Annual Christmas Eve Journal Write 2014

Many years ago my sister initiated a tradition where everyone takes a minute during our sibling sleepover to write in their journal on Christmas Eve.  It was a good way to make sure we wrote at least once a year, and it also helped to pass the time while we were getting ready to (not) fall fast asleep.  Anyway, I don't really have that much to say right now, since I wrote just a little while ago, but I wanted to put something down anyway.

Wow, Christmas really sneaked up on me this year, though I guess it always does seem to suddenly be here after a long year of waiting.  But a lot has happened this year, and it's made the time seem to go by pretty quickly, which is both exciting and not so, because there's a lot of great stuff coming up, but there are also some things that I just can't believe are passing by so quickly.  I am amazed every day at how this little boy of ours is growing up and not being a baby anymore.  I was holding one of my 4-month old twin nephews tonight and I can barely remember when The Boy was that small.  It's good that he's growing and learning, and he's such a joy every day that I can't really say I'm sad about him changing and becoming his own person, but at the same time I already miss him. ANYway, it's Christmas Eve, and it's going to be really fun tomorrow to see him react a little more to Christmas and all that that entails.  Last year was fun but he didn't really get what was going on since he was so little, so it will be fun to see how this year is different.  We've tried to impress upon him, at this young age, the real reason for the season, and he's actually really good at recognizing Jesus in Nativity scenes and paintings, so I think that's pretty good (and it's not that he really gets the other aspect of Christmas anyway, though I'm sure he'll figure something's up tomorrow morning when new playthings appear before his eyes... though we definitely tried not to go overboard, though it's proven harder than we expected).  I've always loved Christmastime, and I've always been really happy to take time now and then to think about what we're actually celebrating, but sitting with my wife and little boy (and of course The Poppy in utero) as I tear up in front of Mickey's Christmas Carol, or watching him (gently) pull the ornaments and (not so gently) the beads off the tree and point out the star on top, or hearing him make the animal sounds and point out the "baby!" as we watch The Nativity makes it mean something fresh and new that I've don't remember ever really having experienced.  Jesus was born and lived on this earth, and The Wife and I have a sacred duty and wonderful opportunity to share that glorious knowledge with this sweet and innocent and darling little boy, so he can grow up with the same sweet assurance and hope for the future that we had as children (not to mention the magic and symbolism of Santa Claus).  So yes, Christmas is new all over again, though I don't have quite as much trouble falling asleep these days as I used to.

I guess that's all for this year.  It's late and we're watching the First Presidency Christmas Devotional while I write this (the music is always my favorite part), and then we'll get ready for bed and let Santa Claus do his thing.  Speaking of Santa Claus, I feel like I should mention that we watched this new TV program last night.  I'm a big fan of the musical, so it was really fun to see the music adapted into a new but somehow still classic Christmas special:

It's not perfect, but I really enjoyed it, on an animation level, and of course a musical one.  I've thought for the last few years that they should make a movie of the musical version (based on the movie, of course), but it always seemed so unlikely.  Well, this is just about the next best thing!  Maybe even better.

Okay, that's it! Jesus was born! He still lives! God bless us, every one!

Is This the End Or Just the Start?

I'm about to blog (hopefully briefly) about a fairly lame TV show.  I know.  I just don't know.

So, last year I started watching SMASH, and I admit it was largely because of some kind of TV crush I've had on Katharine McPhee ever since I really liked her on American Idol (which show I gave up on long ago, which abandonment probably had its roots in Katharine's absurd loss to lame Taylor Hicks).  The premise was kind of interesting to me, and the music was written by the writers of Hairspray and Catch Me If You Can and Down With Love, and when I started watching it I mostly really liked it because it seemed slightly similar to Glee except with much more original music (which was actually really good) (yes, you should click on those and listen to them), and less inappropriate behavior among high school students (pretending to be something it's totally not and appealing to an unsuspecting demographic), and also a lot less stupidness (or at least different kinds of stupidness) not to mention (for the most part) an actually talented cast.  So, the bare minimum of things that are actually worth watching on Glee, but then also not really like it at all.  Then the show started to really turn some weird directions and have some pretty rotten content and contrived drama (I know, right?  On a TV show??  The very idea), and some of the characters/actors were truly quite revolting, and some of the storylines were so absurd and pointless, but for some reason I couldn't quite pinpoint I just kept watching, and from the buzz on the interwebs, I'm not the only one who was sucked in and just had to keep love-to-hate-watching it.  But word is that there are a lot of changes being made for Season 2, including some of the main higher-ups/writers/producers/etc. and it's supposed to be much better.  I'm not sure that I'm actually expecting much improvement, but you never know, and nowadays there's ever so little worth watching on TV anyway that I might as well hope it turns out okay, right?

