Paul in London

This week saw two trips to the Royal Opera to catch the final performances of The Rake's Progress , an opera by Stravinsky and directed by Robert Lepage and Dalston Songs , a song cycle written by Helen Chadwick . Stravinsky's Rake is inspired by the paintings by Hogarth , although the action here takes place on the west coast of America during the 1950s. It is a pity that it didn't take its modernisation a bit closer to the present day as then the tale of green might have had a bit more bite... As an opera it does tend to drag a bit (all that neoclassical window dressing), but what it lacks in focus and brevity it sure made up with the performances and the stunning production design. The moral of the story summed up very nicely in the epilogue was that the devil makes work for idle hands... Obviously for idle operas it doesn't matter so much when they look this good... Saturday night's performance of Dalston Songs was a different affair. There were no fancy set pie...

Extra sauce , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London . Asking for extra katsu curry sauce almost makes you forget that the chicken at Wagamama is dry and overcooked...

Coffee and sfogliatella from Princi... via Pixelpipe Posted via web from paulinlondon's posterous

It is a bit hard to work out why they have this sign outside of the Aberdeen Angus Steak House in Soho. Perhaps they now are selling tube steak. Then again, nothing like a bit of saucy humour to take your mind off what they pass for the menu... via Pixelpipe Posted via web from paulinlondon's posterous

Well... Found on the back of the door of the men's... Posted via email from paulinlondon's posterous

It's not easy being a green tenor Posted via email from paulinlondon's posterous

The Silence of the Lambs is a movie that calls out for a parody... At least to take the edge of some of its more intense moments. Therefore it was with much anticipation that I ventured to Above the Stag theatre in Victoria to see Silence! the musical . For anyone who has seen the Silence of the Lambs more times than they care to remember, this is a great little musical that doesn't disappoint, which even bases its main theme on what the composers call a " pleasant major mode variation " on Howard Shore's Silence of the Lambs theme. This production in the intimate (or cramped) Above the Stag theatre is full of fine detail from the movie, such as Jodie Foster's inexplicable accent, her lesbian relationship with her roommate, and her cheap shoes... The music includes such little gems as I can smell your .... complete with slightly suggestive ballet and a tango Quid Pro Quo. Throughout the show a chorus of lambs can be found running on and off stage... The cast wer...

It was practically a full house on Thursday evening at High Society playing Upstairs at the Gatehouse . That meant that Johnnyfox and I had to sit in the front row to enjoy this high energy and high furniture moving production. It must be hard to work in these productions to dance and sing your heart out, and then have to move the sofas about. When you're not worrying that they will drop a lampshade on you or kick you in the face, the cast in this show are great. And since the music is Cole Porter it is fairly enjoyable stuff it makes it hard to not enjoy it at some level... On another level it is just an awful musical with a dull book and vaguely appealing characters. It probably was a bad idea to see a show with Johnnyfox that has lines that mention something about stroking her pussy out the back as well. And it wasn't helped by the decision to transplant the setting to England, perhaps so we didn't have to cringe at English actors attempting American accents . The ladi...

It's January so it is Get Into London Theatre time... Which is a great way to see a play for a bargain that you might have been ambivalent about seeing previously. One such play I was ambivalent about was the revival of An Inspector Calls , directed by Stephen Daldry. Having now seen it, I still remain ambivalent. Sure I understand how important it must have felt when this production first came on the scene in 1992. Thatcherism was a very recent memory and was a critique of her legacy as much. However eighteen years on, times have certainly changed... And the play feels overproduced and overstaged. And (on the night I saw it...) over-acted... There is nothing subtle about the JB Priestly's text, which is fine from a historical point of view, but this production decides to ram things home in big large letters, and a tiny little house... And if you aren't being deafened by the nightmare sequence score from Vertigo, you find yourself being moistened by the mist from the rain ...

Window Shopping in Mayfair , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London . Come to think of it, you don't see this either... I couldn't work out where you hit the button to flush...