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For those of us, who can't get enough of Jonathan Bailey, currently starring as Fiyero In Wicked: For Good, there is a recording of the (then) newly imagined West End production of COMPANY, back in 2018. Instead of Bobby being a male lead, it became Bobbie, the female lead of it. And most of the couples, and the trio of 'female tristes,' other parts were switched in gender, dialogue-wise with some stagin changes, too. Save for the iconic Patti Lupone still playing Jo Anne with that "Ladies Who Lunch" number. Still gold, IMhO. She won the TONY for it after it transferred to Broadway, NY. Jonathan plays Jamie, part of a gay marriage, who has his wild doubts in "Getting Married Today." And for that, he won London's Olivier Award for the supporting role, in this musical. So get the cd while it's still available. Everybody is great in it, but especially so with Bailey, now that he's in the Wicked film series. The New York production.

The power of Claus compels you! The power of Clause compels you!   Merry Christmas Town 2025! It's time for our annual stroll through Christmas Town at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. There's every thing you'd expect: "millions" of Christmas lights, lots of festive decorations and music, different types of holiday grog and goodies, and, of course, Santa's Workshop. In fact, this event is much the same as last year, only with some minor changes in decorations and two new holiday shows:  Christmas Town Live in the Festhaus and the Merry Misfits trio in France. Returning for this season are Scrooge No More, the park's popular version of A Christmas Carol, in England's Globe Theatre; Gloria, a retelling of the Christ story, in Ireland;  Wiseman, a singing trio in Italy (I think their stage got an upgrade for this season, though); O'Tannenbaum, a synchronized music-and-light show outside the Festhaus in Germany; the Polar Pathway Spectacle of Lights in the Escape from Pompeii area; Elmo's Christmas Wish in the Sesame Street Forest of Fun; and 'Twas that Night, an ice-skating show in France's Palace Theatre. The park is running a few coasters, weather permitting, during Christmas Town: Pantheon, Verbolten, Invadr, and DarKoaster (not affected by weather, of course). Most of the flat rides are running, along with the Christmas Town Express (round trips only starting at Caribou Station) and the Skyride.  Let's take it in, shall we? Bundle up--it's a chilly winter's night.   The Giant Snowman bids you welcome to Christmas Town--unless you use VIP parking, which means you won't lay eyes on him.   The Tree with the Big Balls is back!   Carolers greet you in England with traditional Christmas songs, but don't expect to hear "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" or "Christmas at Ground Zero."   In Ireland, you can pray for the immortal souls of those who decided to stop at Grogan's Pub for a pint of Christmas Town Stout. You can see Gloria in the Abbeystone Theatre, too.   You can also partake of Santa's Fireside Feast, where you will be under the protection of the Great Stone Fist of the Elves. Oh, you also get cookies from Mrs. Claus.   The path between Ireland and France is very peaceful--one of my favorite spots during Christmas Town.   This peaceful setting brought to you by Coca Cola.   In France, all will make merry, or they will taunt you with hearty laughter.   "You are impressed by our enormous Christmas lights, n'est-ce pas?"   They're a bit more laid back in Canada.   But you do have to watch out for frolicking caribou.   In Germany, gingerbread men and gum drops reach unnatural sizes.   I found this in one of Oktoberfest's gift shops. Nothing says "German Christmas" more than a Scottish Highland Cow on a t-shirt.   Santa's Workshop is in Germany, so suck it North Pole!   Why is the very tall wooden soldier trying to choke herself?   The Festhaus looks even more festive than usual during Christmas Town.   The O'Tannenbaum show is always a crowd pleaser.   Christmas Town Live harkens back to the Christmas TV specials of the past. The timing was wrong for me to catch the show that night. The stage is decorated like an old-time TV studio.   Peace out on the bridge between Germany and Italy.   It looks like the Wiseman show was upgraded a bit from last year's version. This year's version looks a lot like one of those Hallmark movies.   This is my single favorite tree at Christmas Town--beautiful in its dignity and simplicity.   Meanwhile, across the bridge from that same tree, Christmas is going completely nuts at Holiday Hills (aka Festa Italia).   I like the Polar Pathway by Escape from Pompei, too. They have another synchronized music-and-light extravaganza on the Pompei show building.   "Hmm--Cookie Monster wish for more bourbon in his hot chocolate."   It's getting pretty cold. In fact, it's snowing in Williamsburg as I write this today. Time to head out via Scotland.   A Merry Christmas Town to all, and to all, a good night!

Like deja vu all over again!

