Trying to make it sound like it was a big event.. and that i did something.
But i didn't.
I did watch the fireworks from the hostel which were amazing.. but what else would you expect from a country where fireworks are sold in department stores!
Over 100 fireworks being fired off at once.. was something to see :-)
But apart from that.. spent the entire time on my own. So like christmas.. it wasn't a fun time.
I took photos and a video.. but i am super tired so i am heading to bed. Will try and load photos when i arrive in berlin.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
An end to a Wicked year..
Last day of 2009.. of course i'd spend it with a show that has been in my life for nearly 9 years now.Spent a lazy morning at the hostel, packed my bags to save having to do it all in the morning the next day, went into the city to get money out and headed to the theatre.
Because the show finishes in under a month, sadly they were very low on merchandise. No specific wicked stuttgart shirts which was annoying, but i did get the last 'german' emerald city designed shirt in the entire theatre.. XL though.. Hopefully i can get my hands on a shirt over
ebay, if not.. fingers crossed i can get a shirt from their new location :-)Because they are leaving stuttgart, spend over 50 euro and you get a shirt for free. Of course i spent over 50 (poster, program for me and for antje, 2 wicked charms, my german shirt) so i got the black long sleeved wicked top.. and again the last one they had in stock.. XL. They're not getting any new merch in till they move.. so the shirts are selling out/being given out for free fast.
What was interesting though was that at the door when you enter, they give you a brochure that explains what the show is about. I thought this was a bit odd.. till i remembered the conversation the ensemble boys had on the train last night. They were saying that a lot of people in germany don't know the story of the wizard of oz well.. and that nearly everyone who comes to see the show doesn't get that this story explains what happens before dorothy arrived. So they hand out the flyers for people to read and not to get confused before the show starts.. haha
The show was amazing! The cast are so strong.. and Willemijn.. oh, melt! She's like carmen in a way, very sarcastic.. looks like how i'd imagine Elphaba to look and act like. And they had flying monkeys over the audience! I wanted to cry and jump up for joy! I miss the monkeys so much! But they had a problem with the monkey on the right hand side of the theatre (unlike in melb where they both came from one direction, they have one monkey appear from each side.. like on stage).. at first they didn't appear, then when they finally did they were
delayed.. so when they swung over to what was meant to be the end, the poor cast member didn't get enough speed to land on the platform properly and the stage hand had to jump out and pull them onto the platform or else they would have fallen which wouldn't have been good.The sets and costuming are all pretty much the same.. the wicked standard, except all the text on all props are in german. I did however notice major variations in costume pieces..
- glinda's bubble dress has more of a plastic see-through collar than most, her yellow OSD outfit is TOTALLY different
- the DTL outfit that Liz Stiles wears in australia is totally different here in stuttgart. The girl who wears the outfit here is a giant! Taller than most of the male ensemble! So they've extended her layers and the dress looks more white than black/white.. and the circles in the fabric are not noticeable at all
- the Shiz outfits have been re-arranged once again, harder to recognise which character is represented by each
- i saw a totally new OSD outfit! And i think the same girl had a major variation of the DTL outfit Suzie Mathers used to wear.. a lot more white and floral than silver. But the OSD outfit.. i have never EVER seen this outfit.. anywhere. Not even in press photos for companies around the world. It was amazing! Kind of like the sailor/pirate outfit the male ensemble member wears, but a femal
e dress version. I loved it! Just as good as emma's OSD outfit ;-)I thought Willemijn's Defy Gravity and No Good Deed were the highlights of the show. Her defy gravity was out of this world.. it just seemed to 'fit in' to the show, didn't seem to be as staged as other productions i have seen (wasn't as obvious that she was on a machine).
But i have to say, Lucy (glinda.. yes, their glinda is called lucy too) was so funny. They cut out a lot of the jokes in the show as most germans wont understand them.. but lucy's humour made up for that. Her popular wasn't as animated as Lucy back home.. but her giggle, squeel and death stares made up for it. I thought her performance was great :-)
The funniest thing though was that when Fiyero came onto the stage in the cart.. Willemijn kicked it so hard that he actually slid off and had to quickly crawl back onto it to continue the scene. But i was in shock when i saw who it was.. it was the guy i had ridden the train with the past 2 days! haha.. i can say i've sat next to stuttgart's own fiyero ;-)
The story was changed slightly to appeal more to the audience.. the inclusion of dorothy's name, removal of political jokes, even one of nessa's lines was removed which shocked me! But overal i had a blast watching the show.. could pick up what was going on which was good since the entire show was german unlike WWRY which had english in it.
After the show i went to stage door, but it was a pain to get to as the comp
lex was having new years celebrations.. so my original route to the stage door was blocked off. Ended up having to walk through a carpark to get there somehow hahaBut i was able to meet lucy and willemijn along with some other cast members. Willemijn was amazing. She asked where i was from since i was the only person who spoke english there (plus i was the only stranger.. i realised i was there with all the wicked crazies of germany. When i mentioned australia she got excited. But when i said i had come all the way from home to see her perform, she went quiet. She said she felt so honoured that i would do th
at and she thanked me for coming to the show, then gave me a hug. She signed my poster saying thanks for being there and we had a photo together. As i was about to leave she asked me what i was doing for new years.. of course i told her the truth and said not much since i was on my own and didn't know anyone here. She gave me another hug and told me that she'd be keeping me in mind tonight and that she hoped i had some fun. I told her that meeting her was better than celebrating new years.
After meeting her, i decided to call it a day.. didn't want to bother the cast who were desperate to get to new year parties.Jumped on a train and headed back to the hostel. I know i could write a whole lot more on the production, but it has escaped my mind right now. But like with all my posts which i am STILL updating, i will update as i remember stuff.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
We Will Rock You.. for an entire day!
What a day!
All i can say is thank god i checked my email this morning after breakfast.. or else today would have been a disaster!
I jumped online after 10am to have a chat to the family if they were online and checked my email at 10.30 after many distractions. Lucky i did a
s i got an email from WWRY asking me to attend the public tour at 11.30am instead.. which was in an hour!
Totally freaked out, ran to my room, quickly got changed and jumped on the next train out there. Freaking out the whole way there that i wasn't going to get there on time. But i made it with 5 mins to spare thank god.. and my pass was waiting for me at the door :-)
I had so much fun on the tour.. but it didn't live up to the hype as the Wicked tour which was sad. I think they were a bit restricted with this tour not only because of numbers (there were a lot of people there today) but because the past few weeks have been hell for them apparently.
It was all in german.. again. But this time i did warn them about not being able to speak the language, but being able to understand some words. The girl said she was happy to translate some of what she was saying to me.. then totally forgot to the entire tour! haha
The tour started on stage. The first thing i noticed was the band location. In london, they can be seen in the wings (on purpose) but here in Stuttgart they are at the back of the stage on a raised platform! There was a guy testing out the pecussion section when we were there so it was nice to go on a tour with music haha. Very minimal sets which meant only 3 tracks max (i think) and one giant trapdoor. The video screen was suspended as too were the drapes. The main track down the middle of the stage is used for the focal point props like the motorbike and killer queen's chair.
I got to stand on the white steps featured in Ga Ga World, got to hold onto a popcorn container and GA GA girl bag, got to touch the statues usually found on the steps, got to walk up the set of Heartbreak Hotel, touch the walls of Wembley where the guitar appears and try on one of the orange helmets used in the show.
What fascinated me was Killer Queen's chair. This does not feature in the London production as they have a permanent setting that has been built to accommodate for the show. The chair in stuttgart replaces all the bulding required to pull off certain scenes. All full of pink feathers, red velvet chair and tv screens. And the front of the chair set rises which is mad. If you've seen the show, you'd know what i was talking about.
Wandered around the wings for a bit viewing all the props until i hit the sound box stage left. This was where before each show and tech run they'd organise the mics for all the cast members and fix them if required. They had photos of each member up on a wall with a peg under it to hold all the gear.
Next to that was another black box, but this time for where ensemble members could do quick changes but still sing in the show.. it contained standing mics and tvs to show what was going on on the stage whilst the ensemble were off.
What took up a lot of room on stage left was the costuming tent. This was where all the ensemble costumes were kept, including wigs and shoes. Most of the costumes in there were the quick change ones i think.. but sadly we couldn't go in to see them up close which was a pain.
