Score! Even theater is like a sport

The national sport here might be football, but I think theater is a close second. A group of us went to see Wicked on Tuesday night, and it struck me how much the two activities have in common.

Tonight's main event: Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre.

To start, people plan vacations around what shows are playing and the specific stars they are eager to see perform live. Secondly, many shows play to sell-out crowds night after night. Thirdly, there is a ton of memorabilia available for sale at each show: T-shirts, programs, stuffed animals, hats. If you can name it, the theaters probably have it.

And finally, roaming vendors sell candy, ice cream, water, beer and even "chilled wine" during the intermissions. Yes, that is completely different from the States, where most Broadway theaters wouldn't trust you with a bottle of water in your seats, let alone a cup of double chocolate ice cream.

It's the best shot I could get of the vendor walking through the Apollo Victoria Theatre with a cooler strapped to his back and selling "Ice Cold Beer."

An ice cream saleswoman at the Victoria Palace Theatre, where we saw Billy Elliot.

(Incidentally, the ice cream I purchased was delicious, even though a few members of our party had a little trouble with the tiny spoons that came in the packaging).

However, the theaters aren't quite as full service as they could be, despite what the signs said.



The corresponding sign on the other side said "Gents' Toilets."



A night at the Globe

Honestly, I haven't attended this many cultural events since I don't know when. On Wednesday night, we were very fortunate to attend the play Anne Boleyn at Shakespeare's Globe.

I didn't get a good shot of the Globe Theatre myself. This one is from Flickr, posted by Kevin of Sydney.

The play was written by Howard Brenton and made its debut at the Globe last year. The description from the Globe's website:

Hunting through an old chest, the newly crowned James I discovers the controversial legacy of Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s notorious second wife. Time jumps back 70 years, when the witty and flirtatious Anne was in love with Henry, but also with the most dangerous ideas of her day. Conspiring with the exiled William Tyndale, she plots to make England Protestant – forever.

A celebration of a great English heroine, Anne Boleyn leaps between generations to reveal the debt the outrageous but scholarly James owed to Anne when he shrewdly reconciled England’s religious factions by creating his common, ‘authorised’ Bible.

As for the theater, it is a 'best-guess' replica built in the 1990s, since no one is entirely sure what the original looked like. It sits a few hundred yards from the site of the original theater. The Globe Theatre website has a more detailed history of both the original and the new theater if you are interested.

The tiered crowd at the open-air Globe Theatre. We were very glad that we weren't in the standing-room only section.

The play was amusing and very well acted. Imagine my surprise when I even recognized the leading lady, who had appeared on the British television show MI-5. The theater was also interesting, particularly as our seats (or more accurately, our benches) were along the side of the stage. It made for an interesting perspective. And I was grateful I paid the £1 for a cushion.

The view of the stage from our benches.

For a more professional review, you can read what the Evening Standard had to say earlier this month.

They sang, they danced, we laughed: A trip to 'Billy Elliot'

Tonight we went to see Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace Theatre, my first trip to the theater in London this time around.

The Victoria Palace Theatre before the show in the West End.

If you haven’t seen the stage show or the 2000 film, the basic plot is a young boy living in a British mining town in the 1980s who wants to become a ballet dancer. His father and brother are both coal miners out on strike, and they have trouble understanding his dream. Sir Elton John wrote the lyrics for the musical, and the Broadway production won the Tony Award for best musical in 2009 (Wikipedia).

It was an amazing performance, especially by the young actor in the title role. The theater was also a sight to see, very old and beautiful. You can see a little bit of it in this group photo that Dr. Everhart snapped after the show and the picture of the ceiling below that.

Group shot taken by Dr. Everhart.

The ceiling above our upper level seats.