Part 4:  Europa Park day 2 concluded:  Traumatica   so Traumatica is a separately ticketed event that is attached to the park, and in 2024 included parts of the park that allowed two coasters to operate (Pegasus and Matterhorn blitz) as well as the Kassandra's Kurse madhouse, that ran with a graphic horror overlay via VR goggles.   There was also a brand new VR ride in a tent that had lots of effects, love music and performances, a large bar area with food stands, and the marquee attractions are the 6 Haunts that are long, and detailed and the good ones are REALLY REALLY good. oh. .and there's an added attraction where you can ask for a glow necklace, and that gives the scare actors permission for physical contact.    Yeah. it blew USA haunts out of the water. no pictures allowed in the houses, but I can say that my favorite was probably the Circus themed one where it climaxed in a giant big top with 8 entrances/exits that looked exactly the same but only one of them led out.  the rest of them either looped back into the center of the tent, or dead ended.  Meanwhile the ringmaster clown stood on a pedestal in the center, twirling around and yelling at you in German.   seriously, some folks were stuck in that house for a good 15-20 minutes trying to find their way out. others had some great ideas - like the zombie attack one, where you were sent thru in groups of 4-6 with laser guns, and you had to shoot them so they don't attack you in the giant murder dome.   or an elevator that transports you thru the 13 levels of an office building that has descended to hell. they were all decent, and honestly the only one I didn't care much for was "the Hill". . which was a very long, outdoors in the woods, scare maze with spirits , ghosts, and spooks.     it didn't' do much for me, but that could have been because it was all outside with a lot of uneven walking surfaces in the dark. still. . .excellent event.  here are lots of pics from it to end our stay at Europa Park! the whole site has a spooky and creepy atmosphere.  and the haunts are most all really impressive looking. Tarot House was another favorite of mine (one the left) as was the theming in Cinema Macabre (off shot on the right, tho the queue line is there)   ' this is Wakala. . he's kinda the mascot of Traumatica, and I ended up buying quite a bit of merch with him on it. the main stage, that hosted sideshow acts, as well as band performances thruout the event. random ghouls all thruout the crowd, providing jumpscares, even if not in the houses. Wakala wandering Cinema Macabre obscured by smoke, as seen from the Tarot House queue Silver Star behind the trees. . to give you an idea where we are in relation to the park notice a glow necklace or two in the queue line. . means they are ok with being touched. one of the Traumatica Event managers. . she was very very cool, and I enjoyed chatting with her and telling her how much I was enjoying the event walking around with an active torch light.. that was shooting sparks everywhere. no way in USA. . but VERY cool here. Hans has made it to the Bar area even tho outdoors?  very well done. more TPR folks joined Hans! Andrew goes "Rarrrrrrrgh" Jon making the long walk into up the queue (we had quick queue thank goodness, on the left is the stand by line) for the outdoor haunt int he woods. this one is so far up and out, you get a great view of Blue Fire from the Haunt. that polka dot tent beneath us is that big top with the multiple ins/outs, as you can see from the fabric-ed off paths to confuse everyone. TPR found Wakala!     Grim's Funhouse was another really well done house. . with some great props inside. not part of the event (at least not in 2024), but a great view of Voltron. .and one would go this way for the VR ride, and to access the rides that were available in the park Jon enjoying spiraled potato at the Traumatica food court/bar area lots of photo ops around here too. it really is a fantastic event, and highly recommended the temps were really starting to drop.. . so the crowds were starting to thin. myself?  I headed to the merch tent and ended up spending way too much money, but I did get a Traumatica jean jacket that I wore the whole rest of the trip, and still wear pretty often.   so it was a great buy   but then it was time to monorail back to the hotel and pack up.   we were headed out tomorrow morning to continue the Oktoberfest trip.  eventual final destination?  Phantasialand.

Part 3:  Europa Park day 2 Continued: with less of a crowd up here, as it wasn't opening time now, I was able to get closer to the Berlin Wall pieces and read the history of the display and snap a couple more pics of Silver Star doing it's thing although I didn't go out the main gate completely, I believe that's the Monorail station there on the left. I absolutely adore this statue. . .  Viewed from the front: but if you look at it the other direction?  I need to find a small model of this, as I'd love to have it. headed back towards the gardens/restaurant, as we had to meet in about 20 minutes, I stumbled across this behind a "storefront" on the main street. the Mack museum! with all kinds of history of the park, awards they've won, patents, and design concepts for the park. very, very interesting, and I was the only one in there!  (as I had been in the mask museum too) as I was about to head out, I heard some commotion from outside. so stepped out and was treated to: the clock going off, and doing a presentation, that I hadn't even realized was an option here  back inside for a couple more pics then on my way back over to the restaurant here's the full menu   I ended up having the "Baden" set menu, and it was all excellent (tho the service was kind of a mess.   (I think we confused them since we all ordered separately)   cream of pumpkin soup (so good) pork shoulder and potatoes and apple bread pudding with black forest cherries. after our meal, I took a quick look around the rest of the restaurant, as it really was in theme as a Medieval home after finishing up eating, it was getting pretty late in the day, and we decided to head back to the hotel to change for Traumatica - which happened starting at 7pm since we hadn't yet taken the "big" monrail, we headed up to that station near Germany and hopped on to head back to Colosseo to change clothes for something warmer pretty cool station.   map showing where the Monorail went from and to, that gives a good overview of just how large this park is. changed and back into the park, this was outfit for Traumatica the lady in Spain seemed to like it. we had some skip the lines for Wodan from earlier in the day, so we had all decided to meet up at that entrance, but first I decided to climb this lookout tower section that overlooked the splash battle ride really nice views from up here too. . . and even slightly higher than that other monorail we had ridden earlier in the day even tho it had gotten cooler?  tonight, the splash battle WAS running, and had takers. great view of Blue Fire from here too and of course, Wodan.   and even lots of theming up here - on a lookout that wasn't gonna get many folks bothering to go up to. I love this park. met up and rode Wodan (it was fantastic as always, and yes, my headgear stayed on as it has a chin strap) this is the skip the line entrance for virtual queue and then we headed over to the main Wodan entrance, as we wanted to check out that free haunt they had over here it was mainly just lots of smoke and a few scare actors. . but for a free house?  it was ok. it wasn't quite time for Traumatica yet, so we decided to head over to the Arthur area to grab some single rider rides. passing thru Fairy Tale land stopping to use the restroom over here, I just about pissed myself laughing. there was a gnome urinal in these toilets over here. and yes, it actually "peed". . .  hysterical. using single rider is the way to go on Arthur, we were on it in moments. and then started heading towards the direction of the Traumatica entrance. we knew it was over near Croatia (by Voltron), so we went over that way. and once it starts to get dark?  it comes quickly. this was when we started walking. and this is when we got to Voltron. and the temps started to drop too. I caught part of this "Animatronic" show, it was about Nikola Tesla.     to be concluded in part 4:  Traumatica !!!