After a busy day at work on Thursday (helping cater and host a lunchtime leaving do for 60+ for our department head :-}), I met my SO at Holborn station as we were going to see The Tap Pack at the Peacock Theatre! Exciting! Before the show we went to the Meat Market, which sits above Covent Garden’s Jubilee Market Hall, and enjoyed a ‘healthy’ dinner of wings, hippie fries (topped with onions and hippie sauce) and slaw. I think I’d pass on their wings next time because they tasted like they were deep fried.
The show began at 7.30pm and I went for tickets in the back, end of row seats in the stalls as the view is always good, being a modern theatre. A bonus was that we had the row to ourselves so we could move along to the middle 🙂
The Tap Pack are some guys from Australia and as you can guess from the name, the show takes its inspiration from the Rat Pack (ie. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr are the members you will have heard of). The show was full of all kinds of music, both modern and classic Rat Pack, plus plenty of humour and amazing tap dance! I wasn’t expecting the guys to sing as well as dance, but they sang throughout the show, accompanied by live band. The audience was introduced to each member of the pack and their skills in turn, and you really saw each member come alive.
My favourite parts were:
a) when founding member Jesse alternated between sitting and drumming on a wooden box and tapping…sometimes tapping while sitting down. He has some fast hands and feet!
b) his tribute to some of the tap dance greats
c) the showy song and dance piece to Bruno Mars’ Runaway Baby
d) Thomas’s improv section – AMAZING. Like whaaa??!
e) the section of audience participation with clapping call and response (I love a bit of call and response!!)
These acts stood out to me, but there was plenty to enjoy. It was a fabulous show!
The show runs at the Peacock Theatre until 19th May, and then will be touring the UK before heading back to Australia.
https://www.thetappack.com/
On Sunday afternoon I went to an advanced beginners/intermediate tap class at the world-famous Pineapple Studios in Covent Garden, led by Kaia Koehler who currently dances with Old Kent Road tap company. Although I’ve been to Pineapple Studios before, it was for a couple of Cats workshops rather than a regular drop-in class, and I’ve never done a tap class there before, so I had no idea what to expect.