teylaminh | Entries tagged with reviews: theatre

Right, I will approach this in much the same manner as the previous one by going through the score song by song.

Before that, though, there's something I forgot to mention in the first post - it's more of a general observation anyway so it doesn't really fit any specific scene...

Basically, the whole show was imbued with additional irony by the sheer fact that it was Glenn Close starring as Norma Desmond - not least because she last played the role on Broadway 20 years ago. All of the references to Norma's "return" to Hollywood and her status as a big name at the time were doubly relevant. In particular, this exchange:-

JOE: Norma, they don't want you in every scene.
NORMA: Of course they do - what else would they have come for?

Given that (I assume) quite a lot of the audience were only there to see Glenn Close, or specifically to see her in this show, that part was especially ironic, and there was definitely a murmur of amused acknowledgement from the audience.

Anyway, without further ado, here is the rest of the write-up - hopefully this one will not take me seven hours like the last one did...

( Act Two )

Well, this one did not take quite as long as the last one, but I still have no idea where any of it came from.

My next task is to start a complete overhaul of "Tango Up On Sunset" to try and include all of these new feels and theories. I am looking forward to that, in a vaguely masochistic kind of way...

Current Mood: exhausted

Okay, let's get this show on the road.

I am going to break this down scene by scene as per the title tracks on the libretto, because otherwise I am liable to just ramble in a nonsensical fashion until my head explodes, and am also very likely to forget something important. I am going to reference my headcanon(s) quite a lot also, so I'm going to include explanations of those at relevant points - I should point out these headcanons have mostly arisen out of that period in 2002-2003 where I was writing a lot of fanfiction in the wake of "Tango Up On Sunset", elements of which have become so ingrained into my understanding of the show that I often forget that other people are not privy to them. :)

Anyway, now that I've dragged myself away from Tumblr, without further ado...

( Act 1 )

Okay, this took far longer than expected, and I still have the whole second Act to get through. Hopefully by the time I get to that, I won't forget all the other things I wanted to say.

Watch this space!

Current Mood: FEELS

As if falling back into Frasier, Farscape and X-Files wasn't bad enough - and also Buffy as Denise and I progress further through that re-watch - I am still periodically flailing about POTO. :P

I went to Denise's on Saturday, initially because we were going to continue the Buffy-athon, but instead I ~~inflicted~~ shared the POTO 25th anniversary concert (and latterly the 1925 silent film, just for comparison purposes).

POTO is a really weird thing. I fall in and out of it regularly, and the the only time I fall back into it is after actually seeing/reading some version of it. I finished "Whisper" in a creative flurry after my first viewing of the gala concert; "Freedom from Darkness" (my first proper POTO fic) and its sequels came from the germ of an idea after I first saw the show in Birmingham, aged 16; and my Mary Sue story / A-Level creative writing assignment was written following my first reading of Susan Kay's Phantom. When I'm not flailing about it, though, I kind of forget the power it has over me. I'll go for months - even years - without reading/writing fanfic or even thinking it about it at all. I still count it as a fandom, of course, and it's always there in the periphery of my mind, but until the point when it actually takes over my head again I tend to file it away somewhat as one of those frivolous fandoms of my youth.

Although if the recent rewatches have proven anything, it's that those so-called frivolous fandoms of my youth were more important than I gave them credit for. ;)

Anyway, the point is, it's the most horrendously addictive thing in the world. I can remember listening to the soundtrack almost constantly on several occasions in my teens and 20's, and nowadays, each and every time I've watched the 25th anniversary gala, I am overcome by the desire for MOAR PHANTOM.

That being said, because it's been 1.5 years since the gala concert and because I've watched it three more times since then - which isn't much in the grand scheme of things but if I were still a student I imagine that number would be more like 300 - I felt like doing an entry about some of my favourite things about the performance...

( POTO 25 Awesomeness )

I shall now come out of the cut to briefly mention this other, semi-related thing which I discovered on Saturday whilst we were watching the 1925 silent film, which

commoncomitatus will also appreciate. I was IMDb-ing to find out where they'd filmed it, because the Palais Garnier interiors were so accurate (soundstage 28, apparently, where many of the sets still remain and which is rumoured to be haunted), and in the process of reading the trivia page I learned the following exciting nugget of information.

The ornate bed in Christine's bedroom is the same one used by Gloria Swanson 25 years later in Sunset Boulevard. Which explains why it was so bloody familiar!!

These fandoms are content to remain intertwined, apparently. :D

Okay, I think this is long enough. I might come back with exciting POTO screencaps at some other juncture when I have more spare time. Watch this space. :D

Saturday was quite busy this week, as it was Jade's 20th yesterday (1st April) and one of Paul's colleague's 30th, so we had two separate sets of things to go to. We went to Jade's in the early evening, drank and watched TV and laughed at her hyperactive dog, got delayed an hour waiting for our taxi (we ordered three, the first two turned up and the third went AWOL) and then went to the Vaults for an hour or so. It was a bit noisy in the bar, but I definitely want to go back and try the restaurant as the building itself is very cool - though the cocktails are hideously expensive.

Yesterday we were going to do a ghost walk with Darren and family but we were much too tired and had things to do. Operation Salad Lunches is in full swing now so we went to Bearwood to get supplies (more salad, couscous, plus some bits for tea - we somehow still managed to spend £50), and then I spent much of the day doing washing as the weather was nice. (Our garden gets the sun pretty much all day, so is great for drying things.) We had a leg of lamb from Aldi for dinner with roasted veg and minted potatoes, and then Paul fell asleep watching Anchorman and refused to go to bed. :P

I've purposely left the beginning of this entry quite sparse as I have a lot to say about the other thing I did on Saturday, which was to have a girly afternoon with my mum watching Love Never Dies, the Phantom sequel, on Blu-Ray on the shiny LED TV. So of course I have quite a lot to say. ;)

( Love Never Dies Review - contains massive spoilers! )

Hmm. Yes. I suppose I expected LND to bring some of these feelings out again, but despite all that, it has a few nice moments. I might buy the soundtrack at some point, and I will probably watch it again now that I'm not going in "cold", but I think I'm going to have to look at it like a big-budget fanvid or it'll make me crazy.

Right, I think that is quite long and boring enough. I actually went looking for LND fanfic last night and for some reason had not anticipated that the majority would be missing scenes for "Beneath a Moonless Sky". (Like the badfic authors needed any more excuses.)

I wrote this at work today to get it out of my brain and subsequently was not exactly productive. Oh well. :P After the gym today Paul and I met up with Lloyd and Denise at Las Iguanas and had lovely Mexican food, so that was nice. I basically had fish and chips but the chips were sweet potato, which I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed, so I will definitely be buying more in future. :)

Right, that's it. I shall post this and probably go to bed. :P

Current Mood: thoughtful

OKAY. Second attempt at this, as we had a power cut at work and it ate my first draft (and I had to finish it at home because I was busy). Thankfully I hadn't written very much in the way of Actual Thoughts...

And, before I properly begin - HOLY CHRIST IT'S HOT. Apparently it's meant to snow by the end of the week, after averaging about 30 degrees on Saturday just gone. I second

flatline2010's Facebook status - the world is broken.

Anyway, we - Paul, David, my mum and I - went to see Phantom of the Opera last night for its 25th anniversary performance at the Royal Albert Hall - via Vue at Star City, I should say, as tickets for the Albert Hall were £25 for standing only - up in the gods and riiiiight at the back - and £250 per person for a box seat. Frankly, none of us are that rich. :P

We had seats at the middle in the back, which actually were okay because it was showing on Screen 1. I suspect this is better treatment than it would have received at Cineworld had they gotten their grubby paws on it - their description of the plot was decidedly sarcastic on their Twitter feed, to say the least...

The concert / show is being released on DVD and Bluray in November so be warned that if any POTO fans on my f-list are reading this, there will be specific, performance-related spoilers... It was streamed live around the world in any event (and apparently not-so-live as I think there are further showings this week), though obviously taking time zones into account, people may well have missed it.

( Review / Ramblings - probably LONG and contains SPOILERS. )

I totally wish Sunset Boulevard were so popular, but alas I feel a 25th anniversary performance of it may be a distant dream. Although at this rate the movie version is never going to get made either, so I suppose that's a blessing in disguise. ;)

Needless to say, I am now suitably reinspired to finish "Whisper", my latest POTO fic, though I may have to change tactic slightly. ( Fic spoilers / boring stuff )

Watch this space; I might even post it soon!

I was looking online for a photograph to post with this entry, but thanks to the 2004 movie being so prevalent, I failed. In any event, I was going to post a picture of the moment Erik draws Christine through the mirror, or more specifically the moment he actually appears, because basically it's the sexiest thing EVAR and I just... do not know why. Something about the cape and the mask and the smoke, I think; either that or I've finally gone mad. ;)

On that note, I shall flee.

Current Mood: accomplished

I have no idea when I last updated or what it was about, but here is what I've been up to...

( Birthday Stuffs )

After that Paul and I both had a week off work. The beginning of the week mostly involved doing nothing, going to Aldi, and watching Duckula, in my case anyway. I've got through the first two discs so far.

On Thursday we headed off to London for a couple of days. ( London Stuffs )

In other, more positive news, TAX REFUND, BABY!!! Apparently for 2008-2009 I overpaid over a grand in tax! Considering I had to extend my overdraft again last month just in case I spent too much money in London, this little windfall is very much appreciated. In addition, I achieved my pay increment at work and should be getting a chunk of backpay tomorrow in my wages, which initially I was going to spend on an eye test and new lenses. Instead I'm going to use the tax refund to pay a chunk off the credit card and pay for the eye test, and hopefully spend the backpayment on something NICE for a change. :)

I anticipate something horrible will happen to me in due course when Fate realises she made a horrible error in judgement. But in the meantime, it's nice to have a bit of luck for once.

Also, I started watching Damages on Monday night and I'm about nine episodes in. Quite enjoying it, though I can't decide if Patty Hewes is pure genius or pure evil... Whichever it is, Glenn Close is sheer awesomeness incarnate, but we already knew that. :)

I think that'll do. :)

Current Mood: calm

Okay, so on Thursday afternoon I had booked flex leave, which meant that I spent most of Thursday morning typing like the clappers to get the pile down to a manageable level, sending copious emails, hiding my stationery, etc.

