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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

Overheard at Victoria Underground Station

Man: Well you aren't expected to know everything... Woman: Yeah, like... Like... What's it matter that I don't like know who Tony Blair is?

Scenes from Soho Square Sunday 15:20

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050820072026 , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London . Just when the sunbathers were enjoying the sun in the square, these fat bastards come by murdering songs with their guitars and piano accordions. Putting the trash into eurotrash, they were less Gipsy Kings and more Gipsy Queens... They were passing around a hat for money (or was that for doughnuts?) but that seemed to encourage them to stay so I gave them nothing...

Scenes from an office fig Tuesday 11.29

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Scenes from an office Tuesday 11.29 , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London .

Scenes from Waterloo Sunday

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Scenes from Waterloo Sunday , originally uploaded by Paul-in-London .

Concert: Carmen Jones

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Source: Carmen Jones publicity artwork http://southbankcentre.co.uk I had been warned that Carmen Jones was a bit of a dated show. It is afterall a "modern" 1943 reworking of Bizet's opera Carmen into a musical. Given that piece of advice (and that I was still probably jet lagged) I figured the cheap seats at Royal Festival Hall would suffice to see this new production of the show. If it were a bit dull then I figured I could always have a sleep (especially during the overlong first half). Of course I forgot that the cheap seats means that you are surrounded by cheap people. In this instance it was cheap people with body odour problems, weak bladders, and noisy crisp packets. For the first half I was detracted by the cheap people around me who felt that the people's palace meant it was their living room. I was half expecting belching and farting since there was every other noise... Well that's where socialist idealism gets you in the twenty-first century... By t

Soundtracks: Hairspray

After Friday night's jet-lag cure I had to go and pick up the Hairspray soundtrack on Saturday. Movie soundtracks used to be crap compared to original cast albums (I believe this is the correct terminology for afficianados out there) but Hairspray follows the more recent tradition of being pretty darn good. It was refreshing to be back in a music shop that didn't just offer Michael Buble as its specialities. Mind you I did raise the point that the shop did not stock a lot of the new Australian musical titles that I heard while I was down under. After describing songs about shaving your balls and a musical about a gay love triangle set in a fun fair there was general concensus that some CDs are best left in the antipodes (or to be more accurate, in Melbourne)...

Overheard at Clapham Sainsburys Sunday

Man: I took the number 35 bus last night and ended up falling asleep and waking up at Liverpool Street... Woman: Oh no... Man: Yeah but I found some mates nearby so it was still a great night...