See that girl, watch that scene

That girl is Meryl Streep and the scene is the world premiere of “Mamma Mia” in London! Yup, yours truly took advantage of one of my last days of unemployment two weeks ago to go and check it out. Leicester Square rolled out the Mediterranean blue carpet and made up the park into a little Greek village.

The star power was quite high as it was the world premiere. Celebs in attendance included designer Tom Ford (HOT), West End wonder woman Elaine Page, whose date for the evening was "Dancing w/the Stars" judge Bruno Tonioli! Random! And then, and then... there were ABBA founding members Benny, Bjorn and Frida! Too cool! Frida looked fab (great highlights– bet they cost some “money, money, money”) and was very gracious! B&B were mobbed by the media so they didn't do a lot of pressing of the flesh of us fans, oh well. However, Meryl Streep was very kind and really worked the crowd, just as she was also working a Gorgeous red dress and Louboutin heels! Co-star Stellan Skaarsgard was also a super-trouper with the autograph seekers. Pierce Brosnan and Julie Walters, alas…not so much as the world’s press cried out “gimme, gimme, gimme another interview!” The queue got so backed up that by the time bearded and beautiful Colin Firth arrived, he had to do a mad dash into the theatre. Christine Baranski was pretty in pink, but pretty much ice cold in person I am sad to report. Photos are online here.

The film opened last week here in the UK and reports have been pretty scathing, but in a 'so bad it's entertaining' kind of way. Leading the pack of reviews of course, The Guardian never lets me down, starting out with a great song parody. I am taking advantage of the Barbican Cinema’s ‘Films for a Fiver’ tomorrow night, so I'm sure I’ll have my own song spoofs to share soon.

Mm, Mm, Good!

Speaking of songs, let me sing the praises of a couple of shows I’ve seen. The first is Merry Wives of Windsor at the Globe. While I didn’t love the actor playing Falstaff, the two women playing Mistresses Ford and Page were fantastic! Talk about great rapport and comedic timing! A couple of times they even cracked each other up a la how Tim Conway and Harvey Korman used to do on “Carol Burnett” The rest of the cast is also in fine form. Shakespeare at the Globe is such quality work, they really put the language over so well and it’s a fun and zippy couple of hours. The other show, Moonlight and Magnolias, is now on stage at my old employer Tricycle Theatre. Run, don’t walk to Kilburn if you are in the London area and see this hilarious play about the making of the film of Gone with the Wind. Producer David O. Selznick locks himself up in his office with writer Ben Hecht and director Victor Fleming and the sparks and screwball comedy fly as they have 5 days to turn the mammoth book into a workable script. Did I mention that Hecht has never read the novel? It’s a bit like “Reduced Shakespeare Company” only “Reduced GWTW”. Haven’t laughed so hard in a while.

And now for the Sports...

When not on a theatre seat, I was at the edge of my sofa seat glued to Wimbledon for nearly the whole tournament! Men’s final? Chris Evert Lloyd was that an amazing match or what?! Talk about two players at the top of their game. It’s been sportspalooza here in with the Euro 2008 Cup (despite England’s absence) and then, over 4th of July weekend, discovering the wonder that is Bodeans BBQ in SoHo which shows American baseball games! My friends Rachel and Todd and I landed there for a Red Sox/Yankees game, which, fittingly Boston won! Now it’s the Tour de France, for which a Brit has won two stages! Go Mark Cavendish! And of course, as my all-things-Olympics expert flatmate reminds me – summer games in Beijing in 26 days!

Workin' 9 to 5

Yup, that’s me. I started as Internal Communications Manager at the British Heart Foundation on July 2 (for the first time ever, I worked on 4th of July!) and so far it’s going pretty well. The people are very nice and seems like there is lots of opportunity for creativity. My position sits literally and figuratively within HR, so I get all the scoop first. We have lots of events to cover during the coming months, including lots of fundraising bike rides, runs and swims. And the internal event I'm most looking forward to is the BHF Pub Quiz on July 23 (nope, not my idea - already an established tradition there!) My hours are literally 9 to 5, with an hour for lunch, during which I’ve been exploring the area. We are in the Bond St./Marylebone area – full of pretty little gardens and very nice shops, and the commute is less than an hour. It will get shorter in October when the office relocates to the Camden area. Taking advantage of the generous vacation time, I’ve already put in my request for the Christmas holiday. I’ll be DC-bound from Dec 16-30, so hope to see many of you then!