Yes, I think Carbro is right about the Fred Astaire/Leslie Caron film. I'd forgotten all about it - it's years since I've seen it. Our orphan's costumes were blue/white gingham dresses, the same as the film!
As far as I know, Braintree MA is named after Braintree, Essex. It's roughly 50 miles N.E. of London - about an hour by train. It's just that bit too far to make it easy to attend performances in London in the evening, as it is always a mad dash back to the station to get the last train. That's why the introduction of live relay broadcasts has been very welcome. It will never have the same buzz as seeing a live performance in the theatre, but it's certainly better than not seeing it at all.
In any case, because 'Don Quixote' is a new production and Carlos Acosta was performing, the tickets were sold out ages ago for that particular performance. Marianela Nunez was wonderful as Kitri. She has such energy, and as well as being so good technically, she looked as though she was really enjoying it. The London critics suggested she was not very confident in the first few performances, but If she had been, it didn't show by the time I saw her.
And thank you for the information about the novel by Jean Webster.
