Musical: Falsettos

Tonight, back, after a week, with Up in the Cheap Seats for Falsettos, at The Other Palace. An aisle seat, as usual - legroom is poor, here. And again, I left that little bit late - to be sure of making it, I took the Tube. At least it was District / Circle, so I was guaranteed aircon and space - in fact, there was plenty, and I easily got a seat!

It took less time than Google predicted, to walk the final distance to the theatre - and of those who showed up, I was the last to arrive, squeezing in on the sofa beside them in my layers. When we went in though, I was far behind them all - as I say, I always take an aisle seat here, and the best available was in the second-last row. Where yes, I did avail of the opportunity to stretch into the aisle!

Funnily enough, I'd never heard of this - turns out it's a revival, originally produced in 1992 and set around 1979. Well, the staging - for a start - is fantastic; those screens display different backgrounds throughout, to reflect what's going on, on stage. There are hidden doors, which conceal cleverly constructed props that fold into whatever shape is required for the scene - tables, beds, chairs, storage boxes.. we could all do with such adaptable furniture!

But of course, the show is the thing. And it's terrific. Not familiar with it at all, as I say, I was a bit nonplussed by the first song, which repeats the words "jew", "jews", or "jewish" every couple of words, just to hammer the point home that our characters are jewish. I hear there was some controversy about the non-jewish cast - as if it makes a difference. But anyway, after that, it's absolutely amazing - the writing is razor-sharp, the production values excellent, with great singing and choreography.. the standing ovation at the end extended right to the back, and was well-deserved!

At the interval, we met in the lobby again - and I had a considerable wait for them, being so much closer to the exit! Anyway, when they made the climb out of the theatre, we chatted about how we were liking it. Same again at the end - but now the talk was about how the mood shifts between the first act and the second. It's not a surprise to discover that they were written separately - the first act, light and funny, was written around the time of gay liberation, and shows the merry confusion of a family man deciding that he wants to run off with another man. The second act, however, is much darker, and by the time it was written, AIDS had started to claim victims. The ending is very poignant.. how times have changed.

Highly recommended - as the blurb says, the inevitably tragic conclusion still doesn't detract from the joyousness of the production. Or words to that effect. I was humming the tunes as I left - runs till Saturday. Go see, if you can. Oh, and I got the bus back. Which is still diverted, but at this time of night, still made good time.

Tomorrow, back with the same group for Acosta Danza - Evolution, at Sadler's Wells.

On Wednesday, Anthony's Cultural Events and Walking Activities Group is off to a performance entitled Virginia Woolf - Killing the Angel, at the LSE. So I'm going on my own, and saving the Meetup fee - I haven't had that much luck with socialising with them, anyway. And now that Meetup is full.

On Thursday, back with Spooky London - the John Snow Pub. Then another weekend in Ireland.

Next Monday, the Crick Crack Club is back with Rebel Children, at the British Library. Ben Haggarty & Jan Blake - ooh yeah!

On the 26th, my annual trip to Winter Wonderland - heading to Cirque Berserk and the Ice Kingdom, as usual. Someone said he might come along.

On the 27th, the first night in ages with North London Friends! We're at A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, at Trafalgar Studios.

And on the 28th, our ex-company's social group's Christmas meeting. We had a tiff about the venue - the organiser decided on Thai Square, which I think is overpriced and underwhelming. So he started to grumble about the difficulty of getting somewhere before Christmas - which will take a group, and doesn't cost the earth. Still though, he came up with an alternative - we've decided on the Warwick Castle pub in Little Venice. Lovely area, the pub sounds nice - with a Christmassy open fire, and a room we can book - and hey, it's a pub, which won't throw us out as quickly! Must get on to booking their wine deal.. 10% off if you order at least £150 worth. Which I'm sure, among the dozen or so that are coming, we'll manage to drink. And gee, he's had us choosing what we want off the menu. I also asked for the wine list - and now am waiting impatiently for someone - anyone - to get back to me with an idea of what they'd like to drink!