I left work shortly before 1.00pm and went to get my hair cut, then went back via Wilkinson to pick up some bits, and some lunch from Greggs. The rest of the afternoon was spent doing various household stuff and dying my hair, which is now black again. :)

On Friday, we got up at 7.15 in order to catch a coach to London, arriving just after 12.20 and immediately tube-hopping to the O2, where we were going to see ( Gunther von Hagans' Bodyworlds Exhibition )

After that we had loads of time to kill so wandered around Soho for a bit (firstly getting lost - it all looks different in daylight!) to find the bistro we always go to. Lovely food, as ever. We had a couple of drinks in some pubs, and passed a liquor shop selling two rather exciting things: a bottle of Absolut vodka ensconced inside a red, besequinned jacket, advertised as "100% gay vodka!"; and, apparently, some fizzy vodka. Paul spotted this, though I didn't see it, however I made sure to inform Sharn at work this morning, who was suitably impressed. ;)

We also accidentally stumbld upon L'Escargot, Marco Pierre White's restaurant, down a back street in Soho. I literally double-taked and was like, "Is that the real L'Escargot?", and we wandered over to have a look at their prices. Surprisingly, they're no more expensive than some of the high-end of independent restaurants in Moseley...

Coach back was at 8.30 and I dozed off and on all the way back, which at least made the journey pass a bit quicker.

On Saturday I was knackered and slept in until around 11.00, before heading out to meet my mum and David to see We Will Rock You at the Hippodrome. ( OMG SO AMAZING )

In the evening we met up again to go out for a meal at La Fibule, which is where Paul and I went on Valentine's Day. It's quite pricey, but the food is absolutely amazing. For starters, Paul and my mum both had the three-cheese salad, David had... damn, can't remember, and I had the falafel, which was nice, if a bit dry. For mains, Paul had the king prawn skewers, David had the fish stew (which was a GIANT PILE OF SEAFOOD in sauce, amazing), mum had the Poulet Khaddra (which I had on Valentine's Day) and I tried the Tagine D'Agneu D'Asilah, which was lamb cooked in yoghurt, sage and mint. OMG so delicious. There was far too much, so alas I couldn't finish it, but it was so creamy and amazing. Wow. If it wasn't so expensive I would eat there more often.

It was baking hot in there, also, which given it's Moroccan makes for an authentic dining experience.

Sunday, thankfully, was lazy - I put washing out, watched EastEnders, had a shower, the usual.

Back at work this morning to find a note on my desk from Gaynor, apologising for the fact none of the work had been done in my absence (Noor is also on leave). Apparently one of the seniors in Central Team had decreed one particular fee earner's work to all be urgent, because they were holiday cover notes, thus effectively depriving us of one typist; another typist got lumbered with the three-taper off Lisa which was needed for Monday morning, which I had hoped to get done before leaving but had deprioritised to get through everything else, and after she'd finished that managd one other thing after lunch before swanning off at 3.30.

So this morning I had to do the 1.5-tape from Lisa (also needed for Monday, as above), plus the remainder of Thursday afternoon's work AND all of Friday's. By the time I left this afternon at 4.45, I had just caught up to the stuff from this morning.

I don't know why I bother trying to be organised. Meh.

Okay, that's enough for this entry. I should have done the WWRY review straight afterwards, but I was bloody knackered from all the rocking. \m/

Over and out.

Current Mood: thirsty

Okay, this final section will be devoted to the ‘ships. Of course. These are in no particular order except for the last one. ;) I've talked about the SB ships before at some length in my old shipper posts, but every time I come back to it, I find more stuff to ramble about. Er, sorry.

Oh, and before I start, after a comment from Paul last night and also reading online reviews, it turns out the gigantic portrait at the back was of Gloria Swanson. Which makes an awful lot of sense, though I'm kicking myself for not realising. :)

( Saturday, Part 3 )

Right, I think that’s MORE than enough. I didn’t mean for it to be this long, honest.

I’ll get the photographs up some point this week on Facebook and Flickr respectively, and spend Saturday indulging in scanning the UK tour brochure to make Faith/Jeremy manips and icons, because my journal needs more SB, dammit. Perhaps a layout? We shall see.

Normal service – by which I mean moaning, whinging and rambling about X-Files – shall be resumed some point next week. I hope. ;)

Current Mood: accomplished

I warned you about the LONG, right? Good.

( Saturday, Part 2 )

Okay, I’m going to have to split this into three entries, so I’ll put all the ‘ship stuff in the last one. Character introspection took longer than I thought. I’m fully aware that these entries are of interest to about 1% of the population but this fandom produces extreme levels of thought each time I invest in it, and I just want to get it all down for posterity.

More coming. ;)

Current Mood: climbing a very big hill...

So, here we go - a write-up of London and some other stuff...

( London, including show spoilers )

The photos (all 12 of them) are on Facebook but I think they're friends only... They're not that exciting.

On Sunday we popped up to visit Tor and the new baby, which mostly involved horror stories about the birth and trying to calm down the dog, who gets ridiculously excitable around people. Eventually she settled down on the sofa next to me, at least until the doorbell rang. I was supposed to make cakes for work but failed horribly, opting instead to slob about watching my soap and, later in the evening, Fantastic Four, which was brainless and amusing.

And today I am back at work, being regaled with stories of how Sandra has been useless all of last week. Hurrah.

( Some annoying things )

There may be some manner of birthday drinking on Saturday but I'll see how I feel on Wednesday. If I'm knackered by then, it's not happening. By all means, though, feel free to celebrate my birthday without me; it's not like I'll be the life of the party.

Things I need to do tonight:

1. Washing up / clean kitchen.
2. Re-pot plant from Lisa (birthday present) so it doesn't die like the last one.
3. Make cakes for work.
4. Have a shower.

Current Mood: apathetic

It were good. And, thankfully, free of screaming toddlers. ;) This entry will not be particularly insightful because a) I'm knackered and b) my finger hurts because I broke the skin around my nail, so typing is a bugger.

( Thoughts )

That's all I can say. I did warn against the lack of substance.

I didn't end up stage-door-stalking Mr Sleep because my stomach was playing merry hell and I just wanted to lie down. I over-indulged horribly yesterday without intending to... I had a Pret cookie for breakfast, which will ordinarily last me until lunchtime quite easily. Except then there was birthday cake (sickly, buttery birthday cake of cakely deliciousness) downstairs, and home-made samosas (mmmm, samosas) on our floor, and it all went to hell. I had my lunch at lunchtime, and we went to Zizzi to make use of the voucher for dinner before the show, even though I wasn't hungry, after which my stomach was bloated, painful and making interesting noises... :(

If I'd been feeling well, I would have gone to find the stage door, but I just couldn't face it. I am more than happy to have seen Wayne Sleep performing in something, though, especially as I managed to miss him playing the Child Catcher in Chitty....

Today I am having a HUNGRY day. Or it could be wind, I don't know. ;) Thankfully the worst of the stomach grumbliness has passed today. I also have sniffles because of the damned weather. I concede; the heating is going on.

Also, I went into Primark yesterday lunchtime to buy a bra. Er, which you all wanted to know. ;) The one I was wearing was annoying me by being entirely the wrong shape, so I just had to get a new one and Primark was cheap and easy. I also managed to find a black / dark grey zip-up hoody, finally, though had to dig for one in a size 12 - and Primark's bizarre sizing fails again. It's practially too small - all my other size 12 tops from there have been fine. CONSISTENCY. Learn it.

Anyway. I treated myself to a M&S lunch today and there is tabbouleh in my wrap. :)

Current Mood: groggy

So, it was quite good. Not as good, I expect, as the London production, but enjoyable nonetheless. The special effects were pretty awesome. :) It's completely different from the film in that several bits are in different places and there are extra characters. I have no idea how it relates to the original book, though. Even the familiar songs sound unfamiliar because of the way they're arranged. Feed the Birds is still my favourite...

I was confused about where I'd booked our seats, as it turns out, because I thought they were in the stalls and in fact they were in the circle. Quite far back, but the view was okay. I'm not used to being that high up and not being able to see people's faces properly. Thank goodness those tickets only ended up being £20, though, as I think if I'd paid full price for them I would have been a bit pissed off.

Thanks for putting it on right in time for the summer holidays, Birmingham. Srsly. I really wanted to spend good money on tickets to have to strain to hear the entire thing over chattering parents and screaming children. *rolls eyes*

On that note, people and parents of Birmingham, please note the following:

1. When the music starts and the lights go down, that is a cue to STFU. It does not mean "start talking louder to hear each other over the inconvenient orchestra" and nor does it mean "slowly dwindle to silence after about five minutes". It means "be quiet now". Thank you.

2. Please do not fill your children full of sugar when they have to sit through just under three hours of theatre. Whilst it may shut them up temporarily and stop them whinging, it only means they will become hyperactive and jump up and down. Occasionally telling them "shh" every few minutes is not good enough either.

3. Also, seat-kicking is entirely unacceptable in any situation and I have no idea why you haven't yet drilled this into your little brats yet. (Thankfully, we were initially in the wrong row and hence moved away from the seat-kickers.)

4. If your child is too young to communicate in any other way than crying or screaming, they are too young to go to the theatre. Full stop.

Having said that, one small child did provide a moment of amusement at the start. The first thing on stage is a man emerging from a chimney. Said small child shouted "HELLO!" at him. :)

At the same time, though... it's not a pantomime. I'm all for taking your kids to pantos, and I'm all for providing cultural input via the theatre... but please, for the love of anything, teach them the difference between pantomime and musical theatre. When they grow up and go to Rocky Horror they can shout out all they like, but until that point, shut them up. KTHX.

We did go to Pizza Express for dinner, also, though it transpired the voucher had in fact expired on 7th August. I checked the bloody thing loads of times, too, and still got it wrong. It only came to about £10.00 a head anyway... Paul had a Four Seasons pizza and I had a chicken pasta dish containing musrooms, red onion and lots of cheese, with pesto, which was absolutely gorgeous...

Oh, and I forgot to mention - I bought some red pepper pesto houmous from Somerfield the other and it is MANNA FROM HEAVEN, not to mention moreish. (Also, turns out I like chickpeas.)

That will do for now. Tonight we're having some of the pork in a stir fry, and attempting to watch Dan: In Real Life before the end of the night so we can get the DVDs back to Blockbuster in time... I must also edit chapter 1 and post chapter 2 of the PotC fic...

Current Mood: indifferent

Hee, Derren Brooown. :)

That was an entertaining evening...

We got the 3.49 train to Derby, arriving at around 4.30, and made our way to the Assembly Rooms to pick up the tickets. The last time we were there (some point last year, might even have been 2006), the entrance to the Eagle Centre from the subway was blocked off for redevelopment - they have now finished that redevelopment and it looks very nice indeed. The shopping mall has been extended (although it does probably mean that they've destroyed the shops out the back, including the funky comics/memorabilia-type shop and more than likely the huge Wilkinson) and they've put Debenhams and M&S there. I completely lost my bearings for a moment until I found Sainsbury's.

