The Music of the Night

 
Friday I woke up grouchy. I'm too old to be going to midnight showings of movies and then getting up the next morning. Most of my friends were going on a field trip to London, (My group goes on Monday) and so I had offered to meet them there. We were hoping to get Wicked tickets at the student discounted rate that Kelsey and I had discovered about a month ago. Unfortunately, the tickets were nearly sold out, and the only remaining tickets were incredibly expensive. We went to Leicester Square in search of cheap tickets, and I got a single ticket to see Phantom of the Opera. I tucked it into my guidebook and put my guidebook in my purse. A while later, I pulled out my guidebook to check that I was going in the right direction to Piccadilly Circus. I walked for a few minutes and then realized that my ticket was not in my guidebook! I was panicking, but I walked back to the last place I had opened the book, and there was my expensive ticket, just lying on the ground. Thank goodness no one bothers to pick things up in London! I still can't believe I was silly enough to drop it on the ground.

The show was incredible! My only criticism is that on the whole, I still think Les Mis is my favorite musical. Phantom is only second or maybe third, after Wicked. But the performance was amazing! I'm familiar with some of the songs, but I'd only ever seen the movie and the Wishbone version. I can safely say that seeing the London production of the musical blew away my memories of the Wishbone version!

I was determined to love Raoul and hate the Phantom, to avoid disappointment at the end of the show. (This is difficult in Les Mis, where I often think Marius should have been with Eponine and not Cosette). Despite my determination, I couldn't help feeling bad for the Phantom by the end of the show. I don't think Christine should be with him, but you can't help feeling pity. And frankly, the Phantom has much better songs than Raoul, and a way cooler cloak. I want to buy a cloak now, except I think it would look pretty silly on the street. It looks neat on stage, though.

Right now I feel so lucky. I have seen four shows in two weeks. I’ve seen Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Les Miserables, and Phantom of the Opera. And if that wasn’t enough, I’ve already bought tickets to see six more shows, but I won’t spoil the surprise by telling you which ones. One is a repeat, though, and I bet you can guess (my favorite musical). So unless I change my plans and waste my tickets, I’ll be seeing an average of two shows a week for the five weeks I’m here. I’m glad Oxford is only an hour from London, and only an hour from Stratford-upon-Avon. You can’t get a better location than that! 

Plus, I'm really starting to appreciate theatre. I've always appreciated musicals, but there aren't many I can see in Columbus. But I'm really enjoying seeing Shakespeare here. Somehow it's much cooler in the country where Shakespeare lived, plus, watching Shakespeare always makes me feel smart :-)