ANYWAY, the point of this whole post is that Season 2 starts today (mid-season shows, I don't know), and that has prompted me to finally post something I've been meaning to for many months, and it is THIS:
Yes, that.  It took me by complete surprise when it was happening.  It's the best thing that ever happened to the show, and ever since that episode I kind of couldn't get this song out of my head.  And now that it's on my iPod, I can sing along to it any time I feel the need (right, Wife??  You know you love it... I mean, right??).  A lot of it is references to the characters and what's going on at the time, but I think it's still enjoyable even if you haven't been following the show.  I'm not even HUGE into Bollywood, but I DO love a good flashy musical number.  (And never mind that people were complaining that it's an Indian number named after an Arabian story.  Who cares?)

So I guess I'll keep casually watching to see what happens, especially since there are a couple new cast members that look promising, even though they're writing out one of the only truly (relatively) decent characters, who, as it happens, is prominently featured in the video above.  I still think KPhee is watchable, and most of the music is pretty good.  But mostly the original music.  The covers are meh.

Did I really just blog about SMASH?  I guess I did.  Mostly I really did want to post this video when its episode aired, and just wanted to have this link ready whenever I needed to refer to it, I guess.  Ha.  *facepalm*

UPDATE:  Yes, erm, I may or may not have listened to this like ten times today (so far...) in the course of writing this post...  Oh me.

Various Springtime Weekend Goings-On

There have been goings-on going on for the last few weekends since my birthday, so I think I'll just do a little bullet list of them.  Here goes!

•  The morning after our epic night of Hunger Games I ran the annual stake 5K (Julie opted out of this one this year).  It's a fairly nice course, and there was a much higher attendance than last year.  This also means that I didn't place quite as high as last year, but I was still in the top 10 (6th place overall, 21:14, after adding a little to make it a full 5K).  They even had age groups, the "Senior" division breaking off at age 40, much to the delight (and probably request) of the stake presidency and such.  There were a lot of runners from the ward, which was fun.

Me after the run.

How I really felt after the run (we stayed up too late the night before).

•  Later that day we went to see Beauty and the Beast at Capitol Theatre.  Now, I have seen this show twice (thrice?  I can't remember now!) already, but every time it comes through town I wonder, do I need to see it again?  Then I remember Be Our Guest, and decide, yes, yes I do.  It was an interesting little quest to find tickets, since of course I procrastinated and there weren't any decent seats left, and if they were, they were single, not to mention outrageously expensive.  Thanks to a fellow who posted an ad on KSL, I was able to score a couple of tickets in amazing seats for an amazing deal.  It even included free parking and bottled water!  We dressed up, ate delicious things at Olive Garden, and sat right there on the Orchestra level, probably 10 rows back from the stage.

As for the show itself, um...  So apparently, as it's been running for some fifteen years, they decided it was time to update the production, or, as they call it, "streamline," I guess.  I was interested to see what this would mean, and after seeing the new show, as far as I can tell, that basically translates to cutting some songs, making the rest of the songs REALLY fast, adding and expanding some scenes (complete with deep, psychological, sort of out of place dialogue) and therapy between Belle and Maurice or the Beast, scaling back the sets and costumes and cast significantly, and adding a few puppets in place of previously cooler special effects.  We were assured by the souvenir stand girl that we wouldn't be disappointed, but secretly we were a little.  It was still fun, and Be Our Guest was still cool, we just wanted, and were expecting, a little more spectacle.  But it was great to go out anyway!  I'm glad I was diligent and was able to find such an awesome deal on tickets and surprise mine wife with them.  (She wanted to go so very much this time.)

I'm pretty sure our seats were season ticket spots, and every seat had a long-stemmed rose placed upon it.

Soooo exciteeeed!

