London trip (1 Oct - 11 Oct)
My London trip report, which is essentially a theatre diary. Some people take pictures, I keep ticket stubs…
Wicked - Idina Menzel looks good in green
So, Monday was Wicked, which I loved. Short version: the basic story is of Elphaba, better known as 'The Wicked Witch of the West' and how she became 'wicked'. Along the way it also tells the story of G(a)linda the Good, as well as other famous Oz characters and how they came to be, and what roles they played in Oz, which is a completely realised land, ruled by the Wizard, and with its own internal political and social strife, such as that concerning the oppression of the Munchkins by the 'Wicked Witch of the East' and the growing prejudice against Animals (often reduced back to a mute state - animals - by their tormentors). Which I realise sounds hilarious, and it is, but is also very cleverly done. Nice sub-themes on the nature of history and the role of lies in shaping stories.
I’d read the book, and already had the CD, which hadn’t really done anything for me, but it’s the kind of show which has to be seen first to make complete sense I think. Suffice to say, it’s the best new musical I’ve seen for a long time - great story (improved from the source novel, imo), some great lyrics and good music, fun dialogue with a very distinctive twist. Idina Menzel lived up to the hype and then some, and the performances were uniformly fantastic. I might actually bother listening to my CD now.
Evita - or, my obligatory Philip Quast moment
Evita was probably the most disappointing of the musicals I went to - it was in a sense the complete opposite of Wicked in many respects, not least of all to look at and listen to, so it was unfortunate to see one after the other. The musical's about thirty years old now, I think and starting to show its age. I'm not sure it's possible to not have seen or heard Evita, but it's basically the story of the rise to power of a girl from the sticks, her triumph over her poverty and her class, her ruin of the country in pursuit of her own ambitions and desires, and her eventual decline and death. Still a good story, just looking clunkier now, even though it has been streamlined and flows fast and compactly.
I saw this mainly to see Philip Quast as Peron, and he did not disappoint except in the size of the role itself. I am going to say that I do think something was amiss with Elena Roger (Evita) that night, because all the other shows I saw met expectations, and she did get rave reviews when the show opened. Matt Rawle (Che) did get a fair bit of flak for being too casual in his approach, so I’m guessing he’s always like that, though. It was I think the only evening show I attended that didn’t get at least a partial standing ovation. I would have considered going to see this again, but it really wasn’t worth it, not even for Philip *g*.
Moon for the Misbegotten - Kevin Spacey meets Eugene O’Neill (again)
Was not able to get decent full-price seats for this, so just went for day tickets up the back - still a fairly good view. I went to see this for two main reasons a) It was a Eugene O’Neill play, and I had just read/listened to Long Day’s Journey Into Night (insert obligatory RSL reference here) and b) it starred Kevin Spacey and I was curious as to how he’d fare on stage.
The play was interesting in the sense that it heavily overlapped with Long Day’s Journey (which was never intended to even be published until 25 years after O’Neill’s death - Moon was written directly afterwards, presumably for performance). Jim Tyrone (Kevin Spacey) is, so I’ve read, actually supposed to be the elder brother from Long Day’s Journey (known there as Jamie Tyrone) years after the events of that play, but he has recognizable aspects of all three of Long Day’s Journey male characters in one - a Broadway actor who drinks too much, visits whorehouses and has mother issues. The throwaway story Edmund tells in Long Day’s Journey about the poor Irish tenant who deliberately cuts the wire fence to let his pigs wallow in the rich next-door neighbor’s ice pond, pretty much comprises the entire first act of Moon. The poor Irish tenant in this case being Phil Hogan (Colm Meaney) who lives with his feisty, headstrong daughter Josie (Eve Best).
So, will Jim Tyrone keep his promise to sell the farm to his tenants, or will he give into the temptation to sell it to their rich neighbor at an inflated price? What exactly are his feelings towards Josie? These questions, together with obligatory character exposition, make up the rest of the three hours of the play (including interval). OK, it was actually more interesting than it sounds, because the characters are fascinating in the sheer depths of their screwed-uppedness *g*. The acting was excellent (yes, Spacey is very good) and the play engaging enough, although it had all of those quirks from Long Day’s Journey I remember, including the characters’ tendency to swing violently from pole to pole at the drop of a hat (or, more accurately, on a wave of sentiment) and huge fixations on Irishness and alcohol. It was a good, bittersweet ending, but due to sheer length (and jet lag) by the end I was admittedly more or less relieved than anything else.
