Letting the Sunshine In

Credits: Connie Prince's A Pocket Full Of Sunshine, stiches under the dotted paper also from Connie Prince's Backyard Adventure,bottom yellow tag from Simply Scraps' Take it Back, all @ Gotta Pixel.
I wanted to write. Like I used to. Nothing much, just making a record of our lives, and I had this project, I was gonna print it all, again, nothing much, just a home printer and cheap paper, but it would be a tangible reminder of what it was, and probably would paint in my daughter's face the same smiles all the stuff my mum has kept painted in mine.
Then things got in the way.
Like my health, for starters.
My energy levels aren't high enough, then I found scrapping and that kinda simplifies the way....
But for the past 3 or 4 weeks I have been really, really wanting to document what is going on...only for one reason or another it gets put aside....

But today something happened that, though it wont respect the chronological line up at least gets me going...

I also want to write about my latest experiences in the (various) scrapbooking communities I am part of, or visit or buy stuff,something that I rather do in a separate post as my feelings are very passionate and don't want to mix things:
Where my feelings regarding our last few weeks as a family with my daughter are something beautiful and uplifting... my feelings towards what the scrapbooking communities are turning into are, to say the least, of disappointment.

OK, so..we have been to the West End theaters.
First we got free tickets to see the newest David Essex's musical, All The Fun in The Fair,through the Mousetrap Foundation, a charity that helps getting children up to 16 years old into theatre, but that also deserves it's own post, promise to write that soon, the Mousetrap team certainly deserves it.

Then we saw Hair @ the Gielgud Theatre, to which we got less than half price tickets as we are lucky (in an ironic sort of way, as I get them through my being registered disabled) to get this kind of deal from most West End theaters.
Now this was a huge thing for both of us.
Hair was the first musical I was on stage,and my daughter grew up listening to the songs in all three languages, Spanish, Portuguese, English, so when I saw that Hair was coming over from Broadway, I started saving money straight away.
On Friday, 30th of April, we saw it from the first row of the dress circle, which was quiet a nice seating as the theatre isn't that big...and that was it. The love affaire started for Sarita with the same passionate strength that hit me on that night of 1971 when my parents (after a LOT of begging from my part, I was only 13) took me to see it.

The whole Broadway cast is absolutely fabulous, words are not enough to describe the Hair experience.
Each and every one of these actors are a hurricane of energy, talent and emotion, and, funnily enough, though there are not many hippies left in this society of ours, the subject of war will always remain the same (unfortunately)
I need to point out to a couple of facts:
One is that we did not (both times we saw it) saw Sasha Allen perform.
I'm not completely sure but I think the girl we saw opening the show with Aquarius & singing the White Boys songs is Phyre Hawkins, and we were extremely pleased to have had the luck of seeing her perform.
We saw Sasha Allen in YouTube, and, despite her being really good, we LOVED this other girl's performance.

Now...onto the reason that brought me back to the theatre every night until I was on stage in the 70s and has awaken in my daughter the same passion...
Hair's George Berger is, undeniable, the most charming character of the whole play, and this time Berger is played by (oh drool, droll and treble drool) Will Swenson.
The man is so talented, gifted, such a singer, dancer & actor that you can't help falling in love with him. The fact that he is the most sensual, sexy, gorgeously looking guy i have seen in the past 15 years helps...
So, before the play was even nearing the interval, my daughter leans and whispers in my ear:
*mum, we NEED to come back: front row*
and I, of course, said yes.
Why?
Because front row gives you the complete Will Swenson experience.
The whole time the cast mingles around with the audience, but Berger/Swenson's opening monologue sees him interacting with the front row people...and this involves very, very close contact....who am I to deny my daughter such pleasure?

One of my best friends in life, a friendship that dates from those 70s was coming to spend a week in London with us after lecturing in a couple of conferences in Europe,so we thought we wait and take her too...so on tuesday the 18th of May we had another mind blowing evening on the AA row @ The Gielgud...this time very special to Sarita.
She got hugged (proper squeeze hug, as she describes it) kissed and then hugged a bit more.
Marta got to hold Will's trousers (which he takes of right from the start LOL) and we all enjoyed the talents of the whole cast apart from the beautiful view.

Credits:again, Connie Prince's Backyard Adventure plus elements from the INSD blog train, meaning there is something from: Scatcy Carlson,SpinkyDinkyScraps,CreationsbyRachael,Lorie M,CaptivatedVisions,Litabells,Kristmess and LindsayJane. All these wonderful designers can be found @ Gotta Pixel

I find it difficult to stop talking about this, could stay here all night telling you about each and every one of these actors, all wonderful, but as time presses I ll mention, of course, Gavin Creel, more than fabulous as Claude, Kacie Sheik as Jeannie (the pregnant girl who sings Air), Caissie Levy as a gorgeous Sheila with a voice to remember,Luther Creek (I think he is the only Brit at the moment)in a most wonderful Woof,Allison Case in the sweetest, most beautiful interpretation of Crissy,Darius NIchols amazing Hud,Andrew Kober 's voice on Margaret Mead and Claude's father,Kaitlin KIyan in the black boys trio but also taking over with her paradisiac vice on the Hare Krishna chorus (to the point that I didn't rest until I found where that voice was coming from the first time we saw them), but all of them are fantastic.

After the last song and curtain call, the audience is invited up on stage which turns into the most marvelous party ever...I was taken by emotion on seeing and feeling how the producers have kept the feeling of the original Hair that marked my teens and stayed with me with passion.
After that I did something I have never, ever done as audience: we went to wait for them at the stage door, as sarita wanted them to sign the program.
On this I also have to comment how great they all were (or most of them) ...lots of photos of that too :)

Of course I had to start scrapping the photos...and this gave me another huge emotion...
Not only were the pages I made featured in the Galleries Stand Outs @ Gotta Pixel,but this morning when I opened the Gotta Pixel newsletter I had the (beautiful!!!) surprise to see my Will Swenson's page chosen as Layout of the Day....
Thanks so much to Stacy & all the Gotta Pixel team.
People who know me know I don't scrap for others, I m just making a record of our lives, but having people as talented as the women who are part of the Gotta Pixel site choosing something I made...well, is a nice feeling, one that I wanted to share with you all, as Gotta Pixel has become a bit of a home for me, some of the designers I love the most at the moment have stores there....but that's another story.
If you would like to go leave some love, the LOs are here:
Hair 1
Hair 2
Hair 3
you can also have a look at the store, most of the designers are amazing,and they have regular sales, every tuesday is U$1 (which to us is like 75 pence...an amazing price for what you get!) and the Gotta Grab it that is amazing because is all designers creating from a palette...meaning one can buy kits for a dollar each, then scrap with all, and the combination is perfect)
The forums are also a nice place, full of gorgeous people but need a bit of an injection if movement (or maybe is because I don't do the challenge thing?) so it would be nice to see you around...

So, if you are still there (i know I talk a lot!) will upload some photos for your delight :)
Promise to come write again asap...there is a LOT i would like to talk about! :)
Thanks for popping in and, Michelle, if you are reading, I left you my email address after that comment you left me here, or leave me your email here so I can give you the password for the mini kit :)
Huggzz to all!

Credits: Captivated Visions' These Days, alpha from Between the Headlines (also from Captivated Visions),string with the bow again from Connie Prince's A pocket Full Of Sunshine.