 •  The very next day was the ward choir Easter program.  Now, a couple weeks earlier I had received word that our program, originally scheduled for two weeks AFTER the actual holiday (to resolve conflicts of General Conference and Fast Sunday), was going to be moved to two weeks BEFORE Easter.  O.O  Apparently they were informed that it's preferable to have the program before Easter Sunday if it's not possible to have it ON Easter Sunday.  Anyway, I rallied my choir and they were able to pull together and really great program, the highlight of which was this, which I have wanted to do with a ward choir for lo, these many years:

(I realize I also posted this video in the link above, since we apparently sang it last year before I was director.  Eh, the ward changes so much and so quickly I doubt anyone realized it, or if they did, I doubt they minded.)  It was probably my final hurrah as ward choir director, and it was great to leave on such a positive note.  This ward has always had pretty great talent, and (when I was able to corral them up for rehearsal, which was at times quite a task), they could do some incredible things.  That Christmas program is one of my very favorite ward choir director experiences ever.

•  The weekend following was General Conference.  We decided to go up and try to get tickets for the Saturday afternoon session, which of course we were able to, and then for the Priesthood Session I did my usual bit of translating.  President Uchtdorf stayed on his script mostly, but even when he jumped around I was able to keep up with him more or less.  And no aviation vocabulary to try to wrangle!  *Phew.*  On Sunday we were able to enjoy both sessions in their entirety in our jammies in our living room, just as it was always meant to be (ha ha), and then we spent several more hours on the couch rewatching Pride & Prejudice, which of course is fantastic.

At some point on Sunday, this little event took place:

•  Then the next week this happened, which was delightful:

... then we went running in it, which was a little less delightful.

•  Then we had Easter, which was also delightful.  We all had a delicious dinner at Cami's house and Julie made a cake for dessert, which doubled as Cami's birthday cake, which made sense since Easter doubled as Cami's birthday.

It was incredible, and a huge hit, but somehow we also ended up with leftovers, about which we were certainly weren't complaining.

•  Last weekend we took a little weekend jaunt to Park City.  Here's the story:  Last fall there was a Living Social deal that offered a night at a Park City resort for a great rate, with a few little perks thrown in, so I bought a couple of nights, sure we would be able to use it for a little getaway sometime the next winter or spring.  Well, imagine my surpreeze when a few months ago I realized that they expired in an incredibly hasty fashion, so here I was thinking I had just wasted a nice couple hundred dollars, which vexed me greatly.  I tell you, I put on my squeaky wheels, and was definitely rewarded with some appropriately applied grease.  They let me know that I couldn't get exactly the same deal, but I could use the vouchers for a couple of nights in the future, up to the amount I paid for them, and then pay the difference for a stay at the place, which of course varies based on the time of year.  We estimated after Easter and General Conference we would be ready for another weekend away, and it worked out pretty well.

So on Friday night, after dinner at a favorite Mexican place in Midway, which features a most beloved salsa bar, we head up to the Park City Peaks Hotel, which was fairly nice (though not as nice as where we stayed for our last Park City/Midway getaway).  But we had a great time relaxing and staying cozy while the occasional snowstorm swirled outside our window.  We went to a couple of movies (The Hunger Games again--still awesome, and Wrath of the Titans--at the request of The Wife), watched The Aviator in our room, enjoyed a discount at the (so-so) on-location restaurant, took advantage of the indoor/outdoor hot tub/pool (outdoor hot tubbing while the snow gently falls FTW), did some fun shopping, including the discovery of a new and exciting store to us, World Market.  We didn't take many pictures, as it turns out, but we did have a great and relaxing time, and it was fun to stay somewhere new and actually understand the geography of downtown and local Park City a little better.  It seems like until now I had mostly just gone out of the way into the outlets part of town.

•  Just a few days ago, we participated in another stake 5K, this time at the old home stake with Mom and Dad.  It was a pretty good turnout, and there were runners of all ages.  I started out pretty strong, then still managed to pass one or two more people to finish 2nd overall (20:34), and was rewarded a ribbon and a watermelon for my efforts.  Right on!  Great prize.  Julie and Mom and Dad all did really well too!  It was a pretty good course through the old neighborhood, though those last couple of laps over grass around the elementary school soccer field were pretty brutal.  Give me pavement or give me death!  Okay, not death, but still, I prefer to run on pavement.

Then last Sunday, just because it's fresh in my mind, the men of the ward choir put together a nice ensemble of Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy, and the The Wife and I enjoyed a nice picnic in the warming weather with some friends.

