Second trip to London

I went again to London the 21st and 22nd of April. Once more the journey badly started.

But I will not insist on the power supply failure in the tunnel under the channel, nor on the camera that switches in stand-by mode at the wrong moment and don't want to restart before Alyson leaves. The end were far better and I will only talk about success.

First the performance was again perfect. It was a weekday so the theatre was not totally full. Though filling was about 80%. I don't know about the filling of royal and upper circle because this time I had chosen the place at the middle of the 3rd row in the orchestra stalls.

Many changes happened in the play direction since the previews. For example the aerobic scene in the first scene has been suppressed. Sally tics have been reduced. I loved them, but I guess that aerobic was too hard to play and the tics may not have made the public laugh. It seems to me that a scene with Harry at the phone and Aly storing back Harry's tools in his bag has been suppressed. I have no idea what justify this suppression and I regret those missing scenes. Fortunately they did not modify the gymnasium scene. All these cuts in the beginning made the first part shorter than the second. So the interval, which was just after the climax scene, has moved one scene later to fix the issue.

I did not find important changes in the second act. I did not feel that the acting has changed either, except Alyson who is now completely confortable. She did not show any effort to be heared by the entire audiance.

When meeting Alyson at the theatre backdoor I have been able to take some pictures and make some videos. Below are the best ones.

This time I had again the luck to go to the theatre the same day as Alexis. So he is on the picture too. I think he arrived the day I made the pictures after having completed the last Angel episode filming. And this surprised me a lot. Since I believed he was in Los Angeles, when I saw Alyson walking holding the hand of a man I firstly thought this could not be her. It is only after staring at Alyson a long time and being sure it was her that I looked at the guy who was coming with her.

After the performance we were slightly more numberous to wait for Alyson but not more than a dozen of people. Having already got an autograph at the entry, I content myself with making some photos and a video. Then Alyson and Alexis left walking hand in hand. They were probably going to the restaurant where they must have made a reservation because Alexis had requested the telephone directory to the theatre caretaker sometime before their departure. They were in a hurry because Alyson had only one hour and a half free before having to get ready for the next performance.

Third trip

Some days later (May 13th) I came back to the theatre to try to make some additional new pictures of Alyson. This day she arrived with Alexis in a taxi. To help her forgiving me to delay her entry in the theatre, I had bring a bunch of flowers for her. Alyson was yet in a hurry because she had to prepare for the performance. So she went in quickly.

Waiting sometime at the stage door I have been able to ask Alexis who was leaving the theatre to sign a picture with him and Alyson.

When Alyson came out after the performance, I made a video just before asking her to sign the picture that was already holding Alexis authograph. Before the second performance of the day Alyson and Alexis were going to diner with a friend (whose face I blured on the video when he moves behind Alyson).