Prom, prom, prom, prom!!!
So I've been a bit MIA this weekend partly because I went to the DW Proms at Royal Albert Hall on Saturday night and loved it SO much that I went back again Sunday morning to see it again and it was just as good!
It was a BRILLIANT show. The music was, of course beyond incredible and the entire show was well organized and just very very well done all around.
I got there around 3:30 on Saturday afternoon (for a 7:30 concert) and there was, of course, already a HUGE line. It was down the stairs and around the corner.
I ended up in line about where that bus is. I was 296th in line.
An usher came around and was handing out little numbered tickets to people in line. The ticket basically reserved your place and guaranteed you a ticket in the stadium (the area on the floor by the stage. It's only £5 and you have to stand but it's totally worth it!). You were allowed to leave the line for 20 minutes and that was it. So basically I sat on the sidewalk for over 3 hours!
At 6:45 they started to let us in. Once I traded in my number and £5 for a ticket, I went to find a spot and ended up almost right in front of the stage (about one row back) on the side by the stairs. The view was excellent. I could see the whole stage and there was a path in front of me where "creatures" were due to walk past!
The auditorium had big TV screens set up around it so people could see no matter where they were seated and the Stage had the TARDIS set up on it. There was also the bust of Albert wearing a FEZ. I wish I'd remembered to take a picture of that. It amused me. In the center of the auditorium there was a raised platform that was dressed to look like Amelia's backyard when we came in:
Just before the show I paid the £3 for the DALEK SHAPED program (my Dalek is blue although they had other colours too). It's very cool. LOADED with tidbits from the actors and musicians as well as descriptions of all the pieces (and pictures too!).
Most of the music in act one was from Season 5 and I have to say it was really nice to hear it on it's own like that. I gained a whole new appreciation for the beauty of the music from this season. I've always really admired and enjoyed Murray Gold's music so I shouldn't be so surprised, but I'd missed a lot of the subtleties of it when I'd watched the series. Plus it's always better when you hear it in it's entirety and not just snippets here and there.
Karen was the only host for part one and she was cute. Definitely nervous. She did a lot of giggling and wooing. When she first came out she seemed a little shocked by the size of the crowd! And even ad libbed about it! But she did a good job! She was especially good at waiting until applause or laughter died down before she continued talking. Sunday she was a little less nervous but it was still there.
Here's a short video clip I took of her opening on Saturday. Unfortunately I got cut off by the usher.
So the first act was great. There were 4 Doctor Who pieces from season 5 - "The Mad Man with a Box", "An Untimely Arrival", "I am the Doctor". "Battle in the Skies (Daleks and Spitfires)" and 3 classical pieces that were conducted by Grant Lewellyn.
All of the DW pieces, had video images to accompany them. The first two had clips mostly from "The Eleventh Hour". Lots of laughter at the custard stuff. And when Karen came out after "An Untimely Arrival" she actually asked how many people had tried fish custard and then recommended everyone try it for breakfast in the morning! LOL. "I am the Doctor" is when the first aliens started coming out and they had MS's voice over with his whole "I am the Doctor" speech from The Pandorica Opens at the end and all the creatures froze and then left the stage and it was rather awesome.
Saturday night, Silurians walked right past me! In fact, the man right in front of me was stared down by a silurian and it was filmed so I'll probably end up in the broadcast at least there. (EEP!) On Sunday I had Judoon, and Vampire girls pass me and there were cybermen not far away! Very, very cool!
