I am currently enjoying three weeks off from work. I mean thoroughly enjoying them. I'm spending the days writing (it's National Novel Writing Month after all) and so far, even though I'm three chapters into the book, I haven't killed off any characters yet. This is a miracle to anyone who's read all my previous work. Still, that could change with subsequent rewrites...yes, another miracle to those who've read my previous work. I am going to rewrite sections of my book? But isn't that sacrilegious? Well, one has to conform to some degree--and also realise that perhaps one isn't such a big genius one can just churn out one perfect first draft after another.

Who am I kidding--of course I am that genius, just pulling your leg. ;-)

So The Sound of Music has opened to raving reviews (and they're raving in a very positive way), which is very nice. I saw one excerpt on last Friday's Children in Need and it looked like they may get it together soon. There was also an excerpt from Evita; luckily my favourite sequence from the show, because absolutely none of my favourites were present (they were probably at home, sleeping, because they're all so bloody old), so watching the excruciatingly ridiculous show for six hours paid off to a certain degree. Luckily my flatmate decided to join me this year as well, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. So we were sitting there, or rather lying there, commenting upon everything that happened on the screen. I don't know how they do it, honestly. I mean, they've been doing the charity show for 26 years (I think it is) and still haven't put together a good routine for the live transmission. And of course what they call "celebrities" are usually wannabe-celebs from so far down the wish list the hosts could as well have done all the stunts themselves. That would have been more entertaining. Or perhaps the programme is meant only for those who read the tabloids and watch the soaps? Still, some good music (the usual six bands who turn up for every UK charity event) and I finally got to see bits of both Avenue Q and Wicked, two of my favourite Broadway shows from recent years, based solely on their original recording albums.

Speaking of musicals...for a change...it has occured to me that I may have a thing for Javert (seriously, if you don't know who Javert is, there really is no point in your reading my blog). I discovered two of my favourites* when they performed as Javert, and then three of my other favourites** turn out to have played Javert at some point. So basically I should stay away from any performance or film of Les Misérables in the future, otherwise I'm sure the list will grow. :-)

We discovered a lovely Indian restaurant down the road from us last week. Very nice. Low prices. Good food. Fine atmosphere. And my flatmate was delighted to see it was possible to smoke at the table. We will most probably go back soon.

But right now I've had enough procrastination for one day, I think. I have a few characters to kill off before lunch, after all, so I'd better start writing. Need to be a good girl today, or I won't be allowed (by myself) to go to the cinema or play the newly released Neverwinter Nights 2 (woo-hoo, a whole new world for my beloved Timon Siger to play in).

*) (drum roll) Philip Quast and Michael McCarthy (shock)
**) Geoffrey Rush, Roger Allam, Tim Morgan

Labels: evita, food, gaming, geoffrey rush, holiday, Javert, Michael McCarthy, musicals, philip quast, roger allam, theatre, tim morgan, TV, writing

Seriously; if you're Norwegian and you actually listen to what the rubbish tabloid show Absolutt Underholdning tells you about this show, please bear in mind that 1) you must be a complete fool to begin with, and 2) they generally think Vin Diesel and Britney Spears are great fun, so they would not know anything about musicals, and 3) they haven't actually seen this show!

The Chess version that lands in Oslo this week is worth visiting just because of Michael McCarthy, so there.

Labels: Michael McCarthy, musicals

I haven't gone back to the bank since that fateful day, because...well, I don't know if I have enough patience for annoying people. I shall have to soon, though.

Last Friday (a week ago) we went to see "Second from Last in the Sack Race" which the Woodhouse Players were performing in Leytonstone (just a short busride away...well, not as short as we would like it to be, perhaps, especially not when scruffy-looking people smoking something with the distinct smell of "herbs" enter and try to poison the whole wagon). It was rather good and we quite enjoyed ourselves.

