I think it’s safe to say we all knew how excited I was for this show. Legally Blonde has been close to my heart for years now and Elle Woods is a role I have to play before I die. I memorized the entire score almost immediately after watching a bootleg of the OBC on youtube, but I have never gotten the opportunity to see it in person until now and oh my god you guys! Thinking about this show alone gives me so much joy, but watching it live for the first time gave me a high I know no drug ever could. Now, even though I felt like my heart was going to burst from happiness because it was Legally Blonde, doesn’t mean I don’t have a couple…small…notes. Before I rain on my own pink parade, let’s talk about Regent’s Park!

I thought Regent’s Park itself was so gorgeous. I love flowers so much, so seeing all the different colored roses planted throughout the park + other beautiful spreads of plants made me want to frolic all day long. We went to the little pizza place for dinner, then we all just spent time together and lived out our London park dreams. I had so much fun talking and soaking in all the moments I have here with such awesome people. Not to be too sappy, but I am so appreciative of this program because of all the obvious theatrical reasons, also because I have formed relationships here that will last a lifetime. Friendship is so sweet.

If there’s one thing they did wrong, it’s having Legally Blonde the Musical outdoors. Woah, woah, hear me out. The theatre was gorgeous and I had high hopes going in, but as the show started I was so disappointed that having the production outside meant that we wouldn’t see the full affect of the lighting design until the end of the show. The pink & orange lights were so pretty, but the lack of lighting in the first half of the show made the whole production feel like a Legally Blonde concert, not the actual show. Another element that took away Legally Blonde’s original charm was the lack of set pieces. I understand that there’s only so much you can do at an outdoor theatre, and they absolutely did everything they could, but the set design or lack thereof also made me feel like I was welcome to sing along with the performers. However, the one thing that made me giddy was the choreography. The choreography raised the quality of the performance massively to me, it honestly saved the whole show in my opinion. If I didn’t have that rope choreography during Brooke’s song and a transgender woman doing splits while twerking simultaneously during ‘Positive’, I think I would’ve cried. While Paulette, the greek chorus, Vivienne, Warner, and the rest of the company gave incredible acting & vocal performances; I was slightly disappointed by Elle & Emmett. Hot take, I assume. Laura Bell Bundy really set the bar for the type of performance needed to be Elle Woods, and while I thought Courtney Bowman was great, she left me wanting more. I felt the same for Michael Ahomka-Lindsay. Some of the verses in his songs/duets felt too low to me and even though he did have one of the prettiest tenor belts I’ve ever heard live, those few moments were the only times I was ever impressed by him vocally. I am not even going to go into why I didn’t enjoy his acting, but I just didn’t fall in love with him the way I do watching Emmett in the OBC. However, Christian Borle will always be my favorite Emmett, so I know I’m biased and was watching him with Christian’s performance in mind. The only other thing I noticed after leaving the show and discussing with my buds, was that the entire experience of watching Legally Blonde did feel like it was catered toward an audience that has already seen the show. I think the open air venue gave the audience more space, opportunity, and confidence to be vocal about their reactions to what was going on throughout the show. I could see how if you had never seen it, some parts were either confusing or just didn’t land for you because they felt anticipated by the audience. Whereas, if you were watching it for the first time in a closed theatre with all the elements that offers, the audience would more than likely be quieter during it and just applaud after songs/scenes. It was also kind of freezing, and I did worry about them dancing on the rain misted stage. I was worried they were stopping the performance when they paused to mop, but I was so happy they continued after making the stage safe for the actors.

Overall, I will never not get that excited to watch Legally Blonde. It’s one of my favorite shows of all time and I have never felt so similar to a character than I have Elle Woods. I can’t wait for the next time I see it whether that be live or in the comfort of my home through my laptop. I especially can’t wait to do the show for the first time. That may seem bold, but I am a huge believer in the whole “ask and you shall receive”, speak things into your life, don’t just dream but PLAN big type mentality. So, with that, I leave you with what I assume is the longest review of the show and a formal invitation to the future production of Legally Blonde the Musical that I will be in one day.