After seeing all around the stage, we walked up a few flights of stairs to the wig department. Like Wicked, it was a mini salon full of wigs. It was great to see them all up close.. especially the more detailed ones. There were variations on Meat's/Ozzy's wig depending on the cast member. Some of the wigs were completely blonde, others had brown evident regrowth.
It also looked like from the photos present that it was also where the leads got their makeup applied too.
We then walked up another level to the costuming floor and this is where i got a bit disappointed. There waiting for us was a rack of costumes which was cool.. don't get me wrong. But they were costumes from ensemble members and one recognisable piece from Killer Queen.. a lot of the people on my tour wouldn't have known that as most hadn't seen the show. There were maybe 5 pieces on the rack which most weren't allowed to touch (of course i snuck a hold.. why not!) so the costume section of the tour didn't last long. We weren't even allowed into the tailoring room which was shattering haha
I was desperate to see Scaramouche and Meat/Ozzy's costumes up close.. but no luck.
After the costume section, she took us back down to stage level and we went under the stage. Like wicked, it was huge! And again it didn't look like a permanent floor.. just metal structures to build onto. The only trapdoor was huge.. it had to fit a prop (a car) onto it! The funny bit was,
next to the lift/trapdoor was a sign saying plan b shoes.. and they had 2 sets of shoes (like crocs) next to it. From what i could understand, the girl mentioned that sometimes the lead characters shoes go missing in the car if they're not careful.. so they are there for incase they can't find them. Also gives the costuming department enough time to bring down a spare pair of shoes from a few floors up. Also under the stage is a green screen and camera which is used for scenes involving Killer Queen and Khashoggi when they appear on the giant tv screens. There was also a mirror and makeup chair for touch ups too which was funny.
We then moved into the seating area of the theatre to watch the tech run, but were asked to leave as they had a lot of sound checks to do which i was a bit sad about. I would have loved to have seen their tech run.. but after seeing tonights show totally understand why we were kicked out.
I headed back home after the tour (made a detour into the city to see if they could fix my phone.. no luck. they were so rude about it i ended up walking out), had a bite to eat, checked my emails.. then headed back to the theatre for the night time show.
The show here was amazing! All the dialogue and songs written specifically for the show may be in german, but all the queen songs were in english which was great.. and they even included a twist about the language into the story which was smart! In london it was just about the songs reappearing.. but here in stuttgart it was about the songs returning, but also about them returning in english! haha
The storyline was pretty much the same too.. but the sets were different.. so it made the show feel different. They also renamed 2 characters to make them more relatable to the audience in specific countries/towns (meat is now ozzy.. as in ozzy osborn, and Pop is now known as Bap). They also renamed the area that it is set in.. from Planet Mall to Planet Ebay.
What was good was that to replace a cast board, if you purchased a program you got a list of the entire cast performing that night. I had fun searching through it to see if i had a full cast or not.. and boy was i in for a surprise. No wonder we got kicked out of tech!
They only had 2 leads on for the show (scaramouche and killer queen), all the remaining lead positions were filled by principle walk-ins (it's a confusing system here.. they not only have p
rinciple walk-ins (who i think are the standby's.. but not all the lead characters have walk-ins) but they also have about 3/4 covers per role too!), all the swings were on as a lot of ensemble members were out due to illness and/or injury.. and 4 people who aren't even listed in the program were in tonight's show to help out.. including a replacement (Conchita Zandbergen.. who was amazing) for the lead character Meat/Ozzy. Talk about crazy! Made the show an event!
After the show, went to stage door but after a little while (and after a chat with a few of the brit ensemble members) i decided to head home.. as wed nights are 'free drink nights' at the theatre bar.. so i could either wait for hours for them to come out, or head home.
Jumped on the train and got to spend the entire ride back sitting next to half of the cast of Wicked. The guys were absolute gold.. complaining about the girls and having to lift them in routines. One mentioned about how he was having a NYE party at his place after the show and that Willemijn and her husband were invited.. and that he hoped she'd be on her best behaviour.. unlike christmas. haha
I think that is all from today's tour and show.. well it's all i can remember for now.. super tired.
Last day in stuttgart tomorrow.. and spending it at Wicked :-)
All i can say is thank god i checked my email this morning after breakfast.. or else today would have been a disaster!
I jumped online after 10am to have a chat to the family if they were online and checked my email at 10.30 after many distractions. Lucky i did a
s i got an email from WWRY asking me to attend the public tour at 11.30am instead.. which was in an hour!Totally freaked out, ran to my room, quickly got changed and jumped on the next train out there. Freaking out the whole way there that i wasn't going to get there on time. But i made it with 5 mins to spare thank god.. and my pass was waiting for me at the door :-)
I had so much fun on the tour.. but it didn't live up to the hype as the Wicked tour which was sad. I think they were a bit restricted with this tour not only because of numbers (there were a lot of people there today) but because the past few weeks have been hell for them apparently.
It was all in german.. again. But this time i did warn them about not being able to speak the language, but being able to understand some words. The girl said she was happy to translate some of what she was saying to me.. then totally forgot to the entire tour! haha
The tour started on stage. The first thing i noticed was the band location. In london, they can be seen in the wings (on purpose) but here in Stuttgart they are at the back of the stage on a raised platform! There was a guy testing out the pecussion section when we were there so it was nice to go on a tour with music haha. Very minimal sets which meant only 3 tracks max (i think) and one giant trapdoor. The video screen was suspended as too were the drapes. The main track down the middle of the stage is used for the focal point props like the motorbike and killer queen's chair.
I got to stand on the white steps featured in Ga Ga World, got to hold onto a popcorn container and GA GA girl bag, got to touch the statues usually found on the steps, got to walk up the set of Heartbreak Hotel, touch the walls of Wembley where the guitar appears and try on one of the orange helmets used in the show.
What fascinated me was Killer Queen's chair. This does not feature in the London production as they have a permanent setting that has been built to accommodate for the show. The chair in stuttgart replaces all the bulding required to pull off certain scenes. All full of pink feathers, red velvet chair and tv screens. And the front of the chair set rises which is mad. If you've seen the show, you'd know what i was talking about.
Wandered around the wings for a bit viewing all the props until i hit the sound box stage left. This was where before each show and tech run they'd organise the mics for all the cast members and fix them if required. They had photos of each member up on a wall with a peg under it to hold all the gear.
Next to that was another black box, but this time for where ensemble members could do quick changes but still sing in the show.. it contained standing mics and tvs to show what was going on on the stage whilst the ensemble were off.
What took up a lot of room on stage left was the costuming tent. This was where all the ensemble costumes were kept, including wigs and shoes. Most of the costumes in there were the quick change ones i think.. but sadly we couldn't go in to see them up close which was a pain.
After seeing all around the stage, we walked up a few flights of stairs to the wig department. Like Wicked, it was a mini salon full of wigs. It was great to see them all up close.. especially the more detailed ones. There were variations on Meat's/Ozzy's wig depending on the cast member. Some of the wigs were completely blonde, others had brown evident regrowth.
It also looked like from the photos present that it was also where the leads got their makeup applied too.
We then walked up another level to the costuming floor and this is where i got a bit disappointed. There waiting for us was a rack of costumes which was cool.. don't get me wrong. But they were costumes from ensemble members and one recognisable piece from Killer Queen.. a lot of the people on my tour wouldn't have known that as most hadn't seen the show. There were maybe 5 pieces on the rack which most weren't allowed to touch (of course i snuck a hold.. why not!) so the costume section of the tour didn't last long. We weren't even allowed into the tailoring room which was shattering haha
I was desperate to see Scaramouche and Meat/Ozzy's costumes up close.. but no luck.
After the costume section, she took us back down to stage level and we went under the stage. Like wicked, it was huge! And again it didn't look like a permanent floor.. just metal structures to build onto. The only trapdoor was huge.. it had to fit a prop (a car) onto it! The funny bit was,
next to the lift/trapdoor was a sign saying plan b shoes.. and they had 2 sets of shoes (like crocs) next to it. From what i could understand, the girl mentioned that sometimes the lead characters shoes go missing in the car if they're not careful.. so they are there for incase they can't find them. Also gives the costuming department enough time to bring down a spare pair of shoes from a few floors up. Also under the stage is a green screen and camera which is used for scenes involving Killer Queen and Khashoggi when they appear on the giant tv screens. There was also a mirror and makeup chair for touch ups too which was funny.We then moved into the seating area of the theatre to watch the tech run, but were asked to leave as they had a lot of sound checks to do which i was a bit sad about. I would have loved to have seen their tech run.. but after seeing tonights show totally understand why we were kicked out.
