Grimeborn and Write to Ignite

Living in the corner of inner city London that I do, there are times when I long for the rolling fields and plentiful parking I assume lies just beyond the M25.
However, last weekend, I was reminded about the good things about where I am. One: the Arcola theatre in Dalston. I managed to catch 0ne of the shows in the Grimeborn season of new opera and music, towards the end of the festival. It was a showcase of mainly new musical theatre material, by contemporary writers and some stalwarts, such as Sondheim.
I don't see much musical theatre these days, although I was brought up on a diet of about three or four a year as a kid. These days, West End prices put me off. But the quality of the songs and the singing really inspired me to check more out. There are clearly some very talented writers out there right now. Some of my favourites from the show were The Last Time There Was Rain by Ricky Ian Gordon from The Grapes of Wrath - a really rousing and beautifully harmonised chorus piece. Also, the tongue-in-cheek Easier by Conor Mitchell, Funeral Sequence from Parade by Jason Robert Brown and Dividing Day from The Light in the Piazza by Adam Guettel. Some of these shows have played on Broadway - hopefully, those that haven't might make it to London or Britain in general.
I also really laughed at The Alto's Lament by Marcy Heisler - having sung alto in various choirs, I could completely relate to the sentiment of the song (as an alto, you rarely get any of the interesting lines to sing, unlike sopranos who mainly sing the melodies).
As to my own creative ramblings, I managed to get to a writing workshop as part of the Write to Ignite festival going on in Hackney at the moment. It got the juices flowing definitely - might even prompt me to finish some of the new songs I'm working on!