Bad Cat, Good Gershwin
Jun. 14th, 2008 08:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pensnestMy cat found a mouse yesterday. I saw her *tossing* it around in the back garden. With her paws. Monstrous animal. I muttered about it through the window, and she was all, Mouse? Moi? It was still alive when I went to water the tomatoes, a little quivering lump on the lawn.
Sigh.
In other news, my Beast took me for a belated birthday treat today. He's very good at keeping secrets, so all I knew was that we were going to see a show. I was very much surprised to end up at the Royal Albert Hall for "Strictly Gershwin", an afternoon of utterly fabulous music with dancing by the, hmm, English National Ballet (I think), plus a guest ballroom/Latin couple and two tappers. Plus Barbara Cook! And four very accomplished singers. It was lovely. Fantastic stuff, as I adore Gershwin, and they played a really good selection.
Oddly, the programme was arranged with, in effect, double finales. The ushers whispered to us as we arrived that when we thought it was the interval, it wasn't, there would be a piano solo - and it was a good thing they warned us, because the number before it was very much like an act one closer. Same deal in the second half, there was a no-holds-barred number involving 'chorus' dressed in glitter-spangled Uncle Sam-ish uniforms, tapping along with the guest tappers, and even a bunch of chaps hurtling about on roller skates. Very much a finale - but no, we had another (admittedly lovely) song, and the actual finale was Rhapsody in Blue, with the floor full of dancers in beautiful blue tutus/traditional 'prince' outfits.
[Hint: anyone who goes to something in the RAH that involves performances on the arena floor, the Arena bar is *empty* on such occasions. Literally. We nipped down to the loo, saw the bar, and decided it was as handy as anywhere to go for coffee. We were about the fifth and sixth people in there. And during the interval we went down and strolled up to the bar to get a drink and an ice cream. And there was no queue for the loos!]
And, despite half the Tube apparently being repaired this weekend, we got home in time for an excellent Doctor Who. Yay.
Sigh.
In other news, my Beast took me for a belated birthday treat today. He's very good at keeping secrets, so all I knew was that we were going to see a show. I was very much surprised to end up at the Royal Albert Hall for "Strictly Gershwin", an afternoon of utterly fabulous music with dancing by the, hmm, English National Ballet (I think), plus a guest ballroom/Latin couple and two tappers. Plus Barbara Cook! And four very accomplished singers. It was lovely. Fantastic stuff, as I adore Gershwin, and they played a really good selection.
Oddly, the programme was arranged with, in effect, double finales. The ushers whispered to us as we arrived that when we thought it was the interval, it wasn't, there would be a piano solo - and it was a good thing they warned us, because the number before it was very much like an act one closer. Same deal in the second half, there was a no-holds-barred number involving 'chorus' dressed in glitter-spangled Uncle Sam-ish uniforms, tapping along with the guest tappers, and even a bunch of chaps hurtling about on roller skates. Very much a finale - but no, we had another (admittedly lovely) song, and the actual finale was Rhapsody in Blue, with the floor full of dancers in beautiful blue tutus/traditional 'prince' outfits.
[Hint: anyone who goes to something in the RAH that involves performances on the arena floor, the Arena bar is *empty* on such occasions. Literally. We nipped down to the loo, saw the bar, and decided it was as handy as anywhere to go for coffee. We were about the fifth and sixth people in there. And during the interval we went down and strolled up to the bar to get a drink and an ice cream. And there was no queue for the loos!]
And, despite half the Tube apparently being repaired this weekend, we got home in time for an excellent Doctor Who. Yay.
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no subject
Date: 2008-06-14 09:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-15 08:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-14 09:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-15 08:25 am (UTC)But yes, yesterday afternoon was excellent!
no subject
Date: 2008-06-15 12:31 am (UTC)"Strictly Gershwin" sounds like a lovely show. I'm glad you enjoyed the evening.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-15 08:26 am (UTC)It was a very beautiful show - and, quite by chance (apparently) we had excellent seats. It was lovely!
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Date: 2008-06-15 03:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-15 06:15 pm (UTC)Giggle . . .
Date: 2008-06-15 05:14 pm (UTC)oh, wow! what a lovely surprise. it sounds like so much fun. i'd have been in a daze for days having experienced sensory overload from being too gleeful!
regards
Re: Giggle . . .
Date: 2008-06-15 06:16 pm (UTC)I would still be in a daze, except that I've just been down at the theatre for nearly five hours working on the tech for our own show, so the dazzle and glitz of the professional version has been a bit worn away...