Entry 1: July 17, 2008

I’m settled in London. Double decker buses, tube stations, “Mind the Gap”, and THEATRE! Lots and lots of theatre. Beautiful plays, beautiful actors, beautiful sets, and lovely, lovely theatre goers. WE ARE IN LONDON! It's as fantastic as I ever dreamed.

So, as far as shows go . . . already, we've seen Ruthie Henshall (got 60 pound tickets for 20 pounds) in “Marguerite,” a brand new musical that is debuting in London. Fantastic.

We've seen “Major Barbara” with Clare Higgins, glorious, at the Royal National Theatre of London. Spectacularly mind-blowing scene changes. I like my visuals. The National gave it to me.

Annelise and I ventured to see “Avenue Q.” Brilliantly funny.

Recently a group of us went to see Vanessa Redgrave in a one woman show called “The Year of Magical Thinking”. It is the story of a woman who lost her husband and her daughter in one year and the “magical thinking” that occurred the year after they died hoping they would return to her. It was beautiful. She sat on stage with one chair and told us this woman’s story for two hours and it was captivating and moving. Beautiful.

Another group of us went to go see “On the Rocks” the other night with John Rose and Dr. Webb. It is the premiere of a play about a short snippet of the life of the author D.H. Lawrence. Tom Stoppard’s son, Ed Stoppard, played Lawrence and was phenomenal. His accent was awful but I forgave him. I hope the play goes far.

I have yet to see a Shakespeare play done at the Globe (don’t worry, it’s coming), but we did go see “The Frontline” performed there. It was really enjoyable. It is a play about today’s London and the things that go on in the streets. Quite eye-opening and entertaining.

As far as encounters with “the celebs”, a couple of us went to the annual Gay Pride Parade. It was spectacular. Colors galore, costumes, tons of music, lots of pride, and of course, people. Crowds of people. And we saw Sir Ian McKellen and I was really close to him and I thought my heart was going to burst.

When we were at “Marguerite”, we saw Vanessa Redgrave from afar in the audience and after the show we followed her out, but never said anything to her. We’re not creepy. Jason Isaacs was at “On the Rocks” and I walked by him a couple of times holding my breath for fear of breathing on him. I know he would have been okay with it if I had, but just in case.

That, my friends, is just the theatre portion. London is filled with countless things to do and not a day goes by where I have to search really hard for something. If anything I have to narrow down my field of options. But that is for another time.