Cambridge and Futbol

Two important things happened in this past week that shall be discussed in this episode of Blake and Sara in London.

The first is that Sara tagged along with Blake on an internship assignment on Thursday. We headed up to Cambridge to do a recording with two Greek Scholars at Jesus University for a play that Blake's internship supervisor is directing. They read Agamemnon entirely in Greek, and we recorded it. It took a little over two hours, and was both exhausting and so relaxing. We walked around Cambridge a little bit when we were done, but then headed back to London. It was a really neat experience, and Sara is very thankful that she got to tag along. :D

The second, and super exciting, is that Sara competed in the CAPA Futbol Tournament today! She and her four flatmates competed as a team in this eight-team tournament that took place in Regent's Park here in London.


Blake came to be our photographer/cheerleader, and he got a lot of awesome pictures of the matches! Altogether we played three games and tied twice and lost once. However, we didn't make it to semi-finals. :( HOWEVER! Mary Beth, our goalie, won "Woman of the Game" with her intense goalie skills.






But it was just a lot of fun, and we all had a great time. :)

You might not know, but we're models.

Blake and I played with an orange.

Two teams were representing the Missouri-London program through CAPA.
And we had to play against one another! It was the best game of the day. :D

On another note, after the game the three of us went to Leicester Square for some dinner, and saw the beginnings of the Clash of the Titans World Premiere set-up, and found an AWESOME arcade that was multiple stories! Sara also found an anime/manga shop and was in heaven. :D

We found this game where you had to HOP.
It was so confusing and fun.
Blake got 1st / Sara got 8th
:D

I am so so sorry that the Paris photos are taking me so long. I literally took over 1,000 and the Louvre pictures are just fighting with me. You can check our first day and Versailles out on my Facebook if you're so inclined...but we'll try to have Paris up this week! <3

B&S

Catching Up

Hello everyone. Blake here. It has been ages since we have had the time or motivation to update the blog, but we should get back into the swing of things now. It has been a really odd two weeks, definitely a roller coaster of ups and downs.

So Sara and I just got back from Midterm Break. We spent four days in Paris and Versailles! We hit most of the major landmarks and it I also had my birthday there! Sara took hundreds of photos which she is not done editing, so as soon as she finishes them, we will have the full rundown of the trip.

This past week was the dreaded return of classes and work. We had a very difficult midterm exam in Musical Theatre History welcoming us back, but it is just a reminder I guess that we are technically here to study a little bit. Last Friday I was asked to help out with a rehearsal in Cambridge for my internship. So I caught an early train by myself and got my first look at the beautiful city. I spent some time before rehearsal walking around the city past the designer shops that are next to ancient buildings. Then I met up with Helen to go to Emmanuel College for rehearsal. This is what you see as soon as you walk through the gate:

It was like entering the world of Harry Potter (a lot like Oxford) and super cool. The theatre space we used for the day was described to us as "not the best" and the college apologized for it a few times. But it ended up looking like this:

Sooo awesome. Anyway, I hadn't realized that this rehearsal for the Cambridge Greek Play Agamemnon involved university students! It was one of the best days I have had in England, spending time with theatre kids my age and talking about musicals, the West End, etc. with other people as obsessed as me.

After a day of mask work and choral chanting (all in Greek by the way) the cast, Helen, and I headed to unwind at the pub. The kids chuckled a little when I ordered a Coke, but then we started talking...and talking, and talking...

I ended up being asked to go to dinner with a girl and boy at one of the university dining halls. So I walked through more beautiful courtyards and spent another hour or two discussing everything from Next to Normal the musical to Sarah Palin and Bass Pro. (They were fascinated by American things.) Anyway, I am headed back to Cambridge later this week and am planning on meeting up with theses kids again. So great to meet new friends!

Saturday, Sara and I had tickets to a Queenspark Rangers professional football game! (English football that is--our soccer.) We got to the crowded stadium just in time for the kick-off and it was quite the experience. Mobs of police officers were on site to keep the physical confrontations between fans to a minimal. The opposing teams' fans shouted some very harsh words back and forth. The most surprising thing were the small children standing beside their drunken fathers joining in on flipping the other team off. I suppose football is part of a solid English upbringing. The game was exciting and very interesting to watch. We sat in a section specifically assigned to Queenspark fans, so we cheered them on. It ended up a tie game, 1-1, and they do not generally have overtime, so we didn't exactly win...but we didn't lose!

Saturday night I spoiled myself and saw two back to back shows with chocolate gelato in between. Both shows (Lord Arthur's Bed and Naked Boys Singing) were very brash, but very good. I got all dressed up and enjoyed my night out on the town.

Sunday was a very, very lazy day. We both had papers to write so basically stayed in all day.

So it is back into the routine, back to class and work and being exhausted at the end of the day. We will post the Paris trip when Sara finishes the pictures, so look for that soon(ish).

Cheers!

This Post Comes in Five Parts

SARA HERE. :D
And as the title states, this post will be coming to you in five parts.

Let us first begin by stating that this week started very low in theatre, and ended very high in theatre (and we say this in both production value and financial perspectives. See below for more details.)

Part One: Blood Brothers
We really have nothing to say about this. Although, Blake would like it to be known that Melanie C gave an exceptional performance.


Oh, wait. My bad:



Part Two: The Misanthrope
Blake and I bought £10 standing view tickets for this show, which starred Keira Knightley and Damian Lewis. It was an amazing production and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Especially Blake - it's one of his favorite scripts, so he was definitely curious on how they would handle such a modern take on it. They incorporated a lot of present-day jokes and puns flawlessly. Not to mention, the whole standing view experience was actually really, really neat. I wouldn't mind doing it again, I'd say.


Part Three: Alice in Wonderland
As we were sprinting through Leicester Square to catch The Misanthrope, we stopped by the Odeon theatre and decided to purchase tickets to watch Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland in 3D in the theatre where they held the world premiere.


I'd say we both enjoyed the movie, although there were bits and pieces that could have been better. We're hoping to see it in IMAX while we're here, but all of the weekend shows throughout March are sold out! It'll just have to be a weeknight event, then.


Part Four: Saturday at the Thames.
On Saturday, Sara felt like she was lacking in photographic evidence of her time in London, so Sara went out and took pictures along the Thames river. The points of interest included the London Eye and the various activities going along the walk - living statues, street performers and acrobats!












Part Five: Love Never Dies
Blake and I woke up early this morning with the plan to go to Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and buy the £10 day-of tickets. Well, they only had six...and the three people in front of us each bought two. Shoot.
So, we decided, since we were close...let's go check out Love Never Dies.

20 minutes and a small hole in our pockets later, we had two tickets to this evening's performance. Which just happened to be the last preview performance - it opens to the critics tomorrow.

I have decided to say nothing about it, because what I expected did not happen, and I don't want to spoil that experience for anyone. However, we can both be quoted as saying:

Blake: "Andrew Lloyd Webber is a genius. Love Never Dies was exactly what a sequel to Phantom should be and so much more. I absolutely loved it and can't wait to see it again!"

Sara: "I don't want to say anything because I don't want to spoil it. But just know that there is no other musical on earth or in history that has been designed like that show."

Love Never Dies will be transferred to Broadway this November. Just...throwing that out there. :)


Tomorrow is the first rehearsal for Marlowe, and we'll both be there. And then Wednesday is our first big trip... PARIS!


Ciao!
-Sara