American Idol.

I fell in love with the film version of Chicago – with those feisty female characters and the irresistibly catchy songs! I’ve long wanted to see the musical but have managed to miss it each time it has visited Manchester, so while in London, I’ve grabbed my chance and booked my ticket. To see it in the West End is special but having a member of the biggest girl band of all time Destiny’s Child playing Roxy Hart is the icing on the cake. Michelle Williams has the voice of an angel, but with a smoother, honey coated effortless sound. How will this humble church attending gospel singer shake off her good girl image to play her deceptive, murderous and ruthless character, Roxy Heart?

Me & BF Lisa Wise.

As the curtains rise I shed a tear of excitement. I’m sitting next to my best mate and ticking off Item One on my ‘great things to do before I die’ list!  Foxy female dancers appear at the top of the stage curtain perched on a ladder wearing slinky black lace lingerie, stockings and suspender belts. The male dancers sport bowler hats, bare chests and rippling biceps underneath their waist coats (proving men can be amusingly both camp and butch at the same time). I wouldn’t mind being flung around the stage in a skimpy outfit by one of those guys!  Michelle graces the stage donning the iconic Cleopatra bobbed wig and black lace dress as she made her entrance. She delivers some great one liner in her authentic American accent and embraces cheeky slap stick gags. She delivers perfectly the two constrasting sontrides of Roxy Heart: the child like, devoted wife who’s an innocent circumstantial victim, and the fame hungry gold digger, perfectly encapsulated with energetic jazz dance moves.

 After the lights fell for the second half we snuck down to the lower tier to get a better view (Memo to myself: next time save up and buy a decent seat!). You appreciate the coy glances and comedy value much better close up and a particular favourite of mine is the feather dancing scene for the All I Care About song. We sang along to ‘All That Jazz’, ‘Razzle Dazzle’ and feisty hit he ‘He Had It Coming’. By the end I decide that I quite fancy meeting Michelle Williams. I’ve been to many Destiny’s Child and Beyonce’s concerts and I have been a huge fan for the last 11 years, but this may be the only chance I ever get to meet one of them in person.

An usher has tipped me that if I ask someone at the stage door she might come out and sign an autograph, so we do and come she does! Her big burly manager comes out asking who I am waiting for and I squeaked delightedly Michelle Williams. He’s like “Okay as long as you don’t take any photos”. A queue is building up slightly outside. 15 minutes later he opens the door and asks me to come in. I don’t recognise her at first as she’s wearing a hat, but her beautiful eyes painted in black smoky eye shadow give her away. She asks if I have seen the show and I blurt out stupidly, “Yes. Destiny’s Child are great, I am a huge, huge fan.” She signs a postcard I bought at the train station earlier on and I thank her, wish her well in her future pursuits and give her a hug. When I turn around to walk off, out of nowhere I embarrassingly started blubbing! I am not a blubberer normally but the inner teenage girl in me who idolised DC and copied all their dance moves as a student is over whelmed. What an amazing end to a fantastic day. Another item from my ‘things to do before I die’ list has been crossed off! Yey!

Squint tightly and an optical illusion of Michelle Williams autograph appears!