It's just like we dreamed it

I've always been a huge fan of Disney and have been lucky enough to go the Parks in Paris, Orlando, Anaheim, and Tokyo - I'd love to visit them in Hong Kong and Shanghai too some day just to say I've been to all of them, but I guess we'll see how that pans out! I wasn't lucky enough to grow up with them, and my first trip was to Walt Disney World in Orlando when I was 7 as my dad had died and so it was supposed to be a distraction, but I hardly remember it. My next visit was to Disneyland Paris on a school trip to France and mostly involved riding Space Mountain over and over, which I'm actually really grateful for as it was the only time I got to see it as Space Mountain: De la Terre à la Lune with it's incredible steampunk Jules Verne theming. My next trip wasn't until I was 17 when I managed to rope some friends into going, and it was my first real experience of the magic and I was hooked! It took me a few years to realize I could just go by myself which was completely liberating, and I now prefer going solo as I can take everything at my own pace and don't have to worry about whether other people are having a good time. I got an annual pass and began going regularly, and after inheriting some money went to Anaheim and Tokyo which actually only reinforced how much I love the often overlooked Disneyland Paris. Maybe I'm biased, but I think Disneyland Paris is by far the prettiest park and feels much less artificial, as lets face it most of the Disney Classics are set in Europe anyway so everything feels much more at home!



I'd been only twice over the past 5 years and I hadn't really enjoyed those trips as much due to my anxiety, but I realized that if I wanted to overcome it then I'd just have to force myself and as I knew I'd be leaving Europe in 2020 I decided to make one last trip. I was there Monday to Friday which is my favorite time as it's quietest (I literally waited no more than 15 minutes for all rides) and I'd hoped that by going in the first week of November I'd hit that sweet spot of it being between the Halloween and Christmas overlays so that I could experience it more as Disney and less as a holiday.




I didn’t really meet characters on my last trip, and I think it’s why I didn’t have the best time as I’d kind of taken what makes Disney holidays unique and instead treated it like it was just a theme park. My anxiety was really high though and it felt easier to stay in my own bubble. I really wanted to push myself out of that though, so when I made my booking I added a Photopass as I knew I'd feel guilty at the cost if I didn't use it and it made the absolute world of difference to my trip! I'm also completely sold on the Photopass concept as it makes it so easy when you’re at Disney on your own.

I think I enjoy meeting the fur characters the most as I love how they communicate and it adds to the fun. Donald ended up being the first character I met, and he was just so sweet and made a fuss of me. Alice and Hatter got hysterical over my Hans coat and were worried it meant I was friends with the Queen of Hearts! I was super excited to see Olaf near the castle but realized he was just doing some promotional video and not actually meetable which was a shame as I'd of liked to have given him a warm hug as I was fully decked out in my Frozen gear.



It was my first time seeing Stars on Parade which I really loved! It had lots of neat features to the parade floats, like on the Toy Story float there were dancers/acrobats dressed as the aliens and spinning around in cages, Peter Pan and a few of the Lost Boys were swinging back and forth in a giant ship, and there were rarer characters included like Mowgli who I don't think I've ever seen before at any park.






I really loved the Sleeping Beauty section the most! Usually the princess movies all get shoved together onto one single float, so I liked that at least one of them wasn't treated as purely existing within the monolithic Disney Princess franchise. And the fact that Prince Phillip was center stage as the main character was even better as the Princes are never more than props and I loved seeing him have his moment. He was sword fighting dancers dressed as Maleficent's minions, while the float was a fire breathing dragon Maleficent that was kind of steampunk-ish in design and being operated by the spinning wheel. I just loved absolutely everything about it!! I don't understand why the Princes aren't given more of a starring role in general, surely it's a missed marketing opportunity? They could be positive role models for little boys to identify with if they were seen more as characters in their own right. Even princes that are fleshed out in their respective movies such as Aladdin and Naveen are never not seen without their princess and it's a shame.









Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs was my favorite film as a little girl, and I used to dress up as Snow White regularly and so it's still really sentimental to me. Snow White and her Prince have always been my favorite canon Disney couple and it always makes me sad how much the prince's character was cut back as he was supposed to be awesome.






The only hint of Return to Oz throughout the whole park! I'll always be sad that Disney never did more with Oz while they had the rights, especially as the made the single best movie.



Phantom Manor has always been my favorite ride. It's been entirely refurbished and they've returned the original narration by Vincent Price and it sounds awesome! I have to say though, the refurb has kind of ruined the plot line the ride had and it doesn't make much sense anymore. The plot was what made it so much better than Haunted Mansion, and now I feel like I'm not really sure what's supposed to be going on. And seeing as the narration is now partly in English whereas before it was entirely in French and yet I still understood it better back then, that's some way they've gone to over complicate it.





