joy magnetism: Much Ado About Nothing




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Showing posts with label Much Ado About Nothing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Much Ado About Nothing. Show all posts

Thursday, June 16, 2011

#Muchado

Magnet #1210 - Much Ado About Nothing

Confession time. I follow a lot of folks on Twitter surrounding the David Tennant/Catherine Tate production of Much Ado About Nothing. A couple of the actors, a couple of the bloggers, a couple of the fansite folks, etc.

But that's not my confession.

My confession is that, despite following all those Twitterfeeds, I seriously had an OMG moment in London that #muchado was really for Much Ado.

Now, in my defense, I must have known at some point. But for some reason, in my head, #muchado had become a word, pronounced like the Spanish muchacha or muchacho.

It was one of those OMG moments of extreme stupidity, that has perhaps replaced all the other moments of extreme stupidity. And, I keep repeating it with a giggle now, Mooochadoh.

Which is why I can't really judge the two little teenyboppers who sat next to me at #Muchado. The ones who asked us was the play done, and where we were going at the interval.

No, really. They couldn't tell that the play had been left mid-story at the...interval?

But anyway, yay for David Tennant still reeling the young ones into Shakespeare.

And yay for not being ill for today's performance!!! Thank you SO much, David Tennant!

Ya'll have no idea how happy I was not to see the little sheet, or the hear the announcement saying, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the role of Benedick will be played by [insert understudy here]." I would have seriously gone down to the box office, and left a really not-nice note demanding a public apology from the man himself if I'd flown all the way over from the US twice and not seen him perform.

And, it was a great performance, too. There's a reason they're getting accolades, and it's not just cuz they're Doctor Who alum. They have fantastic chemistry (right up to the kissing, anyway, but I have trouble seeing David kiss anyone - weird, I know), and David and Catherine really made this Shakespeare dramedy fun to watch. They were surrounded by an excellent cast, which made it so much better.

The show was funny in the appropriate parts, a bit teary in others - in fact, a lot more teary than I expected. And, with it being set in 80s Malta, that just added a bit more fun to it. It's always fantastic seeing how different companies stage Shakespeare, the decisions they make with setting and costumes, the line deliveries, the add-ons, etc. I love it.

Mind you, no matter who is playing her, no matter what the production, I still regard Hero as the worst, most niminy-piminy heroine ever in the history of heroines, for taking Claudio back after the way he devastated her at the altar. I hate her for it.

I mean, really, you can totally tell a man wrote that story!

*eta:
I forgot! At the interval (actually, after a quick trip to the loo, where all the older ladies were wittering on about how versatile David was), I ran downstairs and found that they were selling magnets. (I dunno why I didn't check earlier, most of the Broadway shows have them, why wouldn't someone be savvy enough to make magnets for me.)

So I bought five. For my sisters and friends. And me. I mean, damn, it's a helluva magnet!
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Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Albertopolis

Magnet #1209 - Royal Albert Hall

Ya'll know how I love planning itineraries, right down to bathroom breaks and beach time. But, what you may not know, is that once we get on site, I'm pretty good about going with the flow and responding to requests. That's the beauty of the itineraries - making adjustments and accommodations for random things that pop up along the way.

For example, I don't think Royal Albert Hall was ever on my list. I'd checked it off years ago, when Maxine Lefever took us American Musical Ambassadors over to see it. And by see it, I just mean, we circled it in a bus, and maybe (even if I can't remember) got off to look closer.

But, one of the things on my list for today - after our overnight flight - was the Albert Memorial, which I'd somehow missed in all my previous visits. Even if it was across. the. street. from the Royal Albert Hall.

And so our journey through Albertopolis*, London's first cultural quarter, began. The South Kensington area was so named because Albert, beginning with his Great Exhibition of 1851, had a hand in planning and/or developing the area with museums (National History, Victoria & Albert and Science), educational institutions (Imperial College), and the arts (Royal Albert Hall).

After a detour to the absolutely incredible Albert Memorial (wherein my love for Victoria and Albert as the greatest couple ever was validated again), through Kensington Gardens and the Serpentine Gallery (which was in between outdoor installations, so we missed out) and the Diana Memorial Fountain (which was closed for refurb), we finally got to do the Royal Albert Hall tour.

It wasn't the supercool behind-the-house tour, which made us a little sad. But, we did get to look at a lot of pictures (not even kidding), learned a lot about the construction (it's smaller than was originally planned, because it was too expensive to build the way Al wanted it) , got to watch the English National Ballet rehearse their Strictly Gershwin production (I'm not sold on Gershwin and ballet, it's got a bit of cognitive dissonance, watching it), and got to see what the view from every level was like (very cool views from the rafters, I swear).

We also got to sit in a box or two, and I don't mind admitting that I totally imagined a production there, and all the fancy lords and ladies in fancy dress, using their opera glasses to spy on the other boxes, rather than the actual show on stage.

We didn't get to go into the Royal box - apparently they hang a flag over her section, when she's present. Needless to say, she wasn't there when we were there. Nor did she greet us in her supernice reception room.

Yeah. I know. I was surprised she wasn't there to see me, either.



*RIBA has an excellent and in-depth online exhibition on Albertopolis - well worth checking out.


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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

"Good fortune come to thee."

Magnet #1145 - Good Fortune

I picked up this magnet in DC at the Folger Shakespeare Library, during their really interesting Henry VIII exhibit last year.

It's such a cool place to go, if you're at all interested in the Bard - I admit, I rushed through it, having packed it in with a visit to the Capitol and the Supreme Court. Yes. All three in one day.

Still, even rushed, I totally loved seeing all the Henry VIII artifacts - my favorite was young Henry’s copy of Cicero, inscribed: “Thys Boke Is Myne Prynce Henry.”

Anyway, I was going save this magnet for when we see David Tennant and Catherine Tate in Much Ado About Nothing in London in June. It's kinda funny, but when I bought the magnet just before New Year's, I figured I would eventually do an amusing (and probably slightly whiny) post about how the last year's been hard, but maybe soon fortune would smile.

But, I'm using it for today, because we're going into 2.5 months into The New Normal and we're still in this ridiculous healthcare holding pattern of let's solicit yet another opinion from yet another doctor, so they can take two weeks to decide what to do, and possibly send him for more tests so that we can figure out more levels and whatnot before they decide what to do. This morning, we're going for yet another follow-up with yet another specialist, so we need all the good fortune karma we can get at this point.

Hopefully, we find out what our next steps are in about six hours.

Wish us luck!
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