Musical: Aspects of Love

Tonight, back with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) at last! Well, I couldn't resist a performance of Aspects of Love, by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with Michael Ball - I'd never seen it. Showing at the Lyric - there have been cheap offers, but the best I could find were with the official website. Aisle seat, for the legroom - thanks for the advice, Seatplan!

Handiest place to eat - as I'd be passing it - was The Lucas Arms, so I quit my work meeting early, there being nothing useful in it anyway, and headed down there. It was mostly empty - no problem getting a table. When I went to order at the bar, I saw one of the familiar faces - who greeted me with what sounded like surprise and delight! He made straight for the wine, asking, "Usual, is it?" and within five minutes, my meal was delivered to my table. And it was delicious, as ever. It's not for lack of enthusiasm that I don't come here that often, just that I do like to try and eat at my destination. But I'm only delighted to come back here! When I checked, it was a full 20 days since I was last here..

Had to get two buses, and in each case, I was just in time to miss one! Also in each case, another was right along after, though. I ended up being a bit early - they hadn't opened yet, and for the first time in months, I found myself queueing outside a theatre..

Ah, dontcha love Theatreland?! In one shot, our show, Les Misérables, and - just peeking out, in between, The Crucible.. Anyway, it wasn't long before the queue started to move, they checked our bags and tickets. I explained to the usher that I was meeting people in the foyer bar - we arranged to meet there, as half the group were sitting down there - and she said I'd have to go in the main entrance, and at showtime, come back out and have my ticket scanned again. Which was what I did. I skipped the photo op, in the foyer:

Ordered a (quite reasonably priced) drink, and bagged the only table in the foyer! Well, it's handy to have something to lean on, or at least put your stuff on. The others arrived in due course, and we chatted away - I needed to drink my whole drink in advance though: I didn't think they'd much like me taking it outside!

Nearly expired on the climb to the balcony - this has been a tough week so far for me, to be fair, and the lack of sleep - and stress - didn't help. Made it alive, surprisingly, and was greeted by two of our group, whom I didn't know, but I had mentioned my seat number on the event page, and so they located me! They were sat just in front of me, anyway. I have to say, from experience, the legroom was fine, even without swinging my leg into the aisle! View not bad either, although I had to lean a lot to see the near edge of the stage - happily, the balcony was half empty, and there was no-one behind me. Also found myself bobbing my head up and down a lot, to see around the railings:

Well, there's one song that everyone knows from this show - and by 'eck, they do it to death, frankly. I didn't recognise a single other song in the show. Mind you, it's a cracker - Love Changes Everything has stood the test of time. And so has Michael Ball's rendition of it. Mind you, the group's general consensus was that the same cannot be said for the plot! So.. in brief, a young French actress in wartime Paris, Rose, finds an 18-year-old American lad - Alex - has a crush on her. And says - OK then! accompanying him to his uncle's villa in the south. They have a brief fling - until his uncle arrives, and she falls head over heels for him (or his money?). So, Alex goes off in a huff, to be a soldier.

Fast-forward a few years - she's the uncle's mistress, then wife, then mother to his daughter, Jenny. Still has the acting career, and seems to be carrying on with one of her Paris hangers-on, Hugo. Whom she drops like a stone when Alex comes back on the scene..

Fast-forward some more years, and Jenny is growing up, Alex is still hanging around, and they start a relationship. Apparently, they've increased her age a bit in this production, to make it a tad less weird. Her dad - Alex's uncle - keels over with a heart attack at the news, and one of the best scenes is his wake, which turns into a Bacchanalian orgy, courtesy of a friend of Rose's. Whom Alex then decides is far better for him than Jenny - who might just be a bit young.. Oh, and Rose makes a fool of herself, throwing herself at him and begging him not to leave her. Michael Ball originally played Alex - in this production, he's the uncle..

Not all our group stayed to the end. Me, I thought the plot was, at best, bonkers, but I adore showtunes, and that one, as mentioned, is terrific, and keeps popping up throughout. Mind you, as I remarked to the group, outside, afterwards - it took Alex rather a long time to find a woman who wasn't related to him! Basically, don't go for the story - go for the music. Runs till the 11th of November - seems to be taking a holiday, the last week in August.

