Shuffle Along and She Loves Me

There's nothing quite like live theater! It's fun going to NYC to see a Broadway show and two weekends ago, I got to do just that. I saw She Loves Me with Zachary Levi in it and Shuffle Along with Brian Stokes Mitchell, Audra McDonald, and Billy Porter.

She Loves Me was a fun, entertaining, and cute show! Think Shop Around the Corner or You've Got Mail in musical form. :) It was funny and heartwarming. Zachary Levi and Laura Shoop did awesome as the two main characters (and I must admit I now have a tiny celebrity crush on Zachary Levi.: ) I would highly recommend this show if it ever comes to your area!

Shuffle Along was an energetic, beautiful, historical drama. It's based on a true story and the dancing and singing was amazing! It's about four black men in the early 1920s who write a musical/dance show together and cast only black performers (which is highly unusual for that time period.) They take the show on tour to see how well it will do, with the goal in mind to eventually make it to Broadway. The show tells the story of the making of the show and the drama that goes along with it. The show was very lively and energetic! Audra McDonald had quite a few solos and was definitely the star cast member and it was amazing to hear her sing in person! Brian Stokes Mitchell did amazing in his one big solo (just in case you didn't know but I love Brian Stokes Mitchell's voice and this is the fourth time I've heard him perform live.)

 

Gloucester Cathedral, Bourton-on-the-Water, London Temple- Day 19

In the over two weeks that I'd been there, I still hadn't been to Gloucester Cathedral, which was not that far from M and K's house. But on this day, the last day we were going to be in the area, I finally made it to Gloucester Cathedral.

The cathedral as we see it now was built about 1089 A.D.

This sign tells about the arches below.

Apparently some of the scenes of Harry Potter were filmed in this hall. :) I loved this window-filled hall.

When we got there, there was a school group that had come for a morning assembly at the cathedral and they had all left their packs in the hallway.

We were a little confused at first by these boys dressed in choir robes holding frying pans with pancakes inside about to start a race while holding said frying pans. They were not allowed to run, but could only walk fast! We just saw the beginning of the race but one of the boys had to stop and wait 3 seconds before starting again because the judges said he was running. ;)

Although we didn't realize it at the time, it was Pancake Day/Fat Tuesday that day and sometimes pancake racing is just something they do on Pancake Day. :) (And actually one of M and K's neighbors was in the race.)

Inside the cathedral.

The choir seats in the cathedral.

This sign explains the picture below.

A cross used for processions.

After K, J, B and I went to the cathedral it was time for Dad, Grandma and I to head toward London for our last few days in the country before heading home.

Our first stop was Bourton-on-the-Water in the Cotswolds (which I had already been to but I had told Dad and Grandma about how much I liked it and they wanted to go too.) :)

It was a beautiful day!

Doesn't Bourton-on-the-Water have charming architecture?!

After Bourton-on-the-Water, we made our way to the London temple where we were hoping to stay at the accommodations there, but alas they were filled up for the night.

I love this shot of the temple!

And this one too!

Since the temple accommodations were full, Dad booked another night at the hotel we were going to stay at the next two nights. After we finished walking around the temple grounds, we headed to our hotel. We kind of had a rough rest of the evening, but overall it was a lovely day!

Independence Day Songs!

I love patriotic music! Here are a couple of patriotic song versions that I really like.

Celine Dion singing God Bless America on a U.S. Navy ship. A very beautiful version of this song!

Battle Hymn of the Republic sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. What a powerful version!

I want to share one more. Battle Hymn of the Republic by Stryper. They only sing one verse and it gets pretty hard core during the chorus, but I really like this version of the song also. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MqK7NeqaQI

Happy Independence Day!!!!