It looks very impressive indeed; if they ever finish rebuilding the bus depot to make it less of a concrete monstrosity, the city centre will look even more impressive. Which is nice, because at least if there's some decent shopping people might visit Derby for more than being a gateway to the Peak District... although judging by the posters at the station, it may well provide lots of traffic to London and hence Europe, as it goes directly to St Pancras...

Anyway, that was a little confusing at first, but I like it. Definitely want to go back there for a bit longer in order to do some shopping or at least have a better look around.

After that, we picked up the tickets and had a wander to suss out food options, also stopping for a drink in Coyote Wild. Eventually I decreed we should go to Baracuda because the one in Birmingham is rubbish (it's part of the same chain but due to its location tends to be more of a nightclub than a pub, at least as far as I can see), as the other option was Walkabout and/or the Wetherspoon pub - and, well, we have one of them around the corner from home. Barracuda was the place we went to last time where we had a sharing platter which comprised half a farm, and aside from that the food used to be really nice - vaguely Caribbean-themed with spicy sausages and burgers and things.

So, I was ultimately disappointed to discover that they've abandoned their interesting food in favour of a bog-standard pub menu - scampi and chips, steak, stuff like that. Bah. Clearly what the general public want is not interesting Caribbean-style food but boring stuff which you can get for half the price at the nearest Wetherspoon (which would have more choice, ultimately)... We had a sharing platter as it was the cheapest option, and even that wasn't too intersting, comprising onion rings, chicken dippers, breaded mushrooms and cheese-&-chilli bites, with some wedges. The cheese-&-chilli things were interesting, but everything else was fairly meh... It filled a gap, at least.

After eating, we played a couple of games on the gambling machine, then headed over to the Assembly Rooms. The programmes were a fiver (fairly reasonable, considering) and even though the tickets said "restricted view", the only thing I couldn't see properly was the screen at the back of the stage...

( An Evening of Wonders - don't read if you don't want to be spoiled... )

So, apart from the disappointment at Barracuda, a very pleasant evening. I will scan the programme later, and also get the Samsung phone software installed in the hope that Paul's phone will work, as I can't get mine to work properly any more, and then I can bluetooth the photos over and post them... There shall be some Derren-esque icons soonly. :)

( Some further pondering )

I mentioned some of that stuff before when I first had a proper look on Bad Psychics.Com, but it deserved to be reiterated. ;)

Must do some work now... photos coming soon.

Current Mood: pleased

I'll put the majority of this under LJ-cuts to save your friends-lists, and because I'm sure nobody's actually that interested. But anyway, here's an update of recent happenings.

Thursday
Thursday was mostly an ordinary day at work, and I got a lift home at 4.45 in order to get changed and go out again to see Sweeney Todd at the Alex, starring Jason Donovan and Harriet Thorpe (she of Brittas Empire fame - she played Carole, the mad receptionist). I had absolutely no idea what to expect of the show, other than it was by Sondheim and therefore inevitably quite good. ( Sweeney Todd )

This would have been a much better review on Thursday, or at least closer to the event, but I've not had the time...

Friday
So, on Friday, Paul and I headed off into town to the Art Nouveau Poster exhibition at the Gas Hall, which was pleasant enough. This was to signify the start of a rather cultured weekend. After that we sat on the steps of Chamberlain Square in the sunshine for a bit, and went to the Yard of Ale to waste more money in their ItBox. A quick trip to Paul's to get his stuff, and then back into town to get food in the Briar, to discover that they've stopped doing the interesting-sounding nacho platter that they had in their menu for all of a week... and, of course, more money-wasting in the ItBox. We really need to get over our gambling addiction...

I don't remember what we did in the evening...

Saturday
Saturday, I dragged Paul up to Derby for the day, which was very nice indeed. It was a lovely day, and even though the city centre was as busy as usual, it was quieter around the edges. Quite a nostalgic day for me, discovering new shops that had sprung up since December 2004 (my last visit, with Vicky) and others which had disappeared.

We had a wander around the Victorian Market Hall before lunch, where Paul bought me a ( new hat. ) Which was nice. You can never have too many hats. This brings my fedora/trilby total up to four: black corduroy with pink/turquoise ribbon band and buckle, turquoise felt, white fluffy knitted with black/gold pattern, new orange/black check. I've also got another one coming from eBay shortly, as well. Pictures of that whe it arrives.

We also went into HMV, where I bought him two CDs (anniversary presents, you see) and several DVDs: Terry Gilliam's Brazil, The Jacket, and Shirley Valentine for my mum, as all three were ridiculously cheap in the sale. I should have bought the Wizard of Oz 3-disc set for £9.99 whilst I was there, as it's not on sale in Birmingham. :(

We wandered around the museum and art gallery, since I'd spent four years in the city and never managed to do so, and continued our cultured weekend. The contemporary stuff was alternatively quite good and quite crap - the "Blue" paintings based on Mediterranean waves were really cool, as were the photographs of shoes in different locations (they were better than they sound). The museum's mummy room is frelling brilliant, too - they have a mummy in there where the face, hands and one of the feet are visible and perfectly preserved. The teeth are also bright white, which was quite scary, but they could well be fake...

After that, we went to Barracuda Bar for food, and for lunch we had an entire farm. No, really. ( Vegetarians, turn away now. ) We did quite well, considering, and didn't need to eat for the rest of the day. Unsurprisingly.

After that, we went for a walk to burn off the calories and meat headaches, so I dragged Paul towards The Factory, where I took a couple of pictures on my phone. They don't seem to have emailed, though, so I'll have to try that again later. I imagine they're not that good anyway.

Finally, we ended up at Coyote Wild - another place I failed to get into at Uni, mostly because we got IDed on the way in and didn't bother afterwards, being pissed off that a predominantly student-orientated city wouldn't accept NUS cards as ID - and sat in there until 5.30 trying not to fall asleep. We definitely need a Coyote Wild in Birmingham - they do flaming shots! Including absinthe, served with sugar and a spoon! Unfortunately, by that point the other market had closed, and also the Eagle Centre is being refurbished so I was completely confused to find exits missing. Anyway, we went back to the station and managed to get straight on a train.

So, yeah. A very nice day. It seems the city is now realising the full potential of having students and graduates living there; it now has another Subway, a Benjys, and the 'pub strip' along Friargate continues to extend. As much as I would love to live back there, Paul won't have any of it. Well, except perhaps for six months or so, but I think we'd both miss Birmingham too much. I missed Birmingham when I was at Uni, but all the same, going back to Derby still feels comforting and homely...

Anyway, we bought a bottle of wine upon arriving back at New Street, and headed home afterwards.

Sunday
( Sunday was our anniversary. )

Quite a strange day, really. It was nice enough, but I couldn't really shake the disappointment of our plans being scuppered by Bacchus' opening hours again (the first time being on my birthday, when we got there too late) or the annoyance of everythng getting ruined by football, as usual.

Monday
Monday was quite subdued, by comparison. The morning was spent watching crap television, as usual, and I was in a grumpy mood for various reasons that I don't want to go into, and then we spent the afternoon like civilised people and played Scrabble. I won four games out of six. I rock.

Watched half of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind at Paul's before bed and had tinned bolognese on toast for supper. Mm.

There was a random hilarity in the middle of the night (5.15am, to be precise) when Paul shouted "Fuck off!" to imaginary dream-people and woke me up. Somehow, it seemed to also coincide with whatever I was dreaming out, which I now can't remember. Apparently, in the dream, he was shouting to people across a road at the top of his lungs, and then woke himself up with the shouting. I just remember some incoherent mumbling and then the swearing...

I went into town with him (he had to go to work) and went to McDonalds for breakfast, then wandered around trying to find shops that were open. First, I went into Superdrug and got some disposable razors. I'd gone in for hair dye, but didn't find that until much later in the morning in the little Superdrug on New Street. I'll post pictures when it's done, if it works. Also searched for said hair dye in Boots and failed horribly. I was technically in town looking for some black cord trousers/jeans/similar and some sandals for the summer, and failed on both accounts. I got my grandmother a birthday card in WHSmiths (eventually, when it opened), and got myself a new purse off one of the stalls. It's a bit smaller than my current one, but that one is slowly giving up the ghost, which serves me right for buying cheap purses, I suppose...

Then I went to look around Primark, which was nice only in the fact that it was empty and not like a jumble sale. Didn't buy anything, though. I was going to go around the Bull Ring, but got distracted by shiny things in HMV. Unfortunately, I completely failed to get anything in the sales, and came out with four things at full price instead...

The Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical Box - 3 CDs for £8.99! It has some songs I don't already have, and I'm a sucker for musicals compilations anyway...
The Corpse Bride soundtrack
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory soundtrack (both Elfman)
Alanis Morrisette's Feast on Scraps, which I've been eyeing for the past two years... still not reduced, but what the hell. This will hopefully be my last splurge before the flat happens, other than upgrading my computer.

And that, I think, is that.

Today, I'm going to have a shower, change my bed, and, um, do nothing much else, because my back aches. Tomorrow I will hopefully go through those bloody boxes in my room, because they're annoying me. At some point, I also need to send off more application forms for inevitable rejection.

Maybe a couple of other posts later if I can be bothered. I should say some stuff about the past year, and some other stuff, too. And I have some interesting photos to post. Brace yourselves.

Current Mood: listless
Current Music: Various on Winamp

As I always say, there's nothing quite like having annual leave to make you appreciate not being at work.

Before I start ranting, however, ( I saw a ballet on Saturday )

I can't really say much more, as I think

rachel2205's review of it said a lot more. Besides which, I'm tired.

I didn't get to sleep last night until about 12.45 - possibly, because I had a St John's Wort right before bed and my brain wouldn't shut up. I was then plagued with horrible dreams all night, which I mostly only remember residual images of: creating fireworks with pillar candles and chemicals and going to

translucent's house to show her; teenagers being dismembered in horrible ways whilst on holiday; someone's eye popping out of its socket in graphic detail; myself only having one eye as a result; myself and Paul trying to get to a gig but apparently staying with my grandmother at her old house in Halesowen; taxi-ing to Paul's house to find it darkened and labyrinthine.

All quite disturbing and graphic, but oddly not scary. I subsequently woke up at 6.30 with my alarm and got up 20 minutes later after failing to get back to sleep again until 7.00. I'm not as tired as I probably should be, but I attribute that to the fact that I got about 11 hours of sleep on Saturday night.

So, yes, four days off work, and I return to a shitload of stuff on my desk, the majority of which is convening from Sandra. Obviously. One of them says "these must be sent out before the end of Monday 27th March" - well, I've been on leave. Surely if they're that urgent, it wouldn't have been impossible for her to get off her lazy arse and do them herself.

