Singing in the Rain (in the dry) Live by the Lake (we didn't find the lake)

 

I'm not one that often goes in for competitions, but I gave the one on Jeni Yesterday's blog a go because it just looked like such a nice evening out.  The prize was two tickets to see Singing in the Rain on an open air screen at Kenwood House, with the score skilfully recreated by the London Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.

 

I took my trusty sidekick Hayley (she'll hate me for calling her that!) along with me and we met up with Jeni and Hanson.  As we were making our way through the grounds of Kenwood House, we were in awe of the beautifully manicured gardens and were interested to see lots of other things going on in the grounds such as dancing from the London Swing Dance Society, massages and a moon-based photobooth.  We set up our little picnic, created an interesting new cocktail (called vapple if you're interested) and settled down to watch the classic musical. 



"Barbara can you hear meeee?"

 

Gene Kelly's widow Patricia was over from America and introduced the film - she also put a few rumours to rest including Gene's apparent dislike of the casting of Debbie Reynolds.

 

Having the score played out by a live orchestra was incredible and it made the film even more engaging.  The score had been laboriously reconstructed by John Wilson (who I had the pleasure of seeing at the Proms last year) as the scores from the majority of MGM musicals were destroyed in late 1960s.

 

Look! I managed to remember to get photos of what I was wearing.  My dress is one of the first vintage dresses I bought and it looks like it's handmade, I'd guess it's early 1960s.  My gloves and shoes are both charity shop finds (this isn't the most informative description of an outfit). 

10 points if you can spot Kenwood House

 

Faux bob and visible pins

 

I only realised when I got home that even though the event is called 'Live by the Lake', yet we'd managed to completely miss any large expanses of water!