Nicole schreibt...

Once more I was off to London, although after a longer break than usual. Still, I didn't find myself rushing from musical to musical like I used to, but instead found it hard to even find enough shows to make the trip worthwhile! However, my first destination in London was not a theatre but the Empire cinema on Leicester Square, the only cinema in the West End that was still showing Enigma, the latest movie starring my favorite Scotsman, Dougray Scott. I had expected to see Enigma in the Netherlands in November, but after its opening was delayed I decided to seize the opportunity and see it in London. Luckily I had read the novel on which it is based before, so I was somewhat able to follow the plot (but I still haven't been able to wrap my brain around all the code-breaking stuff explained in book and movies... I always sucked at mathematics!). The book equally divides time between the hero Tom Jericho (rather an anti-hero, who's just recovering from a nervous breakdown and looking like he's on the brink to the next) cracking the German's latest code and trying to solve the riddles surrounding his ex-girlfriend Claire's mysterious disappearance. The movie more focuses on this part - how he teams up with Claire's roommate Hester (Kate Winslet) to solve the disappearance and re-telling their former love story in flashback. I guess I hadn't watched the movie if it hadn't been for Dougray and unfortunaltey the drool-factor of Enigma is sub-zero with him looking like shit on legs, but when the movie was over, I was surprised at how fast two hours had flown by. So not a movie for everyone I guess, but definitely captivating and also a very interesting, realistic picture of World War II after the tripe of Pearl Harbor in summer. After the movie I walked all the way down the Strand and Fleet Street into the City to the Bridewell Theatre, a tiny 150-seat theatre near Blackfriars which has built up a fabulous reputation for staging lesser-known small musicals. I had always wanted to visit the Bridewell and when I heard that they were now doing Rags, a musical I had always wanted to see, I was off to the City. Rags is the story of a pretty Jewish emigrant called Rebecca (played by the formidable Sally Ann Triplett - wonderful to see her again and in such a great role!) who goes to America at the start of the 20th century with her little son David, thinking that her husband Nathan is waiting for her in New York.  But he isn't and she is kindly taken in by another Jewish emigrant, Avram, and his daughter Bella. They all settle in the cramped quarters of the Lower East Side and Rebecca and Bella begin to make a living in the notorious sweat shops. She also makes a new friend called Saul and just as you'd think they might find happiness together, the elusive husband Nathan appears. He has become a posh enterpreneur and Rebecca soon realises that she is neither willing to condone his abuse of the Jewish workers in the sweat-shops or to slip back into the role of a mute, sweet, obedient wife. Things reach a tragic climax when a fire breaks out in one of the factories, killing Bella. Rebecca turns her back to Nathan and returns to the Lower East Side to be with Saul, Avram and all the others who are "her people". It's a very nice, charming musical and although I admire the Bridewell's capability to stage such a musical virtually without stage sets or props in the tiny performance space, I kept wishing to see the show done on a bigger scale. There are plenty of touching songs such as "Children of the wind" and "Rags" but also lots of funny moments, too. All in all I had a wonderful evening and was glad to have seen one more little gem beyond the West End. On Thursday I did what I'm best at - shopping! Since my last visit to England in January I have developed quite an obsession with all things nautical, especially the era of the sailing ships and the Regency. So I had been very much looking forward to browse all the second hand bookstores on Charing Cross Road for suitable source material and found an Atlas of the British Empire for a real bargain price, plus lots of other books. I also stumbled across a Nauticalia store in Covent Garden, selling all sorts of gadgets and stuff and ultimately I even managed to track down a copy of the musical Mutiny! based on the legendary mutiny on the Bounty, which had been released on vinyl in the mid-80's and never re-released on CD later. For those of you collecting rarities - try this shop, where I found Mutiny, it's called Harold Moore Recordings and is located in Great Marlborough Street, near the London Palladium. They have crates full of ancient musical LP's in the basement! It was still only early afternoon when I had ruined my bank account and stuffed my suitcase up to the brim, so I decided to walk all the way along Park Lane to Hyde Park Corner and visit Apsley House, "London's No.1" - the residence of the Duke of Wellington. It's still in the family's hands, but they have opened a couple of rooms to the public and it was fascinating to get a glimpse of how the aristo's back then lived and could see the balls and dinners in front of my inner eyes. The Waterloo Gallery alone is worth the entrance fee. My original intention was to see Kiss me Kate that evening, but the shopping trip all over the West End left me exhausted and broke, so instead of hoofing it to the Victoria Palace Theatre miles away, I spent the evening in the hostel with food, hot tea and my newly acquired books (yes, I know, I missed out on a great show... but I have seen the B'way production on video and I saw a production in Germany earlier this year, so I just couldn't muster the energy).
