Canterbury and other Tales

So, yesterday I took a day trip to Canterbury!  I was there to visit my friend Spencer, who was a theatre student who studied abroad at Penn State for a year last year!  My two friends who are currently studying theatre abroad at PSU also go to Kent Uni in Canterbury.  So first I woke up at 7 and finished packing up, as yesterday I moved here to stay with Rachael, my friend from Hairspray.  I went to breakfast at 8 with Kaitlin and Chuck and checked out of my room and checked my luggage around 9.  I then went to the tube to Waterloo East, and since I had bought my ticket the day before, went straight to the trains and thank goodness, the 9:15 was running 11 minutes late so I caught it!  The train ride was nice, and I arrived in Canterbury around 11, only to find Spencer waiting with his tiny seafoam green english car...I was so excited to have a ride in a car other than a cab, and in the front seat!  So that was exciting.  We stopped by his house to pick up something and then headed into town, which as Spencer made fun of me for, the only word I was using for everything in Canterbury was "cute" because oh my gosh howwww cute that town was!  After running some errands that Spencer needed to do, we went to the Cathedral, a really gorgeous one!  It started to rain a little, but we walked on anyway and back to the car to go to Kent University Campus.  There, I met some of Spencers friends and classmates.  They were working on a "show" which was a car turned into a sort of home that would be performed in a car park.  I went along with him to two production meetings for it and saw a bit of campus and the theatre scene shop on the way!  It was good, and I didn't really mind the fact that I had to sit through meetings, they were short and quite interesting to me.  Then we walked around and went to eat on campus at Origins and had burgers.  Get this: you can get a pint of alcohol anywhere on campus at all the food courts, etc!  This would be the equivalent of them selling alcohol all day at the HUB and dining halls!  I thought it was crazy but obviously they don't have the drinking problems that Penn State does!!! haha!  There are also bars and clubs on campus, also crazy!  So after that we headed to the bookstore and I picked up a tshirt and then Spencer and his roommate/friend Pip and him took me back to the train station around 3:45pm.  I caught at 4:04 train, which ended up being about 10 minutes faster than on the way in!  After getting on the tube and getting to Earl's Court, I went and picked up my luggage from the hotel and walked it back to the tube.  By this time it was half 6 (6:30) and I got on my way to Rachaels, and she lives at Hunslow East, which is on the Piccadilly Line towards Heathrow Airport.  I got here and got a 5 pound cab to her door!  It is a cute little house and I have a cute little room (there I go using "cute" again) and after helping Rachael straighten her hair, watching some Friends on TV and chatting we got ready to leave.  Her dad, who lives up the road, drove us to the tube stop since Rachael was wearing heels.  Rachael got a last minute invite to the Opening Night Party of "Love Never Dies" the sequel to Phantom of the Opera, and the show that Ros is ASM on, and my other friend Helen is the dance captain.  So I was left on my own, as no one was really free to meet up and it was too late for a show, and Kaitlin and Chuck, while without mobiles anyway, said they'd be really tired and not do much at night, and it was already a little past 10.  So I took the tube to Covent Garden with Rach and headed off to find some dinner, which of course I found at Pret.  Having no idea what the night would hold for me, after eating and drinking some coffee, I just started walking.  It was a gorgeous night.  I got to Trafalgar Square, kept walking and finally found the London Eye and bridge across the Thames, which I walked across.  I was excited because I never got to see this area at night because I was always at Hairspray (it gets darker later in Summer also) and so that was good.  I walked all the way across it and down a bunch of steps.  Thought about taking a river cruise, but had just missed it so decided against it.  Then just kept walking kind of towards Big Ben when I found what to me looked like an arcade.  Only the workers were there, it being a Tuesday night.  So I went in and probably, making a fool of myself asked really dumb questions like "So what is this, an arcade, casino?" Their reply "uhhh yeah arcade, you could call it that."  Subtext:  "stupid americans who knows what they're thinking".  Yeah so I found one game that was 10p and thought I might as well try it.  I think it was a slot machine but I didn't really understand at all, so after about 20p I stopped playing.  Good to know tho if I need to get rid of coins later!
Then I walked out and asked where the iMax theatre was.  They told me to go to the Eye and turn right, so I did and just kept walking till I hit Waterloo, and the iMax theatre.  (if you dont know, by now I've walked from Covent Garden to Waterloo and it's a little past 11...wow!)  It's this giant round building in the middle of a roundabout and I couldn't figure out how to get in!  So I asked some girl on a bike, also who had a similar subtext to the arcade workers, although she was nice about it, and pointed me down a ramp.  I got in and found that Avatar was playing at 11:45.  This would be perfect because Rachael would be until at least 2 and I had never seen the movie or any iMax movie!  So I got in for less than 10 pounds and let me tell you...my heart was beating for ages!  It was like I was IN the war with them!  The animation was fantastic though and I'm glad I saw it.  A little disoriented, I hurried out of the theatre after the movie.  Rachael had been calling and texting saying the party ended at 1 but they were continuing on.  I called myself a cab (called "BetterTaxi" in my phone) and waited for it in front of Waterloo Station. I met them at a place called Ballans on Old Compton Rd back near Leichester Square.  Ros was there!!!  As well as about three other Sprayers, one of whom was Ben Ellis who I'd seen now two nights in a row...odd of all people haha.  I had a drink and they ate and drank and it was really really lovely to see Ros and hang out with both of them.  We called a cab and split it three ways home (Ros lives quite close to Rach in Northfields) and just had a blast.  Got home around 4am.  I slept in til like 9:30 but Rach will probably sleep until 2 in the afternoon she said!  So I'm gonna venture out now and meet up with Ros at this giant shopping mall call Westfields, recently built since I left, and we are going shopping!  (...mayyyy have to buy another bag...ugh winter clothes take up so much space!)  :)  Also am seeing Michael in Grease tonight!  He usually plays Eugene, but this week he is on covering for Doody so that's good!
So I gotta go finish getting ready now, but more soon!
Cheers!
~Sam~

You can make a fine living in a pair of heels.

So I will start going backwards through the day.  First we'll start with the most amazing thing tonight...Priscilla Queen of the Desert (title is a line from the show).  Think men in platforms, cupcake dresses, paintbrush dresses, and a full size bus covered in LED lights.  Yep you probably don't even have an image close to how ridiculous and amazing this show was.  I went to see my friend Charlotte (she understudied Tracy while I was there) play one of the three Diva ladies who usually entered from the sky and were just that: Divas.  She was so in her element and brilliant and I could tell she enjoyed every moment of it.  Her solo song was "I Will Survive" (it's all eighties music, to make it even better) and she KILLED it like wow.  Amazing.  I was so proud to see her up there and not even wearing a Tracy Turnblad costume!  I stood to wait for her at the stagedoor after and saw Rachael who played Amber in Hairspray while I was on it!  And then Ben walked up (was Link in Spray) and Charlotte's mum said it was like she was seeing Hairspray all over again!  So it was good and then said bye and missed seeing my friend Tommy who runs the fly system/automation for Priscilla and got me my discounted tickets.  He leaves tomorrow for Spain which I didn't know, but it was crazy with it being a new cast night and all, so unfortunately I didn't get to see him.  He was an ASM with me and is close friends with my friend Ros too.
Before the show, we'll start from morning.  I woke up early, had hotel breakfast (quite good!) and then headed to Tottenham Court Road (well, Goodge St more like) to Paperchase...aka scrapbooking/stationary/art HEAVEN!  Four floors of beauty haha.  After buying well, a years worth of stuff no Michael's store would ever have, I was pleased and took a tube up to Old Street to my old neighborhood and a little blast from the past.  As I felt at home walking up the street I noticed that where a 7 foot long wall once stood...there was a giant concrete skyscraper structure!  (still in progress)  but amazing!  I got to Thoresby house and proceeded to the Texaco, which was bustling sorta outside with cars filling with "petrol" but then I went up to the door (open 24 hours) and it was locked!  There was a police officer inside talking to the cashier, who waved me that they were closed.  I'm not sure, maybe something had just happened, but people outside seemed to be going about business as usual.  So, I left and headed back to the hotel where I met Kaitlin and Chuck to go to My Old Dutch, a pancakes (crepes sorta) place where Mondays are all 5 quid.  It was in Kaitlin's old neighborhood, which was fun to see and we also saw Hugh Grant's house, and the security guard came out, only, i think, to realize we were harmless tourists.  After lunch, we got cupcakes at Hummingbird bakery, and the black bottom cupcake was way better than any i've ever had, even at great New York cupcake places.  Then we rode the tube to Westminister to see the London Eye!  It was my favorite tourist attraction and the sky was really kind of pretty even though it was cloudy the sun was shining through the clouds and I got gorgeous shots.  We had fun.  Then I went to Leichester Square to meet up with Tim, who used to be the mixer (sound) at Hairspray.  I learned a lot about the "art" of sound from him and he is working on this great new project which basically makes theatres more environmentally conscious and it's called the Theatre Trust. I stopped by his office, saw a little about what he did and then we went for a drink after and talked some more.  He is a great connection and really intelligent, one of the people who always took me under their wing at the Shaftesbury, as he is a bit older and married.  So that was really good and I got to talking a little bit more business than I have been.
Then I headed down the road to pick up my tickets for Priscilla, and found a Costa to have a light dinner and a coffee there.
Had a wonderful wonderful night.  So proud of Charlotte!  Can't wait to see Spencer tomorrow, he studied abroad at PSU last year and I'm going to visit him at Kent Uni tomorrow!  Plus am also moving to stay with Rach (another friend from Hairspray) for the rest of the week!
More soon!
xx Sam

