London Week 2: Part One

I know that this blog is late but it has been a busy week! As I mentioned at the end of the last blog, the students went to the Thames Festival on the South Bank. This is a festival sponsored by the Mayor of London and extends from the London Eye (pictured on the left) to Tower Bridge. It involves entertainment and food from all over the world. The Southwalk Bridge is closed to traffic and tables and chairs are set up for people to sit and enjoy the food that they purchased from various vendors on the Bridge. On Sunday evening after our rehearsal the students went back to the South Bank to watch the fantastic fireworks display!

For the Theatre in London Class we went to see Les Miserable at the Queen's Theatre which was renovated recently by Cameron MacIntosh, the producer of the show. This is the 25th Anniversary of Les Miz. Remarkable seeing that 25 years ago it opened to terrible reviews by most of the critics. The public loved it! This was an incredible production. It had all new orchestration and the new sound system allowed us to hear and understand every single word! Just about all of the leads were fantastic. Cosette was just OK....highly recommend it.

Brendan crying/laughing after the production. It was very emotional.

Jonathan from Tara Theatre joined us for the performance.

In the Theatre in London class students presented their topic West End and Off-West End Theatre. The other show we went to on Wednesday evening as part of this class and the Page to Stage Class was War Horse at the New London Theatre. As most of you know, War Horse won the Tony Award for Best Play this past year. This was my 6th time seeing it and unfortunately it was not the best production. The puppetry and production values are still incredible, but the actor play Albert, the lead, was not up to par. Lacked emotion. All of the students felt the same about it, and as a result, it was not as emotional for the audience as it has been in the past; it was not the best production of the play I have seen.

The New London Theatre is in Covent Garden and most of the students didn't want to wait for the lift(elevator) at the Tube station so they climbed the 193 stairs (equal to 15 stories). Needless to say most of them didn't do it again! However, Aaron, Mary, and Andrew, yes Andrew, did climb them again.

Me having a cup of coffee before the production across the street from the theatre. Alise Kennedy, Jonathan's wife, who works for the Royal Ballet attended the performance with us. It was Alise's first time seeing War Horse.

As far as other classes. The Global Issues class started examining the European Union after discussing the concept of the American Dream. Acting class with Tony James began delving into British dialects and reading from Harold Pinter's The Lover. The Art in London class visited The Banqueting Hall and The National Gallery (to look at Rubens work). Here are some pictures of The Banqueting Hall:

Chris and Sarah practicing their ballroom dancing.

Sam and Andrew thinking that they are royalty! Who gets the throne?

On Tuesday night we were invited to a reception at Tara Theatre to kick off the Fall season! Tara is where we are performing Greater Tuna on October 18 -22. It was the first time the students were able to see the performance space. We were able to meet the Tara staff and other artists, performers, directors, and potential audience members who will be at Tara this Fall. It was a very lovely evening and it allowed the students to mingle with other artists. We will again be part of the Black History month series.

Jonathan, Brendan, me, and Aaron.

Chris doesn't seem to be happy with Phil. Phil seems to be happy with himself!

Chris, me, Andrew!

All this time we have been rehearsing both in the classroom and at The Drill Hall rehearsal venue on Goodge Street. After rehearsals we have indulged in Icco Pizza a favorite of students in years past. Students visited Buckingham Palace, Portobello Market in Notting Hill, went to a production of Top Girls which they throughly enjoyed, and have done some general sight seeing.

Rehearsing in the classroom.

Chris setting up props in classroom.

Returning from rehearsal at The Drill Hall.

Chris and the Horse Guard!

Outside the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square! Landscape made from real plants.

Michael Jackson sidewalk drawing.

Andrew lying down with Amy Winehouse.

Lion at Trafalgar Square.

Student flats at Broadmead.

Maggie and and aquarium piano at a restaurant....

Students waiting for me at Westminster Tube stop.

Our mini bus to Canterbury.

By the was it was Aaron who got his foot run over by a car because he was looking in the wrong direction crossing the street. The child is fine!

Part Two of this blog will cover our wonderful trip to Canterbury that we took on Friday. It will be posted soon. Watch out for it!