FrozenDreamer

Bryan managed to get us tickets to watch Classical Spectacular at The Royal Albert Hall. We’ve been before, and I was really looking forward to seeing it from the Peabody Box. 

It was a fantastic evening… and really worth attending in the future if you ever get the chance. In all seriousness, if you’re not a classical music fan… the theatrics and beauty of the evening will win you over.

The hall itself was in good form as well… image below. 

There isn’t much to say about this prom really. I didn’t enjoy it at all. Loads of French, and the occasional bit of music. I didn’t have a clue what was happening. It just sounded like a French bloke having a moan in a supermarket!

Wouldn’t recommend seeing this piece if it comes up again… so here are the details:

Pierre BoulezMémoriale (’… explosante-fixe …’ Originel)
StravinskyL’Histoire du Soldat
Members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra
Daniel Barenboimconductor

Again, we went to The Royal Albert Hall to see Prom 38, it was a brilliant performance by a Palestine and Israeli Orchastra. Security was very tight, and those celebrities who were in the audience weren’t too pleased with the extra searches being made… this included international star Prunella Scales .

They were incredibly good, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially from our front row box seats on the Grand Tier (I’m such a tart!)

Haydn Sinfonia Concertante in B flat major, for oboe, bassoon, violin, cello* 
SchoenbergVariations for Orchestra, Op.31

BrahmsSymphony No.4

*Members of West-Eastern Divan Orchestra

West-Eastern Divan OrchestraDaniel Barenboimconductor

Bryan’s employer own a box at the Royal Albert Hall, and tickets which are made available to staff are obtainable using a ‘raffle’ system. We were lucky enough to get a set of six tickets to see three seperate Proms at The Royal Albert Hall.

The view from the box is spectacular, and the Proms were equally as entertaining (except for Prom 39)

I’m not Classical Music Guru… so you’re best checking out Bryan’s Website for any review of the music that was played… so to cheat… I’ll paste some info directly from the RAH website.

Ravel La Valse
Anders HillborgClarinet Concerto (Peacock Tales) (UK premiere)

BerliozSymphonie fantastique

Martin Fröstclarinet 

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra 
Gustavo Dudamelconductor

Bryan’s employer own a box at The Royal Albert Hall… and Bryan is lucky enough to be able to bid for tickets to see the shows from the box. We’re right in the middle of the Proms season, so what a fantastic little perk to be able to take advantage of.

This is the view you get from the box (click for bigness)

I love The American High School Theatre company… they never fail to amaze you with their professionalism and amazing talents! That said, this year’s show, Les Miserables, was a little bit of a let down for me. This could be for a few reasons (1) last year I watched them perform my favourite show EVER (Chicago) and they blew me away. Hitting that mark would be hard and (2) I have no idea what the story was all about so was so confused that I lost interest half way through.

The problem here is that they’ve condensed a three hour musical into an hour and a half. Not an easy thing to do. The only problem with doing something as ballsy as this is that you risk alienating people who don’t know the plot… like me.

Still, I have to give them their dues… for teeny-boppers… they’re fecking brilliant! West End quality singing and amazing acting skills. I look forward to seeing them again next year… just I’ll do some research first to make sure I know what they’re actually doing on stage.

Last year at The Fringe we went to see an acrobatic performance from a group which came out of the Cirque De Soleil, and they were really good. This year, we decided to go with Gillian to see The Caesar Twins, a well known and respected acrobatic duo known around the globe for a few things… including:

(a) their amazing strength and agility
(b) their classy shows and… erm…
(c) their looks (OMG!)

Really great show, beautifully done, but occasionally bordering on corny. They look good wet as well!

Not the best show we’ve seen this year. In fact, the worst.

Dreadful acting, cringe-worthy lines and some rather OTT jokes which were seriously run into the ground make for a rather hap-hazard and unappealing piece of comedy-theatre.

I wouldn’t recommend this one, and have only given it two stars for the really cute IT Manager and his rather attractive ‘rainbow guitar’….

A show which rivals the wonders of BEAUTIFUL THING. WWWA is a show about two guys who mnage to get together even though society seems to be throwing a lot of issues their way. The usual things such as homophobia, Catholic Church problems, school bullying etc etc etc… all play a part.

It carries a powerful message, one which I like. Why? Why do people have an issue with homosexuality?

The play is a hit, and I really recommend you go and see it!

We’ve all heard the hype and excitement about the release of Mamma Mia, the Movie. I went to see it tonight with one of my chorus friends and just wanted to comment about poor Pierce Brosnan. 

Pierce, hunny, sweetheart… stick to the action adventure movies. You were not meant to be singing and flapping about for us gay-boys! One word… ‘laugh-ability’… you had the whole audience in stitches when we really shouldn’t have been… especially in this scene:

Fabulous movie though… really recommend it. I’ll be going again with Bryan so he can see it as well.