Pigs On The Wing

A trip into London town today. There were two trains we could have caught, leaving five minutes apart. But the earlier one arrived twenty minutes after the later one. So we watched the first - almost empty train - pull out of the station and waited for the second one. Only to find the world and his wife had the same idea, meaning a rammed train and having to stand all the way into Euston. Anyway, having arrived earlier by leaving later, we headed straight to Leicester Square to get tickets for a show in the evening. We fancied the much talked about revival of Oklahoma and got a couple of discounted tickets five rows back from the stage. Slightly surprised to be given a warning about “adult themes”, but it was explained that this is a much darker interpretation of the story. Sounded intriguing.
We then caught the tube out to North Greenwich so we could catch the river boat service to Battersea Power Station. An hours cruise on the Thames through central London and at a fraction of the price of the “official” cruise boats. Battersea was amazing - the old power station has been fully rebuilt on the outside and totally transformed inside. No sign of any inflatable pigs (Pink Floyd reference) but I did catch this Emirates A380 as it passed between the iconic towers.
Oklahoma was superb. Plenty of humour and all the songs and the ballet were there, just as Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote them. But the plain set, minimal cast and the way the characters interacted really brought out the darker side of the story. It’s only on for a limited time but well worth seeing if you get the chance. Just make sure you don’t watch the 1955 film first or you’ll be very confused!