Then on Sunday I discovered that my favourite TV detective nowadays uses the exact same laptop that I have. They showed it for about a second, but I have a keen eye for detail (when I feel like it, ahem) and recognised it straight away. Of course, since I can't help myself and tape every episode (yeah, so arrest me), frame by frame search helped to confirm my suspicion. And for those who wonder what the hell I'm talking about, you clearly haven't read my blog closely these past few weeks. Click here.

(Skip this following paragraph if you don't know Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, as it contains a spoiler in the form of a song title) On Wednesday we had dinner at four while watching the Liam Neeson/Geoffrey Rush film version of Les Misérables before hurrying down to the tube station. By the time we arrived we realised we'd left home much too late and took the tube only halfway before hopping onto a cab. You see, thanks to Red Ken's "Everyone's London" campaign, we'd bought tickets to see Les Mis at a reduced price. My flatmate didn't know the story well enough (even though I've run it by her several times while forcing her to listen to one of the (many) recordings I have of the musical) so that's why we watched the film first. The cabbie laughed at us when we asked if he could get us to the theatre on time. As you may know, theatres are NOT like cinemas and tend to close their doors and actually start the show on time. I know, it's preposterous, isn't it! Anyway, the cabbie was a very nice man and wouldn't stop talking (which was fine by us), but we quickly understood there was no way in hell we'd arrive on time. Luckily we're Scandinavian-looking girls and were let in anyway, fifteen minutes into the performance. I would like to apologise to the person sitting next to me as I nearly fell over her when I sat down. Well, it's been a little over a year since I last saw the musical and the cast had unfortunately changed. Not that that was a really bad thing, since I actually discovered one of the best Valjeans I've heard (no wonder, John Owen-Jones knows how to sing, having performed in numerous musicals, including an enormous amount of performances as the Phantom) as well as Enjolras (Shaun Escoffery) and was quite impressed with the Javert-of-the-day (Jeff Nicholson). I am, as you may have realised by now, quite evil and despite the fact that I thought he did a very good job, I couldn't help but grin when he didn't receive any applause when singing "Javert's Suicide". Being an avid fan of a couple of other Javerts (Quast & McCarthy) I may be biased, but they always receive(d) much applause after this song. Of course, not applauding means I was part of a lousy audience. Well, at least they got a standing ovation at the end and they're celebrating their 20th anniversary tomorrow/today (the eighth). Fantastic!

Then someone provided me with tapes of a few TV programmes from back home, and gasp! Why didn't anyone tell me the King of Standup (and I don't care who you may prefer, for me there is only one) - Eddie Izzard - had appeared on a talk show there? Good thing I got to see it, so thank you.

And why on earth - I'm sure this is out of spite, because it's just unbelievable - why did they start showing Waking the Dead again in Norway; the series I still haven't seen; just a few weeks after I moved across the pond? That's just not fair. Meanwhile, we are eagerly, nay - desperately awaiting the rest of the series to be released on DVD, but the Beeb only released the first series last month, and there are another four to go before we're up to date. This'll take years!

Now I'm cross.

Current track: Philip Quast - Stars

Labels: comedy, geoffrey rush, Javert, Michael McCarthy, musicals, personal, philip quast, theatre, trevor eve, TV

I couldn't go any longer without telling you about the shows I saw while over there. Now, for me the point of going to London is more often than not to see a show or preferably several. The strategy is to cramp as many shows into as short a stay as possible. It's not that I don't like being in London itself, but after a short while I'm getting tired of having my nostrils blackened. *grins* I only managed three performances of two shows in the three days I was there, but they were incredibly good.

First off, Thursday's evening performance of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - this Sondheim musical has been a favourite of mine since I heard Nathan Lane was in the latest Broadway rendition of it; I didn't hear the music until last year, however, when I happened upon an imported recording in some shop in London. Comedy Tonight is a great intro to a great musical. This new London version, played at the National, was fabulous and when it finished (I can't really say "as the curtain went down", as there was no curtain) I was really sad because I wanted to see it again. A few seconds later I remembered I had a ticket for the Saturday matinée as well. Duh.