The board wasn't done, so I had to do that this morning, which involved copying it out twice because the printer's not working. I've still to sort through the other paperwork on my desk.

I've also spent the first 20 minutes of everyone's arrival hearing about their delightful hangovers after Friday night, which I am doubtless in the doghouse about because I didn't go - despite the fact that I texted Tina to ask her about details for it and got no reply. I'd spent four hours in town that afternoon doing shopping that should've taken about half that time and was exhausted.

On the plus side, there's a Union strike tomorrow, so nobody's coming in. I'll be buggered if I'm manning the office on my own. I'll lose a day's pay, but sod it. Day off, woo. Which works out quite well, as I'm going out tomorrow night.

Current Mood: surprisingly...

...and I finally update. And considering I've not done that much, it's rather silly, really...

So.

Thursday, as stated, I saw Paul. Which threw everything off kilter and made me disorganised, but was nice nonetheless.

Friday we met up in town, went to Coffee Republic (I needed caffeine urgently or I would quite probably have keeled over right there in the street) for a bit and then to Tesco for wiiiine and stuff for bolognese... which his mother was quite displeased about, as she'd cooked pie, potatoes and brocolli for us.

We made our bolognese and it was very very nice. We watched the usual rubbish on television (I don't even remember what) and I passed out at some point after 1.00...

Saturday we met up with Vicky in town and went to the Hill for lunch... where we stayed for the next four hours, playing on the Hangman machine. I think we spent about £15 in the damned thing, but won most of that back to keep on playing. Eventually, we shall pwn it.

Vicky and I went back to mine so I could change, before rushing out again to get to the Hippodrome for My Fair Lady... even though we very nearly didn't get there.

It was frelling brilliant. :D Amy Nuttall (she used to be in Emmerdale, apparently) as Eliza, Russ Abott (!) as Mr Doolittle, Honor Blackman (!) as Mrs Higgins, and Kevin's Dad from Harry Enfield as Col. Pickering. And the bloke playing Higgins looked scarily like Rex Harrison.

All the way through, I had a little niggling fanfic idea, which I'm hoping to be able to write soon enough for a Christmas present for someone. Come on, Muses, get your arses into gear for a change.

( Highlights of the show. )

I'll probably end up editing that later. But anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'll be seeing the Matthew Bourne adaptation of Edward Scissorhands in March (:D) and will be booking tickets for Jerry Springer: the Opera and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (July showing, with Gary Wilmot as Caractacus) in the new year when I've been paid, as Vicky wants to see the latter with me. I really, really want to see the BRB production of Beauty and the Beast this Christmas, but I don't have the money... :(

Anyway, after that and some lurking at the stage door (got autographs for Amy Nuttall and Russ Abbott) I headed off towards

darkstar_1984's house for her house party... but because I was cold and tired and antisocial I pretty much went straight to bed. So, yes, sorry to anyone who thought I was being moody. I don't know what was wrong with me... possibly just turning up to a house full of drunken people annoyed me because I would much rather have been at home writing up the fanfic before it fell out of my brain...

Sunday was spent watching Eastenders, White Men Can't Jump and random other crap. We had the aforementioned pie... which turned out to be a bad idea, as it made me sick last night and Paul sick this morning. I've clearly got a faster metabolism than him, which is bloody annoying considering he's thinner than me. :P So, that wasn't fun.

Doctor's appointment tonight to figure out whargwan with my periods and suchlike, even though they now seem to be evening out again... stupid body.

Before anything: Piece By Piece is looking up to be as good as, if not better, than Call Off the Search, but I'm only up to track 2 at the moment...

Weekend update:

Friday: Mrs Brown's Last Wedding was frelling hilarious. About 25% of it was completely adlibbed by the lead and author, who plays Mrs Brown, and he had most of his cast corpsing and lost for words on many an occasion, as well as the entire audience. The highlights were probably when he walked into the set (head first), decided randomly to twist the nipples of two of his male cast members, and the "blow job" joke, which went something like this. Mrs Brown quotes a joke from one of her son's dirty magazines (having found them under his bed), something like "I feel like a prostitute on a bad day: all dressed up and no-one to blow", then asks what a blow job is, the answer to which is "about twenty quid"... she then later proceeds to offer 'extra blow jobs' to the plumber and his mates...

It did result in random hilarity in the curry house later when discussing who'd pay, as David annouced, "I think I have a blow job in my pocket"... honestly, it's just not something you want to hear at the dinner table. :P

Saturday
A fry/George-Foreman-grill up in the morning, followed by watching Catchphrase (horrible stupid new ones) and me losing horribly. We left at 4.00 to amble down to Aisha's house so she could drive us to Harborne for the meal. As it transpired, it was just me, Paul, Aisha and three of her Uni friends... all pleasant enough but frighteningly med-studenty... The pizza was gorgeous, though.

We left at 6.30 to get to town to meet

marz109 for her birthday celebrations, running into

darkstar_1984 at the same time. The night was fairly slow and attendees included temper!Paul, lucretia and her OH, Max, as well as

broken_sticks, Kiwi and Abi's mate. We went to the Gallows towards the end of the night until closing time, then everyone else decamped to Eddies No. 8 (next door) whilst we went home.

Sunday
Nothing. Watching stuff. We finished watching Disney's Aladdin, which took three days due to watching it in bed and falling asleep... also The Stepford Wives, which was brilliant. Nicole Kidman, Glenn Close, Bette Midler, Christopher Walken. Duuuude. Also contained ( this brilliant and probably unintentional in-joke (spoilers under the cut) ) I don't know why so many people didn't like it. Also, the more I see Glenn Close, the more she terrifies me, and the more I know she'll be perfect when they get their arses into gear and make this damned Sunset Blvd. movie-musical... even though I think Ewan McGregor as Joe is a huge mistake. But anyway. *cheerleads for Glenn!Norma*

We ate and did more nothing, watched Red Dwarf series 7 (Extended Versions of three episodes) and complained that post-series 6 it was just trying to take itself too seriously as science fiction instead of laughing at itself... but on the plus side, the video has the entire Arnold Rimmer song at the end. :D We also watched The Worst Witch (OMG so 80s) and didn't have time to watch Interview with the Vampire...

I'm taking Into the Labyrinth (both videos) to Paul's on Wednesday as it's been ages since I watched it, and, dude, it's got Ron Moody in it!

Anyway.

Today I was Hellish tired and eventually had to make some coffee just to give myself a caffeine boost.. luckily, I drink coffee so rarely it doesn't take much to pep me up again and the following two-ish hours passed relatively quickly.

I have Achieved Something^TM in putting my uber-camp purple fluffy fairy lights around my ~~wardrobe~~ TV unit. Looks cool. :)

( Brief review of 'Piece By Piece' )

I'm pondering, when I've starte re-watching every single episode of The X-Files (nearly 200, by my estimation), whether I should review them or put some thoughts on LJ, as I'll be coming at them from a more subjective, mature point of view... and I should probably filter them so non-interested parties can ignore them. So if you want to be added to my soon-to-be-created X-Filter (oh, dear), let me know...

Current Mood: full
Current Music: Katie Melua - Piece By Piece

So. London write-up, complete with 14 quite boring photos. More coming when the other camera's been developed, which will be mostly courtesy of Paul and mostly the same as these but from different angles...

We got up at 6.30 to get the coach at 8.00, managing to forget both London maps and my inhaler, though I didn't realise that until I got home... I slept a bit on the coach on the way there (mostly along the motorway, as I was awake for civilisation) but was otherwise quite alert. After buying yet more maps from a nearby souvernir shop, we walked towards Victoria Station and therefrom parted ways.

( Continued under here, with pictures. )

So, not a particularly comprehensive write-up, but a very enjoyable day, all told. I still want to move to London, and I have some bits of something going around my head that I should try and write down, assuming they'll cooperate and translate into actual words.

More photos coming whenever I get the camera developed, which will hopefully be fairly soon.

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Music: Shadows, Rain and Angst (courtesy of pandorasblog)

So, yesterday me, mum and Paul toddled off to the Hippodrome to see Starlight Express. I am muchly impressed, it has to be said, as I went in not knowing what to expect other than rollerskating and trains. The cast were all very good, especially Electra and Rusty, (Electra = OMGcampestthingevar!) and the Red Caboose was very cute. ;) Also, the freight trains had self-referential graffiti on them with the initials of Andrew Lloyd Webber and R.S., whose actual name I've forgotten. :D I love it when costumiers do that.

So, yes, it was very good. Possibly the weirdest concept for a musical in the world ever, and quite similar to Cats in the way it's put together and in some of the musical numbers; plus, it's always fun to see which bits he's gone and reused years later, as I'm sure there was a bit of The Woman in White in there...

I knew four of the songs already: Rolling Stock, Pumping Iron, Only He and There's A Light At The End Of The Tunnel, though I didn't know I knew the latter two until I heard them, which was odd...

Oh! And there were 3D race sequences! It rocked. :D

After that we decided to go for a 'quick drink' somewhere, and wandered down to O'Neills. Since the single barmaid was throwing a strop, we decamped to the Welly instead, where there were about six people in total drinking there, most of whom left at closing time, and we ended up getting caught in their lock-in. We suspect this is only because Asa/Vanilla Rimmer (the entertainment manager/MC) turned up quite late for a couple of drinks. The entire two hours or so we were there, Big Drunken Camp Paul was hurling verbal abuse at my Paul, to the amusement/exasperation of his Long-Suffering Other Half Who Was Also Called Paul. Honestly, you couldn't make that up.

Though, actually, the most amusing exchange was probably this, towards the end of the night...

Asa: Wait, are you two a couple?
Me&Paul: Yeah...
Asa: I thought you were bent! And I thought you were a dyke!

It was hilarious. He remembered us from last time we were there and then demanded we come again on Saturday. Big Drunken Camp Paul (no, seriously, I swear he had like a pint of brandy...) ordered Asa to give me two kisses and went from loving my mum and loathing me (or at least calling me a trollop...) to switching that opinion completely by the end of the night, whilst still verbally abusing YoshiPaul. It was a lovely, lovely evening, all told. I think the Welly is my new not-so-local local, as everyone in there is so friendly, and every gay bar needs its token sickening heteros, right? ;)

Anyway, tonight there will be more karaoke at the Hill, though I'm utterly exhausted, followed by drinks for Paul's mate (Tori) tomorrow, which may be cut short for returning to the Welly and staying out til ridiculous o'clock. Woot.

Current Mood: exhausted

Whilst Eni's watching Doctor Who downstairs, I'm stealing a chance to update. It's been a while...

