Winding things up!

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Day 99!- Monday

I'm regrettably now awaiting the shuttle to Newark airport for my final domestic flight...to Chicago for two final nights of opera. Then home on Wednesday and back to work next MOnday. Only when I focus on specific places and events dp I realise how much I have done and how long it has been. The scary part is that I am still having a wonderful time...I guess when the travel bug bites it gives and insatiable appetite for not just more of the same, but better organised next time. Oh dear.

Saturday evening I went to " Chicago " . It was rather disappointing really. Not only were there seven substitutions in the cast but the male lead, Tom Wolpa (Billy Flynn) not only didn't even try to dance but could barely move on stage. JUdging by his wrinkles he seemed about 75 or 80 years old. In the program notes he claimed to have been in "42nd Street" and several other notable shows...perhaps the original Broadway cast!?!

One thing I forgot to report on Saturday afternoon. They were filming the performance of "Salome" with an impressive number of fixed and mobile cameras and cameramen (even peeping out amongst the curtains during the curtain calls. The Met has been producing wonderful movies of performances which are then shown at selected cineams round the world. I was enthralled by the "Daughter iof the Regiment" with NAtalie Dessay which I saw last year at the Chauvel in Sydney. That is when I decided to make a visit to the Met my priority. Anyway...if you go to see it, look closely in the audience in row B on the left of the conductor ( three from the centre!)and you might see a familiar face. Particularly during the applause as the conductor enters at the start.

To be continued.

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