Gorgeous London Sunday

Yesterday I first woke up late (because my iTouch still thinks it's in America) so I was mad I missed the hotel breakfast, but glad for the rest.  I got up and went to Liverpool and after it took a good while because of tube line closures.  Once I finally got there, after getting lost for a little bit, I finally found what I think was Petticoat Market, although I was looking for Spitafields.  I walked through and it was nice because not many people were out and vendors were putting things on sale since it was so cold and not many were out considering it was a Sunday.  I got two tops for 5 pounds altogether!  And some souvenirs and gifts and other things.  Then I found Spitafields market which was just awesome!  At this point I hadn't eaten yet so I went into a cafe and got a "Pud," Blackberry Mango flavored (yoghurt) and a latte.  I shopped in the semi-indoor market for another hour or so (very successful) and then headed back to the tube.  I was headed to the Wallace Collection, an old house/museum that a professor told me I needed to see.  So I got off the tube at Bond Street, which if you don't know, is pretty much the beginning of Oxford Street for me...so I was of course very tempted to shop.  I only went into HMV, a discount chain electronics store (much like Best Buy but more focused on cds and movies) to buy the Michael Ball cd, which has my Hairspray cast on it, and the movie "Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging," a movie based on a book that I've wanted to see but never came to America.  Then  after I got directions from the nice security guard at HMV, I headed to the Wallace Collection.  I was sooo glad I went!  The rooms were just as if out of a text book for Period Research class in the 16th and 17th Century.  I even saw several furniture pieces made by Boulle, and chairs of Louis XV and Louis XIV.  Also I saw my favorite painting, "The Swing."
After that I went back and got on the tube  back to my hotel.  I waited for Kaitlin, Chuck and Emily to return from the London Tower.  We then went for Fish and Chips dinner at a place on St. James, right near the Wallace Collection, that I had seen.  It was really great and we had pints there as well (believe it I'll drink a pint here because they have Strongbow!)  Then we went back on the tube to Angel Street Station, right where I used to live almost two years ago.  I wanted to take everyone to O'Neills, a great pub there.  So we went there and I had an Apple Sour, which also doesn't exist in America...it tastes like an Apple Jolly Rancher!  We met three guys there, one from Scotland and the other two English, ages 18-24, two brothers and their younger cousin, all of whom hadn't slept in two days!  I met the oldest one, Martin, who asked me if I'd seen him dance, among talking with me about the fact that he had just been accepted to NYU Law Graduate School and was torn as to whether he should say yes or not.  Of course I convinced him he should go!  Martin and his brother Mark came and met Emily, Chuck and Kaitlin, sat with us, then proceeded to do an awful but incredibly hilarious "Irish dance" for us, while Martin mimed playing a flute.  We laughed so hard we almost cried at the entire ordeal and the three of them really were comedians in a whole conversation with us, but the pub was closing since it was a Sunday but only 11, so we went a couple blocks down the road to another place open later.  It was kind of a cheesy American mock bar, but fun nonetheless.  One brother (Mark) had to go home (they lived in Islington on the road) to wake up early for work but the youngest and oldest stayed out with us and we had a really fun night with them!  We all laughed a lot and Chuck met some Irishman who told him "F*** the English, the Irish are with you!"  (meaning Americans).  I didn't meet the guy, but I saw him talking to Chuck and the story was funny.  Then we called the number I have that you can ask what night bust to catch, and we caught an N38, which was the same bus I always took to work!  From my stop as well!  It was a trip down memory lane, and I loved passing by everything I used to see everyday, except it was nighttime.  We sat at the very front on the top level of the double decker bus, before getting off at Hyde Park, and walking up to Marble Arch, since the stop was closed that we were supposed to change buses at.  At this point, Emily had stayed and waited for her bus to the airport, as she was flying out of Luton at 6am.  So finally we found the N97 very easily and got on it and got home fairly quickly.  So that was the night.  Today I'm going to shop in the morning (Paperchase! woo!!!  --my favorite English stationary/art store) and then we're meeting for pancakes (crepes).  Tonight is Charlotte's Opening night of Priscilla so I'm very excited for that!
Cheers to a gorgeous London...even if it is a little cold.  Good thing I got really chic real leather gloves with a collage on them!...so cool!
More soon!
~Sam~

Day 1- no no no jet laggg

That's right no jet lag for me!  I slept lots on the plane actually!  Then we got here and had to take a Heathrow Express since there were closures in zone 4 on the piccadilly line, more expensive, but it was fine.  Then we got to our hotel around 1pm (London time) and checked in right away!  My room is really nice, small, one bed and a nice bathroom and shower, which I used right away and felt like a new person after!  Then Kaitlin, Chuck, Emily and I went to Portobello Market.  Emily is a Penn State Thespian who is studying in Paris and met us here for two days!  Kaitlin is a good friend of mine who studied here for a semester last year, and her boyfriend, also a friend of mine, who has never been to England.  We walked through the market and got a deal on scarves.  Then I had found an Orange Mobile...turned out it closed!  So a nice man in a pub I walked into told me where one nearby was and I went and got a new sim card and phone number so my phone here could work again!
After that I got ahold of my friend Steven here and we met up and saw Oliver! the musical.  Although we paid a little more than we wanted to...it was well worth it just for the set!  It was in the same theatre as Lord of the Rings the musical...a massive stage...biggest I have EVER seen and SO well used.  The set was so epic it was almost opera-style.
After that I said bye to Steven and went to the theatre where Mamma Mia is playing. In the downstairs Delfont Room is a bar and cabaret style stage and my friend Leanne Jones who was Tracy while I was on Hairspray had her one woman show there, "Have You Met Miss Jones?" which was absolutely incredible.  I have some very talented friends and have seen some great Cabaret nights but hands down this one was the best.  I had not really heard her sing much other than Hairspray (almost 60-some shows of it!) and let me tell you I knew she was talented but wow so incredible!  I sat at a table with her friend Abby and her friend Zoe.  She had done a concert at Royal Albert Hall with Abby and the two girls were just absolutely hilarious the whole night and we became instant friends which was nice since I was by myself (Michael was supposed to come along but he was ill and didn't even go in to work).  I got to speak with Leanne after and we planned to get coffee this week while I'm here so that will be nice!
I caught a night bus home (no more mommy's money to take cabs!) and amazingly I think it only took me about 20-30 minutes to figure out what bus to take out of Piccadilly Circus!  (Tubes stop running at midnight and the show only started at 11pm).  I was happy I figured it out because the bus system is pretty impossible to comprehend (I still don't get it even though I've taken tons of buses).  Our hotel is right around the corner from the tube station at Earl's Court, and so is the bus stop.
So all in all it's been an amazing day.  Not sure what I'll do tomorrow but I know that I am meeting Kaitlin, Chuck, and Emily for Fish and Chips dinner!  They want to do the Tower of London...which if the first time I was asking "where is the gift shop?" chances are if I went a second time, my attention span would be even smaller, beautiful/awesome as it is there!
I'm sooo happy to be here I can't even stand it.  And I'm so excited to see everyone!
Cheers to London--my favorite place in the world, truly!
~Sam~

Hello London!

We are here!  Everything went smoothly and I'm currently riding the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station...free WiFi wooo hoooo!  We had about 15 minutes delay to land but other than that it was a great flight and I remembered why I fly Virgin Atlantic, they are just amazing.  Next is getting to the hotel, check in at 1pm, figuring out my phone, maybe Portobello Market, before meeting up with a friend to see Oliver! tonight!
More later...Cheers!
~Sam~

Watch out London I'm baaacckkkkk

So! I'm returning to London in exactly one week for the first time since my last entry on this site! Sure, just for a week's vacation but I figure what better way to remember the details (and keep those of you stuck at home over break entertained) of my trip than to continue my blog! I hope old readers and new ones will read on! As I prepare (sooo last minute) to leave, wish me luck and hope I don't forget anything! See you across the Atlantic!

Cheers!

~Sam~

There's a road we must travel....

...there's a promise we must make

Cos the riches will be plenty

Worth the risk and the chances that we take

There's a dream in the future....

~"I Know Where I've Been," from Hairspray

And here begins the last of my London blogs.  I am home safely now and I miss London dearly already.  Adjusting to life, food, and talk in Am

erica is a little weird but I'm getting used to it again, although most of me wishes I was still in England and could just see everyone who I am seeing now over there too.  It is good to see everyone but I miss all my friends in London and I miss the city and even, dare I say, the weather there!  Anyway here goes...

On Thursday I had a two show day, so after waking up to work on the gifts for people, I went to paperchase to pick up some needed supplies that i didn't get before and headed to work and was there around 12:45.  Two show day!  Before the first show after warm up my friend Ewan (a swing and a dance captain) came with me out

 to the lobby because I needed a cast member to sign for me to get a merchandise discount because crew for some reason don't get a discount and they needed a cast member to be present.  I had a receipt of all the stuff I wanted tho so it went pretty fast and it was pretty crowded but I was thankful to Ewan for doing that for me!  For the first show I went up with Sarah and sat in

 the booth with her.  I didn't feel

 totally like I was just sitting there though, because since she is becoming the new DSM and a cast change is coming up, she needs to have blocking notes.  Harder than it sounds though while a show is running because they are always moving around!  But anyway I did my best to take a few blocking note

s (more like little diagrams) of the scenes she needed.  The second show I followed her one last time on Stage Left which was good as always.  After the show I came home and stayed up till 4am making cards and such for people, and trying to finish everything up before tomorrow.  I also had to make sure I was all packed which I finished all but the little things on my desk and cosmetics and such.  

So on friday I woke up early again and finished up all the presents etc. and made sure I had everything with me before I left around 10 to go the BBC tour!!  I left later than I would have like to, but made i

t just in time for the tour at 11!  It was an interesting tour...got to see the TV studios and heard all about the logistics of how BBC works and the history and saw the building 

and such.  So it was good fun although I was disappointed with the gift shop :(

Then I rushed off to meet up with Ros, she had been texting me all morning since she was working auditions and we knew/suspected she would be out early (about half

 one) so we had planned to go shopping.  I got off the tube at Bond Street and found a cafe that was in an Alley that wasn't exposed if you know what i mean...aka couldn't feel the rain at all and sat and finished up some cast gifts.  For all the cast I took little papers that came i

n the Paperchase scrappacks I got and wrote everyone's names in the font and colors of the Hairspray logo (look 

to your right to the link to it if you forget).  I figured they could hang them on their mirrors or whatever and I signed them and wrote notes to a few people.  For Leanne (played Tracy, I became closest with her out of the cast), the sound dept, Wardrobe, Pete, Tinky, Hesky, Ros, Sarah, and Tom, I made larg

er cards which I had bought plain light blue (slightly sparkly tinted) and had written things like "thanks for everything Sarah" or "thank you SO much Hesky" on the front in the hairspray 'font' and colors as well and also had bought papers and stickers to finish them off and even printed out a few pictures that I've taken of us for Ros and Sarah and Leanne's cards.  And then everybody got some PSU gear/stuff as their presents.  In case you were curious. 

Anyway I then met up with Ros around 1.45 when I had done the cards and all and we began our most epic grand finale shopping trip.  It was truly a grand finale.  We both bought the most we had yet (i think we went on four or five total shopping trips together while I was there) but it was wonderful.  I got the best shoes EVER, Ros got some cute gray and pink converses, we both got sunglasses and new wallets, I bought some last minute gifts I still needed

 to get, and some other stuff, went with Ros on some errands of stuff she still needed for her holiday and such, she left this morning for Ibiza (monday).  We headed to work with numerous shopping bags in hand and dinners from Pret.

