Lions, Tigers and Toads

So I totally forgot to mention that the other week, I went to the London Zoo with Jen and Nicole! I was super excited because I love going to zoos and I've wanted to go since I've been here but just hadn't gotten around to it. So we went. It was kind of expensive, but then I found out that all of the ticket money goes towards the animals, so that made my wallet feel a bit better. So we went to the Reptile House first and saw the coolest thing! We saw a sign that told us that in the first Harry Potter movie, the scene where he speaks to the snake in Parseltongue unknowingly, was shot right there! It was such a cool surprise because I had totally forgotten that that scene was shot there. Wonderful way to start the day.

Then we meandered around a bit and went to try to see my babies, aka the tigers but they weren't out. We figured we'd come back later to see them. We saw some kind of boring lions, who were just lazing about. We saw some really cute penguins though! They would just walk right up to the glass, and it was neat to see a penguin up close like that!

We also saw the weirdest birds ever! They were Eastern White Pelicans and they were ginormous and kinda terrifying! It felt as if any moment they could jump over the fence and eat you/attack you.

Then we saw some neat camels! Their heads were huge!! This kind can be found in Mongolia, apparently.

We went to see some really cute giraffes, and we actually got to see one of them standing up which was cool! It was such a graceful maneuver, surprisingly.

Then we went to see some nocturnal animals and saw this whole glass case full of bats! It was realllly creepy. We ran away squealing. Then we saw an adorable lemur, some cute otters (who we unfortunately saw getting fed dead mice :/ ) and some beautiful butterflies on the loose.

Then last but DEFINITELY not least, we went back to to the tiger enclosure and luckily they were out! They were taking little cat naps (haha, cat naps, you get it? Tigers are cats...) Anyways, but it was actually kind of awesome to see them off their guard. One of the kitties was just rolling around and starting to knead and stretch just like my house cats would. It was soo cool!

Then we went to the gift shop, and of course I had to get some tiger stuffed animals. I got two little tiger cubs, one white and one orange. Appropriately, they are named Harry and Ron :D

Then on Tuesday night, I went to the West End once again to see Matilda: The Musical. Wow, I definitely had high expectations of this, because I adore the movie. I knew it would be good, and I was definitely not mistaken. The cast was INCREDIBLE! The kids were beyond talented and they were just amazing. The music was so catchy. Do yourself a favor and go listen to 'When I Grow Up.' Also, the choreography was probably some of the best I've ever seen! They did all kinds of interesting things with their set, for instance Matilda climbed up her bedroom wall, they used swings for 'When I Grow Up,' and at one point, everyone, including Miss Trunchbill, was jumping on a trampoline and doing flips in the air. My only criticism is that it might have been too good. It was so high energy and dramatic and incredible all the time, that it started to be too much. I would have liked it a bit better if there had been points where they scaled it back a bit, so that the really over-the-top parts would have stood out even more. Also, there was even one part where the whole audience of  'toads' was in the Chokey. It was genius. Also, interesting side note, apparently Regina George (aka Rachel McAdams) was at the show! I guess she was standing outside after and we walked right past her :/ Oh well.

http://www.matildathemusical.com/

Theatre Junkie

So I have definitely been slacking when it comes to talking about the shows I have been going to! A few weeks ago, I went to see The Baker's Wife at a tiny little theatre in London. It was a very cosy theatre and the show was beautiful. The whole show is set around this tiny French village whose baker died suddenly and they were forced to go without bread for a while. You can imagine some of the songs that were included, and yes there was one whole song dedicated to how delicious and amazing bread is. A new baker arrives with his pretty young wife, which changes everything. The choreography was amazing! At one point, when they were all dancing with their bread, the music ended and you see the teacher laying on the table with all his limbs up and him clutching the bread. And another high point was when the baker got drunk out of stress and began walking and dancing on the tables of the cafe and all the village people surrounded him to catch him if he fell. The theatre was so tiny that since I had an aisle seat, and the actors were often venturing into the audience (which helped us all feel like we were a part of the village too) the Baker stood right next to me for a bit and I even bumped shoulders with him. It was cool! One of my favorite additions had to be the Baker's Wife's (Genieve's) 'cat' which we only heard, through only the most life-like of sound effects. It was just overall a very charming show and I'm definitely glad I got to see it! The only part that made me mad was (sorry if you ever plan on seeing it because I'm going to spoil it for you now) was that after Genieve cheated on her husband with Dominique because she 'has to fly away' and realizes she does love her husband or is happy enough with him that he'll do, she goes back to him and he takes her back!! He does freak out on her once (and I'd been waiting for it the whole time, because he was so calm and accepting and almost naive that it was alarming), but then he gets over it. Oh well.