If you read this, I hope your day is just as pink & giddy as the picture of me frolicking in Regent Park.

Hugs & high fives !!!

The White Tower of the Tower of London was constructed around 1078 AD. Since then, the infamous Tower has been rebuilt and built upon what we can see today. Upon first arriving, one thing that stood out to me was the greenery filling most of the moat surrounding the Tower. The interior of the Tower does not have a lot of vegetation, so the grass and small flowers add a natural element to the stone walls.  

The ravens inside the Tower were very striking and really made the environment. While I at first only saw the caged ravens, a few were roaming the grounds as well.  As I was sitting on the bench near the caged ravens, I turned, and maybe three feet away was a raven staring directly at me.  I slowly turned to the sign that read “Beware of the Ravens, they bite”. Needless to say, I quickly found a new location to observe the history surrounding me. One of the most famous prisoners that were kept at the Tower was Henry the VIII’s wife Ann Boelyn. While she did not have to stay in the dungeons, she still met her fate at the tower by having her head chopped off.

My favorite experience of the Tower was observing the architecture. Back home in both Arkansas and Frisco, Texas, all of the buildings look relatively the same. The sheer size of the tower was one of the most impressive things I had first noticed. While the last construction is done on the tower was around the 1200’s. This was an incredible feat given the time period. Another thing that I did not necessarily enjoy seeing but that fascinated me was seeing the torture room. The fact that the most recent torture happened in the past 500 years is truly astonishing. As human beings, we have come so far and have (thankfully) become much more civilized.

We had a very late night coming home from Regents Park, and a VERY early morning for our trip to Bath. Starting with a trip to Paddington station (a very lovely bear seen below) and then a long train ride to the city, it was looking like a rough morning for me.

The city of Bath, named after its roman bath, has a big old bath in the middle.

The bath was interesting.

There were lots of buskers.

They were interesting.

Jane Austen lived there.

The Jane Austen Centre was interesting.

Mary Shelley lived there.

MARY SHELLEY LIVED THERE!

SHE WROTE MOST OF FRANKENSTEIN THERE
THERE WAS A MARY SHELLEY FRANKENSTEIN MUSEUM!

(Shawn told me I can write about that for my blog post on Bath. I am most certainly taking him up on that.)

This revelation greatly improved my trip to Bath. While the city atmosphere was wonderful and lively (in a more musically inclined way than London. it honestly felt sorta like the markets in London), Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein was a vast upgrade coming right after the Jane Austen Centre.

Bath was all great, but Frankenstein is much more my style.

With an escape room at the top, and a “dank foreboding basement,” the museum does a fantastic job mixing between a museum and an experience. As a museum, it focuses on the life and works of Mary Shelly as well as the legacy of Frankenstein as a story, and a cultural icon. One room full of pop culture memorabilia of the monster (and a pinball machine), another that loops the very first movie adaptation of the story, a room with a giant bust of Shelley, and several others.

I loved every second of this (so much so that when I left and found friends from the group, I made sure to bring them there to share the experience. We even tried to explore the basement scare section as a group (as I am far too cowardly to do on my own, having both a fear of the dark and loud noises), scaring us enough that we failed to see all the rooms (the employee slamming the door behind us upon reaching the bottom of the stairs was both unexpected and scary enough to put us on edge, but the crawl space and the motion-activated sudden burst of air and loud noise had us hastily making our way to the exit looking over our shoulders) My favorite part was easily the life-sized animatronic of the monster. Not only was it accurate to the book, but it was an impressive sight to behold and worth the price of admission alone in my opinion.

The original Roman Baths are as old as the 1^st century and the most recent construction was completed in 1897.  The Baths were an extremely important part of the socialization of people as well as the higher-up important political figures. These Baths were where everyone came, and it was everyone’s temple in a way.

The Baths now have ancient and modern aspects to it in the interior. There is a section while walking through where one can be surrounded by the ancient temple and smell the sulfur in the building. Some of the statues surrounding the upper part of the structure are still intact and look similar to what they may have in the past. Others, on the other hand, have been so severely eroded away, that the faces are not there at all.

