Category: London

Panto

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.

Family visit for readings and song

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.

Messiah time

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.

Football trip down memory lane

In my mind there was always the memory that my first visit to watch a professional football match was at Griffin Park to watch the Brentford, the Super Bees, was against Crewe Alexandra with a result of 1-0. I went with Patrick who was a Brentford regular and at that stage of course a shareholder of one share following the rescue of the club in 1967.

I did some research, the wonders of stuff online, and found the result of 1-0 against Crewe. So it was the 71/72 season on December 27- so clearly the equivalent of the Boxing Day game.

and clearly a successful season with promotion. Though looking through the results they bounced down within one season back to Division 4.

So memory not all bad. First game at Griffin Park aged 8.

And now we are in the final season at Griffin Park, I am in year 2 as a season ticket holder and the move to Lionel Road is imminent.

More Proming

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.

Proming

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.

We woz there

For the first time I watched the Boat Race from the banks of the Thames. Never been that interested- rowing for one and Oxbridge for the other. But as we still live by the Thames it had to be a good idea to go.

I do like the sporting prowess of the people who compete in these sort of things and we did have a bit of buy-in as we had seen the crews training in he last couple of months along by Putney Bridge and outside our window.

However it was all celebrity rower and not a concentration of the teams in the end.

Panto

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.

Romeo and Juliet

The Barbican

A trip to see the classic play in the flesh.

This was a you persons twist on the play with more young actors plus the use of woman to play male characters.

I found the words hard to follow at times which I take as typical- it is after all a different version of English. However a review does promote the energy of youth but complain of the lack of clarity in the spoken word. I am not sure what the change in gender of roles was set to achieve other than balancing of opportunity.

I good night out which Shaz enjoyed a lot a little to her surprise.

Not a cheap way to spend an evening but we will keep in mind again for the future.

Messiah

Another performance of the Messiah and this time back to the original venue. Is it fifteen or more times now?: from the small churches to the international venues.

The chorus comprised 130 people this time and it showed. The volume overall was impressive and as Shazz noted, the balance was better between male and female voices. More man with a better balance and power.

The soloists dod well with projecting in such as venue which maybe was helped for us being in seas quite low down though not the stalls.

I really enjoyed the experience and would probably rate it as number 1 in the hit parade of Messiah performances. Maybe we will have the opportunity of listening to the Huddersfield Chorus again sometime.