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..