Going to London to See The Cat Again

Hello :-) I can’t believe that it’s been a week since I last posted. Sorry about that. I’ve been out and about since the weekend. Brit Boy and I had a fun weekend in London and then over the past few days I’ve been out with him around Wiltshire. I love following that fella ;-)

We had an amazingly great weekend in London! It could have been so much worse if the rail strike had went ahead, but thankfully the strike was called off and our train was running. I think I’ve written here before about how it’s hilarious to us now that every time we go into London on the train there is some kind of strike or closure on either the train or the tube possibly looming. It’s quite funny to us now :-) But thankfully, the crisis was averted and we headed off to London on Saturday afternoon.

Back in December, Brit Boy and I went to see the West End production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, starring James Earl Jones and Phylicia Rashad. If you missed my post about it, you can check it out here.

When we went the last time, Brit Boy and I really loved it and soon after, I had the thought that we just had to see it one more time. The idea of seeing the final performance seemed thrilling, so we bought two tickets for this past Saturday night. After experiencing the final performance of “Speed the Plow” two years ago, I imagined that Saturday’s performance would be great. It’s fun to see the actors out of character and thanking the audience for their support. So we were not disappointed this time either.

I want to rewind a bit though. We arrived at Paddington Station on Saturday afternoon and then took the tube to the Marylebone stop. Our hotel was a short walk away. Here’s a photo that I took out of our window.




We rested for a bit and then got dressed for our evening out. We headed to the tube and went over to Covent Garden. I LOVE IT there! :-) It’s such fun. We went back to Sophie’s for dinner again like we did the last time. The food was great this time too. This is our new favorite place :-) So when we can afford a treat again and we’re in London, we’ll have to pay them a visit again.

After we ate we headed over to the theatre which is maybe a block or so away. We had a bit of time to kill so we walked around to the stage door to see if we could see anybody from the cast going in. There were others there too hoping for the same thing :-) We were lucky and saw Derek Griffiths, who played Reverend Tooker in the play.

Then we walked back around to the front of the theatre and made our way inside. We were lucky enough to get seats only one row behind where we were last time and we were dead center. The Novello Theatre is a beautiful place. Here are some photos of the interior. The photos are a bit grainy, but I hope you enjoy taking a peek.







One bonus of the night was having a celebrity spotting :-) I looked to my right and saw the actress Lynn Whitfield one row ahead of us. I was thrilled. She is so beautiful!

The performance was stellar! I thoroughly enjoyed it and I was so inspired creatively. As each of the leads made their first appearance, the audience applauded this time. And at the end when the cast took their bows, the audience gave them the standing ovation that they truly, truly deserved! And then the cast was joined onstage by the director Debbie Allen this time and she was given yellow roses. I admire Ms. Allen’s work so much, so seeing her was a definite bonus. My memories of wanting to be in the TV show Fame came flooding back. LOL. What an incredibly talented woman she is! Our night couldn’t have gotten any better.

We enjoyed a nice walk back through Covent Garden and soaked in all of the nightlife. Then we caught the tube and went back to our hotel.

The next day, Sunday, we headed back home. It was a really wonderful weekend!

P.S. Please check out my other blog. I have some info on some giveaways.

Our Evening With A Cat

Today I’m in a much better state of mind since my last post. Calling out my frustration in my previous post was therapeutic. I had a good weekend and put all of that holiday drama behind me ;-) Thanks everyone for your comments and support. It meant so much to me :-)

Anyway…on with the show as they say….and it’s apt here because this post is about our trip to the theatre on December 23rd. It was truly wonderful! :-)

I love going to see plays and musicals and Brit Boy likes going along with me too. We both love an outing somewhere :-) I found out quite a few months ago about the Debbie Allen directed production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof coming to the West End after a highly successful run on Broadway. I did a happy dance when I found out. You should’ve seen me…lol. I told Brit Boy about it and we got tickets and then held onto them for a few months. Finally December 23rd arrived and off to London we went!

We took the train into Paddington Station and then took the tube to Covent Garden. We had left ourselves a bit of a cushion with the time, so there was an opportunity to get a bite to eat. We were starved. We dropped into a small shop and got drinks and sandwiches. Then we stood along The Strand right outside the tiny store and ate as we people watched. Everyone was bustling around on the eve of Christmas Eve with an air of expectation.

