Show time!

I've been a bit remiss in my blogging habits yet again. The last few weeks I've been really busy finishing off assignments before the end of term. I happily handed in my last essay this past week. I'm now studying for my one and only exam this coming Wednesday (on research methods - sounds fun, right?). I'm looking forward to having my course work complete! That will just leave the dissertation to write (a minor project... ha!)

We have been to a couple of good shows in Central London the past few weeks. Back in early April we went to a performance by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment featuring music by Bach, Handel and a lovely young soprano. The venue was The King's Place, a few blocks down the street from King's Cross/St Pancras train station. The theatre is the newest in London with an office building above and the two stages located in the basement to cut down on the noise from the nearby trains. The accoustics were fantastic and it also looks beautiful - the whole theatre is lined with hardwood from the same old tree.

Two weeks ago we went to a fabulous production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe. It was unusual as it featured an all-male cast. It was hilarious, touching and the singing and choreography were fantastic. The men playing the female leads had incredible soprano ranges - one getting up to a high A! Iolanthe was particularly suited to an all-male cast as the story is concerned with a group of magical fairies and a half-man/half-fairy. This made for quite a few funny double-entendres. But it wasn't camp - it's hard to explain what the vibe was of the show, but although it was definitely very funny it could also be very sincere and heartfelt. I think it was my favourite show that I've seen while we've been here. The venue was also magical - Wilton's Music Hall, a few blocks east of the Tower of London. It's apparently the oldest still-standing music hall in the world, built in the 1850s. The building is kind of semi-derelict. For example, the audience can't sit on the balconey because it won't support the weight (!), and the paint on the walls has all peeled off revealing brickwork underneath. And it has a distinctly earthy smell. But it is a really fabulous venue - very atmospheric (especially for a show about fairies).

This past Saturday night we bought tickets last-minute to see a brand new musical, Betty Blue Eyes. It features a really cute animatronic pig (Betty). The show is based on the movie A Private Function made in the 1980s with Michael Palin and Maggie Smith. Set in austerity-era Britain, 1947 the year of the wedding of Princess (now Queen) Elizabeth and Prince Philip. The upper-crust inhabitants of a small town are raising an illegal (non-rationed) pig (Betty) to eat at a banquet in honour of the royal wedding. Hijinks ensue. It was just a coincidence that when the show opened in March another Royal Wedding was on the horizon. It was a funny show although also bizarre with some random dream-sequences that were very strange! It is also the first musical I have ever seen that has a scene featuring a urinal.