Several years ago, on my first trip to London, a United flight attendant urged me to visit the Wallace Collection during my stay. Well, it took me a while, but I finally did it today. Wow!
It was the private art collection of Sir Richard Wallace, the illegitimate heir of the fourth Marquis of Hertford. It's very eclectic -- and includes paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries, shining armor from Europe and Asia, porcelain and much more.
Upon his death, Sir Wallace left the collection to his widow who bequeathed it to the British people upon her death at the turn of the last century. Much of the art came on the market during the French Revolution when French Aristocrats either "lost" the art or sold it to make ends meet.
Theaterwise, I saw Karen Kapler's favorite musical tonight, "Guys and Dolls," starring Ewan McGregor as Sky Masterson.
I saw this show a few years ago in Los Angeles -- but don't remember much about that production. This new one, by the Donmar Warehouse, is outstanding.
McGregor is great. Jane Krakowski as Miss Adelaide makes a wonderful sex kitten. (I last saw her on Broadway a couple of seasons ago in "Nine" where she famously entered the stage naked, dangling from the ceiling. While the sexual heat is pretty high in this show, you can only go so far with this Frank Loesser classic.)
And Karen will be pleased to know that Martyn Eliss, as Nicely Nicely Johnson, absolutely stopped the show with his rendition of "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat."
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