Ah yes.
I was wondering how long it would take.
Lace bobbins in commemoration of Michael Jackson, on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LACE-BOBBIN-MICHAE
2 comments | Leave a comment
jennie_jay
12 July 2009 @ 21:31
11 July 2009 @ 20:54
In England we visited an old friend, in more than one sense of the word. Mrs G is over 90, she taught me and my mother to make corndollies, among other things, when we lived there.
Her daughter J now showed my daughter how to spin, and Mrs G taught my son how to set fire to things with a magnifying glass.
She also told me yet another story about one of my favourite authors, Dorothy Sayers, who wrote detective novels featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. Dorothy Sayers lived in the village next door to Mrs G, and although I don't think they ever met, there were points of contact. They shared the same family doctor, and so on.
Anyway, Mrs G told me this anecdote about an encounter a friend of hers had with Dorothy Sayer's.
Mrs G's friend was going to London. In honour of the occasion she'd dressed up in her best hat and coat, and actually bought a FIRST CLASS ticket on the train! The train carriages did not have corridors, you got on the train straight into your compartment.
Mrs G's friend had got on the train, and at Witham station, the door to the compartment was flung open and very large lady climbed in. It was Dorothy Sayers. She was very tall, and quite large. People who knew her say that the statue of her in Witham doesn't do her justice. She was larger in life. Anyway, she settled down, and glared at Mrs G's friend, and said in a very loud voice:
"You see some strange people in first class these days!"
Mrs G's friend quickly responded: "Yes, one does, doesn't one. And they get in at every station!"
I wonder what happened after that.
Her daughter J now showed my daughter how to spin, and Mrs G taught my son how to set fire to things with a magnifying glass.
She also told me yet another story about one of my favourite authors, Dorothy Sayers, who wrote detective novels featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. Dorothy Sayers lived in the village next door to Mrs G, and although I don't think they ever met, there were points of contact. They shared the same family doctor, and so on.
Anyway, Mrs G told me this anecdote about an encounter a friend of hers had with Dorothy Sayer's.
Mrs G's friend was going to London. In honour of the occasion she'd dressed up in her best hat and coat, and actually bought a FIRST CLASS ticket on the train! The train carriages did not have corridors, you got on the train straight into your compartment.
Mrs G's friend had got on the train, and at Witham station, the door to the compartment was flung open and very large lady climbed in. It was Dorothy Sayers. She was very tall, and quite large. People who knew her say that the statue of her in Witham doesn't do her justice. She was larger in life. Anyway, she settled down, and glared at Mrs G's friend, and said in a very loud voice:
"You see some strange people in first class these days!"
Mrs G's friend quickly responded: "Yes, one does, doesn't one. And they get in at every station!"
I wonder what happened after that.
03 July 2009 @ 21:12
My son wanted to surprise his friend with a cake, and I helped him out. It's a glutenfree chocolate sponge base, with chocolate frosting. The white bits are icing.
Originally he wanted it in the shape of a beer can, but that was too complicated and he settled for a glass of Guinnness... Apparently it tasted all right, too.
Originally he wanted it in the shape of a beer can, but that was too complicated and he settled for a glass of Guinnness... Apparently it tasted all right, too.
03 July 2009 @ 20:50
"Spinn spinn dottern min, snart så kommer friarn din...."
"Spin, spin my daughter, your suitor will come soon..."
as the song says.
In England we visited Mrs G, and old friend of ours, in more than one meaning of the word. I've known her for a long time, and also she is in her nineties now. But full of life and with a great interest in life. I always feel so "energized" when I've visited her. She is an authority on vegetable dyeing and eagerly looks forward to each new season with new plants to pick and test, together with her daughter. She
When we visited her this summer, Mrs G taught my son to set fire to paper with a magnifying glass and her daughter showed my daughter how to spin wool.
26 June 2009 @ 20:05
Went on a field trip on a farm south of Cambridge. They grow potatoes, parsnips, carrots etc... The soil is very stony, so the soil is sieved mechanically as they make the raised beds.
As the owner talked about the planting etc, I noticed some unfamiliar objects at the end of one of the rows. Ah. Yes. These do keep turning up, he said.
Shells from WW2. But blanks. Usually. He said.
But last year.... there had been An Incident.
