Music from the Movies, Royal Albert Hall – London

Yes that is Alan Rickman

Here are some thought on Music from the Movies, Royal Albert Hall – London.

It was my first time in the Royal Albert Hall. I hope it wasn’t the last time, because it is absolutely beautiful inside. I took a picture with my mobile phone, not too funky, but it gives an impression: Inside the Royal Albert Hall. It is really classy, and it was the perfect venue for an event like this.

And then there were the stars.

Alan Rickman was definitely one of the coolest. Nice suit, classy man. It is very weird to see people in real life, and with Alan Rickman, it was weird to experience that he does in fact have this very voicilicious voice! Chocolate for the ears that.

Judi Dench was a joy to watch. If I have 10% of her class and grace (and humour) by the time I am 73 then I will be happy. She is someone who shows you that getting older doesn’t mean getting boring and sitting behind your plants looking out of your window. Very inspiring, great actor, and also here: beautiful voicilicious voice!

Emma Thompson was both gracious but also very funny. She was wonderful, citing a bit of Shakespeare, while barefooted feeding the London Symphony Orchestra grapes while they were trying to concentrate on playing their instruments. She is lovely.

The highlight for me however was Sir Derek Jacobi. He came in and seemed very nervous indeed. He stepped behind the microphone and changed from this somewhat nervous man in a suit to the most powerful man on stage, citing his lines like a king transforming into someone magical. The power of a great actor and all respect for him. I was pleased to hear the audience roar for him, he was the only person called back on stage twice because of this performance and he deserved it.

The music was wonderful, having it played by a huge orchestra like the London Symphony Orchestra, accompanied by a huge choir. I enjoyed watching the violinists in their penguin suits, and I have been laughing about the pianist a lot. He only had to play on few of the numbers, but had to sit the whole thing through anyway behind his piano. And he looked really bored at times. I was waiting for him to fall asleep, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.

I didn’t bring a decent camera because I expected all cameras to be banned (darn because they weren’t!). So all I could do was taking some crappy shots with my mobile phone. I met Grigorisgirl (pleasure!) though, she had a more decent camera with her as far as I could see, so go there for your Alan Rickman fix. I am sure she took some picture of the man.