London is a large, energetic, beautiful city full of history. I think that a person could visit London every year and find something new to do and learn something about the city that they did not know before. Knowing this, I made set a goal to choose to do one big thing a day and not to get too overwhelmed. I can always come back to London.
So, my goal for Saturday was to go to the theatre. I had never seen The Phantom of the Opera before believe it or not. So, I purchased a ticket for the matinee at Her Majesty's Theatre. The Phantom has been showing here for 27 years, second in longevity only to Les Miserables which has been showing in London for 30 years.
The theatre district in London is jam packed with great shows. I was so tempted to go and see Les Miserables once again but I thought it better to see something that I had not previously seen 5 times. So, Phantom is was.
The show started at 2:30 and I successfully took the underground (with one transfer) to the centre of the city. It was extremely, overwhelmingly busy in London on Saturday. The NFL was hosting a game in London. The underground was full of Americans and people wearing NFL jerseys and hats. Not really the picture of London that I had anticipated but that's what I got. Also - I have no idea why people are interested in football - just a side note.
I arrived at the theatre as the staff were letting us in to find our seats. I had fifth row from the front which was awesome. The stage was set. Beside me and around me were kids of about age 10 who were from a theatre group in Devon and had made a coach journey to watch Phantom as they were planning on putting on a production of their own in late 2015. It was a pleasure to chat with these kids who were really excited and maybe a bit nervous.
Now, if you are a lover of the show, you may not want to read on.
WTF? How has this show been in production for so long? Or even more than once? How has this show received such rave reviews? First, on the positive side, the stage sets and costumes were amazing. The singing was top notch. But what the hell is up with the story line? During the first half, I kept waiting for the phenomenal to occur. During the second half, I experienced a number of things. One, I was looking around at other people trying to tell if they were enjoying the show. Two, I kept wanting to yell outloud to the Phantom "Weirdo" because, well, he was. Third, there were times when I was stifling the inappropriate giggle due to my perceived ridiculousness of the story line. Needless to say, I was glad when the show was over and thought two things: "Well, I never have to sit through that again." and "I should have seen Les Mis for the sixth time!"
Just a note on my thoughts about the story line. Essentially, from what I understood, the Phantom is in "love" with Christine. He wants to force her to love him. He kidnaps her. Tries to force love and marriage on her. He has a weird Psycho-like replica of her in a wedding dress (WTF? again). For Christine's part, she is dazed and confused whenever she hears the Phantom singing like she is in a trance. She wants a man to tell her what to do and how to live. I just found the whole story line made me really uncomfortable and sort of squirming in my seat.
No one will ever say that I am not honest.
It was time to make my way back to the flat. I expertly popped my start and end stations into my London Underground App and off I went with the confidence of someone who is really getting this underground thing! The confidence quickly disappeared as after three stops we were all told to exit the train as the next two lines (one of which would get me home) were closed for the weeked for repairs. This was news to me. If I had of looked on my app's information, I would have know this and would have been able to request an alternative route. I tried my best to follow the written instructions in the undergroud, but ended up walking along the Thames for a bit. It was a beautiful evening. Although, I attempted to find an underground route to use, each time I headed to a new station, it was one of the closed lines. So, I continued walking all the way home.
Back at the flat, I was able to sit and think about how to find alternative routes using the app, which was actually pretty easy. Now I know. I was prepared to head out on Sunday, when those same routes would continue to be closed, and I would be able to navigate in a bit of a different way.
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