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Post by Dawnstar on Mar 5, 2021 18:59:32 GMT
Both my Amazon parcels have just arrived together!
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Post by Dawnstar on Mar 4, 2021 21:05:54 GMT
who doesn’t have a smartphone these days? Quite a few people, especially older ones.
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Post by Dawnstar on Mar 4, 2021 20:02:15 GMT
Out of curiosity, is there tracking? Have they been sent from the same warehouse? I can't tell. When I click on the "Track your package" button in the email the web pages that comes up for both just say "Dispatched today".
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Post by Dawnstar on Mar 4, 2021 18:35:27 GMT
Email from Amazon 13.44: "We thought you'd like to know that we've dispatched this portion of your order separately to give you a quicker service". Email from Amazon 15.52: "We thought you'd like to know that we've dispatched the remainder of your items". How can dispatching one item 2 hours and 6 minutes earlier make any significant difference to its arrival? Both parcels are due to arrive on Saturday & it's been a long time since we've had more than one postal delivery per day so surely they'll just arrive together!
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Post by Dawnstar on Mar 4, 2021 18:27:16 GMT
I'd love to see this but Cambridge to Buxton by public transport is ghastly - I've done it twice for the Gilbert & Sullivan Festival - so sadly I don't think I'll be able to.
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Post by Dawnstar on Mar 4, 2021 14:07:16 GMT
TallPaul Sadly not. Though in fairness, a career as a cuddly toy sat on a bookshelf doesn't allow for much earning potential!
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Post by Dawnstar on Mar 3, 2021 23:12:28 GMT
Re packaging, our garage is now what feels like about one quarter full just of Waitrose bags!
Update on the external hard drive damaged by the lamp-knocked-over-by-a-falling-teddy-bear. I consulted my computer expert cousin who said it sounded like the casing rather than the drive itself could be the problem. (Consultation done via email as even though he lives just down the road thanks to lockdown I couldn't take him the drive to look at.) So I discovered that it's possible to break into the casing of an external hard drive using a kitchen knife! No stab wounds were incurred during this process. I'm now awaiting a hard driver docking station to arrive from Amazon to find out if my cousin's theory is correct. Fingers crossed.....
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Post by Dawnstar on Mar 3, 2021 23:07:39 GMT
I'm at odds with the general consensus here. On the rare occasions I have been to a Sunday matinee I haven't enjoyed it at all, London feels all wrong, without its usual buzz (I'm talking pre-Covid, of course). I'm a midweek matinee gal through and through (OK, I'm retired, so that helps). On Sundays, though, I have travel issues, usually rail replacements and then the buses have stopped running when I finally reach my home station. Saturdays are better, apart from having to contend with football fans on my way home. I'm usually a lone theatregoer, so don't stay on for an evening show. Is there really any more buzz in London on a weekday matinee than a Sunday one? London is usually bustling on a Sunday! As someone who works (more than) 9 to 5, regular Sunday matinees would be a godsend. I've been to quite a few Sunday matinees over the last few years, because Mischief have been doing them since 2014. I also sometimes attend mid-week matinees when I'm between temp jobs. My overall impression is that in the West End there's not much difference in atmosphere between weekday & Sunday matinees. The most "dead" performances I've been to have been weekday matinees at my local theatre for less popular shows, where the auditorium has been about a quarter full & I've been one of the very few audience members under pensionable age!
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Post by Dawnstar on Mar 3, 2021 21:52:58 GMT
It looks a bit like the folding scenery for The Comedy About A Bank Robbery. In that case it was necessary due to the Criterion having limited wing space & no fly tower. I wouldn't have thought the Gillian Lynne Theatre would have similar space constraints.
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Post by Dawnstar on Mar 3, 2021 21:49:59 GMT
That set was glorious. It had 3 revolves which is pretty complex for a small theatre. I remember one Saturday matinee the revolves stuck just before the show started. They had to cancel the performance and the cast then reset the whole show without the revolves so by the evening performance they were ready to go with static scenery. They did an amazing job. I was supposed to see that matinee. Unfortunately the Menier didn't inform ticket holders the show was cancelled until arrival at the theatre which, given their matinees are 3.30pm, meant it was too late to get to any other show. 4 hours having to kill time wandering around London before the WE evening show I was booked for wasn't much fun and, living outside London, the waste of one of a limited number of show slots was very annoying. I did enjoy She Loves Me when I finally got to see it a few weeks later.