The arcade down Main Street USA has a mini museum for the Stature of Liberty, which I normally barely glance at but as I'd looked over Manhattan from Lady Liberty's crown just 3 months earlier it brought back all the feels. Because France built the statue it's a nice link between the theming of Main Street and Paris.

Project 365: III

15/365 - Sunday 15 September: I got my signed Playbill from Moulin Rouge! professionally framed ♥♥♥ The frame was custom made as Playbills are awkward dimensions, and it's all sealed up at the back so it's safe and sound. I'm just so, so happy with it as it's so important to me as it represents so much and was signed by one of my favorite actors, and now I can display it with pride on my shelf and take it traveling with me and know it won't ever get damaged. You can see my little New York snow globe in front of it too!

Project 365: II

10/365 - Sunday 8 September: All of the animals were out in the lane. Autumn is the time of year I'm most grateful to live in the countryside.

Project 365

I've been messing around with my domain name, I hope everything's working OK! Anyway, I've wanted to try my hand at doing a 365 project for years, and have dabbled with smaller term photo a days now and then but have never been able to commit to a full 365 as a full year has always felt too much commitment. But after coming back from New York I felt really inspired to give it a go, and I know it's not the typical time to start something like this but I also think surely there's no wrong time either? You just gotta do it when you feel like it or you never will.

I guess part of why I felt inspired to start this after coming home from New York is obviously I was documenting a lot when I was there, so it already started a bit of that habit in me. Also I feel like this is a year I'm going to want to remember, and I've learnt from looking back on the photo a day posts I have done that it's my favorite way of documenting because they're full of the smaller day to day memories, so are special as they're more personal. Also I simply want to get used to using my camera more, to get more comfortable carrying it everywhere and taking photos in public, and to also get used to taking photos on manual. I've had a DSLR for about 10 years, and I'm ashamed to say I've only ever used it on auto and still don't understand all of the different settings, so I figure it's a great chance to learn all of that. Especially as I find myself relying on my point and shoot camera more and more as that's how I use my DSLR anyway, and I'm often unimpressed with the colors and so feel a need to cover them in filters. And I just really love seeing other peoples 365s so why not do my own!


001: Friday 30 August - Sorting through my New York memories, and creating a sketchbook spread of my tickets in my sketchbook.


002: Saturday 31 August - Mum got me a bunch of my favorite flowers as I've been really ill the past few weeks. You don't often see sunflowers with the reddish purple in the middle, they were so pretty.




003: Sunday 1 September - Went out looking for conkers as they've been a few big spiders around the house and I am not about that. Conkers do genuinely work, it's not just an old wives tale.




004: Monday 2 September - My new stickers arrived for my keyboard. I've had Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night on my laptop for about 3 years, and it was getting to a point where stickers were flying off when I typed as they were losing their tack. I used the same company again as they'd lasted so long, but this time went for something a little more muted that I think suits my silver laptop well. I'm also impressed as they've upgraded the stickers slightly, and they now have little holes to make room for the bits on the keys that stick up and the for the lights on some keys. They're by Keyshorts, and I like them as they'll create stickers for any laptop and aren't exclusive to Apple like so many.


005: Tuesday 3 September - Still ill, and getting through a lot of ginger tea with honey.


006: Wednesday 4 September - Joining in an illustration hashtag prompt for this month. I'm actually thinking of doing Inktober for the first time ever, I'm usually put off as so many cheat and work on it throughout September instead of each day through October, or use it purely for marketing and it's become a great example of how capitalist systems ruin everything nice and caused it leave a bad taste in my mouth. But I'm actually quite inspired by the prompt list this year, and I intend to do it properly each day, and not get too caught up in making every prompt perfect but just do it on my own terms for my own enjoyment. It's sad that doing things for yourself seems to be a revolutionary concept nowadays, but there you go.


007: Thursday 5 September - I stopped off in Oslo on my way back from New York, and I've been finishing off the things I bought.


008: Friday 6 September - I saw It: Chapter Two! The first screening they showed as I was so excited and so determined not to have it spoiled for me. I never noticed before I took this photo that the funky carpet at the cinema is reels of film, that's pretty cool.




009: Saturday 7 September - I finished my illustration for the prompt, I'm not thrilled with how it came out but considering how ill I've been I did the best I could. And I made a tomato and mushroom pizza completely from scratch, including the base, which isn't super photogenic but I was pleased with nonetheless. It was my first time ever making pizza from scratch, and now I've done it I can't fathom why anyone spends £20 on Domino's.

