Musical?!? and Rainy Rugby

Todd and I went out to see Lord of the Rings in the West End last night. That was officially the weirdest musical I have ever witnessed. The first act was pretty true to canon (except for, blech, Arwen), and got through the Council of Elrond in Fellowship. Needless to say, that left a LOT to cover in Act II. They cut out Rohan entirely. The put back in Saruman's taking over of the Shire, but they did it badly. Overall, Todd and I agreed that they missed the point of Tolkien's work. The story isn't JUST about taking the Ring of Power to Mount Doom - it's about the relationships and the people (and wizards, hobbits, elves and dwarves) on this quest, and what they learn and what they do together. The show was very plot-oriented, and with the exception of one nice Frodo&Sam song, the relationships were lost. I didn't like the acting much - all of the characters were very hard, the cast lacked chemistry. The characters became charicatures. All that being said, I enjoyed that they were able to make use of the many songs Tolkien included in the trilogy - they had Bilbo's song and the song at the Prancing Pony that the hobbits sing, among others. I thought Galadriel was quite cool. Also, they did some very awesome things with the stage - it was a visually interesting show for sure. About halfway through the first act I turned to Todd and said "I think Tolkien may be rolling over in his grave right now." While it was interesting, they really, really, really missed the point.

This morning I took a walk - I'm trying really hard to get natural light while I can as I know it gets dark early and it's better than spending my morning Facebook stalking (you know you do it, too, don't hate) - just down to Tower Bridge and back up the north side of the river. Took some pictures of the same old stuff, but whatever, you like pictures. From Tower Bridge, notice Gherkin and Tower of London in the background on the left. Yes, it was on purpose.

We had a rugby match against Royal Halloway today and it was bloody cold and windy (seriously), and rainy by the end. They got a couple of trys (tries?) early on in the game when we were still very cold, and they ended up winning 17-10. My kicks, if I may say so, were beautiful and less than a foot wide each time, mostly due to the wind and tough angles. They're getting better and consistently on target, so by the end of the season I'll be doing quite well! Anyway, I think we outplayed them for the last 60 minutes of the game - just too bad they got those early scores. One of my teammates, Ally, actually dislocated her shoulder during the game. People are really racking up the injuries. Despite my multiple concussions, I'm doing quite well - lucky!

Tonight I'm meeting up with Nadia for dinner! I'm excited to see someone from home. Also, Mark arrives on Wednesday - can't wait! I'm still not 100% that I'm heading down to Devon, but I may go because I think I need a break from London. Some fresh air would do me good (if only I could ask for sunshine but I know better. This is England)... and it would be nice to spend Thanksgiving in someone's home.