Last week was mostly boring as far as I can remember...

Capones gig on Friday was good, although the crowd seemed mostly there to support the Beat instead so it wasn't very energetic. Paul was quite insanely drunk and ran into the road at one point. I'm amazed we all got home intact...

Yesterday was mostly spent being silly in the kitchen and then seeing Michael Ball - SO COOL! The gig, as expected, was full of random middle-aged fangirls, but that didn't matter. The support act was a violinist who then moved on to accompany Michael during a couple of his songs. He's a fantastic showman, doing some stuff off the last album, the usual selection from the musicals, and three from The Woman in White - "I Believe My Heart" solo version, "Evermore Without You" ("those are the songs I didn't get to sing..."), and a shortened version of "You Can Get Away With Anything" (complete with rat!), plus the anecdote of how he came to get the part of Fosco for the three month run. I had doubts about whether or not he could do it, but now I wish I'd gone to see him. He was frelling amazing as Fosco for the brief moment he was playing him (cracking up mid-song aside) and was clearly having far too much fun for his own good.

Other high points included him doing a version of "Is This The Way To Amarillo" and a whole bunch of people rushing the stage and moshing at him. That was equally terrifying and very amusing. He came back for an encore with "Love Changes Everything" to much applause and squeeing. All in all, a fantastic performance and a very fun night...

Today has mostly been about watching Jonathan Creek. We've gotten through all of series 1 and series 2 as far as "Time Waits For Norman", so we'll attempt to finish series 2 tonight and then work on 3 and 4 on Monday night and Tuesday, depending on the weather. Tomorrow will be about mocha crawling, teaching Eni better pool techniques and meeting Paul in the Flapper for teH Pool Tournament. :D

So, yes. I'm still alive.

Current Mood: amused

Saw Saltimbanco yesterday with mum, David and

frightened. I would go into a long and rapturous account of it, but some people haven't seen it yet that'll possibly read this, so instead, some points:

~ I want the soundtrack. Now.
~ I want to be the singing lady. Now.
~ The man they nabbed from the audience deserves a big shiny medal for being fantastic.
~ Trapeze artists scare the shit out of me. In the "Dude, that woman is three thousand feet up and horizontal with the frelling ceiling!!" way.
~ Bungee-jumping people!! I did trampolining once! I could do that! *ahem* Well, maybe if I was a size 8 and less prone to breakages...
~ Eight-ball juggling!! Now thats impressive.

frightened wants to be the tap-dancing juggler, unsurprisingly.
~ Man with diablo! Duuuude!
~ Tightrope walkers also scare me, but not to the same degree, because they're not frelling horizontal.
~ Prettypretty costumes!

I think that's about it. The merchandise was all horrendously expensive - programmes were £9!! - and they had the most gorgeous masks for sale, most them anywhere between £60 and £250... All in all a thoroughly enjoyable evening filled with random hushed expressions of joy/shock/incoherence and lots of applause. Wonderful. Expensive, but definitely worth the ticket price. :D

Current Music: Labyrinth - Chilly Down | Amélie - A quai | Juliana Hatfield - Sellout

So, Jerry Springer: the Opera was on BBC2 tonight. I've taped it and will be watching it tomorrow. Actually, we nearly saw the show in London back in October but decided there wasn't enough time given everything else I wanted to do, so I'm quite pleased the Beeb decided to show it. Even though they nearly didn't.

Oh, for fuck's sake... (Link from

killer___queen's journal.)

Okay. I'm an atheist, which is fairly common knowledge. I'm not anti-Christian, or even anti-religion. I think faith and belief is a wonderful, powerful thing. I know lots of lovely people from lots of different religions. But they're not annoying evangelist extremist idiots trying to force their beliefs onto the rest of us. And this rant is going to be incredibly incoherent as I'm tired and trying to fight off a cold and failing horrendously, but bear with it. I'm not intentionally trying to upset anyone and I apologise if such happens; it's nothing personal to anyone who reads this. (And if

frightened wants to take this and run with it, I'll let her. ;) )

Some points.

Firstly: burning your TV licences. Yeah, that's a good plan. You'll be the first to complain when you get a huge-ass fine. And really, it doesn't do anything. The BBC probably couldn't give a damn whether or not your TV license is intact or a pile of ash, because you've already paid for it anyway, and they're not going to make a special list of people who've burnt their licences then remember not to fine them when the time comes to check people have got one. It's not a protest, it's pathetic attention-seeking. You are not martyrs, and in all liklihood, the executives up in their warm offices are staring out of the window laughing at you while you freeze your backsides off, and are about three seconds away from throwing a fire extinguisher out of the window in the hope it knocks one of you unconscious.

Secondly: "The use of foul language together with mocking Jesus Christ and portraying him wearing a nappy with sequins is highly offensive to Christians and we felt that it was totally wrong," apparently. Is that a royal 'we'? Just how many protesters are there in all of this anyway? A whole country's-worth of church-goers? I doubt it. Most likely it's a few fundamentalists with nothing better to do than find things to complain about as being 'offensive' and 'wrong'. Guess what? Not everyone cares what you think. Some people like foul language and obvious visual humour. Get over it, and stop trying to shove your morals into our faces.

Thirdly: "He said the BBC would not risk upsetting minority faiths like Islam or Buddhism." He's right, they wouldn't. And they're not trying to upset the sodding Christians, either. The BBC didn't produce the show; they didn't write it, and they weren't responsible for Jerry Springer's chat show in the first place. They're not sitting there thinking, "oh, let's show this, it'll really upset those Christians." They're just trying to provide an entertainment service, for those who cannot afford to go to London and see the show live, for those who've already seen it, for those who are morbidly curious. They're highlighting the fact that this is a unique, interesting show that, yes, may not be to everybody's taste. Deal the Hell with it.

Fourthly: "Because we are Christians they think we are fair game for any insults..." When you act like morons, what more do you expect? Shut the Hell up and follow your faith quietly like everyone else in the world, and we'll leave you alone.

Fifthly: "Religious leaders fear the hundreds of swear words the Springer show contains would cause offence when broadcast." It's on after the watershed. Also, human beings have this amazing little thing called 'free will', even though half the time they choose to ignore that fact. Don't like it, don't watch it. Yes, it's really that simple. The television has an off-switch. There are at least four alternative channels to choose from. Nobody is forcing you to sit down and watch it.

Sixthly: I get the distinct impression that most of the hoo-hah is revolving around the fact that it's being shown on the BBC. If it were any other channel - Hell, even another less-establsihed BBC channel like BBC3 or 4 - then the level of complaints wouldn't be so high. If it was on Channel 5, nobody would bat an eyelid. But because it's the almighty holy BBC, which - of course - never shows anything with swearing in, never shows anything controversial, suddenly everyone's up in arms about it.

Seventhly: leave my nightly entertainment the Hell alone. Do I come into your Sunday communion or your carol services and complain that they're anti-atheist? No, I don't. Just because Christianity is one of the largest established religions in the world does not give you the right to inflict your beliefs on those of us that choose not to follow them. I do not want to be saved; I will not be going to Hell, because that's your belief, not mine. Go pray for someone else's salvation. Put some of that energy you've been using to burn your TV licences and shout about it into, say, raising money for the tsunami appeals. Do something useful for a change, and maybe we'll stop "insulting" you.

I think I should probably stop there.

This rant is brought to you by the letters O and Y, and is a product of having redisovered the truly terrifying Chick tracts last night. Thank you and goodnight.

And, again, it's not directed at anybody I know. :)

Current Mood: annoyed

Just got in from seeing Jekyll & Hyde - The Musical. Seems you really can turn anything into a musical these days. I saw this for two reasons, 1) because Paul Nicholas was in the lead role/s and 2) sheer morbid curiosity. Paul Nicholas, for the uninitated, was the original Rum Tum Tugger in Cats. I'd also heard bits of the music online and decreed it to be at least fairly entertaining.

( Review. Ish. )

So, that was that. Eni, I'll comment when I'm back from Swindon, so as not to hit teH Number and have to disappear before we can enjoy it and celebrate...

Oh, and I took those shoes back to ~~Shelleys~~ generic shoe sale shop, and couldn't find the other one in the right size, but got two other pairs instead. Also went to H&M and managed to spend just under £100, but all of the stuff's gorgeous. Black 'hobble' skirt with lace insert in it, a green flouncy top because I don't own any flouncy tops, and a stripey velvet/corduroy jacket and trousers in shades of brown, orange and turquoise. I could've bought a whole lot more, too. So much prettiness! But just to prove that retail definitely hates me, the stupid girl on the desk forgot to take the security tag off the trousers, so I have to go back to get it removed. Shows how good their alarm is that I even managed to leave the store...

Current Mood: sleepy

As before, I've listened to it once through already, so this is general reactions on the second listen. I would've done immediate immediate reactions, but they would have been even less coherent. I mean, technically I should do this tomorrow after I've slept and the cold's cleared up a bit, but... seriously, illness-induced reactions? Such fun. Though I think we've learnt that I really should not listen to this when I'm this ill...

( Act Two, as before )

Done. God. I miss it so much. However, the rumours of a second tour are only that - rumours - so I'm not going to get my hopes up. Especially not going to get my hopes up for Faith being back in it, either. But God. I say again, why couldn't they at least have televised it? Unless they did and it was on BBC3 or something annoying like that, in which case, it might be repeated at some point...

Want Sunset back!! ~~And I want the pirate video someone made at one of the Birmingham performances, too, even though it'd probably cost more than what I'd have to pay back when I got sued...~~

Okay, I'm going to bed now. Well, I might read some fic and then go to bed... I think I've subjected you to enough of my ramblings on this...

Current Mood: thoughtful

So, I managed to get the first act of Sunset Boulevard before going out, plus about two minuts of Act Two, which leads me to believe there was an interval. Would have reviewed at the time, but the computer wasn't on. So, here's something of a review, while I re-listen and make comments. This will, of course, make no sense if you're not listening a) to the same thing I am and b) in the same way I am.

Before I begin, though: I had my apprehensions and nearly didn't bother trying to tape it because of the hassle involved (it's hassle enough trying to switch tapes without the added bonus of not actually being there to turn them over, hence why I just tried to get what I could with a 90 minute tape.) With any luck Naomi's managed to fenangle something either with her computer or taping me the second half. Then I thought, 'Dude, it's got Michael Ball in it', which is reason enough, plus, I've only ever heard Petula 'Award Winning Performance' Clarke singing "As If We Never Said Goodbye" and was quite intrigued as to her portrayal. Nobody - and I mean nobody - will ever top Faith and Jeremy in my book, just because... well, because. I've given enough reasons to justify that as an answer. So. Here we go. I shall doubtless not get to bed now til at least 2am, which is somewhat annoying as I want to get up reasonably early to achieve all the things I was meant to have achieved already, and I probably won't get to post this for, oh, another three days, as the network is still playing silly buggers.

