Day 20: Horses, Harrods, and Bikes

Jan 19th 2009

Today we had class and talked about midsummer and if we liked it/ if we didn’t/ what worked with the show/what didn't.
Then we got a preview for the greatest show ever....War Horse!! (But before I get into that I’ll tell you what I did before the show)
So today was a say of shopping a little but mostly feeling really poor hahah. Chris, Branden, Evan, Steve and I all went to Harrods today. It is a huge 6 floor department store that sells everything you could imagine. take Macys plus Sears plus JC Penny plus Prada, Gucci, D&G, and every other famous designer Plus a car dealership PLUS a huge building that is lit up by thousands of light bulbs at night that takes up a whole block and you have Harrods in a nutshell.
This store is HUGE. There are resutaraunt inside is and each room is themed...There is a room entirely dedicated to Egyptian decoration. Pretty much in every room there are chandeliers. It’s crazy!! After Harrods the guys and I went around shopping and rudie bought some shoes. We just walked around a shopping center for a bit. I drooled mostly and then it was time to go back to the flat and get ready for war horse!!

I stopped a jmike for a little bit before I went to War Horse. I realized that I had to go to meet people for dinner and I was rushing to the theatre...and oh yeah I got hit by a bike....not a motorcycle..A bicycle...and NO ITS NOT FUNNY...stop laughing....SHUT UP it’s not funny!
I was crossing the street...looked both ways and as I was about 2 steps into the street I heard a WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH looked to my right and I saw a guy on a bike and I was on the ground. All my bags and camera scattered all around me and I looked up and saw a car right in front of my face too...I just got up walked around the corner and sat down...crying like a baby. I was such a mess. the guy came over and all I could saw was I’m so sorry I’m so sorry and at first I could tell he was mad that I got in is way but after he saw me melting down he felt bad...jerk. It was kinda funny the first thing I asked him was if his bike was okay then I was like uhh I mean you are you okay? He was fine. Thankfully I was fine too. I only was banged up a little. A bruise on my elbow and a cut on my knee. Not too bad. So I called my mom freaking out and she in turn was freaking out and then I looked up...It was like an angle walking across the street...none other than Michael Page (my professor) and I called out to him in a pathetic little voice and he was shocked to see me there. I felt bad because he freaked out a little too....It was a crap journey to the theatre but the show made me feel much better....and here’s why...well here’s about the show anyway...and stop laughing about the bike thing...the guy came flying around the corner that’s why I didn’t see him...ANYWAY back to War Horse....



We had previously taken a tour through the national theater where we got to have a sneak preview of one of the life size horse puppets. So we were all really excited because we only heard great things about the show.
The play is about a boy and his horse Joey who is sold into the army to be a WWI army horse in the British army. The play explores all sides of war and what it does to people and countries. There are characters from the British army, German army, and French country side that you sympathize with. The Play starts off with Joey as a young colt and he is captured and sold to a family where he meets his owner who raises him and teaches him to be a stung horse. There is one scene where Joey transforms from a colt to a full grown horse and he comes galloping out of the darkness and burst into the light and it is nothing short of magnificent. The horses are all operated by people dressed in period with the same color scheme as the horses. There were two people inside the horse moving its legs and tail and one person moving its neck and head on the outside. They also made horse noises like sniffing things or snuffing at people. I became so captivated by the play and the horses that I didn’t even register at one point that there were people there. I really believed it was a horse. I asked others how they thought about it and they all agreed that you didn’t even pay attention that there were people maneuvering the puppet. The horse puppets, by the way, are made in South Africa by a company who specialized in life size puppets. They are made out of dried and molded bamboo or bamboo like rods and then they have a thin mesh cloth over the structure. These puppets are so strong that several times actors jumped on top of them and rode them around the stage. Besides the amazing puppets and acting as well the set was incredible. There was a scene where Joey is caught in no man’s land in barbed wire and a trench literally rises out of the stage and the Germans are on one side and the brits are on the other and Joey is in the middle. It was a great scene especially the way they used the idea of a trench. The stage itself has a revolve in it (rotating floor) that also can be split in have to that the two half circles can rise and lift out of the floor. The trench was lit from the inside so that when it rose out of the ground you could see the silhouette of dead soldiers and horse legs. It was so powerful. The entire show was riveting and moving. I was so glad we had great seats for this show. It was definitely in my top three shows that we have seen. I get chills just thinking about it.

Then after a long and semi-painful day I went back to the flat and went to bed. ZZZZZ

the End

With all my love, from across the pond,

Leighanne Evelyn

At Harrods (this one is for auntie cor):

Harrods again:
The War Horse puppet:


:)

Day 19: Sight Seeing.

