In the Great Debate about the Cloak and the Evening Bag, the Cloak won - the Evening Bag did not.. it's just so damn small, it's impossible to manage when you don't have pockets either. However, with a welcome break in the rain, the Cloak finally got its first outing in London!
(Photo not contemporary, i.e. the dress did not get an outing last night.) I had a late meeting, but I knew it was only a short walk - as usual - down to Her Majesty's Theatre. So, after the meeting I changed, and off I went. Again as usual, Google Maps had a yen for sending me down a convoluted maze of side streets, which I didn't quite get right - but I couldn't go far wrong on such a short trip, and soon I was across the road from the theatre, and there was the Man on the corner. With such a small group, we hung around with him for longer than usual - but finally, we left him to wait for the final straggler, and made our way up to the Grand Circle.
Lots and lots of stairs.. and when we got there, lots of steps down to our rows. Oh hell - no handrail. And I have a problem with steps, when there's nothing to hold onto. So I did my thing of looking geriatric again, grabbing onto the (quite low) seat backs as I passed. Ah well, maybe they thought I was stumbling on the cloak. I did make it safely to my seat - and apart from an obscured corner of the stage, the view was a great one.
Well, seeing this show, you soon realise why it's so enduringly popular. There's nothing quite like it for sheer flamboyance. After all, it is set in an opera house, with all the high drama that that implies. In fact, I do think that one of the things that makes it so popular is that there is opera in it.. so you get a kind of opera lite, with some of the best singing to be found in the West End.
Mostly, you get the beautiful melodies of Andrew Lloyd Webber, and the best of 80s OTT. You have to admire the sheer stop-at-nothing nerve of the story, about a deformed and secretive, shadowy figure in the bowels of the opera house, falling in love with a beautiful young opera singer. And by the end of the night, I think Phantom had several more fans.
Afterwards, to The Comedy Pub, just for the one. Just as well, the service was so slow! And so home, floating on a little bit of stardust. (And one guy I passed, who muttered to his friend that that was a "fantastic cape"..) For my part, I woke this morning with the melodies in my ears.
I wonder which of the tunes the others could hear this morning..
This evening, I'm actually flying back to Ireland, because I'm going with my mother tomorrow to a Colm Wilkinson concert at UCH Limerick. Staying for the weekend, as it would be my weekend in Ireland anyway.
On Monday, I got a cheap ticket to a comedy show - Alasdair King is performing at the Pleasance Theatre.
On Tuesday, I was supposed to go to a Funzing talk - Brexit Vs. Trump - but it's been bumped to next month. So now I'm going on what you might call an anti-Valentine's walk - Walk About London (and Walks, Talks and Treasure Hunts) is going on a walk called My Bloody Valentine. And bloody hell, if I haven't booked with Walk About London, and just discovered that Walks, Talks and Treasure Hunts is cheaper! Ooh, will have to keep an eye out for that in future - too late now..
Next Wednesday sees the Man with the Hat back with London for Less Than a Tenner at Top Secret comedy. Sorry, no cloak for that one - I think I'd be inviting trouble!
Thursday of next week, he's taking London for Less Than a Tenner to a concert in St. Martin's, where we have gallery seats.
Friday of next week, I'm back for free comedy in Hammersmith. Courtesy of London Live Comedy, Free Comedy Nights in Hammersmith Wimbledon and Farringdon, and London Art Comedy and Culture Lovers.
Saturday of next week, I'm back with London Dramatic Arts for a production of Hamlet, at the Almeida.
Sunday 19th is shaping up to be a busy day. I'd booked to go to a free organ recital, with the London European Club, at the Methodist Central Hall. Then the Man with the Hat decides that would be the perfect evening to take Let's Do London - for less! to see the Pop-up Opera, with the Barber of Seville, at Charing Cross Theatre! With a 6pm start, I'll have to rush over from Westminster.. have to make my excuses to the London European Club. My, what a busy life!
Monday 20th is the only day I have free to use my Wowcher before it expires - it's for the Magic Lantern festival.
Tuesday 21, unusually, London European Club is taking us to some storytelling - up in Cambridge Heath!
Wednesday 22, I'm headed, with LDAM, to The Cherry Orchard, at the Arcola.
Thursday 23, the Crick Crack Club is back at Crouch End, with The Fate We Bring Ourselves - not that you'd know it from their Meetup page! Ben Haggerty standing in for Claire Muireann Murphy, who's having a knee operation, it seems. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend.
Monday 27th, London for Less Than a Tenner is off to Two Man Show at Soho Theatre. I've seen it before, but it's worth seeing again. And so is the group!
Tuesday 28th, Let's Do London - for less! is off to Sleeping Beauty, at the Opera House.
Wednesday 1st March - well lookee that, the same group is off to Roundelay, at Southwark Playhouse. Three in a row for the Man with the Hat - we'll have to carry him off on a stretcher. About time we got back to Southwark though - we've missed it!
Thursday 2nd, back to free comedy in Hammersmith - this time with London Live Comedy, Free Comedy Nights in Hammersmith Wimbledon and Farringdon, and Random London.
Friday 3rd, again, Crick Crack is telling stories - Daniel Morden and Hugh Lupton are performing Metamorphoses at Rich Mix. However, neither Crick Crack's Meetup group, nor Rich Mix, seem to have heard of this, and tickets are not yet available to buy - despite Ben Haggerty advertising it just last Monday!
And Saturday 4th, Let's Do London - for less! is back to see Sleeping Beauty - and so am I. Honestly, this was a mistake on my part - I was booking a lot at the time and forgot I was already going - but hell, I'd rather be doing this anyway than not. Amphiteatre, this time - it's been a while since I was there.
And then I may need to be stretchered out..
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