Anyway, without further ado: ( A shambolic not-quite-review of the First Act of Sunset Boulevard on Radio 2 )

Right. Shambolic, for which I apologise, but you were warned. Want Act Two. Wonder if I could write to them and ask if they have plans to repeat it...

It's not a patch on the tour. I'm biased and I admit it. The tour = satiated Nautica. The tour = much fic. The tour = Jeremy + Faith + chemistry + beautiful people + wondrous casting. The tour = perfection itself. And Sunset = definitely not good for my health, but we already knew this... Actually, going back to that 'beautiful people' comment, that's probably part of it I never even considered before. We all know I think Jeremy's gorgeous (heh, yes, that's how it all started, remember?) but, wow, Faith was just beautiful... in, like, a really terrifying way. Those eyes, dude. And her entire stature and presence just... beautiful and dangerous and rather frighteningly sensual, as even Lloyd Webber noticed, and it worked. I may follow the other 'ships, but nothing's going to convert me from Joe and Norma, ever.

I... forgot the point I was going to make somewhere in there, but it had something to do with shippiness and was probably pointless anyway. :) I shall stop now.

Hurrah. Sunset-nostalgia.

Current Mood: nostalgic
Current Music: Hm, I wonder. :)

( in which i do a rambling and not very good review of 'chicago' )

other things: for some reason rocky's on right now at random on ITV. i can't be bothered, though. :) i taped the first half of the 100 greatest musicals thing and will doubtless be ranting about that once i've watched both it and the second bit tomorrow night. 'dead like me' is truly fantastic and Must Be Watched by everyone.

new season of 'frasier' starts in the new year! hurrah! more delovely niles/daphneness and hopefully roz/frasier if they bloody rectify That Situation. bastards... however, i trust the 'frasier' team WAY more than i trust joss whedon and david kemper, so they may actually deliver.

want 'scape miniseries NOW. :(

nothing else, i don't think. hope everyone watched 'amélie' and joined in the fabulousness!

Current Mood: indifferent
Current Music: bits of 'chicago' going around my head.

i present, for your reading pleasure (although i make no promise as to their coherence), two writeups...

( da rocky )

before i do the next one, however... a little rant.

i left derby today because i was too tired to do so last evening. in retrospect, however, it might have been a good plan to do so. i left halls at 1.00, which usually means i can be home by 3.30ish if i'm lucky.

i got straight onto a train, which was on time and everything. we got to burton, then tamworth, then wilnecote. then we got literally 10 minutes from birmingham new street. and stopped. for an hour and a f*cking half.

apparently, the power had gone out at new street, which meant the signals were down, which meant nobody could leave or arrive. anyway, after the long delay, we started moving. for twenty seconds. then stopped again.

approximately two hundred trains passed us coming out of new street in the opposite direction. another train, going in the same direction as us, went into new street. we remain, disgruntled, ten minutes from birmingham.

and finally, we get to birmingham, and the bus is stuck in rush hour traffic. i get home at 5.30pm.

needless to say, i was slightly annoyed. luckily, i'd mellowed by the time we got to the alex...

( caaaats! )

so endeth the gush...

as a final note, i've had a wonderful idea for a piece of creative writing. since we've been learning all about multiple personality disorder with brottman, and on the video documentary we watched there was a woman whose personalities each wrote in the same diary, with different handwritings, i've been struck with an idea along those lines. a story from the point of view (or points of view) of someone with MPD, told through each of the 'alters'. and i need you guys to help me with the handwriting. :)

if i ever write it, is anyone willing to copy out various passages for me? they can either scan them and send them, or send me the actual things and i'll scan them. just let me know...

right, that's everything. i shall now go to bed and prepare for the consumption of lots of alcohol tomorrow...

oh, except that i have a job. it's at the vine inn in mickleover (which has a bus service that comes more than once every hour) and it's seven hours a week on thursday and friday nights, at £4.50/hour. yay job! yay job that gives me saturday off! :D

tuggerrrrred! (and also pirates because of growltiger, but he says "rrrra!" instead of "arrrr!"...)

Current Mood: tuggered!!

it'll be the first of these in a long time that doesn't mention a) jeremy or b) my various angsts. tonight, we saw miss saigon, purely because everyone's always talking about it and it's just one of those Things You Have To See.

and seriously, you have to see it! i'll tell all i can here without spoiling those who wish or plan to see it while it's touring, or at all. so.

the set is frelling amazing, especially considering it's a touring production. (compared to the staircase and, um, cardboard that comprised sunset's set, which, don't get me wrong, was wonderful in its own unique way...) i must mention the Helicopter, because everyone who's seen this tour has. the Helicopter rocks. attach cameron mackintosh's name to something, and expect fantastic sets. that's just the way it is.

costumes: they'd make rocky horror proud ;) well, at the beginning, anyway. there were some rather fabulous shoes...

songs: only a few are well-known outside of the show itself, the most common being "the movie in my mind", which tends to appear on the various compilation albums that are knocking around. lesser known is "the american dream" and another one whose name escapes me right now, but one of the chris/kim duets (the first one), both of which appeared on the cameron mackintosh "hey, mr producer!" video in various forms. i digress. i'm surprised there aren't more songs that are well-known, compared with how many are popular from les misérables ("on my own", "i dreamed a dream", "bring him home" and "empty chairs at empty tables", for a start...) since there's quite a few hummable pieces in it. anyway, the soundtrack is now bought, will be duly copied tomorrow, and taken off to crete with me so i can learn it.

oh, if i start writing saigon-fic, you have my permission to shoot me. ditto if i start stalking someone again. which leads me nicely onto:

the talent: entire cast very good, main cast superb, and, as always, there's just one cast member that steals the show - the guy playing 'the engineer' was wonderful. so funny...

so, yes, highly recommended indeed. not sure where this tour ends since it started in manchester, but when i find out, there might be another road-trip involved. sweet, eve, lloyd - up for it?

anyway, this'll be the last post for a while (not that i've been exactly regular of late) since i'm going off to crete tomorrow evening, and returning at some point on the 20th. having just bought a notebook to take with me, i hope to god my muses frelling wake up... although i guess i could do another holiday diary like i did in kefalonia.

greece is the birthplace of the original muses. you never know what might happen.

i was going to rant about the irritating thing my grandmother did, but the thing in question is downstairs and i'm too lazy to fetch it, so it'll have to wait, if i even remember. and now i'm tired, so i shall go to bed.

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: bits of "miss saigon" going around head...

i mean, is it scary that i ship for riff and mags? i mean, really?

anyway. on that note, i present: something resembling a write-up for rocky horror last night...

i was columbia, and probably win the award for cheapest-made costume ever. the shoes were £3.00 from 'help the aged' (and actually looked like tap shoes); the jacket was home made; the top i'm going to wear again anyway; the fishnets i've had since the last time i saw it (2000); the hat was £2.99, and the red hair dye was £1.99, and the bow tie was made from an old hair band. so, yeah. pictures coming later when i can be arsed to upload them to my site...

naomi and clare arrived at my house and we all got changed and i attempted to columbia-ify myself for the first time, which was interesting. sparkly pink eyeshadow makes fantastic blusher...

the show was as completely fantastically hilarious as ever (and even rocky horror manages to get its dose of angst in, with the song "once in a while" - even if frank did ruin it later with a sarcastic comment...) as i commented on lorna's entry, riff and mags were molesting each other every opportunity they got, which was incredibly sweet. is it wrong that i can ship for a brother/sister coupling without even batting an eyelid? ;)

actually, okay, some character observations...

frank - this was, without a doubt, the campest frankie i've ever seen. (although i've only seen 4...) time curry sounds like frances de la torre (can't spell that) and he apparently based his accent on a couple of old ladies who were talking on a bus once, one of whom said, "do you have a hice in tine?" (... a house in town...) anyway, jason donovan on the 25th anniversary tour was bitchy. whoever the hell it was last time (forgot his name but he looked a lot like tim curry...) was very tim curryish, i seem to recall, and jonathan wilkes was, quite frankly *groan*, camp.

brad and janet - they were funny. the one playing janet was very good (more on her later...) and brad was amusing. nothing i found particularly noteworthy about them...

riff - considerably less psychotic than usual; in fact, probably the sanest of the lot.

mags - it's very hard to actually compare magentas since she only has about 6 lines in the entire thing (first person to quote them all gets a prize...) but this mags was less terrifyingly vampy than the last one...

riff/mags together - molesting has been mentioned. during magenta's repeated "you're a hot dog, but you'd better not try to hurt her, frank furter!" mantra, usually either riff or frank ends up incapacitating her - this year, riff punched her in the face ;) (and then molesting commenced...) however, i will probably always remember the 25th anniversary production version, whereby the medusa ray became essence of floorshow in a bug spray, and magenta was shut up by frank using that, falling over backwards into the waiting arms of her brother, which was incredibly sweet.

*sigh* the inner shipper is insatiable.

columbia - i swear, she gets more psychotic every show... although her rendition of "cheeky girls" was frelling hilarious. okay, and last tour, columbia was jo gibb, who'd been in the video of cats - this year, columbia was previously in sunset boulevard. they're turning up bloody everywhere...

eddie/dr.scott - was frighteningly squeaky (or, at least, dr. scott was.) and i liked, during "eddie's teddy"...

scott: hit me! (frank smacks him on the head and walks off.)

rocky - was very funny this year. they always seem to manage to find very short blond people to play him... oh, and this is probably the first time frank ever got to kiss his creation. i don't think he ever actually manages to frell him in the entire production, so that was also very sweet and got a large round of applause.

the trannies - ended up with progressively less clothing (as did most of the cast) as the show progressed.

the narrator/s - nobody will ever be as good as nicholas parsons :)

okay, and as for stage door lurkage - they all came out at once, which was cheating, but i managed to get three signatures - christine hamilton (narrator; neil was the other one), rocky person, and (unlike last time) jonathan wilkes. also got a photo with him :D it was all wonderfully shambolic compared to the orderly queue of actors that formed the last time ;)

oh, and i think this was also the first tour where at the end, brad ended up fully clothed again, and janet was still in her underwear and frank's jacket, and then turning down brad's second proposal. aw...

some of the best lines:

christine!narrator: ...and his fiancée, janet weiss...
audience: slut!
christine!narrator: i think that's a little harsh so early in the proceedings...

