The passage of time in Wellington and elsewhere
A trip to the musical which is laying at the Barbican Centre. Great fun, lots of energy, silly humour and great dancing. I can see why it received its rave reviews. Great escapism. Shaz loved it and a second visit a possibility with the baby in tow.
The long running LesMis production has just moved to the Sondheim theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue. So Joe’s and my return to the show was at a different venue to the one that Shaz and I watched in last year.
As with these it events it was full. We were near the top rung again but not so high and uncomfortable as with other shows.
The show was great and the apparent innovations introduced worked very well in my eyes. The projection of the sewers and the falling off the wall of the policeman to his death.
A wonderful experience for both of us. I would happily see again.
Another family trip, all five, to the musical venue. The show was a mixture of classic carols and well known Christmas populars.
Good fun for the most part and of course a bit cheesy in places. There were plenty of opportunities to sing along.
The Christmas binge goes on and Friday night was Panto night at the Questors in Ealing.
A trio for five that was fully enjoyed. It was a different style of performance from last year when Shaz, Joe and I went to Wimbledon Theatre to see Paul Merton among others.
The actors were mainly children from the Questors young person’s school. There were lots of their mums and dads in the audience I think.
The Pantones was funny, good fun and beautiful. Very different from last years but good all the same and still the same classic format.
Cool.
This was a second time visit and this time with the boys.
It is quite a different event with readings interspaced with music both of the easily recognised and the less typical.
The reading came from the Bible but also thought pieces on believe and religion. There readers were well known – in particular Celia Imrie and Clive Myrie ( BBC journalist) who both clearly are well practised in delivering words.
Mostly beautiful music in Latin, German and English. The traditional carols in English and a selection of others sung by the choir with a very beautiful combined voice. The German version of Silent Night, Holy Night in German (Stillest Nacht) was great. Not all the offerings worked but that is how it goes.
One more event in our procession of Christmas orientated events. Keep it going.
Our annual experience with the classic event at a classic venue.
We sat in better seats this time, closer to the action on the central area.
The choir was powerful and the philharmonic was classy. The performers all seemed to warm up in the second half.
Another positive experience. Here’s to more in the future.
A lovely idea by the boys to treat me to a trip to the theatre for Father’s day. Four months after the event but so what. I was partly to blame as we are on holiday too often!
From the Guardian:
Menier Chocolate Factory, London
With antisemitism on the rise, Tevye’s struggles with the tsar’s thugs are powerfully topical in this note-perfect production
Thu 6 Dec 2018 13.53 GMTLast modified on Thu 6 Dec 2018 15.40 GMT
Although much-loved and often revived, Fiddler on the Roof has been charged with excessive sentimentality and piety. As the poor Russian-Jewish milkman Tevye attempts to marry off five daughters, several of the songs have the form of prayers, and a startling percentage of the dialogue is delivered upwards.
We saw the performance at the Playhouse Theatre as the production had transferred for a limited run. I did my preparation by reading the synopsis and listening to the songs. Some were familiar and the story is easy to follow. The show was very good though the duration of sitting in the hot cheap seats with restricted leg room made a difference.
A great night out with the boys who also enjoyed the show. So all were getting out there to enjoy something new.
The last night before the last night of the Proms. A Beethoven evening including the very recognisable #5.
I had the pleasure of going with Joe as Shaz was too busy. We managed to have a pint in South Kensington beforehand and watch the last 20 minutes of the Ashes with the beginning of England’s second innings.
And the music? Good, though as before, when the singers were on we were in some cheap seats to which the voice projection was not so good.
But good fun all the same, very recognisable intro to #5 of course and other sections. The crowd loved it all so much that the orchestra played an encore. Not typical of my experience. Joe seemed to enjoy the evening too- so a win-win.
Until the next time.
EQ is visiting and so she came with me to the Royal Albert Hall for our first visit to the Proms in 2019.
Prom 39: Elgar, Errollyn Wallen, Mendelssohn & Mussorgsky19:00 Thu 15 Aug 2019 Royal Albert HallThe sea rolls through both Mendelssohn’s overture The Hebrides and Elgar’s sumptuous orchestral song-cycle Sea Pictures. Mussorgsky’s colourful Pictures at an Exhibition and a world premiere by Errollyn Wallen complete the programme.
We were up in the gods and as a result quite warm. We managed to arrive with minutes to spare. The seats were not he best as we were adjacent to the stage and as a result the signing in particular was not well heard as I think the sound was projected forward and upwards both naturally and with the speakers rather than to the side.
As a result the Elgar pieces did not do it for me. The new piece was was a little wacky, different but not great. I found the Mussorgsky really good, worth another listen. Similar responses from EQ.
The hall was packed. Clearly the Proms remains popular.
A grown up family event, though by rights one should be taking children to Panto. I am not sure that Joe still counts. However there were plenty of other ‘unaccompanied adults’.
Shaz enjoyed the event with her shouting at the stage, hissing the baddy and clapping along.
It was all very traditional and fun, just as was expected. Paul Merton was very good both in his portrayal of Widow Twanky and his ability to ad-lib in general.
As ever Shazz is hooked.