Bent - Alan Cumming vs. the Nazis
I was… strangely disappointed, and even mildly annoyed by, this play. The premise concerns Max (played by Alan Cumming, who is incredibly sweet-faced and lovely - I’ve never seen him in anything else) and his lover Rudy (Kevin Trainor, also lovely) who are caught up in the machinations of the Nazis and carted off to a concentration camp. On the way, Max beats and betrays his lover, who does not survive, and by dint of performing certain terrible acts, is processed as a Jew (which he is not) rather than as a homosexual, which is apparently the lowest of the low (I have no idea if this was true). Through his non-physical, yet still sexual relationship with a ‘marked’ homosexual prisoner, Horst (Chris New) he learns to acknowledge his true self through the power of lurve.
The setup of this play is such that it virtually makes you a Bad Person if you fail to care - it has everything in place - Nazis, repression, cruelty, death, despair, love, triumph etc. Two things - although the acting was excellent, I thought personally that Max ‘sparked’ a lot more with his casual lover, Rudy, and so the great redeeming power of his love for Horst, and the way he has virtually forgotten Rudy by the end, never did ring quite true to me. Secondly, it was just such a “message” play. I think the thing was that it was written 25 years ago, and while prejudice certainly still exists today, the world has moved on to some extent. I can see why this play was ‘necessary’ at the time, but as it was I felt rather like I was being hit repeatedly over the head with a pink triangle for two hours. Basically, it’s like as soon as you say ‘Nazis’ the argument is over and done with, so you don’t have to try much harder than that. I don’t know. I loved the basic set up for the story, and it did have some extremely powerful and moving scenes but in the end I didn’t really care for the sheer bluntness of the instrument. I read a small review that described it as a ‘comic book’ production - played with exaggerated humour and with a certain lack of subtlety, so perhaps that was part of it as well. I really wanted to like it, and feel for it, a lot more than I did. I was also suffering from the worst of jet lag at this stage and was exhausted, although I don’t know whether this had any bearing.
The Comedy of Errors - Globe Theatre
Speaking of complete lack of subtlety, I bet this has to be Shakespeare’s silliest, most slapstick play and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was wonderful to visit The Globe, and I do think Shakespeare is at its best in a more informal environment. Not as much heckling from the audience as I was vaguely hoping for (a little, though!), but a lot of mugging from the actors, fun musical accompaniment from the tiny orchestra and much confusion, running through the streets and waving of hands. The story is well-known but basically concerns a mother and father with identical twin sons, and the sons’ identical twin slaves, cruelly sundered by the sea, such that one set of twins grows up with their father, and the other set stay together but become separated from their mother and are raised by the state. Many years later, they all come to be in the same place at the same time, and much chaos ensues all around. It was a lot of fun.
Also amusing for a most incongruous pre-show statement by one of the actors, who approached the front of the stage, spread his arms wide, and announced: “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Please ensure your mobile phones are switched off prior to the performance.” Mmm, authentic *g*
Billy Elliot - Dancing kiddies and the Revenge of Elton John
I enjoyed this a lot, though not to the extent that I would bother going to see it again. I hadn’t seen the movie, but I had the idea - Billy Elliot, growing up in a ‘hard’ Northern England town wants to do ballet, not boxing. Horrors! The words ‘music by Elton John’ rather frightened me but it was a perfectly decent show, although not particularly memorable imo for its actual music and/or lyrics, both of which are important to me. The rest of it was all very well done though - story, spoken dialogue, choreography, acting, staging, etc. and the children, particularly those who played Billy and his mate Michael, were absolutely amazing. Well worth seeing, imo - once. Unless of course you really like that kind of thing.
