Legally Blonde the musical at an outdoor theater was a fantastic experience. This is the first time I had the opportunity to experience legally Blond as a live performance. The theater was located in a lovely park that I had the opportunity to wonder around and explore for a while. In the park you could find many different types of flowers and plants all very well cared for and very beautiful. I included some of the photos I took with my phone to share with you. The weather was very nice for most of the day, and the rain that was predicted only showed it’s self as a very light sprinkle during the performance. The performance was held at a transition of scenes only for a few minutes for the crew to dry of the stage, other than that the performance continued as normal. The performance stared around 7:45 while it was still light out, and the lighting on for the stage did very little to effect how it looked. Glancing around to all the lighting equipment I recognized many of the equipment being used for the musical. I was surprised by the fact that the only defense from the weather for much of the equipment was a peace of wood hanging above the fixture or for movers a small box around the circuit board area. I am curious if they put more covers over the equipment when they run into actual bad weather or what they do to prevent damage to some fixtures. As far as outdoor theater goes the amount of fixtures used was more than what I expected. With The lights at the beginning of the show was limited by the sun but it quickly got darker and the experience became more enjoyable with the stage lights. The actors and stage both gained more presence and power with the stage lights. This being my first experience with legally Blonde it was very enjoyable, including how much the audience was excited to see it. I can see why many people really love this performance. After watching many of the shows in London, I have noticed difference in how lights are designed here vs the shows in the US. They seem to use less brightness in many of their shows, however sometimes I feel like I am missing something because it can be to dark at times.

Our second art museum on this lovely trip was The National Gallery, which has a decidedly less…eclectic collection of art than the Tate Modern. We were also supposed to visit the National Portrait Gallery that day, but they will be closed until 2023, so unfortunately, I will have to catch it on another trip.

Luckily, the National Gallery had more than enough to keep me occupied! There was so much to see that I would need a full day (not to mention stronger feet) to view it all. I am sure I missed some really impressive pieces, but I still viewed and photographed plenty of excellent pieces of art, ranging from the 1200s to the 1500s.

As expected of European pieces of art prior to and leading up to the Renaissance period, there was no shortage of Christian iconography. A great majority of pieces I viewed contained Jesus, the Virgin Mary, one or numerous saints, or members of religious orders; that is if all four of those were not present in the same painting. Several were part of elaborate altar displays that simultaneously glorified the stories and figures of the Bible, allowed illiterate members of congregations to intake those same stories and figures while attending service, and demonstrated the wealth and power of the Church.

As logic would dictate, there were less pieces available from the earlier periods and more available from the later periods. And as the age of the paintings got less and less, the level of detail proportionally increased. The difference in level of realism between the 1200s and the 1500s was startling, though that may have struck me as such due to how close these pieces were to each other spatially, only being separated by a small number of rooms. Some of that increase in realism may be due to the transition from egg tempura paints to oil paints, or the medium changing from wood to canvas.

Earlier on in my tour, there were four rooms covering roughly the same period (the early-mid 1400s through the early 1500s) that each contained works from different Italian city-states. Specifically, they were works made in the traditions of Siena, Florence, Padua, and Venice. Having these rooms immediately next to one another allowed for easier comparison of the artistic styles native to, or at least preferred in, each locale. The first city-state presented, and the one that loses most by comparison with the others, is Siena. The creation date of the works compiled from Siena range from around 1300 to around 1450, which gives it minimal overlap with the collections from other city-states, whose ranges into the later half of the Fifteenth Century and the start of the Sixteenth Century show more innovations in realism. From what range the collection does have, I managed to make some insights (though I am not certain of the factuality of them). First, the frequent use of gold-colored paint suggests that the Sienese held great value in the subjects of their paintings and wanted others to hold those same subjects with that same value as well. Second, people and the actions in which they are portrayed hold more significance than where those people and actions are portrayed, given the rare use of backgrounds and, even in the cases of backgrounds being utilized, the human subjects being of a larger scale than the settings they occupy.

The second city state, Florence, had a greater amount of private life and historical/mythological content depicted in art, but the majority was still Biblical in nature. The human figures have slightly more definition and pronounced features than those in Sienese works, but a sense of the figures being like stock images with identifying marks or features added on top still remains. And while the focus is still largely on the human subjects in the paintings, more respect is given to the detailing of backgrounds, and a sense of larger scale is allowed to exist.

The third room in the sequence, displaying works made by artists who studied in Padua, was the first to really impress me. There was a very sudden jump in the level of detail in the human features and settings; it seemed impossible that these paintings were only made about 20-30 years after those in Florence! Things like the wrinkles on an older man’s face, or the Adam’s apple of St. John, or the tendons in the hand of St. Catherine were present in a way previously unseen. But easily the most impressive, in my mind, was one spot on the leg of St. Sebastian in Carlo Crivelli’s The Virgin and Child with Saints Francis and Sebastian, 1491. The saint is represented in the manner in which he was killed: pierced with many arrows. In his right leg, the viewer can see an arrow entering and exiting his flesh, and, amazingly, the shape of the arrow’s shaft is visible under the skin!! Such an astounding feat of biological realism would be impressive among artists with today’s references, but to create it at the turn of the Sixteenth Century is mind-boggling!

The fourth and final room in the sequence consisted of pieces from Venice, ranging from around 1460 to around 1510. The level of detail in these pieces is yet another step up from the Paduan artworks, with features like the gleam in people’s eyes being worked into portraits. In addition, a lot more effort is put into the background environments of pieces that have them, with many settings having a larger scale in comparison to the human characters occupying them.

The National Gallery held plenty of other pieces that caught my interest, like this painting of St. Michael depicting him with rainbow wings, and I certainly enjoyed my time there! But it was not the only event scheduled for the day.

After a few hours of respite, I joined the group in the lobby for our journey to Southwark Playhouse and its musical, Lift. Shawn spoke very highly of this company’s work prior to our departure from the U.S., so I had fairly high expectations. After having some very nice conversation with Cath and Maggie, we filed into the small, black-box style space and the production began.

Altogether, I would say the musical was pretty good. The vocals were excellent, with harmonies and different melodies blending together with high levels of skill. The instrumentals, both those provided by one of the actors onstage and the pit member (members?) were also well executed. The dialogue allowed for plenty of funny moments, but a healthy does of heavy, real moments too. There were only a few aspects of the show I found lacking. The first was in the pronunciation of the actors while they were singing. The musical is set in London, so a range of English accents makes perfect sense character-wise, but it meant that oftentimes consonants would be dropped off of words and understanding what was being sung was difficult. The other aspect of the show that left something to be desired was in the pacing of the story. This story consists of several different storylines that interconnect with each other at various points. Different characters share the same name, different characters are played by the same actor depending on the scene, and altogether it makes for a jumbled, confusing mess until the audience gets used to it; in my experience, that took about half of the show’s runtime.

All in all, I’d say that today was a day of exploration; of finding new things, or things that express familiar ideas in new ways. Given my intended career field, where stories are constantly being adapted and reimagined, days like these are excellent food for the mind!

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.