atailof2kitties

[atailof2kitties]

Saw you said you were seeing Harold Fry last Saturday. Would love to know your thoughts!

Omg hi!

So yes I booked this production because of Jack Wolfe's casting, but I also recently finished reading the book, thoroughly enjoyed it, and was looking forward to seeing how they’d adapt it.

First time going to Chichester for a show and it felt perfectly suited to its venue. It's a lovely, intimate theatre surrounded by greenery. If you know your UK regional producing theatres, it reminds me of the Watermill in Newbury but designed with far better sight-lines and though still intimate, less 'snug'! There's room for actors and audience to breathe haha.

I think maybe the Balladeer role could have been better clarified. He’s in this odd space as the show stands at the moment, where he begins the show, but is a narrator, has small interactions with Harold but not with any other character, until he suddenly turns on Harold.

I think because we’ve seen Jack in a role like this before, it gets away with it, but I don't know if the act 1 ending plot twist works as it stands.

This is also because the musical decides on an act 1 end plot twist, which doesn’t actually feel like much of a twist. Maybe because it’s two twists in one— Jack is not only the narrator, but also Harold’s son, who is dead, it’s maybe too much information at once? In the book the fact that David is dead and has been the whole time is revealed only very near the end, and I think the show could have been worked to have David’s death revealed in ‘Dear Girl in the Garage’.

I wish there were more interactions between Jenna Russell and Jack. I loved their duet of Beautiful in Sondheim on Sondheim, and it feels odd that yes, she has her own character arc, but she feels quite secondary. I actually think if Jack as Balladeer responded when Maureen talked to David might've sorted out a few issues. I love that the Balladeer is on stage for almost the entirety of Act 1, but I think more could've been done.

I loved the fleshing out of David. I of course (because I'm me and I record nearly every show I see!) recorded audio and ended up exporting the individual songs onto my apple music, but I keep having such an urge to relisten to more of Jack’s straight acting. Scene about his parents missing his graduation, devastatingly flippant. The disappointment he’s concealing.

And ‘where is it then? All this everything.’ Which I've realised Jack intones differently in my recording than the other audio.

I prefer it this way. David's characterised by this forced flippancy. He's very honest, but maybe afraid of coming off too sincere? So he talks like it's all a joke.

But yes, ultimately I got everything I wanted out of the show. It's a near-perfect adaptation, and I think even my issues could be reworked if it had a future life (maybe uk tour if not a London transfer?).

Jack was lovely at stage door. Came out much later than everyone else and seemed pleasantly surprised and humbled that people were waiting. He came out, saw the (four haha!) fans waiting and immediately apologised saying he didn't realise anyone was waiting. He’s also well aware and can find humour in the incredibly specific type casting that’s happened haha.

[atailof2kitties]

Here's the audio of the 1st preview of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry from 5.5.2025 for anyone interested! (I know I was, the FOMO was insane) Did not disappoint 🥹✨

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there's one on my profile now ✨🙈

If anyone has a sondhiem on sondheim audio…

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For anyone who wanted my full Sondheim on Sondheim audio ✨

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Jenna Russell and Jack Wolfe sing 'Beautiful' from Sunday in the park with George for Sondheim on Sondheim at the Alexandra Palace October 21st

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Jack Wolfe singing 'Finishing the Hat' from Sunday in the Park with George at Alexandra Palace for Sondheim on Sondheim October 21st

[atailof2kitties]

Just some thoughts on turning twenty.

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (the fact twenty-one is the cut off, the time when women must become self-conscious of their age. It’s a different time, sure, but it’s still strange to be on this precipice...), Mitski, ‘Class of 2013′, extract of a poem I wrote (tormented by how birthdays sometimes seem an endurance test, it is a miracle to still be alive, to have outlived others, the privilege of growing up and growing old, and yet it is all so exhausting to know you still have decades of life to get through, joy and pain, etc.), Unknown seventeenth-century painter from the Veneto, Portrait of Angela Adorni Sbardellini, Prioress of the Zitelle (I like the contrast between her and her costume, the complicated creases and folds vs her still young face, she seems a girl peeking out of an adult body), Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals, Florence + the Machine, ‘Free’, picture of Marilyn Monroe at twenty, Luke Hemmings, ‘Diamonds’ 

[atailof2kitties]

I can't keep it in anymore... they quoted Taylor swift in my Shakespeare exam 😭

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The right spot for today #pascalcampion

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Alexander Tkachev - Two on the Road  1980.

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“Everyone stands here alone. 

I tell you the gods are still alive 

And they are not consoling”

-May Sarton 

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Taylor Swift, All Too Well (Ten Minute Version) (Taylor's Version) / Pascal Campion, Time after time

[atailof2kitties]

Lovely trip to Lacock today.

[atailof2kitties]

oh, i am finally old enough to know why my parents took so long to grab their coats. why they would ask us to get ready to go only to sit down for another round of coffee. what would i tell myself, at 10 years old? it’s okay. sit down with them too. take in the extra hour with your friend and her family. when you get home, write down every moment in your diary. one day you will be older and you will be waving goodbye to your best friend, and you will turn the key to start your beat up little car engine, and you will look back over your shoulder. her hair will be blowing in the wind and she will be beautiful and you will be, for a moment, struck by all of it. what you will feel is so wide and nameless that it will engulf you. and you will think of being 14 and kicking her under the table in math every time you wanted to whisper something behind the teacher’s back. you will think about how long the days felt, and how you could hold her hand whenever you wished, but you didn’t. and you will think about all of the people you could have lingered with. and you will wish, more than you have ever felt a wish, that the universe just gave you that - more time to linger. more time to say - i love you. i know i need to leave, but i don’t want to leave you. and when i go, i am leaving a piece of my heart that lingers too. 

one more round of coffee. the days are so short, and you are so lovely.

[atailof2kitties]

i love how different the sea looks at certain moments

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Scent bottle (18th century) enamelled decoration with the motto ‘Tout pour vous’ (All for you).

Image and text courtesy MFA Boston.

[atailof2kitties]

Old beams, rainy days, and good books, these are a few of my favourite things x