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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 30, 2017 8:03:25 GMT
For the first time ever I did what I believe to be the exact opposite of this. I came late! Had tickets for Mitrade at the ROH for some time before my company booked a FUN day team building. So after spending day in open air building towers of crates, falling backwards like Eleanor Powell (don’t ask and yes the reference was lost on the others) and getting very wet building rafts and other “watersports” I headed off for 3 hours of pretty obscure Mozart.
Knowing there were two intervals allowed me not to rush to get there and to sit out the first 70 mins in a very comfy sofa just outside the auditorium. Oh the 40 winks were lovely and thus I was able to thoroughly enjoy the last two acts.
I know it was selfish of me not to tell my co to stuff it as I was going to some ART that evening. Perhaps I should have sent the cast some flowers to apologise for my inconsiderateness? Stood everyone in the amphitheatre a round for not being there with them? Best comment came from Mrs Snow. “It’s hot in there, the seating is as tight as usual, so I rather enjoyed having the extra space.”
PS Can't recall ever leaving early, though there were several I wished I had done.
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 30, 2017 7:48:13 GMT
We could do our own version. Hire someone straight out of drama school, stick them in a pedalo and do circuits of Battersea Park Boating Lake. You could call it something catchy, like Swan Lake?
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 28, 2017 15:06:02 GMT
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 28, 2017 12:05:50 GMT
The ROH allocation for La Tragedié de Carmen had already sold out by the time Friends booking opened this morning, but if you're keen, Wiltons has its own allocation which goes on sale to the public at 11am on Monday, or if you become a friend of Wiltons (£35) then the tickets are on sale now and there are plenty available. HAv a thank you. Would love to see this. It was sold out even for Freinds + so hopefully Wiltons have a large no of seats for sale.
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 28, 2017 12:03:27 GMT
We are off to Liverpool for the weekend but that probably means seeing something on Saturday, 29th July.
We are staying with a friend near the waterfront and just wondering what’s on locally (will happily get on the train somewhere else if that helps).
Not really looking for a touring show as we are London based, but keen to hear of any kind of Musical Event, play or …. That would make Saturday night special.
Is there a good website to consult?
Recommendations please.
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 28, 2017 9:05:31 GMT
I love magic shows but didn’t really enjoy P&T when I saw them in Vegas. Too much patter and not enough business. It also convinced me that what I like best is close up magic not the big illusions. So each to their own.
I've several times hired a magician for company events. Pushed the boat out once for a founder of the company's leaving do. Got several recommendations for the act.
His speciality was cutting up a box containing the guest of honour, with a CHAINSAW.
All was going well, he came early and we hid the ‘box’ from sight as it was to be a surprise. But as our guest arrived he whispered he couldn’t go ahead with it! When I enquired why, he pointed out that the guest had brought his young children and he didn’t want to traumatise them! Sadly never got to see the highlight.
Anyone got a link for MagicCircle showcases?
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 28, 2017 8:50:53 GMT
Mitradate tomorrow night - after a day spent activity team building! Oh please let it not be warm!
ON the Town Sat matinee. Oh please don't let it rain, or the sun shine!
(I'm not sure I'm cut out for this anymore. Can’t decide if I should change my name to Mr Sleepy or Mr Grumpy!)
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 28, 2017 5:49:28 GMT
Here is the rub for me, which I personally find distasteful and I know there is nothing coming up in the queen's speech about this, so it's not going to be law anytime soon. But to go on a theatre messenger board and talk about an art form, then happily indulge that you scarper at the interval, I find completely alien and disrespectful. People who have paid for their ticket lose their right to walk? I do question walking DURING a performance but at the interval why shouldn't they? I 'donate' a significant amount of my personal disposable income to the theater and sometimes I get RUBBISH in return. More fool me for not checking up beforehand but to suggest that I have to eat it all up is perverse. You have to entertain an audience if you want them to come back....after the interval. Calling walkers disrespectful is suspect IMO. Too many people around the arts are somewhat more than a little precious about how important what they do is. If I do my job poorly, I don't expect my customers to come back.
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 26, 2017 21:14:38 GMT
I was there on Wednesday night and pretty much agree with everything you say Mr snow. I was sat row H of the amphitheatre, and JK definitely sounded underpowered in places especially in Act One and Two, although I did think he seemed to gather confidence as the night progressed and i felt slightly more engaged in the third and last acts. Nerves definitely got the better of him early on and I don't yet think he has got under the skin of the role or worked out where he needs to hold back slightly and where he can really let go. I'd love to see him do the role again after he has a couple more productions under his belt as he really has the potential to be one of the greats in this role. I thought the production was fine but uninspired and I hated that bloody lion that they trundled across the stage, just didn't seem in keeping with the expressionists staging of the rest of it. Also couldn't quite see what was going on in that mirror from my seat, I assume some sort of tortured, broken otello? Was also disappointed wth the Iago who lacked the darkness of tone and the menace that the better singers have in that role, probably not helped by the fact that JK has such a dark tenor voice as well. A 3.5 star performance for me overall and not with some of the raves from the people sat around me or the press. The couple sat next to me had come across from NYC to see it and thought it was the best thing they'd ever seen! WE must have been quite close in the Right? I asked friend sitting on the Left about the mirror as I was unsighted by the frame. Apparently the second time he looked into it the reflected image was distorted/dishevelled; a sign of him cracking up? (not a verbatim report but what I took from it).