I headed back home after the tour (made a detour into the city to see if they could fix my phone.. no luck. they were so rude about it i ended up walking out), had a bite to eat, checked my emails.. then headed back to the theatre for the night time show.
The show here was amazing! All the dialogue and songs written specifically for the show may be in german, but all the queen songs were in english which was great.. and they even included a twist about the language into the story which was smart! In london it was just about the songs reappearing.. but here in stuttgart it was about the songs returning, but also about them returning in english! haha
The storyline was pretty much the same too.. but the sets were different.. so it made the show feel different. They also renamed 2 characters to make them more relatable to the audience in specific countries/towns (meat is now ozzy.. as in ozzy osborn, and Pop is now known as Bap). They also renamed the area that it is set in.. from Planet Mall to Planet Ebay.
What was good was that to replace a cast board, if you purchased a program you got a list of the entire cast performing that night. I had fun searching through it to see if i had a full cast or not.. and boy was i in for a surprise. No wonder we got kicked out of tech!
They only had 2 leads on for the show (scaramouche and killer queen), all the remaining lead positions were filled by principle walk-ins (it's a confusing system here.. they not only have p
rinciple walk-ins (who i think are the standby's.. but not all the lead characters have walk-ins) but they also have about 3/4 covers per role too!), all the swings were on as a lot of ensemble members were out due to illness and/or injury.. and 4 people who aren't even listed in the program were in tonight's show to help out.. including a replacement (Conchita Zandbergen.. who was amazing) for the lead character Meat/Ozzy. Talk about crazy! Made the show an event!After the show, went to stage door but after a little while (and after a chat with a few of the brit ensemble members) i decided to head home.. as wed nights are 'free drink nights' at the theatre bar.. so i could either wait for hours for them to come out, or head home.
Jumped on the train and got to spend the entire ride back sitting next to half of the cast of Wicked. The guys were absolute gold.. complaining about the girls and having to lift them in routines. One mentioned about how he was having a NYE party at his place after the show and that Willemijn and her husband were invited.. and that he hoped she'd be on her best behaviour.. unlike christmas. haha
I think that is all from today's tour and show.. well it's all i can remember for now.. super tired.
Last day in stuttgart tomorrow.. and spending it at Wicked :-)
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Wicked Stuttgart Tour..
I am still speechless over the tour today.
Get your act together Wicked Australia, because this tour was an insider's dream! Over an hour and we got to see EVERYTHING!
(don't get me wrong.. i still appreciate the tours i went on in melbourne and sydney.. they were amazing and personalised to me.. but this tour was so much better than what wicked organise with qantas and people pay for those and get 20 mins of not much!)
Sadly it was all in german, and i found out afterwards i could have heard it all in english too if i liked, but i thought of that before the tour started and i didn't want the poor girl to have to repeate herself just for me. But i was able to pick up on what she was saying sometimes.. i was learning german without knowing it! but if you ask me how to say something.. i'm still totally lost haha
Arrived at the theatre after spending a lazy morning at the hostel to avoid the rain. The theatre is very modern, located in a complex called SI-Centrum. Apart from many themed restaraunts and shops, this complex also houses hotels, a casino, a cinema complex and two theatres - the apollo theatre (home to we will rock you) and the palladium theatre (home to wicked). After picking up my pass, i wandered around for a bit until it was time for my tour.
I ended up jumping onto one of the public tours they were running which was fine by me.. I was just glad to be going on a tour.
We started the tour off on the stage and learnt about everything based in that area, including tracks, lights, smoke machines and sets. She also highlighted the bubble and the trap doors and their uses. Even though i was trying really hard to listen to her and try to understand what she was telling everyone, i was off in my own world looking at everything above the stage comparing it to back home. From what i could tell.. their stage depth is the same size as ours (their bridge is in a very similar location), but i think their height and set outside of the theatre space i
s smaller.. the dragon seemed to be very low.
After viewing the stage area, we moved into the wings to look at the props. I got to have a pretty good look at the back of the wardrobe and didn't realise how much electrical work there was in it.. something i never looked closely at when i did my sydney and melbourne tour. Also looked at the wizards head closely.. i even got to play with the grimmerie which was fun. No one else in my tour wanted to touch it.. so i held onto it for as long as i could :-P
Everything prop wise is in german which i thought was great.. including morrible's class list, the emerald city magazine and the wizomania tickets. Everything was set out on shelves and labelled, including the floor.. to mark out where dressers need to stand with specific character costumes and where set pieces need to be in order to prepare for the next scene.
After viewing the props, we moved towards the back of the stage and entered one of the 2 costume tents they have set up backstage (one is stage left near where the props are stored, the other is behind the back curtain). This is where some of the costumes (particualy quick changes) are stored for easy access. She was also saying that before shows they usually bring costumes from the costume room down to the tents depending which cast members are on. We got to have a play with the flathead costumes (they had 4 heads but only 3 bases from what i could see) which was fun.. make their eyebrows move and have a go at making the monkey wings flap.
Before exploring other areas, she took us down under the stage which was really cool. The access staircase was next to the costume tent we went into. The staircase led to under the stage and houses the smoke machines, trap doors and access to the orchestra pit. There was even a mirror set up for make up touch ups (especially with elphaba) which was funny as. You could actually see the stage and the set tracks from down there which i thought was odd.. since most theatres i have visited have permanent stages which are covered over with show specific stages. This theatre looked like it had no permanent stage.. just metal work to build a stage onto. The ladder leading to the elphie trapdoor was a woodern staircase with a metal step towards the top.. so much safer than the ladder they had in melb.. haha
And the moving trapdoor.. super easy access. I think Jemma would be so jealous of Willemijn for the fact that her elphie run/dash would only take 5 seconds to complete.. she could walk to the trapdoor and still make it in time! :-P
As we walked off the staging area to visit more of the theatre, we passed the brooms and wand (also passed the other props and set pieces like the beds, flying machine, etc). Of course i snuck a quick hold of both.. who wouldn't ;-) (i actually got away with a lot on the tour.. yay for being a production student haha)
After exiting the stage area, we walked up many flights of stairs to enter the costume floor. On the way up, i noticed the staircase was painted with murals. Cats had originally played in this theatre, so they left behind a piece of the show.. 3 staircases full of murals of the show, including paw prints and images of cast members in costume. They were amazing paintings. And on the costuming floor, there was a giant painting of the beauty and the beast logo which was pretty neat. The costuming floor consisted of the tailors room, fitting room and various costume storage room. We visited the tailoring room and saw them repairing some costumes (including shoes). The girl mentioned that a lot of the more elaborate costumes are sent to London to be repaired (ie. glinda's bubble dress).. but any small detail they would try to repair inhouse. As we left the room and walked to one of the costume storage areas, we walked past a table of hats just maintained. They were all the hats from the emerald city and 3 elphaba witch hats (3 of the 4 elphaba hats worn by the 4 girls).. because we were walking past, i only got to touch them.
We walked past the fitting room and she explained that that was where all new members and/or current members needing a new costume piece or new set of costumes would go and 'be fitted' for the items. It contained a lot of computers, costume images, tape measures, calico fabric, pins and scissors. She then went on to say as most of the cast were moving with the show, they weren't in the process of having to fit for new costumes.
We walked into one of the costuming rooms which housed all the female costumes, including the leads which i thought was odd. But then again, the dressing rooms of the girls was on a totally different floor.. so i guess it is easier to have everything on the one level.
One side had 2 racks worth of 4 sets of elphaba costumes (that was the first thing i noticed.. the 4 sets, as most other companies only have 3), 3 sets (i think) of glinda costumes, 2 sets (i think) of nessa and morrible costumes and all the ensemble costumes clearly labelled into artist's name and scene in which costume features. It was interesting seeing all the Act 2 elphie dresses together as they were all different. One thing i did notice was that the green under-garment (which is netting) they wear to save on painting their entire body green was a gradient of green from the neck (light green) all through the body section (dark green) to the end of the arms (light green again). Also one of the girls ( i think the first understudy) had 2 school dresses made where everyone else i think just had the one. Then moved on to looking at the Glind
a outfits and the first difference i spotted was the belt. The safety belt in the german costume is more noticeable than back home. And her dress doesn't have zip access, it's all hooks which was interesting. They keep Lucy's bottom half of the dress (yes.. the Glinda here is called Lucy too) on a metal structure to prevent it getting crushed.. it simulates the hoop worn. The bodice was being touched up that day.. but by the look of the other bodices i could see.. the neck piece is made from a different fabric to ours. It's more clear/plastic like. And her dress has more sparkles! I think our Lucy is being jibbed! haha
After looking through all the ensemble outfits (we got to walk around the room for ages looking at the pieces.. and yes, i did hunt out my fav ensemble pieces.. including the dress ellen wears that i am making) we moved out of the room, said goodbye to those working in the tailoring room and went up a floor to the wig department.
