Nicole schreibt...

If you read my last New York report you know about the pre-trip drama surrounding our delayed flight from Duesseldorf to Newark. Well, Lufthansa, in cooperation with their Star Alliance partner BMI, now masterfully proved that they can do even better than that. They can delay a flight from Cologne to London a whopping five hours! What happened? Well, we were already sitting in the plane at 2pm, ready to jet off, except for a rather obnoxious smell of kerosene in the cabin. And so we stood while the folks in the cockpit and on the ground ran some tests. And more tests. And we got given magazines and finally something to drink, but we didn't get going. Au contraire, in the end we were asked to leave the plane again for some more testing. The first worried faces appeared as people started missing their connections in Heathrow. Then finally the big news: The plane was broken and would not fly. Another plane had to be flown in from Heathrow (!) and the new departure time was 6pm. Now I started worrying too, though I still thought that if the plane was on time and things went fast at Heathrow, I could still make it to the theatre at curtain time. To add to this tale of woe was the fact that my friend who was meant to fly with me, had flown ahead to Manchester the day before on business and then gone on to London by train, so she was first waiting in the hotel for me and then in the theatre where we were meant to see the play "Birdsong", based on Sebastian Faulks' novel, together (and in my boundless faith in the airline industry, I had the theatre tickets in my suitcase, so I couldn't even let her know our seat numbers, so she could at least claim her seat while I was stuck in delay-hell). Well, things got even worse - the new plane from London arrived in Cologne another 45 minutes late (it's beyond me, why Lufthansa couldn't just use one of their own damn planes instead of having another BMI plane flown in) and by the time we were up in the air it was 6.15pm London time - so I knew that I would at best make the second act of the play. Meanwhile my poor friend had to buy another ticket to get in, but luckily they sold her a £15 day seat and she got that seat upgraded to a much better one in the middle of the stalls. The joy continued when I was reunited with my suitcase in Heathrow and found that I couldn't pull the handle of the trolley out anymore, so I had to carry the (luckily rather light) suitcase all the way - I had even been prepared to shell out for the ludicrously overpriced Heathrow Express (£18 one way) to try and be a few minutes faster, but one train was just departing when I came to the platforms and the next wasn't due for another 25 mins, so I went back to the good old tube. And I wasn't even in Central London yet, when my friend texted to say that the interval was starting / ending and I wouldn't even make it for Act Two. So what else was left to do but to go straight to the hotel, flop into the bath tub with my duty free Scotch and wait for her to come back from the theatre? Dear Reader, it was the most spectacularly fucked up arrival in London EVER.
Come Friday I was starting to calm down a little and while my friend did some touristy stuff, I went to my usual shopping digs for books, DVDs and other stuff, and also popped into the Comedy Theatre with my tale of woe about the previous evening - and the nice guy at the Box Office even remembered my friend and her tale and he suggested I try for a Day Seat for the front row in the stalls on Saturday Evening (which was still free, since we had planned to buy tickets for the musical "Love Story" at the TKTS Booth then - but frankly, seeing "Birdsong "on stage and dishy Ben Barnes in the lead, was more important to me than the adaption of one of the dullest, most boring movies ever, even if people seem to like it a lot). By the evening, things were finally well again - we had tickets for "Priscilla", since I had really wanted to drag my friend along to London so she could see what's really my favorite show at the moment as well. There had been a cast change in the meantime and I have to say that Ben Richards was a vast improvement to Jason Donovan as Tick/Mitzi. I had liked Jason well enough, but seeing someone else in the part now, I realized how much better it could have been done. On the other hand, Don Gallagher had to tread in Tony Sheldon's enormous footsteps as Bernadette and while he was pretty decent too, he wasn't quite that good - or ladylike. As the third of the trio, Oliver Thornton is still on board as Adam/Felicia and still being absolutely awesome. Another new face for me was Ray Meagher of "Home and Away"-fame as Bob, whose entrance generated a round of applause, but sadly I've always been a Neighbours-girl and never watched Home and Away (bring in Neighbours' Harold as the next Bob?). Overall "Priscilla" was as immensely enjoyable as always and who knows, I might end up seeing it a fourth time before it closes. Which hopefully won't be for a long long time.