The city of Bath was officially made a city in 1590 after being given a charter by Queen Elizabeth the I. This city was everything that I was hoping it would be and so so much more. Or day started very early with a train ride to Bath. While on the train we got to see some of the smaller cities as well as little parts of the country. When we got there we got to explore a little and found the cutest bookshop I have seen thus far. We then toured the Roman Baths then were given the day. A few of us went to find lunch and discovered a nice restaurant not too far from what I perceived as the town’s square.

Afterward, we wandered around the quaint streets and found our way back to the bookstore and square. Dru and I went and got ice cream and mere moments after sitting, tragedy struck. Just as I was about to take a second lick of the oh so delicious ice cream, the entire thing fell to the ground, cone still in hand. One by one, pigeons slowly started surrounding us, eating my delicious ice cream off the ground. Thankfully the day was not yet lost, there was a chocolatier right across from where we were. I marched my way over and got strawberries covered in melted chocolate and whipped cream. This cup of the most delicious juicy strawberries saved the day.

After a brief hiatus due to some sick classmates, the group was able to reconvene for a trip to Regents Park for a walk about and a show at an outdoor theater. So with a bit of a walk to get to the park, the group finally arrived to find a crowd, flowers, and a good hour or two to kill before the show started. Having been handed a ticket to Legally Blonde, I set off to explore on my own and found that the park was home to a famously large collection of roses. I took the entire time at the park to see the 85 individual beds, taking care to have good photos of all of my favorites, before making my way to the group for the show.

Legally Blonde in Regents Park was a fun experience, but honestly not for me. This is far from saying that the performance was bad, in fact the performance was outstanding, particularly with the challenge of being outdoors. Before the group had gathered, I had noted that the weather may be a challenge, as the rain seemed to be incoming in 30 minutes, exactly at show time. The most impressive aspect of the show was the startling amount of pink everywhere, both in the refreshments, the stage, the queue, and even the audience. Against this incoming drizzle, our group and their cast both marched on, and as the show began, the rain had not. Only midway through the first act had a good wind picked up, adding a good bit of dramatic flair to the show. Every good few minutes I checked, only to see the rain miraculously hesitant. The show continued even into the almost imperceptible drizzle (though far from noticed by those with glasses such as myself) only stopping once halfway into the second act to wipe the stage. The final couple of songs were at their most dramatic due to the evening sky darkened by clouds and the wind blowing just enough. It gave a music video quality to the whole ending, which is appt considering the campy nature of the show. Overall it was a fantastic show, and performance. My opinion here is irrelevant as it is just a matter of personal taste. The movie is good, and the musical is alright. If you want someone who knows and cares much more about it, perhaps ask Cas. I preferred the flowers.

Legally Blonde was a very campy musical that had great music and vocals but lacked oomph. Having the musical outdoors felt like a great idea but in execution, it did not work out wonderfully. At the very beginning of the musical, the mics were a little scrambled so hearing what the characters were saying was a little difficult. Most of the actors gave an incredible performance and made the show enjoyable. Sadly, one of the most disappointing performances was from Elle Woods herself. While the vocals were amazing, I feel like the spirit of the character was not there. At no point during the show did I feel like I felt anything from the performer or as if I was watching Legally Blonde at all.

That being said, the performances I saw from Brooke Taylor Windham and Paulette  Bonafonté. As soon as these performers came on it felt as though the show had been saved and finally had a breath of life in it. Paulette kept me laughing almost the entire time she was on stage and was able to show the character I was hoping to see. The actress who played Brooke was fantastic. Her physique is truly something I can only hope to achieve one day. She was able to effortlessly do her workout dance routine which included double ditching at three accelerating paces, and still deliver killer vocals and energy. Unfortunately, these energies were not carried by the entire cast, and I am sad to say some fell flat.