Oh yes.. and Omi.. with the detailing on the top of the dress.. i know it varies depending on the country, but here in Stuttgart, the white ribbon weaving is achieved with eyelets, the bow around the neck is a thin black ribbon, there is slight black detailing on the white ruffled shirt bit.. and the buttons here are white fabric buttons with black thread sewn onto them like a star shape in a way.. starts in the middle of the button and makes a line/star point out to the outside of the button.. i'll draw it and send it to you later :-P
The wig department was pretty much a salon! Hair washing sinks, salon chairs.. and the occasional warmer/heater/oven ;-)
She mentioned to us (still have no idea how i understood this as it was all in german) that all the cast in the show have casts of their heads taken and sent to Bali to have wigs made specifically for them. And they then store these wigs on wig storage heads that they try to shape as close as possible to the real thing. Some contained rollers to keep the curls in tact, others were already shaped or platted for the show. It was obvious to work out the elphaba wigs not just because they were labelled or because they were obvious (due to the hairstyling) but they were the only wigs to have green netting with hair attached. But it was fun to see the various elphaba wigs all done in specific ways.
After seeing all the wigs, we headed back down to the theatre level. We didn't get to see the change rooms because they were on a different floor.. but we ran out of time to see them which was a bummer.. but because the costumes aren't stored in the room like they were back home, i didn't mind not seeing them. But the girl mentioned to me at the end of the tour (in english too thank god) that the dressing rooms are pretty plain as everyone is taking down stuff to prepare for the move, so that made it better to have not seen it. We passed the cafe, the production managers floor, the stage managers floor, the costuming floor, the dressing room floor and headed out into the theatre where we got to watch the crew complete a technical run.
Wow is all i can say! To see them test out the bubble, the flying monkey wires, the lighting and sound, the wizard head, the sets and backdrop, the tracks and set movements was amazing. And yes.. they have flying monkeys over the audience!! I was so jealous!! If stuttgart can do it in a small(ish) theatre.. i don't see why we can't! They squeeze the monkey rails just behind the big banister in the foyer.. i think we should try ;-) I know it can't be done.. but still! haha.. a girl can only wish :-P
After the tech run, the tour was over :-(
But i had a blast and now cannot wait to see the show new years eve after gaining a new perspective :-D
Hope you all enjoyed my step by step rundown of the tour.. sadly no photos becau
se they're cracking down on it towards the end of the run, but i know there are some photos out there, so when i find them i will add them onto here so that you can see what i am talking about :-)
(i think that was all from the tour.. but if i remember more, i will be sure to add it onto the essay i have already constructed here.. haha)
Get your act together Wicked Australia, because this tour was an insider's dream! Over an hour and we got to see EVERYTHING!
(don't get me wrong.. i still appreciate the tours i went on in melbourne and sydney.. they were amazing and personalised to me.. but this tour was so much better than what wicked organise with qantas and people pay for those and get 20 mins of not much!)
Sadly it was all in german, and i found out afterwards i could have heard it all in english too if i liked, but i thought of that before the tour started and i didn't want the poor girl to have to repeate herself just for me. But i was able to pick up on what she was saying sometimes.. i was learning german without knowing it! but if you ask me how to say something.. i'm still totally lost haha
Arrived at the theatre after spending a lazy morning at the hostel to avoid the rain. The theatre is very modern, located in a complex called SI-Centrum. Apart from many themed restaraunts and shops, this complex also houses hotels, a casino, a cinema complex and two theatres - the apollo theatre (home to we will rock you) and the palladium theatre (home to wicked). After picking up my pass, i wandered around for a bit until it was time for my tour.
I ended up jumping onto one of the public tours they were running which was fine by me.. I was just glad to be going on a tour.
We started the tour off on the stage and learnt about everything based in that area, including tracks, lights, smoke machines and sets. She also highlighted the bubble and the trap doors and their uses. Even though i was trying really hard to listen to her and try to understand what she was telling everyone, i was off in my own world looking at everything above the stage comparing it to back home. From what i could tell.. their stage depth is the same size as ours (their bridge is in a very similar location), but i think their height and set outside of the theatre space i
s smaller.. the dragon seemed to be very low.After viewing the stage area, we moved into the wings to look at the props. I got to have a pretty good look at the back of the wardrobe and didn't realise how much electrical work there was in it.. something i never looked closely at when i did my sydney and melbourne tour. Also looked at the wizards head closely.. i even got to play with the grimmerie which was fun. No one else in my tour wanted to touch it.. so i held onto it for as long as i could :-P
Everything prop wise is in german which i thought was great.. including morrible's class list, the emerald city magazine and the wizomania tickets. Everything was set out on shelves and labelled, including the floor.. to mark out where dressers need to stand with specific character costumes and where set pieces need to be in order to prepare for the next scene.
After viewing the props, we moved towards the back of the stage and entered one of the 2 costume tents they have set up backstage (one is stage left near where the props are stored, the other is behind the back curtain). This is where some of the costumes (particualy quick changes) are stored for easy access. She was also saying that before shows they usually bring costumes from the costume room down to the tents depending which cast members are on. We got to have a play with the flathead costumes (they had 4 heads but only 3 bases from what i could see) which was fun.. make their eyebrows move and have a go at making the monkey wings flap.
Before exploring other areas, she took us down under the stage which was really cool. The access staircase was next to the costume tent we went into. The staircase led to under the stage and houses the smoke machines, trap doors and access to the orchestra pit. There was even a mirror set up for make up touch ups (especially with elphaba) which was funny as. You could actually see the stage and the set tracks from down there which i thought was odd.. since most theatres i have visited have permanent stages which are covered over with show specific stages. This theatre looked like it had no permanent stage.. just metal work to build a stage onto. The ladder leading to the elphie trapdoor was a woodern staircase with a metal step towards the top.. so much safer than the ladder they had in melb.. haha
And the moving trapdoor.. super easy access. I think Jemma would be so jealous of Willemijn for the fact that her elphie run/dash would only take 5 seconds to complete.. she could walk to the trapdoor and still make it in time! :-P
As we walked off the staging area to visit more of the theatre, we passed the brooms and wand (also passed the other props and set pieces like the beds, flying machine, etc). Of course i snuck a quick hold of both.. who wouldn't ;-) (i actually got away with a lot on the tour.. yay for being a production student haha)
After exiting the stage area, we walked up many flights of stairs to enter the costume floor. On the way up, i noticed the staircase was painted with murals. Cats had originally played in this theatre, so they left behind a piece of the show.. 3 staircases full of murals of the show, including paw prints and images of cast members in costume. They were amazing paintings. And on the costuming floor, there was a giant painting of the beauty and the beast logo which was pretty neat. The costuming floor consisted of the tailors room, fitting room and various costume storage room. We visited the tailoring room and saw them repairing some costumes (including shoes). The girl mentioned that a lot of the more elaborate costumes are sent to London to be repaired (ie. glinda's bubble dress).. but any small detail they would try to repair inhouse. As we left the room and walked to one of the costume storage areas, we walked past a table of hats just maintained. They were all the hats from the emerald city and 3 elphaba witch hats (3 of the 4 elphaba hats worn by the 4 girls).. because we were walking past, i only got to touch them.
We walked past the fitting room and she explained that that was where all new members and/or current members needing a new costume piece or new set of costumes would go and 'be fitted' for the items. It contained a lot of computers, costume images, tape measures, calico fabric, pins and scissors. She then went on to say as most of the cast were moving with the show, they weren't in the process of having to fit for new costumes.
We walked into one of the costuming rooms which housed all the female costumes, including the leads which i thought was odd. But then again, the dressing rooms of the girls was on a totally different floor.. so i guess it is easier to have everything on the one level.
