really, really special – if the show’s life is over, this was the perfect eulogy.

Header picture credit: Club 11 London