And that's about it!  Some fun weekend happenings.  Stay tuned for bewildering, bothersome news, followed by exciting, excellent news.

Still Cool

(I promise my 10Ks post is forthcoming, but here's another quick post to further make up for having written none last month.)

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the masterpiece that is West Side Story.  Anyone who knows me knows that this (winner of ten 1961 Academy Awards) is one of my very very favorite movies, definitely in my top 10 (it's hard to line them up exactly, but I have a pretty clear top 10 at least), and I listen to the soundtrack on a pretty regular basis, and try to get around to watching it at least once every year.  Recently I learned that in honor of this landmark anniversary, NCM Fathom and Turner Classic Movies were bringing it to Cinemark theaters for one night only.  Some of you may know that we have taken to attending several of these Fathom events in the last year or so, including the 25th anniversary concert productions of both Les Misérables (AWEsome) and The Phantom of the Opera (mostly awesome) broadcast from London, and of course the three-week event of The Lord of the Rings, so when I heard about this one, I thought I really just better go for it or I might regret it forevermore.  Sure it's a little pricy for a movie, especially one that I've seen many times and the special edition DVD boxed-set of which I have sitting right there on the shelf, but I mean, the chance for me, having been born in this generation and all, to see West Side Story on the big screen?  I couldn't pass that up!

So my lovely wife supported me in this and we went to see it and it was just resplendent.  There was a short feature at the beginning where they interviewed a few of the cast and crew, which was pretty interesting, but the real excitement started with that whistled theme introducing the Overture.  It looked so big and beautiful on the movie screen, and I loved every second.  The story is of course wonderful, I mean, it IS basically Shakespeare, and my word, what a score.  (I have many times called it one of the best scores ever written, and I stand by it.  You disagree?  I refuse to allow it!  Ha ha.  But seriously.)  I won't go into a lot of detail, because most everyone has already seen this movie, though if you haven't, you really and truly must.  MUST!  Look, I know they're singing juvenile delinquents and their fighting is heavily (and brilliantly) choreographed, but that is the beauty of it.  Own it, accept it, enjoy it, relish it.  Oh yes, it is relish-worthy.  It does make me very emotional, but in kind of surprising parts.  I don't usually cry at the end (thanks to Cami's a-little-too-accurate impersonation of Maria's brilliant final monologue), though that part does make me sad, but for some reason I find parts like America and Cool really moving.  It's just so good it makes me want to cry.  I mean, just look!--





That's it then, just a brief report that we saw this great movie all big and loud last night and it was wonderful and I never ever ever get tired of it, and it really is one of the best movies ever made.  I was thinking last night of just skipping it, but I'm really glad we went.  No matter how many times I watch it, I still always hope that Tony will be able to stop the rumble or that Anita will somehow get that message through or that Doc won't tell Tony or that Chino won't be waiting there in the shadows and that things will turn out differently, but they never ever do.  *sigh*

Of course two teenagers can fall truly and honestly in love in a matter of moments!  Why not, right?  Poor kids.

So basically you should all watch it again.  :D

La Caille, Little America and Lion King

After spending a couple months in England we had grown so accustomed to weekend excursions, so when we came home, probably in an attempt to acclimate ourselves to regular life, we've had a couple of fun outings.  First, after the Beat Beethoven 5K, we had an afternoon visit to Park City where we did a little shopping and a little buying and tried some famous shakes from the legendary Granny's Drive-In in Heber.

It was nice, but the big plans happened the next weekend.

Three semi-unrelated short stories:

• We went to a bridal show at the ultra-deluxe La Caille last summer, and they gave us a gift certificate good for $50 toward dinner on a future visit.  We put it off all winter and spring and said we would use it for an anniversary outing of some sort in the summer or fall.
• The day we were married we stayed at Salt Lake City's Little America Hotel, and enjoyed the honeymoon package of chocolate-dipped strawberries, bubbly and a souvenir key engraved with our names and our wedding date.  Of course, as we flew to California early the next morning, we didn't have long to enjoy the amenities, atmosphere or area of the hotel, so we thought we should come back at a later date to spend a little more time and explore.
• When I heard The Lion King was coming to Salt Lake City I decided it was time to finally see it, having read about it and seen pictures from it and listened to the recording a thousand times, so in the spring I bought two tickets for several months later (of course you have to buy tickets six months in advance...  but at least then when the time comes to see it you don't have to put up much cash).  Though Julie suspected that I had bought tickets, I didn't actually break the news until mid-August as an anniversary surprise.  She was really tipped off when I wasn't insisting that we see it in London, where it was heavily advertised.

