Saturday - The Lion King

Saturday was also a late start. Brett was off to an all-day Chorus rehearsal that I had somehow not put in my diary and so had double-booked with the parents’ visit. The parents (well, my mother) wanted to go to see Kew Gardens.

Kew is an interesting place, even at this time of year; there is a little train-bus which runs around the gardens and the driver gives a pretty decent commentary about the history of the place. The greenhouses contain a huge range of plant life from different regions and they are fascinating to see. My mother picked up a few Pitcher Plants to deal with the flies which tend to hang around all the bee-keeping equipment they have.

Tonight we were in town to see The Lion King. We had dinner at a nice little Greek restaurant called Beotty’s on St. Martin’s Lane before strolling around to the Aldwych and the Lyceum Theatre.

The Lion King turned out to be very entertaining. I hadn’t expected much in the way of depth of storyline, as it is a Disney show, and in that respect I wasn’t disappointed. The plot was no more complicated than a pantomime. The production and music, though, were excellent and very colourful. I thought the lighting was particularly well done; really creating a feel of the savannah at all times of day. I’d love to work on designing a show like this. I actually had a better evening here than last night!

Walking home, it was a lovely clear night as we crossed Waterloo Bridge and I really wished I’d had my camera with me. I determined to make an effort to get out on a good, clear night sometime soon with my camera to try and capture some of these beautiful scenes.