Let the Sunshine In

It's spring! The sun is finally out and we have a chance to enjoy the best weather England has to offer. Jess and Candace and I went into London on Wednesday to start crossing things off of our list. We started with a visit to the Tate Modern (but I still only saw one floor! Must go back). Then Candace got her ear pierced at Camden which was pretty exciting (don't worry, it was a very clean place). We had some Yuforia at Covent Garden and then made it to King's Cross Station to take a dorky picture at Platform 9 3/4. Lame, but totally worth it :-)

Then Candace and I met up with some of the Arcadia group for a send-off tea party. It was at a nice place in St. Pancras Station. We were spoiled with trays of food and deelish Darjeeling tea.

We had some time to kill so we walked from Russell Square to the theatre where Jessica and I had tickets to see "ENRON". We had heard good things about it and were especially interested in seeing it, knowing how quickly it closed on Broadway. I think its premature closing had something to do with Ben Brantley's review, but also the content maybe just didn't settle well with American audiences. I can see how it is such a hit here though. I personally thought it was brilliant. It was just the right balance of spectacle and deliberate content. I appreciated many moments, including the blind mice opening and a beautiful choreographed trading floor hand signal sequence. I do admit, however, there were a few unsettling moments in the second act that may have gone a bit over the top. All in all, I think it is a very important piece - a good representation of what political satire can be today.

Here are some pics from our day in London:

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Giacometti

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Adorable toy store in Covent Garden


Covent Garden

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Yuforia... is life

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Having trouble getting to Hogwarts?

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Park near Russell Square

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Just a nice view on the way to my flat


Thursday and Friday were taken up by Summer Cabaret Rehearsals in preparation for a grueling 5 performances. Yesterday we had an all day rehearsal and then an evening performance. It doesn't seem as prepared as some other shows I've been in, but there's something very exciting about throwing it all together doing the best we can do. I think it's turned out to be a pretty great show after all. Now we've got 2 performances today, and then Monday and Tuesday as well. I'll keep posting about Summer Cabaret as we go along.

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Understandable, understandable

Exams

...are over! Thank goodness. Preparing for 3 two hour exams took out most of the past two weeks. Studying and stressing out is pretty much all I had been doing.

I had two papers to write in two hours for Studies in Contemporary Music, Biological Psychology, and Music and Politics in Tudor England. Let's just say it made me miss conference week at Sarah Lawrence more than anything.

Next on the list is Summer Cabaret! We go up this coming Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Should be a lot of fun. It was hard to have rehearsals during exam month, and I think we could all use some extra rehearsals, but I think it'll come together. We're doing 21 songs each from different shows. Some are solos, some are small group, and some are full cast. I'm in the chorus of "Both Reached for the Gun" from Chicago (Jess is Mary Sunshine!), we're reprising "Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat" from Guys and Dolls, and I've got a little solo as Cosette in "One Day More" for the show's finale! I'm really excited. Some of my favorite numbers are "Fame", "Be Italian" and "Officer Krupke".

Besides that, I'm enjoying the weather and making lists of things to do in London while I'm still here.

Candace and Jess and I have a sort of 'bucket list' going on:

Places:
Tower of London
Covent garden
Borough Market
Portabello Road
Notting hill
Buckingham Palace
Platform 9 3/4
Hampton Court Palace
Abbey Road
Hamstead Heath Park
Hyde Park
Regent's Park


Museums:
British Museum
National Gallery
Tate Modern
Tate Britain
Victoria & Albert
Wallace Collection
National Portrait Gallery
Natural History Museum
Science Museum

Plays:
Enron
Billy Elliot
Globe production
The Real Thing
The Habit of Art
Peter Pan

Food:
The Orangery
Ice Bar
Mahiki


Here's hoping we can do all of it!

The buzz!

Since my last post, nothing too incredibly eventful has happened. I'm basically in the groove of school. It is very much like a semester at SLC - go to class, do work, rehearsal, go to class, do work, rehearsal. It may sound boring, but for me it's ideal. I love being busy and putting together a show.

My classes are going well, but things are going get stressful very soon. It hit me when it became March 1st. By the end of the month, I have 3 academic papers to write (including music analysis and psychology - both very new to me), programme notes to put together, 6 songs to learn and memorize, a 20 minute recital to give, and a musical to be in!

Singing, memorizing, and rehearsing every day in preparation for the 22nd - 24th (both musical and recital combined) is beginning to feel like (a miniature version of) Olympic training.

It's been a long time since I've felt this buzz.

And why are musicals so much fun?!

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Pretty trees from my window