Of course, we were in England for our actual anniversary, and we did have a really wonderful time in Windermere, but now we had all these other plans, some of which had practically already been paid for!  So we decided to celebrate our first anniversary again, locally this time.  Luckily the tickets I bought happened to be just days after we came back to town, but imagine our surprise when we learned the gift certificate had expired at the end of July!  I called and explained that we were out of the country but were really looking forward to visiting their ever so fine restaurant, and the fellow on the phone told me if we made a reservation for a day within the week he would approve our use of the almost two-months expired coupon (now THAT is customer service, and a good thing too, because we would have just gone elsewhere otherwise).  Everything was falling into place, and we even had a discounted rate for our two nights in Little America.

On Friday then, we packed up a honeymoon basket of treats and bubbly and headed up to La Caille in Sandy.  The help was distractingly scantily-clad, but the atmosphere was luxe and interesting and the food was delicious, though obviously a little overpriced.  (As I said, without such a hefty coupon, we both agreed we probably wouldn't have gone).  We felt like it was a little too fancy a place to take photos, but if you do get a chance to go there for whatever reason, even for an event or a bridal show, it really is a charming location.  We went to the hotel, and this time took advantage of the flat-screen TV, the balcony with north view and the indoor/outdoor pool.

On Saturday, after a little detective work, we bought lunch at our well-loved traveling Chinese restaurant, The Chow Truck, then did some shopping (Gateway, Sam's Club, and the infamous NPS), took an afternoon swim in the ground-level outdoor pool and then had another dinner at Meditrina, a small tapas restaurant on West Temple (again, with a coupon--we know how to eat out).  It was also quite delicious (though again, a little expensive), and good to eat tapas style and finally understand the joke in The IT Crowd about it.

Then it was time for our evening at the theatre!  After all these years, it was nice to finally be in the audience in front of The Lion King, but I'm afraid to say I wasn't blown away like I thought I would be.  (Mini-review:  It's a fantastic movie, and it fits together so nicely, but on stage it seems a little overwhelmed by its creativity and artistry and comes across as a little pretentious, like one Julie Taymor was showing off her puppetry/mixed-media expertise and aesthetic the whole time, while seemingly ignoring the sets and backgrounds.  The music seemed a little more disjointed in style, going from lush Hans Zimmer orchestrations to funky Lebo M African chants to ultra-pop/rock Elton John a little abruptly at times.)  I did like it, and was quite amazed with the opening of "Circle of Life," I just didn't love it like I thought I would.  It wasn't magical in the way some of the other Disney stage ventures have been.  The African vibe just isn't my thing, I guess.  We suspected it might have been a little more impressive in a larger, more permanent venue, like in New York or in London, where they would have the scope to really spread out and get the idea of the expanse of the setting.  Anyway, it was good to be in the theater again, and I am glad to check The Lion King off my list.

 

One more night in our lovely hotel room, and the next morning we were back home.

 Look!  It's Big Ben!  Sort of.

 So there are a couple of our weekend excursions.  The weekends since and in the future include a lot of wedding receptions, General Conference and who knows, maybe even grabbing a redbox and a carton of ice cream and staying in.

Ye Olde Englande, Week 7: A Lot of Last-Week Sight-Seeing

We were amazed at the start of last week to realize that we were down to single-digit numbers of days before we left London for home.  Time has been going fast, but we're making the most of our time here.  Julie has done a wonderful job of summarizing all of the events of this past week, but I'm going to share one highlight here, which incidentally revolves again around the theatre.

As much as I love musical theater, there are a lot of sort of standard shows that I still just haven't seen for whatever reason.  Sometimes it's just because, while I really like the show and/or the music, it's just sort of trendy at the time, and I'm not willing to stand in line for hours or pay hundreds of dollars or travel thousands of miles just to see it.  So, when I discovered Wicked was playing here, I figured it would be the perfect time to see it in a permanent venue (as opposed to a touring production), and probably at much less cost and time commitment than if it were to come back through Salt Lake City.  I found a really good deal on tickets online for a day that was perfect, and took great comfort in knowing that, rain or shine, the show would go on.  Sure enough, it was raining as we walked into the beautifully-decorated and green-lit lobby of the Apollo Victoria Theatre.

