Spring Awakening

Ok…this is the fourth play in eight days. Its time for a break!

I found myself to be quite fortunate yesterday as Duval Lang was in town (he had done a performance in Manchester) and spared some time for me for dinner and…a play. Of course!

Now I’ve raved about Cote bistro before, so I won’t go on and on about it…but there was one across the street from the Novello Theatre, so of course I suggested it, of course it was fabulous, so of course we went there.

So we didn’t have tickets to Spring Awakening and were hoping to buy some at the box office. We figured we’d luck out because it opened this past Saturday and it was mid week and we were right. We had our choice from pretty much any price point, but what do Duv and I choose? The £20 ticket that puts us right on the stage. Brilliant! It was one of those bizarre adventures, you know, where you are taken as a group to a back room where you put your stuff into storage (there was 15 of us I think) then they walk you out on stage and you sit, strategically. So of course, the cast comes out, and they sit with us – which was very cool. (I was supposed to go see this in August with Chris and Martin and Gina, but I’ll go again. The show was fantastic and it was a treat to experience from the stage.)

I was quite impressed with the cast – they were very young, and if you check out the cast link on the website, you’ll also see that a majority of them were making their theatre debut. They sang well, they acted fantastically, and really, what a great first gig for your career. Part of the creative team was there last night including Duncan Sheik (I remember one of his songs that reached top 40…but other than that, he isn’t that well known back home). But for me, what was cool was the producer was there – Tom Hulce. What a fantastic actor. He’s not aging so well, but man, his voice. I love his voice. I’ll watch the Hunchback of Notre Dame just to hear it.

But the best part of the night for Duv and I was the show within the show. See, when we sat down, we didn’t know that the actors would be sitting with us so for us it was a surprise. But…there was this one girl…lord help me!

Before the show started, she had 2 friends sitting behind Duv and I, and she was sitting a bit toward front stage. She stands up and says to them ‘do you want these seats. I’ve seen it before and you’ll have a better view from here’. So…you’re thinking…nice girl,,,but NO. her friends were sitting where the hot young male actors would sit during the performance. There was strategy there my friends!

So at the intermission, she started chatting up the actors (part of the swing and the understudies) where we found out that she is in London til May studying theatre at Richmond University and that this play changed her life. The swing (totally working it) talked about how they rehearsed near Richmond to which she squealed with delight. And she said ‘but don’t you rehearse here’…to which Duv and I couldn’t hold it in anymore because ANYONE in theatre knows that you don’t rehearse on stage…not til the end, when the fricking set has been built!

Oh, it went on and on and on and on and on the point where I was almost embarrassed for her…and would have been if it wasn’t so funny. It’s neat to hear someone talk about their ‘vast’ experience in theatre (ya, theatre school) especially when I’m sitting with a theatre vetran and pioneer, and having worked in it 10 years myself…ah…youth. Sometimes they’re just so damned naïve.

Anyhoo – great show, a great night, and yet again, another London experience.