LAST DAY OF WORK:

So when I got to work after I did the reset stage right (I was so thankful they rearranged the ASM schedule so I could follow Ros on stage right for my last day!!!!--she was originally supposed to be on book that night.) and stayed onstage for warmup instead of going to have my tea because I had cards and american flag printed tootsie rolls to give out to the cast!  After that I got my programs signed...one on the outside and the other one people

 wrote short notes to me on the inside by their bios.  By the time all that was said and done it was the quarter act call already and when I went back to the dressing room

 to give out presents, to my surprise they had some for me which I didn't expect at all!!!  Because really they did much more for me...I was just kind of an extra set of hands that the show would go on without if it needed to.  But it was SO sweet of them.  I got books of english words and swear words ("in case we missed any", they wrote on the tag), a mini teapot and english teabags, bath salts from covent garden ("because you should always have something lovely from covent garden"), little knickers (see word list haha) with part of a british flag on them, a card that most of the crew had signed, a new little travel notebook since my moleskine was pretty full now! ("for my next journey") a necklace with purple flowers on it, and i'm probably even forgetting some things!  It was SO nice of them!  So I spent time opening those plus giving them their p

resents and then we were at the five!  So needless to say, I hadn't had my tea, and I hadn't eaten anything all day but a latte at the BBC, a can of "cappuchino" from my refridgerator before I left home in the morning, and a latte and skinny raspberry and apricot muffin with Ros in Debenhams, a

 dept. store and a sort of shopping tradition we developed.  So then I went down to begin the last show!  What a great last day!  I really couldn't have even imagined anything better.  Since I was work experience, I had made things thanking everyone I possibly could, but didn't really know what to expect from them as far as what they would say about it being my last

 day!  But a lot of cast and crew members were sad I was leaving it was so sweet!  I visited Leanne's dressing room when she was getting her pin curls done before the show and she said she was gonna cry at my card I made her!  After the show I ran through most of the dressing rooms and shouted goodbye to everyone and they all shouted back to me and talked to me as I walked through and said that they would miss me and all and it was just better than any last show I could have ever asked for.  I even reeled in the rats for the last time and caught both dodgeballs during the dodgeball scene.  The theme for the You Can't Stop the Beat that I chose was cheerleader ( I had chosen exaggerated movements earlier in the week, also a good one, but I missed th

e cheerleader theme day a few weeks ago, so I wanted to do it, spirit fingers and all)!  As I watched the finale from offstage I almost got choked up watching a lot of my favorite people perform for the last time I would see them do so all together on Hairspray in London.  

After the show, there were seven or eight of us who went to the pub (White Hart across the road) including me, Ros, Tom, Rachel (Ros's friend in wardrobe who we walk to Holborn with after the show), a guy named Tony who I think is on wigs but that is

 apparently his last name so I don't know I am confused about that hahaha.  And then Leanne and Ewan were there as well.  So it was nice we had a couple drinks and some chips and it was lots of fun.  Have I mentioned how much I love the music they play in the White Hart?  It's great...stuff you're like, "Oh i love this song I haven't heard it in so long!"  Anyway Leanne was first to leave so I said bye to her sadly with hopes to see her in December if I am free to go to New York, she is taking a week holiday there so we are gonna hang out there and I am going to do everything I can to make it there for at least part of the week/weekend.  Then  I said bye to Tom and the rest of us (me Rach, Ros and Ewan walked to the Holborn tube stop.  It makes me sad to think about saying bye to them now and how when we parted ways (they travel westbound i go east) I said bye and the second I walked away and for the rest of my tube ride home I had to hold back tears knowing that not only was this my last tube ride (well not gonna miss being sweaty with a lot of random people...) but still knowing that I would not be going back to the Shaftesbury and doing what I have been routinely doing and seeing the people I have been routinely seeing just made (and still makes) my heart hurt.  

Anyway I got home and finished packing the rest of my desk up and all.  No one was really home.  So at 3am i gave up waiting and went to bed planning on waking them up before I left in the morning to say bye, only to find that they all returned around 3.30 so I got up to say goodbyes to everyone since I'd be leaving in a cab at 6am and most of them would still be sleeping.  Went back to bed around 4 and woke up about 5.15.  

Our cab left the house by 6.15 and we got to Heathrow Airport around 7am, flight set to leave at 9.30.  After some luggage difficulties (I had to transfer 2 kilos from my larger suitcase to my smaller one), but surprisingly did well!!!, and I ended up with a leg room seat, unfortunately not by a window (they also asked me "are you fit and in good health to help the crew in case of emergency?" because of where I was seated I was like umm sure haha anyway I got leg room which is usually extra fees) we got to our gate and after I called Rosi and left her a voicemail saying one last bye like I said I would, we took off and I said one final goodbye from the sky to my favorite place on earth.

I got into JFK around 12.30 USA time, used my US cell phone for the first time in two months, and by 1:15 I was with my parents and we were driving out of NYC.  After talking for a bit, I dont even remember falling asleep but I was asleep for the entirety of the ride home and I slept for a lot of the plane ride too.  I made it back into State College about 5:30, got time to take a shower and grab a quick bite to eat before going to see my sisters in West Side Story closing night!  How thankful I am to be home safely, but I miss London dearly and I am counting down the days until graduation and I can return there to work and reunite with many of the people I worked with on Hairspray.  It is still just as surreal to be home as it was to be leaving for London two months ago.  If you are in State College please call me (or even if you're not) because I love to see all of you who I haven't seen for months now, that is probably the only good thing about being home for real.  If only I could merge my life in London and add in the people in State College at Penn State, I would be golden.  Thanks to everyone who has been reading whether it was one entry or every single one, I really admire your commitment...these entries were so lengthy especially because they were mainly for me to remember my trip later on!

Goodbye London thank you for the best two months of my life.  It is definitely an experience I will never forget and London is definitely what I think of to as the "time of my life."  There is a "dream in the future," and mine is to return to London.

Goodbye lovely London Town and all the lovely people there... until we meet again,

Sam

"...Don't Know When I'll Be Back Again...Oh-oh. I hate to go"

So I do not have much time to recount the events from the past few days, as it is 5:43am right now in London and my cab to the airport is coming at 6:15.  But in short, my last day of work was far up and beyond any last day I could imagine-so wonderful, and goodbyes were hard as was trying to keep my eyes dry on my tube ride home by myself.  London has done such wonderful things for me and I can't wait to see how the things I learned (about theatre and about myself) and the people I met connect with my future.  I can't wait for the day I can come back and live and work here, as it has become part of my "plan" post graduation, to come back and work here for a little while.  When I get back to the states I will write again and account more specifically for the days I have not yet written about.  Anyway, with only one or two more blogs to go before the website is almost complete, I want to thank you all for reading it, I know it was tedious because I write like I talk on these sorts of things.  Can't wait to see you all, although my adjustment back to home will not be exactly easy.  Wish me safe flights!  Goodbye!

