THAT'S ALL FOLKS.

I am back in the USA.

Goods times in London. It's all over.

Below are some pictures of where I spent the last 3.5 months of my life.

Thanks for coming along for the ride and being somewhat interested in my adventures! Hopefully I have more interesting times that are blog-worthy!

BADA

Nice little Christmas tree in the lobby.

BADA lobby.

One of our classrooms.

This has nothing to do with London but it made me laugh... and laughter is the best medicine, especially when you're knee deep in finals and just want to be enjoying your last week in London.

I can't express how much I miss my family...

A conversation on Facebook with Jillian (who goes home for break today): 

Me: What time is mom supposed to be there?

Jillian: Well I just talked to her and she was already stopped at a rest stop. Resting her back. And eating McDonalds.

Me: OMG. You're totally going to have to drive home.

Jill: And apparently the dog is trying to eat her French fries.

Me: That's amazingly funny. She brought the dog with her?

Jill: Yes. I died when she told me that.



4 days and 18 hours until I'm on the plane.

Rounding up the 7 shows in 7 days...

"In The Republic of Happiness" -- The first 20 minutes was like an extended Saturday Night Live skit, and I really enjoyed the show... until the whole thing switched and then the next 1.5 hours were absolutely, dreadfully painful. I felt like there was this huge meaning that I was too unintelligent or too young or too American to understand. I am positive there was a TON of stuff going on in this show, but I just completely missed the point.

"A Clockwork Orange" -- Honestly it was the best play I have seen in London. I loved every single second and was blown away. The lead who played Alex was the best performer I have seen on stage here, and I was mesmerized by his performance. I have never seen the movie or read the book, so this was the first time I encountered the story and I really liked it. If you want to know more about this show, ask me in person... I have to finish sorting out in my mind why it was so amazing =]

RAGE AND LOVE

Oh hey there... you know that musical I really really really like? Yeah well I saw it tonight at the Hammersmith Apollo Theatre.

I mean what is there to say... it was the 4th time I've seen the show. I can tell you every moment where they changed or added choreography. Oh and there should not SHOULD NOT be an intermission in this show. It's specifically built to be a 90-minute rock opera. So that was the only real big issue I had with anything.

The cast was great. I was super impressed. There was a standing ovation so obviously Brits don't mind spending 1.5 hours hearing about the problems of being an angsty young adult in America.

It made me homesick for America and for NYC, but it was really interesting to "in the know" and the minority because every time I saw it on Broadway it was an American audience who could identify with everything. Like I might not need to buy a bus ticket and leave home to go become a drug addict and have my life fall apart before realizing I made a mistake in order to identify with these characters. This show is telling the story of a generation -- my generation -- and I think that we can all see parts of ourselves in all the characters.

Everyone thinks it's funny/weird that I love this show so much because it doesn't seem like me... but you ask my flatmates what I did when I got home and they'll tell you that I flipped out and (attempted to) rage. I did a lot of head banging and hair tossing. Good times.

On the tube on the way home a lady said "It was brilliant. The best thing I've ever seen."

HELL YEAH.

"The Changeling" -- So before I went to see this, I read a bunch of reviews that basically scared me to death and made me feel like it was going to be as bad or worse than "Trojan Women" in terms of visceral reactions... I asked four ushers where to sit if I wanted to be really removed and I ended up sitting high up and definitely removed. I'm so mad at myself for that decision because it was TAME. It was definitely bizarre, but it was fabulous. Instead of blood they used pudding and jello... gross squishy foods was the theme. 

"War Horse" -- SO GLAD I SAW THIS. Absolutely amazing amazing amazing. Worth every Tony Award it won. I got day/rush tickets and sat in the front row... and that was incredible.

After agonizing over a final paper (which I literally finished five seconds ago) all day, I needed a really epic homework break. And that's what I got.

If you know me at all, you know I am completely head over heels in love with this new trend... musical theater composers writing songs that are a little indie, a little pop, and a little musical theater. Then they get awesome people to sing the songs, record them, put an album out, and musical theater nerds like me go nuts. Names like Pasek & Paul, Jason Robert Brown, and Kerrigan & Lowdermilk come to mind...

BUT Kooman & Dimond is my favorite. And tonight I got to see them. This concert (which was in a church with amazing acoustics), was the London debut of Kooman & Dimond, so that's super exciting that I was there. Basically there was a small band (piano, cello, guitar, cajon/drum kit), and a myriad of West End performers. They got up and sang songs while Kooman and Dimond watched contentedly along with the audience.