A little over a week just because I started at an uneven time, but hopefully I can get these up every Saturday from now on!

New York, Part II

I was in New York for five full days, and so was able to see four shows while I was there (although three different ones, as I saw Moulin Rouge twice!) The first show I saw after arriving was Wicked which is my favorite musical. I'm a bit of an Oz nerd in general and really love the original L Frank Baum books, and I really love where Wicked has taken these characters and developed them (including the novel by Gregory Maguire, although I confess I've only read the first one as Elphaba and Fiyero aren't in the others...)




I was really glad I picked Wicked first as it felt kind of comforting and allowed me to ease in to the differences between Broadway and the West End. It also felt really special seeing my favorite musical in the theater where it originally opened and as such the original production, or as close to. My first impression of the differences between Broadway and London was mostly just the sheer scale of the theaters themselves. London's theaters are obviously really old buildings, and because of this they're really small and can be really uncomfortable to sit in. The Apollo Victoria where Wicked is played is one of the largest theaters, and yet it's probably about half the size of the Gershwin. I was sitting third row from the stage in the orchestra/stalls and could stretch my legs out in front of me and had plenty of elbow room and it felt like a real novelty. What I do like about the Apollo Victoria though is that it's all green - the carpet, the chairs, it's all green because it's Wicked, and I was mildly disappointed that the Gershwin didn't go to that level of extra. Also from outside the Gershwin is pretty underwhelming - compare that to that, you know?

I was really happy to see that the London production is almost an exact replica. I don't know what I was expecting, but the only differences where things I already knew about. There were some really minor costume differences (Fiyero's collar on his green suit, Madame Morrible's bustle, really minor stuff that only a fanatic would notice), and obviously some minor staging differences just as the Gershwin is so much bigger. In Defying Gravity Elphaba and Glinda come up from a trap door which makes it feel more obvious that they're in an attic, and after Elphaba's levitating spell the broomstick rises up through the stage - I always expected this to be a better effect than London where it floats through the air from the wings, but it just looked like someone lifted it out of a trapdoor and was kind of underwhelming. The one thing I really did like about Broadway was Fiyero's entrance. In London Avaric pulls him in on a cart, whereas on Broadway Avaric is riding the Sawhorse, which probably seems like a small difference but it's pretty huge as it's a reference to Baum and foreshadows Fiyero becoming the Scarecrow and is just a really nice nod to the original Oz lore (and makes Avaric look more like a chauffeur than a man servant).




The other show I saw was Frozen, which is a Disney film that really means the world to me and simply calling it 'my favorite movie' sounds too lame for how strongly I feel about it. I never expected to have the opportunity to see this show when it opened, so you can imagine how excited I was!

The set design was really amazing, there was so much detailing in the wood carving around the stage and I loved how the lighting effects made it look like it had been frozen. So much of the design, both stage and costume, was inspired by traditional Norwegian and Sámi designs and I really love the whole vibe it gave the show. Because it's such high fantasy it gives it a grounded sense of realism. The Northern Lights were before the show, and Oaken's Store was during intermission. I sat first row of the mezzanine, right in the center, which felt perfect as I was close enough to get the detail but far enough away to appreciate all of the lighting and staging effects, of which there are A LOT to create Elsa's powers.



Although I hadn't seen Frozen on stage before, I'm very familiar with the soundtrack as I listen to it more than the movie version (is it some kind of blasphemy to admit I prefer Caissie Levy to Idina Menzel? 😬) and it was such a buzz getting to see something that I know so well and hold so dear to me unfurl on stage in a new but familiar way. When Vuelie started, and for most of Let The Sun Shine On and Do You Want To Build A Snowman? I was actually crying because I just love Frozen so much and hearing and seeing it live just completely overwhelmed me.

Caissie Levy wasn't on that night and Elsa was performed by the understudy Charissa Hogeland. Her Elsa was very timid and soft spoken and it suited her perfectly (she also looked perfect in the costume, which I know isn't super important but I believed she was Elsa). Otherwise it was the regularly billed cast, and it was a real thrill seeing Patti Murin as Anna - she seems so much like Anna in real life and is so perfectly cast. From what I've seen of pictures and videos I wasn't sure how I felt about Olaf and Sven - they work as puppets, and it mostly looks kind of dumb, but I have to say actually seeing it on stage it totally works. Olaf was really endearing and Ryann Redmond completely disappeared, I kept trying to watch her but my eyes kept drifting to the snowman she was operating.

