Thursday 13 June 2013

Lia's Guide - the musical!

The Bookaholics - Amy, Khadra, Munna, Nasra, Shuma, Zahra, Aissato and Mahmuda first met Keren David in 2010, when she visited EGA to talk about her new, first novel for teenagers, 'When I was Joe.' The book was a huge hit in our school, and at the time the girls pestered Keren for news of a sequel. Meanwhile, Keren was working on 'Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery,' and she asked if she could come in and show the group the proposed cover for 'Lia,' and get some feedback.

The girls thought the cover was a little 'adult,' but enjoyed the excerpt that Keren read from the book and went on to read and enjoy it when it came out - along with Almost True and Another Life, of course.

Yesterday I took the group along to see a musical version of 'Lia's Guide to winning the Lottery,' at the Bridewell Theatre, London. We had no idea what to expect, but what a treat it turned out to be.

The musical was performed by students from the MTA, all of whom were excellent. It was one of the best musicals I've ever seen.

Lia the musical is colourful, uplifting and loads of fun, as well as packing in quite a few 'issues' such as the role of the press, wealth, relationships and family dynamics. In the musical the lottery numbers are played as 'characters' who fulfill the role of backing singers throughout the play. I loved these girls. Dressed immaculately as different characters, they sang, dance and acted their Jimmy Choos off.

The students loved the fact that the play was about teenagers, romance, and had loads of stuff that they could relate to such as hashtags and Facebook pages.  I was told afterwards it was the most fun school trip they've ever had,  and Shuma awarded it one thousand out of ten!

The acting was of a very high standard as were the set design and props - I particularly liked the giant fans made of £50 notes and the cupcakes matching the coloured blocks which moved around to form the set and the girls' dresses. The songwords held my attention the whole time as part of the dialogue and the music was uplifting.


I highly recommend anyone who gets the chance to see the show to buy your ticket NOW- details below:
http://lotterywinner.eventbrite.co.uk/




 





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