The Life of Figuring Things Out: London Life: Day 5

So this beautiful morning we decided to be intense theater people and wake up at 5 in the AM and head our tired little bootys over to the Noelle Cowan Theater to get 10 pound tickets for this sold out show. It was totally worth it! We hopped on the Tube at 5:40 (which is when the first train came) and arrived at the theater at 6:00am. When we got there, there were already eight people there. We found out the first guy had gotten there at 3:00am. Say what!! That's devotion. We were a little nervous because we knew they probably only had 10-13 tickets and 18 standing room tickets. We decided to wait anyways and see what happens. It was freezing but we huddled together, did a little reading, and got nasty hot chocolate from McDonalds. The four and a half hours slowly ticked by but we made it through. We had interesting conversations and did silly things to keep ourselves occupied. When we finally got up to ticket window we found out there was only standing room tickets left for the evening performance which we had to go to because we already had a show scheduled with the group for the matinee. We decided we would do the standing room! We got our amazing 10 pound tickets and headed back to the flat for a much needed nap.

vvv^^^We were loosen it a little.

^^^The above three photos are everyone blinking as I took a picture to see if my camera would show that they blinked. We were incredibly bored. Ali's picture(the middle one) was the winner shot!

^^^Shmexy ladies!

We woke up, ate lunch, and headed to the theater for "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time." We got to the theater a seriously walked to every door entrance till we finally found ours. We walked up a large flight of stairs with walls that had triangle formulas and other formulas and stuff. It was really cool, but I was so confused why they were on the walls of a theater. Not that theater people can't like math too, we just usually don't. It ended up making sense with the context of the show, but in that moment, I was confused. Anyways! We finally made it up to the Grand Circle where our seats were. This was the second balcony up and our seats where all the way to the right, front row. We basically had to have our entire top half of our body over the ledge to be able to see, but it was okay because it was such an incredible show! It's about an autistic boy that discovers a lot of different things in his life. It starts out with him trying to figure out who killed his neighbor's dog, but from this he ends up finding out things about his parents and himself. It was such a beautiful story and was done so well. They used so many amazing special effects. The floor and walls of the stage look like graph paper and had lights and projectors set up to show on them. Gah! I can't even fully explain this stage's amazingness. This whole show was just pure perfection. I loved every second of it.

When the show ended, we didn't have too much time before we had to be at "Peter and Alice," so we went to a little Chinese restaurant in Leicester Square. I got rice and barbecue chicken. It was delicious, but spicy. We hung out there for a while and talked and such. It was a nice little lunch out.

^^^ I gave Janell a pinky massage. I love this girl!

We finished up and headed over to the Noelle Cowan Theater for "Peter and Alice." We got there like a whole hour early so we could make sure we got the good standing room spots and we did! We were dead center and they were actually really good spots (I would say seats, but we were standing so...yeah). The show was only 90 minutes long so standing wasn't too bad! The show was also incredible so it distracted me from the fact that I was standing. We were pretty high up, back behind the grand circle but we had a straight shot view of the stage. The play was so great! It was about the girl and boy that the stories Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan were based off of. They didn't actually experience these stories, but the author used them as inspiration. The whole play was about growing up and what that entais. Gah!! It was such a beautiful play and I cannot wait to see it again, hopefully sitting this time. Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw played grown up Alice and Peter. They did remarkable jobs in this play. I cannot even begin to explain how much I loved it. When the show was over, we decided we were going to stage door to try and meet the cast as they left. I had my program and script in hand. We were standing, looking for the stage door when all of a sudden McKenzie said "I think that's Jim Strugess!" (For those who don't know, he is the lead in Across the Univers, One Day, 21, and other amazing things. He also has a ridiculously beautiful singing voice) I turned and sure enough it was him!! I could not believe it. I think my heart stopped. He is from London so it makes sense, but ahh! It was so amazing. We stood in silence for a little and then I thought in my mind "I am in London and I am not passing up this opportunity!" So we walked over to him and asked to take a picture with him. He was so nice and said "Of course!" As we were going to take the picture he asked where we were form and I idiotically said "Georgia, America, I mean Utah." I was so starstruck! After the picture, I told him I was a big fan and that I love his work. He thanked us, we thanked him and we parted ways. We walked away and my whole body was shaking uncontrollably and I may or may not have started crying. I LOVE JIM STURGESS!!!! I could not believe that just happened. I still can't believe that happend. We walked over to the stage door and were lucky enough to meet Ben Whishaw and he signed my script and took a picture. He was so sweet and people were swarming him. Gahh! We didn't get to meet Judi Dench, but it was understandable. That stage door was crazy!