Yesterday I went out with Arjan and Irene to a play in the Toneelschuur. We had dinner in Arjan's place. I had gnocchi for the first time, a potato based pasta; very nice.

We went to "Woord", a new play by Rieks Swarte. Rieks Swarte is the brother of Joost Swarte, cartoonist and architect of the Toneelschuur building. "Woord" is about a two men who are exploring the architecture of the Cordoba temple, and a woman who is more interested in mysticism.

The play resembled a lecture at times, such as when the golden ratio was explained, but a funny one at that. The use of video camera's on stage was very nice. It was a try-out performance and one of the camera's ran out of batteries half-way.

The play was very entertaining and often funny. Afterwards we stayed in the theater's bar quite long; a great evening. (1 comment)

Yesterday Max and I went to a concert of Avril Lavigne, a Canadian singer and songwriter. The concert was in the Heineken Music Hall, a concert hall near the Amsterdam Arena and close to Florijn, where Sasha and I used to live. We first had dinner in a café next to the concert hall; it was very cozy. Then we went next doors, to the Music Hall.

We skipped the pre-show. It was the first time I saw the Heineken Music Hall from the inside. It's a very pleasant place: large, efficient but stylishly decorated. The hallways and entrance gave me the impression of a large cinema. The hallways were wide and high: the building could handle a lot of visitors without giving a crowded feeling. There were free internet terminals as well.

The concert was very nice. I knew only three songs, Avril's hit singles, but her repertoire was very broad and it was a good show. She has a marvelous voice. The audience was diverse, with a lot of young kids.

It was a real fun evening; I was home around midnight. (comments? | Score: 1)

We went to see Hairspray, a Broadway musical, to celebrate Sasha's birthday. Hairspray is a new musical; it started in 2002 and it has had very good reviews.

It was a extremely entertaining and funny show, with a lot of spectacular dancing and costumes. I absolute loved Edna Turnblad, one of the two main characters. Ms. Turnblad is a house-wife turning into a TV star during the musical. Her role is played by a male actor, Harvey Fierstein, who received a Tony Award for his performance. The climax was the duet of Wilbur and Edna Turnblad: absolutely hilarious. (Read More... | comments? | Score: 5)

Yesterday I went to a theater show in the Toneelschuur. We saw The Revisor, a comedy by Nikolai Gogol. It was played by the Paardenkathedraal, a Dutch theater group that won several awards in the past.

I went there with Arjan, Karen, Jelly and Max. We first had dinner together in our place, which was nice.

I really enjoyed the show, it was funny and very professional. I had expected a more 'difficult' performance, but The Revisor is a plain comedy -- although a very good one. I loved the mayor and his wife, two main characters, and the fights that they had, especially in the second half.

The language used was really beautiful -- the texts were great. The mayor had a magnificent way of talking: screaming, whispering, all mixed with a continuous trembling of his body because of nervousness and general dissatisfaction with the world.

A smaller role that I liked was the maid of the mayor; she was really funny in her own, quiet way.

General conclusion: I liked it a lot. It wasn't highbrow theater, but very amusing. (2 comments | Score: 3)

Yesterday evening we saw Aïda -- and what a magnificient show! The voices, music, decors and actors were all great. We had a wonderful evening.

The show took about 2,5 hours and we were home around 1:30 o'clock. There is a fan website that has a very nice Flash intro that shows a few highlights of the evening. (Read More... | comments? | Score: 5)

Tonight we'll go to the musical Aïda, in the Circustheater in Scheveningen. I'm really looking forward to it.

Mieke gave us tickets for the musical (thanks a lot!). I just read the story, it's rather complicated but everybody says it's a great show. (comments?)

We just saw the first part of opera by Musorgski, Boris Godoenov. After the first 20 minutes we left, it was boring... but 20 minutes were nice :) (comments?)