It's true, my friends: the English don't use washcloths. In fact, they don't even know what a washcloth is. The first night I was there, I asked the guy at the front desk if they had any at my hotel, and he gave me a quizzical look. This made removing my gobs of stage make-up two days later rather problematic. (got lots of soap in my eyes in the process)

So, my trip to England had basically two parts: the show in Buxton with "the cast", and then flitting around mid- and southern England with the fam. So, first for part one. Buxton is an extremely quaint, lovely little town south-east of Magister. We rehearsed basically non-stop as soon as I arrived in Buxton on Friday afternoon, right up until the performance, with was Sunday evening. The dress rehearsal was Sunday afternoon. But I actually survived, which was a pleasant surprise. The rake of the stage was so steep that you could see it onstage, so it actually wasn't as much of a problem (a slight rake it a lot harder to see, so you think it's level, until you fall over ). And the costumes were actually quite lovely -- we had thought they'd be really hideous. The hardest thing was probably getting used to the different set -- it wasn't quite what we were expecting, which threw some of us off, though it was lovely. It was also strange having a real orchestra instead of a piano. The orchestra was fabulous -- definitely the best I've ever worked with for a show (considering I've only done two other shows with orchestra, and one of 'em was quite awful ). However, we weren't used to hearing the more gradual attack of the strings (piano has a much more percussive, immediate onset -- you hear the sound as soon as the key it hit. Strings sound more gradually), so that made the music a bit...um.....exciting. We got off with the orchestra quite a lot, but our conductor was quite competent (yeah Florrie!!!), so we avoided disaster most of the time.

The actual performance was a rather terrifying experience -- we only got one shot at giving a "perfect" performance, which was being judged and compared to all the other shows in the festival. So I was scared to death for most of the first act, especially since I had both the first solo music line and the first spoken line in the show. Now that's pressure!!! But I don't think you could really tell from the audience. I was a afraid that I would cave under the pressure and have a complete blank, but I didn't, and by the end of the Act I finale, I finally started having fun. Oh, and added to all that, I had to adjust a number of the things I was doing, because the tenor I was playing opposite managed to sprain his ankle and mess up his knee two days before the performance, and thus couldn't do most of the choreography. Tenors are brilliant like that. But all in all, the show went well, and the adjudicator loved us! She commented that we all had great accents, which was good to hear -- I think we were the only all-American cast there. And she loved the three fairy leadlets (I was one of 'em). So I got a good review!!!

Now for part II: I know Laura will post about it, so I'll keep this short and you can read hers. After Buxton, we visited the south for a bit. First was Warwick Castle, which was rather disappointing, since they had basically turned it into a Renaissance-Faire-like theme park instead of leaving it as an historical monument. Alas. We also visited Oxford and heard evensong at Christ Church Cathedral -- that was probably the highlight of the trip for me. But I'm a weirdo like that. We also went to the Ashmoleom Art Museum, which was surprisingly fun (most of you know how I feel about going to art museums with Laura ). Next was Bath, which was absolutely delightful. We saw the Roman ruins there and had tea in the Jane Austen center. The architecture was absolutely stunning. I have to go back there next time. (and there WILL be a next time!!!) Our last stop was Shrewsbury, the home of the fictional character Brother Cadfael. We saw the cathedral and castle -- cute, but, well, compared to Bath, everything else pales....During this time, we were staying at the most adorable little bed-and-breakfast in an adorable little village called Bourton-on-the-Water. I will live there when I am a little old lady.

So, that's it, in brief. ("HA! brief??" you say -- trust me, it could've been a LOT longer. )

"Well, I'm back."

I'm still alive!!!! Would you believe it??? Apparently my xanga hates music (I don't know how I feel about this ), so now that I've taken it off it's stopped being mad at me.

So now I can post again! I going England tomorrow, which most of you probably know already. I am SOOOOOO excited, obviously. I was promised that I would get to see a cathedral. Then I will be able to die happy.

But now I am going refrigerator shopping, because I am living off-campus next year. (in a cute house across the street from a church. I like) Hopefully I'll remember to post again before I die!