Thanks to a generous fairy godmother, I was able to attend the opening night of Equus at the Broadhurst Theater. Most of what follows is for people who have already seen the play, and it may not make sense if you haven't. If you want to read some more review-y type comments of mine about the play, I posted a pretty lengthy review here. It's part of a larger post in a larger series about my trip to London last year, so just scroll down until you get to the scan of the program. :)

The short version of my perspective on tonight is that it was incredible opening night. There were glitches, obviously, as it's the first performance, but everyone I heard on the way out was completely wowed. There was a standing ovation - a very loud one, but perhaps that was because the theater is relatively small.

A few caveats:
* It has been over a year since I saw Equus at the Gielgud, so my memory of details you might want to know are less than stirling.
* I tried to look for things that I remember were important to people, but there are going to be things I forgot to look for or forgot to include here. Still, if there's something you're curious about that I haven't detailed, leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer.
* This was a first performance of several 'preview' performances, and there will probably be some tweaks before the play officially opens in a few weeks. So some of what I observed might be obsolete by that time.
* There was an article/interview with Dan and Richard in the Playbill. I am not near my scanner right now, but I will scan and upload it as soon as possible. There's not much that we haven't heard, but there is SOME new stuff - like Richard saying that Alan is oddly the one person Dysart feels he could take to Greece who would understand.

( Bear me away! )


Okay, shocolate, you can breathe now. :)

Part 1 - The Philadelphia Story
Part 2 - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Part 3 - Indulging in Equitation
Part 4 - Light the Kettle!
Part 5 - By the Power of Grayskull!

By this point in my vacation I was starting to wind down. I made the further mistake on this last day in London of wearing the wrong hosiery with the wrong shoes, which led to lots of wrong-rubbing and blisters, which did not wait until the end of the day to manifest. In fact, by about noon, my dogs were already ... barking.

Nevertheless, it was one of the better days I spent in London.

( Shopping, Peter Pan, and ZOMG Alan Rickman! )It's good to be home, and I'm not even thinking yet about when I want to go back...

But I most certainly do want to go back.

I think my previous post was my "Order of the Phoenix" of posts about my London-cation. :P There's still a lot to say, but perhaps not SO very extensively as Thursday. Also, there are more things I'd like to say about Equus in these posts, but I figured I get the "review" out of the way while talking about the first viewing.

( Relocation, Ogling Arm Hair, and Jason Isaacs' Sexy Stage Voice )


Tune in next time for worship in a famous cathedral, the best cop action movie EVAR, and a little adventure on the Tube.

WARNING: This post is heavily laden with pictures and therefore not friendly to dialup users.

Also, while I do know a bit more about movies than the average person, most of the movie facts listed in the "walk" details are not from my own head but from Kim Newman's. In fact, I have seen almost none of the films associated with the listed locations (though several of them are now in my Netflix Queue). Just wanted to give credit and set the record straight before someone thinks I'm a pompous blowhard. :P

( Murder, Meetups, and Mental Illness )


Tune in next time when I move out of the cupboard, get quite close to Dan Radcliffe, and watch Jason Isaacs point a gun at a dumb waiter.

The less said about my trip home the better, so I'll just leave you with the tantalizing fact that I was in the same Equus audience last night with...

Alan Rickman. That is all (for now).

Major travel journal post(s) in the works, complete with pictures. I can't face it right now, though. I had a great time, but it's good to be home. :)

Now ... Pirates trailer? 784 pages?

Three weeks from this moment I'll be in ... Philadelphia, sitting through an eight-hour layover before boarding a plane to London. :P  Yesterday I got my Travelcard in the mail, so I'm all set for Tube and bus travel.  A co-worker and I are leaving on the same day for our respective vacations (she's off to Hawaii) and we've started the countdown.

*****

In related news, I'm puzzled by the somewhat persistent reports that Thea Sharrock's production of Equus will be making the move to Broadway after it completes its West End run in June, with Griffiths and Radcliffe reprising their roles.  I know Griffiths has said he'd go to Broadway in a shot, but Dan - as I think we're all aware - has a couple more Potter movies to do (we hope).  Maybe during the hiatus between HBP and DH, but not this fall, as someone at the New York Post seems to think.

I think what bugs me the most about this rumor is that none of the people who are perpretrating it even seem to be aware that there would be a conflict.  Like finishing the films is not even important anymore now that Dan has proven himself worthy of the stage.  I'm sure some might feel that doing the last two HP films would be a waste of his time or a gigantic step backward, but that attitude kind of ticks me off.  Especially as I'm sure he would be able to use the immense growth that Equus has given him as an actor and use it to give Harry even more depth.

I certainly don't begrudge people the opportunity to see the play if they can't make it across the pond, and obviously Dan should be free to do whatever he feels is the right choice for him personally, even if it would disappoint lots of HP fans.  But I wish people would at least acknowledge the conflict.

Okay, so I've told a few people about this, but I haven't really said anything substantial about it for fear of jinxing my ability to do it. However, as I've finally been able to buy my plane tickets...

In about six weeks, I will be going to London. One of the primary purposes of the trip is to see Equus (on Friday night and on Saturday afternoon). I'm also seeing The Dumb Waiter (with Jason Isaacs) on Saturday night. I was tempted to make it a Harry Potter Theatrical Tour and see Maggie Smith's play as well, but I opted instead to see the new stage production of Mary Poppins my first night in London.

I'm insanely excited. The last time I was in London was seven years ago with my family. Oddly enough, one of the highlights of that trip was also a trip to the theatre (Neil LaBute's bash at the Almeida). This time I'll be on my own, which is both exciting and a little scary. I'm still working out details about where to stay and what to do besides perv over Dan attend plays while I'm there, but thankfully the planning process is almost as fun for me as the actual traveling. :P

This would also be an opportune time to thank shocolate for the lovely Equus flier. The postcard will be on its way to the shocolate buttons soon. Your envelope cracked me up, and I look forward to meeting you for coffee and squeeing in person. I'm so glad I decided to see the play twice, as I'll probably be a complete wreck and unfit to meet anyone after the first viewing and, I think, will be able to properly appreciate it the second time around.

*sigh* So ... that's what I'm doing this spring. :P