I was afraid I was going to be very biased when it came to Forum, as the only reason why I left for London this time (just like last time, ahem) was that I knew Philip Quast was appearing in it, as Miles Gloriosus. And appear he did indeed - being about 6'2 he certainly makes quite a visual impact on stage, especially when considering he was wearing a Roman soldier uniform (that means bare legs, people). That's why Saturday's performance was a let-down when his role was played by...uhmm...someone else (I'm terribly sorry, but I have no idea who he was; I was mainly angry with him for not singing one of the songs as good as I wanted him to - but I guess it's near impossible to top or even match Quast). Nevertheless, the play has got some very talented and experienced actors aboard. Vince Leigh is really convincing as the more or less ditsy Hero who has fallen in love with the stereotypical dumb blonde Philia (Caroline Sheen, with a hilarious, Welsh accent). His father is played by Sam Kelly (known to most TV viewers all over Europe for playing Hans Geering in the (brilliant) comedy show 'Allo 'allo for four series during the eighties) and his parents' slave Hysterium is played by Hamish McColl - if I could, I would have rolled around on the floor laughing, but taking the stiff upper lip stance all I could allow myself was a few heartily laughs and a lot of applauding to express my feelings. The Proteans are all (six of them) great to watch; they really did a lot of work and must be awfully fit by the end of the run. David Schneider (should be known to hardcore britcom fans) is a very witty Lycus (who, basically, is a pimp), and last but definitely not least, Desmond Barrit is a very entertaining Pseudolus, "slave to the son"; he has a lot of very funny lines that manage to bring the story forwards. Mind you, some of the "slip-ups" were rehearsed; I'm not very fond of that. If the actors fuck up it'd damn well be real. *winks and pardons her French* All in all, seeing the show a second time was worth it even though Quast wasn't in it, although he is in a league of his own compared to most people the rest of the ensemble when it comes to singing. I don't think I'm too biased on that point. But hey, it's more of a farce than a bona fide musical, so it works very well.

The other show I saw was Les Misérables - this is the musical that got me hooked on theatre (strangely enough), but I've never seen the stage version until now. I was very pleased to spot Michael McCarthy's name on the cast list for that evening, because I was fortunate enough to see him perform as Inspector Javert here a few years ago and that was a crucial show for my fascination with theatre (which is silly, coming to think of it, since it was the concert version). I bought his (two) albums and have listened to them a lot since then. I had no idea how good he was, though. I wanted to say "wow!" on several occasions during the performance, because if I'm not very mistaken he has definitely grown (if not physically, at least vocally) since I last heard him. Philip Quast has always been the ultimate Javert to me, but I must say McCarthy did his best to match that! I was very impressed - perhaps he's got to where his voice has finally matured, because some of his earlier work was a bit too "weak", his voice just wasn't powerful enough for some of the songs he sang. Just remember I'm a mere admirer and don't know anything but what I hear with my own ears (bit hard to hear through someone else's, really) (does anyone of you think of Robin Hood: Men in Tights right now?); I have said this before: I'm a rubbish critic because I generally like the shows I see. Or perhaps I've just got a good hunch when it comes to picking the right shows?

If anyone of you happens to find yourself in London between now and November 2, I'd definitely recommend visiting the Olivier in order to see Forum. I'd throw in Les Mis there, too, as you never know when they'll just stop the show (look at what happened to Cats).

Why "Free" as the post's title, you say? Because I had that song on my mind for six hours yesterday, all the way from the theatre to my flat. It was driving me mad. I didn't feel free at all!

Current track: David Bowie & Pet Shop Boys - Hallo Spaceboy

Labels: comedy, holiday, Javert, Michael McCarthy, musicals, name-dropping, philip quast, theatre