One side had 2 racks worth of 4 sets of elphaba costumes (that was the first thing i noticed.. the 4 sets, as most other companies only have 3), 3 sets (i think) of glinda costumes, 2 sets (i think) of nessa and morrible costumes and all the ensemble costumes clearly labelled into artist's name and scene in which costume features. It was interesting seeing all the Act 2 elphie dresses together as they were all different. One thing i did notice was that the green under-garment (which is netting) they wear to save on painting their entire body green was a gradient of green from the neck (light green) all through the body section (dark green) to the end of the arms (light green again). Also one of the girls ( i think the first understudy) had 2 school dresses made where everyone else i think just had the one. Then moved on to looking at the Glind
a outfits and the first difference i spotted was the belt. The safety belt in the german costume is more noticeable than back home. And her dress doesn't have zip access, it's all hooks which was interesting. They keep Lucy's bottom half of the dress (yes.. the Glinda here is called Lucy too) on a metal structure to prevent it getting crushed.. it simulates the hoop worn. The bodice was being touched up that day.. but by the look of the other bodices i could see.. the neck piece is made from a different fabric to ours. It's more clear/plastic like. And her dress has more sparkles! I think our Lucy is being jibbed! hahaAfter looking through all the ensemble outfits (we got to walk around the room for ages looking at the pieces.. and yes, i did hunt out my fav ensemble pieces.. including the dress ellen wears that i am making) we moved out of the room, said goodbye to those working in the tailoring room and went up a floor to the wig department.
Oh yes.. and Omi.. with the detailing on the top of the dress.. i know it varies depending on the country, but here in Stuttgart, the white ribbon weaving is achieved with eyelets, the bow around the neck is a thin black ribbon, there is slight black detailing on the white ruffled shirt bit.. and the buttons here are white fabric buttons with black thread sewn onto them like a star shape in a way.. starts in the middle of the button and makes a line/star point out to the outside of the button.. i'll draw it and send it to you later :-P
The wig department was pretty much a salon! Hair washing sinks, salon chairs.. and the occasional warmer/heater/oven ;-)
She mentioned to us (still have no idea how i understood this as it was all in german) that all the cast in the show have casts of their heads taken and sent to Bali to have wigs made specifically for them. And they then store these wigs on wig storage heads that they try to shape as close as possible to the real thing. Some contained rollers to keep the curls in tact, others were already shaped or platted for the show. It was obvious to work out the elphaba wigs not just because they were labelled or because they were obvious (due to the hairstyling) but they were the only wigs to have green netting with hair attached. But it was fun to see the various elphaba wigs all done in specific ways.
After seeing all the wigs, we headed back down to the theatre level. We didn't get to see the change rooms because they were on a different floor.. but we ran out of time to see them which was a bummer.. but because the costumes aren't stored in the room like they were back home, i didn't mind not seeing them. But the girl mentioned to me at the end of the tour (in english too thank god) that the dressing rooms are pretty plain as everyone is taking down stuff to prepare for the move, so that made it better to have not seen it. We passed the cafe, the production managers floor, the stage managers floor, the costuming floor, the dressing room floor and headed out into the theatre where we got to watch the crew complete a technical run.
Wow is all i can say! To see them test out the bubble, the flying monkey wires, the lighting and sound, the wizard head, the sets and backdrop, the tracks and set movements was amazing. And yes.. they have flying monkeys over the audience!! I was so jealous!! If stuttgart can do it in a small(ish) theatre.. i don't see why we can't! They squeeze the monkey rails just behind the big banister in the foyer.. i think we should try ;-) I know it can't be done.. but still! haha.. a girl can only wish :-P
After the tech run, the tour was over :-(
But i had a blast and now cannot wait to see the show new years eve after gaining a new perspective :-D
Hope you all enjoyed my step by step rundown of the tour.. sadly no photos becau
se they're cracking down on it towards the end of the run, but i know there are some photos out there, so when i find them i will add them onto here so that you can see what i am talking about :-)(i think that was all from the tour.. but if i remember more, i will be sure to add it onto the essay i have already constructed here.. haha)
Monday, December 28, 2009
A day exploring Stuttgart..
What an event filled day!
Started off with hardly any sleep (because i had no alarm) as i was worried i would miss out on breakfast.. so i ended up being a wreck for the rest of the day haha
Breakfast here was actually not too bad! This place is more like a hotel than a hostel. Free breakfast every morning i am here.. various cereals
along side toast, bread, veggies and a cold meat platter. What a german feast!
Everything is buffet style.. so i'm eating my moneys worth ;-) Especially at dinner time ;-)
Anyways... back onto my day. After breakfast, decided to have a lazy day and jumped onto my laptop for a chat with mum. Whilst chatting to her, i was researching what to do here in stuttgart and decided to buy a ticket to WWRY. Stumbled across some information and got super excited.. so sent off an email to WWRY and Wicked asking if it was possible.. the longest 1/2 hour ever later i got word it was yes! I scored myself backstage tours for both shows at the last moment! :-D So i am now ending the year on a high.. wicked backstage tour tomorrow (tuesday), WWRY backstage tour and show (wednesday) and wicked show (thursday) all in a row.. 3 days of theatre! :-D
So after getting the email, caught the random tram/train into the city to go on a bit of a shopping spree. Bought the cheapest phone i could find (it's from the 1900's.. only decent thing about it is that it has a colour screen haha), bought a ticket for the train to berlin and picked up my WWRY ticket. Then decided to hit the local Zoo in Stuttgart.
Wilhelma is an amazing place. It's a Zoo attached to a botanical garden.. unlike anything i have seen!
You wander through many greenhouses of exotic cacti and flowers till you hit a bird aviary and aquarium, then onto all the wild animals in enclosures, past a petting zoo and hit the restaraunt and shop at the end of the walk. I think i was there for nearly 3 hours exploring! The Zoo and private garden is all within confined walls.. but the wall that separates the public garden space and the zoo is a wire fence, so anyone who has gone for a run in the park can view the animals for free :-P
Jumped back on the weird train/tram and went to the shopping strip near the hostel for a bit. Found the coolest legwarmers to wear under my boots.. and i found a bubblebee and/or panda carry on kids bag.. it was killer! Wanted to buy it to take on the plane filled with all my theatre programs and to help decrease my check-in weight :-P But it was 77 euro.. so i walked away.. for now ;-)
When and did a bit of ski shopping (literally.. i tried on all snow gear including helmets, goggles, ski boots, skis ;-) i couldn't help it! even looked at buying a pair of skates!) then decided to call it a day as i was tired.. and hungry.
Now it's been a night of more good food, online tv show catch-up and writing this blog.. which has taken me 4 hours to write! haha, distractions.. not a good thing.
Started off with hardly any sleep (because i had no alarm) as i was worried i would miss out on breakfast.. so i ended up being a wreck for the rest of the day haha
Breakfast here was actually not too bad! This place is more like a hotel than a hostel. Free breakfast every morning i am here.. various cereals
along side toast, bread, veggies and a cold meat platter. What a german feast!Everything is buffet style.. so i'm eating my moneys worth ;-) Especially at dinner time ;-)
Anyways... back onto my day. After breakfast, decided to have a lazy day and jumped onto my laptop for a chat with mum. Whilst chatting to her, i was researching what to do here in stuttgart and decided to buy a ticket to WWRY. Stumbled across some information and got super excited.. so sent off an email to WWRY and Wicked asking if it was possible.. the longest 1/2 hour ever later i got word it was yes! I scored myself backstage tours for both shows at the last moment! :-D So i am now ending the year on a high.. wicked backstage tour tomorrow (tuesday), WWRY backstage tour and show (wednesday) and wicked show (thursday) all in a row.. 3 days of theatre! :-D
So after getting the email, caught the random tram/train into the city to go on a bit of a shopping spree. Bought the cheapest phone i could find (it's from the 1900's.. only decent thing about it is that it has a colour screen haha), bought a ticket for the train to berlin and picked up my WWRY ticket. Then decided to hit the local Zoo in Stuttgart.
Wilhelma is an amazing place. It's a Zoo attached to a botanical garden.. unlike anything i have seen!You wander through many greenhouses of exotic cacti and flowers till you hit a bird aviary and aquarium, then onto all the wild animals in enclosures, past a petting zoo and hit the restaraunt and shop at the end of the walk. I think i was there for nearly 3 hours exploring! The Zoo and private garden is all within confined walls.. but the wall that separates the public garden space and the zoo is a wire fence, so anyone who has gone for a run in the park can view the animals for free :-P
Jumped back on the weird train/tram and went to the shopping strip near the hostel for a bit. Found the coolest legwarmers to wear under my boots.. and i found a bubblebee and/or panda carry on kids bag.. it was killer! Wanted to buy it to take on the plane filled with all my theatre programs and to help decrease my check-in weight :-P But it was 77 euro.. so i walked away.. for now ;-)
When and did a bit of ski shopping (literally.. i tried on all snow gear including helmets, goggles, ski boots, skis ;-) i couldn't help it! even looked at buying a pair of skates!) then decided to call it a day as i was tired.. and hungry.