Jan 18th 2009

Today Jmike, Chris, Brian, and I all met up and just went sightseeing. It was our other free weekend so we just took it easy. We walked all down South Bank by the London Eye, Big Ben, Etc. It was pretty cold. But the sun was out and that made for nice photos.
We ate at this really great crepe place by the nation theater. It was SOOO good.
Then it started getting dark so we headed back home.

Then Chris and I went back to the flat and hung out with everyone and watched the musical Dr. Horrible. Its really funny and sad at the same time.
While we watched it i ate a sandwich it was delish.

And surprisingly that was it...compared to all of the museum backed days it was uneventful...but still fun.

Th E nd

With all my love, from across the pond,


The Thames River:


Jmike:
Saint Pauls:The Eye:
Chris:
Brian:

Day 18: Sunset Boulevard

Jan 17th 2009

Chris, Elizabeth, Jmike and I saw Andrew Lloyd Webbers Sunset Boulevard this evening. It’s about a has-been actress and a new struggling writer in Hollywood and their relationship in show-bizz and their personal relationship. It was really interesting. Its a musical but all of the instruments are played by the actors. Some actors played 4 or 5 different instruments and they all sang and acted. These actors are pretty much quadruple threats, singers, actors, dancers, and can play 5 instruments. The plot was interesting....very Webberish. The music was also classic Webber music. It was a great show and the tickets were pretty cheap so it was a good experience over all. The set was well done also. It looked like a ball room of an old mansion. There was a huge portrait of the main character when she was younger and a spiral staircase that spun around. It was all really well done and very enjoyable.

After the show we hung out and then went to bed.

The End!

With all my love, from across the pond,

Leighanne Evelyn

Day 17: Wicked.

Jan 16th 2009:

It was a start of a free weekend to do as we pleased! So Krystina, David, Chris and I had bought really cheap tickets to see wicked! Basically the whole day revolved around wicked and singing the music and getting really excited to go see it. Chris and I pre-gamed the show by playing a billion card games....all of which I reined champion.... muwahhaah. I had seen it before a few years ago in Boston. I was in the 3rd row...because my mother loves me very much she got me three tickets to go. It was wonderful (wicked reference...it’s a song...okay I’m done.)
We all decided we wanted to make a night of it so we went early to the show to find something to eat...there were no good places to eat around so we managed to find this huge tube station that’s attached to a mall and we got baguettes from upper crust/ food from other various places. I also got a smoothie that was really small and over priced...my bad.
AND I GOT A COOKIE!!
Well anyway we got to the theater and it was all decked out in green neon lights it was very emerald city. Even the foyer was decorated in green lights. It was so totally WICKED!

The show was excellent...even despite the fact that we were in row X in the last balcony...aka the 2nd to last row in the entire theater....it was still magnificent. The music was wonderful as were all of the technical aspects of the show; From Elphaba flying in the air during "Defying Gravity" to all the set pieces moving on their own across the stage from Glinda entering on a bubble in the very first scene. It was all brilliant and obviously high-end Broadway theater. My favorite part was when Elphaba and Glinda go to Emerald City as soon as the music started all of the house lights turned on and were all neon green to match the scene it was incredible you really felt like you were there being surrounded by so much green The show was a lot of fun and I can’t wait until I have an opportunity to see it again...next time...I’m bringing my mum.

After the show we went back and dreamed Wicked Dreams.


The (Wicked) End


All my love, from across the pond,

Leighanne Evelyn.

Day 16: Magic!