Cheers London I'll Miss You,

Sam

100 Things I will miss about London....

(in no particular order and some are favorite memories from London...) 100. Seeing Big Ben and a ferris wheel as the "skyline" 99. The texaco station outside my window 98. Standing on the right side of the escalator...or walking up the left side. 97. Deciding what show to go to based on the adverts lining the escalators in the tube...and seeing at least one a week! 96. Sitting in Hyde Park soaking up the rare and beautiful sunshine. 95. Running through Hyde Park all the way down through and past Kensington Gardens and feeling refreshed. 94. Playing basketball with the guys in my house 93. Not worrying about keeping my phone close or starring at it a lot because out of the 15 or so numbers I have collected, only about 5 are likely to call or text often. 92. The Bagel Nash: Yogurt and granola Parfaits 91. Making itineraries for myself everyday 90. Taking artsy photos everywhere I go like it's my job 89. Getting lost and ending up somewhere fantastic or beautiful 88. Getting lost and sighing with relief at the sight of a tube stop 87. The homeless man with the german shepherd puppy who always sits at Old Street Station. 86. "Everybody stop liiikkking Herrrr!!!!" ~Ros trying to have an American accent 85. 'rush hour traffic' on the stairs during the last few scenes 84. People asking me "y'a'right?" instead of the american "how are you?" (although the two are often paired together in the same sentence. 83. Writing in and referring to my little black book (my london moleskine) and taking it everywhere I go to jot down addresses and look at maps without looking like a tourist. 82. Being proud of myself for getting somewhere without using a map 81. Tucking Leanne (or Charlotte) into bed and running offstage saying "goodnight!" right before the show starts. 80. Doing Emma's themes for dancing backstage to the second chorus You Can't Stop the Beat. Ex. Drunk, stiff joints, feet stuck to floor, cheerleader, indians, pirate. 81. Sex and the City soundtrack at warm-ups day!... and seeing Mykl's Vinsen's excitement about it! 80. Ave Marias, Red Leather Yellow Leather, Unique New York, and the occasional "ahhhh" one note warm up that makes very little sense..... 79. Running up and down thousands of stairs and escalators everyday..mostly at the Shaftesbury 78. The graffiti art site at an old tube stop...graffiti heaven 77. Feeling educated by taking myself to museums 76. The Eagle, O'Neill's...bars near home that I like 75. The White Hart...sitting at the tables that say "reserved for Hairspray" 74. Standing in Matt's doorway and chatting 73. Coming home from work, and immediately changing into little shorts, grabbing a snack (times two) and taking it upstairs to visit Seth (yeah more stairs!) 72. Drawing open the huge curtains on the huge windows in my room to see bright sunshine in the morning. 73. Those few days when my hair is not frizzed in London. 72. Watching football with Tom on the dressing room computer at tea time. 71. Putting in a pound for the saturday night Hairspray lotteries...even though I never won...oh well! 70. Taking a train to somewhere like Greenwich without being completely sure if it is the right one, but faith of getting there anyway. 69. Skinny lattes and skinny raspberry apricot muffins 68. Chocolate muffins, an apple and water in a brown bag when I go to class. 67. The way it sounds when english people say my name 66. The sound of the word "you" when english people say "thank you" 65. Anyone british saying "good" sounds like a short version of "goodt" 64. Meeting a drug dealer name Jack on our second night in London at the pub...shady. 63. Drag queens walking around outside Old Street 62. Historical reinactments at tourist sites like the Tower of London 61. Feeling great to arrive at the gift shop of any museum or tourist site I have just completed. (gift shops are the best part!) 60. My London Encounter Lonely Planet guide 59. Seeing random acts of kindness: 58. A lady offering the Old Street homeless man a box of Krispy Kremes 57. A guy picking up two newspapers while riding the tube--and offering me one. 56. Someone at work bringing a someone else at work flowers because she had a rough week the week prior. 55. A man giving an elderly lady his seat on the bus and the fact that she didn't stop thanking him the rest of the ride. 54. Having time to keep my room clean. 53. Being free to wake up whenever I want, but choosing to wake up at a decent hour anyway. 52. Little kids with British accents running around this city. 51. Eating meat pies on fleet street. 50. Paperchase- the most wonderful stationary and art store I have ever been inside...and three stories of it! 49. Looking the right way to cross the street. (makes me feel like I live here!) 48. The man at the shop (convienience store) by Shaftesbury telling me "it's nice to see you again" everytime I come in, even though all I get is Evian every time. 47. Getting tricked into when to page the curtain during Welcome to the 60s. 46. Going to bars and clubs legally 45. Fish and chips 44. Testing everyone's microphone before the show and people laughing at an American counting to ten. 43. "Cool Magic"...actually called Magicool, Leanne's cooling spray...it really is magic. 42. The little adventure to front of house stairwell with Ros when I do stage right and using the nicer-than-backstage front of house toilets. 41. Hearing LX and Auto cues in my ear over cans (headset) and knowing when they are coming. 40. Saying "standing byyyy" over cans 39. Reeling in the "rats on the street, they'll dance round my feet" 38. Following orange lamp posts to the Tate modern 37. Being slightly grossed out but thinking all the blood and gore in King Lear was kind of cool...i mean A LOT of gore...and standing at the very foot of the stage to watch it the whole time! 36. Getting away with taking pictures in beautiful, should-be-photographable areas. 35. Blogging. 34. Getting really excited to talk to someone on facebook who I havent heard from or seen in two months or more (anyone from SC or PSU really) 33. video chatting with my puppy Mia. 32. Grocery shopping at Sainsbury's and feeling like a grownup. 31. The awesome ready-made meals they have at M & S and such. 30. Pret. 29. Iced Mocha Lattes from the cafe in the Aveda hair salon across from the Shaftesbury 28. Being greeted by Harry at the stage door. 27. Evian water. 26. The smiling faces of literally everyone at work literally almost all the time. 25. Setting up the Har Dee Har hut and then getting applause when it all goes. 24. Sitting on the floor of the stage waiting for Act II beginners and doodling on the attendance clipboard. 23. STILL getting lost in the Shaftesbury...and Sarah attempting to be tackful in asking me why I'm going that way... :) 22. Walking onstage during Welcome to the 60s and ducking behind the rowhouses 23. Using my new hot pink maglite. 22. Sitting on the Miss Teenage Hairspray Throne 21. Practicing riffles and double shuffles or tapping while sitting during "Big Dollhouse" 20. Cravings for McFlurries even though I hate McDonald's...the cravings are only because it is outside my window... 19. Scottish Shortbread Fingers with squeezable strawberry jelly on top 18. The sound the door makes when you come home (the alarm thing it goes buh leep when you turn the key) 17. Asking random friendly-looking people to take my picture when I'm travelling solo and am at a photo op. 16. Shopping with Ros!!!!! (shopaholics, the both of us....) 15. The Design Museum 14. Telling people I'm from Pennsylvania when they ask about my accent...my favorite was the one guy who thought my accent was french... 13. Learning new words to add to my blog 12. Using the new words I've used and still pulling it off ok. 11. Deciding on a random tube stop to get off at and just exploring what is there. 10. Harrods. Designer Shoes. And all that jazz. 9. Walks to the Holborn station with Ros and Rachel after work. 8. Bra shopping with Sarah and Ros even though i hate bra shopping it was still fun with them 7. Doing laundry myself and only ruining one item! (never done my own laundry more than twice a year in my life) 6. Watching out for celebrities who come see Hairspray (I saw Henry Winkler from the Fonz and Ronnie Colbert)...or hearing about celebs elsewhere in London 5. Spending almost 55 shows (I calculated) total on the West End, whether watching or backstage...about 12 of those are the traditional: from audience, had ticket. 4. Cafe Nero. 3. Mastering the tube system. (...almost.) 2. Spending an average of 7 shows a week working on Hairspray and looking forward to "work" everyday I've been here. 1. Living, working, walking, taking random boats, horse and buggies, trains, buses, and loving London and all the wonderful people I've met here. I am so blessed.

You Can't Stop [to Breathe]

In case you dont get it...it's like You Can't stop the Beat...except not...HAHA i mean i didn't make it up but i thought it was cute cos i havent stopped to breathe...well the past two months, BUT especially the past few days, as I've been trying to do the last few things I haven't done--I've gotten to see a lot of London, with daytimes free and all!!! 

On Monday I chilled out at home in the morning, then decided to go say one last goodbye to Westministe

r Abbey, Big Ben, the London Eye...all that touristy juice.  Got some footage and stuff so that was good.  Then I went up to Bond Street (on oxford street, where Ros and I shop, it's farther down tho from work) and walked around waiting for her to call me and say when we were gonna meet up to go shopping.  I hadn't seen her since the tuesday past because of working Never Forget and Dirty Dancing and her working auditions during the one show i did work...so i was excited to see her!  We did some shopping, she's going to Ibiza on holiday with a bunch of her girlfriends for two weeks, two days after I fly out so of course that calls for new outfits!!  So we just had fun shopping like always and just barely made it back in time for work because of all the foot traffic.  The funniest moment (you had to be there so sorry if it's not funny, but I'll remember it if i write it haha that's what half this blog is anyway) was when we were getting so frustrated with people not walking fast enough and Ros turns to me and goes "I put on my mean face and then people get out of my way" and it was hilarious cos she's just a little thing with kind of a baby face and not intimidating at all so I still laugh when I think of the face she made.  I did stage left with Tom (he is back from Spain after 2 weeks!) since Ros was on book and Sarah was doing the stage manag

ement plot (Hesky left not feeling well).  So that was fun although it's funny cos when I do it with Sarah she tells me everything but he really doesn't say much at all to me about what to do, I kind of just do the jobs I usually do and he checks up on it or is ready to do it if I don't.  Which makes it a lot less stressful, but I think I end up doing slightly less...haha or maybe just thinking less cos I do what is second nature to do which mostly it is now minus some things that I do when I follow some people and not others so I'll sometimes forget or get order mixed up on that stuff.  

Tuesday was time to 

go to Greenwich!  Although everyone has off work this week, I didn't have a travel buddy so I went by myself, and funny cos I didn't really know where I was going but the people who work at the trains help you so that is nice.  It was gorgeous there although a little gray in the morning.  And best of all everything was free!  I went to the Maritime Museum, saw the 0 degrees longitude, 0 degrees latitude line (stood with one foot on each side!) and watched the time ball drop at 1pm!  I also saw the Queen's House designed by Inigo Jones, one of the earliest set designers!  And the lady who gave the 20 minute (that's my limit haha) tour I went on told me all kinds of ghost stories about the place after!!!!  I had lunch at the Tea House, a fantastic caesar salad and some bread pudding.  Then after walking around a bit more and finding a great little shop that I made a few purchases at, I went by train back to London.  I took the tube from there to Marble Arch, which has a pedestrian subway to Hyde Park.  So I went there and sat out in the sun and studied for my exa

m for about an hour, before doing a little shopping on Oxford Street (yeah it's basically all one fabulous street leading to work--perfection) and then taking the tube the rest of the way cos I was too far down and it was getting too late.  Then I went to work and did stage right with Ros which was of course fun.  And guess who came to see Hairspray?!!!!  Erin, my roommate at PSU has been in London for weeks, lives literally around the corner, but because of my weird schedule, we haven't met up yet!  So while I was trying to get some merch in the lobby (haha leaving it to the last min of course) I saw her -knew she was coming tho!-it was exciting!  And her and her flatmates loved the show and I'm so glad someone from home/PSU got to see exactly what I've been doing the past two months and it meant a lot to me that she wanted to come!  So yeah and it was bloody hot onstage again (have i mentioned how hot and sweaty it is every night?  well it is!  no air conditioning here!!!) but ok anyway.  

Today I got up early again to go to Hampton Court Palace!  It was beautiful there as well!!!  A lot to do!  There is just so much to look through, and then the maze and the gardens and all that!  Plus I had a 

specific house in the area to find as a favor to take a picture, which was not an easy task and I probably ended up walking a few miles in the total process, but I found it!  Also spent a bit over lunch studying for my exam I had tonight (we had essay questions in advance, had to prepare two, 750ish word essays and not use notes) so of course i pick the ones from the only two classes I went to...yay!  it went well.  But anyway, headed to the train station about 15.15, and although Ros and I were gonna shop more, we've decided Friday would be better since she would get into town late today and anyway I had an exam and wasn't going to work.  So I just went back home did a little studying and laundry and such, went to the exam and came back and have been doing some packing (I feel like I'm going on vacation, from London...that's how much I feel like it's my home here now...) and other little things I must do to say thank you to all the wonderful and brilliant people I am going to have to say bye to on Friday!!!  (If you know me, you know that even tho I brought zero card making materials-I have like a TON of materials, it's kind of my thing haha-that I had a hayday at Paperchase, the stationary/art store I talked about earlier and bought stuff to make fairly good little gifts although I still miss my sharpies and prismacolors (amazing colored pencils that cost about $2 per pencil and i have a 120 set...love them to death)!  

So yes I am up to all that.  Tomorrow I have an oral evaluation of my paper and my internship and then go to work at 13.00.  Two show day yay!  Oh no my last two show day!!!!  :'(  I hate "lasts."  Anyway.  As you can tell I am so devastated to leave in a short three days!  I love london.

Cheers to making the most of the last few days in my favorite new home with some of my favorite new people,

Sam

"I've Had the Time of My Life..."

...and i've never felt this way before and i swear...

Let's play a game called guess where that song is from.  You win if you said Dirty Dancing...that's where I worked on Friday!!!!  

