Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

And this is the full record of the day. It was a GREAT day, full of culture and learning.

I woke up at a leisurely hour and hit the road with Michelle, Scott, and Jessica to go get tickets for “All My Sons.” After getting over there, the four of us split into two groups and Jessica and I went to exchange her Macbeth tickets for a different day, after which we went to the British Library, where we saw such things as original Beatles sheet music, the earliest known manuscripts of Bible passages, an original score of Handel's Messiah (which he composed in 24 days....WHAT?), one of the original copies of the Magna Carta, among other original religious works. It was really fantastic.

I've been thinking about museums a lot lately. We go to them to see things and learn about them. But most of those things we find in museums we can also find on the internet. I guess the question is “what do you actually gain from seeing the item in person? People say (and I include myself in this) that it's just not the same as seeing the things in person. Perhaps it is similar to what happens to us when we hear live music—some endorphins get going in our head and it makes us all tingly inside. Whatever it is, it keeps us going back for more.

After the library, we had to skiddaddle like crazy monkies to get back to the theater for the matinee of “All My Sons,” largley because the tube map didn't show some critical information to our arriving at our destination. Anyway, we made it with a few minutes to spare and all was well.

Let me just say upfront that “All My Sons” on West End was THE best, most masterful acting I have EVER seen on stage and maybe in my life. It BLEW me away. All the actors were so incredibly saturated into their characters. They knew every singly knook and cranny of their characters and were so good at simply living on stage. They merely existed and were so believable. And I cannot even say just how amazingly spot-on their acting was. The script was just fantastically written. I can not get over how much Miller packed into one script. He was an absolutely phenomenal playwright. It is easily the best stage performance I have ever seen. I am still reeling from it as I write this entry three days later.

After being totally and completely stunned by the production, we went to get Thai food at a restaurant near China town. My dish was good, but not phenomenal. Jessica, who doesn't like spicy food at all got a green curry, which was quite spicy, but fantastic. So we basically traded. Both ended up quite pleased with the other's dish.

And off we went to see Tosca at the English National Opera. Beautiful music. Great voices. Not phenomenal, but good. I'll tell you what though, Puccini could flat out write music. Dang. That man could write emotion. All the operas by the ENO are done in English, which I honestly found a bit distracting. Since the music wasn't written originally to be sung in English, it ended up sounding a bit awkward. However, the plot was gripping for me.

And then back to the flats for a chill evening.