Best thing coming up for tonight was with my second cheap ticket club, "CT" - I booked for Soho Cinders, a gay, musical take on Cinderella, playing at the Charing Cross Theatre. Promised to be fun. Only thing is, booking things with CT is so stressful - all the dire warnings about all the things that can get you permanently banned from the club! Thou shalt not cancel without at least three hours' notice.. thou shalt not cancel any of thy first six bookings.. (no exceptions).. thou shalt not be a no-show (we check!).. thou shalt book something at least every three months.. honestly, it sounds as though, if you do anything wrong, they come around and beat you up! Mind you, reading again now, it seems it's the first three bookings you can't cancel, and you have to book just one thing a year. (You can only cancel up to three events a year, however.) Now, I'm sure that's not what I was told! Indeed, it seems they have reduced the number of bookings you have to make.
Well, I headed off in good time - they do like you to be there half an hour early to pick up the ticket, which is complete overkill. But it's not like I fancied hanging around at work - my mind just wasn't on it at all today, too many distractions. Like the non-working WiFi. So I arrived in the West End in good time, and on the final walk to the theatre, was struck by the vast crowd around the sikh soup kitchen across the road. Wonderful work they do.
The theatre is in a tunnel, to the right as you go down Villiers Street - and it's not the only thing down there worth a look:
I picked up my ticket from the box office, noted that the house wasn't open for another 15 minutes, thought about getting a drink from the bar - but there were no seats available, so I skipped it. No WiFi reception either, BTW, anywhere in the theatre, despite the prominent signs that advertise it. No phone reception at all downstairs in the auditorium - well, you'd hardly expect it underground. Just as well I'd picked up a paper at the top of the road..
It's ages since I was last here - nearly three years! and the last time (which I remember quite well) was with the Man with the Hat. (sigh*) Shall we ever see him again? Hope so. They were happier days, when I was also in a nicer job, in a much friendlier office, and living in a more fun part of town. And it rained less.
Well, in the meantime - unless it's just for this production, perhaps - they've reconfigured the theatre to be in the round! Sort of. Fabulous legroom, I have to say. And it's set in Soho.. before the performance starts, you even get a recording of traffic noise to set the scene!
OMG, what a revelation - I never expected it to be this good! What on earth do they need a seat-filling service for - the writing sparkles with one-liners ("He puts the 'pin' in 'spin' - in fact, he's a prick!" The songs are catchy. The story is a clever take - the prince here is the popular mayoral candidate (whose surname is Prince), the "Cinderella" character is a lowly launderette worker, whose ugly stepsisters kick him out, so he's homeless and plans to sleep in the launderette, until his friend who works there takes pity on him. There's even a fairy godmother - a rich, gay benefactor who fancies our lad and pays for an outfit for him so he can come to Mr. Prince's big fundraising bash. Oh, and our hero has his pal call him at midnight to get him out of there, so he won't have to repay the favour in kind..
It's a gripping yarn, with several political digs and a nice slice of Soho life. Deserves far more attention than it's getting - sadly, after an extended run, it finishes tomorrow. Highly recommended - and I was delighted with the substantial discount I got. Unfortunately, I just missed my bus and had a very cold wait for the next - listening, all the while, to the trumpeter, busking in front of the station. They're planning to ban general boarding at any but the front doors of buses in future, you know, to avoid fare dodging - they haven't officially brought it in on this route yet, but I do wonder whether that doesn't have something to do with all the non-working card readers at the centre doors. Mind you, nothing would cheer you up more than when we stopped in Aldwych, near where the crowds were coming out from Mamma Mia, and the rickshaw drivers were blasting out ABBA songs!
Well, I headed off in good time - they do like you to be there half an hour early to pick up the ticket, which is complete overkill. But it's not like I fancied hanging around at work - my mind just wasn't on it at all today, too many distractions. Like the non-working WiFi. So I arrived in the West End in good time, and on the final walk to the theatre, was struck by the vast crowd around the sikh soup kitchen across the road. Wonderful work they do.
The theatre is in a tunnel, to the right as you go down Villiers Street - and it's not the only thing down there worth a look:
I picked up my ticket from the box office, noted that the house wasn't open for another 15 minutes, thought about getting a drink from the bar - but there were no seats available, so I skipped it. No WiFi reception either, BTW, anywhere in the theatre, despite the prominent signs that advertise it. No phone reception at all downstairs in the auditorium - well, you'd hardly expect it underground. Just as well I'd picked up a paper at the top of the road..
