Wicked

We finished New Year's Day off with a showing of Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. I have read other books by Gregory Maguire and knew I was in for a treat in the fractured fairytale; I just didn't know for how big of a treat. It was a wonderful show; the set and the cast were amazing. My favorite part was the monkeys. They were so life-like, but wonderfully artsy at the same time.

The story just drew you in and everything from the original story was expertly woven into the fractured tale. Now I can't wait to read Maguire's other books. I have been trying to find Wicked and A Loin Among Men at the library and local bookstores for a few months now with out any luck - I guess I will just have to order them from Amazon.

Now if we can just get back to London to take in some more fabulous West End shows and intermission ice cream...

Concerts & Opera

In addition to cheap food and beer, Prague has plenty of venues offering concerts, plays, ballets, and operas tickets for less than the cost of a movie rental. I pick the two most magnificent venues I could find online and bought tickets for what was playing there.

On Saturday night I booked 100Kc tickets for a Geniuses of Prague Concert at the Estates Theater. The beautiful and regal theater is where Mozart premiered Don Giovanni starring himself as the conductor and is the only theater left standing where Mozart preformed. The performance turned out to be children singing famous songs from Czech masters, but it was wonderful nonetheless.



On Sunday night we attend the opera "The Barter Bride" by Bedřich Smetana at the National Theater. The opera was in Czech, however, they provided German and English subtitles on board above the stage. It was my first opera and I enjoyed the experience very much.




Both buildings we works of art themselves and added to the performances.

Bollywood Bijlmer

In celebration of Amsterdam India Festival month, we attended Bollywood Bijlmer last night at the Koninklijk Theater Carre. The performance was a combination of an urban Indian dance performance and an Indian short film. Even though the film was in Dutch, the classic love story was easy to follow.

Some interesting notes about Dutch theater:

1. Right before the start of the performance, they let you move to whatever seats you like. If you happen to be late and someone is in your seat - tough luck! I think this is wonderful - no one is trying to move in front of you after the show has started.
2. Apparently flash photography is okay during the performance. Don't worry, I'm sure the blasts of light are not bothering the performers or your neighbor...
   

Decription of the film from the film website:
"The Bollywood film Bijlmer line with the rising popularity in the Netherlands of the Hindi film and Indian culture. In Bollywood Bijlmer is a dramatic story, full of romance, interspersed with large dance scenes. The film offers a mix of the dream world that is so typical of Bollywood and the daily reality of life in a big-city district in the Netherlands, with all its cultures, lifestyles and contradictions. The story is about a boy who as a minor asylum seeker from an African country has come to the Netherlands and for years with a foster family lives in Amsterdam. He is in love with a Hindu girl with him in the classroom. He has daydreaming about her, but the other is tormented by nightmares from his childhood. At school he has struggled with violence and bullying. Both the bullying as the nightmares escalate until he turns his so that he gets home from school and walk away. He and the girl find each other?"