Trip report: January 8 - the best day of the trip!!!

[cowgrrl]

On Tuesday, January 8, we left Cardiff and took the train to Birmingham, checking our luggage at the station and heading to the Hippodrome to see John Barrowman in a Panto of "Alladin". I had no idea the Panto itself was going to be so fabulous. For my American readers (who are sadly without this art form because they don't do Pantomimes here in the States) you can read about it on Wikipedia. An excerpt from wikipedia: Traditionally performed at Christmas, with family audiences consisting mainly of children and parents, British pantomime is now a popular form of theatre, incorporating song, dance, buffoonery, slapstick, in-jokes, audience participation, and mild sexual innuendo.

Words cannot begin to describe how much fun this was. Between the sense of humor, the 3-D glasses that actually worked (3D glasses usually make me ill), the audience participation, and OMG, John Barrowman! It should be illegal for anyone to be that beautiful! And there we were in the second row! *swoon!*

But the best is yet to come... After the show, we noticed a small group of people at a side entrance to the theatre so we decided to join them there. We didn't really expect to see John Barrowman, after all, they had a second performance to do that same day. But then I noticed the two actors who had been hilarious as the policemen in the show, but before I could go photograph them, I realized John Barrowman was now there, signing playbills.

And now here's when things get really interesting. In Cardiff, we'd used a guide to Doctor Who/Torchwood filming sites written by a fan who'd stayed at the Inn. Her friend, who'd also stayed there, had gotten her photo taken with David Tennant while they were in Cardiff -- he'd been amused to see that she was dressed exactly like his Doctor Who character - and this photo was in the guest book at the inn. So, back to the present: we're with a small crowd of people crowded around John Barrowman, and suddenly I notice a woman who looks exactly like woman in the photo at the inn, dressed, once again, like David Tennant's Doctor Who. And I went "omg, it's YOU!" totally startling the poor woman, who wasn't expecting to be treated like a celebrity. :-) I found out both she and her friend (the one who wrote the guide to filming sites, who was dressed that night like "The Master!") are on livejournal - and since returning home I've been in touch with both of them, exchanging photos, that sort of thing, and you can read their versions of the event at their LJ's if you choose: they are nightbeast and todd_loves_mc. Both of them of course had their writeups of that night posted long before me since they didn't have to travel all the way home to the States.


Hippodrome theatre marquee


Taken soon after I realized John Barrowman was here signing playbills, etc.


Squee!!! Yes, he posed for photos too. He was so kind to his fans! :-)


todd_loves_mc posing with Peter Gallagher (not to be confused with the American actor by the same name) who was absolutely marvelous as the villian in the Panto. This man has such a fabulous voice. In the program guide it says he does GPS voices. Oh yeah, I'd love to have this man tell me where to go! :-) LOL

Comments

[todd-loves-mc.livejournal.com]

That's a great photo of you and John. :) He really is lovely and so caring towards his fans.

As you've probably read by now i met him again on Tuesday and well while there i walked into the metal/concrete bollard thingy beside the stage door, and while my friends from work were too busy laughing John was checking that i was ok and that i hadn't hurt myself.
Since then it has manifested itself as a very painful chest where the top of the pole hit but at the time i was just so embaressed. Although it hurt it didn't hurt as much as it does now.

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yes, I read about your adventures on your return visit. That's a cute pic of you and him in your icon. I hope your injury heals quickly. And I'm glad he got a laugh out of your giving him that bad movie DVD to sign. :-)

[contrarywise]

Eeeee! That's awesome! Thanks for sharing pics. So, will you ever wash that jacket again? :)

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

LOL. Not likely. (Ok, eventually I'll have to wash it -- it's a light blue coat.)

[rbud.livejournal.com]

you luckly dog.....how nice of him to let you pose with him!!

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

He was terrific to his fans. He did all the signings first and told us he'd do photos next, so I knew I'd have a chance to do this!

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Eeeeeee! It's you with Captain Jack!

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yup! :-) I really didn't expect this to happen!

[daily-rant.livejournal.com]

How cool is that!

I've really been enjoying your trip. :p

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you've enjoyed reading about it. It's been fun to write up. :-)

[moonpuppy61.livejournal.com]

Lovely photo and a great travelogue. Thanks for posting it.

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you've enjoyed my trip writeups. I like doing them - and they give me something to write about in my LJ, instead of the usual whinging about my health or being bored at work or whatever...

[maymorning.livejournal.com]

Those are great photos! (Now if you'd only gone to Cardiff a few weeks earlier, you'd have seen them filming "Torchwood!" as well!) I love the one of you and John Barrowman! *squeeeee!!* I have got to show my daugher this page!

Pantos are certainly a very old British tradition, I used to go to them when I was young. Haven't been to one in yonks, I really must, they're great fun.

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

This one is running until January 27. In case you can get to Birmingham. (And if there are still tickets available.) I know it's probably pretty far from Aber, but it's so much fun - such a great cast!!

Yes, it would have been great to be in Cardiff when Torchwood or Doctor Who was filming, but I'm glad I was there for the panto.

[agaran.livejournal.com]

This was a lot of fun to read. Thanks!

Barrowman's eyes... oh my gawd....

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yes, he is very pretty! And the character he plays on Doctor Who and Torchwood is really fun -- I'd be happy to introduce you to his character at some point (I'm guessing you haven't seen any of the Captain Jack episodes yet?)

[nightbeast.livejournal.com]

Hello! Belatedly catching up after my holidays.

Thank you for the photos you've sent me. It's occured to me that you haven't read the full tale of squee of when Hazel and I met David Tennant, so it's here (http://nightbeast.livejournal.com/107427.html) if you're interested. :)

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

Oh, that was great fun to read, especially since I was just in Cardiff recently. I'd heard the story from Paul and Stuart of course (and seen the famous photo in the guestbook which is why I fangirled YOU at the panto!) but this is so much more detailed. :) What an adventure!

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

I think I must have stalked you to your journal before, because I remember reading that report about the girl who met David Tennant, so I must have been following the link from here.

But of course now I can relate much more to the panto story! I recently was in Birmingham for the convention with David Tennant (Geez, need to post my picture with him yet, but was so busy over Christmas) and I was thinking, so this is where John has been LOL

And I absolutely agree with you about Pete Gallagher's voice. Loved it! He even wrote "Mwha ha ha" in my programme LOL

I think it is amazing how quiet the stage door with John is. When he appears, there is no huge scream or anything. You could almost miss him - suddenly he is there among the people, and nobody is pushing, everyone respectful.

Great picture with you - I see he has not even a scarf, was it not cold at all? Our stage door was very windy and cold, but he took his cap off for pictures.

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

I might have posted that report on the Torchwood LJ community.

OMG, Pete Gallagher! I have such a difficult time boo-ing when he comes on stage because he's so great I always want to cheer! I really hope he does panto with John again next year.

It was cold at the stage door in Birmingham, but probably it was even colder in Glasgow. It's always cold in Glasgow!

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

It was actually colder in Berlin the day we left than it was in Glasgow! I thought it was pretty warm, didn't even need my winter boots. I had brought so many warm clothes since everyone said it would be freezing but we had 10°C.

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

You were lucky. When I was in Glasgow for panto we had snow. And apparently Glasgow doesn't believe in clearing the sidewalks so it turned into a very dangerous, icy mess. I remember what a challenge it was trying to get to the back of the SECC for the stage door, with all that ice on the ground!

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I heard about that. Once there was black ice and my friends walked or rather slided all the way from our apartement to the SECC ;)

Well, we only walked once this time (by the river, lovely walk, 20 minutes) The rest of the days we took the train.