The final piece of the first act was "Battle in the Skies" and before they started, the army Dalek came out of the platform in the middle of the auditorium and asked everyone if they wanted Tea and biscuits! LOL
I got footage from this on Sunday:
Then the White (Supreme) Dalek came out on stage (IT WAS HUGE!) and after terrorizing the Army Dalek until it went away, turned to (hilariously) terrorize Ben Foster and poke him with his plunger. It was SO funny! And yes, I managed to get footage of that on Sunday too! :)
After that was the 20 minute interval where I sat and rested my legs. When the Orchestra came back, they started with a lovely Carl Orff piece and then Karen came out to introduce the next part but there was some kind of interference and she tried a few times to speak but it kept coming and then suddenly the screens flickered on and there was The Doctor (Eleven of course) and well, since I got Video of in on Sunday, I'll let him tell you what he said... (PS - sorry about the quality, I did the best I could without being stopped by the usher, also there were people crowding around and bumping me which was annoying.
Well, so after that, we got a pleasant surprise, which you'll see in part 2 (This is Sunday's version so it's a bit different than what you'll see in the televised version when it finally airs!):
HOW adorable is that kids outfit? OMG! As you can probably tell from the Video, on Sunday, rather than standing by the stage I was standing by the center platform, partly because I hadn't been able to see much of this sketch from where I was on Saturday. But as luck would have it I ended up RIGHT BY THE GATE so I was SUPER close, I'm not zoomed in at all on that video, I was litterally a few feet away from him. If it had been David Tennant I probably would have fainted. As it was, it was still pretty awesome to be that close. and OMG Matt Smith is Manic...
PS - in Saturdays version of this, Matt actually STOLE someone's program. It was hysterical. He took it from the person's hand and said something about his arch enemy and then read "Karen Gillan, Arthur Durval and Matt Smith, Who's Matt Smith?" *snort*. Okay, it's not that funny, but it amused me.
After the Doctor made his exit, Arthur Darvill came out to introduce the first DW piece of Act 2 which was "Amy". Then came "Liz, Lizards, Vampires and Vincent", which, in addition to film clips, had the Vampire Girls, and Silurians come out again. And then, near the end THIS came up on the platform in the middle:
It was awesome. Although I think it could have been even MORE awesome if they had used an actor there instead of a statue. They could have had her come out covering her face and then, since it was at the end of the piece, they could have turned out the lights for a sec and had her move. It would have been BRILLIANT. Although maybe a little too scary for the kids I suppose.
After that, came Wagners classic Ride of the Valkyries. Which Karen and Arthur introduced. I got a snippet from that as well (mainly for rumpelsnorcack who adores Rory sooooo much:
Then came the piece that left me gutted and teary: This is Gallifry paired with Vale decem (from the end of time). They had a video malfunction during this on Sunday, but on Saturday it was paired with footage of the regenerations of ALL Eleven Doctors (well ten since eleven hasn't regenerated yet). They started with William Hartnel and went from there. Some of the effects were comical, but it was still sad and also rather awesome to see the legacy laid out like that. And to one of my all time favourite pieces of music too. Then, as Nine became Ten, Vale Decem started and so did my tears. And they didn't stop. They had more footage of ten than any of the others - they did the whole thing - walking down the alley toward the TARDIS, collapsing to his knees facing the ood, stumbling into the TARDIS... all of it.. (Minus the "I don't want to go") It was HEARTWRENCHING and the music was so beautiful and OMG it's like I lost Ten all over again. *sniffle* The other great thing about this part is that every doctor got a cheer, but Ten's cheer was BY FAR THE LOUDEST! Yay Ten. Nine and Eleven also got rather big cheers, but Ten's was bigger. (I did try to film this on Sunday but alas with the video malfunction and the usher standing right near me it wasn't possible... the video did end up working for the very end on Sunday - It started at the part where Nine became Ten... )
*wipes eyes*
Matt Smith came out as himself after that (with his hair slicked back, it was a little odd. LOL) to introduce the special "Pandorica Suite" they'd put together with music from The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang This was of course paired with images from those eps and it was actually really well edited. It was like a 5 minute or so full summary of the episodes!
All three hosts came out after that to introduce the final two pieces and MURRAY GOLD who snuck on stage as we were clapping for the "Pandorica Suite". He played the piano for the last two pieces. My gosh he's a fantastic musician. I am so much in awe of his immeasurable talent.