The second the first note was sung I was totally lost. Every song from their album, "Out of Our Heads" was performed except one. They also previewed three songs from a musical they're writing (we were the first audience to ever hear the songs), and a couple other songs from other random things they've done. The guys stood up after intermission and introduced themselves. Chris Dimond thanked London, on behalf of America, for giving us the good version of The Office.

The show ended with Dimond performing a rap he wrote... "Def Ass Musical Theatre Gangsta Jam"... that was epic.

The crowd was really interesting too. It was pretty obvious that most of the people there were family/friends of the performers or someone involved in some capacity. It was definitely what I would consider an industry event, so that was pretty neat even though I felt like a fish out of water.

I'm beyond glad that I was able to go. Someday when I see them again I will be able to say that I was at their London premiere concert. Now that's exciting.

Perfect end to the weekend.

Today I went to the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park with a few friends. It was a carnival with tons and tons of rides and it was ginormous.

I'm deathly afraid of rides... so naturally I was not going on anything major. But they had the adult version of the tea cups where you're in that little half circle and you spin around. I figured that'd be fine since I've done it before... let me tell you it was intense. I was screaming the entire time, which only egged on the guy who was helping make the cars spin faster. So much fun. I was proud that I didn't puke after that one. After walking around for a long time, eating french fries and cotton candy, and drinking hot chocolate with Bailey's (best thing ever)... we went on the bumper cars. Let's just remember that it's been 4 months since I've been behind the wheel of a car. It was fabulous. I drove while Amanda just sat in the car and pressed the gas pedal. And I rocked that. I bumped into so many children... let's be real, that's the whole point of bumper cars, giving the children whiplash.

Approaching.

I went on that ride.

So festive.

So fun.

After the carnival I met up with Colin. You guys remember him, right? We went to SoHo and walked around, then had dinner at a great restaurant. Afterwards we got frozen yogurt and walked around a bit more. He goes back home this week so we had to meet up once more before we're back in the US!

Let's catch up on shows I've seen... I've kept every single ticket, but taking a picture of each one was getting annoying. Thus explaining the lack of pictures...

Shakespeare's "Merry Wives of Windsor"(Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon) -- This show was absolutely fabulous. I loved every second of it. The production was updated, set in November 2012, and for the first time ever I found myself relating to characters in Shakespeare.

"The Orphan of Zhao" (Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon) -- Not good. Just kind of ridiculous actually. There was no sense of respect for the Chinese culture and the ritual that is Chinese theatre. The set was interesting and some of the effects were good. One actor was great.

"Scenes From An Execution" -- Fiona Shaw was exceptional. I really enjoyed the show. Not much to say about that one.

"Loserville" -- The dumbest lyrics you will ever hear, but the music was actually great. It was a perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Because it's not selling well, we got bumped from crappy seats to row E in the orchestra, which was fabulous.

"Billy Elliot" -- Not my favorite. I have a lot of respect for the show and the kid who played Billy was OUT OF THIS WORLD... and the dancing was as well. However, I am not enthralled with the music, and it's a musical. Definitely worth seeing.

"Richard III" -- Mark Rylance played Richard. I didn't like the show and my seats were dreadful (in a bad way), but seeing Rylance is always worth it.

"Carmen" -- SO GOOD. This was at the same place as "Don Giovanni" had been, so I was worried because that had been so bad... but this show was great. I really enjoyed the concept and thought all the performances were remarkable.

"The Effect" -- Absolutely amazing. There isn't much to say except it was a great great great show.

"La Boheme" -- Funky, fresh take on the opera. It was in English and the second act when they're at the bar was promenade style around the auditorium. The singing was incredible. Opera at it's most casual.

"The Trojan Women" -- If you want to know about the experience, ask me in person. It's too much to write about here. Let's just say I had quite a visceral reaction to the whole experience, a panic attack might have been involved. It was an incredible show. Any piece of theater that can make me feel like this production did, is doing its job.

"Les Miserables" -- Well I can walk away from London having said that I saw this show three times in the span of four months. It just never gets old...

"The Seagull" -- It was a nice updated version of the classic Chekhov. I liked the play a lot better than "Three Sisters" because the characters were not as whiney. Some of the acting wasn't all that great, but the second act was a million times better than the first so it ended on a positive note.