What a week! Monday I got to enjoy
the beautiful weather with my coworkers as we went to the Dublin Castle gardens
for a nice picnic. Brian put on sunscreen and they all agreed that it was very
sunny outside. I thought that was funny because I didn’t think they would get
much tan from that. I also found out that they didn’t realize that the garden
has a cool Celtic design in it because they hadn’t seen it from above. I guess
that’s what happens when you’re a local, sometimes you don’t see the cool
things around you because you’re used to it being there or you didn’t explore
it because it was touristy. Honestly that makes me wonder what cool things
might be hiding in VB.
Tuesday, I went with Raleigh and Adam
to see the Phantom of the Opera. I’m not going to lie, we were the only ones
willing to pay a somewhat expensive price for good seats for this show, but
after just the first 5 minutes, I knew it was worth it. We dressed up to go and
see it and met at this vegetarian restaurant (called Cornucopia) for a quick
dinner right beforehand. The restaurant was actually really good because it had
interesting combinations of veggies and everything was very fresh. If you
haven’t seen a performance of Phantom, you may not want to read the rest of
this paragraph because I’m going to spoil some of the awesomeness. The first
scene, since it’s in present day, but meant to be black and white, had a screen
over the bidding of the antiques. Then, when they illuminate the chandelier,
the sheet over it disappeared and the main theme music started as the
chandelier rose in the air and the lights flashed, synchronized with the music.
Obviously, all of the music was amazing and the singers were fantastic. But I
already had all of this memorized. So the biggest shock for me was the
extravagant set and props. WHAT A SET! Everything was ridiculously ornate and
amazingly mobile. Literally, the set would fall away before your eyes into
another scene, in probably about less than a minute. In fact, the transitions
were seamless. The most epic part was the entrance into the Phantom’s lair.
Moving from her private prep room with the Phantom leading her through the
mirror, this large circular structure came on stage and moved around. They walked
through the top part, then walked down the outside on stairs that emerged out
of the wall and receded as they were descending. Then the boat emerged and they
rode that across the stage. As that was happening, the circular prop rotated
and split open, revealing his private bedroom inside. It was AMAZING! This
circular structure was used often, with little rooms on the side and opening
with completely different scenes within. Man, what Opera Viva could do with an
unlimited set budget like they obviously had for this! It was incredible! There
were also pyrotechnics, with the phantom throwing mini bombs at Raoul in the
cemetery, etc. It was such an exhilarating performance, better than the movie
(which I love, so that’s saying something).
Wednesday, I met Elizabeth for
lunch again and we enjoyed the beautiful weather in St. Stephen’s Green again.
I really like this park, it is such a pretty park. That afternoon, the boys
wanted to go to see the Dark Knight Rises. I really wanted to see that movie,
so I met them right after work and we saw it in quite possibly the largest
movie theatre I’ve been in. It was huge! I will say, it had the restrooms
inside so you wouldn’t have to leave the actual room and try to get back in if
you didn’t bring your ticket, so that’s a smart way to set up the theatre. I
won’t ruin the movie for anyone who saw it, but it was really awesome! So, Adam
and Raleigh are now my epic show buddies, haha. Then I came home and made more
of my cookies because I had leftovers of the ingredients and there are two
birthdays this weekend. Of course, the three batches I made were demolished
before they ever really got to see the light of day. But that’s ok, it was fun
to make stuff for everyone. So this week was quite spectacular!
 |
| Elizabeth and I - bus buddies! |
 |
| Adam, Raleigh and I at Phantom! |
No comments:
Post a Comment