~*~

magenta: i ask for nothing, master.
frank: and you shall receive it. in abundance.
audience member: what's a bun dance?
frank: it's a disco in a baker's shop...

~*~

audience at start of act two (pre-silhouette scene): *raucous cheering and screaming mixed with booing and hissing at christine!narrator*
christine!narrator: oh, calm down. it's only sex.

~*~
christine!narrator: what further indignities would they be subjected to?
audience member: "i'm a celebrity, get me out of here!"

(for the record - she was on that show...)

~*~

clare, after getting her picture taken with jonathan wilkes: i met the hamiltons!

and one more thing: the beeeeads...

so, yeah. 'twas da rocky. oh, yeah, and the janet thing - the girl playing janet was recently the lead in whistle down the wind - and i knew before reading the credit notes because her training was graduating with a first in law before going on to train in musical theatre. that girl is my living hope ;)

will now start working on the photos...

real write up probably coming later when i'm coherent and not knackered. but, to summarise:

the show: fan-frelling-tastic! *bouncebounce* new songs not in film! and lack of "mean, green mama", but still... very funny, very, very cool.

jeremy: in a word, adorable. and failed in mission, however:

we're seeing it again next week... because it ROCKS! and it gives me time to write a proper letter to go with the fic and it'll all be fine, it'll all be fine, honest...

*deep breath*

am calm. must now do slightly more understandable writeuppy thing for the boulevard board...

More on Saturday's escapades. The show itself. You can skip this if you want, but you'll never understand about the plant if you do ;)

( Roadtrips, Fangirls, and 10086, continued. Again. )

Phew! Just got Sunday (boring bit) to type up, and my blow-by-blow account of the entire show, and things I noticed, which you don't have to read. Just something I want to do for future reference...

... of the promised ramble/whatever on "beauty and the beast"...

~ first of all, here's something i've noticed about going to the theatre: if you sit too near the front, or too near the back, it's almost like not really being there. the 'live' aspect of it doesn't really hit you (even more so if you're at the very back because it's really more like watching a movie...) until they either make a mistake, or the curtain comes down. very odd. being in about the 5th or 6th row is best. the other thing about being near the front is that it doesn't even hit you properly until you've left; this happened with seeing alan davies - it didn't hit that it was really him until about an hour after the thing finished... anyway, my point was that we were in row W for BATB and it was like seeing a film. very odd...

~ it was full of small children, the kind of small children who either a) talk through the whole thing, b) fall asleep (they're okay, i suppose; at least they're quiet...) or c) rustle sweet wrappers (but then, most adults do that, too...)

~ the story of beauty and the beast has such wonderful potential for angst and drama, but, being disney, none of that is really played on. shame...

~ because of the nature of the show - appealing to all ages as per disney's raison d'etre - it was rather like a pantomime. but the cast were very good - especially the guys playing lumiére, cogsworth, and gaston - and could definitely play up to the audience. plus, the facial expressions were so exagerrated, i could see them right at the back ;)

~ the guy playing the beast was, in fact, on the les mis concert video at the albert hall, so now i have to look for him... hearing him sing, he had a very 'les mis' ish voice, that sort of sing-speak quality that denotes professional training... and obviously, he had a good voice. what scared me was the sheer campness of the beast himself - in particular there's a scene where he's trying to ask belle to dinner, and she accuses him of not being polite... and he says something like "ooooooh, she wants me to be polite" - and you'll just have to imagine reeves and mortimer doing their handbag-clutching joke to get the feel of it...

~ i'd forgotten how nice some of the music was in it. the opening theme especially sent little tingles down my spine. but for some reason, disney songs just don't sound right being sung by a full musical cast ;) it's just too much, somehow...

~ the costumes were wonderful. you haven't lived until you've seen a guy dressed as a candlestick trying to seduce a woman dressed as a feather duster ;) and is it just me, or does the beast ALWAYS look better as the beast and not the prince... i've always thought that, in the film and in the show. very odd... i guess it's kinda like you know the phantom just wouldn't be the same without the deformity because it's part of why he's so bitter and part of why you know you shouldn't love him but you do... (and i think that's why beauty and the beast is one of my favourite stories - it's the same sort of concept as phantom.)

~ my "tears-rating" doesn't work any more. i used to base a show's quality on how many times i ended up in tears. when i saw les mis, you see, i cried 6 times; at whistle down the wind, only twice; thus, WDTW was a third as good as LM. but then, i didn't cry at all in SB, and it was far, far better than WDTW (proven by the fact that i'm not obsessed at all with WDTW and... well, you know about SB :D) and, i didn't cry at all during BATB, but that doesn't make it a bad show. it's a frelling fantastic show (and disney clearly needs the money from the merchandising more than lloyd webber does, because everything was very expensive, tickets included...)

~ why has disney chosen the two most difficult stories to turn into musicals? first, 'the lion king', noW BATB, both of which require very difficult costumes... what's next? 'the little mermaid'? (ooh.. now that i'd want to see!)

that's pretty much it. i've ranted about theatregoers enough for one year ;) so i won't bother. you all know how i feel about that.

this is a review for SB (currently in liverpool, found on the BBC website, apparently) which absolutely deserves to be 'MSTed', for want of a better word. but why... WHY... must they send critics to things they're obviously not going to like. aren't critical reviews supposed to provide an opinion that allows a potential viewer their own decision? so what's the bloody point of sending someone who's obviously going to hate something? ugh. i don't understand people. i also don't understand how this reviewer could find SO MANY trivial faults... i think he wandered into the wrong show...

anyway. here we go.

( a ranting i shall go... )

Current Mood: irritated
Current Music: nothing. nothing at all.

"sunset boulevard". once more.

okay, you know what? circle seats aren't as bad as you might think. you can see the entire stage, and they're really well tiered so you don't get heads in the way. the only major drawback being that you can't really see the facial expressions of the cast that well...

okay...

~ jeremy finch. what can i say, he was fabulous tonight. it's been a month, and he's finally found his voice. and he has absolutely perfect comic timing. some of his reactions were hilarious (what i could ascertain of them, anyway...), such as after he says "she put me in what max called 'the room of the husbands'...", and... ah, i can't remember, there were lots. but he's gorgeous :D halfway through i texted eve and said "oh my god, i think i'm in love", or some such... the combination of joe's character, and jeremy's portrayal... it's just... oh, i don't know. frell it all, i'm in love with joe gillis, and finally i realised! what's another fictional character for the list, after all?

the last note in "sunset boulevard" at the beginning of act two made me tingle all over again... and his high notes... are... wow... a few more years, he'll be playing the phantom, i guarantee it...

(oh yeah, and the stripping? almost twice as hilarious as before. i was well aware i was grinning like a complete idiot and just couldn't care less, thank you very much. the entire scene is pure comedy.)

~ faith brown. she's divine. there's no other way to describe it. and tonight, she was on perfect form. during "as if we never said goodbye" she nearly moved me to tears (as soon as the spotlight hit her, to be precise...) and when she was fighting off max at the end of act one, right before joe comes back, i was nearly sobbing... she IS norma desmond. plus, she clearly adores the role, and it shows. (but more on her later :D)

~ faith and jeremy together. the chemistry was electric, AND they'd re-choreographed the tango. (MUCHO shippiness, there :D) and she was more touchy-feely... if they change him now, it'd be a crime... but god... they're so good together its scary... the kiss at the end of act one... i didn't cry... but i was close to it... i could hear Nautica bouncing around my brain. she did all the "AWWWWWWW"ing for me :) anyone who tries to convince me that joe never loved norma, not even a tiny bit, is going to be wasting their time, seriously...

~ the show. has much improved; particularly, the set change into schwab's drugstore was seamless (there were problems there last time), and there was only one glitch, which seemed to be a feedback problem towards the end. the cast were all wonderful (betty was perhaps a little flat, but... hey, it's live!)

~ the audience. was fantastic. all of the jokes got laugh-out-loud chuckles instead of minor murmuring, there was complete silence during the most dramatic scenes, and i think nearly everyone stood up. i know i did. it was very much a last show atmosphere...

right. and the question. did i stalk the cast? you bet i frellin' did!!

first of all, i had no idea where the stage door was and ended up down the wrong side of the theatre, but when i'd found it, there was a gloriously small amount of people there :D

there was a nice friendly japanese man who lent me his pen, too. unfortunately, i had to get them to sign my ticket as my programme was at home (see, i KNEW i should have taken it...)

the first person we saw was lee ormsby, who played artie green.. he was deep in conversation with a friend, but nobody was that concerned with him (i had limited space :P). then, michael bauer, who played max, came out, on his way for a pint, by the looks of things. he was... nice... what little he said, anyway...

then, (argh, forgot her name, will update it later) who played betty came out. she was welsh and lovely. i'll scan the ticket and the message when i get back to uni, but it said: "To Becs, or rather Bex..." hehe. i love it when they do that :)

then... okay, i'm calm. i'm calm enough to tell you this with minimal typos and shrieking...

faith brown. she was practically mobbed. the regulars were there, they've been following the tour around the place... she signed things and was talking to everyone, and she's SO NICE... and... and she signed my ticket...

and...

okay, okay, here's where i usually start giggling and grinning like an idiot...

and...

i nonchalantly asked if she'd had anything interesting in the post.

she asked who i was. it didn't ring a bell. i was thinking oh great, the frelling hippodrome lost the damn things... and then...

the light dawned...

she's. read. my. fanfic. MY FANFIC! FAITH FRELLING BROWN HAS READ MY FANFIC!!

and, not only that, she's written back (it hasn't got there yet, but i have something to look forward to on monday :D) AND... she. liked. it.

she said i was clever. i haven't been clever in a looong while...

i was, of course, just going "thank you, thank you..."

and she gave me a hug.

oh. my. god...

i spent the entire taxi journey home grinning like a complete idiot.

the only downer was that i missed jeremy as he was the first to leave and i was around the other side of the building (grrr.) but that's easily rectified. i'm definitely going to get tickets for the october show now, if only so i can nab him ;)

okay... i'm not going to get any sleep tonight, this much i know...

i'm all on such a buzz you wouldn't believe. it's one thing getting reviews at FFN for stuff... but to have a real person... a real famous person, no less... who you based the fic on... read it... and like it... and write back...

it's...

there are no words...

*happy post-show sigh*

hm. i'm frelling starving...

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: you'll never guess what i have in my head ;)

a grantle, i have decided, is a combination of a grumble, a rant and a ramble... so this is a grantle.

"sunset boulevard"... wow... just simply, utterly, wow... shall attempt to summarise and be coherent and numerical... and, for those seeking a summary which makes sense, go here.

