Today I got up and headed to Leicester Square with the aim of getting half-priced tickets at one of the cheap ticket booths. When I got there (at 10am) there were hardly any people around, so I strolled into a few booths to check out the prices. They weren't that cheap and some of the places seemed a little dodgy. When I finally went to TKTS - the place I was told to go - they said they didn't sell tickets to Wicked but that I should go to the theatre where I will get the best seats for the best prices. They were right. I got seats right in the middle of the row, seven rows from the front, in the stalls, for only £25!
The big breakfast I had at The Workers Cafe. Tough to handle after eating croissants for a month...
On the way to the Apollo Theatre in Victoria I passed this silly British horse ceremony at St James Square - I say silly because to me all this stuff in big fluffy hats walking around like robots seems absolutely ridiculous to me! - where I met an enthusiastic woman from Christchurch who insisted to take a photo of me and then introduced me to all of her friends who were also from New Zealand. So that was quite lovely. I then strolled through St James Park which was another big grassy park. Today was a really nice sunny day so it was an extra nice walk. At the end of the park I came across huge crowds of people hanging outside a big building which turned out to be Buckingham Palace! It was kind of strange because it wasn't clear to me whether this was actually the palace (there's no sign on the gate...) and there's not much to see really. But I guess it would be unlikely to see the Queen in her pajamas pass by the window to get a cup of tea.
Ridiculous.
The photo by the nice NZ lady.
I then caught a big red bus to Waterloo where I got out and strolled along the South Bank. I passed the National Theatre and the Tate Modern and stopped at my destination: The Globe Theatre! I hung out at the museum for a while (New Zealand has quite a strong presence here thanks to Dawn Sanders!) and then went on a guided tour through the theatre. It was much smaller than I imagined, but totally cool. The theatre geek inside me was having a party! I loved how you feel like you're in a big ball and can imagine how great it would be to be part of an audience there standing in the pit. Unfortunately there are no performances at the moment because it's winter.
The outside of The Globe.
The inside of The Globe.
A view from the South Bank.
Afterwards I had a field day at the Globe store then went and met Michael Trigg who works at The Swan bar right next to the Globe!
Michael used to be the receptionist at Toi Whakaari for a while. Now he has a more manly job as a bar tender. (Thanks for the free drinks).
Went to 'The Real Greek' for dinner where I ate Souvlaki whilst listening to Wicked on my iPod. Then headed back to Victoria for Wicked! It was WICKED!
Emerald City?
I sat here (see green arrow).
The peak of Defying Gravity. I was waiting for this moment. It totally hit the spot.
The singing was incredible! The sets were absolutely stunning! The acting was great! I was on the verge of happy crying all the way through! For me music really moves me. Especially big voiced stuff like gospel and ensemble singing. So when you combine this with my true love - theatre - I get absolutely overwhelmed.
- It was weird because I know all the music from the New York Broadway album, but in this show they all sang and spoke with British accents. The song 'Loathing' (pronounced here with an overly pronounced dipthong: 'Lowe-thing') was particularly jarring.
- Some guys in the Ensemble were not completely committed to their parts, and it really ruined the illusion. Be committed.
- I was surprised the lead actress who played Elphaba, the 'bad' witch, wasn't stiller. I was looking for some great still points, but she tended to be constantly moving her body. Maybe this is a singing thing, but theatrically I wanted her to just be there with us. It would have been nice to have some strength in her body to match the incredible strength of her voice.
- For a while I've preferred tight, slick theatre over messy loose theatre. However Wicked was so tight that it felt safe, and I wanted the performers to take a few more risks with their voices. Thankfully towards the end of the show they all went for it and the grittiness I was looking for appeared.
- Something Teina said a while ago about his struggle to find passion performing in The Lion King when he was performing night after night for months on end, about when he saw the look on the kids' faces in the audience during the show he remembered why he was doing it, stuck in my head during this performance. Some of these performers have been doing this show for a few years now, and it must be tiring, but as an audience member I want to have just as good an experience as the people did on the show's opening night. I feel like for the most part tonight's cast did this. I was looking for 'pleasure' on stage and I definitely saw real moments of it. I think this pleasure is what Teina found again when he saw the look on the kids' face. It would be very easy to become mechanical performing night after night, but when an actor finds their pleasure and enjoys playing everynight, this is when the audience loves you. It was easy for the performers of this show to be loved, we loved them before they entered (like the stories Philippe told), but they showed us their pleasure and so we continued to love them throughout the evening.
- A guy talking his head off at the workers cafe. Very loud and proud.
- A guy having an argument on his mobile phone with his recently divorced ex-wife.
- The guy selling 'The Big Issue' magazine on the street. He was very creative finding every kind of way of saying 'The Big Issue' (e.g. The Big Ish, The Biiiig Issue, The bigISHue) but in complete monotone!
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