Hot news this week in London...

260520085836, originally uploaded by Paul-in-London.

Some people don't like the brown word...

Movies: Indiana Jones and something or other about a crystal skull

230520085774, originally uploaded by Paul-in-London.

Friday evening I went to the Odeon Leicester Square to see the latest Indiana Jones and the very long title movie... I am glad they have shortened it to just "Indy" on the posters as that saves a lot of time. Despite the price of the ticket, the Odeon Leicester Square is a great place to go to see a movie with die-hard groupies (and is less likely than most other London Odeon cinemas to smell like a toilet and have bad sound). People cheered and carried on as if it were a football match...

While my friend Adam is a fan of the series, he wasn't as hard core as half the crowd at the sold out Friday evening screening who came wearing brown leather jackets and hats. It was like a window into another world. All throughout London, seemingly normal and straight men had tucked away in their closets an Indiana Jones costume (complete with khaki trousers and shirt). They may have had whips too but I wasn't checking out what was below their belts... For a movie franchise that is all about fun and adventure these guys seem to be taking it very seriously.

As for the movie, it is just as good as the others, but that doesn't mean to say its a great picture. This one suffered from looking like it was shot on a sound stage a few too many times... But it is isn't the dud flick that the internet gossip was suggesting... Nice acting too by Cate Blanchett as the villainess and John Hurt as the crazy man (John Hurt playing John Hurt really)...

Overheard at Clapham Sainsburys Saturday...

Chav man: Shuddup you stupid cow... Don't make a scene...
Woman: Y-y-y-y-y-your a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaastard....

Overheard at the gym Monday...

Man #1: I really enjoyed it on Saturday...
Man #2: Yeah what's it like?
Man #1: Well there's loads of guys. There are the muscle daddies... But they just play with themselves...

Theatre: Pygmalion

Watching Pygmalion at the Old Vic this week it finally dawned on me why it has always felt a little creepy to think that Henry Higgins would end up with Eliza Doolittle. Well it isn't just because (in this production anyway) she is much younger. It is because he is just too camp. Henry Higgins already has a relationship with Colonel Pickering and so Eliza is simply left to pick up the slippers. She never had a chance with those two old poofs... There they were out all night drinking together, gambling together or hanging around in Covent Garden overhearing conversations... Not to mention all those contraptions in the study looking at the mouth... It all makes sense... It's a man's world in the Higgin's household...

This version of Shaw's play goes back to his original version published in 1916. At times it felt like the production was using the original sets with its quaint production values and a taxi car that crawls across the stage (although the looked lovely and weren't intrusive). But in many ways the play seemed as if it was having its first run. It seemed fresh and as if the laughs were being heard for the first time. Well maybe saying "not bloody likely" nowadays is not as scandalous as it was ninety years ago, but it was still darn funny.

Part of the reason this production works so well is that the acting - particularly Tim Piggott-Smith and Michelle Dockery as Higgins and Eliza - was excellent. Special mention also has to go to Barbara Jefford as Mrs Higgins who gave the show a knowing weariness. Well given what we know of her son it all makes sense I suppose. When she chastised her son for hanging out in Covent Garden it just seemed like it was a euphemism for something else... Come to think of it, with all this talk about going out all night and overhearing conversations in Covent Garden I was glad the Whingers and their friends didn't draw parallels to the life of Higgins and a few of us bloggers out there... I thought Shaw's scenario of bachelors living together was a bit disturbing so after the theatre I went home and threw out my cardigans and slippers... I may be more than a few years away from my fifties but you never can be too careful.

And as for the Old Vic, well the Whingers as part of their campaign for better seats at the Old Vic did ask me if I thought the seats were creaking. Either the oil can worked or I didn't notice the noise as I was too busy trying not to pass out from the heat. There is no pleasing some people I suppose but perhaps until that expensive refurbishment happens free ice lollies, suggesting audience members wear shorts and t-shirts and keeping fire doors open before the play and during interval to let the air in might help on those hot summer nights...

Scenes from Leicester Square Monday

80793732MT029_Premiere_Sex_, originally uploaded by travelingapostrophe3.

World premiere of Sex and the City movie in London... I was in rehearsals but darn it would have been fun to be there to yell out to Sarah, "Sarah! The hat! WTF??"

Scenes from Waterloo Sunday

12-05-2008, originally uploaded by Paul-in-London.

I didn't check if there was a body in the case... In London you never can tell...

Comedy: Dina Martina

Dina at Wigstock a few years back... We were treated to the fiddle as well...

Thursday evening I was one of the "peeps" who caught Dina Martina at the Soho Theatre. Dina is part typical drag act and part something else. With a wig that looked like it was inspired by one of Liza's fights with Gest, makeup inspired by a clown, and a belly that was all his/hers, it was pretty out there (or as Dina would say, "Off the charts!")...

But as the 80 minute performance went on it was clear that there was a real character in the making and it will be interesting to see her again in a few years. Best parts were the songs with forgotten lyrics, advice on how to deal with global warming (kill or the animals in the sea as that will make the water levels drop), and the mispronounciations of words. I particularly liked the soft "g" in her segment of the show called "gifts to give" which became "jiffs to jiv"... Thanks to Dina, I will try and work that into my everyday conversation in future... 

Since most bars in London (unlike in Australia) don't have resident drag queens it was nice to see one in London, even if she was from Vegas... Perhaps a bigger audience would have helped with the atmosphere of the evening, but even with the theatre half full it was obvious there already are a few London devotees...

