Trip report: January 8 - the best day of the trip!!!
On Tuesday, January 8, we left Cardiff and took the train to Birmingham, checking our luggage at the station and heading to the Hippodrome to see John Barrowman in a Panto of "Alladin". I had no idea the Panto itself was going to be so fabulous. For my American readers (who are sadly without this art form because they don't do Pantomimes here in the States) you can read about it on Wikipedia. An excerpt from wikipedia: Traditionally performed at Christmas, with family audiences consisting mainly of children and parents, British pantomime is now a popular form of theatre, incorporating song, dance, buffoonery, slapstick, in-jokes, audience participation, and mild sexual innuendo.
Words cannot begin to describe how much fun this was. Between the sense of humor, the 3-D glasses that actually worked (3D glasses usually make me ill), the audience participation, and OMG, John Barrowman! It should be illegal for anyone to be that beautiful! And there we were in the second row! *swoon!*
But the best is yet to come... After the show, we noticed a small group of people at a side entrance to the theatre so we decided to join them there. We didn't really expect to see John Barrowman, after all, they had a second performance to do that same day. But then I noticed the two actors who had been hilarious as the policemen in the show, but before I could go photograph them, I realized John Barrowman was now there, signing playbills.
And now here's when things get really interesting. In Cardiff, we'd used a guide to Doctor Who/Torchwood filming sites written by a fan who'd stayed at the Inn. Her friend, who'd also stayed there, had gotten her photo taken with David Tennant while they were in Cardiff -- he'd been amused to see that she was dressed exactly like his Doctor Who character - and this photo was in the guest book at the inn. So, back to the present: we're with a small crowd of people crowded around John Barrowman, and suddenly I notice a woman who looks exactly like woman in the photo at the inn, dressed, once again, like David Tennant's Doctor Who. And I went "omg, it's YOU!" totally startling the poor woman, who wasn't expecting to be treated like a celebrity. :-) I found out both she and her friend (the one who wrote the guide to filming sites, who was dressed that night like "The Master!") are on livejournal - and since returning home I've been in touch with both of them, exchanging photos, that sort of thing, and you can read their versions of the event at their LJ's if you choose: they are nightbeast and todd_loves_mc. Both of them of course had their writeups of that night posted long before me since they didn't have to travel all the way home to the States.
Hippodrome theatre marquee
Taken soon after I realized John Barrowman was here signing playbills, etc.
Squee!!! Yes, he posed for photos too. He was so kind to his fans! :-)
todd_loves_mc posing with Peter Gallagher (not to be confused with the American actor by the same name) who was absolutely marvelous as the villian in the Panto. This man has such a fabulous voice. In the program guide it says he does GPS voices. Oh yeah, I'd love to have this man tell me where to go! :-) LOL
Words cannot begin to describe how much fun this was. Between the sense of humor, the 3-D glasses that actually worked (3D glasses usually make me ill), the audience participation, and OMG, John Barrowman! It should be illegal for anyone to be that beautiful! And there we were in the second row! *swoon!*
But the best is yet to come... After the show, we noticed a small group of people at a side entrance to the theatre so we decided to join them there. We didn't really expect to see John Barrowman, after all, they had a second performance to do that same day. But then I noticed the two actors who had been hilarious as the policemen in the show, but before I could go photograph them, I realized John Barrowman was now there, signing playbills.
And now here's when things get really interesting. In Cardiff, we'd used a guide to Doctor Who/Torchwood filming sites written by a fan who'd stayed at the Inn. Her friend, who'd also stayed there, had gotten her photo taken with David Tennant while they were in Cardiff -- he'd been amused to see that she was dressed exactly like his Doctor Who character - and this photo was in the guest book at the inn. So, back to the present: we're with a small crowd of people crowded around John Barrowman, and suddenly I notice a woman who looks exactly like woman in the photo at the inn, dressed, once again, like David Tennant's Doctor Who. And I went "omg, it's YOU!" totally startling the poor woman, who wasn't expecting to be treated like a celebrity. :-) I found out both she and her friend (the one who wrote the guide to filming sites, who was dressed that night like "The Master!") are on livejournal - and since returning home I've been in touch with both of them, exchanging photos, that sort of thing, and you can read their versions of the event at their LJ's if you choose: they are nightbeast and todd_loves_mc. Both of them of course had their writeups of that night posted long before me since they didn't have to travel all the way home to the States.
Hippodrome theatre marquee
Taken soon after I realized John Barrowman was here signing playbills, etc.
Squee!!! Yes, he posed for photos too. He was so kind to his fans! :-)
todd_loves_mc posing with Peter Gallagher (not to be confused with the American actor by the same name) who was absolutely marvelous as the villian in the Panto. This man has such a fabulous voice. In the program guide it says he does GPS voices. Oh yeah, I'd love to have this man tell me where to go! :-) LOL