Avenue Q - The Sun is Shining, it’s a Lovely Day…
I’ve had this CD for a while and not really taken to it, and even after seeing this show I still don’t think I’ll be listening to it all that much. BUT watching the show itself was just delightful. I was in tears of laughter by the end of the first song (“What can you do with a BA in English?/It Sucks to be Me”) and it just went on from there. The three main puppeteers each not only work the puppets but sing/voice at least two major characters each, and the skill on display was just breathtaking, especially when they were working one puppet, and the other puppet was being worked by part of the ensemble, but with one of the leads doing both voices. I was in the second row (there’s an AA) and it took me a while to realize this was what was happening. It was flawlessly done. All three were insanely talented and brilliant, and I would completely fangirl all of them if I were a regular London theatregoer. Also, Anne Harada from the original production was playing Christmas Eve. I do probably get unreasonably excited over seeing people who ‘created’ roles, but that’s probably because Australia gets almost everything second-hand. Except The Boy From Oz. Hee.
Avenue Q is very basically a grown-up Sesame Street, where Princeton arrives on Avenue Q and is gradually assimilated into its odd but affectionate ways as he tries to figure out what he wants to do with his life. It is extremely difficult not to have a good time with songs like If You Were Gay, There is Life Outside Your Apartment, The Internet is for Porn and other similar sentiments. I would completely see this again. Just plain fun with a tiny undercurrent of something a little more meaningful - the search for love, acceptance, and identity, an oldie but always relevant.
Also, one of the charms of live theatre is that occasionally, people do stuff up. The lead guy, who puppeteered both Princeton and Rod (an uptight investment banker puppet who is secretly in love with his best friend, but NOT GAY, do you understand?) managed to crack himself up in the middle of a scene while he was playing Rod. I have no idea what started it because I wasn’t watching him at the moment it happened, but he just couldn’t manage to get a word out and the audience started laughing as well watching him and that just made it worse. This set off the other guy (who was playing Nicky, the best friend) and they managed a couple of lines in between giggles (it was meant to be a very serious argument between Rod and Nicky) and then ‘Rod’ just lost it completely, and he and ‘Rod’ just turned their backs to the audience with his shoulders shaking. (What was so utterly charming was that the puppets were kind of instinctively dragged into it as well.) ‘Nicky’ recovered pretty quickly and he was all mock-innocently “didn’t you have something you wanted to say to me?”. Pause. “Rod?” Which of course didn’t help AT ALL. Anyway, ‘Rod’ finally recovered, spat out his Very Angry line about how he wanted Nicky out of his house by TONIGHT and then stormed off the stage, and the guy reappeared as ‘Princeton’ a moment later, perfectly fine, and got on with it. Ah, love *g*
Wicked, take 2
Saturday was lovely. Well, OK, it began with queuing for two hours for day seats (front row, 25 pounds) for Wicked. I felt silly getting there at 8am, but there were already six people there. The couple next to me had driven up from Derby and had gotten up at 4.30am so I didn’t feel so bad after that.
After that I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum, which I’d never been to. Made my way through sculpture, stained glass, silver, Victoriana and glass (there was that enormous blue and yellow Chihuly chandelier in the foyer which I’d read about, and I thought of you, danian). Also just looked down over the two enormous chambers of what looked like funerary relics/sculptures which were amazing. It also freaked me out to see two statues of vaguely Arthurian-looking stone sculptures of kings from the 1400s just sitting there in little alcoves on the stair landings. Wow.
Then to xanthelj’s place which was a lovely respite from sightseeing generally. We go back to XF, but diverged into SGA and House, so we exchanged vitally important gossip on David Hewlett and RSL and discussed the Madness of Fandom *g*. Then we went off to dinner and Wicked, which was excellent from the front row and very enjoyable even second time around. Yes, I do have a habit of seeing shows twice if I like them.
Rock’n’Roll - Stoppard strikes again
This was a real surprise - I adored it. I admire Stoppard greatly, but to be honest the two productions I’ve seen (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Arcadia, both in Sydney) I actually enjoyed a lot more reading than watching. I didn’t like the way the lines were delivered and paced in R+G (the movie was much better in this respect) and I almost fell asleep during some of the lengthier speeches in Arcadia. I’d read that Rock’n’Roll intertwined rock music with the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia, which I know zero about, so I was expecting it to be vaguely dull and worthy. I loved it, and it was presented in a way that my ignorance wasn‘t an insurmountable barrier, although the program I bought at interval did offer a helpful timeline overview.