On Friday my friends were hitting the town, so I first met a lovely young Vietnamese girl from Paris who had never been in London before, so I took her on a walk around the West End first. Then I met another friend for a (long) lunch and dragged him along to Angels, a shop I had meant to visit for ages. The good news is that contrary to what others claim, they do sell and hire their period costumes. The bad news is that if you want to BUY a period dress, it'll be made especially for you and will cost something like £500-1000 (ouf!). In the evening we all re-assembled at the Lyric Theatre for the highlight of this trip: Cat on a hot tin roof with Brendan Fraser and Frances O'Connor. Believe it or not, but Cat has always been one of my favourite dramas and I have always adored the role of Maggie, so I would have wanted to see this no matter what cast. But so it was even better to see my second-favourite movie star in a show I was actually keen on seeing (honestly, I'm still peeved that I missed Dougray's short West End-stint last year, but I couldn't care less about that play he did). We had booked tickest for the front row in the stalls (naturally!), but it's NOT a good idea when you're seeing a play and have no orchestra pit separating you from the players. As much as I enjoyed seeing Brendan live on stage, I could have done without his feet under my nose. It also led to odd distractions until the drama really got going in the second act and I got really engrossed in it. The first act was also hard to deal with, because when you have famous movie stars in the leads, it's very difficult to see Maggie and Brick on stage and not Frances and Brendan, or for that matter, Fanny Price and Rick O'Connell, the roles in which I liked them best. And in all fairness I don't think that Brendan was really suited for Brick... He looked far too healthy, preppy and clean for a depressed, grubby alcoholic wrestling with inner demons and poor Frances couldn't really live up to the memories of Liz Taylor in the movie either. Still it was drama at its best, bythe time Brick and Big Daddy had their big all-out conversation/confessions in the second act I had forgotten all my qualms and niggles and laughed and cried with them. Definitely a great evening out! A day out to Greenwich had been planned for Saturday and luckily the new extension of the Docklands Light Railway had just been finished, including a new station for Maritime Greenwich. I had last seen the Docklands two years ago when I flew to London City Airport and I was baffled to see how much it has changed (yet again). Where Canary Wharf used to be a lonely skyscraper in the middle of nowhere, it's now got company by two new skyscrapers and by the looks of it, others will follow. It's a jaw-dropping journey through this entirely new city made of glass and steel, but I can't say that I really liked it. It was so totally un-London, so cold, clean and without any distinguishable features, you could just as well have been in Manhattan, Singapore or the new Potsdamer Platz area in Berlin, it's too anonymous and bland for my taste. Anyway, three stations further on the world was alright again in Greenwich. The first stop was of course the Cutty Sark, the last surviving tea clipper of the 19th century, one of the tallest, grandest sailing ships ever built. Definitely a treasure trove for fresh inspiration just like the Maritime Museum, which only disgusted me by demanding £7.50 to enter. But once inside, you got value for money, for it covers the entire history of the greatest sea-faring nation of the world and I could spend hours there, especially on the upper floor which is chiefly dedicated to Nelson and his sea battles against the Frenchand Spanish fleets. The model ships made my heart beat faster, but the eeriest thing was the blood-splattered uniform of the great Admiral Nelson himself, which he had worn in his final battle at Trafalgar. The last stop in Greenwich was the Arts & Crafts Market, which was nothing compared to Camden Lock, but still nice to stroll around and look for early christmas gifts.
In the evening I met up with another friend, Erika, a German living in London, so it was quite nice and funny to suddenly speak German again. We went to see My Fair Lady together and I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed the show. Granted, I had only seen it live years ago, a US-tour production stopping in Aachen, when I couldn't follow English well yet and the dialogues seemed to stretch forever. This time I found it far easier to follow and got to enjoy a simply terrific cast, led by Alexandra Jay as Eliza and Jonathan Pryce, who seemed to have been made for the role of Henry Higgins. Alex was wonderful, too, and I can't imagine the elusive Martine McCutcheon to have been any better. The rest of the cast was great too and time just flew by, despite the first act being almost two hours long. I also think that My Fair Lady just belongs to London... it's wonderful to see Covent Garden on stage, knowing it's just around the corner from the theatre. I think that this is as good as the show will ever get and definitely worth seeing! Afterwards Erika took me out to Joe Allen's, a restaurant popular with the showbusiness / media luvvies of Britain, but despite being a celebrity hangout, it was neither posh nor horribly over-priced. It was a great atmosphere to dine in, with posters and signed photos of showbiz stars everywhere, a live piano and very attentive, friendly staff.