Meantime, we admired the new Coyote Ugly across the road:

A couple of dancers were just visible inside. And just at that moment, the rickshaws arrived, blaring music.. yes, you could say the town was hopping.

Film tomorrow - and I thought I might finally get to see The Blue Caftan! It's Moroccan, and again showing at what is still, for now, my local cinema. Although, checking the listings again, I found a new one - A Crack in the Mountain is a documentary about Hang So'n Doong, the largest cave in the world, which is in Vietnam. Looks gorgeous - but it's only on in the Curzon Wimbledon, at 5.40, which I'd never make in time if I stay at work as long as I should! However, it is on their Home Cinema.. which would also save the fare.. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again.

Monday and Tuesday, I'm also thinking of film. The film listings weren't helping my decision much, though - so I consulted my local cinema, which was happy to tell me that it's showing Return to Seoul on Monday, which seemed the best of the fare that day; The Blue Caftan doesn't seem to be showing next week. It's the story of a young French girl, returning to seek her roots in Korea. Looks engaging. But the new listings are finally out! and now, it's Beau Is Afraid. Funnily enough, it comes under the headings of comedy, drama, and horror! The title role is taken by the ever-watchable Joaquin Phoenix, who plays an anxiety-ridden man who, following his mother's death, decides to travel back home. Now, the Hideout (Horror, SciFi, & Fantasy) group that I'm a member of went to see this recently, and raved about it - when pushed, someone said what he liked was the surreal settings, and very black comedy.. nearest showing to me is the Picturehouse Central. Definitely worth a look.

On Tuesday, my local cinema's excellent doc house is showing Tina, a documentary about the phenomenon that was the late Tina Turner!

Next Wednesday, back with UITCS for Bleak Expectations, a Dickens-based comedy, with a different star every week, showing at the Criterion. I think we're getting Julian Clary.. I ended up going up a price band here, the cheap tickets all seemed so restricted!

And on the 8th, back with North London Friends, for the first time in, oh, ages.. we're off to The Park, to see The Shape of Things. Different people from last time, these are some I knew before.

Concert: West End Musical Love Songs

Well, after coming back from Ireland late last night - as usual - I was predictably wrecked. And I then had an early start today - as usual - followed by an interview at 1 - for which I had to finish an assignment, which I hadn't had a chance to start until yesterday! Well, that turned into a panic, eventually getting done at 12:30, with me convinced I'd have to postpone! So - phew. Of course, I then had the interview. Which I think, and hope, went well. Anyway, with another meeting right after that - and urgent documentation changes that I felt I had to do something about - it was a very long time before I could think about eating. I was mentally and physically exhausted. So - dinner out it was, and the best option around here, for me, tends to be Cote.

It being Valentine's Day, I thought I'd better book. Turned out there wasn't any need, but you never know. I've taken to having bread as a starter, and did again today - for my main, I rather fancied chicken, but could only see one option on the menu, and didn't think it was the one I'd had before. So I was back to my usual steak frites - with a huge knob of delectable garlic butter. Chocolate mousse for dessert, Chardonnay and tap water to drink. Two large glasses of Chardonnay, I'd earned it. And it was all lovely. But dear Lord, I could have been invisible for all the attention I got after I'd got my main - it took forever to get a dessert menu, forever to order dessert, forever to get the bill. And no, they weren't so very busy. Honestly, I know it's service with a smile, but they could have sped it up a bit.

This evening, wouldn't you know it, the West End went all romantic! with a one-night-only performance of West End Musical Love Songs! Well now, that seemed like a good way to spend the evening. Showing in the Lyric, cheapest from the venue. Mind you, considering that the very cheapest are right behind pillars - and remembering the horrendous experience I had in one of those seats before - I went up a price bracket, and booked in the rear stalls. With a pillar "in my sightline", but not squeezing into my legroom. Which should be fine.

