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Belters and bohemians: Opera Locos @Sadlers_wells

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At the start of the Opera Locos performance, the announcement says that they really are singing. You could be forgiven for wondering that, given the amplification turns up the backing track and the voices so loud that you can't always tell what's real. But this is a mostly harmless and slightly eccentric blend of opera classics fused with the occasional pop classic. However, recognising the pop tunes would help if you were over a certain age. The most recent of them dates back twenty years. It's currently playing at the Peacock Theatre .  Five performers play out a variety of archetype opera characters. There's the worn-out tenor (Jesús Álvarez), the macho baritone (Enrique Sánchez-Ramos), the eccentric counter-tenor (Michaël Kone), the dreamy soprano (María Rey-Joly) and the wild mezzo-soprano (Mayca Teba). Since my singing days, I haven't recognised these types of performers. However, once, I recall a conductor saying he wanted no mezzo-sopranos singing with the s

Scenes from Oxford Street Sunday 18:12

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Scenes from Oxford Street Sunday 18:12 , originally uploaded by Pauly_ . No trip this Christmas is complete without a visit to the Christmas Ghetto , a "squat art concept store" by underground artists on Oxford Street. It is the site of an old Clarks shoe store and this window displays an evil looking Santa with a belt buckle that says "Satan" endorsing anything and everything. And there I have been thinking that Oxford Street between the circus and Tottenham Court Road is full of shit shops and one of the worst shopping experiences in the world... Suddenly it's got good... Then again one shop does not make an experience...

Idle Friday chatter...

Paul: How many French Martini's have you had? M: I don't know... Paul: How many mojitos have I had? M: I don't know but you were knocking 'em back Paul: I needed the vitamin C I have a cold...

Overheard at the gym Thursday...

Man #1: His mother is Moroccan and his Father is Brazilian... Man #2: Ah so that's why he's got such great skin... Man #1: Yeah its all natural...

Scenes from an office water cooler Thursday 17:35

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Scenes from an office water cooler Thursday 17:35 , originally uploaded by Pauly_ . The water-cooler conversation today was strangely enough... About water coolers. Over the past few weeks somebody had been putting the plastic cups in the dispenser the wrong way and it was starting to really bug people. Apart from looking aesthetically dreadful, the cups would get stuck in the dispenser... Today it was crunch time for the rouge-cup-dispenser-placer. After a colleague had spent earlier this week fishing out the cups which had been put in "end in" only to find by the afternoon they were around the wrong way a notice was placed to alert this rogue cup person that there was a right way and a wrong way to stick in plastic cups... I assisted in the drafting of the notice by suggesting the phrase "the lip goes in the hole first". I thought that was not as suspect as the drawing... But anyway...

Scenes from an office window Thursday 11:01

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Scenes from an office window Thursday 11:01 , originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Heavy rain, high winds and hail was all that was happening. There were reports of people flying (or rather knocked off their feet) in the high winds as it knocked them off their feet. All of this is a bit better than Kensal Green in north-west London which had a small tornado. By 11:05 it was all over.

Theatre: Caroline or Change (again)

Tuesday night was the opportunity to take An to see Caroline Or Change , which just won the Evening Standard Award for best new musical. Well comparing it to the other new productions that were in the running (Evita, Spamalot, Sunday in the Park with George) it is like comparing apples to oranges. An missed the first 15 minutes after leaving his credit card behind at a shop so I had to fill him in at intermission on the story. He was surprised that so much happened in the first fifteen minutes, and actually thinking about it, composer Jeanine Tesori and writer Tony Kushner are very economical with the story. It moves at a brisk pace with both halves of the show running at an hour. Again the show was fantastic. It wasn't a full house by any means which isn't surprising. Caroline lasted less than a year in New York. It doesn't have brand recognition being a new show, and maybe a show with a simple premise about Jews living in Louisiana with a black maid doesn't grab the p

Scenes from the Southbank Saturday 20:58

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Scenes from the Southbank Saturday 20:58 , originally uploaded by Pauly_ . A bit of colour for Christmas on the construction site of Royal Festival Hall...

Theatre: Little Shop of Horrors

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Paul Keating plays Seymour... Hello! Suddenly Seymour he purified everyone... Tonight I caught Little Shop of Horrors at the Menier Chocolate Factory near London Bridge. Again it is another fantastic production that doesn't put a foot wrong. I have never seen a stage production of this show but this musical has been a long-time favourite of mine... There's a talking plant, a sadomasochistic dentist, a sweet girl and a nerdy boy. Throw in the late Howard Ashman's witty book and lyrics and Alan Menken's music and you have a very entertaining show. I knew almost every lyric in this show and found myself still laughing at the jokes... They still seem fresh and funny even though the show is approaching 25 years of age... My excitement over Little Shop of Horrors surprised Mk who I went with. He likes the show too and normally we have rather different tastes in musical theatre. For instance he has seen Mamma Mia ten times and I just can't bring myself to seeing it yet...