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Manaus
Mar 1, 2021 21:46:25 GMT
Post by Dawnstar on Mar 1, 2021 21:46:25 GMT
Our Dawnstar is well travelled, but I'm not sure she's *that* well travelled. Probably too hot anyway. 🙂 Has it been streaming? I'm not very well travelled. I've been to a number of European countries but the only time I've been outside Europe was Morocco, so I've certainly not been anywhere near Brazil. Yes, it would definitely be too hot! I have heard of the Manaus Opera House but can't say I know much about it. South America had a number of quite prestigious in their day opera houses, lead by the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. I've read that in the days before air travel some opera singers, including top stars, would tour to South America for extended periods, so I imagine Manaus would have been on some of their itineraries.
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 28, 2021 17:44:33 GMT
As I know there are people on here who enjoy bad puns, here are lots of terrible ones! Can anyone spot the one inspired by a certain board member?
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 27, 2021 18:24:47 GMT
In case anyone is interested, my obsession with Mischief may have reached a new level. "What did you do during lockdown?" "I spent many hours trawling through Twitter, Instagram & Facebook to compile a list of the titles, genres & settings of all the Mischief Movie Night shows!"
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 26, 2021 21:24:28 GMT
Trying to decide if this would be breaking the only meet up with 1 other person rule. Tomorrow my mother is meeting a friend to go for a walk. If I went with my mother in the car but then walked a significant distance in front/behind her & her friend, say 100 yards, would that be breaking the spirit of the law. I can't decide. Did go for a walk today, mostly not-with my mother & her friend. I mostly walked about 50+ yards in front of them but we did converge twice when looking for hares because it's impossible to tell someone to look at a distant brown spot that may or may not be a hare when you're 50 yards apart! It's the first time I've ever come anywhere near breaking any lockdown rules in the last 11 months so I hope I'll be forgiven. The weather was glorious & very few other people were around.
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 25, 2021 20:34:56 GMT
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 25, 2021 15:25:00 GMT
A quick Google of dates of birth of the original cast shows that only Michael Ball & Frances Ruffelle were what you could call fresh out of drama school age & Ruffelle actually already had several years' experience.
Colm Wilkinson 41 Roger Allam 32 Patti LuPone 36 Michael Ball 23 Rebecca Caine 26 Frances Ruffelle 20 David Burt 32 Alun Armstrong 39 (can't find a DOB for Susan Jane Tanner)
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 25, 2021 15:10:34 GMT
Trying to decide if this would be breaking the only meet up with 1 other person rule. Tomorrow my mother is meeting a friend to go for a walk. If I went with my mother in the car but then walked a significant distance in front/behind her & her friend, say 100 yards, would that be breaking the spirit of the law. I can't decide.
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 24, 2021 22:38:20 GMT
Young people playing students? Surely not! The ensemble don't just play students though, they all play several other roles apiece. I know life expectancy was shorter in the 19th century but not so short that most of the French population were only about 22! The last time I saw Les Mis Marius, Enjolras & the students looked like they were members of a teenage boy band! As for Javerts, the last time I saw Les Mis it was David Thaxton. I'd found him excellent as Enjolras 5 years previously, in fact he's probably the best Enjolras I've seen, but I felt he should have had a longer gap before switching to Javert.
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 24, 2021 12:03:12 GMT
fiyero Thank you. I've now got all the Vaudeville ones. Now, if anyone happened to be at the Minack 4th-6th September...
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 23, 2021 23:01:15 GMT
That was awesome!!! Amish-geddon - a Wild West Murder mystery set on an Amish commune. I'm trying to find out the titles for the Vaudeville shows. May I ask if this was the 13th December matinee one?
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 23, 2021 22:15:10 GMT
I do have the advantage that I'm a temp so can refuse to take a job until I feel safe. I already turned down one I was offered in December for starting in January, though I suspect it would have been cancelled anyway with the latest lockdown. However no job = no income & while that's okay when there's very little to spend money on once I start wanting to go to the theatre again I'll be running out of money. The other problem is that the company I temp for has previously allowed permanent staff to work from home sometimes but never temps so if I do accept a job at some point then I imagine I'll have to be in the office all day, every day.
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 23, 2021 20:24:58 GMT
I could do without them being annoyingly tantalising only 2 days after MMN has finished. There's enough uncertainty going on in this country at the moment already!
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 22, 2021 21:27:10 GMT
peggs It feels as though all they care about is keeping severe illness low enough so the NHS isn't overwhelmed. No consideration for people under 50 because they're are unlikely to require hospitalization in extremely large numbers, so presumably a few deaths & lots with illness for weeks/months is fine as collateral damage.
