I'm back in Ireland for the weekend - despite all my gallivanting, I tested negative for Covid! (Whee..) Found out on Thursday night. And on Friday morning - the government postponed the requirement, and I didn't need to have a negative test result at all! Bah humbug. Ah well.
Yesterday, I did something else festive - I headed to Christmas with André, the latest offering of popular classical music from André Rieu, at the Omniplex. Now, this was a matinee, so I thought I'd brave the horrendous traffic of Limerick City Centre - surely it wouldn't be as bad, earlier in the day? Eh, wrong.. just as well I was early, because it was nearly as bad! Mind you, I was lucky with parking, when I did get there - someone had just pulled out. A palaver with checking my vaccination form at the door - I don't even know where my name is on the form, never mind whether it's legible! She eventually said that was fine. And I was in. My ticket, I booked on the laptop and took a picture of the QR code - it rarely comes through on email. The lady who scanned it directed me where to go, then chased after me with the playlist she'd forgotten to give me..
So, I was ever so slightly late - the introduction had started. Not too bad, but I really have to stop going through the centre until after Christmas! Into my nice leather pullman seat - the ladies behind me grabbed the back of my seat for support going in and out, which was awkward! but anyway.
This is a concert in a massive hall in Maastricht, his home town, all specially bedecked as a "winter palace". A massive seating area, room for the orchestra, and a couple of ice rinks - as well as fake windows, displaying snowy scenes. And if you've watched previous concert films of his, you'll be well familiar with the repertoire - several crowd-pleasers, a multilingual commentary from him, which he finally reduces to just English and Dutch. The jolly crowd wear Santa hats and look delighted with themselves, the ladies in the orchestra and in the choir wear brightly coloured ballgowns. (The orchestra all have Santa hats, too.) As ever, they march down the aisles to the tune of 76 Trombones.
A list of favourites from this most showmanlike of classical musicians includes, of course, the Blue Danube, where dancers waltz in the aisles (the ladies in blue), and several pieces for solo singers. But in this Christmassy show, my absolute highlight was Walking in the Air - sung by a soloist with wings, for goodness' sake! But with this guy, the OTT works, and is to be expected. The guitar opening works really well, and ah - they have ice skaters on those rinks! Truly moving. And I wasn't the only person in the cinema clapping along to songs - or singing along.
There is a 15-minute interval- during which one lady decided to leave, apparently for good, given that she was wearing her coat as well as carrying her bag. Now, the door to the lobby isn't right at the front of the seats in this screen - it's a few rows back. She seemed to miss that fact, and carried on down to the front, right under the screen. After staring blankly at the wall to her right for a few moments, she turned and saw the emergency exit across the way. The alarmed one. And sure enough, once she figured out how to open it, out there she went, into the car park. Couldn't get it closed again, so she left it ajar - and passers-by got an earful of festive music, playing over the interval. There was a nasty, cold breeze, mind - and for all that it was supposed to be alarmed, it took them long enough to send someone to close it!
Lovely film though, and although it's a bit twee, well, that's expected at this time of year, and makes it all the sweeter.
Back to London tonight, and doing something else festive tomorrow - sort of. Sh!t-Faced Showtime (who promise to have one drunk cast member at every performance) is performing A Pissedmas Carol at the Leicester Square Theatre, and I'm going tomorrow night. I scored a ticket with TAC - one of my cheap ticket clubs - but I believe Time Out also has an offer. Awesome - not only should that be great, but it'll be my first time back there in nearly 2.5 years..
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