So anyway, they closed with Song of Freedom (sadly no video clips, which totally would have made it even better. I still adore that piece though) and the S5 Theme where they brought the monsters out again.
This was followed by all the bows and of course and attempt at getting an encore, but although we got more bows, we never did get another piece :( The show was over 2.5 hours though so I guess that's probably why.
It was after 10 by they time I exited the theatre on Saturday night, and as I was walking to the bus stop I happened to see Steven Moffat across the street signing autographs. I was tempted to ask for one myself until I realized I was without a pen, so I settled for taking this rather crappy photograph instead! LOL
Sunday morning though, he was standing just beside the Que with his kids as we were being let in. And as I'd brought a pen with me, I quickly stepped out of line to get his autograph for a friend of mine who loves his work!
After the show on Sunday morning I also managed to get autographs from Ben Foster and Yamit Mamo (the vocalist who did Doomsday and also quite a few things in S5). I ALMOST got Murray Gold's autograph twice, but the problem is that I'm very shy and not at all pushy and so I was standing there quietly off to the side, politely waiting with my pen out and book open, and twice he stepped forward to take my pen and twice someone asked for a photo just as he almost had them and then after the second time he just walked away and made an escape (he'd been surround by people for ages so I don't blame him) and I was too polite to say anything so I basically just shrugged and walked away! LOL What else could I do really? Besides I did feel bad for him (and for Ben) they were basically mobbed by fans, it can't have been pleasant. British fans are INTENSE. I've never seen anything like that before (I did a lot of hanging back and just watching - which ironically is how I ended up with Yamit's autograph... she was also standing back and I ended up beside her and then talked to her about singing for a moment which was cool).
So yeah. That was proms. Crazy, intense, wonderful, exciting and beautiful. I'm so glad I went (twice!) and it was totally work the £13 I spent (£5 for each show and £3 for the program).
I have way more pictures and video than what I posted here, and they all have captions so if you'd like to see more, or if you want to skip the details and just see the footage, feel free. You can find everything here: Password: DavidTennant
It was a BRILLIANT show. The music was, of course beyond incredible and the entire show was well organized and just very very well done all around.
I got there around 3:30 on Saturday afternoon (for a 7:30 concert) and there was, of course, already a HUGE line. It was down the stairs and around the corner.
I ended up in line about where that bus is. I was 296th in line.
An usher came around and was handing out little numbered tickets to people in line. The ticket basically reserved your place and guaranteed you a ticket in the stadium (the area on the floor by the stage. It's only £5 and you have to stand but it's totally worth it!). You were allowed to leave the line for 20 minutes and that was it. So basically I sat on the sidewalk for over 3 hours!
At 6:45 they started to let us in. Once I traded in my number and £5 for a ticket, I went to find a spot and ended up almost right in front of the stage (about one row back) on the side by the stairs. The view was excellent. I could see the whole stage and there was a path in front of me where "creatures" were due to walk past!
The auditorium had big TV screens set up around it so people could see no matter where they were seated and the Stage had the TARDIS set up on it. There was also the bust of Albert wearing a FEZ. I wish I'd remembered to take a picture of that. It amused me. In the center of the auditorium there was a raised platform that was dressed to look like Amelia's backyard when we came in:
Just before the show I paid the £3 for the DALEK SHAPED program (my Dalek is blue although they had other colours too). It's very cool. LOADED with tidbits from the actors and musicians as well as descriptions of all the pieces (and pictures too!).
Most of the music in act one was from Season 5 and I have to say it was really nice to hear it on it's own like that. I gained a whole new appreciation for the beauty of the music from this season. I've always really admired and enjoyed Murray Gold's music so I shouldn't be so surprised, but I'd missed a lot of the subtleties of it when I'd watched the series. Plus it's always better when you hear it in it's entirety and not just snippets here and there.
