Singing Men

You are probably aware that Wales is famous for its very strong tradition of choral singing, largely by men. The Welsh take it very seriously. A friend of ours, Phil John, who was Chuck's host at the Royal Military College of Science when he was a visiting Prof there in 2000-01, is of Welsh background and is in the process of working through a lengthy period of qualifying to be a member of the London Welsh Male Voice Choir. While the men are all Welsh, they tend to live near London, where they rehearse weekly. They put on an annual series of concerts, visiting venues all over the UK and even some as far away as New York's Carnegie Hall.

Recently we visited Phil and his wife, Sue, in their home in Harpenden, just north of London, and after a great lunch with them and two of their three kids, we spent the afternoon visiting Windsor and Eton, near London and the sites, respectively, of Windsor Castle and Eton "College" (which is actually the prestigious high school attended for several centuries by the sons of the elite, on their way to Oxford and Cambridge). In addition to an afternoon of walking through these two historic towns, seeing the Castle again and enjoying dinner in Windsor, we attended a concert of the London Welsh Choir in the hall at Eton College. The nearby picture shows the choir and was taken at Eton on the night of the concert we attended.

The men were in fine voice (as they always are) and put on a great show, with a number of beautiful songs as well as several rousing anthems. A good many of the selections were hymns of various kinds -- and all was done extremely well. Even the songs that were in Welsh were a pleasure to listen to. Their accompanist, Annabel Thwait is a first-rate artist in her own right and added much to the show. One of the choir members acts as MC/raconteur and is a natural at this role, adding even more enjoyment to the show.

The second picture shows Phil, Sue and Kathi browsing through Windsor's Victorian-era train station, which has been turned into a shopping center while keeping the architectural integrity of the old station to a very satisfying degree.

A great evening all-around, after a fun day with Phil and Sue.

Some pictures of our day in Windsor and Eton are at: http://chuck.smugmug.com/gallery/2510079#131798796

Recent Theater in London

We continue to enjoy the great opportunities to experience live stage shows in London's West End -- with special enjoyment added by the use of the Half Price ticket booth in Leicester Square. Among our most recent theater experiences were these three:

Tennessee Williams' Glass Menagerie in a wonderful staging, with Jessica Lange as the mother. The actors were, as we've come to expect, really fine. We'd seen other productions of this classic (maybe on a Hallmark Hall of Fame TV production, or something similar) and as a result the story was familiar. But never before had it struck us just how well-written the play was. It takes a great deal of creative subtlety to write a play which shows a mother, by her actions, destroying the lives of her two children -- but depicting this in such a way that it is clear the mother is not evil -- is doing what she thinks right -- but damaging her children nonetheless.

The Sound of Music (a present for Kathi's December birthday, but only attended in March because tickets are so difficult to get) did not disappoint in any way. Great staging, wonderful voices and the familiar classic story. The night we attended, 4 of the large parts (including Maria and the Mother Abbess) were played by understudies because of illness and other causes. There was no way to avoid saying to yourself "wow, if the understudies are this good, the regulars must be fantastic."

A less well known show was The Man of Mode, at the National Theater. This was a serious play (with comic overtones) originally produced in the 17th century, written by George Etherege. He was trying to demonstrate the degree to which (then) modern society had become obsessed with sex and was straying from traditional morality. The current production is set in modern London, but the theme fits perfectly. A stage play with a large cast, beautiful staging and fantastic comedic timing.

As our 3 year assignment in London draws to a close (4 months until we leave) we continue to realize to an increasing degree just how much we're going to miss the London theater scene.