So, I made it to London. I can never sleep on planes, so whenever I come to Europe, I inevitably lose a night's sleep on the flight over. But somehow, I've managed to stay awake for 48 hours straight, mostly thanks to some lovely Twinings Assam tea, and my charming and gracious host, the redoubtable Mr. Noel Howard, costumer to the stars.
Literally. Noel has been in the costuming biz for...well, longer than he'd probably like me to enumerate. He was just telling me how he recently did the costumes for the movie X-Men 3. I pumped him for information about taking Hugh Jackman's inseam measurement, but he remained discrete. Damn, those English folk and their exasperating propriety! He did, however, point out that we can see Mr. Jackman's bedroom from the window of Noel's office. I must say, I'm all a twitter.
Anyway, so I got here in London this morning at about 8AM, and once I got settled, I had vague notions of going to Leicester Square and getting half-price tickets to some West End matinee. Only to find out that West End shows are traditionally dark on Sunday. Quelle dommage. I did find out that there were a few isolated shows that have Sunday shows: Stomp, Blue Man Group, and The Lion King.
Seen it, seen it, seen it.
It's interesting that Lion King is the only major West End musical with a Sunday show. Basically, Disney realized that it wasn't going to get the blue-hair crowd at a Wednesday or Thursday matinee (the latter is far more common in London), and said "Screw it, we need the kids, and the kids are going to come on the weekends." Religious observances, custom, and tradition be damned.
So this afternoon, instead of seeing a show, I went to the National Gallery and the Courtauld Gallery to check out Seurat's "Bathers at Asnieres" and "Young Woman Powdering Herself" respectively, both of which feature prominently in Sunday in the Park with George, which I'm seeing Wednesday at the Wyndham. I love the thought of seeing this show in the city where some of Seurat's most important works reside. The only thing better would be a production at the Goodman Theater followed by a viewing of the actual "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" at the Art Institute of Chicago. But this comes in an extremely close second.
Stay tuned for reviews of Billy Elliot, Evita, Mary Poppins, and the aforementioned Sunday. I might also see something at a Thursday matinee. Maybe something I know is going to be gawd-awful, like The Woman in White or Whistle Down the Wind.
We'll see how the week goes.
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