Star Gazing

                                                                       Picture: Manuel Harlan/Old Vic.

And, leaving the troubles of Central Mali  behind for the blizzards of a freak late winter in London and something quite different...
Dear David, as usual, is the purveyor of the best tickets in town. He gave me a ticket for the Mariage of Figaro at the Hackney Empire on Wednesday, then he didn't make it himself because his train got stuck in the snow. But  I thoroughly enjoyed both the ravishing opera and the cozy, beautiful and slightly moth eaten Hackney Empire all on my own.
 That was a far cry from the glamour, sophistication and sleek perfection of  last night when we both managed to arrive, still struggling through blizzards, to the Old Vic  for a glittering opening night of Fanny and Alexander in a stage adaption by Stephen Beresford. David went with some trepidation because it is his favourite film and therefore  of course he felt  pretty sure it would fail. Nevertheless he was not quite as disappointed as he thought he would be, and we both quite enjoyed the marathon production. Here is his review:
http://www.theartsdesk.com/theatre/fanny-and-alexander-old-vic-review-agile-shallow-bergman-adaptation.
I have to confess to enjoying the intervals when I tried to figure out who everyone was: Fanny and Alexander is of course about a theatre family- it is perfect for the London lovey glitterati, and they were out in force for this opening night by special invitation only.  I had not realized until I arrived in the bar with David - at first I just clocked that every one was very well groomed and carried themselves with an unusual sort of panache: some of them seemed somehow familiar...   I tripped over a lady's handbag in the bar and when I apologized the rather beautiful  lady smiled- I knew her, surely, I thought, and it turned out to be Lindsay Duncan.   David kept winking at me as he stood in the coffee queue, nodding his head discreetly backwards, until I realized that Vanessa Redgrave was standing behind him waiting for her turn. Sir Ian McKellen sat two seats in front of us, and Timothy West and his wife Prunella Scales (looking rather frail) passed us in the stair way...Adrian Lester whom I don't know but according David, my expert companion, is  a shining star was sitting  three to  his  right. It was all rather fun. I have quite a good new haircut and was wearing a fluffy black sheepskin boa and swanned around trying to look mysterious, David said it worked and that people  probably thought  I was one of Bergman's women...