Thanks to the Easter school holidays, I took Iorwerth to a matinee of Aladdin on stage on Tuesday. The magic carpet was quite spectacular, and he certainly enjoyed his day out (though our vote is definitely still with "The Lion King" as Disney's most wonderful stage musical!).
Thanks to the visit of an Australian research partner, I went to Book of Mormon Wednesday evening. (Yes, we rounded out a day full of meetings about water and energy policy and rural infrastructure with irreverent musical comedy. Deal with it!)
I don't have any photos from the theatre, so please accept this adorable koala in lieu:
And then Thursday, I treated a dear friend to a dear singer. Audra McDonald is in London right now - having performed at the Laurence Olivier Awards, she's now doing a few evenings at the Leicester Square Theatre. The fabulous Seth Rudetsky (writer for Rosie O'Donnell, radio host, etc.) accompanied her and acted as host, chatting about memories from stage performances in between numbers. Her husband, Will Swenson (who, among many other things, was Javert in the Broadway revival of Les Miserables and is now playing opposite Sara Bareilles in Waitress), came in and gave us "Stars" and "I Am a Pirate King" while Audra was feeding their infant, Sally.
Skyler and I got to sneak in a quick meet after the show. She really is a ton of fun, and it was a delightful evening. Which was then rounded off by an open mic cabaret show of folks currently performing on the West End. The Birdcage is a new monthly free gig that gives professionals the chance to have fun with different repertoire. We had a great few numbers - including "I'm Changing My Major", "Way Ahead of My Time", and "Wall Lovin'".
All in all: London is being good to me!!!
