In October, a friend, C, suggested a trip to London and I was only too happy to agree. I love going to the theatre in London and knew that this time would also be wonderful. I saw Stomp on my first trip, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time on my second trip, and Beautiful The Carole King Musical and Behind The Beautiful Forevers on my third trip. On this, my fourth trip, I saw Phantom of the Opera and Hamilton.
Phantom of the Opera
We got discounted tickets for a matinee showing of Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre. I’d read the play when I was in high school, maybe in Grade 9 or 10, but didn’t remember much about it. To be honest, my most vivid memory of reading the play was learning the meaning of the word ventriloquist and falling in love with that word. It just seemed such a fitting word for what it described! Phantom of the Opera is a classic play and did not disappoint. As a (closet) romantic, I want the girl to fall in love with the ugly boy but not if he is evil. In most of the books I had read before I encountered the Phantom, an ugly appearance is transformed to a beautiful one (The Ugly Duckling, Beauty and the Beast, surely others that are less obvious). I think that I found Phantom of the Opera startling because the Phantom is such a malevolent being. I thoroughly enjoyed the play and was so engrossed in it that I was visibly startled by sudden events that occured on the stage (which made both me and C chuckle). As C said, it’s a classic with consistently solid delivery. It couldn’t have been more different in storyline and cast that our second show!
Hamilton
A good thing about being a planner is the opportunity to take advantage of special opportunities. C was totally on top of our London trip and knew that Hamilton tickets would could buy tickets on November 3. Tickets became available at noon UTC time, and since I’m only 1 hour away (in time zone), it made sense for me to buy the tickets. I logged into Ticketmaster on both my computers and refreshed promptly at noon. I searched for a bunch of dates and finally found a ticket. And then my computer froze. And then my 5 minutes run out. Arrgh! But, I did not give up! I did a search for any available ticket in the Royal Circle (because I’d read they were all good seats) and found tickets for less than 100 euros. The other tickets would have been a bit cheaper but both C and I wanted to see this show.
I’m Canadian and St. Lucian. I’ll admit that I don’t know a whole lot about American history! While waiting at the theatre for the doors to open, I pulled up a web page about Alexander Hamilton that summarised his life. I was also worried that I wouldn’t understand the words of the songs and would be lost as a result so we listened to the sound track in our hotel room one evening. I was ready.
This show blew me away. All the hype is totally worth it. I was apprehensive. I’ve been let down by hype before (Titanic, La La Land, etc.). But this show, in London, has such a diverse cast. It’s a musical. Score! It’s funny. Score! Ok, so I’m gushing a little, something that I rarely do! Hamilton takes all the elements that I love and combines them into a delectable package: music, dancing, diverse representation, an interesting story. I now get all the hype!
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