Now it's been a night of more good food, online tv show catch-up and writing this blog.. which has taken me 4 hours to write! haha, distractions.. not a good thing.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Could it get any worse??
After not having a proper alarm to wake me thanks to my phone becoming 'non-existent'.. i only got about 3 hours sleep as i was stressing that my DS alarm wouldn't be loud enough and wake me for my taxi in the morning (my ds was a lifesaver.. alarm and clock).
The taxi was only meant to take me to Paddington station for me to then catch the Heathrow express to the airport, but after a chat with the driver (who was really nice), he offered to take me to the airport for the fee that i would have paid for the train.
Finally got to the airport.. started to get excited that i was going to Germany. Lined up to check-in.. very long line, started to get worried (even though i was still 2 hours early). Whilst in the line waiting to check-in, i was looking through my stuff to find my pass to exchange for my ticket... no pass. I had travelled to 2 countries without having a ticket for London to Stuttgart. Swiss Airways never printed me one out! But i had record of the flight on my ticket receipt.. so i had to get out of the line and head to a ticket counter to ask for help. They looked up my flight.. wasn't on it. Now i was freaking out. I showed them my ticket receipt and told them i had paid for this flight and i didn't know why it wasn't showing that i wasn't on it. After what felt like hours they finally decided to put me onto the flight free of charge as there was only 13 people on the flight.. thank god.
Then went to check-in my baggage after ticket problems.. my bag was nearly 2kg over the limit (this flight was 20kg limit.. all my other flights have been/are 23kg). Pulled out my wallet to pay for excess and the girl was nice enough to let it go ( i think it was because my flight had very little people on it).. and she even let me onto the flight with a backpack, a satchel and a harrods bag full of london goodies (since the post was closed on boxing day) even though you were only meant to have one carry-on bag.
After that things started to go ok.. flight was easy, the guy at customs was really nice and let me through straight away, the train was easy to catch and i found my hostel alright.
Only problem was because i didn't have the time on me.. i arrived at my hostel an hour before check-in. So dropped off my bags and decided to explore stuttgart.. with no map :-S Ended up somehow in the city centre near a tourist info centre (which was open thank god) and picked up a map from there. After a while (since everything was closed on a sunday) i decided to catch the train/tram back to the hostel. The train literally becomes a tram! It's crazy as!!
Checked in, had a nap, had a shower, checked my email.. then decided to have dinner. The hostel here is like a hotel! Swipe card entry on doors, a shower and toilet in every room (i am in a 4 bunk bedroom).. even their own bistro! A buffet dinner every night for 6.50 euro.. includes 1 free softdrink.. i am so eating here every night! The food is so good! I am in love with german potatoes ;-)
But to top it off.. i get breakfast supplied every morning i am here, and i only have to pay 5 euro for 24 hour net access :-D
Thinking i might visit the Zoo tomorrow, organise my train to berlin and london (thinking of flying back to stuttgart from london again.. it's easier).. then hang around the hostel. Maybe even get a ticket to see WWRY here in german.. it'll be so much fun! :-D
The taxi was only meant to take me to Paddington station for me to then catch the Heathrow express to the airport, but after a chat with the driver (who was really nice), he offered to take me to the airport for the fee that i would have paid for the train.
Finally got to the airport.. started to get excited that i was going to Germany. Lined up to check-in.. very long line, started to get worried (even though i was still 2 hours early). Whilst in the line waiting to check-in, i was looking through my stuff to find my pass to exchange for my ticket... no pass. I had travelled to 2 countries without having a ticket for London to Stuttgart. Swiss Airways never printed me one out! But i had record of the flight on my ticket receipt.. so i had to get out of the line and head to a ticket counter to ask for help. They looked up my flight.. wasn't on it. Now i was freaking out. I showed them my ticket receipt and told them i had paid for this flight and i didn't know why it wasn't showing that i wasn't on it. After what felt like hours they finally decided to put me onto the flight free of charge as there was only 13 people on the flight.. thank god.
Then went to check-in my baggage after ticket problems.. my bag was nearly 2kg over the limit (this flight was 20kg limit.. all my other flights have been/are 23kg). Pulled out my wallet to pay for excess and the girl was nice enough to let it go ( i think it was because my flight had very little people on it).. and she even let me onto the flight with a backpack, a satchel and a harrods bag full of london goodies (since the post was closed on boxing day) even though you were only meant to have one carry-on bag.
After that things started to go ok.. flight was easy, the guy at customs was really nice and let me through straight away, the train was easy to catch and i found my hostel alright.
Only problem was because i didn't have the time on me.. i arrived at my hostel an hour before check-in. So dropped off my bags and decided to explore stuttgart.. with no map :-S Ended up somehow in the city centre near a tourist info centre (which was open thank god) and picked up a map from there. After a while (since everything was closed on a sunday) i decided to catch the train/tram back to the hostel. The train literally becomes a tram! It's crazy as!!
Checked in, had a nap, had a shower, checked my email.. then decided to have dinner. The hostel here is like a hotel! Swipe card entry on doors, a shower and toilet in every room (i am in a 4 bunk bedroom).. even their own bistro! A buffet dinner every night for 6.50 euro.. includes 1 free softdrink.. i am so eating here every night! The food is so good! I am in love with german potatoes ;-)
But to top it off.. i get breakfast supplied every morning i am here, and i only have to pay 5 euro for 24 hour net access :-D
Thinking i might visit the Zoo tomorrow, organise my train to berlin and london (thinking of flying back to stuttgart from london again.. it's easier).. then hang around the hostel. Maybe even get a ticket to see WWRY here in german.. it'll be so much fun! :-D
Boxing Day Fun...
Boxing day started off with a trip to Buckingham Palace for Changing of the Guard.I got there around 10.45am and there were already over 100 people there.. it was crazy!
Asked a police woman where the best area to stand was and she directed me over to a gate.. it was a good spot.. but she told me the wrong angle/area to stand in. I ended up having a lot of the action blocked by the gate.. if only i could have moved a meter to my left i would have been fine.
It was a pretty good event overall.. but after the action ended at my gate, i didn't hang around to see if more would happen. Was nice to hear the Royal Military Band playing songs.. but was not in the mood for Christmas carols.. Christmas is over people! Move on! :-P
Headed back to the theatre district to finish off my theatre hunting. Found a few more theatres but decided after a while i had found the ones most centrals and more well known, didn't have the time to venture out and find all the ballet and opera theatres. Walked to the Shaftsbury theatre to get my Hairspray ticket, then took the trek to the Palladium Theatre to see Sister Act. Walked past the Dominion Theatre.. wished i was going back to see WWRY again. Had to walk down Oxford St again which was fine.. except today was boxing day = 100% more crazy shoppers. What surprised me though every time i wandered down that street during my stay in London was the amount of stores that had closed or were closing.
Arrived at the Palladuim.. early as usual, so went to my fav chain of italian restaurants and had a bite to eat before the show.Sister Act was out of this world. I thought it was a good story, the songs were alright.. but i loved the technical aspect. For those theatre lovers.. i thought 9 to 5 had cool set changes.. THESE WERE OUT OF THIS WORLD!!
The way everything moved on and off stage, even disappearing into the stage floor.. wow! It's so hard to describe.. but the way they put the entire show on.. the way they created perspective.. the way they created a cathedral.. OH MY GOD!! I might stop there.. i could go on for hours ;-)
The cast were very strong.. you could tell who each character was from the movie which was nice. I was a bit disappointed though that they didn't use any of the songs from the film in the show.. but the songs they created to use in their place wasn't too bad.
I do have to say though.. their documentary program (all pictures, no text) is amazing! They
should do this in Aust. Apart from having a program filled with images, they included stickers, postcards.. even a poster! I couldn't believe it! What a bonus! Especially when all the items included in the program you could buy individually..Loved the seat i was in.. but hated the people around me. The 3 guys sitting behind me came into the show late.. and drunk. So they spoke through the entire thing which was annoying. But then i had this family next to me and the kid sitting next to me was not interested one bit in the show.. spent the entire time playing with his shoes and jacket. Gah.. i just wanted to yell at them all!!
