• Mood: okay
• Music: MESSIAH: Every valley...

Whole Lotta Handel...

I really, really had to force myself to the MESSIAH dress rehearsal this morning, but it was pretty good, in a worthy sort of way. The sets and lighting (Tom Pye, Jean Kalman) really were very attractive, and of course, it sounded good. I was particularly impressed with the enviable alto of Catherine Wyn-Rogers. She sang quite passionately, and has a lovely voice for this sort of thing; weighty but really flexible. The chorus was on good form as well, but I felt a bit sorry for the poor trumpet who was having a bit of trouble raising the dead. All in all, I don't really see the point of a 'staging', though. There was a fair bit of scampering kiddie stuff, and people doing ballet-dancy riffs, which I really could have done without.
It started late, and there were two intervals, as well. Still, a dose of MESSIAH always leaves one feeling mellow, and I'm not sorry I made the effort. The audience went wild at the end, too; no end of whooping and carrying on, so people less jaded than I obviously got a lot out of it.

I queued for centuries to get my Euros for next week at the Trafalgar Square Post Office. Boy, I won't go there again in a hurry. It always was pretty grim, but now they have this take-a-ticket business, which certainly doesn't seem to speed things up at all.

Got Sean Azzopardi's new Sketchbbok 2 and a nice bonus in the post. Very entertaining. Fellow sketchbook enthusiasts will probably want to get a copy.
Go over toseanazz and check it out. He takes Paypal.