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Hoppy Easter Kit – all graphics are 300 dpi
– 5 Background Papers, 3600×3600
– 2 Mats, 1500×1500, 1 pink and 1 with Easter Eggs
– 1 Element with 2 Mats, 2466×2147
– 1 Journaling Paper
– 1 Ribbon
– 3 WordArt: Hoppy Easter, Easter Bunny, Easter
– 1 Line with Easter Eggs
– 2 Easter Egg Stickers
– 1 Easter Egg Swirl Element
– 1 Decorated Easter Frame

Price: $1

As soon as I receive payment, I will send you the kit by email. Considering the possible time difference, please allow 24 hours until delivery.

Yes, there’s a #1 in the title, as I’m sure there will be a follow-up 🙂

Seen: March 25, 2012
Circustheater, Scheveningen

When I joined the ‘Willemijn Verkaik‘ Page at Facebook, I got in touch with several other fans, many of them from Germany, where Willemijn played Elphaba for 3 years. One of them – Lola – announced that she had tickets for March and it seemed the right opportunity to meet her, so I said I would be there too.

It was fun meeting her and her friends and I was glad to hear that they enjoyed Saturday’s performance AND that Willemijn would be there for the Sunday matinee (sigh of relief!)

Jim Bakkum  was scheduled to play Fiyero and as Chantal Janzen had the day off Céline Purcell would be Glinda. I saw some videos of Chantal as Glinda and wasn’t too happy with her high notes, so I welcomed Céline. But after hearing Lola’s comments about how awesome Chantal as Glinda was, I now really hope to see her before she steps down from te show (that hasn’t been announced yet, so I think there’s still time).

I don’t want to be nitpicking – as the show on the whole was awesome – but some of the Dutch lyrics just don’t sound right. I know how difficult it is to translate into Dutch, but some things are simply better in the original language (in this case English). To make the translation sound like ‘normal’ spoken language instead of words that have been put in a strange order to make things rhyme is an art by itself and I sure wouldn’t want to try. Overall it wasn’t bad, but here and there the lyrics lost their power because of the translation.

Having said that, there was nothing else that disappointed. The gorgeous costumes, the lighting, the set, it was close to perfection.
I couldn’t wait to see Willemijn on stage. The minute I had been waiting for, for years, ever since I saw the announcement that she would be the original German Elphaba. And there she was… I felt my heart leap 🙂 She was everything I expected her to be… and so much more.

Regular visitors will know that I often shed a tear at musicals – lol. If it’s good, I cry. Well… I cried A LOT!  Willemijn’s first solo is ‘The Wizard and I’ and although that is a great song, it never moved me to tears. This time I was completely blown away by Willemijn’s talent. Her voice is phenomenal and it seems like she doesn’t act the part, but IS the character. You can’t do anything but follow her on her journey through life, her emotions, her disappointments, her hope and her victory. No resistance, you get sucked in. And because of that you (well.. I) feel her emotions far more than I did with any other Elphaba (and I thought Kerry Ellis was hard to beat!).

As I’d only seen the show from up-close, it was refreshing to see it from a distance. I didn’t want to sit in row 28 (a seat that was one of the options when I booked) but opted for the ring and it was a pleasant surprise. Good overall view and I saw things, especially in the lighting and the scenes with the complete cast on stage, that I missed when I was sitting closer to the stage. Another confirmation that it’s good to see a show more than once and from different angles.

Can’t wait to see it again!

Decided to join Shimelle this month – share any 10 things on 10th.
I can do that 😀

As I’m totally addicted to theater, I opted for 10 musicals. Didn’t have much time as we’re celebrating DD’s Birthday this weekend and thought this subject would be quite easy.. wrong! There are so many great musicals, how can I possibly pick 10? So, here’s a first list of 10.. there will be more another time 🙂

10. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics: Tim Rice

Saw this many, many times and have good memories of the production with Jason Donovan (1991) in the London Palladium. Spent two hours in a cue at the theater box office, managed to get tickets at row 1 and had a perfect view of Jason in his loincloth 🙂 Also, seeing Lee Mead as Joseph in the London Adelphi (twice) made my day.. maybe year 😀 (Reviews 2007 and 2008)

9. Lion King

Music: Elton John, lyrics: Tim Rice

Only musical where I started crying at the opening song. I’m known for sobbing at musicals, but never THIS soon – lol. Animals performed by human beings, stunning costumes, so inventive. Great score (but you can’t go wrong with Elton John as far as I’m concerned).  Saw this several times – only in Holland, so I can’t compare – but it was a great production!

8. Singin’ in the Rain

Music: Nacio Herb Brown, lyrics: Arthur Freed

Love the movie and love the stage musical even more. The actual ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ song, with pouring rain on stage never ceases to amaze me. Saw several different versions but the best for me was the Original London Production with Tommy Steele which ran from 1983-1985 in the London Palladium. The story never grows old, if a production comes your way: book tickets!

7. Mary Poppins

The musical was written by Julian Fellowes and features the film’s music and lyrics by the Sherman Brothers, along with additional music and lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.

Saw this twice in Holland and my all time favourite Mary is: Noortje Herlaar! Great family outing for all ages! You can read my review here

6. Shrek, the Musical

Music: Jeanine Tesori, book and lyrics: David Lindsay-Abaire.

The minute I saw the videos of some of the songs on youtube I was hooked, I-had-to-see it, even if that meant going to NY. Fortunately for me (and my wallet) a revamped version of Shrek, the Musical opened on West End in June 2011. Immediately booked tickets and saw the show on August 12, 2011. Review and Stage door pictures here. Again, wonderful family night out, for all ages!