It's ages since I was last here - nearly three years! and the last time (which I remember quite well) was with the Man with the Hat. (sigh*) Shall we ever see him again? Hope so. They were happier days, when I was also in a nicer job, in a much friendlier office, and living in a more fun part of town. And it rained less.
Well, in the meantime - unless it's just for this production, perhaps - they've reconfigured the theatre to be in the round! Sort of. Fabulous legroom, I have to say. And it's set in Soho.. before the performance starts, you even get a recording of traffic noise to set the scene!
OMG, what a revelation - I never expected it to be this good! What on earth do they need a seat-filling service for - the writing sparkles with one-liners ("He puts the 'pin' in 'spin' - in fact, he's a prick!" The songs are catchy. The story is a clever take - the prince here is the popular mayoral candidate (whose surname is Prince), the "Cinderella" character is a lowly launderette worker, whose ugly stepsisters kick him out, so he's homeless and plans to sleep in the launderette, until his friend who works there takes pity on him. There's even a fairy godmother - a rich, gay benefactor who fancies our lad and pays for an outfit for him so he can come to Mr. Prince's big fundraising bash. Oh, and our hero has his pal call him at midnight to get him out of there, so he won't have to repay the favour in kind..
It's a gripping yarn, with several political digs and a nice slice of Soho life. Deserves far more attention than it's getting - sadly, after an extended run, it finishes tomorrow. Highly recommended - and I was delighted with the substantial discount I got. Unfortunately, I just missed my bus and had a very cold wait for the next - listening, all the while, to the trumpeter, busking in front of the station. They're planning to ban general boarding at any but the front doors of buses in future, you know, to avoid fare dodging - they haven't officially brought it in on this route yet, but I do wonder whether that doesn't have something to do with all the non-working card readers at the centre doors. Mind you, nothing would cheer you up more than when we stopped in Aldwych, near where the crowds were coming out from Mamma Mia, and the rickshaw drivers were blasting out ABBA songs!
Ivan wanted to meet tomorrow - but now he's not sure he can make it, what with drinks planned with the company he's soon to be leaving, in Oxford. So I'm doing my own thing, and was thinking of film again. Now, once I'd excised all the films at the top of the list that I just wouldn't be interested in - war films, for instance, and Le Mans '66 - the top film was something called Cep Herkülü: Naim Süleymanoglu. Based on the true story of an ethnic Turkish weightlifter born in Bulgaria, who defected to Turkey during the Communist Party's rule in Bulgaria, it does look interesting. However, it's only showing in the Odeon Lee Valley, at 10pm. Which sounds like too much hassle.
The London European Club is heading to a tarantella concert, which I'd be interested in, but that PERSON is attending (regular readers might remember her). So I'm not. Then I saw that London International Meetup is headed to a "surprise" classical concert at the Royal Festival Hall tomorrow afternoon. Heh, it didn't take too much detective work to figure out that they're off to the Johann Strauss Gala! Popular favourites, with dancers in period costume - yes, that sounds nice. Unfortunately, their cheap tickets were already sold out, of course - and sure enough, CT was selling them too, which is probably where the organiser got his. Which he then sold on at a profit - well, it's a great business model. CT was also sold out of tickets for it, when I looked. Never mind, I booked myself a full-price ticket - it took forever to find the cheapest though, since they don't give any indication of price until you select a seat! I'm in the balcony, but you never know - I've been upgraded here before, and there are tons of empty seats..
The London European Club is heading to a tarantella concert, which I'd be interested in, but that PERSON is attending (regular readers might remember her). So I'm not. Then I saw that London International Meetup is headed to a "surprise" classical concert at the Royal Festival Hall tomorrow afternoon. Heh, it didn't take too much detective work to figure out that they're off to the Johann Strauss Gala! Popular favourites, with dancers in period costume - yes, that sounds nice. Unfortunately, their cheap tickets were already sold out, of course - and sure enough, CT was selling them too, which is probably where the organiser got his. Which he then sold on at a profit - well, it's a great business model. CT was also sold out of tickets for it, when I looked. Never mind, I booked myself a full-price ticket - it took forever to find the cheapest though, since they don't give any indication of price until you select a seat! I'm in the balcony, but you never know - I've been upgraded here before, and there are tons of empty seats..
And on Sunday, I'm back with CT - this one booked before tonight's, to make the three-month rule. I'm going to the Clapham Comedy Club at the Bread & Roses. Crumbs, it's ages since I've been there! And this is the first of a lot of comedy gigs I've booked over the next few months..
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