The main characters are Jan, who is Czechoslovakian, but who has spent a considerable amount of time in England. He’s been studying in England, but returns to Czechoslovakia when the Russians move to occupy it. He is ostensibly a Communist, but underneath he really doesn’t care - he just loves his (Western) music and believes in his right to listen to it. His role in England was supposed to be working as a spy of sorts for the government, but he does a fairly apathetic job, and his best friend, who is an active dissident also despairs of recruiting him to their side. He’s all about the music, really. His English friend and host in England, Max, is a vehemently pro-Communist professor, who is upset that his ideals are so constantly misunderstood and attacked due to the actions of purportedly Communist governments.
It’s a very interesting play in many ways - not only in content but in staging and form. Most of the scenes are quite short, or at least felt that way, and a year or two passes between each ‘block’ of scenes, so the characters age and their situations change rapidly before your eyes. The space between these time changes is filled in by short excerpts from rock songs (Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, etc.) with lyrics which are both appropriate to the era under discussion, and which also tie into and reinforce the point of the scenes before and/or after which I thought was a lovely touch. It’s probably the closest we’ll ever get to a Stoppard musical *g*. And a bonus with the time changes was the added interest of deducing exactly what had passed since the last year or so through the dialogue.
The acting was superb - Jan was played by Rufus Sewell, which is a name I vaguely know from somewhere, and he was particularly good. There’s this interesting thing where during his scenes in England he adopts an accent and his body language changes to ‘foreigner’, whereas in the scenes in Czechoslovakia he speaks with a perfect English accent (ie he is speaking his native tongue) and his body language is altogether freer and more comfortable. Then there’s the aging on top of that as well. It was amazing to watch. Max (Brian Cox) was excellent as the English professor. It’s a very human play as well, covering romances and friendship and the sheer love of music as well as the heavier political stuff, which worked to keep me relating to it rather than just regarding it as an intellectual exercise.
I think Stoppard strikes me sometimes as very dependent on the actors and staging to pull it off. The subtlety and complexity of the dialogue was such that there were a couple of scenes I saw where I thought I would never, ever ‘get’ what was happening if I’d just read the lines on paper - it was something which needed to be staged to make sense. But it was very, very cool the way certain themes came and went and came back again.
Anyway, I really, and surprisingly, loved it.
Spamalot - Tim Curry seeks the Holy Grail
I have to confess that I am not a huge Python fan. I find their stuff amusing (and I am as guilty of quoting selected Pythonisms as everyone else) but I don’t find their work as a whole hilariously funny. Just… amusing. Spamalot is definitely a crowd pleaser, and absolutely no expense has been spared in the staging (I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many costume changes in my life, and there is even a running gag about the Very Expensive Forest) but I found it much like Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - clever for what it is, entertaining songs, but basically a very, very flimsy premise dressed up to the nines with lots of colour and sparkle and movement in an attempt to disguise that fact that there’s very little substance. OK, I realize a show doesn’t actually need substance to be a hit, but it’s something which appeals to me, and I was thinking it was perhaps unfortunate that I saw this the day after Rock’n’Roll.
The other main attraction for me was to actually see Tim Curry on stage (love), and he was thoroughly professional, but I also felt the role was something he could have done in his sleep and it would have made very little difference. The Lady of the Lake (Hannah Waddingham) was brilliant, and made the most of both her comedic and vocal talents. All in all though, I found it entirely unmemorable. From what I could see the audience absolutely loved it to pieces, and there was a standing ovation, so it was very likely just me. Entertaining, yes, but possibly less substantial as a whole than the Spam sandwiches they were selling to go with it. Fun, but would not bother to see again.
This was also a last-minute day to catch up sightseeing, and I visited Westminster Abbey for the first time, which was fascinating. Quick side trip to Burlington Arcade, which was unexciting, then to the British Museum for present buying and another look at the Egyptian rooms (so!much!history!) and the ever-controversial Elgin marbles (now, apparently, the ‘Parthenon statues’). Again, as with the National Gallery and the V+A, I can’t believe this kind of stuff just sits there for people to wander in off the street and look at. I’ve always lived in very ‘young’ countries (I mean, in Australia, something 100 years old is Federation era - it’s historical, dammit!) and it’s endlessly fascinating.
And… that was my holiday *g*.
Still got a lot of lj catching up to do, but I think at some point I'm just going to throw my hands in the air and give up - lj moves at the speed of light. Please let me know if there's anything I absolutely should have seen...