It was such a blast!  I did their stage right plot for the first show and then for the second show i sat on book with the DSM calling the show.  The first show was interesting because there was this huge panic all of a sudden and I realized that the girl (an ASM in costume) driving the car on the stage (literally the size of an actual car, looks like one too!, operates like a golf cart) had hit the LED board, which is this huge rounded board of 1 foot by 1 foot LED boards that basically form projections (not like the kind of LEDS you would imagine in the High School Musical logo) and i later found out each of these 1 foot boards costs 250,000 pounds which is half a million dollars....and i'd say there were definitely over fifty of them...in a rounded cyc shape about 6 or 7 feet high and maybe 6 foot radius of the curve/circle if there was one...anyway.  Sorry to bore those of you who don't care about the logistics of the set and my awful way of explaining it without sketching or using my hands when I talk...that's just for the few who might want to know and for me to remember.  :)  Anyway to end the suspense she hit the LED board and the person on automation's only dep in was Liz, who was being an ASM for the night (she does ASMing, Sound and Automation depping!!!! whoa)  and so she had to run down to see what damage there was and so other people had to cover her plot and so they were all kind of frantic for a few minutes and kind of left me with a few jobs which was cool haha they were easy and soon enough all was back to normal in literally less than 3 minutes and the LED board thankfully did not suffer at all.  However, Jenny, the girl driving it will probably not hear the end of it for a year or so from the cast and crew about her driving skills.  :)  They were joking that I should drive the car for the second show since it's an American car but I was like (ummm suree but you mayyyy not want me to...) haha but i knew I wouldn't end up doing it...too much liability involved, me just working there could be a whole thing in the first place, let alone driving a car around millions of dollars of equipment...plus mix that with my driving skills....yeah didn't happen, I knew they were just joking around and I didn't exactly go into details about my skillful driving abilities.  :)  Plus those are not great first impression stories to tell....

Anyway I spent the rest of the show moving scenery and props (it is a VERY prop heavy show, many of which are food props) so a lot of it was just cool to look at the props close up and see how they were made, etc. and the girl, Liz, or Yeates as they called her since there were two Liz's on stage management and Yeates is her surname, was very helpful in trying to keep it relevant to me and to design and props and all so that was really great of her.  The second show I basically watched, sat with the girl Jenny who happened to be covering book that night (that means calling the show, what I sat with Sarah for two shows in the booth and did) and she pointed things out to me and it was cool cos I could watch all five monitors, see the script, hear the cues, and see the actual live show because she calls it from the wings, as I found out most west end shows do, Hairspray is unique in that way.  So it was a lot to watch and learn and piece together from what tasks I had done during the first show.  Overall just great fun working on it and seeing another West End show.  Most of all comparing the three is really interesting (Hairspray, Never Forget, and Dirty Dancing), and I can say for sure that everywhere you have to climb loads and loads of stairs to get anywhere and that no matter how much you do it, it never gets shorter or easier!  And that every job has told me that sentence exactly!

Saturday I actually had the day off which I think I said in the last blog but if you missed it, I got the day and night off since they were training 8 (eight?!!!! crazy!!!) people on DECK!!!  which is a ton.  so they needed the extra room even of just one little body (me).  So, when I got home on Friday I ran into my friends Natsuki (pronounced Natski) and Beth, and Beth said she didn't have anything to do the next day and might fancy a day trip, which was good cos I was looking for a companion other than my intense camera!  So we made last minute plans and got on the 10am train from Paddington station the next morning!  After spending a little more than our guide book told us we would have to on train tickets, we got to Bath about 11:30am and just kind of hopped on one of those city tours!  The first one was the "skyline" tour, more scenic, which happened to get rainy about halfway through, the second was the city tour which was not rainy at all.  Both were really nice and it was a quick and easy way to see most of the beautiful city of Bath, England.  Some of the things we saw were Jane Austin's home, the History of Fashion Museum,  The Roman Baths, the Abbey, and some other stuff!  We had a good time and it was nice to see another part of England and take one last day trip!

We planned on getting back for a show, but when we got to We Will Rock You, tickets were too expensive, and we went to Mousetrap, which we had the absolute wrong tube stop for, and by that time it was past showtimes.  So then we tried to see Mamma Mia the movie, but the one that had a good showtime for that was where it premiered so it was super expensive.  And all the other places didn't have later showtimes and we hadn't eaten dinner so we somehow ended up very shattered and in Chinatown, where we ate dinner and then headed home with some Haagen Daas ice cream and watched the London episode of Friends that I have with me and then totally crashed...exhausted from running around especially the last few hours...we ran to catch our train from Bath, then ran back and forth from theatre to theatre and trying to find the correct address for Mousetrap, then around to the Mamma Mia Odeon movie theatres...craziness.  but all in a days work here in England :)  

Then today, oh today I woke up and headed to the Globe Theatre to see King Lear!  It was good and standing was not that bad!  it's like a big pit with only seating in the balconies, which are thrust style-ish but in an arch shape and kind of obstructed view on the sides if you know what i mean.  Anyway I got there about 12:15 and stood in line so i got a good spot leaning right at the foot of the stage!  To summarize, lots of blood guts and gore, I liked to watch for when they squeezed their blood packs (I was that close...I could see the stitching on the costumes, they were inches away at some points!)  The stage was slightly less than 5 feet tall I would guess from standing right next to it for three hours!!!  which actually was not as painful as i thought it would be, standing in the same spot...I guess if you think about it i stand for Hairspray every night and all, although I am moving around and stuff a lot more.  Anyway got to see eyeballs ripped out rather realistically, looked away only a little...a good sword fight, and it was overall very enjoyable!  I brought a brunch from Cafe Nero with me, food allowed inside and everyone sits on the ground who has standing room during the interval.  Afterwards, I headed home to change and decided since it was so gorgeous outside (perfect for the globe show since it's not an indoor theatre, no mics or stage lights!)  that I would go for a run in Hyde Park!  So I got my stuff together so I wouldn't need to carry anything but my iPod and headed over, ran for total probably an hour, with commuting back and forth!  Hyde park connects with Kensington Gardens and is at least twice the size of PSU campus in width.  I ran some circles around one part of Hyde park, then ran through it kind of windingly all the way to the end of Kensington Gardens to Knightsbridge tube stop where Harrods is!!!  That's really far.  I did pretty well I thought, for not running in over two months, and ran home, but the water on for my pasta, jumped in the shower, and got ready for the Mamma Mia movie in a half hour total!  Record time for cooking and eating dinner, showering and changing!

Anyway about Mamma Mia!  I will tell you.  First off.  Meryl Streep rocks my world she is brilliant.  Second, that movie must have been such a blast to film and be a part of.  A lot of it was wonderful.  The things that weren't were: some of the vocals, which were okay, but not fantastic by any means, including Sophie's, and the cinematography and if you don't know the ending it is kind of not that great either, but I expected that cos I know the musical.  Also was disappointed in the lack of impressive dancing/choreography, but the dancers seemed to be well trained, just not given good stuff.  BUT.  If you do not expect fabulous deep things from it, it is a spectacular night to forget about reality and have a blast, really.  And in the end, isn't that what entertainment (movies and theatre mainly) are all about anyway?   So go see it if you like musicals and have a blast, I sure did.

It is WAYYY too late and I need to go to bed.  Going shopping and chilling with Rosi in the afternoon and who knows what else tomorrow has in store.  Oh and back to Hairspray which I haven't been since Thursday afternoon and I've missed it so so dearly!  Five shows left!!!!!  :'(

Cheers to making the most of my last week here....

Sam

"Cheers M'Dears!"

A good blog title...Sarah says it to me on occasion and I had the thought today that would make a good title!  If you want to know how it'd be used like, Sarah:"And then would you grab the stool and the laundry bin?"  Me:"Sure thing"-i head off to it, Sarah: "Cheers M'Dears!"

Let's see on Wednesday I turned in my paper on the rainiest London day yet so that was good to get off my back.  Now I've just got this exam coming up which basically I've just got to write the essay for once I actually see someone in my house who can give them to me (I had my friend Matt pick it up for me, my roommate did not offer it when I asked what they said about it and told her I needed to get the worksheet, sooo...whatevs and he is never home before I go to bed.)  After I dropped off my paper I went to the Shaftesbury and picked up my blacks (clothes and shoes, I leave them in a locker in our dressing room) because I had not brought them with me the day before and Sarah said I should take them to Never Forget.  Oh and then I had a spare few hours so I went to the National Portrait Gallery and National Gallery, which were a good way to spend a rainy day, but neither exhilarating nor my favorite museums yet.   So I headed to Never Forget, got there a bit before 5, and met Oli at the stage door like Sarah had told me to ask for.  He took me downstairs where they did a lighting check onstage and I saw the set which....really saw a budget cut to say the least.  Don't get me wrong this show has real rain that parts as actors walk through it and closes behind them, and also spells the words "NEVER FORGET" quite clearly and that is fantastic!  Plus there are giant flames of fire during one of the songs that you can feel the heat from the top balcony in the audience!  So those were cool but let's just say when I told them I was a set designer they were quite sad for me to see the set.  So after lighting check I hung out in their crew room for a bit before going with Mark, a guy who "comes with the building" as they say, which means he works for the building and runs whatever shows come in.  Never Forget is kind of a mixture between Wedding Singer, Mamma Mia, and Jersey Boys, with a more boy band kind of outlook and a less theatre-going audience.  The audience, very responsive and sometimes not sober, treats much of the show like a concert and sings along to the songs, all by the very popular British band, Take That.  The souvenir booth sells, among other usual souvenirs, thongs and devil ears with the logo on it...and many Hen Parties (bachelorette parties) come through.  Anyway I watched the show with Mark in the light booth on Wednesday night which was good fun and he was able to answer some questions of mine about different things as we went along and I stepped out into the audience to watch the rain and watch/feel the fire--flames about 7 feet tall!  Also I noticed that the facilities at the Savoy are incredibly old and really really not great conditions.  Tonight my allergies even started to feel it!  First of all there is some problem that makes the entire basement smell like a sewer every day and just in general the building has obviously not ever been renovated in any way and there is a lot more dust and problems than at the Shaftesbury, which trust me has its share.  But it was all right anyway and last night was good fun.

