London 2015: Hampton Court and Wicked

It's been a dream of mine to go to Hampton Court one day, the home of Henry VIII and his six wives, ever since I learned about the Tudors in Year 5. There are so many interesting stories that stem from the place, and not to mention the stunning interiors and rich, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, history.

There were live performances from the Tudor age to the Baroque age (including one where Henry VIII came out of nowhere and I giggled like a madwoman taking his photo, although he were the real thing!), and many opportunities to see those famous portraits and paintings of the Royal family! Although I'm a massive Tudor fan, the interiors and people from the later ages captivated me slightly more. Powdered wigs is all I can say!

I shan't go into too much detail as it's documented in my journal and I can't be bothered writing it out again. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves, but sadly there were some areas where either photography was forbidden (the chapel, my favourite room) or my photos turned out blurred due to the poor light.

"OMG it's the King!" *flails*

There were so many amazing Georgian outfits made from paper!

After Hampton Court and shopping, we went to see the Wicked musical! It was AMAZING!!! No photos sadly, but lots of memories. The costume design was enough to make me want to cry from joy, and the big history nerd in me was obsessing over the brilliant details in the Emerald City folk costumes.
The costumes, vibrant colours (especially the acid green) and the understandable story were fantastic, not to mention very funny! So funny the way they twisted - if that's the right word - the Wizard of Oz to make this story.

Into the Woods

My grandmother asked me to see this film with her, and I'm delighted that I did as it's AMAZING! Honestly, I absolutely adored it!

Into the Woods is the Disney version of a popular musical about characters from the fairy tales. A baker and his wife cross paths with Little Red Riding Hood, Jack, and Cinderella, who all have a desire of their own. Along the way they meet two *ridiculous* princes, Rapunzel, and a wicked witch who had placed a curse on the couple. Their main mission is to collect a blood red cloak, a milk-white cow, a golden slipper and hair as yellow as corn, all so that the witch would reverse the curse she put on their house to make the family tree a barren one, as what they want the most in the world is a baby... 

One of the things that I loved the most was the fact that they followed Grimm's Fairytales closely instead of skimping out on all the gore like a typical Disney film. The singing was fantastic, the actors picked really well (Johny Depp as the wolf was quite hilarious for some odd reason), and the costumes were drool-worthy, especially Little Red's adorable dress and red cloak!

Although it is quite scary in places, it also has a lot of humor, especially with the handsome princes; they sing songs about a one-sided love, in a water fall,  ripping their shirts half open... Fanservice, anyone? Quite hilarious if you take into account the satire!

Yet despite the ending being really depressing, it is also very promising. I think I'll have to get this on DVD when it comes out.

By Jeeves!

Gosh, I just adore this musical so much. It combines some of my loves together; Jeeves & Wooster, musicals, comedy, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's music. I watched it long ago but haven't found time to post a review. Can I just say that Jeeves is turning into an obsession. I've watched the entire TV series more than once (and each episode is an hour long), read three omnibuses, watched the musical, downloaded the soundtrack, and stalked the internet for fanfics and fan art.

First of all, the musical captured the characters amazingly. I just ADORE Bertie Wooster! And Jeeves too! Even when singing, you can see that they're staying in character so well, and this is particularly impressive seeing as there was an audience there at the time. Even the minor characters were fantastic. I was particularly fascinated with Madeline Basset's actress, who was perhaps the best Madeline Basset I have ever seen; even her voice was perfect. Also, Honoria Glossop's actress was great. Their appearances were very close with those of the actors in the TV series, and their voices too.

The wonderful Madeline Bassett

Secondly, the fact that Bertie was a famous banjo player was hilarious, especially as in the book, Jeeves had handed in his notice because of his master's terrible banjo playing. He was called Banjo Boy, which I found rather sweet.

The songs were lovely, and very moving in places, especially the duet between Stiffy and Pinker Stinker. My favourite song, however, was sung by Honoria Glossop, called "That Was Nearly Us". It really showed her personality, and almost made me feel a little sorry for her, that she couldn't be with Bertie. The parts where she became especially dramatic (in her very fruity voice, I must add) and ended up with her breasts and... other parts... shoved almost in Bertie's face because of the way the camera zoomed in on her, was hilarious. He looked so frightened as it happened!

As for my favourite part, I thought it was really funny when Bertie had to climb through a window disguised as a pig, and ended up in Honoria's room by mistake, and she thought he was an actual pig... Just in case you were wondering, this part is meant to be overly silly, and yet it struck me as really strange yet funny.

Why Honoria? Why?

Oh yeah, and there was an ending with everyone dressed as the characters from the Wizard of Oz.