Having the musical outside sounded like a great idea when we first heard that we were seeing this show. Unfortunately, it was not the best execution. The rain ended up being a larger problem for the audience and performers. At one point after intermission, the show had to be paused so that the floor could be wiped down/ dried off so that the performers could be safe. While I feel like there are lots of shows that can be done outdoors, a choreography-heavy show with speakers was not the right choice for the venue.

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The Roman baths were coincidentally the stinkiest place on our tour of England so far. This is because of the deep-earth gasses that bubble up and heat the pool. After 2000 years, I don’t think I’ll be having a dip in them any time soon…

Jokes aside, I was astounded by the history of the baths. The nearly 2 millennia old ruin was restored in the late 19th century, but much of the original architecture remained. I was really impressed by the “Gorgon face” that remained. It’s a real cultural mystery. It’s a masculine face with a beard, wings, and snakes intertwined with hair that disperses as if the face had just fallen backwards into a stream. Historians theorize that the Gorgan face is a mesh of Celtic and Roman cultures: just like the people of the Roman Bath meshed the Celtic water god Sulis with the Roman god Minerva to create Minerva Sulis whose shrine is at Bath. However, historians truly don’t know the exact significance of the Gorgon face and may never know. It is undoubtedly an amalgamation of Celtic and Roman imagery though.

There is one mystery of the Roman baths that has been recently solved. There is a large and expensive Roman hairstyle preserved in the busts they left behind at the baths. The audio guide claims that experts still don’t know how this hairstyle was accomplished, but according to Callie they figured it out a couple years ago! Hair stylists figured out you can create the look by tying large curls together with thread. This is likely why only the wealthy took this fashion. It would have taken a lot of time to have someone tie dozens of knots in your hair.

I got to taste some Roman spring water as part of the tour. As you could guess, it had the savory taste of heavy metals. No mystery there.

Otherwise, the town of Bath reminded me a lot of Eureka Springs. A lot of tourims, decent food, and street performers. I wish I had the energy when I was there to dance to a trumpeter’s “Oops!… I Did It Again.” 

The Jane Austen and Mary Shelley museums were really interesting and well made, but I think I would’ve enjoyed them more if I had read any work by either author. If anything, these museums made me want to read their literature.

            Traveling by train from London to Bath, through fields of pastureland floating past, was a much-needed refresh after a busy week. In many ways, Bath feels like a smaller, softer London. There are fewer people, there’s more open space and greenery, and there are more ancient things, but the same blend of history and modernity that you find in London is present in Bath. I guess, in a way, people go there now for similar reasons as they did during ancient times: to find rest. The Roman Baths exhibit begins with the explanation that people came to the Roman Baths to “to bathe in sacred waters, seek healing, and pray” (Meet the Romans). Now, Bath is lined with shops, eateries, and spas that boast a similar, if less reverent, kind of escape, and I’m not sure what to make of this disconnect. 

            There’s just something strange about walking past a Levi’s outlet and into a vault housing the gravestones of people that lived centuries ago. All throughout the Baths, there are reminders not only of how people lived but also how they chose to die. One such gravestone of “a man from Aquae Sulis” depicts its owner with a scroll. The wall text notes that this depiction is an effort to show him “as he wished to be remembered” and that the scroll “reflects his learning and status in life” (A Man from Aquae Sulis). The prestige of education and the title that it brought was what this man wanted all of human history to remember about him. What would I want to be remembered of me, I wonder? What would you? 

            This focus on legacy seems to be part of a Roman fascination with time, or at least, that’s my hunch. Further on, an exhibition of the temple pediments that once stood near the Roman baths explains that the point where visitors would go to seek healing was decorated with carvings of “the moon goddess Luna and the sun god Sol” that faced each other (Luna and Sol from the Temple Courtyard). This intersection between the life and death, then, was also where sun and moon, light and dark, and beginning and end of days met. The Romans were constantly surrounded by reminders of how short their lives were and how easy it is to fall prey to time, so they prepared for it. They worked towards healing, prayed, spent moments in deep reflection, and continued to build a habit of doing so until they no longer could.

