Musical: Bat Out of Hell

Tonight, Meetup threw up a couple of things I'd have been interested in - Up in the Cheap Seats was off to the ballet at the Opera House, and North London Friends was off to see a play called Black Men Walking at the Royal Court. And wouldn't you know it, by the time I got around to checking, they were both sold out! Blast. (Mind you, I read a not-great review of the play, subsequently). Although there seemed, afterwards, to be some tickets left for the ballet, which then sold out again. Anyway, in the meantime, I got the last £15 ticket - from the official website - for Bat Out of Hell, in the Dominion Theatre. Rear stalls - not so shabby. Then a couple more events were advertised that I'd have been interested in - too late, guys, I usually book earlier than that!

The print-at-home ticket was literally print-at-home - they stated quite clearly that they weren't accepting tickets on mobile devices, blast it. After some confusion, caused by the fact that my default work printer was still set to one in California, I did get it printed. In glorious technicolour. (Wonder whether they got another copy over there..) So, I set off in decent time - my bus passed as I was waiting to cross the road! (naturally). Well, but I didn't have too long to wait - got off just around the corner from the theatre. And rounded the corner to see an enormous crowd outside! Oh dear. Turned out, for some reason, that the Stalls weren't open yet - they were letting in people for the Circle.

So we queued for about five minutes, outside, in quite a cold breeze. When we finally shuffled to the door, it was to quite a thorough bag check - and we were finally in. Where it was pretty impractical to try to get to the bar, with the crowd - among whom biker jackets seemed popular - so I just took my seat. There is an overhang, but it didn't cause an issue with this production:

A free copy on every seat, of the Obsidian Times! (named for the Dystopian city of the story). As just about visible in the photo, the stage housed the obligatory motorbike, and an arresting visual display, with spinning visuals that morphed, periodically, into the title of the show. Very nice. "Nice", however, isn't the word I'd use to describe the opening number, where I swore I could feel the house shake! What with the loud music and the frequent, flashing lights, this isn't a show I could recommend to everyone.

I will, however, recommend it to anyone who's nostalgic for 80s rock, which it has aplenty. We had a great time, headbanging away (politely) in our seats. And you know, this is probably the perfect vehicle for Meatloaf's stuff, which is most theatrical. They manage to fit in almost every song I'm familiar with, along with several I'm not.. yes, they have to fit it around a crazy story, but it's all redeemed by the soaring strains of the music. Which is why I'm recommending it to fans of 80s music.. you'll have a ball! Terrific singing throughout - perhaps the stand-out performance, for me, was Rob Fowler as Falco (the damsel in distress' tyrannical father); pity we couldn't have had more of him. Currently booking until the 27th of October - and if you still have a denim jacket, I think you're obligated to go..! Standing ovation at the end - unanimous, in the Stalls at least. I'd recommend booking, if you're going at short notice - tonight was pretty full.

I did get a drink at the interval - after I got past the ignorant woman who stepped right in front of me to order, then had the temerity to remark to her companions that they'd better hurry, there was a whole queue behind them! The drink, by the way, was hard to manage when I got back to my seat, given that there are no drink holders.. On the way home, arrived just at exactly the same time as the (very crowded) bus, and was just in time for the supermarket. Nice one!

Tomorrow, I'm headed (finally, it's been so long!) to see the Crick Crack Club perform The Gods and Monsters Show at Rich Mix. (And I can walk, goodee!) Now, I don't know what's with the head of their Meetup group, but she seemed to think it's on two days later - I did comment on the event page to that effect. Just check the venue website, as I then said. Or indeed, the Crick Crack Club's own website. Daft woman only changed it today. Not that it wouldn't have suited me to have it on another day - I'd be missing London Literary Walks' first outing of the year, damnit! But it's for a very good cause..

Then I checked, and wouldn't you know it, he subsequently shifted the walk to Thursday! Seems he now works alternating shifts, so dates can change at short notice. Well, this one worked out great for me. Sadly, I'll be missing North London Friends' trip to the Moors Bar Blues Jam and Drinks - well, you can't have everything. I'd never be up to Crouch End in time after the walk.

On Friday, with nothing much on Meetup, I booked - with my £3.60 club, when they finally put something on - for Banana Crabtree Simon, at the Drayton Arms. A play about dementia, it might be terrible, but I could give it a try. Mind you, most of my recent experiences with them have been terrible, so when Up in the Cheap Seats ultimately advertised a trip to see Bernstein's Mass at the Royal Festival Hall, I booked that instead. Certainly closer than the blasted Drayton Arms..

