England: Cassidy Quandt (Interact)
Program: UW Global Launch in London
I just recently had the opportunity to view the Broadway musical MJ at the Prince Edward Theatre in the West End. This was such a cool experience all around. A few rows ahead of us, there was a man close in age to me, most likely a little older, who my mom and I thought might be in the show. He was dressed exactly as Michael Jackson, even with the sequined gloves and gelled hair under the hat. We ended up talking to him, he was a drama student and had an opportunity to work with the cast, so he knew the cast very well but was not in the show himself.
The theatre was gorgeous. We were surrounded by red chairs with the glow of golden light, it was just beautiful. When we first got there, basically no one was there, as you can see in the picture, but it filled up quickly towards the start of the performance and I did not see an empty chair again.
My mom, my grandmother, and I booked this show that same night we saw the performance, as their trip was very unexpected.
Additionally, we talked to the couple next to us. They were about thirty years old and were dressed in more formal theatre attire. They were super friendly and talked a lot about coming to the West End quite a bit as a night out. That is such a cool advantage of living in such a big city like London, you have these opportunities to just go and see a show whenever you wish. I feel our interactions with these other Londoners just show the appreciation for the arts here and how if this is something you appreciate as well, you can really take advantage of this. Personally, I downloaded todaytix directly after viewing MJ in hopes of seeing other shows as soon as I can as this one left such an impression.
A street on the West End.
Cassidy Quandt
Program Name: UW Global Launch in London
Major: Psychology and Spanish
Hometown: Shorewood, Wisconsin