Movies: Iron Man

Iron Man, originally uploaded by Luffyd.

Caught the movie Iron Man on Wednesday evening as on a warm sunny evening it seemed like a good idea at the time. Besides there are not enough super hero stories set against war-torn Afghanistan (with the occasional nice shot of Miami).

While there was a lot to enjoy about it, after seeing it I had a few questions:

• Why were there so many product tie-ins for crap products?
  
• Why did Robert Downey Jr's character go for models who had too much sun and dimply skin?
• Why do the agents from S.H.I.E.L.D look like they are from the gay mafia?
• Did Jeff Bridges shave his head and grow a beard just to look more evil??
  
• Was that final battle sequence made up of out-takes from the Transformers movie?
  
• And just how the hell do you take a leak in that suit?
  

Bank Holiday Banter...

Man #1: Don't I know you from somewhere?
Paul: Hmm I don't know you look familiar...
Man #1: You from Australia?
Paul: I'm from Brisbane are you?
Man #1: I lived in Sydney for a while...
Paul: Oh I see that doesn't help...
Man #1: Ah man I'm sure I'll work it out but I'm buzzing right now...

Hot news this week in London...

The Headlines from The Evening Standard, originally uploaded by robbyredbird.

Don't panic...

Opera: The Minotaur

I caught the last night of the Harrison Birtwistles's new opera The Minotaur on Saturday at The Royal Opera. It is a thrilling and slightly disturbing opera (not to mention bloody too). Mind you, before the interval an elderly couple walked out. Maybe all that blood and rape and horror and gore was a bit too much for them. But that's new opera for you... At times I was wondering whether I was watching a high culture horror show (although I could have done with more blood and more realistic killings if that was the case).

The first appearance of the Minotaur (played by John Tomlinson) was a pretty dramatic moment and for nearly three hours the show didn't let up. Still, there is a lot to like about this opera starting with the music. The production design and the costumes - particularly the bulls head - were particularly creepy. The final battle sequence (depicted above) literally had everyone in my section on the edge of their seats (although that was party due to the fact we were in the cheap seats and had a partially obscured view). While the run has finished for now I suspect this isn't the last we have heard of this new work...

Theatre: Spamalot

Well, at least there was Nina Söderquist

It isn't often that I am put off seeing a show just because I have heard the cast album. But when I heard Spamalot a few years back I thought it was such crap that I waited until the ticket prices dropped through the floor before going to see it. Perhaps the show is on its last legs. The show has been a huge hit on Broadway but seems to be struggling here. Monty Python wrote some hilarious music in their day, but you wouldn't know it with this lamely written show that serves up lines like:
We're going off to war
We'll have girlfriends by the score
We'll be shot by Michael Moore
Because we're not yet dead

Sitting in the front row you can just smell the stench of stale satire. It was a very tame night and hardly the bloody and silly enjoyment of the film that this musical "lovingly rips off". Anything slightly risqué seems to have been cut or toned down (so no oral sex jokes) to the point that instead there are stereotypes of French mimes, cheerleaders and a big musical number about Jews on Broadway theatre (the lyrics were rewritten but it was hard to hear what they were singing anyway since the balance wasn't very good)... Pretty uninspired stuff...

Anyway, all can be somewhat forgiven when the price of the ticket is less than the cost to go to the cinema. I took Fraser, who is always nagging me that I don't mention him on my blog (and to which I reply if he went to the theatre with me there would be a much better chance of getting a mention). He is a little ambivalent about musical theatre, but after seeing Gone With The Wind I figured that is enough to make you want to stay away from the West End for years so we made a great pair. Who knows maybe if I see one more production by Trevor Nunn and I will never return to the theatre and start hanging 'round in bars?

The music and stale satire aside, the show is rather well put together and there are some of Monty Python's sketches that have survived the musicalisation pasteurisation. So much so that in two scenes Fraser snorted so I took that to mean he was laughing.

But Tuesday night's performance also seemed to overall lack the comic timing necessary to make the show genuinely funny. Only the performances by Nina Söderquist and Jake Nightingale (as the Lady of the Lake and various characters respectively) seemed to rise to the challenge of giving the show the laughs it needs. Söderquist won the role in a Swedish television show which seems like a pretty good idea if they can find performers like this.

Alas the biggest problem with the show was the central character of King Arthur played by Alan Dale. Sitting in the front row, even then it was hard to tell if he was alive. The role of King Arthur doesn't have all the laughs, but straight men should be able to deliver lines with a little enthusiasm and timing. Alas instead he gave the character of King Arthur a weird creepiness that would have been more suited playing an Austrian in the Sound of Music (or perhaps just any old Austrian). When Arthur kissed the Lady of the Lake the obvious age difference did make me wonder a little about art imitating life... Browsing through the programme at intermission it was probably the first instance where I gazed at the bios of the understudies sighing at what could have been. Actually there were quite a few of the ensemble and swing that weren't bad performers... Or lookers for that matter...

All told, the show will make a great musical for the amdram circuit, but unless you are seeing it for cheap, get the movie out on DVD. There is less singing, but it is much funnier. Still there was something Fraser and I took away from the show. Later in the evening we both were Googling the ensemble and swing members to see if they had any fan sites. Alas they did not. What is with these up and coming actors? Not a website between them... Oh well...