Wilfred and the West End

Hello!  It's me!  Wilfred!  I am still here in London with my two dads and, sad news, we have  less than two weeks left of our six months here in England. 

There are a lot of things to think about when you move from one country to another.  For the last few weeks, Dad has been keeping the flat extra tidy as the rental agents bring people through, Poppy has been busy making sure our utility bills and everything get settled, and I have begun saying good-bye to my friends at Ravenstone. 

I think I'm ready to go home to Canada.  I miss my friends at Jackman and our house and my stuff.  But I feel sorry saying good bye to good friends like Bella and Mia and Mir Ali.  Maybe Mir Ali will come to Canada some day.  Maybe I will go to Kirachi.


Me with my friend, Mir Ali

Dad and Poppy and I still find new and fun things to do in London.  Daddy and Poppy both really like going to the theatre. Dad sees a show about every other week, and Poppy goes even more.  Poppy seems to see a different play every week!  I like theatre, too, but mostly if it is a play directed by Poppy AND if there is a train in it.

Poppy says London is where English theatre was pretty much invented and that it still has some of the best in the world.  There is this part of London, where the big shows are, that the city calls "Theatreland", but people around the world call it "the West End".

It is a bit confusing that the West End is really right in the middle of London.  Hundreds of years ago, it was outside the city when the old city was smaller and had a wall around it.    The olden part of London that used to be inside the wall is still what Londoners call "the City" and the West End is the part between the City and Westminster.... which in a long ago time used to be its own little town... 

Anyway, today, Theatreland goes from the Strand up to Oxford Street, and from Regent Street over to Kingsway.  There are famous streets there that are lined with theatres, like Shaftsbury and Drury Lane, but the centre of Theatreland is Leicester Square.

Heart of Theatreland, site of the half price ticket booth

To get to Theatreland from South Kensington, you could take the tube to Leicester Square or Piccadilly or Charing Cross... or you can do what I like to do, take a number nine double-decker BUS!  Number nine is my favorite route -- especially if you can get an old fashioned bus and sit upstairs in the front seat!  It goes along Hyde Park, past St. James's and along Piccadilly, past Fortnam and Mason and around Piccadilly Circus and goes to Trafalgar Square and then on to Tower Hill and Aldwych.


Best bus EVER

Last Friday, I had a very good day at Ravenstone, so Poppy and Daddy took me on the number nine to Trafalgar Square and back as a treat.  While we were in Trafalgar Square, we saw a big stage being set-up for something called, "West End Live!"   There was a lady really singing, doing a sound check.  I said, "Hey! I know that song!  It is, Defying Gravity, from the show Wicked," which is probably my most favorite song EVER!   There were only about twenty or so people there listening, so we got our own private concert!  Can you even believe it?!

Rachel Tucker, from 2011 cast of Wicked, gave me a private concert... sort of.

It looked like "West End Live!" was getting ready for a big crowd.  The stage covered most of the bottom of Nelson's monument and there were two huge jumbo screens on either side and about a hundred PORT-A-POTTIES!!  Poppy said that we should come back the next day to check it out for sure.

The next day, we took the tube to Embankment because of closures due to planned engineering work on the Underground.  We could hear music from the speakers a block away and joined the crowds moving toward Trafalgar.  There was a sea of people --  about 10,000 -- packing in around the stage.  Before we even got there, Dad and Poppy recognized the music from a play called "Chicago".  


Chicago in London

Dad lifted me up and I could see two ladies singing really loud... and there were a bunch of dancers in kind of black underweary things...    I am not sure what that show is about...

We were only there five minutes, when it started to spit rain.  Dad said, oh-oh, maybe first we ought to find lunch... and cover...
 

Is it me?  Or is it getting dark...?

 

No, it is definitely getting darker...

They announced the "Jersey Boys" and just as the boys came on to sing, KA-BOOM!  It poured rain LIKE CRAZY!  

Head for cover at St. Martin!

We took cover under the porch of a church called St. Martin in the fields (I guess this used to be a field a long time ago).  It was raining so hard and the wind was so strong that it came down side ways.  Dad and Poppy put their coats around me and we huddled against the wall and we still got soaked!
 

Troopers on stage and off

But the Jersey Boys KEPT ON SINGING.  Of course, most of the Londoners just opened up their umbrellas...

Londoners aren't scared off by rain

The storm blew through quickly though and soon the sun came out.   People shook themselves off and waded back toward the Trafalgar stage...  Dad lifted me over the deep puddles.  And the show just kept on going.


Sing along if you know the words...

Besides West End musicals, they also had booths for London attractions.  I like music, but after a while, I want to do something, so Dad and Poppy took turns taking me into the Science Museum tent and the Royal Palaces tent and the National Gallery tent, while they listened to the shows.

In the National Gallery tent, kids could make paper towers and buildings to be part of a medieval castle.  I told Dad I wanted to make the CN Tower.  Dad said that wasn't really medieval, but the lady handing out the craft supplies said that this was art and I could make whatever I wanted.  She said, "Are you from Toronto, then?"  And I said, "Yes, and if you've been following my blog, you will know I am going home soon."  She looked a bit confused, so Dad explained as best as he could and thanked her for the art supplies....



May not be medieval, but hey -- it's art

Made the crown... borrowed the cloak...

Anyway, there was dress up and face painting and science experiments and the world's smallest car and, of course, lots of musical theatre. 

A lot of the big theatres have shows in them that are already playing in theatres around the world.  But not all of them. And not all plays in the West End are musicals.  Most of the shows that Daddy and Poppy go to are serious and don't have any music in them at all.  But sometimes shows are just fun, and that is okay, too.  Dad said that lately, to make sure shows are popular in the West End, sometimes they have big stars from movies and tv.  I didn't really know what he meant by "big star" until one came onstage.

We had so much fun that we ended up spending the whole afternoon there.  At the end, Dad asked me if I would like to go to a West End show.  Dad said, if I was their kid, I needed to go to at least one and he said he had just the play in mind for my first time to the West End.  I asked if there was a train in it.  Dad said, no, but there would be a tornado on stage and flying monkeys.

Next Saturday, Daddy and Poppy and I will be in the front row of the balcony at the London Palladium for Andrew Lloyd Webber's new production of the "Wizard of Oz".  Come back next week and I will give you my review.


Well, that is all for now.  Next week will be my last blog for my London adventure.  Hope you come back here to read it. 

Talk to you then,  Wilfie