You guys are never going to believe what we wandered upon in Leceister Square this Thanksgiving weekend! A Movie Premier! Brendan Wischweh was visiting from Leceister, where he is studying abroad as an exchange student and we were just casually walking and they were setting up lights and stuff, and me, being the theatre tech geek, had to stop and ask what was going on there. We found out it was going to be the Premier of Happy Feet the movie, so we came back as it was starting and we got to see a bunch of celebs, and we got pretty close with a few slick maneuvers and a nice zoom on the digital camera. Check it out!

First to arrive was Nicole Kidman who does a voice for one of the penguins in the movie.

Then Robin Williams showed up to a bunch of middle-aged women screaming.

Then Elijah Wood showed up and I started screaming.

Then the tiniest of all, Brittney Murphy showed up.

Other folks were there from the director and a few other musicians and minor celebs, but these were the best pictures and the biggest names. I hope you are as excited as I was. Just think this is what can happen when you are just running around this amazing city!

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Happy Thanksgiving!
So, The Lion King was pretty good. It would be an excellent show to take kids to.
I saw Avenue Q on Friday. It was hilarious! I absolutely loved it! We only paid £20 and we had awesome seats. We were dead center on the main floor and just far enough back that we could see the whole stage without turning our heads…perfect!

Wednesday we toured the Inns of Court. It was pretty cool. There were lots of beautiful buildings and architecture. We got to sit in on a couple of cases that were going on. The cases themselves were pretty boring, but it was cool to see the barristers and judges wearing wigs and capes.
Wednesday night we saw Drunk Enough To Say I Love You? It’s a brand new piece by Caryl Churchill. It was interesting…only 45 minutes long…which was good because I don’t think I could have sat through much more of it! I think the two actors were supposed to represent America and Britain and their relationship with regards to the war…but I’m really not sure…
Yesterday…turkey day…I saw Chicago! It’s hilarious to see what the film industry has done to some of these shows. I was sitting next to an older couple from Canada and during the break they were talking about how much they liked the show and the actors and the guys says, “I really like the girl that’s playing Renee Zellweger.” He was totally serious too! It took all my strength to not start laughing! The show itself was pretty good to, although I was a little dissapointed by some of the choreography…and Velma wasn’t a very good singer…but besides that it was pretty good.
Cheers!
Macia

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Forgot to mention in my last post that we saw a show at the Old Vic with Kevin Spacey in it and we got to meet him after the show and I have his autograph in my program. He was very nice, but would not allow photos. Sorry to disappoint guys. The show, A Moon for the Misbegotten, was amazing as well, and the leading lady is a very well known British actress, Eve Best, that has won several awards. I got her autograph as well.

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My parents came to London to visit me and we had an amazing time. We traveled all over the city and did some amazing things that even I had never done before. We saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, which was pretty cool with the Queen’s Guard Band and all of the Guards dressed in their Bear fur hats. We also took a ride on the London Eye, and saw the whole city of London. We also took a night time river cruise on the Thames and saw the city at night, which is really beautifully lit.

They attended some theatre tours with my theatre classes to The Restored Shakespeare’s Globe and The Royal National Theatre, which was very interesting. We also saw Wicked while they were visiting, which is a spectacular production, even though Idina Menzel had to duck out halfway through the performance because she was not feeling well. Her understudy did an amazing job, and she will be taking over when Idina goes back to New York in January.
We also toured the Tower of London, and Kensington Palace and took a trip out to Hampton Court Palace on the train to see a few more historical royal palaces. The gardens were still beautiful in November! I can’t believe it.
After a week of playing tour guide with my parents, my sister and two of my aunts came to London for a visit on the same day my parents were to leave and the adventures started all over again. Same stuff with slightly different theatre.
Instead of seeing the changing of the guard we were able to see the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Centograph which the Queen and the entire Royal family attended as well as over 1.5 million retired service men and women from the armed forced and police services. It was a very Long, but impressive service, and we were only a few meters away from the Queen!

We also saw productions of The Lion King and Phantom of the Opera while they were here, both from amazing seats on the floor. Both shows were good, but I had previously seen them here or in New York, but it was still nice to be able to go out and enjoy myself with my family.
And what girls week would be complete without tons of shopping? We hit Covent Garden Market, Camden Market, Picidilly Circus, Leicester Square and the Strand. I have never seen so much shopping going on that they had to bring extra luggage home. Well they also took some of my shopping home, but it was a lot of fun.
It was relly great to see my family and it will make this last month in london a little easier, but I am still looking forward to going home for Chirstmas and seeing the rest of my family, especially with a new baby on the way in the family any day now.

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I was determined to post on here once a week. I guess I lose…because I’ve not updated anywhere near that often! Life is just crazy over here!
Since last time…

We took a trip to Oxford and Bleinheim Palace. Oxford is gorgeous. I’m now thinking about going to Oxford University to get my masters…we’ll see. Bleinheim Palace is still a private residence, but there are parts open to the public. It is the home of Winston Churchill’s family. The palace was cool, but the gardens were amazing! They still had roses in November and they had a secret garden that was really cool.

I saw The Alchemist at The National Theatre. The set was really cool and the acting was really good, but it was really hard to follow.

I’ve been touring theatres like crazy. We toured the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, The Globe Theatre, and The National Theatre. They were all awesome spaces and all good tours in their own way. For instance: we got to go into a dressing room and onstage at the Haymarket, we got to go onstage and had a workshop in Shakespearean acting at the Globe, and we got to go backstage and into workshops at the National.
One of my classes met with a couple of North American (American and Canadian) students from LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts). It was really cool to hear about things from the actor’s point of view, but it made me even more terrified about what I’m going to do after graduation.

I got up ungodly early on Friday to get tickets to La Boheme at the Royal Opera House. The opera was amazing. Probably one of the best I’ve ever seen.

We then toured the Royal Opera House on Monday. Found out a lot about the history of the theatre. Walked around backstage and into the hats and jewelry department. We even got to see a couple principle dancers from the Royal Ballet rehearsing for Sleeping Beauty.

Yesterday we went to Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge was a bunch of rocks…I’ve been there before and it hadn’t really changed…so I guess I wasn’t all that excited about it. Bath was really cool. The Roman Baths were interesting and the city itself was beautiful.

After we got back from Bath, I jumped on the tube and headed over to the Old Vic Theatre to see A Moon For the Misbegotten starring Keven Spacey!!! It was an amazing show. The actors were all spectacular, a couple even outshined Spacey…although I must admit that Spacey’s acting brought me to tears a couple of times!

I just got back from lunchbox theatre at the Bridewell Theatre where we saw two one acts by Christopher Durang. It was pretty good, although I’ve seen both of the pieces they did at NCC before…and I think the ones I’ve seen at North Central were better!

I’m going to see The Lion King tonight and Avenue Q tomorrow. I guess I’m doomed to always live in theatres whether I’m working in one or not!

Cheers!
Macia

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