After we ate, we walked to the Novello Theatre. The theatre is beautiful and the perfect size…not too big, not too small. We got really lucky and had seats at the center of the seventh row. Just close enough, but not too close :-) We saw a matinee performance and it was truly thrilling.

As I mentioned earlier, this was a production directed by Debbie Allen. Many of you will probably remember her as the dance teacher Lydia Grant in the television show Fame. I used to really want to go to that high school when I was a teenager :-)

Anyway, Debbie Allen is an Emmy and Golden Globe Award winning director and her expertise definitely shows onstage. Her skill is ever so evident in this sumptuous production. She has taken this true American classic by Tennessee Williams that was made legend in the movie version starring Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor, and shown how universal the themes of family are as she presents this new cast. It was a beautifully true revelation.


Photo Credit: Jeff Fasano ; left to right, Rashad, Lester, Lathan, Jones

This production stars the truly legendary James Earl Jones as Big Daddy and the elegant Phylicia Rashad as Big Mama. It was indeed such a treat to see two Tony Award winners on stage together in Mr. Jones and Ms. Rashad.

James Earl Jones’ voice is amazing to hear in person and his rich baritone is just thrilling to the ear as he beautifully enunciates every word. I wanted to pinch myself. I couldn’t believe that I was seeing this truly great actor right before my eyes. Mr. Jones totally inhabits the role of Big Daddy. He is exquisite. We seem to throw around that word legend a lot these days, but on December 23rd, I saw one before my eyes :-)

Phylicia Rashad is wonderful as Big Mama too. She is Debbie Allen’s sister and is affectionately remembered for her role as Clair Huxtable in the classic sitcom The Cosby Show. I was so excited to see her too. She was the epitome of elegance and class as Clair Huxtable and the way she carried herself made such an impression upon me when I was in my formative years. I loved watching her on my TV screen each week back then. The Cosby Show was a truly landmark show.

Her depiction of Big Mama in the play reminded me so much of the elder women in my family. Her portrayal reminded me a lot of my mother and aunts. They were women who dressed up as we got together for traditional Sunday dinners back in Georgia and then they would sit on the front porch and fan themselves and talk :-) They’ve all passed on now, but their imprint is still in my mind and will never leave. Those are some of my best memories of growing up. So I thank Ms. Rashad for giving me a great gift. She is a wonderful actress.

One of the other leads is portrayed by Adrian Lester, who plays Brick, the son. Lester does a fine job in this role. I applaud his agility because he spends the whole play hobbling around with a cast on his leg. He is a fine actor.

The final lead is played by Sanaa Lathan. She plays Maggie, ‘The Cat’, Brick's wife, and gives a beautifully sultry performance in this role made famous by Elizabeth Taylor in the movie version. She earned my respect early on because most of the entire first act is her talking to Brick and he says very little. And I’m thinking to myself, how in the world does she remember all of that dialogue and it is said at such a quick pace???? She’s fabulous in this role and truly luminous.

So I guess that I don’t need to tell you all that I was on cloud nine the whole time. LOL. It was a fabulous way to spend an afternoon into evening with my Brit Boy. We both walked out of there with a smile on our faces as we walked out into the night.

After the show, we walked over a couple of blocks in search of food. The angels were on our side because we found a wonderful restaurant called Sophie’s. The food was delicious and the service was quick. The ambience was perfect. It was lit by candle light and the electric lights were soft and not overly harsh and yet you could still see where you were walking.

Brit Boy had soup for his appetizer and I had a house salad. Then for dinner we both had steak and fries. Very yummy!!! :-) It hit the spot. We don’t eat red meat a whole lot, so it was a great treat. I told Brit Boy that that was Christmas to me…just chilling and enjoying each other’s company. Brit Boy’s a fun date ;-)

So after our dinner, we wrapped back up and headed for the tube. We got to Paddington Station and waited for our train. Then we were carried off across the snowy landscape…back to Wiltshire… :-) I hope you enjoyed coming along for the ride!