In case you're curious: http://www.thebakerswife.co.uk/index.html

Then I saw The Phantom of the Opera with Danielle, Heavens and Rachel! I mean of course it was amazing because it's a fantastic show, and the theatre was beautiful and quite big! We had to go down these scary death stairs to get to our seats and a couple of our seats had a bit of a restricted view, but hey, the tickets were a good price and I've already seen the show so I'm not complaining! This show is larger than life and therefore so was all the cast. The actors who played Christine and the Phantom were phenomonal, as expected. And apparently we saw the understudy playing the Phantom. If the understudy was that good, I can't imagine how amazing the regular actor is! My favorite part of this show was the special effects they used. If you've never seen the show, the Phantom makes the gigantic chandelier crash down and it looks like it's going to hit the audience, which is awesome. And then there were all these rather creepy cherub and angel decorations that we all thought were a part of the theatre decoration, but they were actually part of the show. At more than one point, the Phantom appeared suddenly (as he does so well) on one of the decorations and it was scary. He also appeared at the top of the theatre, and they used vocal recordings to make it feel like he was all around you and that he could pop out at any moment, which was a nice touch. Then of course when the dramatic first piano notes of the theme song are played, I never wanted it to end. Definitely fun seeing it again and being able to compare it to when I saw it on Broadway years ago!

The Phantom of the Opera is here! http://www.thephantomoftheopera.com/london

The most recent show I saw was The Woman in Black, which I saw yesterday at the Fortune Theatre. I had pretty high expectations and I was definitely not disappointed. I had heard how scary and creepy this show was supposed to be and it totally lived up to that. The story is set around Arthur Kipps and an actor he hires to help him figure out a way to tell his friends and family about the Woman in Black, his own true ghost story. He has been having nightmares in the 60 years since this happened, and he hopes that by finally telling it properly, he will be able to free himself. The production gets really interesting when the actors in the show become actors as well. The actor who plays the Actor, portrays the young Arthur Kipps, who has to go to Eel Marsh (in Northeast England, near Scotland), a very sparse town, and to a deserted and very creepy house that used to belong to Alice Drablow. It is the now the source of local legend. He has heard the rumors and is skeptical, but he shouldn't have been. Arthur Kipps ends up filling in for the other people in the story, and he is practicing his performance skills. It starts out with a lot of humor, as he is truely rubbish at it, but he significantly improves. Their dynamic is fanstastic, and within a few minutes, I was already in love with the characters and the people who played them. The special effects in this were great too! They used smoke to create the eery feel in the Marsh, and to Kipps' amazement, tons of great sound effects. The rest was just imagination, as explained by the Actor. A favorite example of this for me was when they were going in a horse and buggy, and to portray that, they used an old box to sit on, and they bounced around on it and pretended they were really riding around in a buggy. It was comic gold. Then it got really un-nerving and creepy. You never knew when the Woman in Black would make an appearance, and she appeared so quietly and suddenly. Also, they used tons of super-high pitched screams and loud sound effects that came out of nowhere, so it was really startling! I won't spoil the ending, but it is twisted and quite sad. There were only three people in the whole cast and that amazes me. I just can't get over how good their performances were. I might even go see it again!

Interesting side note: Notice they don't list anyone as playing the Woman because she is a ghost of course. Creepy yet appropriate!

http://www.thewomaninblack.com/


I'm seeing Matilda next Tuesday, so maybe I'll just edit this post with my thoughts!

On an unrelated note, I finally finalized all of our Scotland plans (we leave a week from this Friday and I am beyonddd excited! I cannot WAIT to see Loch Ness and the place where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the graveyard where she got inspiration for her characters names. I simply can't wait.) I also go to Oxford University this weekend, which is one of the oldest English-speaking universities in all of Europe. Some parts of the college have been open since the 12th century. It's going to be beautiful. Then hopefully, the weekend after I get back from Scotland, I will be going to Cardiff, Wales. So lots in the future. Expect many more post from me :)