Karen was the only host for part one and she was cute. Definitely nervous. She did a lot of giggling and wooing. When she first came out she seemed a little shocked by the size of the crowd! And even ad libbed about it! But she did a good job! She was especially good at waiting until applause or laughter died down before she continued talking. Sunday she was a little less nervous but it was still there.
Here's a short video clip I took of her opening on Saturday. Unfortunately I got cut off by the usher.
So the first act was great. There were 4 Doctor Who pieces from season 5 - "The Mad Man with a Box", "An Untimely Arrival", "I am the Doctor". "Battle in the Skies (Daleks and Spitfires)" and 3 classical pieces that were conducted by Grant Lewellyn.
All of the DW pieces, had video images to accompany them. The first two had clips mostly from "The Eleventh Hour". Lots of laughter at the custard stuff. And when Karen came out after "An Untimely Arrival" she actually asked how many people had tried fish custard and then recommended everyone try it for breakfast in the morning! LOL. "I am the Doctor" is when the first aliens started coming out and they had MS's voice over with his whole "I am the Doctor" speech from The Pandorica Opens at the end and all the creatures froze and then left the stage and it was rather awesome.
Saturday night, Silurians walked right past me! In fact, the man right in front of me was stared down by a silurian and it was filmed so I'll probably end up in the broadcast at least there. (EEP!) On Sunday I had Judoon, and Vampire girls pass me and there were cybermen not far away! Very, very cool!
The final piece of the first act was "Battle in the Skies" and before they started, the army Dalek came out of the platform in the middle of the auditorium and asked everyone if they wanted Tea and biscuits! LOL
I got footage from this on Sunday:
Then the White (Supreme) Dalek came out on stage (IT WAS HUGE!) and after terrorizing the Army Dalek until it went away, turned to (hilariously) terrorize Ben Foster and poke him with his plunger. It was SO funny! And yes, I managed to get footage of that on Sunday too! :)
After that was the 20 minute interval where I sat and rested my legs. When the Orchestra came back, they started with a lovely Carl Orff piece and then Karen came out to introduce the next part but there was some kind of interference and she tried a few times to speak but it kept coming and then suddenly the screens flickered on and there was The Doctor (Eleven of course) and well, since I got Video of in on Sunday, I'll let him tell you what he said... (PS - sorry about the quality, I did the best I could without being stopped by the usher, also there were people crowding around and bumping me which was annoying.
Well, so after that, we got a pleasant surprise, which you'll see in part 2 (This is Sunday's version so it's a bit different than what you'll see in the televised version when it finally airs!):
HOW adorable is that kids outfit? OMG! As you can probably tell from the Video, on Sunday, rather than standing by the stage I was standing by the center platform, partly because I hadn't been able to see much of this sketch from where I was on Saturday. But as luck would have it I ended up RIGHT BY THE GATE so I was SUPER close, I'm not zoomed in at all on that video, I was litterally a few feet away from him. If it had been David Tennant I probably would have fainted. As it was, it was still pretty awesome to be that close. and OMG Matt Smith is Manic...
PS - in Saturdays version of this, Matt actually STOLE someone's program. It was hysterical. He took it from the person's hand and said something about his arch enemy and then read "Karen Gillan, Arthur Durval and Matt Smith, Who's Matt Smith?" *snort*. Okay, it's not that funny, but it amused me.
After the Doctor made his exit, Arthur Darvill came out to introduce the first DW piece of Act 2 which was "Amy". Then came "Liz, Lizards, Vampires and Vincent", which, in addition to film clips, had the Vampire Girls, and Silurians come out again. And then, near the end THIS came up on the platform in the middle:
It was awesome. Although I think it could have been even MORE awesome if they had used an actor there instead of a statue. They could have had her come out covering her face and then, since it was at the end of the piece, they could have turned out the lights for a sec and had her move. It would have been BRILLIANT. Although maybe a little too scary for the kids I suppose.
