Sunday. 8.05 a.m. Another bright and sunny morning here in Milton Keynes. The digital thermometer currently reads 24ºC.
I know, the titles I give these blog posts don't often have anything to do with the actual content of what I write in the posts. I just come up with a title, off the top of my head, sort of plucked from the air. I'm not entirely sure that I haven't used this one before, but what does it matter?
I'm reading the novel of 'Les Misérables.' It's the second time I've read it. I have had something of an obsession with the story and the musical, which I have seen twice, the original London production which was at the Palace Theatre, and then again, the touring production, which came to the Milton Keynes Theatre in 2019. It was a completely fresh production, which then replaced the original production in the West End, then playing at the Queen's Theatre. I think I preferred this new production, which utilized digital projection to great advantage, speeding up the scene changes and helping with the flow of the show.
With the original production, the amazing John Napier-designed set stands out, possibly even being a character in itself. Those huge mechanical sections made of wood and a vast array of bits and pieces of furniture which turned and swung down during the various scene changes were a wonder to behold. He also did this set for the Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical, based on 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats' by T.S. Eliot at the (then) New London Theatre (now the Gillian Lynne Theatre, given that new name after the choreographer of 'Cats', which I saw only a few weeks into its original production in 1981. John Napier did the set design for Cats. It was a rubbish dump, but done to represent one from the perspective of a cat, made up of oddments, such as car parts, dustbins and so on. The audience had to be in place well before the show started, because the seating moved round when the overture played. Goodness knows how that structure worked, considering the weight of the audience. I had no idea where the orchestra was, certainly not in an orchestra pit in front of the stage as in a conventional, proscenium theatre. It must have been elsewhere in the building, probably under the stage.
Napier also did the sets for the Royal Shakespeare Company's 9-hour version of Nicholas Nickleby. This amazing production was more than mould-breaking, and I'm more than certain it's why Cameron Macintosh, producer of 'Les Misérables' went to R.S.C. initially because of their experience and challenges of staging such a mammoth production.
I saw a matinée of 'Cats.' Wayne Sleep was in the original cast, which also included Elaine Paige as Grisabella. During the curtain calls, who should walk on stage but the one and only Eamonn Andrews, famous Red Book in hand, to say to Wayne Sleep, 'This Is Your Life'! Which was something of a surprise and made the show even more than memorable.
3.20 p.m. I have taken Alfie to meet the lady who hopefully will be able to look after him when I get to visit my daughter and her husband and the grandchildren in Worcester. I forgot that there was going to be a concert at The Bowl, which is on the route along Chaffron Way, so that was closed off from the roundabout which intersects with Grafton Street, so I had to make a somewhat circuitous detour around Milton Keynes and up onto Tattenhoe Street and round onto Childs Way to get to Shenley Church End. The lady lives on the opposite side of this grid to The Oaktree Centre. Alfie tapped a certain amount, probably because he wasn't getting all my attention, but he did seem to be settled. We have decided that it would be a good idea to leave him with Irene, (the lady dog-sitter) tomorrow, when I go to the Monday Club at the Oaktree Centre, to see how he copes with being left.
The digital thermometer currently reads 29ºC.
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