There and Back Again: Pre Spring Break Update

To give you a warning, I won't be updating this for like a week and a half, because I will be galavanting across Europe with my friends for Spring Break. Hitting up 7 cities. Hellooooooo exhaustion.

Anyway, the last few days have been lovely as Cesca and Mary have been visiting. I feel bad because there isn't really a ton of stuff to do in London besides touristy stuff that they finished in one day, so they wandered around for a few days as I had to both work and do midterms at school.

On Wednesday, I was at work and they popped by after visiting things like Big Ben and Westminster Abbey and the like. We wandered around Trafalgar and then headed over to Her Majesty's Theatre, where glory awaited.

Yes, it has only been 2 weeks since I last saw Phantom, but it was special cause Cesca and I got to see it together. We couldn't stop gushing and smiling the whole time, despite a rather raucous audience (I wanted to punch someone soooo bad, but they quieted down after a while).

Long story short, the performance was brilliant. Tears were shed, hearts broken, it was epic. I wasn't feeling that well (I have an annoying cough that won't go away) so I was gonna skip the stage door, but we couldn't resist. Will Barratt (Raoul) came out first again and was super sweet. He signed Cesca's notebook cause we didn't buy another programme. He is hilarious. He asked her how to spell her name. Here's a rundown:

Will: What's your name?
Cesca: Francesca
Will: Is that spelled the normal way? F-R-A-N...?
Cesca: C-E-S-C-A. Yeah. Um, is there an abnormal way of spelling it?
Will: You wouldn't believe the crazy spellings I get. Someone will be like, oh yeah, my name is Chris! And I'll be like oh, ok, C-H... And they will say, actually its K-Y-R-H-S (and then he rolls his eyes and laughs). So whereabouts are you from?
Mary:New York City
Will: *No reaction*
Cesca: *gestures to me* We're from Buffalo.
Will: Buffalo!? Buffalo, NY? I did a concert there once. That was like ten years ago... Yeah, I've been there! I have done concerts in weird places... Roanoke, Birmingham...

yeah. He was super excited.

Next Sofia came out and was hogged by French people for a while. I can't blame them, she's awesome. Then she came over to us, smiled at me and said "I remember you!" To Cesca and I. TO which Cesca replied "Actually, you probably remember her. Cause we are twins." And I almost died of happiness. She was telling us about how she was worried as she'd just gotten over a cold, to which we all responded that she sounded amazing, which she did. It was too cold to wait for John Owen Jones, and Cesca didn't want the 'illusion of the Phantom' to be shattered. We gushed all the way home on the tube.

The next day, I had to take some midterms which I think were alright, then I met up with Cesca and Mary again for a different adventure. Cesca had coerced me into seeing Love Never Dies while she was here. Let's be real, I've been curious since it came out if it is really as bad as I thought. I was willing to admit defeat, to throw my hands up and admit that I was wrong, that it was excellent. But I don't have to. It was just as bad as I could have pictured, maybe even worse. The only nice thing was we bought really cheap seats. Like back row seats. The top section was quite empty, so we got to move down like 7 rows for a better view. Still didn't make the show any better, but that was nice.

It dragged and has a hokey plotline and silly music and it was just plain bizarre. It tried to be so spectacularly set up that so much was lost in translation as too much was going on at once, probably trying to cover up the poor plotline and character assassination. I can honestly say that it was the worst West End/Broadway show I've ever seen. I did feel bad though, because at one point Sierra Boggess was singing a big aria and I could not stop coughing. Like hacking my lungs out. So I got up and left and coughed in the bathroom for like 5 minutes before calmly returning to my seat. I felt bad, but it was better than trying to hold in or disturb the people around me.

On the bright side, seeing the two back to back just reinforced how brilliant the original is. Waaaay better. We didn't even get to meet the cast (which would have redeemed it slightly as they are talented, the show just sucks) but there was a cast function so they weren't coming out till later. Oh well. Not a huge loss. It was a learning experience at least.

Pics!!!!!!!!