Today we had a very long class talking about Gethsemane and British politics. After class Sarah, Tara, Chris and I set out to see what I’d be longing to see for ages… the Peter Pan statue. We embarked on our journey to the Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park…let me tell you this is no ordinary park…it HUGE! It covers a vast area of land. The park included a large lake full of every type of bird existing in England pretty much, even some Canadian Geese. There was also a play ground for kids based on the fantasy world of Never Land from the Peter Pan story (pirate ship, palm trees, and crocodile included). We walked all around the park in search of peter pan and the Princess Di memorial fountain. Then we found him! Peter Pan himself. It was a lot of fun seeing the statue and remembering the story and of course my favorite movie Hook. As my dad always reminded me “I AM the Pan.” After seeing Peter Pan we saw the Princess Di fountain, which wasn’t really a fountain it was more like a mini river that went around in a circle. It is supposed to represent her life journey, starting from her birth there’s a large pool of water at the top and then it bubbles down mini water falls to her death at the bottom of the river which is another large peaceful pool. It was all very nice. After we managed to find our way out of the Gardens we went to Covent Garden again and I bought 3 scarves for only 5 pounds!! Such a deal!!
Then we got back to the flat and a few of us tried to find some good pizza and then ended up rushing to grab fast-food and running to the theatre in order to make it on time to see The Royal Shakespeare Companies production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I really enjoyed this production. The RSC always does a great job at making the text of Shakespeare come alive and they make it so easily understandable. This play in general is just a fun play to see. Its full of funny scenes and it a playground for great theatre to be produced. It was directed by the same director who did hamlet with and Patrick Stewart and it is played in the same space so the stage for both midsummer and hamlet were similar. The floor and back wall were made up of mirror like metal like polished titanium or something. The midsummer set included a huge full moon that changed colors as the play progressed and it also move very slowly during the first act the other side of the stage. I thought that was so clever because you would look up and all of a sudden the moon was in a different place. In my opinion the RSC really brought the magic of midsummer to the stage. It was a fun show to see. I did realize that it’s much funnier when you see it then when you read it in a class. I did think the show was a bit long and it was even longer because the audience kept clapping during the play with in a play scene. One thing I thought was interesting was that the fairies were played by people holding baby dolls or Barbie dolls with wings on. It was supposed to reinforce the idea that they fairies were invisible…it was really obscure. I didn’t like the baby dolls I felt like it took away from the already great fairy characters. I did like how the fairies acted as the forest when the lovers were wandering around lost. I enjoyed how they played with the lovers getting them confused and adding to the mischief. Over all I really enjoyed the show. The RSC always does an excellent job at making Shakespeare come alive for the modern audience. After the show we went back to the flat, hung around, and went to sleep. ZZZZZZ
The End!

I stink.

Hello to those of you who have so kindly kept up with my postings from london...
i'd like to apologize for not posting for oh i dont know...2 weeks or something like that.

I stink.

If you just wait a littttle bit longer you will be in for a blog-fest. Im going to update my blog from when i left off so there will be much to read about!
Hang in there.

sorry for stinking so bad.

Love,
Leighanne Evelyn.

If you didnt know...

If you click on the photo it makes it larger...
If you want a better view....

just a side note..

:)

Day 15: MARKETS!!

I loved my afternoon today! Chris, Tara, and I went out on a market finding adventure! We used my trusty new markets in London guide and found some pretty sweet markets!!
We first stopped off at The Piccadilly square market place. It was filled with so many colors! Tons of unique jewelry was hung on every cart, in the back corner of the market there was a table of all handmade leather journals that were all bright pinks and greens and reds. There was even a cart for old telephones and compasses. I took tons of great photos (in my opinion), it easier to take nice photos when there are incredible sights to capture!

After the first market we walked through Leicester square where will smith apparently was today for the premier of Seven Pounds in London. We didn’t see him though...they were just setting up for his arrival. So we hopped on the tube in search of Covet Gardens where the Apple market and the Jubilee market are located. Along the way we saw plenty of street performers ranging from a juggler, a hilarious magician, a guitar player, and an opera singer (who was incredible). There were tons of things to see at these markets too. Lots of funny t-shirts and loads of beautiful cheap scarves...I believe we are going back tomorrow...and I might pick up some!! yay! I saw a yellow one that I really liked...and I saw a purple one that was nice also. I love colors!!

Then we made our way back to the National Theatre for the 3rd time this week to talk to a production manager there. We got to explore the same set we saw the first time and it was just as fun and aw-inspiring as it was when we looked at it before. She gave us a mini tour and talked more about the technical aspects of each show which was a great source of information on professional theater.
THHHHHHHEN...
we all went back to the flat and hung around until it was time for dinner and we ate at a mexican-ish place it was very good. After dinner we hopped on the tube to go back to the national theatre and we saw a show called Gethsemane which was about political scandals in England. I did not enjoy this show. It is on the bottom of the list for me at this point. I couldn’t get in to it at all...and for me it was not engaging...Chris and I felt the same about this show. It was not the acting or the set that was bad or anything I just didn’t understand what was going on and the play itself didn’t do anything for me. I really don’t have much to say about it other than I didn’t enjoy it at all.

Then we got back to the flat and i got a lovely call from my best friend Beth! It was a nice treat after an uninteresting show.

And that concluded the night.

now im off to bed seeing as its rather late.

More photos tomorrow!!

Cheers!

all my love, from across the pond,

Leighanne Evelyn.