Vocal Coach to the Stars Masterclass

For my second and final (free) Masterclass at the Royal Haymarket Theater, the host was Patsy Rodenburg.  What an amazing women she was.  She is a vocal and acting teacher with a varied and impressive resume and in a couple of hours, laid a ground plan for a year's worth of improvement in improving an actor's voice.  One of her basics was the three circles of energy: the 1st was the self conscious energy, the second was being present/aware, the find 3rd was over doing it energy. She mentioned people she worked with from people in jail to (unnamed) famous actors and directors.  She gave a number of examples of helpful and healthful exercises for the voice.  A wonderful experience for the last Friday.      

Stratford Bill

Today I can finally say I saw a show at the Globe Theater.  I wen to see the Shakespeare party hosted by the Footsbarn Theater which apparently was last in London in 1993.  The show was a fun mix of puppetry, acrobatics, and song used to tell snippets from various Shakespeare plays- The porter scene from the Scottish play, Pyrimus and Thisbe from Midsummer, and so on.  One of the songs was called "Stratford Bill" which was about his friends telling him to not write in iambic pentameter cause "nobody talks like that anymore." It was a pretty good fun, especially when the tightrope walker did her thing, while playing the violin at the same time!    

Chelsea Vs. Manchester United!!

Soccer isn't my forte, but everyone knew that the football championships were yesterday in Moscow, Russia. It said on the BBC's website that it is the first time two teams from the UK have competed against each other in the finals. So since it was Chelsea, which is a borough of London, vs Manchester United, which...is in Manchester, we decided to go down to a pub in Chelsea and became Chelsea fans for the night. It was one of my best experiences in London by far. We arrived 2 hours before the game and most people were drunk or just singing their Chelsea cheer songs badly, which made them sound drunk haha. Everyone had a few drinks and watched the game in this VERY crowded pub. Manchester United scored first, but before the half, Chelsea was able to score and tied it up. No one else would score in the game or in extra time(overtime for americans) so it went to penalty kicks. Each team missed one so it went to sudden death kicks. MU made theirs and then Chelsea missed so Chelsea lost : (. The pub cleared out very silently and bottles began to be broken so we got out of there. It was SO fun and I've never seen anything like this in my life for just sports. It was like nothing else in America.
An absolute ball though : )

Shakespeare's Home

We went up to Stratford-on-Avon Friday, and what a day it was.  Friday became the day of Shakespeare: where he was born, where he's buried, his museum about his life.  It was all great, but the best was definitely the play we saw. That was probably the best version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" I've ever seen onstage. Period.  The Royal Shakespeare Company certainly knows how to put on a show.  The actors were fantastic.  The stage effects, were incredible, the fairy king and queen both flew.  Of course they were were supported but they were so graceful, that the wires did not register with me.  The fairies were cool and so were the mechanicals who put on "Pyramus and Thisbe."  I'm sad that I'm going to be missing the summer shows such as "Hamlet" because they sound just as awesome.  But the RSC plays are certainly a reason to come back to Stratford. It just a question on the when and how.  

The Director's Blog

We are about half way through our program residency in London, and I have resisted adding any entries to the Fine Arts 2008 blog, feeling as I do that this site belongs to our students. They all are contributing their reactions, impressions, images, and assessments of life in London - and beyond - that will help any reader of these entries to understand something of the myriad ways in which this world city may be defined. I feel very privileged to be their director this year. As any educator knows one of the richest rewards of teaching is what one learns from one's students. And this group is richly rewarding me by sharing their discoveries, their opinions - of which they have many, naturally! - and their indefatigable curiosity about every aspect of the cultural life surrounding them. I hope all blogsters are enjoying reading these entries as much as I am.

Here is a shot of the group taken in the Dean's Yard by Westminster Abbey...

Paris, je t'aime

There seems to be a trend in these last few posts...

I spent 48 hours in Paris this past weekend and cannot even begin to describe the amazing time I had. The coach ride was rough- I don't sleep well upright and on the way back we were stuck in Calais waiting to get on a ferry for over 2 hours- but the travel was well worth it. The Eiffel Tower is more incredible than I expected; you go in thinking it won't be as great as everyone made it sound, but that view from the top is absolutely breathtaking! The view from Sacre-Couer over the city isn't so bad either. I had dinner up there on Sunday night listening to some French buskers sing La Bamba and Maroon 5. I went to mass at Notre Dame, saw the Moulin Rouge, went to the Louvre (the Mona Lisa is overrated...), Musee D'Orsay, Champs Elysees, Arch de Triumphe, the Bastille, Latin Quarter, Saint Sulpice, through 4 different gardens, through the hills of Montemartre... the list is so long. Having this access to all these beautiful and completely unique European cities is wonderful and I'm already planning trips back and haven't even left yet!

One tip: if you're going to Paris, go the first weekend in the month. So many tourist attractions are free on the first Sunday- the Louvre, Musee Picasso, Musee D'Orsay, Notre Dame, Saint Chappelle etc etc. The lines move fast since it's just a security check, not a ticket line, and obviously, free is always good!... especially in this economy!

The weekend coming up includes the group day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon and then I'm off to Paderborn, Germany to visit an exchange student that went to high school with me for a year. I can't wait to explore more of this continent...

The Cans Festival!

Over the weekend, a friend from home saw some information on an art festival that was one weekend only. The past weekend, The Cans Festival was in town on Leake street right by the London Eye. Some of the world's most famous graffiti artists came and filled this street tunnel with some really cool works. I went and checked it out, expecting that not many people knew about it, but I had to wait an hour and a half to get in! It was definitely worth it though. Here are a few of my favorite pieces I saw: