Hamilton!!

#4!!

We may be a little obsessed.
What a great production of an amazing show.

Still can't get enough of it.

"Fun Home" at the Curran Theater

So excited to have seen this great show at the newly renovated Curran Theater tonight. Loved it.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Squeezing in one last holiday show before Christmas Day! ❄️⛄️🎄

San Francisco Ballet's "Nutcracker"

What a lovely way to kick off the holiday season. Dick had never seen "The Nutcracker" before! What a gorgeous production.

LUZIA by Cirque du Soleil

LUZIA by Cirque du Soleil was simply amazing. It may be my most favorite Cirque show ever. (Big statement!)

King Charles III

We saw King Charles III at ACT with my Sis and Graham last night. It was a long show (almost 3 hours!) but we all enjoyed it.

"Hamilton" Original Cast Recording

Still can't believe we were lucky enough to see "Hamilton" on Broadway in NYC last week. Best show I've ever seen, and the original cast recording just keeps the experience going. Dick and I have been listening to it ever since we returned home from New York.

I think "Hamilton" is the "Schoolhouse Rock" of the next generation. Great songs with catchy, memorable music. You get a (very thorough) history lesson while tapping your toes!

"Hamilton" on Broadway

I am so very excited!!!

Update: what an incredible show and performance. Completely lived up to the hype, and probably the best show I've ever seen. Dick and I were both speechless after.

Tonight's Show

"The Curios Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"

The Real Thing

"It's Only a Play"

Follow-up articles on Saturday evening's incident of Helen Mirren in "The Audience"

As I mentioned in a blog post Saturday, we were fortunate enough to see Helen Mirren's performance in "The Audience" Saturday evening in London. I'm pretty amazed that the story about her yelling at the drummers outside the stage door during intermission has made the international news.

I came home to SF Monday afternoon to see this story about it in sfgate.com.

There's also this article and video about it in nbcnews.com.

It made the local news, too, of course. Here's an article from a UK newspaper.

Saving the Best for Last: "The Audience"

Well, I know I keep saying how amazing the shows are that we're seeing here in London, but I really do think that this one was the best. I can certainly say that I witnessed the best individual performance I've ever seen tonight, and what a treat that was!

Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II, in "The Audience".

Really, she was beyond fantastic, and so mesmerizing to watch!

Here's the summary of the premise:

For sixty years Elizabeth II has met each of her twelve Prime Ministers in a weekly audience at Buckingham Palace - a meeting like no other in British public life: it is private. Both parties have an unspoken agreement never to repeat what is said. Not even to their spouses.

"The Audience" breaks this contract of silence and imagines a select series of pivotal meetings between the Downing Street incumbents and their Queen.

Politicians come and go through the revolving door of electoral politics, while she remains constant, waiting to welcome her next Prime Minister.

The show was just spectacular - it jumped from different time periods, and Helen Mirren, as the Queen, did incredibly quick changes in between (and sometimes right on stage) of both costume as well as performing as the Queen at different ages and stages of her life.

Obviously, seeing Helen Mirren on stage as the Queen once an incredible experience. I simply can't imagine anyone else transforming themselves as completely as she did. It really did feel like a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity and experience.

Towards the end of tonight's performance, there were some technical difficulties which delayed the show. Once she realized what had happened, Helen Mirren addressed the audience to let us know that something had happened, and to please be patient. It only lasted a couple of minutes, but during that time, we were treated to seeing her as a professional dealing with the situation. She seemed to go with the flow, and was rather good natured about it. She even went so far as to tell us a funny story about what had happened during intermission:

During a part of the first half of the performance, the playing of drums was slightly audible from the audience. I expect that I assumed, as most of the audience did, that it was intentional - perhaps suggesting that the royal guard was marching outside of Buckingham during one of the sessions.

Well, it turns out that it was a group of drummers that had decided to play right outside the stage door of the theater. Helen Mirren explained that she went out the stage door, during intermission, dressed as the Queen (to which she giggled a little) and asked them to stop playing.

Pretty hilarious story, and it certainly entertained the audience.

The show was down for just a few minutes, then Helen Mirren and the other actor on stage with her picked it right up again, literally starting it off by saying, "As I was saying...." before jumping back into the dialogue.

I know it's probably a Stage Manager's nightmare to have a technical glitch happen during a show like this (I could just imagine my Sister's reaction!) but from the audience point of view, it was incredibly well handled, and even added to our evening.

We feel so fortunate to have been able to see the three GREAT shows that we've seen here in London this week. I'm so grateful that we were able to see each of them.

Back to see "A Chorus Line" in the West End

Thirty-five years ago, in the Summer of 1978, a fifteen-year-old Dick Craddock traveled to London on a student exchange program.

I believe it was his first time on an airplane, and certainly his first time overseas. He's told me that on the flight to London, he listened to the (then new) Original Broadway Cast recording of "A Chorus Line", through the airplanes entertainment system, the entire flight. He had never heard it before, and fell in love with it.

Once he arrived in London, his host family asked if there was anything special he'd like to do. He asked if they could go to the West End to see show. They brought him to see "A Chorus Line" and another time to see "Jesus Christ Superstar".

