Nicole schreibt...

The siren call from my favorite town was impossible to resist and so I rather spontaneously decided to pay London another flying visit this year and check out the new shows on offer. Sadly one of those, Michel Legrand's "Marguerite" had already died prematurely, which, considering the great CD and the fact that it had had a limited run anyway, caught me pretty much by surprise. Luckily the West End always has plenty of alternatives to pick from. Flying dear old Lufthansa to Heathrow again I finally got myself an Oyster Card, the London Underground's recent invention that slashes tube fares drastically and never exceeds the cost of a One Day Travel Card. When Oyster was first introduced I thought it would be something for locals only, but being in London so often, it's definitely worth getting. The tube ride from Heathrow to King's Cross took a whole hour, but I first wanted to check into my hotel, a nice bargain place called the Wardonia, only a few hundred yards from King's Cross with tiny rooms. I doubt I would be happy there if I'd stay for longer, but for two nights and being out and about all the time, it more than sufficed and £40 is a steal compared to what I've become used to. After dumping my luggage at the hotel I returned to the West End and had only just enough time to pop into Borders and HMV on Oxford Street before meeting my friend Jodie. We went to an Irish Pub full of Halloween decorations and I had a very English dinner of fish and chips with lager, while we caught up on news and gossip. Since Marguerite had died prematurely I had decided to give the London revival of "The Sound of Music" a go now that the hyoe around TV casting show winner Connie Fisher had died down, since the only time I had seen this show live had been in Sweden, in Swedish, so I couldn't really follow it. And while it was nice enough, I had a hard time warming to Summer Strallen, the new Maria, or the show in general, for while the stage sets were nice, they had nothing on the glorious kitsch fest of the movie filmed on location in Salzburg and the Austrian alps. So overall I was okay with having seen it, but I would't have missed all that much if I hadn't seen this revival, I suppose. More fun was the show I got for free when I returned to the hotel afterwards and encountered a group of young male partygoers all dressed up for Halloween in what I suppose was an imitation of 80's rock group Kiss - strange facial make up, curly black wigs and bony legs in tight vinyl pants. Very sexy. Not. Saturday morning I first queued up for half price tickets for the shows at 10am, then visited my favorite bookshop, Waterstones in Piccadilly, from which I emerged with a whole armful of books an hour later. At 12.30 it was time to meet a new friend in Leicester Square for lunch and ended up waiting in the cold outside the posh Hampshire Restaurant at the Radisson Edwardian hotel for half an hour.  Note to self: Next time clarify beforehand if you meet inside or outside because just as I was ready to give up waiting and leave, my friend emerged from inside, where he had been waiting for the same half hour. Duh. A fancy lunch and a nice chat later, I headed for the first show of the day, "Zorro" at the Garrick Theatre.  The thought of a musical with music by The Gipsy Kings hadn't installed much confidence in me, as their hits like "Bamboleo" are mostly tied to drunk partying in Mediterranean resorts , but ten minutes into the show I was already hooked. Not only was "Zorro" the kind of entertaining swashbuckler I love anyway, the Spanish/Latin music fitted perfectly to the story's setting in 19th century Spanish California and I loved the creative use of Flamenco and Gypsy music. The cast was amazing, too, especially Lesli Margherita as gypsy woman Inez (who gets to sing all the hits), understudy Madalena Alberto as damsel in distress Luisa, evil baddie Adam Levy and of course Matt Rawle as dashing hero Zorro. A great entertaining afternoon and I hope this show will survive for some time. When I emerged from the theatre, it was raining cats and dogs and I fled into Fopp's, a recent discovery of mine just off Cambridge Circus, that sells CDs and DVDs at bargain prices. And while lunch at the posh Hampshire had been delicious and quite an event, it sure as hell didn't fill me all too well, so I sat in Pizza Hut on Cambridge Circus (the counter with bar stools running along the windows is the perfect spot for people watching over dinner) for spaghetti with meatballs and chocolate fudge cake with vanilla ice cream. Yum. Then it was time for the evening show - "Spamalot" at the Palace Theatre. I had loved the CD when it came out but had found myself mildly bored by the show when I saw it in New York.  Blaming jet lag and the bland leads on Broadway, I was willing to give the show another chance in London and when I heard that Sanjeev Bhaskar had taken over as King Arthur, I was ready to roll. Both he and the Swedish Lady of the Lake Nina Söderquist (who had won the role in a Swedish TV casting show) were pretty good and I did enjoy myself much more that I was awake enough to pay attention to many small funny details, but overall I still think that the show is on the flimsy side. We'll see if it survives in Germany. Next day it was time to go home again already and I made my way back to Heathrow like a pack rat with plenty of new books and DVDs I had stuffed into my little trolley and an additional shoulder bag. And while it was great to be in London in general and I enjoyed meeting friends and seeing shows, two days are just way too short and I'm looking forward to a longer stay next spring.