An Entertainment Interlude
We recently had a chance to enjoy a spate of London entertainment events. On Thursday night, February 10th, we attended the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s production of The History of the Bible – a very much tongue-in-cheek retelling of the entire Bible story in under 2 hours by a 3-man cast.
Their first success along these lines was the entire works of Shakespeare told in a similarly frantic theatrical event which we saw 5 years ago, and which was quite funny. This second production using the same idea is, as you might expect, highly irreverent, though with many laughs. It seemed to be a little less comprehensive than the Shakespeare parody where the audience could leave feeling that the players had at least captured a small theme or idea from each of the bard’s plays; in this Bible-based version there are major parts left out. However, it was still great fun and we enjoyed re-hashing many parts of it afterward with friends John and Carol, who attended with us.
By the way, John O'Neil is a colleague of Chuck’s here in London and, as it happens, the O’Neils have their home in Monterey – so we can expect to continue to see them after our return.
The next night, Friday the 11th, Chuck gave Kathi her surprise Valentine’s Day present. Ever since our arrival in London she had repeatedly mentioned wanting to see the musical Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang. Chuck managed to get two very good seats, front row center of the first balcony, without mentioning them. She enjoyed the surprise and the show – which Chuck, too, found he liked better than he had expected to (having seen the movie, he didn’t think the show would be very interesting.) The production was spectacularly done – and the car was an engineering marvel, flying out over the audience on several occasions. (The engineering prowess of the whole thing was probably Chuck’s favorite part.) It was this business, with the car, that made our front row balcony seats even better than those on the main floor – the car flew over those on the ground floor (or orchestra) seats, while our slight elevation made the view ideal. So, all in all, a very enjoyable theatrical experience.
On Saturday we resumed our typical “half-price-ticket-booth” outings, checking to see what was available for that day and got tickets to “The Anniversary”, a fairly new addition to the theater scene (though it is a re-staging of a play first produced some years ago). It was a very inventive family comedy and delivered a lot of laughs.
So, there you have it – our confession to being “West End” or “London Theater” gypsies. We guess you could say we have the theater bug.
Their first success along these lines was the entire works of Shakespeare told in a similarly frantic theatrical event which we saw 5 years ago, and which was quite funny. This second production using the same idea is, as you might expect, highly irreverent, though with many laughs. It seemed to be a little less comprehensive than the Shakespeare parody where the audience could leave feeling that the players had at least captured a small theme or idea from each of the bard’s plays; in this Bible-based version there are major parts left out. However, it was still great fun and we enjoyed re-hashing many parts of it afterward with friends John and Carol, who attended with us.
By the way, John O'Neil is a colleague of Chuck’s here in London and, as it happens, the O’Neils have their home in Monterey – so we can expect to continue to see them after our return.
The next night, Friday the 11th, Chuck gave Kathi her surprise Valentine’s Day present. Ever since our arrival in London she had repeatedly mentioned wanting to see the musical Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang. Chuck managed to get two very good seats, front row center of the first balcony, without mentioning them. She enjoyed the surprise and the show – which Chuck, too, found he liked better than he had expected to (having seen the movie, he didn’t think the show would be very interesting.) The production was spectacularly done – and the car was an engineering marvel, flying out over the audience on several occasions. (The engineering prowess of the whole thing was probably Chuck’s favorite part.) It was this business, with the car, that made our front row balcony seats even better than those on the main floor – the car flew over those on the ground floor (or orchestra) seats, while our slight elevation made the view ideal. So, all in all, a very enjoyable theatrical experience.
On Saturday we resumed our typical “half-price-ticket-booth” outings, checking to see what was available for that day and got tickets to “The Anniversary”, a fairly new addition to the theater scene (though it is a re-staging of a play first produced some years ago). It was a very inventive family comedy and delivered a lot of laughs.
So, there you have it – our confession to being “West End” or “London Theater” gypsies. We guess you could say we have the theater bug.
posted by Chuck and Kathi Calvano @ 3:15 PM
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