His neighbour, "George", had been ploughing. Our host noticed that George had stopped the tractor, went over to see what was going on. George had turned up a bomb, it was stuck in the plough and he was trying to crowbar it out.
Our host yelled at him "Stop that! Are you mad?? If that goes off, it could really damage your tractor!!" George stopped. They phoned the bomb squad who closed off the surrounding roads, dug a hold in a field, got a robot to put the bomb into the hole and blew it up.
Just as he finished the story, there was a bang in a neighbouring field. We all jumped.
"Looks like George found another one!" someone volunteered.
But it was just a bird scaring gun going off.
I did jump, though.
As the owner talked about the planting etc, I noticed some unfamiliar objects at the end of one of the rows. Ah. Yes. These do keep turning up, he said.
Shells from WW2. But blanks. Usually. He said.
But last year.... there had been An Incident.
His neighbour, "George", had been ploughing. Our host noticed that George had stopped the tractor, went over to see what was going on. George had turned up a bomb, it was stuck in the plough and he was trying to crowbar it out.
Our host yelled at him "Stop that! Are you mad?? If that goes off, it could really damage your tractor!!" George stopped. They phoned the bomb squad who closed off the surrounding roads, dug a hold in a field, got a robot to put the bomb into the hole and blew it up.
Just as he finished the story, there was a bang in a neighbouring field. We all jumped.
"Looks like George found another one!" someone volunteered.
But it was just a bird scaring gun going off.
I did jump, though.
25 June 2009 @ 19:51
Back from a break in England...
Among the souvenirs I brought back with is a (small) pile of books, some Thornton's choccies, Beecham's powders.... and.... LYME disease (aka Borrelia).
That'll teach me to stomp around the fields without wellies. I probably caught it on a field trip on an ecological farm outside Cambridge.
It all started so well, with Pimm's in the farmyard, continued with a drive around the farm perched on straw bales on the tractor trailer, and winding up with a barbecue afterwards.
It was very exciting, there were (bomb) shells in the fields too, not just potatoes. More about that another time.
Hooray for antibiotics. I hope they start to work soon. The hot red itching painful patch on my leg is now bigger than my hand, and I'm achy and tired.
They flew the flag at the B&B on the Queen's official birthday in June. This is taken from the landing on the second floor, an old pram and rocking horse in the foreground, the flagpole can just be seen through the window.
Among the souvenirs I brought back with is a (small) pile of books, some Thornton's choccies, Beecham's powders.... and.... LYME disease (aka Borrelia).
That'll teach me to stomp around the fields without wellies. I probably caught it on a field trip on an ecological farm outside Cambridge.
It all started so well, with Pimm's in the farmyard, continued with a drive around the farm perched on straw bales on the tractor trailer, and winding up with a barbecue afterwards.
It was very exciting, there were (bomb) shells in the fields too, not just potatoes. More about that another time.
Hooray for antibiotics. I hope they start to work soon. The hot red itching painful patch on my leg is now bigger than my hand, and I'm achy and tired.
They flew the flag at the B&B on the Queen's official birthday in June. This is taken from the landing on the second floor, an old pram and rocking horse in the foreground, the flagpole can just be seen through the window.
03 June 2009 @ 21:14
ETA: My apologies for taking up so much space on your screens. I can't get the LJ cut to work in this entry. Have tried to repost, but can't change it.
I took the plunge and double-dipped in the leaden waters of the underground lake...
This is my review of the afternoon performance, with some comparisons between Phantoms.... I've mislaid my notes, and will post more about the evening performance when I find them again...
( The Lost Kiss, A Set on Fire, The Conductor's Funday, A Mysterious Mishap and More... )
I took the plunge and double-dipped in the leaden waters of the underground lake...
This is my review of the afternoon performance, with some comparisons between Phantoms.... I've mislaid my notes, and will post more about the evening performance when I find them again...
( The Lost Kiss, A Set on Fire, The Conductor's Funday, A Mysterious Mishap and More... )
I double-dipped and survived, I think I’ll get a t-shirt that says so...
It was fascinating to see two performances with different casts so close after each other, and the difference between them enhanced them.