Though I have long loved the music and the Oz origin story concept, I was fully prepared to find Wicked satisfactory at best, as most contemporary shows are a lot of hype and, ultimately, fluff.  Well, Wicked was a little fluffy in parts, but I also found it thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish!  Julie, who isn't quite as into any and all musicals as I am, endured this very poppy, perky musical like a champ, and we agreed that its spectacle and flash of effects and design make Phantom and Les Mis look even more dated than we had already determined.  I'm not going to gush ad nauseam about the show, but I will say the following:

•  The cast was excellent, and I think Rachel Tucker should have been the featured actress for Elphaba on the recording.  She had me asking myself, "Idina who now?"  (Fiyero struggled in parts and his voice even cracked in the love duet.  Wups.)



•  For some reason seeing it with an English cast made it seem a little more authentic.

•  The orchestra and chorus were spot-on (and much more in tune than on the recording).

•  The expected and oft-hyped effects delivered, and the unexpected effects were great illusions.  I liked the dragon puppetry and Glinda traveling by bubble.

But the funniest part about the whole affair was the process of getting the tickets.  So I bought them online, like I said, but due to a few negative reviews about the ticket company, I was a little anxious we would have legit tickets, so I was already a little on edge as we approached the booth in Piccadilly Circus to retrieve them.  It should also be stated that I forgot to take note of my booking reference number beforehand, but I had ID aplenty.  We walked up to the desk and the ever-not-so-cheerful girl behind the desk (who we had encountered before in looking for tickets to other shows) was her usual irritated self.  She asked for my reference number, I explained I didn't have it, and then she asked for my ID.  What followed was a series of her snottily asking me for further forms of ID (just showing it would never do, I had to take it out of my wallet and hand it to her), and signing a receipt confirming that I had picked up the tickets.  She compared my signature to my two or three forms of ID in hand, then asked me to sign again (and compared again).  She asked if I had another form of ID with that signature on it, and I showed her that I have my old BYU student ID, even my bloomin' Social Security Card (which has an even older signature).  I mean, I could even have shown her my temple recommend if that would have satisfied her!  I told her I don't know what else I could show her, I have four or five or six forms of ID here and I'm obviously me, and my signature is what it is, and really, who signs their name the same way every single time??  Also, I think my signature is actually pretty consistent.  When I showed the slightest bit of resistance she finally relented and gave us the tickets, citing as her reasoning for such intense scrutiny the fact that I might have a twin who is trying to pick up the tickets.



...



Yes, really.

So, (as Julie said) just in case my Wicked-loving evil twin happened to be trying to swipe my tickets before I had a chance to collect them, she was being especially picky about verifying my identity.  I guess I should thank her.  Like she said, if evil-Drew were to beat me to picking up the tickets, I might have been quite upset and she would have been "the first to hear about it."  Though really, if I did have a twin, I think it would be rather convenient to be able to send him ahead with my wallet to pick things up for me.  If only.

So the tickets were fine, and the view was awesome, and the show was great.

The wicked.  Evidently no one mourns them.

Ye Olde Englande, Week 6: A Lot of "Agony"

Time yet again for my weekly installment.  Last week was cloudy and grey nearly every day, which will prove to be significant in the details that follow.  It's a long story, but I think it's funny (in its way), so here goes!

Ever since we lived near Regent's Park, I had been really excited to see Into the Woods at Open Air Theatre.  It's been one of my favorite shows for a good many years, and it seemed like an outdoor venue would be the perfect environment for it.  When it finally started playing toward the beginning of August, I found tickets for a night that worked for us and looked forward to a nice evening in the evening cool of the out-of-doors.  Imagine, then, my dismay when, as we exited the tube station and hurried through Regent's Park, it began to rain.  Imagine further, then, my increasing despair when the rain didn't seem to be letting up, and the show was canceled before it had even begun!  The days are getting fewer and fewer, so it was unfortunate that an evening's plans were ruined by the rain which I usually love so well.  Luckily, the theatre has a wonderful weather cancellation policy, and offered tickets to all interested patrons to return another night.

I really loved how they actually were IN the woods, and how the stage was dirt and leaves.

