(no subject)
What time is it? Where am I?
I've been in Ireland and London for the past week, which was pretty cool but totally unproductive. Highlights of the trip include staying in a tiny village in the southwest corner of Ireland (so far out that they didn't even get radio signal), standing in a building that's about 2000 years old, finally getting internet access in a pub in Killarney, revisiting significant places from my semester abroad, seeing Wicked in London, and going on a St. Patrick's Day pub crawl on which we couldn't find any open pubs. I'll basically leave it at that, though
I don't know if it's just because I saw the original Broadway cast first, but the London production couldn't really compete. I mean all the basic elements were there (wacky costumes, ginormous set of crazy dragon-ness, many many bright lights, West-End-caliber performers), but either my conceptions of the characters are so contingent on the first version I saw or the first version really got closer to the characters I originally envisioned from the book.
Oddly, though I've been more of an Idina fangirl than a Kristin one all along, this show made me much more appreciative of the first Glinda I saw. Helen Dallimore never seemed to live and breathe Glinda like Kristin Chenoweth did. If anything, I felt like she was throwing her energy into imitating Kristin's version rather than creating her own, which came across to me as vastly awkward. Kerry Ellis, on the other hand, reinvented Elphaba, and while I prefer Idina's version, I was genuinely interested in and happy to see the lighter-hearted, geekier Elphaba in the London show. Other actors whose presence I missed were Joel Grey and Michelle Federer, the NYC Wizard and Nessarose. Also, wtf Glinda being taller than Elphaba?
Oh but my favorite bit about the London cast was that Boq was Scottish! The actor was from Glasgow and had the most awesome accent, which made him all the more Munchkin-y and cute. Another random sidenote: the London Madame Morrible was played by the actress who played Professor Sprout in whichever of the Harry Potter movies she's in.
Now I have another large chunk of thesis due tomorrow, on which I haven't started. I'm shooting for having 7-ish pages to turn in with the excuse that I was out of the country, damn it, and it'll be done when it's done. I'm not too concerned, though I am still missing an essential book that I ordered a week ago and that STILL hasn't come in.
Oh, and it looks like I'm going out of town AGAIN, this time to NYC and Boston in mid-April. I'm a finalist for an international law fellowship at NYU and they're paying most of my travel expenses so I can come back and go to more admitted student whateverness. I don't know what I'll do if I actually GET the damn scholarship - I honestly can't picture myself anywhere but Columbia, but how would I turn down basically a free ride? Argh. (And would it be irredeemably tacky to stay with someone at Columbia while attending NYU's stuff that weekend?)
Also, Stanford can get back to me anytime now kthx. At this rate, I won't even have time to visit and that will pretty much rule it out no matter what.
This post has sort of gotten out of hand and I need to go get coffee before class, so I'll leave you with that. Welcome back to school.
I've been in Ireland and London for the past week, which was pretty cool but totally unproductive. Highlights of the trip include staying in a tiny village in the southwest corner of Ireland (so far out that they didn't even get radio signal), standing in a building that's about 2000 years old, finally getting internet access in a pub in Killarney, revisiting significant places from my semester abroad, seeing Wicked in London, and going on a St. Patrick's Day pub crawl on which we couldn't find any open pubs. I'll basically leave it at that, though
I don't know if it's just because I saw the original Broadway cast first, but the London production couldn't really compete. I mean all the basic elements were there (wacky costumes, ginormous set of crazy dragon-ness, many many bright lights, West-End-caliber performers), but either my conceptions of the characters are so contingent on the first version I saw or the first version really got closer to the characters I originally envisioned from the book.
Oddly, though I've been more of an Idina fangirl than a Kristin one all along, this show made me much more appreciative of the first Glinda I saw. Helen Dallimore never seemed to live and breathe Glinda like Kristin Chenoweth did. If anything, I felt like she was throwing her energy into imitating Kristin's version rather than creating her own, which came across to me as vastly awkward. Kerry Ellis, on the other hand, reinvented Elphaba, and while I prefer Idina's version, I was genuinely interested in and happy to see the lighter-hearted, geekier Elphaba in the London show. Other actors whose presence I missed were Joel Grey and Michelle Federer, the NYC Wizard and Nessarose. Also, wtf Glinda being taller than Elphaba?
Oh but my favorite bit about the London cast was that Boq was Scottish! The actor was from Glasgow and had the most awesome accent, which made him all the more Munchkin-y and cute. Another random sidenote: the London Madame Morrible was played by the actress who played Professor Sprout in whichever of the Harry Potter movies she's in.
Now I have another large chunk of thesis due tomorrow, on which I haven't started. I'm shooting for having 7-ish pages to turn in with the excuse that I was out of the country, damn it, and it'll be done when it's done. I'm not too concerned, though I am still missing an essential book that I ordered a week ago and that STILL hasn't come in.
Oh, and it looks like I'm going out of town AGAIN, this time to NYC and Boston in mid-April. I'm a finalist for an international law fellowship at NYU and they're paying most of my travel expenses so I can come back and go to more admitted student whateverness. I don't know what I'll do if I actually GET the damn scholarship - I honestly can't picture myself anywhere but Columbia, but how would I turn down basically a free ride? Argh. (And would it be irredeemably tacky to stay with someone at Columbia while attending NYU's stuff that weekend?)
Also, Stanford can get back to me anytime now kthx. At this rate, I won't even have time to visit and that will pretty much rule it out no matter what.
This post has sort of gotten out of hand and I need to go get coffee before class, so I'll leave you with that. Welcome back to school.