So then today I went to work at Hairspray for the matinee where I followed Sarah on stage left, since one of the deps was in doing Ros's plot on Stage Right since she was working at auditions for the upcoming cast change.  So that was great and I really love it there still.  It's really become kind of second nature to go there and i've basically treated it like a second home for the past two months or whatever.  Although I will say, with all the stairs I've climbed-in the Shaftesbury every day and in London in general,- you would think it gets easier once your muscles are built up but that is a lie, it's still a rough climb even when I run it, and just when you think you've reached the end, you havent! :)  So after working the show, I basically had to run to Never Forget since their preset was at 6 they told me to really try and get there by then.  Well.  Before I left Hesky told me that on Saturday I should take the day off (friday is dirty dancing) because they would be training eight (yes eight!!!) extra people on deck and that they would need the extra space on both sides of the stage.  I was I admit a little bummed but I said okay and all that.  Maybe I'll go to Bath or Stratford-upon-Avon I can't decide.  Most all my friends here at Thoresby House will be in Paris or Amsterdam though so I may have to fly solo again, which is alright, although I'd rather be working.  This also meant that Tinky, the DSM is going on holiday next week and that I would not see her again!  So I went up to the box (she calls the show) and said a very fast goodbye and told her I would leave the stuff I wanted to give her for her when she returned.  I then basically ran to the Savoy Theatre where Never Forget is and literally got there at exactly 6.  Beautiful.  I did their preset, kind of in a whirlwind from coming straight off working and resetting Hairspray (I did the stage right preset during the finale) and running there but it was good and fairly quick!  I ran out to grab dinner at Pret and got this great thing called "No Bread" and it was just salad leaves, mozzarella cheese and tomatoes with some avacado and olives!  so good!  plus i got some strawberries and other berries and a banana bread little cake thing for dessert.  A great dinner!  Then I ran the show on stage management tonight and followed Jen, who knew Sarah (most everyone did since she worked at the Savoy) and who knew of Ros and everyone else!  If nothing else, it made me realize just how small this business is.  Some of them even knew enough to say "how's 'so and so' getting on?  'So and so' is quite a slacker! (which 'so and so' is)"  proves there are no secrets either and reputations spread fast.  Good reputations too, Jen even said what a good teacher Sarah is, and that she had taught Jen her plot, which I really agree on.  Others knew Hesky, Tom, and other crew members at Hairspray!  Anyway the plot was not as demanding as Hairspray by any means, but it was fun to follow along and help out for a night.  Also met some great people, left them a thank you note and a PSU magnet for the dressing room refrigerator (the stage management dressing room, although even farther upstairs than the one at Shaftesbury if that's possible, is all new and airconditioned!!!!!  So it's worth the trip!)  and my little business cards that I made before I came over here.   Overall quite a fun night.  Not working Saturday really made leaving seem so much closer though!  I can't even imagine leaving this place...I feel seriously like I'm moving away, which I never had to do as a kid, but I really know what it feels like now and it's awful!  I was so distraught thinking about it on the tube on my way home that I bought a little ice cream on my walk home from the Old Street tube stop, and ice cream isn't something I really eat more than once every few weeks or so nowadays.  So anyway that's about it...really gutted at the thought of leaving.  But.  no time to think on that now I have a week left to live it up in London and you bet I'm gonna!

Cheers m'dears,

Sam

A lot to Update!

Left to Right: Sarah, me, and Ros, the two ASMs that I hang out with/follow mostly on Hairspray at the White Hart. So I haven't written in awhile since I've had this project to be working on in whatever spare time I have.  I still felt rushed on it even though I started mine way early...but it would be way better if we would work on it and turn it in before fall semester.  I'm turning it in today though, so wish me luck!  Now all I've got is an exam next wednesday that I get questions to prior (it's essay) and a viva which I think is just them talking to me about what I've done/learned at my internship, it's an oral "exam" but should be good.  

Where to start...Thursday 3. July...two show day...I was on stage management I believe but that was so long ago I don't even remember!  I'm pretty sure I was with Ros on stage right though.  On Friday I went to the Tate Modern to hear a lecture on the artist Cy Twombly who does these great (well i like some of his stuff better than others) grand scale paintin

gs of layering of paint and mixed media, kind of a post abstract expressionism type of style.  Anyway I have to write a 500 word analysis of a public lecture, so that was mine and it fit into my schedule and was not something totally dull.  I thought it was at 11, but when I got there they told me online was wrong and it was actually at 1.  So I bought my ticket to the exhibit, and decided to go nearby to visit the OXO tower.  I got some breakfast at this great little place there called the Alba cafe, where I met the Italian owne

r of the cafe and he was telling me all kinds of lengthy stories about his experiences in America while I ate my breakfast there.  It was great fun, reminded me of those small town cafes (or Starbucks, sometimes) where you just talk to whoever is in your shop and befriend them.  Then I went back to Tate and heard

 the lecture and everything.  After it was over and after looking through my London Encounter book of what to do, I decided to take a trip over to Bethel Green where there were some markets and the Museum of Childhood.  When I got there, I kind of got myself lost but it was all okay because I found an old church and needed to find one to get pictures of the social hall for a show I am assistant designing in the Fall with school of theatre since I didn't get 

to one while I was in Dublin (where it takes place).  So the priest let me in and after thanking him, I finally found the museum of childhood.  It was filled with toys and clothing from various time periods and was pretty interesting I guess.  Then I still had time so I decided to go to Bond Street since I hadn't been to shops there yet even though Ros and I had walked that big long shopping street (oxford street) several times, since we started at different points and it would get closer to work times, there were certain parts we had just walked past.  So I did that...tons of fabulous sales going on to say the least and I got some really great deals and some stuff I needed.  After that I kept walking up the street all the way to work where I worked with Wardrobe.  Doing quick changes and taking care of clothing again.  Probably not what I would want to do for the rest of my life, but it was good experience.

On to 5 July.  Brighton Beach!!!!  I can't explain how wonderful it was to go to the beach!!!!  I had to wake up

 early to go get the tour coach over by the Arcadia Office in Palace 

Court which is pretty far from me and it is very easy to get lost there.  I left with Jamie and Madeleine and our other two friends Nikki and Claudia, but ended up seeing girls I didn't know that well and starting conversation with them and then spending the day with them!  It was great fun and I was thankful and relieved to find some new people to spend the day with...stress free.  Ashley, Megan, and Sarah were all really a lot of fun!  They live in my house but I barely kn

ew their names before the trip!  We went on the pier and on the beach which I could have stayed at forever.  The victorians replaced the sand with pebbles, and now I see why!  It was sooo windy there!  It was a gorgeous day sun and all, but just so windy!  Kind of like beaches on the east coast in the states in like march or april or something!  We also toured the Royal Pavilion.  They give you those things to listen to as you walk through and let me tell you if that voice isn't done by the time I am done walking through a room myself the stop button gets pressed!  ha

ha.  I was back for the second show (saturday, so it was two show day) and did photocopying for the musical director for the first half of the show.  There was a LOT of music and I had to get it back to the pit since they needed it for the second half.  Then once I had done taping it together and all that, I went back up to help Ros on stage right.  After the show we went to the White Hart, the pub across the way that reserves tables for the cast and crew of my show that we always go to, and stayed there until it closed at 2, or more like 2.30(am).  I intended to leave early as did Ros, but after missing the last tube and then not seeing Leanne (who plays Tracy, I was gonna share a cab) leave and she couldn't find me either, I decided to stay on.  After the pub closed, they took us all (I was 

hanging out with Ros and several other people from the cast and crew...left to right in photo: 

Rachel (dresser), Ros (ASM), Natalie (Lil Inez), me, Ben (dresser).) to this place in Soho called the Arts which was a club.  The place closed at 3 and they tried to charge us cover, but since a lot of the cast and crew who came were regulars there and had memberships we all got in free and it was a good

 thing cos we weren't there long.  After that one of the people I met, a 

friend of my coworkers on

 Hairspray, who works in the Automation department of Lord of the

 Rings walked me to where he knows the guards who get people cabs beca

use they didn't want me taking a night bus.  So he split cab fare with me even though I don't think he lived that close to 

me, but it was nice of him anyway to make sure I got home safely and I didn't end up spending much at all on cab fare.  So it was one of my favorite late nights out so far and I figured I should live it up with these people while I am still here.  A long day though...I wasn't home for... 18 hours!

On Sunday I had a rather boring day, except for that I got to see Rich Biever!  For those of you who don't know, he was my musical theatre coach through high school, we are friends with his family, and they run a musical theatre school for all ages up through high school called Singing Onstage Studios and I spent a good chunk of high school doing shows and workshops there.  He is getting his MFA in directing at PSU now and so is in London with the program!  We went to Wagamamas (Japanese noodle bar) and had dinner and it was great fun!  Otherwise I just worked on my project all day.

Monday I worked on my project early in the morning then went into work at 11am because Pete (the connection for getting me the job and the guy I did lighting with the one day) had some stuff I could do.  They are training some people on the stage deck this week, so I can't really do stage management until Thursday so that they can avoid crowding backstage.  However, I've done pretty much all the aspects so they are trying to find new things for me.  Pete does a lot of building maintenance and so I was in to help him.  When I got in he told me there wasn't much to do but that he had a job for me if I wanted to do it but that he hated to give me it so if I didn't want to I didn't have to.  I said I would be happy to do it so then I did the job which was to go to the auditorium and go through every seat and make sure all the screws were ok and check that it works.  Mind you there are almost 2,000 seats in the Shaftesbury Theatre so although this job was tedious and kind of time consuming and boring, I still didn't mind it because I figure it's my "dues" that I didn't really have to pay yet...or at least I don't feel like I have to get where I am today.  And he was very pleased when I brought him a list of the seats that were not urgent but may need to be fixed in the near future.  It all goes towards putting on a good performance because having to hold the show for a broken seat (since we sell out) is not a good thing to happen.  After that I went upstairs and checked a couple things off the list in our dressing room of props maintenance that needed to be done that I could do without ringing Ros or Sarah or having to go buy anything.  Then I went home about half two and went grocery shopping, paintbrush shopping at L. Cornelissen (a famous art vendor) and worked on my project before going back to work at 5 for a 6pm call.  They didn't really have a place for me since there were people training on deck, so I went and sat up with the spotlights again and followed the cue script and the spots showed me how the spotlights work, which they didn't do before, so that was good.  I was a little bummed not to do anything but I got over it and helped Ros with the pre-set and interval change-over on the deck.  

Yesterday I spent the morning at City University printing my project which is color and 18 pages long plus two renderings that needed to be scanned.  We have to turn in three copies of it (i felt like such a tree killer) and i spent a good 10 quid on it which was a bit ridiculous. We also had to print out some other work, called our "portfolio" but only one copy, so although it was about 12 pages, it was black and white and we only need one copy.  So I had a bit of frustration with the printers not doing everything immediately there, but wanted to avoid the rush this morning (thank goodness I did) since the projects are due in at 2pm today.  I went into work where Dan supposedly had things for me to do around 1.  So when I got in, he was very busy and couldn't really give me many jobs, but I got to watch the BBC film live on our stage interviews with Leanne and Ben (Tracy and Link, respectively) and some other producers and actors from other West End shows since they were doing bits on it throughout the day.  So that was really cool to watch how it all worked and I enjoyed talking to people while I was waiting around for the filmings and offered to run a few errands for Leanne that she needed and such.  Haha like going to her dressing room to get her Olivier award (!) and other awards she's won to have with her on air!  Olivier Awards are Tony Awards in the UK.   The London run of Hairspray in total has won 27 awards, random fact of the day!!!  So after some filmings I went downstairs with the crew and did some odd jobs like cleaning up the orchestra's dressing room that had just been painted and helping to put up a shelf in the Electrics dressing room for their sweet television!!!  Met some new people, overall a good day.  I then started the preset for Ros (stage right you can do the preset at any time, whereas on stage left, certain scenery must be out and moved about by the crew in order to do that preset mostly.)  All of a sudden when I mentioned I wanted to see Billy Elliot, four of my coworkers were on their phones trying to find me a ticket or job to shadow that night through the people they knew!  It was really great of them and I landed a few, but not Elliot cos of insurance stuff that their stage manager was more strict with than some other shows.  Pete ended up calling in a favor to the box office manager at Billy Elliot who got me a cheap last minute seat in row F!!!  Fantastic seats and really great because there was no student discount so I got a good deal!  