Went to stage door after the show to try my luck.. but i knew it would be very slim since it was a matinee. But i think i got about 6 signatures on my poster which was cool :-)
Then i made the massive hike back to the Shaftsbury Theatre to meet up with Sanneil and his friend before Hairspray. Still annoyed i had to walk the entire length of Oxford St.. haha, sanneil thought the theatre where hairspray was was half way for us to meet.. totally wrong sanneil! Next time.. listen to me who had been in London for 7 days.. not 3 hours ;-) (we joked about this all night afterwards.. blamed him for my foot pain). He did make it up to me though by buying me dinner as a belated christmas present.. haha
What was really funny was the tickets they had for the show were one row in front of me! They had G19 and G 20.. i had H20. So we had a running joke about that too.. but you had to be there ;-)
Hairspray was all i was hoping for and more!! Loved the stage production (still love the movie more) but i feel honoured to have seen such a magical musical.
This was the only show that i had seen for the 3 days where they didn't have an aussie member in the cast. What was amazing was that the cast had so many big names in it.. like Belinda Carlisle (known for the no.1 hit - heaven is a place on earth, played Velma Von Tussle), Phill Jupitus (Edna Turnblad), Sharon D Clarke (Motormouth Maybelle).. and Chloe Hart (Tracy Turnblad) who had only graduated from a musical theatre degree in July of this year!I loved all the costuming, the storyline, the music, the dancing.. oh amazing! I am so SO glad that i got to finally see this show :-)
The chemistry between Phill Jupitus (who is actually a comedian in London amongst other things) and Tony Timberlake (Wilbur Turnblad) was classic.. Phill kept on ad libbing through 'You're timeless to me' and Tony couldn't hold a straight face. At one stage they were both giggling (including the audience) for nealy 5 mins before they moved on with the show. But the
best bit was.. when Enda is meant to give Wilbur a peck on the lips, they gave each other a peck (which everyone was in shock over.. you don't see 2 guys kissing on stage often).. and then Tony pulled out some line about how some jewish word meant to do it again, Phill laughed.. said that he hoped he was telling the truth and kissed him again. Everyone was in hysterics by now cause that opened up the floor for Phill to say as many 'jewish jokes' as he pleased.. but all in good taste. Oh, you had to be there for that entire song.. i was nearly crying from laughing so much!!The people sitting next to me for the first act were so annoying.. but they didn't come back for the second act which i found odd. Oh well.. their loss.. not mine ;-)
Went to stage door after the show (sanneil went back to his hotel.. jetlag is not fun) and got to meet the cast and get my poster signed. They were all so nice and thought it was great that i had come all the way from Australia to see the show.
Then i walked back to my hostel on a high about how good my day had been.. spoke too soon.
Not long after i got back, packed my bag and organised my way to the airport in the morning, i went into the bathroom to brush my teeth. My phone began to ring as i got a message, so reached for my phone and the girl next to me walked into me on the way out of the room, bumped me so hard that i dropped my phone.. of course i had to drop it into the sink full of water that she left behind. She didn't even say sorry for it! She saw me freak out about my phone and just walked off..
So now i have no phone (which i still have to pay off), no concept of time, no alarm!
Could this trip get any worse?? Just wait..
A Theatre Christmas..
I don't know why.. but Christmas was such a non-event in London which surprised me.
Of course I wasn't celebrating as most of you know.. thanks to Royal mail for that decision.
Decided to skip Christmas and make it just another ordinary day.
Ended up walking the streets of London visiting as many west end theatres that i could before my foot began to ache. I even made it to a Christmas walking tour at Trafalgar square, but was an hour early.. waited around and camera and phone batteries died/were dying.. so i had to skip the walking tour and head back to the hostel to charge them.
On the way back i ended up stopping at a restaurant for 'non-Christmas' lunch.. good old fish and chips. Bonus was the restaurant was playing 'Jersey Boys' soundtrack in the background.
I was surprised at how many people were actually out in London on the day as nothing but a few restaurants were open. But what surprised me the most was the amount of dirty looks and remarks i got from people on the street because of my hat. I decided since i had brought my santa hat (thinking i was going to have a fun christmas) overseas i may as well use it.. bad idea. Everyone was so grinchy that day!
Headed back to the hostel, had a bite for dinner and headed to bed. Had to make sure i caught the changing of the guard on boxing day.. was not going to miss it for a third time.
Of course I wasn't celebrating as most of you know.. thanks to Royal mail for that decision.
Decided to skip Christmas and make it just another ordinary day.
Ended up walking the streets of London visiting as many west end theatres that i could before my foot began to ache. I even made it to a Christmas walking tour at Trafalgar square, but was an hour early.. waited around and camera and phone batteries died/were dying.. so i had to skip the walking tour and head back to the hostel to charge them.
On the way back i ended up stopping at a restaurant for 'non-Christmas' lunch.. good old fish and chips. Bonus was the restaurant was playing 'Jersey Boys' soundtrack in the background.
I was surprised at how many people were actually out in London on the day as nothing but a few restaurants were open. But what surprised me the most was the amount of dirty looks and remarks i got from people on the street because of my hat. I decided since i had brought my santa hat (thinking i was going to have a fun christmas) overseas i may as well use it.. bad idea. Everyone was so grinchy that day!
Headed back to the hostel, had a bite for dinner and headed to bed. Had to make sure i caught the changing of the guard on boxing day.. was not going to miss it for a third time.
Friday, December 25, 2009
A Wicked Christmas Eve..
Arrived early at my hostel after a morning of arguments with Royal Post about my parcel sent from home. Was in a pretty bad mood so was hoping that Wicked would cheer me up.
They have changed the script a lot to relate to the London audience which i thought was funny. No longer does Elphie attend a seminar, she attends a tutorial.. no longer did they 'all (go) to school together', they all 'went to uni together'.. oh, there were so many more.. but my mind has gone blank! They were all silly changes i thought.. but i guess they suit better with the accents, which actually didn't bother me! I thought i'd be put off by hearing everything in british.. but it actually wasn't too bad.. gave the show a new spin :-P And the musical score is different too! Don't ask me how i know.. i just do! It was more of a 'rock verison' of Wicked than a fantasy woodwind version. You could really hear the drum kit which altered the way they performed the songs. I actually liked it a lot :-)
I was lucky enough to have a full cast bar Madam Morrible.. but the woman who was the u/s was amazing. Apparently it was only her second week in the role :-) You couldn't tell.. she was great!
Got to meet (but sadly not photos with all) Oliver Tompsett (Fiyero), Sam Kelly (Wizard), Natalie Anderson (Nessa), Ashleigh Gray (u/s Elphaba), Shirley Jameson (u/s Morrible for the night), Michelle Theunissen and Danny Mac (i think it was danny.. don't have my poster with me so can't check all the sigs.. they were ensemble members.. Michelle is a warragul girl!), Dianne Pilkington (Glinda) and Alexia Khadime (Elphaba). Alexia was so nice.. had a good chat with her :-)
Then it was a race (well.. not really since it was across the road) to get the last train, as all train services shut at 8pm that night.. with no trains running during Christmas.
My hostel is about 100m away from the tube which is great, so it was a very quick trip to 
Victoria underground. Once there, walked across the road to the theatre, picked up my ticket and went to the closest pub for a meal since i was over an hour early.
Victoria underground. Once there, walked across the road to the theatre, picked up my ticket and went to the closest pub for a meal since i was over an hour early.Went into this irish pub at the train station and had some good old fish and chips. Felt good to eat some real food for once! After my meal (and some time wastage) i headed back across the road and entered the theatre.
Wicked was amazing. It was so different to home!
For a production that has been running for 4 years, they're allowed to get away with a lot which we're not allowed to back home.
The staging area is a lot smaller than in aus (even smaller than Japan). They have their bridge
near the forestage area which changes the whole dynamic of the lion cub scene, they don't use their dragon as much and the bridge doesn't even appear in act 2.. so everyone is on the stage for the entire song.
near the forestage area which changes the whole dynamic of the lion cub scene, they don't use their dragon as much and the bridge doesn't even appear in act 2.. so everyone is on the stage for the entire song.The costumes were very similar.. but all had slight variations. The costumes here are more glitz.. more sparkle! Glinda's dress is like a disco ball and her wand is different to Japan's and Australia's wands. A lot of the DTL costumes have beading to make them stand out which is great.. especially the costume Romina wears back home.
What i found odd though was that every paper item was laminated! Took away the magic of the tickets, envelope, letters, etc.. can understand why they did it (to lengthen the prop lifespan) but it sort of made it look a bit tacky.
