Nicole schreibt...

This was a rather special trip for me since it was the first time ever that my mother deigned to come along - and yes, I choose that expression consciously because many years ago when I was still a teenager at school and aching to go to London and pleading with her to take me, she flat-out refused - she who'd happily go to Vienna, Hamburg, Amsterdam or Paris just refused to go to London for no clear reason whatsoever. After a while I gave up and first travelled with other people including my aunt or my best school friend and finally took the plunge to go alone. I never looked back since, made local friends in London to meet or was just happy to spend 2-3 days alone in my favorite city. Until now, nearly twenty years later, she suddenly declared she wanted to come along on one of my trips. So part of me was happy she finally wanted to see the place I love so much, part anxious that she might not like it and part tried to simply not care. All in all it was just awkward at first. However having her along also had a few benefits, mostly that she was paying for a hotel that would normally be out of my price range - in this case the 4* St.Ermin's in St.James (the upmarket West End hotels were out of both our price ranges still, go figure). It was a damn fine building squished between New Scotland Yard and the Ministry of Justice with nice enough rooms - no dazzling luxury but a bath tub, coffee maker and telly. After settling in there, I took my Mom on a first sightseeing walk through St.James Park and along Pall Mall to Trafalgar Square - the sun was shining and at least London was showing itself from its nicest side. We finally went separate ways in Piccadilly Circus, so she could walk on along Regent Street and through posh Mayfair back to St.James, while I hit my favorite bookshop and a few other places before it was time to see my first musical - "Carousel". I had seen the super-creative version from the Royal National Theatre in 1993 on Broadway, but I didn't know the story or most of the songs, so while I enjoyed it, it didn't feel like anything special. Now in retrospect, with a very conventional and almost dull staging/stage sets, I think the RNT version was awesome in its own way. This one had at least the great cast going for it, if not top-billed opera diva Lesley Garratt as Nettie (who was nice enough but not outstanding), then the two real leads, Alexandra Silber as Julie and Jeremiah James as Billy who were absolutely awesome, especially James who always hit exactly the right notes between aggressive brutish Billy and the loving Billy dreaming about his future child and later asking Julie and Louise for forgiveness - the last ten minutes, during the reprises of "If I loved you" and "You never walk alone" I blubbered like a baby. So I'm definitely happy I revisited this show, even if I was a bit sad/surprised to see so many empty seats in the stalls around me - but I guess the £60 price tag is a bit hefty for a show that's been done to death by companies all over the country. Next morning I tagged along to the Tower with my Mom, a place I had seen when I was a 16-year old dumb kid on my first trip to London ever with school. Naturally I knew nothing about English history then, nor did the teachers do anything to "prepare" us, so the visit did nothing for me and all I remembered for the longest time was the big crush around the crown jewels and the armour of Henry VIII with its special encasing for HIS family jewels. After learning so much about English history throughout the years I had meant to revisit the Tower for a while anyway and now was a lucky occasion since my Mom paid the way for both of us (a hefty £17 per person). Yet it's definitely worth it as we spent nearly three hours in the place. And since we were there right when the gates opened at 9am, we had the crown jewels nearly to ourselves and could really take our time to marvel at the mind-boggling stuff on display there. There was also an exhibition of Henry VIII's personal stuff, like the oldest tennis ball in the world and jousting lances that were just... huge.And for me it was also nice to just see the normal stuff again now, like the tower were prisoners were kept, the traitors's gate and the execution place where Anne Boleyn and others met their sad ends. We split up again then so my Mom could keep on sightseeing in the City and I returned to the West End to finish my shopping for books and DVDs, then returned to the hotel to take advantage of the nice room and bath tub. I had booked a table at Joe Allen as a special treat for my Mom and after a nice dinner we went to see "Oliver!" together - it seemed the best choice for her as it was a very English musical and because she had always liked Mr Bean. Now Rowan Atkinson had given me a bit of a fright when he went off sick for three weeks with a hernia but luckily he was back in time - and terrific as Fagin. Sure he was camping it up Mr Bean-style more than once, but frankly - why not? The role and the show have been done to death and this is probably what most people expected to see from him anyway. Much worse in the camp-it-up department was Torchwood-babyface Burn Gorman as Bill Sikes, who was more panto villain than anything and you'd expect Nancy to thwap him any minute and tell him to grow up. Nancy was played by Tamsin Carroll, the Aussie alternate who was really good in the role, as were the kids, pudding-faced reality show winner Gwion Wyn Jones as Oliver and the excellent Ross McCormack as Artful Dodger. Since I had only seen "Oliver!" at the Palladium back then without knowing much about the show and from a bad seat in the back stalls, I really enjoyed this lavish new production at Drury Lane. With the pound hitting an all-time low against the Euro, Friday morning was dedicated to shopping and I checked out Westfield, the brand-new huge shopping mall in Shepherd's Bush. I only managed the upper floor in one part of the huge mall and frankly that was enough for me to blow money on. It was nice to visit all the regular UK brands like Topshop, Next, etc. without the mad crush and endless queue for the changing rooms in Oxford Street, so next time I plan some expansive shopping in London I'll be back to Westfield! I went to Olympia from there to have lunch with Lynda before it was time for a break and a bath at the hotel. The weather was gorgeous so I went to