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With autumn fast approaching, it’s time to think about what additions you can make to your home that’ll really bring that autumn vibe. Autumn is one of the cosiest seasons, with Halloween, bonfire night and the leaves finally falling, it really starts to feel like the run up to Christmas. Read more
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If everyone told the truth, they would admit that the morning isn’t their favourite part of the day. How can it be? It’s cold, it’s early, and it forces you to get out of bed when you want to hide under the covers. Read more
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Does your little one have a teddy that they can’t sleep without, and have to take everywhere with them? A recent survey* reveals over 50% of UK children cannot sleep without their favourite toy. Read more
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Are you looking for new ways to upgrade and improve your modern home? If so, there are so many ideas out there waiting to be taken advantage of. One of the first things we did after we moved was get a new kitchen. Read more
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My Timehop has been reminding me over the last few days that it’s a year since we moved to our new house. Moving to a new home with children can be a stressful time for everyone. During all the organisation, it’s easy to forget about the effect it’ll have on the kids. Different children will, of course, react to things differently, but it’s important that they feel involved, and there are some ways to ensure the move goes smoothly for them too, even if they are only small. Read more
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When we moved house we decided that although the master bedroom was upstairs, we would take one of the other bedrooms downstairs so we could be next to the boys’ room. You can see our rather unusual house layout in my house tour video so you can see what I mean.
At the moment we are living in a mismatched room with our old bed and bedding, a wardrobe full of the boys’ clothes, not enough storage for our own things and the curtains from the living room at our old house! I can’t wait until we have a lovely bedroom with matching bedding and curtains again – I think they can really make a difference to a room don’t you? Read more
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My parents have both been involved with the Scout Association since before I was born. My dad was a Scout leader for years, and that meant I first when camping when I was 10 weeks old! All our family holidays when I was a child were either camping, or later caravanning holidays and I have such brilliant memories of them all. I would love for our boys to have the same experiences and that is why we are planning a family camping holiday for this summer.
So when I was young, as well as several Scout and Guide camps every year, we also spent weekends camping in the UK and we were lucky enough to spend a month in France and Spain every summer. We got a caravan when I was about 7 or 8. But even after we got the caravan my brother and I would sleep either a small tent or in the caravan awning. Read more
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Although I would have loved to have kept breastfeeding both my boys until they no longer needed me to, it didn’t happen for us for a variety of reasons. I wrote about my breastfeeding story with Toby here, and the moment I realised my time breastfeeding Gabe was coming to an end here. I am very grateful for the fact that follow on formula exists and that I was able to feed Toby and Gabe in a way that worked for us.
We started weaning both boys at six months and followed a combination of spoon feeding and babyled weaning. It took Toby a month or two to really get the hang of eating solids but after that he would eat pretty much anything I put in front of him. He would eat the same foods as us and I was happy that he was getting all the nutrients and vitamins that he needed.
Gabe was a different story though – Read more
If you’ve read my blog before then you may well be aware that I have not been blessed with children who like to sleep. In fact if we include the sleeplessness induced by pregnancy then I am probably looking at about four years now of broken sleep. So when we were invited to the Trafford Centre in Manchester last week for the launch of BookTrust‘s Bath Book Bed campaign with their ambassador Jo Frost I was eager to go along and see if we could get some help!
BookTrust is the UK’s largest children’s reading charity and they work to inspire a love of reading in children. They also know that lack of sleep is one of the hardest parts of being a parent and that getting them to sleep can be one of the biggest challenges. And that’s why they have teamed up with parenting expert Jo Frost to try and help some of those sleep deprived parents. They’re also getting a little help from Peppa Pig too!
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If you’re a regular reader you may have heard me mention that I have been in quite a lot of musicals in my time. I started dance classes when I was four and have pretty much been appearing on stage ever since. I have always loved watching movie musicals too – there’s something about a musical that just makes you feel so happy.
I thought I’d share some of my favourite movie musicals with you – most of these I first saw at home, and a lot of them when I was young back in the days when we had TVs half the size they are now. I’d love to see them on the big screen at the cinema though, or maybe even better, in the comfort of my own home on a 4K TV from Panasonic!