It was nice to see Emil Ritter again, as Raoul, and to get the chance to pay attention to his voice, I rather missed that last time. It isn’t easy to remember what the Raouls sound like, they don’t have more than one “showcase” song where they can seduce the audience with their voice.
Kristensen’s Phantom is supremely and compactly angry, and comes across as very powerful. The Jorde Phantom is more “musical”, melodic, with greater variation in volume and style, he’s more the luring seductive siren’s voice than Kristensen, who is a tightly-knit bundle of angry passion that blasts your socks off, and also supremely malicious as required. Just thinking about these two Phantoms is enough to send me off into happy daydreams!
Karlsson’s Christine is warm and compassionate, Bokor was more self-contained, and at times I couldn’t feel any true sympathy from her side for the Phantom. During "Twisted Every Way", Mia Karlsson gave such a beautifully nuanced portrayal of the various emotions tearing her apart.
At this point I have to say: isn’t it AMAZING how much one can project onto other people. Perhaps all this says more about me than the actors/singers? So please don’t take anything I say as gospel, all this is my highly subjective perception of what I thought I saw.
Emil Ritter Raoul
Does not do that awful drop from the bridge, but exits to the left. Per Engström, the conductor, told me that he has a fear of heights, and that’s why he doesn’t jump. I can’t blame him! I gasped every time Tomas Ambt Kofod did it.
This Saturday, someone had let Ritter play with the curling tongs, so instead of dark glossy smoothness, he had a bit of a crimp in his hair. In performance number two it had settled down considerably.
Ritter has a very pleasant voice, a nice tone/timbre in it, but as I said, he doesn’t get much chance to show it off. I think AIAOY is the only real opportunity we have to listen to it properly.
Phantom Primping and Preening
During MOTN after removing cape, both Phantoms smooth their hair, but Kristensen also adjusts his bowtie and lapels. He may be entranced by Christine’s singing, but he also likes to make sure he looks good. Jorde was more outside himself and preoccupied with Christine, and egging her on in song.
The handling of the veil
Bride’s veil at the end, Kristensen holds it in front of him, stroking it like it’s on someone’s head, looks at it, and (I think) mouths “Jeg elsker dig”, I love you to it. Jorde clasps it next to his face and jerkily and awkwardly says the “Jeg elsker dig” out loud, two perhaps three times. Jorde is less in control of himself and more in despairing sadness.
This final scene is so infinitely sad. Why can't I stay away from this? The Phantom is literally crucified every time, and I'm there to see it.
Afternoon performance with Kristensen and Karlsson
It was really hot and stuffy, a large part of the stage was blocked by the head of an exceptionally tall woman in front of me, even though I was on the second row of the balcony. Also, she didn’t sit still, she kept moving her head around, and I had to keep shifting to see what was happening. I was right in the middle, so hopeful that the acoustics would be optimal. If I had to choose I’d rather be a little to the left than to the right, so as to get a clear view of the Red Death on the staircase, and the mirror.
Overture. Chandelier. See my earlier ravings for more info.
Belt up – safety first
The rooftop scene, with the Phantom in the “angel” figure, has always made me nervous. What if he wobbles and falls out?? But this time I actually glimpsed the safety harness, phew, the relief!
After the intermission my friend and I joined Josefine in her box, on level with the stage on the left. She was alone in it, and there were four seats there, sooo....
Almost too close for comfort... and the lost Kiss!
Seeing the show from the box almost sitting on the stage was wonderful, but also slightly disturbing. It was almost too close, I felt as if I was eavesdropping on people’s personal lives! You could hear the shoesoles creak, and the tips of the dancer’s shoes clack against the stage floor.
The final Lair scene, when the Phantom stood with his back to Christine, he was glaring right into our box, and that was really scary. I saw a particular glint in his eye when Christine sang “Pitiful creature of darkness” (in Danish, but I don’t know the lyrics so am quoting the English) and wondered vaguely about it. When Josefine, my friend X and I met Preben Kristensen afterwards, he reproached Josefine for not paying attention during the curtain call, when he’d blown her a kiss!
He’d actually seen and recognized her in the box, and at the curtain call he blew her a kiss, but she missed it! Because she was saying something to me. My friend confirmed it, but said “never mind, I caught it for you.”
Now, isn’t that the story of the Phantom’s life!! The ladies ignore him unless he literally drags them off to his lair! Josefine was quite upset, and so was I. Oh, to have missed seeing that!
