Ryan Dixon In Evita
Ryan Dixon was one of the first people from the 2007 Cats cast change who really made an impression on me and when I found out he was going to be in a tour of Evita I was disappointed to find out it wouldn't be coming to my local theatre - however, not to be deterrred, I decided to make an adventure out of it and revisit one familiar but out-of-the-way theatre, the Sunderland Empire, and one new-to-me-but-closer theatre, the Royal And Derngate in Northampton. I did originally go and see the show in Newcastle-upon-Tyne also, but as Ryan was busy that day I was only able to meet up with him briefly for a chat and some coffee before the show so I almost didn't think of it as a stage door trip, another reason why I did everything I could to squeeze these two other adventures in. After the Newcastle trip I did already know the production was brilliant; they had a really great cast and I enjoyed the show even more than I had expected to, the way they had chosen to do the whole production was so good and I was really interested and engaged by the ways in which they chose to present and stage it. How much I loved the show played a big part in my decision to embark on the absolute trek it was to get up to Sunderland for the matinee performance, but I am so very glad I did as to this day that trip turned out to be one of the most entertaining, funniest days I have ever had on my theatre travels, my friend and I making so many ridiculous in-jokes up to entertain ourselves during long train journeys with obscure stops, the waiting around in stations due to delays and the late night return home with cancelled trains and the winding trips up to Carlisle before we could get back home again! My Northampton trip was thankfully much more straightforward though no less entertaining as the show really had won a place in my heart by then, and, of course, Ryan himself was lovely and kind both times and was always brilliant to chat away to at the stage door.