So here’s my list, in no particular order…
(I decided to leave out any animated films, so no Disney here I’m afraid)
I can’t actually remember ever not having seen Seven Brides for Seven Brothers! I must have been really young when I first saw it, which is no surprise given it was one of my mum’s favourite films – she saw it something like seven or eight times at the cinema when it came out in 1954! I think we must have had a copy on video that we had recorded off the telly and I remember watching it loads when I was a kid. If you’ve not seen it you really should, it’s got some fabulous dancing and super-catchy tunes.
Slightly controversial here but I think I actually prefer Grease 2 to the original Grease film! It has a few of the same characters, a sort of similar story line, but it is just so cheesy. Plus it has a young Michelle Pfeiffer and the really rather sexy Maxwell Caulfield in it – the film almost ruined his career before it had started but he did go on to appear in Dynasty and its spin off The Colbys.
Johnny Depp singing. Do I need to say anymore? Sweeney Todd is a fabulous Stephen Sondheim musical. I love the lyrics and I’m a big fan of a sung through musical with no dialogue. The film version of Sweeney Todd also stars Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall and is the story of a barber who kills people and has them turned into pies. What’s not to like?
Surely there can’t be anyone out there who doesn’t love Singin’ in the Rain? It’s a movie musical classic and has so many fantastic songs and dances. It’s one of my ultimate feel good movies and will always put a smile on my face whenever I watch it. Although I think the iconic title song is brilliant I think my favourite song from this film has to be Moses supposes. Or Good Morning. Or All I do is dream of you. Or Make ’em laugh. Oh, I don’t know, they’re all brilliant, just watch the film already!
I knew one of the songs from A Chorus Line long before I ever saw the film. ‘One’ is the last song in the film and I love watching the stage fill with more and more dancers. It’s a very simple film really, with nearly all the action taking place on stage in an empty theatre as dancers auditioning to be in a chorus line (do you see what they did there) tell their stories. The only really well known actor in the film is Michael Douglas (although he doesn’t sing or dance) and I’ve just found out in researching for this post that it was directed by Richard Attenborough!
Hairspray is another fabulous feel good film. I’ve never seen the original film with Ricki Lake playing Tracey Turnblad but the 2007 musical version with John Travolta and Zac Efron is brilliant. The songs are so catchy and it has a great message too. And I defy you to listen to You can’t stop the beat and not want to dance!
Mary Poppins is another of those classics that I can’t remember not having seen. I must have watched it when I was very little and I can’t remember how many times I’ve seen it since. I was listening to an interview with Dick Van Dyke a while ago and he was explaining why his cockney accent was so awful – apparently the studio would only hire a vocal coach to work with him for one day, and the vocal coach was Irish!
I love the choreography of Bob Fosse and I was tempted to pick Chicago as one of my top movie musicals. But the film of Chicago doesn’t actually feature Fosse’s choreography and although I do like the film I much prefer the stage show. And so I picked Sweet Charity. I’ve actually been in this musical myself too. It’s not a very well known musical really but features the iconic song Big Spender. I think if I had to pick my favourite scene though it would be the dance sequence ‘Rich Man’s Frug’ – it’s just so weird and completely irrelevant to the plot!
I remember being so exited when I heard about Moulin Rouge – a new movie musical that wasn’t based on a stage show, written and directed by Baz Luhrman, and starring Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman. It promised great things and as far as I’m concerned it delivered. I love the way pop songs are woven into the story and Ewan McGregor singing Come What May is just adorable.
This is another musical, like A Chorus Line, that I saw in the theatre and didn’t really enjoy but then loved the film. It’s another sung through musical and I think I know every single word – I love putting the soundtrack on in the car and singing along. I remember when the film version of Evita came out and no-one was really sure if Madonna would be able to pull it off. I think she does, and if you don’t then at least you can just enjoy Antonio Banderas instead.
So there you have it – my top ten movie musicals. I know I’ve missed loads of favourites out (The Sound of Music, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Oliver, Annie, High School Muscial, Little Shop of Horrors, West Side Story, Les Misérables to name a few…) but I would have been here all day if I’d done my top 20!
Have I missed out any of your favourites? Let me know in the comments below – maybe you love a movie musical I haven’t even seen yet!
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