The sound was quite different in the box, too. The booming of the deep notes made the floor vibrate, it was fabulous. Oh gawd, I need to get out my Thesaurus, I’m running out of superlatives.
Goodness gracious..
Not “Great Balls of Fire” but hot enough to set fire to things! In the graveyard scene, one of the fireballs set fire to the “ivy” on the platform, and it glowed and burned quite merrily as Christine and Raoul ran off. It was quickly snuffed out, but I have a great deal more understanding now for the downsizing of the fireballs.
The mysterious affair of the falling curtain...
A little way into DJT I noticed a black curtain hovering up and down above the stage. Suddenly a technician came out of the wings on the right and hissed at Christine and the Phantom to get out of the way! The Phantom was seated on the bench, Christine behind him, and in his wound-up state and partial blindness under the cloak hood he didn’t notice what was going on. The curtain descended right on to Christine and the Phantom and they had to sort of scuttle behind it before it descended completely.
We were told there was a technical problem, apologies were made, and after 5-10 minutes the curtain lifted, and Christine and the Phantom embarked on PONR from the beginning again.
If I understood the stage manager (?) correctly afterwards, they’d had some kind of problem with the crucifix and needed to get it out of the way before the next scene.
With all that technical stuff going on under over and behind the stage, it’s a wonder they don’t have MORE glitches!
Final Scene...
Was magnificent. The Kristensen Phantom is so supremely angry, absolutely furious, and then so very very weary.. Again, that cocky strut around the throne, and those madly twitching hands.... that would so dearly love to throttle the life out of Raoul. Or anyone else who gets in his way.
Loved how Mia Karlsson actually held the Phantom’s head in her hands when she kissed him, all over that icky bit on the side of his skull.
Kristensen’s whole demeanour is a story in itself when Raoul and Christine punt off in his boat, across the back of the stage.
"Right. Not only does she go off in my boat, she sings about it too. Gah!"
Between the performances...
We went backstage after the show, and the machinery underneath the stage is .... stupendous. Josefine interviewed the conductor, Per Engström, and we had a nice chat with him in the orchestra pit. But afterwards I was kicking myself because there were so many questions I wanted to ask, but completely forgot, I was so overcome by the excitement of actually going behind and under the scenes!
Per Engström works “eight days a week” he says, and it’s tough at times. But he has an extra day in the week, “Funday”. After the Saturday matiné performance he usually goes for a run, and when he comes back it feels as if he is starting out fresh.
Josefine interviewed him, asking some supremely absurd questions, that he answered perfectly with an absolutely straight face. I couldn’t resist popping in the occasional zany question myself which he replied to with great seriousness. What a perfect gentleman.
And then, to wind up a wonderful afternoon, we ran into Preben Kristensen outside. He knew Josefine, and so we got a little talk with him, too. With great gaucheness I tactlessly told him that I hadn’t liked him very much when I first heard him. I made haste to repair my faux pas, by describing in detail how I’d completely changed my mind after a little while and how greatly I admired the intensity he brought to the part, etc. I hope he understood what I said and hadn’t turned his hearing off after my first clumsy words. Anyway, he very kindly posed for a photo with me and even smiled to the camera.
I did feel a bit shaky about it all, I must admit, especially after having seen his rants on-stage close-up from the box.
Oh deary me, that puts me right up there with all the squeeing fangirls, doesn’t it?
After all this excitement Josefine went to have dinner with her husband, and my friend and I had a sandwich at the Central Railway station. She took the train home, to do a “double-dip” of her own, by watching the ALW 2004 movie on TV, and I retraced my steps to the Ny Teater for the last time. This time around.
.</div>Current Music: Just the usual songs in my head ;-)
01 June 2009 @ 20:16
I haven't been very appreciative of Danish as a language. It's guttural to listen to, the vowels slide into each other and it's awkward to try to speak it. Basically it's just not pretty to listen to, or poetic. It's always made me think of beer and sausages.
But listening to a Dane on TV today gave me pleasurable shivers down my spine, and made my heart beat faster.
I wondered what the HECK was going on.