 

            Yet, part of me wonders if the same kind of attitude that caused the Romans to plan and strategize the act of living also led to an all-consuming self-preservation in some. An artifact called the Beau Street Hoard that was found underneath a Roman building near the baths consists of a collection of eight coin-filled leather bags (The Beau Street Hoard). I found myself stuck at this point in the exhibit for a while and questioning why a mud-hardened fossil would make me feel sick to my stomach, but it’s fear. Isn’t it? Behind the years and behind the dirt encapsulated in this pile of currency, is the fear of one person who trusted so little in others and in their own future that they buried wealth that could have served the greater good.

            One of the Cooling Baths, filled with pennies and modern currency from tourists that have stopped by, struck me in a similar way. On first glance, this glimmering pool seems almost romantic in a kind of campy way: a pile of wishes that people have tossed out into the air and trusted. However, the weight of all that effort, money, and time also grows overwhelming after staring at it for too long. In the end, I think so much of what the Romans believed and what they can teach us comes down to time. Are we using what time we have to do the work of healing in ourselves and our communities, or do we spend too much of it worrying, gathering wealth, and gazing at wishes on pennies that will never come true without our own effort? Or maybe, once again, I’m reading entirely too much into it. 

Back again soon,

Kath

Sources

A Man from Aquae Sulis. Wall text, The Roman Baths, Bath. 

The Beau Street Hoard. Wall text, The Roman Baths, Bath. 

Luna and Sol from the Temple Courtyard. The Roman Bath, Bath. 

Meet the Romans. Wall text, The Roman Baths, Bath.

June 4

Today I got to explore the city of Bath, home to the Roman-Baths it is hence named after. After walking to Euston Station, taking the Tube to Paddington Station, and catching a train taking us all the way to our destination, we finally made it. On first impression, Bath looks extremely different from London. You can tell from the architecture that there is a lot of Roman influence that doesn’t necessarily find itself in the capital city. In addition, Bath seems way more relaxed. In London, everybody moves pretty quickly because they got somewhere to be. But in Bath, the only rush is to get to your lunch reservation or to meet a friend at a café. But I will say, the main area of Bath, that I primarily stayed in, was made up mostly by tourists (or those not living in Bath). Which probably explains why people were more inclined to walk slowly or take a seat and watch the busking performances.

Overall, I enjoyed my visit to Bath and would suggest to anyone wanting to visit a town outside of London to visit here.

This is a place which feels just the right size, with just the right amount of history. An important center, but not with the overwhelming sprawl, rubbish and overwhelming dining options of the London metropolis. Definitely more my speed if I was to be here long term.

Roman Baths

I had a great time working my way through the Roman Baths. Although size-wise the complex paled in comparison to a lot of the ruins I was able to visit in and around Rome, I was so appreciative of the meticulous documentation and explanations that were offered here. I think the sheer amount of ruins and artifacts in Rome means that they don’t treat them with as much gravity, but that was not the case in Bath at all. I legitimately felt like I understood the function, history, and significance of every room by the time I wandered out. Of course I am the architecture geek, but I don’t think I was alone in my surprise at how engaging the entire exhibit was.

Bath Abbey

The pleasant surprise of the day was the Abbey which rose up over the center of town and overlooked the Roman Baths. Constructed in 1499, it was a fairly humble example of gothic construction techniques, but I was impressed with the stained glass windows, which told Old Testament stories on the West Window and depicted scenes from the life of Jesus on the East side. The best component of the church was the fan vaults which decorated the ceiling. I don’t remember seeing examples like them before, and I spent quite a while admiring them from below. A fun detail was mentioned in the pamphlet: the West End of the church required ceiling repair in the 1890s, so the fan vaults were actually copies of the originals above the altar. If you look closely in the photos, you can see that the copies weren’t handled as elegantly as the originals: the seams at the stone joints are clearly visible.

Bonus points to Bath for the best bookshop we’ve encountered thus far, Topping & Company, built into an interesting religious structure with a classical fascia.

[now playing: Another Town, Another Train – Abba]