Thursday and Evita

Good morning, everyone.  I'm a bit late to the blog this morning because I'm not that long up.  By the time I got home yesterday, sorted things, brushed teeth, etc, and settled my brain, it was today so I have slept in and feel thankful that I can!

It was quite an easy journey into London - plenty of traffic, of course, but that's the joy of a coach!

We were dropped off really close to the Palladium on Regent's Street so half a minute's walk away.

I walked to the theatre just to orient myself, and then walked another minute or so down to the wonderful Liberty's with a frontage you just can't ignore and a very interesting history.  In fact, here's a couple of YouTube clips in case you are interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb6yRH8bOIU

https://www.facebook.com/reel/824410546331429

It's very 'quirky' and very, very expensive but so interesting to look round and within the hugeness it has quite an intimate feel with those wooden stairs and the carvings.

There's a 'thing' called The Patchwork Collective that was really quite stunning - my photos don't do it justice so here's link to what it's about.  

https://www.libertylondon.com/uk/features/the-patchwork-collective.html

I will copy one bit from the link:

To celebrate our 150th anniversary in 2025, we are bringing this history to life. Over the course of three months, our network of artisans, makers, designers and visionaries, collaborated from across the globe to create a new, collective artwork. The resulting creation, a supersized patchwork house on display at Liberty from May to July, is comprised of over 1,000 individual pieces – each carefully created by our community of crafters.

Had I realised it will close soon, I would have looked for longer - it really was quite stunning!

I also had a wonderful time looking round the  - you've guessed it - haberdashery department.  Oh, those fabrics, those colours and patterns.  However, starting at nearly £30 for a metre of cotton lawn (superfine quality but . . .) and zooming up to over £100 for silks (so gorgeous to feel), any temptation was muted.
If I ever have a spare five hundred or so . . . maybe.  If . . .

If I hadn't been going on to a show, I might have indulged in a pasta bowl that was patterned with all sorts of different tomatoes and was around £25 - expensive but not as bad as the fabric.  I didn't though and I don't need another bowl  anyway so all's well.

I enjoyed my little trip - but, oh, those fabrics!!

It was time to make my way to the theatre.  It's very big, very ornate and there's not a lot of leg room - were people genuinely that much shorter at the start of the 1900s?

Anyway, as is my way, here's some info links:

https://lwtheatres.co.uk/theatres/the-london-palladium/about-the-london-palladium/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwqEeMmgGwo

Evita was absolutely amazing.  No photos of filming allowed, of course, but wow.

It started as a concept album before moving on to the West End and you can see that in this staging.  It was sort of like a concert performance thing but with lots of brilliant dancing and acting and some very clever staging and production as one would expect from anything Lloyd Webber is involved in.

It's described as a rock opera and I would definitely class it as opera - modern opera and very accessible in style, just as classic opera was in its day.

And - last link (for now) - here's the plot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evita_(musical)

AND - I got my rather more expensive than usual fridge magnet!  Yay.

It was a long journey home with some very slow moving traffic due to lane closures but, again, coach travel . . . can't knock it.

So I was home, in bed and turning out the light at one and I don't remember much more until about half eight this morning.  What an amazing trip!

Very briefly, today Chris and I are off out for lunch - a very belated joint birthday thing but nothing lavish, just a local pub that does small plate meals.

In the evening it's the Thursday online Slim Win group chat.
Between the two, I will potter.

But right now I need to bath, get dressed and sort out the kitchen - it's not bad, it jut needs a bit of a tidy.

Have a lovely Thursday, one and all.  xx