You'd never get away with all this in a play, but if it's loudly sung and in a foreign tongue, it's just the sort of story audiences adore - in fact, a perfect opera!
~
So today I officially had the best birthday ever.
It involved trains and portraits and mysterious masked murderers and CAKE.
That actually sounds a bit like a book summary. Okay, dear reader, I admit it wasn't quite novel-worthy. But it was certainly blog-worthy!
My mom and I took the train to London this morning and, after navigating through the Underground for about half an hour, emerged somewhere near Trafalgar Square. It's easy to see why there are so many dystopian and sci-fi novels set around the London Underground - it really is like an entirely different world. When we surfaced - being England - it was raining. This meant that I couldn't slide down the lions at the base of Nelson's Column, unfortunately.
Since we had about two hours to kill, and the museum was between us and our eventual destination, we decided we'd visit the National Gallery. Mom spent the whole time mocking the genitalia of the religious paintings. Also, can any wise person explain the significance of pickles in 15th Century Italian altarpieces? We spotted about six. It was most puzzling.
We were kicked out of - ahem. I mean, we left the gallery about an hour and a half of mockery later.
Yes, I'm deliberately leaving you in suspense.
...
...okay, I'll tell you. We went to see Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre.
It was, basically, amazing. The costumes were beautiful, the sets were clever, the pyrotechnics... unexpected, and the cast stellar. (I'm restraining myself from using exclamation marks because if I start, I won't be able to stop.) I loved it. ...More flippantly, I liked the fact that the Phantom was rescued from a circus freakshow. Maybe when I escape from being a freak I will also be a genius! Lots to look forward to!
As you probably know, my greatest ambition is to act in a West End musical. Phantom did nothing to discourage me.
Also, now I'm going to be singing songs with mildly disturbing lyrics all week. ;)
(Exit stage left, singing to self.) Soooftly, deeeftly, music will careeeessss yoouuu... heeeaar it, feeel it seeeecretly posseeeessss yooooouuuu... da da doobie dooo, doobie doo bie doobie dooo... doo doo da doo, the music of the niiiiiight.
P.S. It! Was! Freaking! Awesome! Exclamation! Mark! Ahem. Sorry.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
01 June 2010
10 May 2010
In Which Codenames Are Introduced
...and the Situation Becomes Complicated.
Okay, not really. But the codenames part is true.
~
I've been singing in various choirs for a bit over three years now. Earlier this year, I finally got into what's basically my school's elite choir, a chamber choir called St. Cecilia. (Well. It's supposed to be a chamber choir. I think we have 36 or 37 members this year...)
I've had a lot of chances to do really cool stuff with St. Cecilia. For instance, we've performed a Bach cantata with the London Mozart Players. Last month we won the Peterborough festival with an arrangement of the song Africa, by Toto. (This one, except we did it without the rainstorm at the beginning; the song starts around 1:49)
So since we're supposed to be so elite, our director - who should know better - left us to organise our own rehearsal today. It was... interesting. She'd left in charge one of my classmates, who, since this is supposed to be an anonymous blog, we'll call Animal. (you know, after the Muppet. Basically, he's a red-haired taciturn percussionist. I feel the nickname is fitting.) The boy who ended up conducting was another of my classmates - he's a very good composer and a nice guy, but he has one of those 'serious musician' faces (you know the ones), so for the sake of argument, let's call him Beethoven II.
And... well, this could get very long and carried away, so I'll just leave you with Beethoven Two describing the dynamics of a crescendo as "like a beautiful flower of sound blossoming" and a girl screaming at - let's call her Rachel, because she permanently reminds me of the Glee character - "You are not the designated whistleblower!" (Rachel is very fond of whistles. I learned that when she directed the Beatles cover band. But that's a story for another day.)
It was most amusing.
And I like codenames. :)
Okay, not really. But the codenames part is true.
~
I've been singing in various choirs for a bit over three years now. Earlier this year, I finally got into what's basically my school's elite choir, a chamber choir called St. Cecilia. (Well. It's supposed to be a chamber choir. I think we have 36 or 37 members this year...)
I've had a lot of chances to do really cool stuff with St. Cecilia. For instance, we've performed a Bach cantata with the London Mozart Players. Last month we won the Peterborough festival with an arrangement of the song Africa, by Toto. (This one, except we did it without the rainstorm at the beginning; the song starts around 1:49)
So since we're supposed to be so elite, our director - who should know better - left us to organise our own rehearsal today. It was... interesting. She'd left in charge one of my classmates, who, since this is supposed to be an anonymous blog, we'll call Animal. (you know, after the Muppet. Basically, he's a red-haired taciturn percussionist. I feel the nickname is fitting.) The boy who ended up conducting was another of my classmates - he's a very good composer and a nice guy, but he has one of those 'serious musician' faces (you know the ones), so for the sake of argument, let's call him Beethoven II.
And... well, this could get very long and carried away, so I'll just leave you with Beethoven Two describing the dynamics of a crescendo as "like a beautiful flower of sound blossoming" and a girl screaming at - let's call her Rachel, because she permanently reminds me of the Glee character - "You are not the designated whistleblower!" (Rachel is very fond of whistles. I learned that when she directed the Beatles cover band. But that's a story for another day.)
It was most amusing.
And I like codenames. :)
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