After that, came Wagners classic Ride of the Valkyries. Which Karen and Arthur introduced. I got a snippet from that as well (mainly for rumpelsnorcack who adores Rory sooooo much:
Then came the piece that left me gutted and teary: This is Gallifry paired with Vale decem (from the end of time). They had a video malfunction during this on Sunday, but on Saturday it was paired with footage of the regenerations of ALL Eleven Doctors (well ten since eleven hasn't regenerated yet). They started with William Hartnel and went from there. Some of the effects were comical, but it was still sad and also rather awesome to see the legacy laid out like that. And to one of my all time favourite pieces of music too. Then, as Nine became Ten, Vale Decem started and so did my tears. And they didn't stop. They had more footage of ten than any of the others - they did the whole thing - walking down the alley toward the TARDIS, collapsing to his knees facing the ood, stumbling into the TARDIS... all of it.. (Minus the "I don't want to go") It was HEARTWRENCHING and the music was so beautiful and OMG it's like I lost Ten all over again. *sniffle* The other great thing about this part is that every doctor got a cheer, but Ten's cheer was BY FAR THE LOUDEST! Yay Ten. Nine and Eleven also got rather big cheers, but Ten's was bigger. (I did try to film this on Sunday but alas with the video malfunction and the usher standing right near me it wasn't possible... the video did end up working for the very end on Sunday - It started at the part where Nine became Ten... )
*wipes eyes*
Matt Smith came out as himself after that (with his hair slicked back, it was a little odd. LOL) to introduce the special "Pandorica Suite" they'd put together with music from The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang This was of course paired with images from those eps and it was actually really well edited. It was like a 5 minute or so full summary of the episodes!
All three hosts came out after that to introduce the final two pieces and MURRAY GOLD who snuck on stage as we were clapping for the "Pandorica Suite". He played the piano for the last two pieces. My gosh he's a fantastic musician. I am so much in awe of his immeasurable talent.
So anyway, they closed with Song of Freedom (sadly no video clips, which totally would have made it even better. I still adore that piece though) and the S5 Theme where they brought the monsters out again.
This was followed by all the bows and of course and attempt at getting an encore, but although we got more bows, we never did get another piece :( The show was over 2.5 hours though so I guess that's probably why.
It was after 10 by they time I exited the theatre on Saturday night, and as I was walking to the bus stop I happened to see Steven Moffat across the street signing autographs. I was tempted to ask for one myself until I realized I was without a pen, so I settled for taking this rather crappy photograph instead! LOL
Sunday morning though, he was standing just beside the Que with his kids as we were being let in. And as I'd brought a pen with me, I quickly stepped out of line to get his autograph for a friend of mine who loves his work!
After the show on Sunday morning I also managed to get autographs from Ben Foster and Yamit Mamo (the vocalist who did Doomsday and also quite a few things in S5). I ALMOST got Murray Gold's autograph twice, but the problem is that I'm very shy and not at all pushy and so I was standing there quietly off to the side, politely waiting with my pen out and book open, and twice he stepped forward to take my pen and twice someone asked for a photo just as he almost had them and then after the second time he just walked away and made an escape (he'd been surround by people for ages so I don't blame him) and I was too polite to say anything so I basically just shrugged and walked away! LOL What else could I do really? Besides I did feel bad for him (and for Ben) they were basically mobbed by fans, it can't have been pleasant. British fans are INTENSE. I've never seen anything like that before (I did a lot of hanging back and just watching - which ironically is how I ended up with Yamit's autograph... she was also standing back and I ended up beside her and then talked to her about singing for a moment which was cool).
So yeah. That was proms. Crazy, intense, wonderful, exciting and beautiful. I'm so glad I went (twice!) and it was totally work the £13 I spent (£5 for each show and £3 for the program).
I have way more pictures and video than what I posted here, and they all have captions so if you'd like to see more, or if you want to skip the details and just see the footage, feel free. You can find everything here: Password: DavidTennant