My only gripes were with Kristoff and Hans, which is a shame as I'd had high hopes from listening to their additional songs on the soundtrack that they'd been better developed (and I must add that my disappointment had nothing to do with the actors who were both amazing, but the way the characters have been written for the stage). The reason why the characters in the movie are so popular is because they're so complex and realistic for it. Kristoff is kind of an asshole to Anna when he first meets her and really doesn't care about her plight - and when you consider that he's a indigenous Sámi man who's been ostracized his whole life, why would he? Him gradually learning to care for Anna is his main character development, and so it just felt really out of character in the musical for him to almost force Anna into accepting his help, and they just tried too hard to make him the typical 'Prince-Charming, look-how-helpful-I-am-there's-nothing-bad-about me' character and so he lacked any depth and didn't really develop as a result. He was just boring.

And then there's Hans. Prince Hans, along with Elsa, is my favorite character from Frozen. He is one of the most intriguing yet cheaply used characters Disney have ever created, which is a big part of why he's so polarizing to audiences. I could write a whole essay on how complex a character Hans is due to him being morally grey, a victim of abuse, and Elsa's one true equal. I love the song's they've given Hans in the musical which I think is what got me so hopeful he'd had a better treatment than the movie gave him, and I fully accept that there's many subtleties that can be provided in film that just won't come across on stage and so things need to be stripped back. I get that. BUT HE HAD NO GLOVES. I know how absurd that sounds, but it was the first thing I noticed when his character came out on stage. Gloves are HUGE symbolism in Frozen, Elsa is forced to wear them to conceal her powers and true feelings, it's Anna removing her glove that causes her to freak out and freeze Arendelle, and she removes her final glove as she's liberated in Let It Go. All of these details are still in the stage show!! It's still important symbolism!! So why isn't Hans wearing his freaking gloves??? He is the only character other than Elsa to wear gloves, and the only time he removes one is when he reveals his true intentions to Anna and shows his true self like Elsa does earlier in the story. His gloves are a major part of the story!! Of his character development!!! Also his lines are so rushed. It's clearly the direction, but during the reveal scene he barely draws breath between saying "True loves kiss!" and "Oh Anna, if only there was someone who loved you" and then he just launches into his spiel unfurling his whole plan, and it's just like, do you wanna let the audience take a moment to let any of this sink in?? Also his coat bothered me too. It's basically the same as the Arendelle guards, and the movie he wears his own coat in his own colors with his own insignia, which marks him as the outlier. It just felt really lazy from the costume department and direction, and it hurt a lot as he's a character that means so much to me. He deserves better, and it was such a letdown as his additional songs are so awesome. I must stress that it was an amazing show though! The whole cast were fantastic, and if you're not as emotionally invested into the characters as I am I'm sure you won't even understand what I'm upset about.


And the things I collected!

New York, Part I

Last week I was in New York, which even now feels like a surreal sentence to say and now I'm home it half feels like it was all a dream. I've always wanted to visit New York and see a show on Broadway. I don't know if I've got a 'bucket list', but it's just always been a life goal of mine. I've been a fan of musical theater for most of my life, since I saw the Oliver! revival on the West End as part of a school trip when I was 7 years old. I grew up just outside London and each year my school would trek into the city center for a matinee performance, a privilege which I took for granted. I was probably about 16 when it went from being something I casually enjoyed to something I was passionate about, and I had wanted to make it my career but life had other plans (which looking back I'm thankful for as I prefer just being a fan, it keeps the magic alive).

I regularly travel into London to see shows, and of course New York has always seemed like the bigger, brighter option. Last November I decided that I'd had enough dreaming and wanted to put things into action. Moulin Rouge had premiered for a limited run in Boston earlier that year, and I was really excited at the prospect of it being adapted to the stage as it's always been one of my favorite movies, and it was starring some of my favorite American theater actors such as Aaron Tveit as Christian. I had already felt a little envious watching everything unfold second hand through my computer screen, and decided to turn those negative feelings into something positive. I promised myself that when Moulin Rouge opened on Broadway, I'd be there and would see it with it's original cast. It didn't have a date at that time so I still had the comfort of it feeling a way off. For about a week anyway, and then the dates were announced and panic set in! I realized that I was going to have to buy a ticket on a random date and hope that I could scramble together a trip around it. And that's basically what I did, buying bits of the trip as and when I could afford it and hoping it would all come together. And I did it!