Before I go further I've got to explain the most exciting news!!!!  On Friday I am working on Dirty Dancing!!!  They have two shows that day and I will work both of them.  I think I am in automation and/or stage management, but not sure.  So excited though that Hesky was able to get that for me!!!  I had bought my ticket for friday for it literally the morning before he told me since I wanted to see it, but long story short it was fine and I sold my seat.  Also, Sarah used to work at the Savoy Theatre, and knows stage management on Never Forget, the Take That musical playing there right now, so tonight and tomorrow night I am working that show!!!  Should be a total blast I am so excited for both!  

By the way Billy Elliot was beautiful.  Brilliant.  Amazing.  I didn't think I would love it even close to how much I did.  The dancing was fantastic.  Before the biggest tap number, Billy (the 11 year old!) and another boy in the show have to put on their tap shoes quickly before the scenery moves off and Billy couldn't find his shoe!!!  He screamed "I can't find my other shoe!"  And in the end did an entire tap number start to finish (I'm talking HUGE tap number) with one shoe on and it was still fantastic.  so fantastic.  If he would have been older, there were places he could have adlibed about the shoe, but it was fine that he went on as if he were wearing it.  And I had the perfect seat to see their feet it was great.  Also there was another number that was when Billy was really angry and it was probably the best tap expression I have seen in a long time in a musical.  Choreography was brilliant and the theme that you can dance your emotions really shone through and I loved that it was through tap because that is kind of rare and is usually done through modern, lyrical, or ballet.  It was just brilliant and I left with this rush of adrenaline that made me want to run all the way home I loved it so much.  Anyway. Must go turn in my paper now...glad I have updated!  I don't feel like reading back through it so sorry if there are mistakes or if some stuff doesn't make sense haha I tend to do that with colloquial sentences.  More on how Never Forget goes later!

~ Sam ~

On a River Island

River Island is the title of a great store I went in with Ros.  More about that later.  Let's start with Sunday.  Well since about 27 out of the 34 people who live in Thoresby House including my roommate and I think everyone on my floor even, were in various countries including Scotland (most of them), Ireland, and France--it was soo quiet, I loved it, much as I love all of them--and the people who were here did not seem content or interested in making a day out of Sunday, I treated it as a weekday and made myself a personal little itinerary as usual.  As I wrote on Saturday, I went to the Globe Theatre and got a tour of it!  It was fantastic!  There was a big exhibit about the history of it in addition to the tour!  So I had a lot of fun and it was a beautiful day...so beautiful and breezy that I had to hold onto my skirt all day!  After the globe, I decided to do a boat ride as I was passing by one and debating on what to do since Candide was not playing.  I also bought a ticket for July 13 to see King Lear at the Globe so that will be fun even though I got standing room tickets...they were only five pounds and I had kind of gone gift shopping crazy in the shop (it was SO good) so I figured that made up for how I would have bought a more expensive ticket otherwise and been able to sit down.  Don't worry I am doing my christmas, birthday and souvenir shopping for my family for the entire 2009!  Saves money in the end, right?  Anyway.  Back to the boat.  I saw one and it was very cheap and just about to leave so I went on a whim and got on!  I had my lunch in tow so I had a nice lunch listening to a little London tour (hadn't done a bus or anything yet, so it was good I guess!) and being on the boat on such a gorgeous day.  Plus I got some good pictures so it was worth it.  By the end, a little tired, I decided to go home and do some work etc. so I cleaned and waited for everyone to get home etc.  When they did I was so excited to hear about Scotland but people (*ahem* my roommate) were I guess too tired to give more than one word answers but I visited with my friend Matt (I went with him and Jamie to Dublin) and he told me all about the trip and everything so that was good.  

On Monday I kind of was feeling rather lazy.  It was pretty nice outside, but I wanted to work on my project, due this coming Wednesday.  For a chronic procrastinator, I am doing really really well!  I have to write 10 pages and do some designs for a show I chose (well I basically gave myself the whole assignment, originally just a 20 page paper something to do with what we are learning in our internship) and I chose "They're Playing Our Song" but so far, just talking about Hairspray is around 10 pages so unless it is all rubbish talking, it'll probably end up going over and then plus my design renderings and some of hairspray!  I have research and stuff from the 1960s that I am comparing, plus writing about what I have learned in all the departments: Sound, Lights, Electrics, Stage Management/Props, and Wardrobe.  I can see the show and every aspect so vividly in my head by now (I don't even need a script to reference lines!) that it makes it fairly easy to think of clips from the show and compare them with research and talk about how all the departments fit together.  I'll probably make it available in some way for you if you want to see it when I'm done, not sure whether I'll just attach it by email or somehow post it in my blog.  So on Monday I even got a snack wrap for lunch from McDonald's (which if you know me and Mickey D's, you know I step inside McDonald's about once every two years), that's how lazy I was feeling.  But for feeling lazy, I accomplished quite a lot, then went to work, where I followed Ros on Stage Right since she was back and that was fun.  I kind of just can't explain it but by now I can do the plots without hardly (usually) thinking about it and it's just so much fun.  I go through withdrawl when I have even one night off!  I even find myself wishing I was going to work on Sundays....shhhh I would be shunned at the Shaftesbury if I said that!  The "weekend" aka Sunday is taken very seriously there everyone LOVES the day off!  :)  And so do I most of the time, but last Sunday when I was on my own anyway, it didn't feel like much of a day to do stuff with friends like my Sundays are usually meant for.  

Tuesday (that was yesterday I guess) I woke up and did some work on my paper again, it's always a highlight when I catch someone online to talk with who I haven't seen or talked to since I've been here, much as I love it here it's good to talk with PSU and State College friends so that made my day as it usually does when that happens, and then I set out for Hyde Park on the absolutely GORGEOUS sunny day with some reading/drawing materials.  I picked up an Egg and Cress...crees?  i dont know how to spell it...sandwich and some orange juice when I got there and hung out there until I was to meet up with Ros at 2:30 right near there at Marble Arch, which is the far end of Oxford Street, probably one of the biggest commercial and shopping areas in London.  (And unfortunately most crowded!)  Ros and I love to shop together because we are both total shopaholics but the fact that I have to fit things into my suitcase makes me a much more responsible shopper than usual because I know every inch and pound will count on the way home!  Well plus I have to double the price in pounds to dollars which is usually an unfortunately high number.  I have to admit though that I am getting quite bored of my clothes here.  Most people say they brought too much of that stuff to London, well.  I didn't bring enough.  I should have brought my little brown and gold sneakers, among other items I've missed while I've been here that I won't bore you with.  Plus I didn't bring shorts that I can wear on a normal day (they are more lounge/athletic).  So going shopping is fun even just to SEE other clothes than my wardrobe which I have been getting sick of the past four weeks.  So at River Island I found a pair of shorts that I have three tanks with me to match (practical, dad, really) and I absolutely love them, I could never find anything like them in the States.  And then Sarah, who had been at an interview to move up to Deputy Stage Manager on Hairspray (Tinky the current DSM, is leaving early August), called us as she planned (she said she was gonna be stressed about it and in need of us) so we met up with her after some laughs of Ros saying on the phone "yeah we'll be like two minutes!" meanwhile we have each about 5 items yet to try on!  When she said that I was making faces at her that it was not gonna be two min. haha. It was hilarious because then later when Sarah got closer and was calling to see where we were (we were supposed to be making our way up the street towards her) Ros was all frantic about what to say!  I was just laughing and saying answer the phone and tell her we're on the way!  So.  when we finally did find her, we walked up the street, Sarah telling us all about her interview (I think she's got a really good shot at it and so does Ros but she's scared), and we needed to go bra shopping because the Thoresby House washing machine ate one of mine.  :(  So we did that, unsuccessfully on my end (I hate bra shopping with a passion) much as they tried to help me like it.  We then made our way up the street which continued all the way up to the Shaftesbury Theatre eventually and we got some Bagel Nash.  

I started working with wardrobe Tuesday.  I helped with the preset on Stage Right at 6 though because I was not due in Wardrobe (oh man the TOP floor...even farther upstairs than usual can you believe it...i get a workout) until 6,30.  Wardrobe was fun, a bit uneventful, but the people were nice, I didn't get to do a lot, I mean I did go around and do quick changes a little, and I still love stage management because I get to do so much and learn so much.  But it was good fun still and good experience and fun to get to know new people better than seeing them on what I call "rush hour" traffic on the stairs right before the finale all the wardrobe people are going up and down the stairs, causing traffic.

Then today after eating noodle and veggie soup and some great flavored water at a Japaneseish restaurant with a lot of healthy options including some great fat free frozen yoghurt free samples, I saw the show Marguerite on the West End.  It was a musical, more classical singing, not quite operatic.  It was about a romance/affair of a woman married to a very wealthy German general in World War II.  Actually very depressing show, but I suppose I can't expect to always see sunny and happy musical shows, and I figure it's good education, every time I see a show I learn something if not lots of things.  I really liked it, but it just got me a little down because of the topics and death and beatings and the love story but the plot really was great even without a happy ending and it was very captivating and beautiful and romantic and sometimes historically and socially horrifying.

After that I came home, made myself some dinner as my groceries are dwindling and the cupboard is bare, so to speak, but I didn't want to spend more than 25 quid on my day today, which i didn't!  Then it was off to class which of course we watched the British version of "The Office" for about an hour, but this is the last class before the exam that I have to attend (I made negotiations with them, which took quite a bit of persuasion) because it conflicts with work.  Plus I may be working on Spamalot or Dirty Dancing next week anyway so I chose this week to miss work instead of next.  So tomorrow is a matinee day at Hairspray and I plan on getting up and doing some work before leaving around noon for work at 1.  Time for bed I'm shattered!  :)  (see my little word chart to the right for translation!)

~Sam~

PS. I hate my computer (even tho it's a mac) and technology which apparently is mutual because I just lost half the pictures from the globe... : '(  I think that's all I've lost though, although I'm not sure what else was there.  It was because my hard drive was too full at the time of importing and i clicked delete originals from camera stupidly...guess it's good I'm going there again!  Still feel awful for the loss of them though, I wanted to post the one of me in front of the theatre here which happens to be one of the ones I lost!  Plus I think I may have lost a process shot of a prop, but I can reset that up I think.  hopefully nothing else was on there...dont think so.