A couple days later, we had a new pair of tickets for the following Tuesday night.  The skies looked clear and cloudless all that day, and we were in our seats with time to spare.  Then, just as the intermission started, light rain began to fall.  Then, as the second act started, heavier rain began to fall.  Then, just as the princes were finishing their reprise of "Agony," an announcer asked the actors to leave the stage, and informed the audience that the show would be placed on hold to see if the weather would let up.  Then, as the audience were filing into the covered dining/bar area, pouring rain started to fall, and we again heard that dreaded announcement of cancellation, again with the option of obtaining return tickets.  This was starting to get a little ridiculous, and those who know me know how I hate to quit watching something halfway through, so I thought about what evenings we had open for the rest of them week and picked one for our return to see the final episode.

Two days later, I was checking forecasts on three different websites, praying I had made the right choice for the night of our return.  Imagine, then, my amazement when, as we exited the tube station again and hurried through Regent's Park again, it began to rain, again!  This time we were arriving considerably later, hoping to just catch the second half.  The park was closed, but we were allowed in, only to find the box office had also closed when the show started.  We decided to wait it out at the entrance until intermission (we could hear Act I coming to a close from within), but a police officer recommended we try to enter through the back way, since the front gates would be closed for the remainder of the evening.  We couldn't seem to find the "back way," but we did find the emergency exit, blocked though it was.  A very nice usher, who might at first have thought I was some kind of transient or madman, or both, heard me out, had a momentary struggle about finding his manager and seeing about the closed box office, then finally just decided to let us on it, with instructions we just be discreet about where we sat, and also with a warning that they expected heavy rain showers to start halfway through the second act.  We figured we might as well give it a try, so we stuck around, and even had better seats this time around.  When "Agony (Reprise)" began, I looked skyward, and sure enough, the rain had begun to fall.  Some of the audience put up their umbrellas and Julie put on her coat, and amazingly, fittingly, while the rain continued throughout the entire second half, it never fell harder than a steady drizzle.  The show was wonderful, the cast was mostly good, the costumes and staging were inventive, and of course the music was excellent.  Success at last!  And in phases!

I guess it's part of the experience to see so much true London rain.  Much thanks to my patient wife for putting up with my persistence (read: obsessiveness) in seeing the show, and much thanks also to unnamed usher for your assistance.

(As ever, check out Julie's blog for other exciting events from last week as our return home fast approaches!)

Ye Olde Englande, Week 4: A Lot of Revolutionaries

This was a busy and interesting week!  A couple highlights include the following:

As The Wife had never before seen Les Miserables, we were determined to see it at some point during our trip, especially considering it's currently celebrating its 25th year in production.  We found a pretty good deal on tickets, and enjoyed our balcony view of (almost) the entire stage.  The cool thing about seeing shows in London, as opposed to a touring cast, is that you a lot of times will see names and faces you recognize from other cast recordings (I recognized Valjean as the original Chris from Miss Saigon and Javert as the original King Triton from The Little Mermaid as well as a couple other shows).  We both enjoyed it, but I think we both decided that it has its flaws.   It's a little bit too much information and so many characters squeezed into three hours, which leads to less character/relationship development, especially in the second half.  It also seems like if you've seen Les Mis once, you've seen it a hundred times--it's exactly how you picture it every time, and no matter where, you see it.  Still, it has some very good music, and I still felt chills all over during the finale of Act II.  It was also great to catch some local pho at the Vietnamese restaurant across the street.

"One." (as in "Day More")

We also had a great time over the weekend exploring Westminster Abbey (Poets' Corner!) and Oxford.  We have also moved into another (our fourth and last) dwelling place.  It's so deluxe!  It's spacious enough to be comfortable, but small enough that we can get around and find what we need when we're on the go.  And the internet connection is glorious, fast and consistent!  It's very convenient for my work situation.

 Dinner in our new place!

 

John Locke!  In the Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford!

At the Bridge of Sighs.  Get it?  I kiss her and she sighs.

As ever, see Julie's blog for more details and facebook for plenty of pictures.

More fun things planned for our final weeks!  Stay tuned!

Ye Olde Englande, Week 3: A Lot of Landmarks

Another weekend has already come and gone!  It's crazy to think we've been here for almost three weeks.  This last week was full of adventures and crazy weather, but The Wife of course is working on documenting it all at her blog.  As for me, I have just a couple of highlights I would like to mention here.  The first took place Monday last.

