Nicole schreibt...

So much for last year's resolution to never visit London in August again. Eh well. At least the English summer was back to its usual glory - cold, cloudy and with occasional showers. Since my Mom seems to have been bitten by the London bug (better late than never, you could say), I took her along again and let her pay for the Piccadilly Thistle hotel right between Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square, a hotel I had dreamed of staying in for ages. Well as it was, it was pretty mediocre for a supposed four-star hotel, but the beds were amazingly comfy and the location is unbeatable. The 99-Euro-tickets on my mid-day Lufthansa flight had been gone already, so we opted for the early flight and got into London at 11am. At least unlike the Travelodge last year, the Thistle let me dump the luggage at reception, so I could set out on my own for a while to hit my favorite shops before meeting up with Mom for lunch, making her try the Vietnamese pho soup at the same place behind the Palace Theatre where I had first tried it last year. Then we could check in and take a break at the hotel before heading out for a bit more shopping and a yummy dinner at a lovely little Lebanese place in Soho. First show of the trip that evening was "Legally Blonde", which had taken me by surprise in New York a few years ago where I had only decided to see it because other shows I had planned to see had closed prematurely. The show had bowled me over with its feelgood fun, upbeat melodies and its big heart. And apparently it has also taken London by storm (more than New York) as discounts are still impossible to find, so I forked out for a full price seat in the stalls to not miss the chance to see London's leading lady Sheridan Smith. I had seen her in the sitcom Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps as a frumpy dim Geordie gal and despite the praise heaped on her for her portrayal of Elle Woods I had been doubtful about her turning into a glam Malibu Barbie. I need not have worried. If anything, Sheridan Smith is even better than Laura Bell Bundy on Broadway, bringing her vast sitcom experience along for using a multitude of perfectly timed facial expressions and witty deliveries. And she wasn't alone, the whole cast was absolutely excellent, as was the atmosphere in the stuffy Savoy Theatre - mostly females, who cheered Elle along her way (though it's a bit sad to see that men apparently think, a story of a girl making it is not interesting for the male of the species). Be that as it is, I had a fabulous evening and could definitely envision seeing this show another time - and I sure as hell hope that rumours are true and Sheridan Smith will be playing Bridget Jones when the musical version hits the West End. On Thursday I took my Mom on a boat tour to Greenwich so she could visit the Royal Observatory and take one of these silly pictures with one foot in the western and one foot in the eastern hemisphere. I had been there many many years ago with school and still have an ancient photo from then, all 80's hair style and Cats-T-shirt (nope, not gonna share). We also peeked into the Maritime Museum which I had visited before, the strolled around the market and had a quick snack at Costa before returning into the West End for a break before dolling up for the big do of the trip - Afternoon Tea at the Ritz. Yes, THE RITZ. The Afternoon Tea at the Burj al Arab had been such a nice experience that I thought it would be fun to recreate it and visit the mother of all Afternoon Teas in the Palm Court restaurant of the Ritz. Well, what can I say, it was again an awesome experience full of scrumptious delights and in surroundings that dripped tradition and Mayfair elegance from every pore.

From Mayfair to Southwark was a trip between different worlds and yet I made it, to see the latest offering of the Menier Chocolate Factory that evening, a revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Aspects of Love". I had seen the charming German premiere in Dresden a few years ago, but I had never seen it in English and I had also always felt that Aspects should be a small-scale chamber musical and not a big "blockbuster" as it was when it first opened in 1989. The small set, using photos and images on a screen projection to tell the audience where and when the scene takes place and the great costumes in late 40's and early 60's style were indeed enough to create the perfect atmosphere. The only major let down was the fact that the hair-styles didn't change and nobody had in any way convincingly aged in the second act. Especially Alex, played by preppy American Michael Arden - still looked like a 17-year old when he was supposed to be 32. While he was okay I am not sure why he received so much praise from fans who got so excited about his casting (or could it just be that he's a very attractive young chap?) - the best in the cast were for me Rosalie Craig as Giulietta, who came across as both a lively charming Italian and the only truly likeable person among the leads, and Dave Willetts as George, a convincing "man of the world". I am not sure what got into the director Trevor Nunn or into leading lady Katherine Kingsley as Rose, but she was guilty fo the worst kind of overacting I've seen of anyone except Uwe Kröger and while Rose was never very likeable, here she was just obnoxious. Of course the problem of the show IS that none of them are very nice people, playing with each other's feelings all the time and the second act dragged rather badly as it just felt like "more of the same", even with Jenny's introduction. I was actually bored enough to study the map of Malaya at the end of act one so closely that I noticed the glaring error on it - showing Saigon as Ho Chi Minh City on the map although it's supposed to be the 50's and Saigon was not renamed until the communist take-over in 1975. So while it was nice to have seen the show in English at last, I don't think that it counts among the Menier's better productions. Having blithely assumed that August means summer I had decided to put a day trip to Brighton on the to-do list for Friday, since I haven't been on a day tour out of London for a while and I had always wanted to see London's bath tub by the sea. It turned out to be rather disappointing though - part of it can be blamed on the bleak grey windy weather, but the town itself had absolutely nothing on lovely Torquay in Devon where I spent a few nice days last year. After a walk up and down the pier we visited the mind-boggling Royal Pavilion, famous for its Indian exterior and Chinese interiors, the favorite place of the Prince Regent who hung out here to entertain his guests with lavish parties. After a stroll through The Lanes and a nice lunch of fish & chips it was time to return to the capital for a break at the hotel. The grey rainy weather had left me very much worried about the show for the evening - Sondheim's "Into the Woods" at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, and its first preview