West End Girl

Alright. I haven't beaten Steph's record of 5 West End shows in 2 weeks. Instead, I have done 4 shows in 4 days. I reckon for sheer committment to the cause I am winning!

So - I saw 'Wicked' on Monday night and it was AWESOME!!! People, it was excellent. The scenery, the songs, the costumes, the set, Adam Garcia in white pants (West Wing fans - Kristen Chenoweth originated the good witch role on Broadway). It was fabulous. In a really girly way. It probably was for girls, but then I am a girl so I don't need to justify my enjoyment of it. It was so pretty! It was also nice to see a musical where I didn't know all the songs and wasn't tempted to burst out into a duet with the leading actress.

Tuesday I saw '39 Steps' which was a 1935 Hitchock film. It doesn't miss any of the film's scenes. It has 139 characters in it. The play had a cast of 4. One guy was the same character the whole way through. The girl played only 3 characters. The other two guys were very busy. And hilarious. It was a really funny play. It was made more amusing by the fact that it was a matinee and we were surrounded by children and grandparents. It only cost 12 pounds. Loving the student discount. We also went to an American theme pub for lunch (Cheers anyone?) which was funny in and of itself.

Wednesday I went and saw 'Little Shop of Horrors' which was FANTASTIC and one of the girls in the 'Greek Chorus' looked EXACTLY like Suza. They even had the same mannerisms which freaked me out slightly. It was really funny though - and the songs do what musical songs do - make you want to sing along and stay with you afterwards. The puppet plant was pretty intense as well. It was also made more amusing by the fact that I went to it with Fleur and Wayne. Fleur is a dentist. I don't know how many of you are familiar with the plot of 'Little Shop' but while the concept of sadistic dentists is funny, watching a dentist watch a sadistic dentist is even funnier!

Billy Elliott today. The little kid was amazing. As was the giant puppet of Margaret Thatcher. Didn't like the songs much (apologies to Elton John who wrote the score). I didn't like it as much as the movie and the theatre seats were built for people under 5 foot tall. I don't know - people seemed to love it. maybe I am OD'ing on theatre (unlikley) or it just didn't resonate with me. Except the Maggie T puppet.

In addition, today I did the Lords tour - and you could see how much the ground sloped!! It was nuts. It's like 2m different from one end to the other. We also stood in the away team dressing room. It was teeny tiny, with no showers and only one small TV. The balcony was lovely. Apparently, if players want to have a shower they have to run the gauntlet of spectators etc. It's even worse for the English players. In general though, the ground is very sweet and quite English. Except the new media tower, which I liked but many don't. I also saw the Urn which was smaller than I thought it would be. I now know heaps about cricket and resisted the urge to buy a paperweight with part of the Lords outfield inside it.

On Tuesday night I went with Fleur, Maree, Gemme, Jaye and Fiona to Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant. It was excellent food, we drank some nice wine and some good bubbly. I paid for it with my V-train rebate. All in all, a very nice, casual night with good food and good company. The cheesecake was divine. So was the Cod.

Tonight I went and looked at another flat. I think the search is going okay. The flat tonight was really cute. Small bedroom - but I am beginning to expect this of London.

Anyway, next week I want to see 'Sound of Music', 'Les Mis', 'Mary Poppins', 'The Lion King' and 'Spamalot'. Or maybe I will space them out a little more. I'm here for a while yet.

Wayne and Ben rock!