Some people believe that love dies.  Some people believe it never dies.  Sometimes I think that in some cases, it should.  Take, for example, Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest foray into musical theatre, the ill-conceived "standalone" sequel to (love it or hate it) the undeniably ultra-popular The Phantom of the Opera.  Of course, I have listened to the soundtrack for Love Never Dies many times, and had formulated the opinion that it has a few really nice songs and a severely ridiculous story (CliffsNotes version:  Ten years later, Phantom has taken up residence in Coney Island and runs a freakshow/burlesque house/opera stage, is still in love with Christine, tricks her into coming to sing an "aria" he has written, she brings along her now scoundrel husband Raoul and her musically gifted ten-year-old son Gustave, Meg is now a hoochie dancer/who-knows-what-else, not to mention in love with the Phantom, who is suddenly incredibly alluring and in no way threatening, all is unveiled and heaving drama ensues), so some people have wondered why I would put down the required pounds to see this programme.  The answer is manifold.   Julie and I had been talking about the few positives and many negatives to this whole Phantom 2 thing for several months, sure we would never have a chance to see it whether we wanted to or not.  When Julie told me she had been picked to come to London, she broke the news by saying we should go see Love Never Dies... IN LONDON!!!1  So, since we're here, and since it's new, and since it's still featuring the original cast, and since we managed to find discounted tickets, we were glad to see it.  Bottom line:  The story was expectedly ridiculous (some of the characters suffer harshly, particularly Raoul and Meg, all in the name of making the Phantom suddenly and inexplicably appealing), but some of the music was actually rather breath-taking, owing in great part to the actually rather exquisite cast (we both agreed we would love to see this cast in the original, in which evidently they have all played).  The Phantom and Christine's respective solo numbers were particularly jaw-dropping.  Sierra Boggess FTW!  The Wife has posted some videos of their performances of the pieces we loved on her blog, so you should look there to watch them too.

Second, we took a day trip last Saturday to three landmarks.  Under the able guidance of tour guide Celia, we visited Windsor Castle in the morning, which was ornate and elegant.

After a short lunch at a small English restaurant, we visited the one and only Stonehenge!  It was mysterious and a little bit spooky.  It's just so old and there are so many unanswered questions around it.  There's no real way to know its purpose, but it's fun to speculate, and in fact while there I had a sort of epiphany.  All I can say is that God has had temples of some kind in every age and with every civilization.

Finally, we ended up in the charming town of Bath (or, "Bahth"), where we took a tour of the Roman Baths museum, complete with armored Roman Soldier host, had hot chocolate and Bath Buns, visited the Pump Room and even tried the bath water (it was warm and a little metallic).

It was a whirlwind tour of sightseeing, but it was great for the price.  It was hard to choose, but Stonehenge was my favorite.  It just appeared, and there it was.

So there you have it!  From the ridiculous to the sublime.  This week is going to be busy with work projects and one more move, but we are looking forward to the events that are to come.  I enjoy running through Regent's Park every morning, past the London Zoo where I'm almost sure to see some sort of wild animals in their pens, or perhaps where I may be interviewed by a camera crew about my running shoes.  Always something unexpected around here.

Dr. Horrible

It's about time I said something about this.


Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a short film made by Joss Whedon (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Serenity fame) and starring Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible, a wannabe supervillain (alter-ego non-descriptly known as 'Billy') with his heart set on taking over the world and proving himself a super villain, while at the same time getting Penny (Felicia Day), the cute girl at the laundromat, to notice him. Things turn messy when Dr. Horrible's plans are foiled by the egotistical "superhero", Captain Hammer and all attempts at villainish nobility by Dr. Horrible are thrown out the window! Traditional superhero roles are reversed and drama (nay, even angst) ensues! I won't give everything away, but if you haven't seen this, check it out. I'm not too terribly fond of the Buffy writing/story style, but something about Dr. Horrible connects with me, and I'm always glad to see people putting out musicals, even in this relatively small a scale, and especially through the medium of the ubiquitous internet. Note: There are a couple of PG moments, just so you know. Special thanks to Megan for introducing me to this gem.

My favorite line: "Four sweater vests!" You'll know what I mean when you see it in Act II.

The music is just so catchy.