1) the show begins on-screen. it shows a black and white close-up of norma desmond. she does her whole silent filmstar thing... the camera zooms in, then the audience is left facing the barrel of a gun... nice bit of foreshadowing, that ;)

2) this is the only show i remember where a) i didn't cry (which is either a good OR a bad thing. in this case it's a good thing, there was nothing really cry-worthy in it. which, again, can be a good or a bad thing...) and b) i didn't get the horrible feeling of wanting to kill myself halfway through. possibly because there's no young female lead in this. well, there is, but she's not the coolest character, and i'm too young to be norma desmond ;)

3) it's been a frelling long time since something i saw had a standing ovation at the end. faith brown truly did shine...

4) right, show chronology would be good... the set is, as usual with a lloyd webber production, amazing. a staircase on wheels, many yards of fabric to make gold rouched curtains, sliding set pieces, old bits of film set, a drop-down projection screen, and an actual working camera at the end (more on that later.) and everything slides together really wonderfully between scenes. there was only one major glitch - the set piece for schwab's bar obviously took longer than they anticipated to get set up, since the orchestra played the introduction to the song about 5 times over... other than that, the set was great ;)

5) lead guy was purrrdy :) his programme photo did NOT do him justice. he had a lovely smile...
[ADDENDUM 09/05/02 - hehe... the beginning of a beautiful infatuation...]

6) faith brown may not be glenn close (who is the definitive norma desmond in my opinion, because she looks manic most of the time anyway), and she may be a tad too busty for the part, but she was incredibly good. if it hadn't been so cold i might have attempted a backstage door stalking, but it really WAS cold...
[ADDENDUM 09/05/02 - i renounce that statement. faith brown is divine and brings a certain elegance to norma that glenn close lacked... this is not to say that i don't like glenn close - she really is totally manic in the most wonderful way... and gloria swanson is, of course, the original norma, and that can't be beaten. there is no definitive norma for me... my norma is a bizarre amalgamation of faith, glenn and gloria...]

7) the shipper in me has been hooked on this since i saw the movie. i'm incurable, what do you expect? add to that the fact it's practically the reverse of the POTO scenario, and i'm a goner. norma and joe deserve each other by the end, they're both as deluded as each other. thus, the act one tango scene is one of my new favourite theatre moments. but, see, in the soundtrack, it says that after they dance (and sing "perfect year". yes. the same one sung by dina carroll), norma kisses him. i was anticipating this and it didn't happen. nor did joe kiss her later when he comes back from artie's party. i was NOT impressed (even if the final kiss at the end of act one DID make me tingly all over... :D) however, they made up for it in kind in act two :) and threw some in where i wasn't expecting it. *sigh* i was well aware i was grinning like a moron, but by that stage, i really didn't care... and i need shipperfic. i will be the universe's first SBshipperficcer... (i just know i'm still going to be rambling about this later...)

moving on...

8) joe's big solo at the start of act two, appropriately entitled "sunset boulevard" also made me tingle. there was something about the guy's voice, the underlying chord, and the way it just sounds in a theatre...

9) norma's big scene at paramount studios when she sings "as if we never said goodbye" completely alone in the spotlight, then provoked my mother to say later that it's something everyone HAS to experience. she's done it herself. *sigh* so now i have to live up to her expectations as well as my own. great... anyway, faith brown ;) she was fantastic in the scene, her delivery just hit all the right metaphorical and literal notes. it's amazing how much more sense the words to something make when it's delivered properly...

10) dammit! i forgot to mention the headlights!! hee! there's a car chase scene, so they darkened the entire stage and had a couple of sets of headlights on wheels to roll around. it sounds corny but it was SO effective! and they ended it with overlaying the footage from the original film over the end of it... making me very glad i watched it before i went, or it would have made less sense.

11) screw the chronology... they missed out the naughty words!! well, word, singular, really. they left in the line "get me that shithead nolan", but turned, uh, 'frell' (artistic license :P) into "heck", as in "joe, what the heck brings you here?" it doesn't really have the same effect. possibly there were too many kids in the audience tonight. still, i find it highly amusing that they can disguise it as culture and then swear at us :)

12) i started humming the intro to act two without realising it... :-|

13) the worst thing about seeing a live show is that the whole thing seems to pass so quickly, and there's no rewind button. and i find if you sit too close, it never seems real somehow... it's like you're watching it on a huge screen. if you sit further back it makes the stage more... well... like a stage. probably just a me thing. anyway, yes no rewind button. which means if you miss something, you miss it... and if there's someone's head in the way, you definitely miss it... luckily, there wasn't, this time ;) however, i want to see it again. now.

14) i'm allowed to be obsessed now i've seen it, right?

15) the ending was clever. the famous closing line of the film is "and now, mister de mille, i'm ready for my close up", and there's a close up. obviously, you can't do that on stage. aha, but you can! the aforementioned camera came in handy here. they rotated the entire staircase so that norma was facing stage right, brought the semi-opaque screen down and had a camera on her face to do the close up... and the final image, with the last words of "with one look" ringing out, is on her eyes... her manic, insane eyes... it's a breathtaking moment.

and... the thing about musicals, no matter how sad the ending... is everyone comes out smiling. it doesn't happen often with plays...

now for the grumble/rant part.

i remember Theatre. it was an excuse to dress up. the ice-cream was in those little tubs with the wooden spoonsticks, or was cornettos. the lights would dim and a hush would descend on the auditorium. and out of the silence, the opening strains of the orchestra would begin.

now, people wear jeans. (someone had the audacity - or sheer blindness - to turn up in a "les miserables" tee shirt. to a lloyd webber show...) the ice cream is expensive, it's ben and jerry's. the lights dim, and people carry on talking. the orchestra starts, people still whisper, and rustle their sweets, and rumple their programmes. watches go off every hour, text messages hit mobile phones, and... it's just not the same.

the only thing that makes it seem familiar is walking to the seat while the orchestra tunes up. a tuning orchestra is one of the most amazing, beautiful sounds in the world... and even the metropolitan hell that is the new hippodrome seemed like a theatre from days of old...

i really think i'm too young to be so nostalgic over things like this ;)

oh, and here's what i bought:

1 souvenir brochure - £3.00
1 programme - £4.00
1 vocal selection - £10.00 (bloody cheap for sheet music! god only knows how much that'd be in a shop...)
1 keyring - £3.00
1 lapel pin - £2.50

coming to a grand total of £22.50, resulting in my mum having to go to the bank since i forgot my card. but as i bought the tickets (£55.00 in total...), i think i deserved a present ;)

anyway. i was going to also type up the beginnings of the fanfic. or rather, me trying to talk myself out of it, failing, and throwing ideas around. but it's long. so next time, i will :)

and now, good night.

PS: "frasier" - aw!! he proposed! and... and... just... niles. all crying and nervous and aw! *sigh*

Current Mood: between euphoric and tired...
Current Music: little bits of SB going around and around and around...

last night i spent a glorious two hours in the the deep south of 1950s america. last night, i cried twice. last night, i saw "whistle down the wind".

frelling good show, that. good songs throughout, good set, good cast (bloody good cast, the lead female did a ba(hons) in law before training in theatre studies - see, it is possible to get into something without 15 years training...), good music, and good seats, which always helps. the opening song made me tingly all over :) and the lead male was excellent. he could be valjean easily. anyone who can reduce me to tears in 5 minutes has talent (in a good way, i mean...)

however, there were two brats sitting in front of us, one of whom just had no ability whatsoever to sit still for more than five minutes. theatre just isn't what it used to be - there was a time when everyone would goddamn shut up when the lights dimmed, but those days are gone, and it took the opening chord to get everyone to be quiet, and still there were people chatting behind us. and then, there's always that one brief minute when i'm sitting there thinking it's just not fair, damnit. i should be up there, i want to be up there on that stage. i yearn too much and it hurts, but being the queen of the procrastinators means i'll never get there. *sigh* and then it's over, back to reality. i hate that part the most.

and, by the way, the hippodrome is nasty now they've refurbished it. it doesn't even resemble a theatre any more. it looks like an office block or something. and, idiot people that they are, they closed the merchandise store after the show when i wanted to go back to get stuff. at least they kept the auditorium intact, which is something, they just changed the carpet.

and then, i get back to uni, and the first thing that's said to me is "i have a favour to ask - can you please remember to get rid of your breadcrumbs off the counter?". no "how was your weekend?" or "how was the show?"

i think i'll just sodding well move out...

anyway, i also managed to buy my may ball dress, now i have to go home again next weekend to buy the boots to go with it. it's a red skirt under black mesh with a fitted strapless top. and, somehow, i got into the size 10...

Current Mood: pissed off
Current Music: for some reason i have "mack the knife" in my head.

or if i'd even remembered.

i watched "song and dance". it was very good, if a little frightening, what with the non-psychotic, all singing, all dancing sarah brightman sounding nothing like christine, and the entirely wonderful and very short wayne sleep. and the *terrifying* eighties fashion mistakes throughout.

good songs.

wanna see this live.

also, interesting in the fact that it was in the palace theatre, which now houses les mis, and doesn't even look like the same theatre :)

but... weird brightman-ness. looks nothing like herself. doesn't even sound like herself. she sounds... human! this is not the voice of the chorus girl the phantom would teach, no way, this is the voice of the chorus girl he'd try to kill...

wish i could dance. i wonder if it's too late to learn to tap dance?

Current Mood: mildly amused
Current Music: still that stupid rose song. what the frell ARE the words?!

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teylaminh

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July 2017

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Page Summary

"Sunset Boulevard" Write-Up, Part 2
"Sunset Boulevard" Write-Up, Part 1
When Fandoms Attack!
Somewhat Eventful Weekend - This Got Long, Sorry...
Phandom Joy!
Long Overdue Update
Weekend write-up.
Sunset Ramble, Part 2
Sunset Boulevard Review / Ramble
Sound of Music, etc.
Cabaret, etc.
Mary Poppins
Derren Brown in Derby
Incredibly long update.
Welcome back to work...
Five years later...
*insert witty subject here*
"Stranger than you dreamt it: can you even bear to look...?"
Starlight Express, answer me yes.
To the sound of distant squeeing.
Cirque du Soleil
I've inherited Lorna's rantivirus.
Possibly not the Les Mis of the future...
Act Two of Sunset
(no subject)
"what became of class?"
rocky, cats, random stuff...
obligatory theatre trip write-up
nautica worries me...
eeeeeeeelittleshop!
"I held Jeremy's plant!" - part three
short version....
obligatory rant about theatre critics...
i am perfectly calm, honest...
"sunset boulevard" - a grantle.
my usual incoherent ramblings...
something i would have posted last night if i'd been online...

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Rambling Verbosity since 2001

Entries tagged with reviews: theatre

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