(no subject)
Yesterday was a day of magic.
You might think it's because we took Talitha southward awhile and looked at three 700-year-old castles including one by a lake with swans, and I knitted in the car and finished off the purple yarn she gave me when I asked for something to make. And that is part of it, because there really is nothing like climbing around a landscape and considering that people climbed purposefully around it and made a life here and fought and baked and slept and admired these fat walls and the view across the lake and generally went about being humans. So long ago.
Or you might think it's because the Roman settlement we visited that afternoon were just as inhabited, with more evidence and more archeological finds and coins and leather preserved in the anaerobic clay for 2000 years. I can hardly believe it. We spent several hours looking at both the Roman Army Museum at Vindolanda and the actual dig that had its own museum. I saw tablets and a collection of facsimiles with the only female handwriting in the British Roman settlements, inviting her friend to a birthday party. I've always loved Roman history, and the combination of Roman history and what amounts to pre-English history is like nothing else. Celtic triskelions and Roman eagles and thatched half-timber houses with Roman bathhouses. It's fantastic. It's like a fantasy.
The trip down to Chichester was a different kind of time. For awhile, all was well, but at the end (before the last, blessedly quick stretch of 12 miles), we spent 3 hours going 30 miles and I thought we might not make it and I cried harder than I meant to. And my knees were so tense from the stress of the traffic that sitting still was especially difficult despite the need.
For there was need. We made it with half an hour to spare before the show started, and I was determined to catch everything about it. The dancing was thrilling from the very beginning, and I knew the ensemble would be perfect. Peter Polycarpou's singular Oklahoma character was perfectly at home as Nathan Detroit; it was like he was born to play this part and has been waiting for it. And from Jamie's first whistling, ambling entrance, he was perfect, too. He does a very good NYC accent, and looks ludicrously charming and at home in his high-waisted 50s suit trousers and hat.
The choreography throughout was stunning, but the Havana moves were particularly amazing, with the protagonist couple weaving through the dance at cross purposes, bumbling, smoothly intercepting each other's attempts at making any kind of progress... it was its own kind of dance, and I didn't realize until later that it wasn't all choreographed.
My tears didn't fall in I've Never Been In Love Before, but only because I couldn't stand the thought of missing a moment of the view. Magic. Magic all the way through the show, through the climactic misunderstanding through Jamie's manically compelling Luck Be A Lady through the happy ending.
We went to wait at the stage door, having asked the interval ice cream ladies where it was.
Two girls arrived to wait for autographs shortly after us, and we all waited about half an hour. All the ensemble and the other leads were charming as they signed the girls' programs, especially Peter Polycarpou, who stood and talked with them awhile about their acting studies. One cast member came out to his bike only to find he had a puncture, and spent most of the time we waited fixing it with the help of another staffer.
Claire and Jamie finally came out, to the nervous enthusiasm of the girls asking for autographs. They were very gracious, and Claire asked what to get Jamie at the pub as she finished the autograph for the second girl and he realized he'd forgotten something inside. He went back in the stage door and had to yell to be buzzed back in (it was adorable) but he assured the girls he'd be back. And so he was, and he signed their programs and was walking out.
He recognized me in the dark and immediately hugged me and kissed me on the cheek (it was a much less stubbly kiss than last year). We told him how lovely the show was, though he said it was scrappy and that we had been kind to their second preview. This initiated a bit of back and forth about the show. I mentioned balance issues and how the orchestra was really high, which seemed to surprise him. When we said we had been sitting on opposite sides, asked what we thought about how the sight lines were, so I admitted it was particularly hard to see him over the surrounding levels of ensemble in Luck Be A Lady. He grimaced a bit, which I understand, because it's hard to have dynamic staging in a 3-quarter surround. My mom mentioned a weird echo (he said there should be an echo during the sewer scene, but she didn't think it was that). I told him I didn't mean to just critique the show, but he seemed happy to have the feedback and said this was stuff they needed to know, as this was what previews were for. And he said he fell over in the Havana scene. I hastened to assure him I thought it ws intentional (I did, it was very smoothly done) and that it fit right in with the fight choreography but he insisted it was an accident. Apparently he falls over onstage frequently; it's what his twitter profile's about, after all.
I gave him the tree and explained I make trees sometimes and that it was a silver birch because I asked him what his favorite tree was. He was touched, and hugged and kissed me again. He admired the tree thoroughly and said it was delicious and it would live in his dressing room. So that was gratifying.
He asked how long we'd been here; I said three weeks, with a week left to go, and he seemed surprised it was so long a trip. I explained we had a course and this show and that was why I was here, which got a smile. He asked what course, so I explained a little, saying basically the same as last year, the International A Cappella School. He remembered we'd said we had a King's SIngers thing last year. He asked how it was and I answered honestly that it went well for the amount of preparation we had (I think he understood what I was saying). I mentioned we'd also been in Edinburgh and he asked how it was and I said it was delightful except for the parking and he commiserated, saying affectionately that it's impossible to park in "Old Smokey, Old Spooky", which are adorable names for Edinburgh that I've never heard.
He apologized profusely and said he really did have to go, but stayed for a picture (despite my foolishly forgetting the flash for the first attempt) and to say hi to Meg when I asked him one last thing. But, the silly man, he didn't say hi. He made sure the camera was rolling and then started nonchalantly, "Meg-" and then immediately interrupted himself yelling "BOO!" I laughed pretty hard.
He had to go but he was very glad we'd been there and wished us safe travels as he strode out and picked up into a jog across the car park.
Our travels were safe, but long, and we made it to our homestay in Chatham an hour later than we'd planned, partially due to the difficulty of navigating in the dark, and partially because of the wait at the stage door. I'm not sorry.
