Field trip day!
Walking tour with David Alder – we started off in Covent Garden at the Royal Opera House! It was gorgeous inside! And so much history in it with all the fires and the rebuilds and the company. He took us inside the auditorium and can I say that it was a beautiful theater as well. Its all red and has many tiers of balconies and David pointed out the Royal box used by Queen Victoria but the Queen Elizabeth II doesn’t like that box perse so she uses a different one but Prince Charles uses it. They were staging for one of their up and coming shows so it was pretty neat to see. We couldn’t take pictures though b/c of copy right reasons. He then showed us the backstage area and omg it was so big. They have a movable floor that works a bit like those puzzles you have as a kid that a picture is all mixed up and has one piece missing so you have to move them around to make the picture. I think he called them wagons (?) but they can put set pieces and it takes minutes for them to do a scene change all controlled by a computer. It was pretty awesome to see that especially since what most I see is front of house work. He then took us around Covent Garden to give us more history on some of the other theaters in the area.
Harrods – the famous department store in London. After he dismissed us from that portion of our field trip we were allowed to follow him to Harrods. If you don’t know what Harrods is or never heard or seen it. I think your missing out. I wish they had something like it back home but less expensive. I liked the farmers market / food area. And you know everything in that whole place is top quality especially for the prices you have to pay. Everything is just so ornate there especially the Egyptian escalator. And the Princess Diana memorial is great.
Lord of the Rings – I loved the spectacle of this production and the set OMG the set. It just takes over the theater literally. The main stage is a turn table of concentric circle and platforms that rise which the design of it makes it look like a tree and then there is tree limbs and roots that come from the frame of the stage all the way out to the boxes (covering some) and out to the balconies. and the skrim is just covered with them and coming to the point of the large ring in the center of it. They used so many different affect and it still bugs me about how they did the fireflies in the beginning. The acting and the script were a bit sketch to me. First of all why on earth would you try and cram 3 complicated books into a musical…which was 3 hours long and 1 intermission (so not good). And some of the actors I didn’t feel were really into character. Like Gandalf. he pretty much was the one that I had major problems with. Gandalf is supposed to be a wise old man that is a bit eccentric and sort whatever but this guy just didn’t fit it at all. sometimes he was trying to make a joke but he would be to quick about it or he would say it almost yelling at the person. Few problems music wise can’t remember which female lead it was but the transition from her full singing voice to her higher range was a bit rough. All it all it was good something I wouldn’t see more then once I feel but a good performance and I know it had to be a really really difficult thing to perform and I always appreciate that!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cengels/sets/72157605942170097/