Then realization hit me. I've been seriously overdosing on "Phantom" at the Ny Teater in Denmark, performed in Danish. I've been reprogrammed by the experience of hearing Phantom in Danish... all that passion and love and hate and despair etc etc... in Danish. The anguish of the Jorde Phantom. *Shivers*. The PASSION of the Kristensen Phantom.... *falls off chair*.
Clockwork orange, anyone??
*Sneaks off to watch the Danish TV channels*
But listening to a Dane on TV today gave me pleasurable shivers down my spine, and made my heart beat faster.
I wondered what the HECK was going on.
Then realization hit me. I've been seriously overdosing on "Phantom" at the Ny Teater in Denmark, performed in Danish. I've been reprogrammed by the experience of hearing Phantom in Danish... all that passion and love and hate and despair etc etc... in Danish. The anguish of the Jorde Phantom. *Shivers*. The PASSION of the Kristensen Phantom.... *falls off chair*.
Clockwork orange, anyone??
*Sneaks off to watch the Danish TV channels*
01 June 2009 @ 20:06
After I'd gift-wrapped a couple of the glass mosaic birdbaths I realized I should have photographed them.
Darn it!
Never mind, this was still unwrapped:
And here's one I've made earlier, with water in it:
Sighs, the photos don't do justice to the vibrant depth in the shimmering glass mosaic, and the "blingbling" factor of the gold bits.
30 May 2009 @ 09:39
Don't know if there is such a thing. But sometimes I feel attracted to certain colours, and doing things with colours cheers me up.
I make lace bookmarks, have a box of threads in mixed colours, and when it's time to make a new one I look through it to "feel" which colour I want to work with.
Have been making more mosaic birdbaths, from glass mosaic remnants bought here and there. It's nice just to look at the colours. Dark turquoise, golden brown, pale blue/turquoise. And the shiny gold pieces.
Oooooh, shiny things! ;-)
I make lace bookmarks, have a box of threads in mixed colours, and when it's time to make a new one I look through it to "feel" which colour I want to work with.
Have been making more mosaic birdbaths, from glass mosaic remnants bought here and there. It's nice just to look at the colours. Dark turquoise, golden brown, pale blue/turquoise. And the shiny gold pieces.
Oooooh, shiny things! ;-)
26 May 2009 @ 14:53
We're going to England, and among the people we will be visiting is an old friend of the family, a lady in her nineties who taught me to make corn dollies and who is an expert dyer with vegetable and plant dyes.
I wrote to ask if we could come and see her. Her reply: "Do come on xxday for elevenses and stay for early tea"..
Elevenses. Early tea.
Someone just turned the clock back to an England of afternoon teas, cricket and strawberries... I feel all warm and cosy inside.
(See, I *can* write about something other than Phantom!)
I wrote to ask if we could come and see her. Her reply: "Do come on xxday for elevenses and stay for early tea"..
Elevenses. Early tea.
Someone just turned the clock back to an England of afternoon teas, cricket and strawberries... I feel all warm and cosy inside.
(See, I *can* write about something other than Phantom!)
24 May 2009 @ 15:03
Saw "Phantom" twice yesterday, first with Kristensen-Karlsson, then with Jorde-Bokor as Phantom-Christine.
A really special experience, feel privileged to have seen two so different performances.
So much spinning in my head, made notes, will compile.
That overture, the chandelier rising like a "ghostly galleon" tossed on stormy seas. Stormy sky and sea imagery hit me yesterday, when I watched it. The covering billows out like a dirty cloud as the assistants push it forward towards the audience, then we have flashes of lightning as it rises, first straight up, hangs still for a moment and then begins a slightly jerky ascent outwards and upwards while the coverings over the top of the stage are unfurled, moving like thunderclouds. Set pieces reminiscent of ship's sails slowly rise and disappear, too, and there's a watery green light on the stage as the backgrounds for Hannibal rise from the stage floor.
Some memorable moments from yesterday: fireballs caused fire on set, DJT "blackout" (Phantom almost got falling curtain on his head), I went "understage", saw part of the performance from a box, and I met Preben Kristensen who was the Phantom in the afternoon performance..... more later.
A really special experience, feel privileged to have seen two so different performances.
So much spinning in my head, made notes, will compile.