no less. But luckily it remained only just dry enough (with occasional drizzle) for the show to go ahead. And what a show it was! After the dreary production in Hagen last autumn, where heady Sondheim met German Regietheater, I had been more than willing to give the show another chance in its original language and what better setting than the open air stage? In fact when I entered the auditiorium, I found the stage had disappeared and it took me a moment to realize that they had completey buried it undernearth earth and grass to make it blend in with the real trees and shrubs surrounding the stage. While the effect was fabulous, the staging - most of the action was played out on two tiered walkways above the stage - caused quite a crimp in the neck for us poor souls in the front stalls. The cast was excellent, led by Hannah Waddingham as the Witch and a very loveable Jenna Russell as the Baker's Wife, but although I did enjoy this version much more than the one in Hagen the second act was dragging on forever again, so maybe Mr Sondheim is to blame for that. Personally I much prefer a longer first act and a short resolution in the second act than two acts of the same length or - even worse - the second act being even longer. Admittedly 8pm is also a late starting time for a three-hour show and then facing the long walk through the park back to the tube, so maybe fatigue had to do with it too. I definitely think that this is a very unique and creative production that people should really see if they can. On Saturday morning I ventured out for the first time to try that new Day Seat scheme, that has been introduced over the last years. In this case I really wanted to ogle see Stephen Campbell Moore who had really grown on me in the History Boys movie and then again in the new Sea Wolf mini-series that was on TV last christmas. Now he starred in Arthur Miller's "All my Sons" alongside David Suchet (best-known for playing Agatha Christie's "Poirot") and Zoë Wanamaker and the production offered a handful of Day Seats at £10 each. Thanks to the internet, that bottomless treasure trove of information, I knew that only the first people would get seats in the boxes close to the stage, the other Day Seats were at the back of the Upper Circle. I had also heard that you needed to turn up at 8am to get a good place in the queue, so that's what I did and my informations proved correct: Only one couple was ahead of me when I appeared and they wanted seats for the evening. Ten minutes later the queue had grown to around 10 people and the box seats would have been gone. As it was, I got one of the two really good seats in the boxes, where I could angle the chair so that I had a proper view of most of the stage and was really very close to the action. Definitely worth spending two hours sitting on the cold steps in front of the Apollo Theatre on a Saturday morning. What with the day-tripping to Greenwich and Brighton I was really rather tired though, so after another detour to Waterstones and HMV, I returned to the hotel for a long soak in the bath tub, a sandwich and coffee and generally to chill before returning to the Apollo Theatre to claim my comfy seat in the box. The show itself was also excellent, British drama at its finest, and it reminded me once more how fabulous and engaging live drama can be when you are completely swept up in the emotion of the scene and watch the performers' every move and hang on to each word (and it left me once more with a feeling of helpless anger at the state of the German theatre). So I'm quite glad that the not-so-dishy-after-all Mr Campbell Moore (what's with those bags under your eyes, man, heavy partying the night before a matinee won't do!) had lured me to the Apollo Theatre that afternoon. After a fuel stop at TGI Friday's in Bedford Street it was time for the last show of the trip - and potentially the biggest disaster. Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Love never dies", the sequel to his mega-success "Phantom of the Opera". From gushing fan kiddies to hateful "Love must die"-groups on Facebook this show has divided musical lovers like little else in the last months. I couldn't really warm to the music, much less the ludicrous story, so I entered the Adelphi Theatre with low expectations and much trepidation. At least all the leads were present - the celebrated Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom, American star Sierra Boggess as Christine and Joe Millson as Raoul, who sent me a very sweet letter many years ago when he was a young unknown and I still a fangirl writing to performers for autographs. He shot to television fame a few years later, then did a lot of straight theatre and now he's finally back on a musical stage, much to my joy. Even if Raoul is nothing like the Prince Charming we know from the old musical, he's now a rude pisshead and rather obnoxious. In fact in the scene when he and Christine disembark from the steamer in New York, you'd be forgiven for thinking that you stumbled into a live re-enactment of "Titanic" with Kate Winslet as Rose and Billy Zane as her obnoxious fiancé. Christine has aged a few years and drags a blonde kid along (who will turn out to be the Phantom's offspring) and the Phantom calls himself Mister Y now and has created a carnival on Coney Island with Meg Giry as his star showgirl. The pretty blonde ballerina has turned into a very American showgirl now, though her mother, the dour Madame Giry hasn't changed one bit. I can't begin to tell how much is wrong with the story where nobody is remotely likeable anymore and you just don't care if Christine finally opts for the Phantom or keeps choosing beauty over brains and the ending is just laughable. ALW has written a few good songs (and recycled the title tune after using it for "The Beautiful Game" a few years ago), but I do believe by now that he is really past his prime. If anyone deserves huge praise here it's designers Bob Crowley, Jon Driscoll and Scott Penrose who created the world of Coney Island at the turn of the century in a beautiful, often dazzling way with many pretty scenes and effects that were dazzling and new, even to me. I couldn't help wishing that ALW would just toss out the whole ludicrous idea of a Phantom sequel and get a capable writer to create a completely new story set in this beautiful scenery (and write a few more good songs, while he's at it). Performances were flawless, as much as people could do with the material and the evening did flow well at least. If truly major changes will be made to the show I will probably give it another chance, but as it is now, I really don't feel a need to ever see this again. And so another trip has come to an end but as usual, another is already pretty much on the cards - though so far only a new play has made it onto my "must" list: The stage adaption of Sebastian Faulks' "Birdsong" with Ben Barnes. When it comes to musicals, it really seems that New York has quite the edge on London these days. So Big Apple, here I come :)