I still can't describe the feeling of actually walking down West 45th St and seeing the Al Hirschfeld up ahead and everything I've worked for and the emotional journey I've been on to get that point and the sheer surrealness of I'M ACTUALLY HERE, THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING. Seeing Aaron Tveit walk on stage and know that this is actually him, and he looks exactly like he does on my screen but he's real and standing less than 2 metres in front of me was like an out of body experience. I got a face full of confetti from Danny Burstein's cane twice, I got to look up and see Karen Olivo descending from the heavens on her swing, it was all just so amazing and I was just sat there in awe throughout most of the show letting it all wash over me.

So, was it perfect? No. As a fan of the film it fell a bit flat in some areas and I didn't like parts of the soundtrack, but as for the overall experience of the show it's the best I've ever had just for what it meant to me to be there. And it's only after thinking on it afterwards that I realized bits I didn't like so much, I didn't care when I was actually watching it as it didn't matter.

I was nervous about the soundtrack as I knew they'd updated it to include more modern songs, and I was worried that might ruin it. In my view the reason the original movie works so well is because it uses mostly old songs it doesn't date it even though it was released 18 years ago. The new songs did work a lot better into the soundtrack than I expected, but I guess only time will tell how well it will age and how relevant it will still be in 20 years. The set was absolutely stunning, there was so much detail in all of it and you can tell it's a really lavish production with a ton of money being pumped into it. The entire cast were amazing, I loved how the ensemble stalked the stage at the beginning before the show opened and sitting second row in the orchestra made it feel almost foreboding. And because it is so different from the movie it definitely makes it it's own thing and worth seeing so there is definitely that in it's favor.




I'd heard horror stories of the stage door, but as I was front of the orchestra I got out quickly and beat the crowds. The cast were fairly quick to come out after the show, and Aaron was actually the first. He doesn't allow photos as it would take too long to get through everybody, which I was a little thankful for really as it meant you could enjoy your time with him without everyone sticking cameras in his face. I gave him my artwork which I was super shy about as no one else was giving anyone anything, but he was really complimentary and he was very gracious and kind. I met a few more from the ensemble cast too, but quite honestly I was just on a high that I'd actually met my favorite actor and he was just as nice as he seems.






Because Moulin Rouge was so important to me and I had so many hopes pinned on it, I saw it twice. I knew the first time I'd just be in awe of the whole adaptation, and so the second time around I could take in the details as I knew what to expect. I also sat further back in the orchestra, so I was still close enough to be absorbed into everything but far enough away that I could take in the whole stage this time. I love being close to the stage as it feels so intimate and I entirely forget the whole audience behind me, but there's definitely a benefit to being further away too so I liked having both experiences.



And obviously I had to buy a few things to remember it by!

I did see other shows that I'll write about in another post, but as Moulin Rouge was so important to me and my whole reason for going to New York, and special as I met my favorite actor, I wanted to give it it's own post. It also made me think about how I'd like to incorporate more of this kind of thing into my life. I don't want this to be a once in a lifetime experience that's now in my past, I want to be this happy again, I want to make the effort to travel to see my favorite performers instead of wishing they'd come to me. And if that means cutting back in other areas and traveling long distances for just a day or two, then I think it will be worth it. Hopefully I can make the opportunity happen again!

When leaves have fallen and skies turned into grey

It finally felt autumnal today, and I felt like I'd come alive again. It's such a weird feeling to try and describe but I just feel so much more 'me', and I always forget until this time of year rolls round. I love seeing the nights start to draw in, feel the distinct chill in the air, and everything just starts to get a little cosier.

I bought a new sketchbook today, which certainly wasn't something I needed but I wanted it nonetheless. I've been drawn to these particular sketchbooks for a while, but they're usually shrink wrapped so I didn't know what it was like inside and didn't like to take the risk, but today they had a display copy. It's actually thin, cheap cartridge paper inside, but the spine lies flat which is most important, and holding it made me feel really nostalgic for the kind of sketchbooks I used to fill out as a teenager as they were of comparable quality. I long to draw with that carefree confidence that I had back then, and maybe going right back to basics like this will help if it inspires such nostalgia for that time. One thing I did actually learn last year is not to get too hung up on the quality of the sketchbook, as it's restrictive as there's a bigger pressure to make the art inside 'worth it'. Flicking through this sketchbook made me feel like I wanted to make a mess inside it, and that's all that matters really so I had to get it.



I got a new book to read as well, one I've been wanting to pick up for a while as it sounds intriguing and I'm actually inspired to begin it straight away instead of adding it to the 'to read' pile like I usually do. It's a Disney 'Twisted Tales' book, and according to the blurb after the Evil Queen realises that she's failed to kill Snow White she goes after the Prince, and it just sounds wonderfully creepy. I flicked through it and a lot of the characters have German names from what I could see, and the fact they got that detail right makes me feel like it should be a good read!