St.James Park to soak up the sun for a bit before shopping some more on my Mom's card in Covent Garden to get THAT awesome dress from Monsoon (which cost a whopping £95). Even skipped dinner for that and just had a bit of pizza after saying goodbye to Mom. Show for the evening was "A little night music" - me and Sondheim, that's usually no-go but after all the silly comedies and saccharine melodramas with their banal luuuuurve lyrics, I had come to appreciate the witty lyrics of this show and how cleverly it was done on the whole. Realizing throughout the show how it was the second one during this trip already that dealt with normal human relationships everyone can relate to instead of the woes of monsters or princesses. On an even happier note - I was agog to find myself in the presence of Damian Lewis who sat in the row in front of me with a small entourage. I noticed him in the interval and then kept ogling through the second act, but sadly he was too far away from me to ask him for an autograph (not that I had dared, I suppose). The cast was awesome, led by Hannah Waddingham as Desiree who was superb, and even overcame the handicap of a really ugly very yellow wig. Alexander Hanson, Kelly Price et al were amazing too - the only one I couldn't really warm to was Jessie Buckley as Anne, not so much (I think) because she came from "reality TV" but simply because the age difference between her and her husband wasn't glaring enough to understand why she'd rather go for his handsome son and not this gentleman. But then who wouldn't want to run off with a Ioan Gruffudd-lookalike? A really lovely evening with this small charming clever show and a fabulous cast overall, I am really glad I went! Saturday was gorgeous again but I had plans aplenty. First trip took me to the TKTS Booth on Leicester Square for the first and only time during this trip since I hadn't been able to find online discounts for "Three days of rain" and yet it was there almost all the time. Now I was a bit worried about ticket availability because of the bank holiday weekend but it was there for the matinee just as I had hoped - then I got disappointed again by getting a ticket for row F in the Dress Circle. Quite far away if the main purpose for seeing this play was to ogle James McAvoy. Since I had nothing to do for the day and was out of shopping money, I decided to do what I had planned for ages and never got around to - visiting the Victoria & Albert Museum in Kensington. Now I had a further incentive to go there since the stuff from the (now closed) Theatre Museum in Covent Garden found a new home there. But the V&A was mind-boggling even without that part, with so many exhibition pieces from around the world seemingly randomly throw together, mostly reflecting "daily life" through the ages and cultures with clothes fom old China, the Mughal courts or modern western fashion, carpets, crockery, textiles and much more. Ironically the theatre collection was as disappointing as it was in the old theatre museum - there were some nice costumes and wigs on display but it hardly reflects the fact that London is the theatre capital of the world with an ancient history of the world's great playwrights and actors. And the big musicals were almost completely absent. I took a longer break by the lovely pool in the garden of the museum with a muffin and a coke, then took on the remaining rooms, before heading for Hyde Park, getting there by the chance discovery of a lovely little thoroughfare. I spent an hour chilling in the sunshine, then walked along Piccadilly to the West End. "Three days of rain" is what I'd call a typical modern play: A small cast (three people), some family secrets and alot of handwringing. But for all that it wasn't bad, the first act set today with two siblings collecting their late father's inheritance, their mother in the loony bin. They are joined by their father's late business partner's son, who quite surprisingly inherits the house the son had wanted. The second act then tells the story of the previous generation and we learn that Daddy stole the partner's girlfriend (to become mad Mom) and this is why he gave the house to the other boy. The three actors were all great - James McAvoy who I had come to ogle played the ubersensitive son and later the father (who gets the girl), Nigel Harman the other guy and Lyndsey Marshal the daughter and mother. She was the most pleasant surprise for me as I couldn't stand her when she played Cleopatra in "Rome" (though that might have more to do with casting a pale Englishwoman as the radiant Egyptian queen than her) and now she was amazing, especially in the change from the restrained quiet sensible daughter to the wild 60's girl that was Mom in her youth.

After so much heady drama it was time for the party at last - well, there was an excellent Indian dinner first, then it was time to see "Priscilla" at the Palace. I love the movie and when I heard of a stage version being done in Australia, I was sorely tempted to hop on a plane to Sydney. But now it's here in London with Sydney's original Bernadette Tony Sheldon, Aussie star Jason Donovan as Tick and local boy Oliver Thornton as Felicia/Adam. The atmosphere in the theatre was electric, since most people seemed to know the movie and had come to party. And unlike other movie adaptions, "Priscilla" got it exactly right, bringing the best bits of the movie to the stage, including ping pong ball-popping Cynthia and Felicia's "La Traviata" ride on the giant stiletto atop the bus (going out over the stalls - kudos to Thornton for being brave enough to do that) as well as the hilarious costumes, with plenty new fun stuff added (which I won't reveal here to not spoil things for anyone). I had a great time and a perfect seat in the Dress Circle too, close enough to see everything well, but with a great overview as well. A show I actually want to revisit some time with a new cast for the sheer feelgood fun it was. And I actually bought a souvenir T-shirt from the show, something I haven't done in ages. And so it was back to stuffy old Germany on Sunday with a suitcase full of new books and clothes and plenty new impressions. And I honestly couldn't take any more than this, it seems four days and five shows is really my capacity limit these days - I rather travel more often than overwhelming myself with shows. And the next trip is already booked anyway!