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 26, 2017 21:09:08 GMT
Manna from heaven this for Jeremy Corbyn. Go 'ed Jezza lad Really? In what sane world is the DUP in power a result for JC, or anyone for that matter?
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 26, 2017 20:27:38 GMT
Th surprise element is that Northern Ireland only gets the money if they get back to governing with SF. A silver lining?
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 26, 2017 19:49:50 GMT
..is back in town!
Hir playing at the Bush until July 22nd.
Anyone going?
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 23, 2017 11:33:29 GMT
The theatre costs way too much damn money to consider leaving before I've seen everything, Strikes me as the very definition of Masochism. 'This is killing me, but I'll stay untill I get everything I've paid for'. Rumour has it there are sites on the Web where your interests are fully catered for.
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 23, 2017 11:22:19 GMT
War Horse - I seriously considered leaving. ^^^ oh god I thought I was the only person in the world who thought this. I only got through it by focussing on the bum of one of the puppeteers in his very tight breeches 😋. The rest of it left me cold. And I thought Mrs Snow and I were a very exclusive Club on this one. Our duet is now a Quartet.
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 23, 2017 7:01:59 GMT
Hope to write more at the weekend. But...
JK, just a little underpowered (I was in Row K of the Balcony)? A modern Otello, certainly not a 'great man' falling from heights. But hard to sympathise with.
For the Drama we needed a threatening Iago, not really dark enough.
(Its possible that the two we more closely matched in this production and that was the drama, but if so such subtleties didn' project upto the heated heights where I was.)
A good production that went off the rails with grafitti, a broken lion and a modern hotel room. Presumably the later to remind the audience that this Opera is still relvant today (Ho Hum).
It was good, but not what it might have been and not what the interval darlings were bleating about.
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 17, 2017 17:34:07 GMT
Loved this. Absolutely wonderful production. Kurzak and Alagna were both excellent. +1 Also de Billy's conducting was rather fine. This surprised me because I though he gave A poor Don Carlo recently
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 15, 2017 10:04:12 GMT
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 13, 2017 14:56:18 GMT
I only knew her as a singer but after seeing her in Chicago, Mrs Snow commented "She's very ....bendy!"
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 13, 2017 13:12:29 GMT
A challenging piece.
Brownlee is most accomplished in the Title role, but unless you came as a Jazz or more particularly Parker fan, I’m not sure that the Opera created a compelling case for why he was so important. Perhaps they felt if they focussed on the women in his life we emotionally would buy into it, but it left me a little cold.
I admire Parker’s playing but don’t really ….like it. The composer tried to suggest the complexity of his thought and gave him a style unlike the others. I preferred the music for everyone else! As for themes, I couldn’t recognise any standards except some thing that was repeated’ that sounded very like “Bess, you is my woman now”.
A strong cast and great musicianship from the ‘Orchestra’ made it an interesting night out. Much of the audience found it VERY challenging.
Seen 09 06
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 12, 2017 7:07:21 GMT
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 8, 2017 15:53:37 GMT
I did choose one of the top 4 on the list because to me this time the choice seems clear. But in the past I have voted for each of them in a General Election. I consider myself a floating voter with no party allegiance whatsoever.
That’s why I get depressed when these discussions split so quickly into them and us. I'm amazed that people believe that something as amorphous as a Club of politico’s can together form a Party that really means anything. They support a Party life they choose to support a Football team. I’ve had the vote for 40 years and seen each of those parties policiesmove around quite a bit. To me that makes sense. We have all prospered (yes I mean that) under a mixed economy and when a Party recognises that there are conflicting needs to be met, it tends to be more electable. They have to accept that and moderate their extremists. The Conservative Party have been more successful at this and less dogmatic which is why they’ve been in power for 28 of those 40 years, despite not being at all ‘popular’ – witness the results of our poll.
As long as we are stuck with a two party system we are hostage to dogma (witness Brexit, Holland, Trump etc.) and reluctantly I’m now in favour of PR with the hope of being ruled by coalitions (with all their disadvantage) of centre parties. However, our representatives will never vote for that, so I can dream on.
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 8, 2017 13:00:04 GMT
I can't work out if you're doing a *thing* by the way; is it on purpose that you're calling someone an idiot while being consistently unable to spell the word? It's not translating well if it is. Think it might be a 'witty' play on the spelling of her surname... Thansk you for that...but no "I am the Idiott"
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 8, 2017 10:57:50 GMT
But they’ve always been loyal to each other.
They were lovers.
I was trying to put it subtly. As Mrs Snow likes to say, not my forte apprently.
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 8, 2017 10:56:12 GMT
Born to working class Jamaican parents, earned a place at Cambridge in the '70s (for contrast, of 3,449 students accepted into Cambridge during the 2015/2016 academic year, only 38 defined themselves as black. Forty years on), worked constantly in politics since 1982, won The Spectator magazine's "Parliamentary Speech of the Year" award in 2008, and everything she has done has been under the double-microscope of being black and being a woman. Maybe she doesn't have the most impressive political record, and she certainly doesn't TV-interview well, but she can out-think any of us morons any day of the week. Well if we're all morons, that leaves plenty of room for her to be smarter than us and still be ....an idiott!
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 8, 2017 10:40:01 GMT
Can you tell me what she has achieved? At the moment I think she is an idiott. Please enlighten me.
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