Royal Opera House Visit

On Wednesday 7th December, forty five members of the school choir and dance headed off for a fabulous day at the opera, attending The Royal Ballet’s presentation of The Nutcracker at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Mrs Dyer, Mrs Axelson, Miss Merry, Mr Bristoe and Mr Roche were also more than happy to go along as well.

Taking in the sights and sounds of London on the way, the children were really excited when we finally arrived outside the site of another great theatre, the oldest in the world, The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane where our coach parked. After a short walk, through a festive Covent Garden, we finally saw the impressive façade of the Royal Opera House. What a magnificent building!

The place was packed with other schools and colleges all taking advantage of this brilliant opportunity and we sat and ate our lunch before it was time to take our seats. Some children came very well prepared and seemed to have enough food to feed all of the other schools as well!

As we were led to our seats, the children loved looking around the fabulous interior of this building built almost 300 years ago.

Then it was time for the orchestra to start warming up, as they tuned up their instruments we were all wowed at the amazing sound made by this group of musicians. The children were treated to hearing the tantalising music of Tchaikovsky played and sung by a real orchestra and choir – what a treat!

Before we knew it, the ballet began…and it was absolutely great!

The set was magical, the dancing was mesmerising and the technical skill of the dancers, awe inspiring. The children sat transfixed watching this Christmas themed story, that tells of Clara’s adventures with her mysterious magician godfather, the Nutcracker doll that comes to life and the Sugar Plum fairy.

Two and a half hours of the performance whizzed by, with the children enthusiastically cheering and clapping the performers every move. Then sadly, it was time to leave.

Although it took us over three hours to get back from London, the children were able to read their souvenir programmes on the way home to pass some of the time.

We must say that the children behaved brilliantly all day and were a credit to themselves and Friars.

We are looking forward to next year’s trip already!