That overture, the chandelier rising like a "ghostly galleon" tossed on stormy seas. Stormy sky and sea imagery hit me yesterday, when I watched it. The covering billows out like a dirty cloud as the assistants push it forward towards the audience, then we have flashes of lightning as it rises, first straight up, hangs still for a moment and then begins a slightly jerky ascent outwards and upwards while the coverings over the top of the stage are unfurled, moving like thunderclouds. Set pieces reminiscent of ship's sails slowly rise and disappear, too, and there's a watery green light on the stage as the backgrounds for Hannibal rise from the stage floor.
Some memorable moments from yesterday: fireballs caused fire on set, DJT "blackout" (Phantom almost got falling curtain on his head), I went "understage", saw part of the performance from a box, and I met Preben Kristensen who was the Phantom in the afternoon performance..... more later.
22 May 2009 @ 20:31
Where grumpy Jenny gets put in a corner and Jennie-Jay reflects over pregnant pauses...
( When slower is more.... )Tomorrow I will concentrate on just BEING there. Any thoughts and reflections I take with me will just be an added bonus.
( When slower is more.... )Tomorrow I will concentrate on just BEING there. Any thoughts and reflections I take with me will just be an added bonus.
22 May 2009 @ 10:13
Am seeing Phantom for the last time tomorrow.
Had a ticket for the afternoon performance with Kristensen and Karlsson, but really really really wanted to see Jorde and Bokor again.... Soooo.... I meant to buy a ticket for the evening show, but messed up and bought ANOTHER one for the afternoon.
But I asked one of my work colleagues if she wanted to see it, and she jumped at the opportunity! Yay, great. Am looking forward to seeing what she thinks of it!
And yes, I did get a ticket for the evening, too.... So, inspired by ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
operafantomet and siggesot I am doing a "double-dip" ie seeing Phantom twice in one day.
18 May 2009 @ 21:53
Yes, there is a life outside Phantom... Here's the proof:
My lace pillow, with 60 pairs of bobbins, about 8 pairs with gimp (thicker thread used to outline the pattern). Not much to show for it yet, just a forest of pins!
Close-up of some of the bobbins, made by David Springett, my favourite bobbinmaker.
The very beginning, will post another pic when have more to show.
The pillow of a Danish lady at the course... it doesn't show up very well in the photo, but it's Danish, and covered with lush red velvet and with beautiful dark wood details. Reminded me of the interior of a familiar Opera House.
17 May 2009 @ 19:12
In last night's performance of "The Phantom of the Opera" (yes, I've been to see it again, in case you've missed that) I particularly notices how Christine was "pursued" by reminders of the Phantom during the Masquerade scene. There's the monkey costumed masquerader who steals her mask, there's a white beaked profile of a mask reminiscent of the Phantom's hook nose in his mask, there's a mandarin-like costume that resembles the Phantom's lusciously embroidered STYDI "dressing gown" and "chinese hat"... And something else, perhaps the swooshing cape, I can't remember in detail .
This weekend I’ve been on a three-day lacemaking course, held in the assembly rooms of the local Freemasons. Solemnly observing us from the walls were portraits and photographs of Freemasons, past and present, in evening dress and full regalia, ribbons and medals and all the various attributes of the brotherhood.
Also on the walls were the arms of Freemasons who had died. Each Freemason chooses a coat of arms and a motto, that after his death is displayed on the walls of the lodge.
This was one of them, that of the “Knight of Compassion (misericordiae)” an echo of the crucifix in the graveyard scene, with the motto: “Amor vincit omnia”, Love conquers all.
An eerie reminder of the imagery from Phantom and of an omnipresent theme of love and compassion. "The world showed no compassion for me" the Phantom screams from the depths of the Lair.
In more ways than one I felt that someone was watching me, as I twisted fine threads in an intricate pattern, hands dancing over the bobbins. the salty taste of blood in my mouth from the pinpricks on my fingers.
15 May 2009 @ 19:03
Some days are many-dimensioned.
Today I've been learning to make Dutch lace, from a Dutch lady speaking English. Some of the other participants don't speak English, so I've helped to interpret, it's been a scream at times since I don't always know the right terms for the different stitches and so on, in Swedish. One of the other participants is Danish, another German. So my head is spinning, not only from the effort of sorting out the pattern and lace, but from the language mixture.
