A feature of his groups, I've found, is the "This Meetup is full.." notice that appears beside most of the events. You really have to be quick off the mark, particularly with operas or ballets that he organises Meetups for - popular is not the word. Well, they're great value.. anyway, imagine my surprise when I saw he still had tickets for last night's trip to the operatic version of Eugene Onegin, at the Opera House! I don't think he'd mentioned it in the Christmas email, actually - whatever, I booked.
And now Christmas is over, and I'm back - in the new flat, and working from home Thursdays and Fridays. Which is why I took last Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off - a nice, easy start to the year. Just flew back on Wednesday, in fact. So I was working from home yesterday, and had a nice, leisurely start to the evening - no rushing. Now, I've been to the Opera House tons of times, but never from this flat before! So I had to look up a completely new way of getting there. Google Maps suggested a train to Waterloo, then a bus - I picked what seemed like the easiest bus stop, from the map, and off I went, nice and early.
Clapham Junction is great for trains to Waterloo - they're really frequent, it's only two stops, and I was soon there. However, I was soon lost - the bus stop I wanted (C) is convenient to the Tube exit, where I'm used to coming in, but of course, now I was coming by train.. I made the mistake of going outside. Waterloo Station is easy to navigate on the inside, but the outside is the work of sadists.. I did eventually find stops A & B, but my mistake was figuring that C would follow in the same pattern. And all the adjacent roads are at different levels, with road bridges and foot bridges.. it was such a relief when I eventually found Stop C. And just before the 26 arrived, too!
This was a completely new bus route for me, and I observed with interest as we crossed the bridge and made our way towards the West End. Saw my very first real-life bowler hat! on a real-life head! and was just worrying how much longer we had to go, when my stop (Aldwych) came up. I'd researched my walk from there, and it was an easy one - and a lovely one, which I've only done once before! As someone remarked when I mentioned it, later in the evening - London is like a jigsaw, that you put together piece by piece. I passed theatre after theatre, dodged several cabs - nearly the only traffic around there, apart from pedestrians. And arrived at the opera house at about 7.05 or 7.10 - well in time, for once!
I joined the queue for the revolving door by the box office - first time I've seen a queue there (well, but I'm usually rushing to get there! Working from home is marvellous). Saw a cap inside the door, but it wasn't the pertinent one. Wove my way through the crowd, right to the top of the corridor - and there he was at last, with barely the time to say hi and give me a ticket before more people were upon him and I decided to make my exit; the lobby was frantic, and not conducive to casual chit-chat. There was a bag search (quite thorough, too)! First time I've seen one here - I wonder whether they've had a warning. This was a sell-out performance, and I was glad to be there early, for once - the crowds were massive, and slow to push through, all the way to the top of the house. Where, I might add, I saw an ad for the pointe shoe appeal that they've posted to me in the past..
Ah, I missed this place.. This time, we were in the upper row of the upper slips. (He had auditorium tickets too, but well, I'm cheap, and I know the view is fine from the side - which is cheaper.)
This is a view of the stalls, but I also love the people-watching potential of the view of the auditorium from here. And you're a bit closer to the stage than is the auditorium. Mind you, I discovered that the front row of the upper slips is much preferable to the back one - there's no-one in front of you, and the ornate railing (which the back row doesn't have) provides a handy footrest, with places to rest your feet at different levels. But we managed.
I noted before how, this week last year, I was in the same venue, at the ballet version of the same show! Well, the operatic version, I have to warn you, is long.. 100 minutes before the interval, 25 minutes for that, and 55 minutes for the second act. And the benches of the upper slips aren't the most comfortable for a show of such duration. The lady beside me was very - twitchy - and indeed, didn't return after the interval: and she wasn't the only restless one.
Having said that, this was a great production - our view only obscured when the performers had the temerity to take themselves to our side of the stage, and we all had to lean forward. The set was versatile, the costumes lovely. A number of arias got a spontaneous round of applause. The show as a whole was heavy on symbolism - dancers represented the main characters' inner thoughts, and an extended dance sequence did a great job of expressing the debauchery of Onegin in the second act. Both Onegin and Tatyana had dancers specific to them, who performed the characters' actions while the singers expressed their inner angst - dressed in similar costumes, and with a similar appearance. Very clever, and very effective - for example, as Tatyana (the dancer) pours her feelings out on paper, it simply wouldn't do to have her belting them out in full voice at the same time. No, let the singer do that, while standing over her.
It was a relief, mind, to stand at the interval, and we made our way to assemble on the not-too-cold balcony, where I finally noticed where the London Transport Museum is! Knew it was around here somewhere. I also ran into the organiser of the London Dramatic Arts Meetup group, who'd also bought a ticket with our group to this production - see, you meet the most discerning people here! ;-) And before too long, the bell rang and we were back for the second act.
Afterwards, and after we'd located each other, the Man With the Hat led us down an alley to the Sun Tavern. Which was closed - well, it was nearly 11. So we returned to our habitual haunt - The Globe pub; they didn't have room upstairs, but by the time I had a drink we'd found seats at a table downstairs. (I can't recommend the white they gave me though - ugh.) Anyhoo, this group does attract a varied bunch, and while the organisers huddled together at the side and discussed organiser-y stuff (and my, if they ever combined, what a group they'd make!), we plebs talked Spanish classical guitar. Because, well, there was a professional musician in our midst, with a particular yen for it. Indeed, I adore it myself - and if I played guitar, that is the guitar I would play. Ah well.
The end of the night came too quickly, with most having to rush to catch the last train or bus home. I was less worried than usual - trains from Waterloo are frequent, and run late into the night. So I stayed to the bitter end, when the organisers and I - and whatever denizens of the pub remained - were expelled into the cold night air. My path home was easier - I caught a bus from Strand - again, route researched on Google Maps - to Waterloo, which is much easier to get into than out of. Google gave me a few buses to choose from, but at the stop I discovered that every bus from there stopped at Waterloo. So I just caught the next one, and at the station missed two trains while trying to get to the appropriate platforms. So I had to wait 10 minutes for the next train - but there were plenty of free papers to keep me occupied - they don't seem as concerned about clearing them out here as they are on the Tube.
It really was too late to blog last night, and I was glad of a lie-in today, since I work from home on Fridays now as well! Tonight is Stewart Lee - A Room With a Stew, at Leicester Square Theatre, which I had a hell of a time getting the printer set up to print the ticket for! I had to book - it's the last night and was selling out. And tomorrow, I have a cheap ticket to a musical called Looking For You, at Pentameters Theatre in Hampstead. But earlier tomorrow, I have a test drive, just to confirm what my new car is going to be!
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