The Orangery and other musings

I don't believe there's that many Beatles locations to see in London. The ones that do exist, you may have to look really hard to see the Beatles connection. I'm only going off what I half remember reading or seeing on Youtube.

Obviously there's Abbey Road and Saville Row was the HQ of Apple Records and the big scene in "Let It Be".

One more obscure one I can think of is Chiswick House. They filmed fab promos for the songs "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" there.
https://youtu.be/yYvkICbTZIQ?si=oeTmZGtGD62U3ou8
https://youtu.be/cFd4zozNl9I?si=CHp4W_zEA0_oBHgY

For the first time, my daughter planned most of our Europe vacation to England and Ireland last year. It’s hard not to let go but sit back and enjoy. My one comment to you would be in reference to the Globe Theater. We did the afternoon family tour and the standing area in front for the “pennystinkers” is not very large. I would pay for a seat :) really neat open air theater though.

My information wouldn't be current, but I loved our lunch at the Orangery/Kensington ten years ago. Just to be in that environment was such a wonderful experience! Funny, we saw Les Mis then as well. Have fun. My youngish adults absorbed all of my years of planning every detail, and now do it for themselves on wonderful adventures! So great that your daughter has taken the initiative.

Just made reservations yesterday for Antony and Cleopatra at The Globe, opening night, in August. I hadn’t known these existed (and they weren’t mentioned on the tour we took of the theatre a month ago), but we got seats in one of the “Gent’s Rooms.” The Globe (both the original and this modern reproduction) has 4 boxes, two on each side of the stage, with seats with padded backs! The regular bench seats in the theatre, not to mention standing in Groundlings space, don’t offer support for backs. You can rent cushions to sit on, but it wouldn’t be the same. And, while costlier than the £5 to $10 Groundling tickets, the Gent tickets were only £48 apiece, almost half what the most expensive seats in the house cost. A deal!

Because they are on the side of the stage, we’ll be looking at actors from the side, not front. But the box seats are elevated, so we’ll be able to see down onto the stage, and will be pretty close. Supposedly these were the most-favored seats, only available to well-to-do Gentlemen back in the 16th century. Ladies attend now, too. As novel as being a Groundling would be, for a 3-hour play, having a cushioned chair will be essential, and money well-spent.

From our tour, it sounds as if audience members are welcome (encouraged?) to shout responses to the actors, as was done in Ye Olde Days. The actors may suffer for their art, but we won’t have to.

Through late October, in addition to at least two Shakespeare plays, The Globe is also showing Princess Essex, “a fast-paced, music-filled comedy” your youngest and you might want to see.

One of my favorite London memories is having lunch at the Orangery at Kensington Palace - it was just perfect!

It sounds like Six would be a good show for you and your daughter.

https://sixthemusical.com/london/

Sounds like the Orangery is a great choice. I think I’ve decided if we see a show at the Globe, I am definitely going to look into reserving a seat. Standing three hours for a twenty something is way easier than for a sixty something! She definitely wants to do a tour of the Globe theater, so if we got tickets to a West End show, we’d be good with that, too. Just looked up “Six”; it sounds fun! Thanks for all the suggestions thus far!

Additional thoughts:

1.) See if Agatha Christie’s Witness for The Prosecution is still playing at County Hall. Play is set in an actual court room.
2.) You should also look at Sainsburys and Tescos for take away sandwiches, chips and drinks.
3.) Definitely buy a seat at The Globe but understand seats are wooden, not padded. I sat on my coat.
4.)Have Enjoyed afternoon teas at Orange Pekoe in Barnes, The Orangery near Kensington Palace, and Biscuiteers in the Belgravia neighborhood.

Claudia, I will check those out, thanks for the suggestions! We did a lot of Sainsbury’s meals to go last summer. I loved their salads.

She’s a HUGE David Tennant fan and just texted me saying that he is playing in MacBeth while we are there. She said the entire run is sold out but she is going to try and get day tickets a week out or maybe try standing the day off. They release them at different times or something to that effect. That would make for a really memorable night if she can score a pair of those.