They have changed the script a lot to relate to the London audience which i thought was funny. No longer does Elphie attend a seminar, she attends a tutorial.. no longer did they 'all (go) to school together', they all 'went to uni together'.. oh, there were so many more.. but my mind has gone blank! They were all silly changes i thought.. but i guess they suit better with the accents, which actually didn't bother me! I thought i'd be put off by hearing everything in british.. but it actually wasn't too bad.. gave the show a new spin :-P And the musical score is different too! Don't ask me how i know.. i just do! It was more of a 'rock verison' of Wicked than a fantasy woodwind version. You could really hear the drum kit which altered the way they performed the songs. I actually liked it a lot :-)Two highlights of the show were
1. When Dianne (who plays Glinda) tossed the wand away, she threw it so hard into the wings it bounced off the set and back onto stage. She noticed it.. stopped the show to toss it again and this time it was semi successfull. After a few giggles, she went on with the show. Was very funny..
2. When Alexia (who plays Elphaba) threw her bag onto the ground in the Shiz scene, usually the bag just falls and lays on its side. But she tossed it so hard that it bounced off the floor and landed up right.. the reaction from the cast and especially alexia was classic.
I was lucky enough to have a full cast bar Madam Morrible.. but the woman who was the u/s was amazing. Apparently it was only her second week in the role :-) You couldn't tell.. she was great!Had a seat in the second row right in the middle. The front row seats go on sale every morning at 10am, they don't run a lottery here. But lucky enough for me.. they didn't sell the 2 seats in the front row in front of me ;-) So i had a clear view the entire time :-D
After the show i went to stage door and it wasn't raining! Yay.. finally i could get a poster signed without it getting wet :-P
Got to meet (but sadly not photos with all) Oliver Tompsett (Fiyero), Sam Kelly (Wizard), Natalie Anderson (Nessa), Ashleigh Gray (u/s Elphaba), Shirley Jameson (u/s Morrible for the night), Michelle Theunissen and Danny Mac (i think it was danny.. don't have my poster with me so can't check all the sigs.. they were ensemble members.. Michelle is a warragul girl!), Dianne Pilkington (Glinda) and Alexia Khadime (Elphaba). Alexia was so nice.. had a good chat with her :-)
Then it was a race (well.. not really since it was across the road) to get the last train, as all train services shut at 8pm that night.. with no trains running during Christmas.I had a ball at Wicked and hopefully (fingers crossed) can see it again when i make a quick visit back to London before NY.. only if i can afford it.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
The beginning of my West End adventure..
Wednesday marked the beginning of my assault on West End.
Went to stage door but as i was standing there it began to rain. Tried to do my best
to get sigs on my poster.. but the pen ink wouldn't stick on a wet poster :-( I gave up on photos.. was too hard to try and organise.
Was planning to see Avenue Q and We Will Rock You on the wednesday, Wicked on Christmas Eve and Hairspray on Boxing Day night.. but me getting so caught up in the whole thing bought a ticket on impulse to Sister Act for the Boxing Day Matinee. Opps :-S haha
I'm trying to take photos of every west end (and un-official west end) theatre there is to make a mini map. It's actually quite fun hunting them all down :-)
So far i have found 14 i think.. still many more to go. Hopefully track them all down on Christmas Day and the morning of Boxing Day.
Avenue Q in London is something. I knew it was going to be different.. but this was wack! Gary Coleman is actually played by a guy.. and all of his lines are different! Of course the choreography for the entire show is different to that back home, but every scene is something new! When we have the animals and boxes singing, they have 3 actors (all mains.. no ensemble/swings ever get on stage except for one girl!) come out holding box puppets.. it's so bizaar. It's easier to explain once you see my picture box i have from the show. Also they don't rely much on the animation on the screens like we do.. the way they do the purpose to propose scene is hilarious! A bride and groom with faces covered wander out as Princeton is having his freakout and remove the veils over their faces.. it's giant kate monster and princeton! It's classic! And then suddenly this massive kate monster begins to tear the top of the building off like in old thriller/sci fi movies.. it's insane! One of my favourite scenes for the entire show!
Their set is rather odd.. very much like the original which i wasn't really a fan of. I think the aussie set is better suited to the show. But i do have to say.. even though i hated christmas eve's outfits.. her wedding dress kills the competition!! It actually has lights all through it and glows! :-P Kate Monster looks odd.. her hair isn't tied back all the way so she sort of looks ratty.. but Cassidy (who plays Kate Monster) did an amazing job. Still think Michala is a god ;-) At first i thought 'oh, the aussie production is so much ruder' but the way the brits pull off some of the lines and the actions they do.. they take the cake. Except their puppet sex scene.. i wasn't a fan. Didn't seem to be as polished as the one back home.
Went to stage door after the show, got a few sigs and photos and then headed off to WWRY which was 10 mins away.
WWRY.. umm.. I'm still speechless over this show! I knew how good it was.. but i didn't know it was going to be THAT GOOD! The cast were all on song, hitting every dance move.. the costuming was out of this world. I saw 2 understudies for the night, and you could never tell that 
they were understudies. I had understudies for Killer Queen and Meat.
they were understudies. I had understudies for Killer Queen and Meat.It was so hard to pick a favourite performer and/or a favourite character for the night.. but i've always been a fan of Meat and Scaramouche. Scaramouche for her sarcasm and individuality, Meat for her costuming and determination. Really struggled to hold back the laughter when Meat did her thing.. makes me laugh to think that Amanda Harrison played that role once. She must have been a sex kitten in it to be pulling off those moves ;-)
The story is pretty well written, very far fetched.. but still follows a plot. At one point i got lost.. but i think that was cause i spent too much time watching the dance rather than following the story haha. But the way they have updated it over the years to coenside with today's society and world news is very smart.. keeps the show fresh over the years :-)
Loved the music.. because i knew the songs. Even though you didn't get to hear bohemian rhapsody in the show (you did after curtain call).. the entire show revolved around that one song. Ben Elton did a smashing job :-)
Went to stage door but as i was standing there it began to rain. Tried to do my best
to get sigs on my poster.. but the pen ink wouldn't stick on a wet poster :-( I gave up on photos.. was too hard to try and organise.Even though it was raining, some of the cast still stopped to 'try' and sign my wet poster. Had a decent chat with Peter Murphy (Galileo.. also an aussie from the gold coast), Sabrina Aloueche (Scaramouche) and Jeanna De Waal (i think it was her.. so many blondes in the cast it's confusing! haha) about the show, where i was from and about West End in general. They begged me to come back to the show on Boxing Day but i already had tickets for 2 shows that day :-( But they did say they expected to see me back again soon.. especially in 2 years time (if they were still around West End) if i came over with NIDA for study.
Jumped on one of the final trains for the night and headed back to the house. Packed all my gear that night for the move to the hostel the next day.
A day exploring London town..
Tuesday was a day of sightseeing.
It included a trip to the London Eye, London Bridge, Tower of London and Oxford St to visit the famous TopShop.
London Eye was amazing. Sadly it was still a cloudy and dull day, but I made the most of it and still went up. It was amazing to see all the buildings in London from a higher point.The people in my pod were a bit odd.. but i made friends with this Dad and his daughter which was fun. She was so cute.
Hopefully the one in Melbourne doesn't take too long to repair.. after being on this one i'd love to see melbourne from that height!
After being on the eye, went for a wander towards London Bridge. It holds a lot of history.. but that's about it. Not much to see or do there. So onwards to the Tower of London :-)
The Tower of London was amazing. I think i ended up walking around for nearly 3 hours there! So much history to learn about.. and you can only do it by doing a guided tour with a Beafeater. :-D
After the guided tour, I went into the vault where the crown jewels are held.. wow is all i can say! So many crowns! No wonder the doors i walked through are bank vault doors!
I was lucky enough to go to the Tower during the Henry the Eighth armoury exhibition. It was the first and only one of its kind and sadly won't be repeated again.. for a very long time. It was amazing to see the different pieces crafted for him over his lifespan.. even for his horses!
After the Tower, I jumped back onto the tube and headed to Oxford St to visit TopShop. It was chaotic in there! I could have gone broke in that store.. and i hate shopping!! Wandered up and down Oxford St looking at some of the shops and decided to head home as it had been a long day.
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Tokyo Disneyland..
A mixture of shots from Disneyland
Shattered! Closed for repairs!
Its Russel!
Lets Fly!
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