It was magic.
You might think it's because we took Talitha southward awhile and looked at three 700-year-old castles including one by a lake with swans, and I knitted in the car and finished off the purple yarn she gave me when I asked for something to make. And that is part of it, because there really is nothing like climbing around a landscape and considering that people climbed purposefully around it and made a life here and fought and baked and slept and admired these fat walls and the view across the lake and generally went about being humans. So long ago.
Or you might think it's because the Roman settlement we visited that afternoon were just as inhabited, with more evidence and more archeological finds and coins and leather preserved in the anaerobic clay for 2000 years. I can hardly believe it. We spent several hours looking at both the Roman Army Museum at Vindolanda and the actual dig that had its own museum. I saw tablets and a collection of facsimiles with the only female handwriting in the British Roman settlements, inviting her friend to a birthday party. I've always loved Roman history, and the combination of Roman history and what amounts to pre-English history is like nothing else. Celtic triskelions and Roman eagles and thatched half-timber houses with Roman bathhouses. It's fantastic. It's like a fantasy.
The trip down to Chichester was a different kind of time. For awhile, all was well, but at the end (before the last, blessedly quick stretch of 12 miles), we spent 3 hours going 30 miles and I thought we might not make it and I cried harder than I meant to. And my knees were so tense from the stress of the traffic that sitting still was especially difficult despite the need.
For there was need. We made it with half an hour to spare before the show started, and I was determined to catch everything about it. The dancing was thrilling from the very beginning, and I knew the ensemble would be perfect. Peter Polycarpou's singular Oklahoma character was perfectly at home as Nathan Detroit; it was like he was born to play this part and has been waiting for it. And from Jamie's first whistling, ambling entrance, he was perfect, too. He does a very good NYC accent, and looks ludicrously charming and at home in his high-waisted 50s suit trousers and hat.
The choreography throughout was stunning, but the Havana moves were particularly amazing, with the protagonist couple weaving through the dance at cross purposes, bumbling, smoothly intercepting each other's attempts at making any kind of progress... it was its own kind of dance, and I didn't realize until later that it wasn't all choreographed.
My tears didn't fall in I've Never Been In Love Before, but only because I couldn't stand the thought of missing a moment of the view. Magic. Magic all the way through the show, through the climactic misunderstanding through Jamie's manically compelling Luck Be A Lady through the happy ending.
We went to wait at the stage door, having asked the interval ice cream ladies where it was.
Two girls arrived to wait for autographs shortly after us, and we all waited about half an hour. All the ensemble and the other leads were charming as they signed the girls' programs, especially Peter Polycarpou, who stood and talked with them awhile about their acting studies. One cast member came out to his bike only to find he had a puncture, and spent most of the time we waited fixing it with the help of another staffer.
Claire and Jamie finally came out, to the nervous enthusiasm of the girls asking for autographs. They were very gracious, and Claire asked what to get Jamie at the pub as she finished the autograph for the second girl and he realized he'd forgotten something inside. He went back in the stage door and had to yell to be buzzed back in (it was adorable) but he assured the girls he'd be back. And so he was, and he signed their programs and was walking out.
He recognized me in the dark and immediately hugged me and kissed me on the cheek (it was a much less stubbly kiss than last year). We told him how lovely the show was, though he said it was scrappy and that we had been kind to their second preview. This initiated a bit of back and forth about the show. I mentioned balance issues and how the orchestra was really high, which seemed to surprise him. When we said we had been sitting on opposite sides, asked what we thought about how the sight lines were, so I admitted it was particularly hard to see him over the surrounding levels of ensemble in Luck Be A Lady. He grimaced a bit, which I understand, because it's hard to have dynamic staging in a 3-quarter surround. My mom mentioned a weird echo (he said there should be an echo during the sewer scene, but she didn't think it was that). I told him I didn't mean to just critique the show, but he seemed happy to have the feedback and said this was stuff they needed to know, as this was what previews were for. And he said he fell over in the Havana scene. I hastened to assure him I thought it ws intentional (I did, it was very smoothly done) and that it fit right in with the fight choreography but he insisted it was an accident. Apparently he falls over onstage frequently; it's what his twitter profile's about, after all.
I gave him the tree and explained I make trees sometimes and that it was a silver birch because I asked him what his favorite tree was. He was touched, and hugged and kissed me again. He admired the tree thoroughly and said it was delicious and it would live in his dressing room. So that was gratifying.
He asked how long we'd been here; I said three weeks, with a week left to go, and he seemed surprised it was so long a trip. I explained we had a course and this show and that was why I was here, which got a smile. He asked what course, so I explained a little, saying basically the same as last year, the International A Cappella School. He remembered we'd said we had a King's SIngers thing last year. He asked how it was and I answered honestly that it went well for the amount of preparation we had (I think he understood what I was saying). I mentioned we'd also been in Edinburgh and he asked how it was and I said it was delightful except for the parking and he commiserated, saying affectionately that it's impossible to park in "Old Smokey, Old Spooky", which are adorable names for Edinburgh that I've never heard.
He apologized profusely and said he really did have to go, but stayed for a picture (despite my foolishly forgetting the flash for the first attempt) and to say hi to Meg when I asked him one last thing. But, the silly man, he didn't say hi. He made sure the camera was rolling and then started nonchalantly, "Meg-" and then immediately interrupted himself yelling "BOO!" I laughed pretty hard.
He had to go but he was very glad we'd been there and wished us safe travels as he strode out and picked up into a jog across the car park.
Our travels were safe, but long, and we made it to our homestay in Chatham an hour later than we'd planned, partially due to the difficulty of navigating in the dark, and partially because of the wait at the stage door. I'm not sorry.
It was magic.