Tomorrow gets even more complicated, I'm seeing "Phantom" in Danish in the evening.
What a "cultural" weekend, crafts and music all mixed up.
Fun.
Today I've been learning to make Dutch lace, from a Dutch lady speaking English. Some of the other participants don't speak English, so I've helped to interpret, it's been a scream at times since I don't always know the right terms for the different stitches and so on, in Swedish. One of the other participants is Danish, another German. So my head is spinning, not only from the effort of sorting out the pattern and lace, but from the language mixture.
Tomorrow gets even more complicated, I'm seeing "Phantom" in Danish in the evening.
What a "cultural" weekend, crafts and music all mixed up.
Fun.
13 May 2009 @ 21:50
In which I battle to overcome my prejudices against age, size and language...
( Does size matter? What about age? All these issues and more, confronted when I encounter the Kristensen Phantom. )
As for which Phantom I would choose, or which Phantom I prefer? Can I choose?
No.
I want them all...
12 May 2009 @ 20:46
"Det er meg det er Operafantomet...."
First Flemming Enevold, then Peter Jorde, and finally Preben Kristensen step in to declare themselves.
Fun, but rather a surreal experience too!
I'm not perfectly sure I've heard the lyrics correctly, but I think that in the final lines, the Phantom sings "Lad os gi til natten dens musik", "Let us give unto night its music" which is a beautiful twist on "Let us make the music of the night".
It's Preben Kristensen who bites off the last note in "musiiiiiik" with a sharp "k". Other Phantoms I've heard let that last note drift away in a fading echo, but Preben marks the end of it. It's actually very typical of "his" Phantom. Preben's Phantom is older and more assertive and decided about how he wants things to be. In the final lair scene he fusses over Christine's veil and jams it down on her head and adjusts it, until it is just SO.
First Flemming Enevold, then Peter Jorde, and finally Preben Kristensen step in to declare themselves.
Fun, but rather a surreal experience too!
I'm not perfectly sure I've heard the lyrics correctly, but I think that in the final lines, the Phantom sings "Lad os gi til natten dens musik", "Let us give unto night its music" which is a beautiful twist on "Let us make the music of the night".
It's Preben Kristensen who bites off the last note in "musiiiiiik" with a sharp "k". Other Phantoms I've heard let that last note drift away in a fading echo, but Preben marks the end of it. It's actually very typical of "his" Phantom. Preben's Phantom is older and more assertive and decided about how he wants things to be. In the final lair scene he fusses over Christine's veil and jams it down on her head and adjusts it, until it is just SO.
09 May 2009 @ 21:59
of "Phantom Virgins" when the chandelier plummets!
By "Phantom Virgins" I mean those in the audience who don't know that the chandelier falling is part of the show.
There were a number in the audience today. They screamed. I eavesdropped during the intermission, they hadn't know about it.
A new Phantom acquaintance today, Preben Kristensen, and a new Christine, Mia Karlsson. It's amazing what a difference different actors/singers can make to a performance, how they can set their own stamp on a character. It was interesting.
Rrrraoul was playing around a bit today, adding some new lines in the middle of things, I'm surprized I noticed, actually.
The cast are well into the swing of things, comfortable enough with the show to really go for it, but not too tired of it so they appear jaded in any way. A different Piangi....
And oh yes, Stefanie, Christine did invoke her "Herre og engel", so she invited him to use the phrase... But the term "mester" (master) is used later, as well
More later.
By "Phantom Virgins" I mean those in the audience who don't know that the chandelier falling is part of the show.
There were a number in the audience today. They screamed. I eavesdropped during the intermission, they hadn't know about it.
A new Phantom acquaintance today, Preben Kristensen, and a new Christine, Mia Karlsson. It's amazing what a difference different actors/singers can make to a performance, how they can set their own stamp on a character. It was interesting.
Rrrraoul was playing around a bit today, adding some new lines in the middle of things, I'm surprized I noticed, actually.
The cast are well into the swing of things, comfortable enough with the show to really go for it, but not too tired of it so they appear jaded in any way. A different Piangi....
And oh yes, Stefanie, Christine did invoke her "Herre og engel", so she invited him to use the phrase... But the term "mester" (master) is used later, as well
More later.
Current Music: Songs in my head