Shake your fanny muscles

That's a line from the show in the finale that goes "C'mon you Von Tussel's C'mon shake your fanny muscles" which is funny because the word "fanny" over here does not mean what it does in America.  Over here it means... female parts, as my co-workers explained to me so tactfully.  :)  Despite this line, although many of the other "american" lines have been changed for the London show to make more sense to an English audience, or to an English sense of humor, they decided to keep that one, mostly because that part of the song is so fast it is not likely you will catch what exactly they're saying anyway.  haha.On with the week.  On Wednesday I went to see the Sound of Music in honor of my sister who was in it at the State Theatre last week and I (obviously) missed out on it.  Although I probably wouldn't have chosen to see the show otherwise, I'm glad I saw it!  There was a giant pallette that spread across the stage and rotated to become a mountain!  It was a fantastic design solution and was the size of the entire stage, which was pretty large for West End even!  Gretl was probably the cutest thing I've ever seen.  The girl who played Maria looked almost identical to Julie Andrews, but of course they probably intended to MAKE her look like her, but they were very successful.  Also had a beautiful voice.  Apart from the fact that I can recite the whole Violin II orchestration after playing a 3 week run of it years ago, I actually enjoyed the show overall.  Of course, if it weren't for the elderly (and I mean very elderly) ladies behind me sobbing loudly and uncontrollably every time anyone sang or their favorite song came on or someone onstage hugged or the end of a song came, anything bad or happy happened plot wise....if you get the idea, they cried--weeped-- through the whole thing.  I mean really?!  It is maybe something that could get you choked up if you're like that (personally I'm not really-if you know me you know that- haha), but really, sobbing through the entire show was a bit excessive and distracting, but I guess it is good that the show is moving people so deeply, so I got over it.  

At work I learned the sound plots, mostly plot number 3.  There are 3 plots.  N

umber 1 is the mixer, at the back of the auditorium with all the fancy equipment.  Number 2 is at the desk backstage listening for problems and communicating with the mixer.  Number 3 is all about sound problem solving and prevention.  Basically involves learning cues of when people come off stage to spray with an air duster (spray their mics).  If something goes wrong or if number 2 says someone is sounding like their mic is particularly sweated out (sweat clogs the mics), then we have to go hunt them down give them a spray and a flick of the mic, or sometimes change the microphone out for a new one.  We also checked mic. positions with wigs and during quick changes to make sure that hair wasn't in the mics and that they were properly placed, and made sure everyone who needs it has mic tape.  So that's what I did Wednesday and both Thursday shows, got trained and then just basically did the plot while the number 3 (happened to be a dep) followed me around instead.  Other things we do are check every single speaker before the cast arrives (there are A LOT of speakers!) and test all the orchestra individual and cast mics.  People made jokes about an American coming over the system saying "1 2, 345, Link is next, 678910, 12, 345, 678910."  Since there are mics for each actor (some have two

), there are close to 30 or 40 mics that need to be tested.  To save boring details I've learned (soon to come in a side list that you can read if you like) about sound, basically I did that and more, but it wasn't nearly as busy as stage management and props stuff that I was doing before, so when I got bored and in the interval I would go help Sarah or Ros do their plots on the deck.  

On Friday, I decided to make a museum day for myself since it was rather grey outside.  Originally I was supposed to go to the British Museum with a friend of a girl who is one of my housemates, but she was not able to go anymore, so I changed my plans and went to the Tate Modern.  It was kind of good because I'm not a very good museum goer with other people just because of my speed and attention span and stuff, so I had a good time and even took some notes of artists that could be future inspirations for set designs, or just who I liked!  You can see them on a list soon, too.  If you haven't noticed, I'm basically making this blog website into a souvenir and online documentation of my trip.  :)

After I was done with the Tate Modern, I saw a sign saying that I could take a boat ride for just under 3 quid straight to Tate Britain!  I still had several hours before I even had to start heading to work, so I decided to go for it!  And I LOVE boat rides!  No matter how grey it is outside!  Inside the boat was basically like a first class airplane!  It was cool and the coffee bar made the best (and one of the cheapest) cappucinos I've had yet!  The downside was that the stop I was supposed to get off at was not marked "Tate Britain" at all, and was 

not announced, so I asked about three seconds before they left the doc and had to walk across Westminister Bridge and ended up taking the tube there because it was pouring and I was soaked.  Oh well.  Nice boat, anyway.  Got some nice pics because the boat went right past Big Ben and the London Eye and Parliament and all that jazz.  So when I finally made it to Tate Britain, I had a good time walking around the (much bigger) museum, which seemed endless!  Although walking on hard museum wooden floors in flats all day is not a picnic, I made it through both Tates and enjoyed my day of looking at art!  I always feel accomplished for educating myself without prompting.

Then Friday night I was back on the deck at work and I followed Sarah on stage left.  Sarah hadn't done the stage left plot in three weeks so she was all anticipatory of being a little unable to give me help or prompt me as to what to do, and of course I was like "oh yeah that's fine, I'll do whatever you need me to do," but when it got down to it she didn't even have to look at the cue sheet she printed out as a refresher for herself!  I was just so amazed with how worried she was and then how on top of it she was!  Not only did she never look at her cue sheet, but she was able to tell me what to do and where to go when, which I usually tried to finish the sentence for her, which I don't think/hope she minded...I'm becoming pretty confident with the plots now, although I probably wouldn't be even close to being flawless if an ASM wa

sn't with me-which wouldn't happen since I'm work experience.  Occasionally when I'm with Tom he says he's gonna go watch football but then he comes back before the next time I would question what was next.  But I don't look at a cue sheet (they're like 8 pages long haha) so it's all by memory and I get a little mixed up in the order of things on occasion, but they are all so great and help me out and tell me what's next whether I already know or not.

Last night I went with Seth (in the picture on the right) and Pam, two of my friends who live in Thoresby, to a bar/club over in Soho near Piccadilly Circus.  There are about 10 out of 34 housemates here this weekend because of trips to various countries.  It was pretty fun.  Not my favorite night out yet, but it was all right and we met up with Seth's friend Jason there who was cool and it was good to meet him.  Stayed out the latest I have yet, so I guess that had to happen at some point...after all I am still a college student, even though London is not a sleepless town like NYC is ...or Happy Valley for that matter.  Most bars close at 12:30, clubs at 2:30 if you are lucky.  Some of these techno bars/clubs are not really my scene...I prefer like sitting and talking at a bar i don't have to scream to talk to someone two inches from me and destroy my vocal chords soooo yeah.  Plus techno music is not as fun as normal music you can sing along and dance to.

Back to work, which today was two show day.  It just amazes me how good everyone at what they do, all of them.  Really I shouldn't be that surprised.  I haven't really mentioned anything going wrong during shows because nothing major really does/has!  (knock on/touch wood!)  Today and tonight I sat with Sarah in the booth--Ros was off tonight--and she basically taught me how she calls the show, which I have never really been taught before.  So that was really interesting.  I learn a lot from her and I'd say she's probably the best at explaining and really teaching me the most.  It was amazing how she could point out counts of the songs, point to the monitors when we needed to look there before she called cues, and was able to be a little off the wall we danced in our seats to the show :)  meanwhile she was calling everything flawlessly simultaneously.  She knows the cueing by heart now so doesn't actually count out most of it to herself anymore after calling the show so many times, but I was grateful that she took the time and thought to do so during the show for me, although since we were on a clearcom headset system and there are cues to call every few seconds, we had to be pretty quiet until we had a 15 second or more break where she could turn off the mics (clear com in short means whoever you have turned on--which is most people--on cans can hear you all the time if you're calling the show, even though not everyone is on the same channel to each other).  So I had good fun and learned a lot tonight from that and following along with what I have been hearing in my ear the past four weeks over cans and learning what beat or cue makes each LX (lighting) or Auto (moving scenery) cue go and when to start speaking and say Go.  Also she gives front of house "ladies and gentlemen...take your seats in ___ minutes" kind and also for larger roles, people get calls to their dressing rooms well before their cues during the show.  And of course for beginners and clearance and all that jazz.  I am convinced that stage managers over here just sound so much better no matter where they are from in Britain because of the accent in general.  Just sounds so much more authentic to the theatre and i love it!  My two favorite words that people say are "good" (sounds like "goodt" except really short) and "you" at the end of "thank you"...really bright voweled ooo.  Oh and hearing people try to imitate American accents.  There is a cue when Rachael (Amber Von Tussle character) says "Everybody stop liking her!  AHHHH!" and runs off stage, and I crack up everytime Ros tells me that cue cos she tries to say it in an American accent and it's hilarious.  Ros's accent is much more 'common' than Sarah's which is more proper and what you would first think of as an "English accent."  Ros doesn't have a cockne accent, but drops off letters and so it is closer to cockne I guess but not really.  I'm fascinated by the different accents and words and phrases here, as you can probably tell.

Anyway I should get to bed, tomorrow on my personal itenerary (by personal i mean for me and made by me), I am going to the Globe in the morning to get a tour of the theatre, then going to see Candide (the opera, i think?  i dunno i just want to see candide) at another theatre if there are tickets left, and if not, maybe a show at the Globe after I get a tour, although they will probably be standing room tickets which i would not be so fond of for watching a shakespeare play.  But we'll see.  

Keep in your thoughts and prayers a girl in my house who I am friends with who flew home on very short notice-had to pack everything up and tie up all loose ends here-the other day after getting a call from her mom for good because her dad who had been very sick took a turn for the worst and who she has now lost.  Also a guy who works on crew of Hairspray was hit by a car, about a week or two after I got here so I don't know him well, but was hit on his way to work on his motorcycle and has some pretty severe leg damage and is still in the hospital and getting all kinds of surgeries.  So whatever your religious views, if you could think of and/or pray for those people and their families, it would be much appreciated.  On the bright side, both seem to be doing as well as they can be, considering the situations and both have a lot of support coming from friends and family.  

By the way, apparently I might be working on Spamalot now?  Not really sure but hopefully the week after next i'll work on something, but as you can imagine it's kind of difficult to work those things out for someone who is not equity, is unpaid, 20 years old, has an American Visa and hasn't ever worked on the West End (or broadway) previously and would just be an extra body onstage to shadow someone--and someone has to be available and able to teach me, so I'm not expecting anything and just hoping for the best...I know Hesky and others are doing their best to try to get me somewhere else which is way more than I could ever have asked for or dreamed of.

Anyway time for bed......

Cheers!

~Sam~