On Saturday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for The Inheritance, at the Young Vic - both parts, so the whole day! With each part running to about 3.5 hours, I hope it's worth it.. Vanessa Redgrave takes part (only in Part II).

On Sunday, I had booked for London's Grime & Punishment Tour, with Walking in London. However, when I checked Crick Crack's Meetup group.. I discovered I'd forgotten about their story of The Liberty Tree - Robin Hood and Other English Radicals, at the British Museum! What's more, it's hosted by Hugh Lupton, and my second-favourite storyteller, Nick Hennessy. I'd have hated to miss this - thank heaven there were still tickets. Not to mention that I could blithely cancel the walk, as it's Funzing, and it'd already been used to amass a loyalty discount, so I had no penalty at all.

On Monday, back with Let's Do This for Nell & the Hot Mess Muggers, at Wilton's. Now, that should be a good night..

Next Tuesday, the London European Club (LEC) advertised a free classical concert in St. John's, Smith Square. Email musikolondon@gmail.com for tickets, subject to availability.

On the 11th, Up in the Cheap Seats is off to see Pericles, at the Barbican.

On the 12th, the LEC is going to Voices of America, at Sadler's Wells. Goodee, two nights in a row that I can walk! Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again.

On the 16th, tragically, a Crick Crack event that I found out about too late.. Red Bead Woman, with Martin Shaw at Soho Theatre, is sold out. Never mind, he's not one of my favourites anyway. Instead, back with the Funzing talk groups, London Speaks Sessions and LDN Talks @ Night (until they cancel!), for The Story of Accent and Identity.

On the 17th, (nominally) going with London Science Events for a talk on Gravitational Waves and Beyond, at the Royal Institution. They've given no Meetup details, so I'm not anticipating a social evening.

On the 18th, Funzing again, for The Strangest Feeling: Déjà Vu, at Gabeto, in Camden Market. Presented by Anthony Peake, whom I spent a long time researching to make sure he's not a sceptic, as I have extensive personal experience of precognitive experiences.

On the 19th, back with London Literary Walks - he's only doing them fortnightly now, it seems. Well, he's covered half of London at this rate! And he seems to prefer Thursdays, which are working out better for me so far. This one is called Guitar Bands Are on the Way Out, Mr. Epstein.

On the 20th, I got the very last ticket to The Phlebotomist, downstairs at Hampstead Theatre. I'm going with Up in the Cheap Seats - North London Friends are seeing it in preview, but it was already sold out for that night. For the 20th, one of the group is looking to sell her ticket, if you're interested - I didn't see that until I'd got mine.

On the 21st, I'm back with London Discovery Walks for yet another ghost tour - this one is  called Ghosts of the Old City - just like my last walk!

On the 22nd, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for a film music gala at the Albert Hall.

On the 23rd, a Funzing talk - An Introduction to the Dark Net. At Sink.. For which I earned a loyalty discount, on account of all I booked recently!

On the 24th and 25th, back again with Up in the Cheap Seats: the 24th is for An Ideal Husband - part of the Oscar Wilde Season, at the Vaudeville. Stars father and son, Edward and Freddie Fox. And Susan Hampshire. The 25th is for Mood Music, at the Old Vic, with Ben Chaplin.

On the 26th, the LEC is attending a lecture at the LSE, on Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration. Then I'm back to the highly non-Eurosceptic Ireland again, for the weekend.

On the 30th, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for A Gym Thing - got a fright when I saw that, but no, it's a play - in the Pleasaunce.

On the 1st, I am back with North London Friends - to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East for Our Country's Good.

On the 2nd, Up in the Cheap Seats is off to The Writer, at the Almeida.

And on the 3rd of next month, London Literary Walks is doing - ahem - Stalin's Doss House. Meeting at Starbucks, naturally!

Musical: War of the Worlds

With nothing on Meetup for last night, I turned to Time Out.. near the top of their list was War of the Worlds. Hmm, ok.. heard the music, never seen the show - I decided I'd book. Plenty of ticket offers available - I got a nice, cheap ticket with Time Out. Restricted view, it said, but I checked out the seat plan for the Dominion Theatre, and decided the view from Row H of the Circle seemed ok.

