Lucy Watches Glee

Due to an unfortunate combination of preoccupied friends and exhaustion I have spent the first half of the weekend locked in my dorm room catching up on season three of the Glee and hanging out with the theater kids who are rehearsing right outside my door. Could be worse I guess.

I am an unashamed fan of Glee. Of course I do have problems with the show (where are the interracial couples? and why is everyone in a relationship? could you get anymore cheesy?) but I cannot help but have soft spot for a show that puts quality musical theater onto TV.  I am so glad that they have decided to include more classic songs from Funny Girl, West Side Story, and the like along with all the other delightful Katy Perry remixes.

Like many a fan girl, Darren Criss is probably the main reason I decided to keep watching this season. As a huge nerd I have of course seen A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel several times...in fact I have the soundtrack on my ipod. So glad to see someone so talented from the youtube community becoming "main stream famous." His voice makes me melt and his character's relationship with the ever adorable Kurt is definitely my favorite story line. 

Lea Michelle's character, however, makes me want to pull my hair out, until she starts singing that is. I guess this is the writer's intention but to be honest I can only take so much Rachel. There are so many other great talents to feature! For instance Harry Shum as Mike Chang. His starring episode, Asian F, is probably my favorite so far. Some will probably argue that it only promotes the stereotype of over bearing Asian parents and they would be right, but the heart of the story was in the right place...plus seeing him dance is always a pleasure. 

I have also been loving the West Side Story thread running through the season's first couple episodes. It is such an iconic show with perhaps some of the most beautiful music to ever be sung on Broadway and undoubtedly the best dancing. I would love to think that there is some lonely preteen out there who has perhaps never even seen a musical that is watching Glee and starting to think this might be a world they want to be a part of. Perhaps they will rent West Side Story from the local library, start watching youtube videos of rising stars, go to a local performance, inspire a program in their own school...it all starts with that little flicker of magic in someone's imagination.

This is why, as Glee is promoting without apology, the arts must stay in our schools! Setting Sue Sylvester, the Glee club's hilarious nemesis, as an enemy to arts education probably did more for the cause than a million irate facebook posts. Thanks Glee! You are flawed but doing your best...just like the rest of us! Now I am left wondering...what the hell are you doing on Fox!?

Next up: My review of Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Lucy Goes To The Ballet

So I promised a review of Sleeping Beauty and here it is!
Needless to say I was so ecstatic to just to be inside the Royal Opera House watching the Royal Ballet that I probably would have enjoyed anything that came on stage, but I was particularly looking forward to this show because Tamara Rojo danced Aurora. I have watched her countless times on youtube and she is unarguably stunning. Plus there are rumors of her imminent retirement so I knew it was a once in a lifetime experience. Thankfully my high expectations were fulfilled and the performance was exactly as I knew it would be; just gorgeous.
The dancing was of course of the highest caliber, Rojo especially. She could simply walk on stage and pointe her feet and make an audience gasp. Thankfully she doesn't rely on flexibility or tricks and played the role with as much depth as you could find in a story as flimsy as the Sleeping Beauty. Her first act solo was my favorite of the performance because she showed such a contrast between the slow and controlled beginning and the lightening fast, show off ending.
Frederic Bonelli in the role of the prince was also quite good. The role is not particularly exciting for men but he performed the solo adagio in Act II quite beautifully. I think this is the one portion of the ballet that the Royal does best of all; how often in classical ballet do you get to see a man alone on stage dancing an adagio? His other solos were nice but forgettable in comparison to Rojo; this is the one ballet in which the girls get to show off more than the boys!
I was not overly impressed with Itziar Mendizabl's Lilac Fairy. Her technique was immaculate but her performance rather bland. I have to say I remember her giant purple tutu more than I remember most of her dancing! Perhaps the costume was too interfering, I know from experience that an ill fitting tutu can all but ruin a performance.
The rest of the costumes were just fantastic. Lots of pink and sparkles...which is what most people come to the ballet looking for I think. The Queen definitely go the best of it, all her dresses glittered even for those of us up in the back of the theater. Her hats were very grand and succeeded in drawing as much attention to her as the dancing roles. Even the corps de ballet shone thanks to some fine work in the costume department. I think we often forget how important this aspect is to ballet! Especially for a show like Sleeping Beauty which is more of a visual spectacle than anything else.
Melissa Hamilton stood out in the best way possible from the corps of Aurora's friends in Act I. I sincerely hope I have the opportunity to see her dance a more prominent role in the future. It is very easy to picture how easily she must slip into the more contemporary roles. The company as a whole I think must be very well adapted to switching back and forth between sparkling perfection and gritty emotion as the other ballet currently running at the Opera House in the tragedy of Manon. I will aim next time to see something that allows the dancers to stretch their performing muscles a bit more, but for a birthday treat The Sleeping Beauty was absolutely delicious!

Happy Birthday To Me

Autumn is finally here! We have had such a lovely golden fall here and I was delighted to find that when I returned from a week away in beautiful Cornwall that all the leaves had turned beautiful shades of red, orange and yellow. How lucky I am to be able to live in and visit such stunning parts of the world; Cornwall is the epitome of the raw and wild English coast which I find so much more appealing than any tropical beach. Give me craggy cliffs, cloudy skies and crashing waves over white sandy, sunny beaches any day! Perhaps this is the little emo side of me coming out. Richmond, on the other hand, is more tame, colorful, and very homey. I feel incredibly safe here and the park is just breathtaking, although for some reason I have only visited it a couple times. This need to be fixed before all the beautiful leaves disappear!

St. Agnes Beach, Cornwall

St. Agnes Beacon, Cornwall

Richmond Park

Photo by Jamie Long http://www.flickr.com/photos/vespa80/6299623979/

I love fall (or Autumn depending which side of the pond you're on), it is definitely my favorite season. Appropriate, perhaps, seeing as my birthday falls right bang in the middle of it. I am perhaps biased but as a Halloween baby I think I have one of the best times for a birthday; everyone is in the mood to party on Halloween, plus I can wear whatever wacky outfit or make up I want and get away with it...sparkles everywhere! I had a lovely birthday on Monday, although it was difficult being away from the family for the first time. Thankfully I have wonderful friends here at school and received lots of Birthday love...as well as a few generous treats, and no tricks. I spent Halloween night at the Royal Opera House watching Tamara Rojo dance Sleeping Beauty, it was stunning and so magical, so appropriate. I thought all the fun had ended there but my amazing friends surprised me last night by all waiting for my at the pub with some delicious chocolate cake. I am a very happy 19 year old.