Afterwards we headed to Floridita, a Cuban-style bar/restaurant/club where we had booked a late dinner (which was yummy) and ended up at a table close to the dance floor, where people salsa'ed their little hearts out. And while I hadn't minded to try my hand (or rather feet) at a little dancing with my friend, I had no been prepared for some blokes to come and ask me for a dance. Okay, I was flattered alright. I relished the chance to dance with a guy. But dear me, did I realize that I have two certified left feet and was glad to be sitting down again! Still, I really enjoyed being out and about in Soho with a friend after a show at last and not just for a hurried last pint in a pub or straight to the hotel.
After the long night we took it easy on Saturday morning - and the first walk was once more to the Comedy Theatre and the Day Seats for "Birdsong". As it turned out the front row in the stalls was gone though and the best he could sell me was a crappy seat in the back corner (R 3). I even asked for a full price seat but that was hardly better, so with a heavy heart I went for R 3, then cheered myself up with some retail therapy at Next and a gorgeous new dress. We met my American friend Tricia for lunch in a pub then, making it the fourth town in which Tricia and I have met after Washington, Los Angeles and Cologne. So what next? How about Sydney? Ahem. After lunch we were off to the Shaftesbury Theatre and the stage adaption of "Flashdance".
And here's a curious thing for you: Many lame, lackluster and unspiried movie adaptions seem to run no matter what ("Dirty Dancing" anyone?) but here, where they really went a long way to flesh out the paper-thin book of the movie with more storylines and new songs and hired an immensely energetic young cast of fantastic dancers - this show crashes and burns (and closes after only four months). Why, oh why? Answers on a postcard please. Having said that, I did enjoy "Flashdance" immensely. The fleshed-out characters added depth to the story, the new music was pretty good and the dancing simply fantastic. Alternate Twinnielee Moore was our Alex and gave a stunning performance as the girl from the shabby side of Pittsburgh trying to make it as a professional dancer. When the show finally reaches the iconic audition dance and the title song, she does the whole thing all by herself (film-Alex Jennifer Beals had six dancer doubles to do it for her!) and it was a fantastic finale. The supporting cast that included boyband star Matt Willis from Busted as Alex' love interest Nick, was also just about perfect. It's a shame that this great little show disappears so quickly again while so much dross has been playing in the West End for ages.
After dinner my friend and I went separate ways again as she didn't want to see another show on her own and I was back to the Comedy Theatre once more. And found out that persistence pays off. I asked the guy at the Box Office if there was any chance to swap my crappy seat R 3 against something better that has freed up during the day and he told me to wait till just before curtain time when he could see which tickets hadn't been collected. And just as well, five minutes before the show he called me to his window and gave me J 5 instead. I could have kissed him!
And was "Birdsong" worth all the fuss, you wonder now? You bet your ass it was. The play version by Rachel Wagstaff had peeled away a lot of the superfluous fluff of Faulks' novel including the whole story of Stephen's grand-daughter Elizabeth who goes in search of her family history. Instead the first act takes us to France in 1910 and young Stephen's love affair with the very married Isabelle Azaire and after the interval we're in the trenches of World War I and Stephen's return to France as an officer in the British army. After another short break the last half hour becomes incredibly intense as Stephen tries to dig himself and his injured fellow soldier Jack out of a collapsed tunnel while Jack is slowly fading away. And director Trevor Nunn manages a fantastic tearjerker moment when he finally emerges on the 'wrong' side of the trenches and meets a German soldier and after a moment's hesitation both men embrace and hug. I was engrossed in the very filmic adaption for the whole three hours and it was definitely worth all the fuss for a new good ticket. John Napier, who was once known for his overblown scene sets in the mega musicals of the 80's, shows, he's still got it, creating gorgeous backdrops and projections for the serene beauty of France in 1910 and later the horror of the trenches. And those who dismiss budding movie star Ben Barnes as the pretty boy Prince Caspian from the Narnia movies, got it so damn wrong because that guy gave a fantastic performance as Stephen, with equally fantastic support by Lee Ross as the cockney sapper Jack Firebrace and the rest of the cast. Genevieve O'Reilly even made the obnoxious Isabelle from the book thoroughly likeable (or at least likeable enough to understand why Stephen falls for this woman). They should really use this adaption and this cast for the movie version (that's apparently in the make since the novel first became a bestseller 13 years ago...). So, no happy end for Stephen in the play, but at least a happy end for me in a great seat, having a great evening.

So, no review of "Love Story" I'm afraid and I doubt it will last until my next trip in summer, but hey ho, such is life. The flight home was trouble-free by the way and now we'll wait and see if Lufthansa coughs up for my broken suitcase...