These two show remain his favorite musicals. He can sing all of the lyrics and play all the songs. He can speak every word in the soundtrack.

"Step, Kick, Kick, Leap, Kick, Touch....again!"

Early this year, when we were figuring out where we should vacation next, Dick did a little research and found that "A Chorus Line" was being revived in the West End for the first time since he had seen it in 1978.

Our decision was made. We checked to see what other shows would be playing during the run of "A Chorus Line" and planned our entire trip around seeing three shows.

...and here we are.

I'm so happy that I am able to see this show with Dick, here in the West End, where he was so excited to see it 35 years ago.

The show was wonderful, and everything we had hoped it would be. :)

"Peter and Alice"

The main reason why we originally planned this trip was to see shows in the West End. (more coming on that tomorrow!)

The first of the three shows that we will be seeing was "Peter and Alice", which is playing at the Noel Coward Theater. It star Judi Dench as Alice and Ben Whishaw as Peter. The premise is the (actual) meeting between Alice Liddell Hagreaves (the inspiration for "Alice in Wonderland") and Peter Llewelyn Davies, (the inspiration for "Peter Pan") during their brief encounter at a Lewis Carroll exhibition in 1932.

I have to admit that of the three shows we'll be seeing this week, this was the one that I was most excited about. I already have a huge love and interest in Alice in Wonderland, and have read quite a lot about the life of Alice Liddell and her relationship with Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll). I didn't know much about Peter Pan and it's history, though I did see the movie, "Neverland" which told a fictionalized version of the story of how Peter Pan came to be.

Well, the show did not disappoint. It was 90-minutes long, without intermission, which I always think is "just right" for a live performance. :)

It was really fantastic, and exceeded all my expectations. The story was really great, and they did a wonderful job of weaving the two main characters (Alice, in her 80s, and Peter, who I would guess is in his 30s) with the two authors, as well as the two characters of Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. The entire cast was really extraordinary, as was the set and design.

What a treat it was to see this production in its first run, with this cast. I really loved it, and would highly recommend it if you happen to be able to catch it during it's short 6-week run.

As an interesting side note, Judi Dench and Ben Wishaw most recently worked together on the latest James Bond movie, "Skyfall". The screenplay for that movie was written by John Logan, who was the writer of "Peter and Alice".

Tales of the City - The Musical

Yesterday, I went to ACT Theatre with my Sis, Graham and Mike to see the new "Tales of the City" Musical. It was neat seeing the production - a new interpretation of the first two books in the series. I thought the actors were very well cast. It's currently running through Mid-July. Will probably see it again with Dick, once he's a bit more mobile.

Things I've meaning to blog about...

well, it doesn't seem like it's been more than a week since my last post...

It's funny - when I'm out and about, I'm constantly thinking about things that I can write about. Sometimes my random thoughts only make it to my Facebook status, sometimes I remember to take a photo, and sometimes my thoughts make it all the way to my blog.

There are several things I've been meaning to write about - I've had a lot of fun outings lately - but alas, I didn't find the time to sit down and blog about them.

I did, however, take several photos over the past couple of weeks to share. Wish I had more. Somehow, I managed to spend 4 days visiting friends in Seattle without ever thinking of taking a photos! drat.

Nonetheless, here are a few things that I have done lately...



Andrew and I went to the Contemporary Jewish Museum a few weeks back to see the Maurice Sendak Exhibit. It was really fantastic. I was only familiar with "Where the Wild Things Are", but Andrew was very knowledgeable on several books and artwork. We had a great time examining several beautiful original illustrations.



A few days later, I made my way down to San Jose to have a long-overdue visit with my dear friend, Kimi. We had a late lunch (yummy dumplings) then went back to the school so I could have a quick visit with her two boys before I had to leave. It was SO nice seeing all of them!


Uncle Wes with "Bad Boy"

Last Thursday, I went to Stockton for the afternoon with my Sister and her boyfriend. We went to visit my Grandma, and to take her out to lunch and run some errands. The first thing we saw when we pulled up to the house was my Uncle Wes and his new motorcycle (named "Bad Boy"). I've never seen a motorcycle quite like this one. So pretty! I was too intimidated by Bad Boy to even sit in the seat!



We had a yummy dim sum lunch at China Palace, our favorite Chinese restaurant in Stockton. Delish!



While we were out and about, Grandma took us to Winco - a grocery store in Stockton, which is apparently a chain, although we don't have any in the Bay Area. I've been hearing about Winco for years from all of my Grandparents who lived in Stockton, but I had never been. Now, I know what I've been missing! They really do have amazing prices - many things (like cereal) were less than half the price of what they would be at another grocery store - especially in SF. Really great deals, good quality merchandise - I'll be back!


Tiff and Graham at the fantastically inexpensive bulk food bins



That evening, we drove to Sacrament to see a performance of "Rent". The tour closed this past Sunday (3 days after we saw it) and it was the last production of the show after nearly 20 years. Two of the original stars from the Broadway production were on this tour (Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp, playing Mark and Roger). It was pretty amazing to have the opportunity to see them, and hear the voices that I've listened to on the Broadway soundtrack for so long.



And finally, a cute photo of Noe giving her Daddy some kitten love while he was working on his laptop. :)