The thought of going back to work & sitting in an office for 8 hours with hundreds of other people, plus the crowded commute, makes me want to curl up & die.
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 22, 2021 17:40:47 GMT
Interesting story regarding Scott from a few years ago. He was on as the Phantom at a matinee performance and I’m not sure if he’d started to feel unwell earlier on in the show but by PONR he had lost his voice. He had to finish off the show lip syncing to the off stage voice of Jeremy Secomb who was Piangi and understudy Phantom at the time. Has anyone heard of this happening in any other shows? Not in musicals but I've seen it happen several times for operas. Mostly there was one person singing & another acting for the entire performance but once, a Eugene Onegin at the ROH, it was just for the final part. Musicals must be able to do it more discreetly as due to the amplification the singer wouldn't have to be on stage so presumably it wasn't actually that noticeable. For opera the singer has to stand at the side of the stage, so it's impossible to try ignore that there are 2 people playing 1 character!
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 22, 2021 17:35:14 GMT
It is quite ok to feel anxious about post lockdown. Personally i won’t break going near anyone I haven't been near over the last year. Fortunately we can rely on the British summer to allow time outside slowly adjusting. As for the vaccination, looks like we will be getting through fast. I know people in early 40s being called now. Yep, that young! Depends where you live I think. So if a goodly number are vaccinated and quite a few with the double dose, you can be reassured Dawnstar and make plans to go out and about later in the summer. At the moment I am more than happy to avoid everyone but if the theatre re-open in May I know I'm going to be painfully torn between being desparate to go to the theatre & being terrified to travel down to London unprotected. I don't know anyone in my area under their late 60s who has been vaccinated yet so I fear I still have a very long wait.
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 22, 2021 17:32:51 GMT
One of the things the BBC is reporting for 17th May is
Surely there are going to be major problems if they bring it vaccine passports at an earlier date than that at which they are due to have offered everyone at least one dose of vaccine? To tell many people who are desparate to get vaccinated but have not been allowed to have it yet that they are going to be banned from events that people who, by means of age or occupation, have already been given the vaccine are allowed to attend seems to me to be deeply unfair.
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 22, 2021 14:11:03 GMT
Feeling depressed reading all the rumours/leaks about lockdown ending & knowing I'm not going to be vaccinated still for months & will be too scared to do anything before being vaccinated. Last night I had a splitting headache & was so scared in case it was covid that I had a panic attack at 1.30am.
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 22, 2021 14:08:44 GMT
The episode with Nigel Richards and David Shannon was so unnecessary and all down to that certain resident director's incompetence, IIRC. Said director totally misunderstood some of the scenes and those two actors rightly disagreed - e.g. this idea that MotN must be staged as a 'lecture on music', totally missing the point that in Hal's production it is, above all, a seduction. Of course, we saw it staged as a 'lecture on music' in 2012 and wasn't it boring? I hadn't heard about their being a behind the scenes fall-out but I must say that having seen Nigel Richards as the Phantom I wasn't that impressed. Scott Davies, who I've see in the role several times, I thought was much better, so from my point of view the sudden cast change was an improvement, whatever caused it.
While Phantom often hires opera, or at least clasically trained, singers, Scott Davies is the only cast member who I've seen appear in an opera while being in Phantom. In January 2012 I saw him as Spoletta in ENO's Tosca. I gather he'd taken a few weeks off from Phantom in order to do it. It was nice to hear him singing unamplified & in a different style (yes, I know ALW's supposed to have nicked various melodies off Puccini!).
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 22, 2021 14:01:32 GMT
Yeah, as much as I’ve enjoyed it, it has kind of annoyed me to see them (well, mainly Jonathan) tone stuff down because people ignored the age guidance. Maybe if/when it comes back they could do some PG and others not. The fan art got a bit tiresome tbh, though I did like the two regular contributors whose work was quite cartoonish. But as gripes go, they’re pretty minor as this has been a terrific run of shows. They’ve really cheered me up no end. Yes, compared to the stage version some things have definitely been reined in. When they were doing the 3-show days at the Arts Theatre the matinees were usually more family-friendly & the evening shows, especially the 9.15pm ones, less so. I'm not saying I want outright filth or swearing but I think a certain amount of broad innuendo should be allowed.
The fan art I really liked were the drawings by @garyscribbler, which he seemed to do for every show, & the photomontage posters by @btodman93, which sadly only seem to have been done for a few of the shows.
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 21, 2021 22:50:46 GMT
It felt a bit like having to fake being enthusiastic when some nauseatingly proud parents/grandparents show you their offspring's artwork! And MMN is supposed to be 11+!
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