With a start time of 7:45, I should've been ok, even coming from Guildford. Heh. That was until an accident on the A3 slowed us down.. and one of my passengers asked me, pretty please could I take him to yoga? which otherwise he'd be late for, and which was (fairly) local, in Clapham Common. I'm too soft, me. He got us there without getting lost (much) but I wasn't as optimistic about the route home - well, he showed me on his maps app and off he trotted. And my phone, when I dug it out to consult my own maps app, promptly died. Of course (really must get a new one). Well, I remembered the map route, and it was well signposted to the other side of the common.. at which the signposts disappeared, and I just kept going till I saw something I recognised. Which meant I overshot quite a bit, but what the hey, I got home.

Now, the Dominion Theatre is in the centre, and there ain't no way I was taking the car in there. Which meant train to Waterloo, Northern Line to Tottenham Court Road, and it's right across the road. Time was a-ticking, but that's a fast Underground line, and we flew through the four stops. And indeed, the theatre is visible when you leave the station (Oxford Street side) - after a delay in crossing the road, I scurried in the door.

I hadn't been in here before, and was immediately impressed with the grand entranceway and the decor (red, appropriately for this show). The box office is strangely discreet, tucked away at the back of the lobby on the left, but I found it, got my ticket, and charged upstairs to the Circle (again, noting the unnerving lack of people). As I did so, there was a five-minute warning - well, that's better than I normally manage! In glorious solitude, I passed the under-employed ushers and got to my seat - tucked into the centre edge of the front row at the rear of the Circle. So, quite central - decent legroom, nice n comfy, and the "restricted view" consisted of a low safety rail that usually wasn't a problem at all, and when it was, all you had to do was lean forward a bit. Otherwise, a great, central view - I was delighted with this seat.

The red decor continued in the auditorium - and from what I could see, the Circle was half empty (I couldn't see the Stalls). Pity really - but this show has been around for a while, and it was a Monday! Well, after a bit we were into it.. now, this show is based on the album, and almost the whole stage is taken up with the band: violins on one side, electric guitar and drums on the other. Conducted, from the middle, by Jeff Wayne - the composer - himself.

If you don't know the story, it's based on the HG Wells novel about a Martian invasion, around which Jeff Wayne composed a concept album - and then an updated version, in 2012. Hence the large musical presence - but he also incorporates elements of the novel, so we have Liam Neeson on a screen to narrate those, and we have people in front to depict the story: some singing, quite a bit of choreography. Michael Praed sings the role of the narrator, David Essex is his fiancee's father, Daniel Bedingfield the soldier he meets on the way, who has a vision of how society can adapt to the invasion. Jimmy Nail is the parson.

And..? Aw jeez, it's terrific! It's marvellously OTT, with fantastic visuals, (plenty of) strobe lighting, and the music throughout - it even plays at the interval. Oh, and they even have a huge Martian killing machine on stage, firing death rays.. gee, anyone who ever liked the music will love it, kids will probably love it too. Bit scary for the littlest ones, perhaps. There's been some criticism of the acting - sod it, this is terrific fun, who cares? If you think you'll like it, doubtless you will. Runs until the 30th.

Tonight, I got a cheap ticket to Orpheus Sonfonia Principals - a concert at Grosvenor Chapel in Mayfair. And gee, it seems I have been here before! A carol concert, over a year ago. Might try driving again - it's not too central and should be ok in the evening.

Tomorrow, I'm back with the World Music Meetup - another concert at Sands Film Studios. Great venue, diverse artists - this time, it's a Zambian performer called Namvula. Great, too, that it's so much handier to get there from where I am now!

On Thursday, my second film of the week is gonna be 10 Cloverfield Lane - in my local Cineworld, so already booked, 'coz that's cheaper. Sounds interesting - SciFi thriller, in which a woman wakes from a car crash to find herself in an underground bunker, with two men (one being John Goodman) who say they can't leave, because there's been some kind of apocalypse. Produced by JJ Abrams, so bound to be entertaining - and, of course, highly rated to come at the top of my film list. I booked the later showing, for the free car parking (after 7) - which is just as well, as it turns out I have to stay late in Guildford that day.

I can afford to be out a bit later than usual, since I'll be working from home on Friday - flying back to Ireland for a long weekend, actually: for cheaper flights, again. On Saturday, my mother and I are off to see the Three Tenors, at the University Concert Hall - she's a big fan. Not flying back until Monday - which is a bummer, because (forgetting my travel dates) I'd booked a ticket for the Crick Crack Club. And now it turns out the London European Club are going as well - so that'd have been a good night. Can't be helped - I'd never be back in time.

I am with the London European Club on the next day, though, for a talk on Theatre and Language: Samuel Beckett "Waiting for Godot". Taking place at the Museum of London, it's a talk about the play, rather than a performance of the play itself. But I love Beckett, so that should be interesting.