Love Actually like you’ve never seen it before

If you’re a huge Love Actually fan than it’s time you experienced all the best bits of the film live. Check out our review of the Love Actually reimagined stageshow hit Christmas Actually.

Instead of singing Joy To The World, Queensland’s first lady of song Naomi Price and The Little Red Company gang just deliver it in the show Christmas Actually. Joy that is.

Christmas Actually celebrates the music of everyone’s favourite Christmas film, Love Actually, and is now part of the landscape of the festive season and we’re so glad it’s on again this year at La Boite’s Roundhouse Theatre at Kelvin Grove.
It runs until Dec 5 and if you want to get yourself in the mood for the silly season this is the show for you.

It’s not a stage version of the Richard Curtis’s feel-good 2003 film but it does feature some of the great songs from the film and some little dramatic excerpts like the bit in the film where Hugh Grant, who play the British PM, dances around 10 Downing Street to Jump (for My Love) by The Pointer Sisters. If that isn’t one of the funniest scenes in a movie I’ll be a Dutchman’s uncle, as my father used to say.

The dancing is done in the show by Luke Kennedy who does an amazing job, although he seems a bit puffed by the end, a fact that his life and stage partner Naomi Price points out.

Naomi Price spreads joy to the world in Christmas Actually

Price leads this production in her inimitable style and directs the fun backed up by her own version of the Ikettes - Kennedy, Irena Lysiuk and Tom Oliver. These three are all terrific singers in their own right and get solos in the show.

The band is guitarist Scott French, with Michael Manikus on keyboards, Mik Easterman on drums with OJ Newcomb on bass. They are smoking hot!

Price asked the audience who hadn’t seen Love Actually and only one person put their hand up, a young girl, and I thought well, that’s probably a good thing. Because while it’s a family film in some ways there are those scenes I had forgotten about with the two young Londoners serving as stand-ins on a porn movie set.

To warm up for the show we watched the movie again a couple of weeks ago and I had completely forgotten about those rude bits. Probably a good thing they didn’t try to replicate them on stage because that could have got messy.

I had also forgotten how much fun the movie is and what a cast! Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Keira Knightley, Billy Nighy, Rowan Atkins ...my god, amazing.

Nighy rather steals the show though and you’ll remember the movie opens with him stuffing up a Christmas version of Love is All Around You by The Troggs. It becomes Christmas is All Around You in the movie, sung by Nighy who plays a jaded old rocker.

Price starts her show in the same way which is hilarious and sets the tone for a fun night.

What flows is some scenes from the film, plenty of banter on stage and some of the best songs from the film including God Only Knows, a Beach Boys hit, All You need is Love (appropriate since the film is a series of vignettes about love), White Christmas performed by Tom Oliver who is one of the most talented performers in Australia right now, Silent Night and more.

Tom Oliver looks sharp and sounds even better in Christmas Actually

The finale song is All I Want For Christmas is You and there’s a surprise at the end which relates to the nativity play in the film but I won’t spoiled it for you.

There’s also a funny spoof scene taking the mickey our of those hokey Christmas carol show we are inflicted with each year.

All in all it’s a wonderful night out and a bit of a party in a theatre featuring talented performers and some of the greatest songs from the contemporary canon.

It made me want to watch the film again and I intend to soon. It also made me want to see Christmas Actually again, more to the point. I can’t think of a better way of warming up for Christmas after our year from hell.