5. Soldaat van Oranje / Soldier of Orange

Original Dutch musical, script by Edwin de Vries, lyrics by American duo Tom Harriman and Pamela Philips Oland, translated into Dutch by Frans van Deursen.

This is a very special show. For its contents – true life story of Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, who worked for the resistance in WWII – the music, which touches the heart, and definitely for the stage and setting as well. The audience sits on a revolving platform, which turns around then ‘walls’ open for the next scene. It’s hard to explain. Review here. Saw it once so far, but will definitely go see it again soon.

4. Miss Saigon

Musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr.

Was very fortunate to see the original London Production in 1989 starring Lea Salonga as Kim and Jonathan Price as the engineer. Saw it four more times after that, including the Dutch production. I cherish the Souvenir Brochure signed by the majority of the original cast which we met at the Stage door. Heartbreaking story, powerful music, and yes, I was sobbing :p

3. Chess

Music: Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, formerly of ABBA, lyrics: Tim Rice

April 1989. On one of my London trips we booked tickets to see musicals on every night of our stay, but had room for a matinee. As Chess was in its last week of performances before the show would close down, we picked that one. Didn’t regret it one bit. It was awesome! My favourite song is “Someone else’s story”, which – to my knowledge – wasn’t in the original London production but added later for the US production. Isn’t it about time for a London Revival?? Definitely!

2. Les Misérables

Music: Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics: Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, with an English-language libretto by Herbert Kretzmer. Based on the novel by Victor Hugo.

Saw the show about 45 times, in London, Amsterdam and Scheveningen (The Hague). Don’t have a favourite performance as they all were awesome, but my favourite cast (apart from the London original one, which I never saw live) is the one from the original 1991 Dutch production. Had tickets for the opening night, including after party, which was special. I was apprehensive at first, as I prefer the musicals in their original language, but the Dutch translation made sense and didn’t feel ‘forced’, which often is the case as Dutch uses more words to say a line than English. So it’s hard to make things rhyme ánd make it sound effortless ánd as a spoken language rather than written (which are two totally different things).

1. Wicked

Music and lyrics: Stephen Schwartz, book by Winnie Holzman. Based on Gregory Maguire’s novel.

*sigh* What can I say? When I listened to the CD for the first time, it was another case of I-have-to-see-this! Saw one of my favourite UK singers/actresses Kerry Ellis as Elphaba with Dianne Pilkington as Glinda (review: 2007 ) and last year I saw Rachel Tucker and the lovely Louise Dearman (review: 2011).

But the best Elphaba ever is the Dutch Willemijn Verkaik, who was the original German ánd Dutch Elphaba, which makes her the first actress worldwide who played the part in two different languages.

The name of this kit totally doesn’t make sense – lol – I planned to add Easter bunnies when I started and thought that Hoppin’ Good Time would be a great name! It wasn’t until I started this post – after I uploaded the zip file – that I saw the name on the preview and thought: what the heck?? Oh well, it’s a freebie, whether the name fits or not 🙂

Download Hoppin’ Good Time 13.9 MB

I don’t know where my brains are lately. I created another Valentine’s freebie, but forgot to upload it. Maybe I’ll upload it sometime this year or maybe I’ll consider it ‘working in advance’ and I’ll save it till next Valentine’s. Working on another Easter kit too, but no idea if my muse keeps cooperating, so you just have to check back 🙂

Happy Scrapping!

We had several movie nights lately. I hardly ever go see a movie in a theatre – except the Harry Potter ones of course! But I do love movies and my ‘to see’ list is long. The advantage of not seeing a movie in theatre is that they’ll be released on DVD after a while and if you wait long enough they end up on sale. Let’s say I love those sales baskets *grin* and over the years I bought loads of movies from my ‘to see’ list. We now have a HUGE collection of DVDs and never time to watch them :p

Where I used to spend every free minute online, I suddenly noticed that I was bored after checking my mail and browsing through FB and Pinterest. As my muse left me again – she did major overtime at the end of last year, preparing all my December freebies – I suggested to the kids we’d have a girls movie night (after all, you should never EVER watch a tearjerker with a man present in the room!) and one night led to another.

Watched quite a few movies and I began to see a pattern. I think we owe almost all movies Sandra Bullock starred in. I just love that woman, her sense of humor, her natural way of acting and she’s so beautiful! Definitely one of my favourite actresses.

Found an interesting interview with the headline ‘Sandra Bullock, sick of society’s rules, has a message for young girls’ and I loved the next part:

“Don’t change, be who you are. Society is really strong in their opinions so I made peace with the fact that the things I thought were weaknesses or flaws were JUST ME. Why are we forcing people to follow another person’s path in life taking away their real happiness? What is about us that is a culture that tries to get rid of what we consider the runt? Sometimes the runt turns out to be the best of the litter.”

I wholeheartedly agree. Young people (boys ánd girls) are so vulnerable, still discovering who they are, trying to blend in with the people at school. Not necessarily wanting to be the most popular person, but just fit in so no one will make fun of them or bully them. Thanks for speaking out, Sandra 🙂

Now, we’ve discussed our favourite Sandra Bullock movie and here’s our top three in random order – as we can’t make up our minds about which one we love best.

* The Lake House

* The Proposal

* While you were sleeping

Looking forward to our next movie night! Curious to know about the favourite movies of my visitors. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any recommendations about movies we MUST see 🙂