I would've taken the bus(es) in. I had a choice of two - the #8 or the #11, which would take longer but would mean I didn't have to change. Waiting in a cold breeze, with rain dripping on me, and neither bus in sight, I consulted the Buses Due app - which took absolutely forever to load. When it did, it said the #8 was imminent.. now, this area sees a lot of buses, but that was one number I couldn't see. When the #11 finally trundled along, consulting the estimated journey time, I decided that it didn't look like it'd get me there in time, at this hour. And with the "imminent" #8 nowhere in sight, I gave up entirely and took the Tube. Alighting at street level, I was glad I knew the area, and which direction to go in - it would've been quite tricky otherwise.

In the event, I made the theatre with five minutes to spare. And for the very first time, the guys waiting with scanners were scanning tickets, rather than inspecting vaccination status! A bag check - a specific enquiry as to whether I'd brought food - and I went in. To find that the stalls are downstairs. Otherwise, not complicated.

Pillar "in sightline"?! Not if you're looking at the stage - only perhaps if something catches your attention in one of the boxes would this pillar obstruct your view. And even if I'd been right behind it, I noticed that it seems a lot thinner than the one I was stuck behind before, so it wouldn't have bothered me so much. Still, I was rather glad not to have it right in front of me.

The stage was festooned with balloons, the audience with young ladies in a variety of crop tops, with a variety of seasonal accessories. To one of whom I got much too up close and personal when, retaking her seat further along my row at the end of the interval, she stumbled (probably on my stuff, to be fair) and skewered me with a stiletto. Ooh - just as well I was wearing boots.

As to the show: hosted by a young lady with an obsession with fiddling with her hair - who also turned out to be rather an excellent singer - it was a glittery bonanza of West End musical stars, complete with a bevy of dancers. Four ladies, two men, as I recall - and the whooping and cheering every time they took the stage was not sexually biased; the ladies and men were cheered in equal measure, it seemed, by all audience members.

The songs were mostly familiar to me - not all though. The first half focused on ballads, the second on songs designed to get us singing and dancing - which we were encouraged to do. It's amazing how many of the songs I knew from other sources though - the many songs from films that were later turned into musicals, and pop songs that became famous in films (and/or musicals) as well. If you were in the front, you could prepare to be interacted with, although no-one suffered the pains of being dragged on stage.

But we were all singing in the end - and as usual, nothing got me going more than the Abba song Lay All Your Love on Me! Yes, I'm now hoarse as a result - long time since I did that at a concert. A couple of musicals I would've liked to have heard something from - but those songs are on the operatic side. Not the thing to get the audience singing along. And yes, this was an excellent show! Hey, and they promised the balloons would be given out at the stage door afterwards. And wouldn't you know it, I just happened to be passing when they did..!

Got buses home.

Tomorrow, I'm at The Glow, in the Royal Court - nice, spooky sounding play about someone with a gift for the supernatural! As usual, not a place you can usually get discounted tickets for - although, in one of those annoying twists, CT came up with cheap tickets after I'd bought mine. But slips tickets tend to be great value, as long as you're not too close to the stage and having to crane your neck.

On Wednesday, I'm back with Guided Walking Tours in Brighton and Sussex, for London By Night - an Illuminating Virtual Tour. Online, should be nice.

On Thursday, back with Crick Crack! which should hopefully happen this time. This is a double bill - The Thief's Tale and Future Imperfect, at Rich Mix, Daniel Morden one of the performers. And there are a couple of others from the London European Club coming, which is cool! Unfortunately, the Crick Crack show that was cancelled a while back is livestreaming the same night from Oxford! which just can't be helped.

On Friday, back with Civilised London for a play called The Ballad of Maria Marten, based on a real-life murder mystery, at Wilton's. Now, I'm rather tired of craning my neck here, so I went for a slightly more expensive seat, with a more direct view - albeit still in the balcony.

And on Saturday, I'm headed off with 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners again, for Laurence Summers' Elementary Sherlock Walking Tour.

Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical

Tonight, booked for Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical. Showing at the Lyric. Was looking forward to it. And it proved easier to get to than yesterday's venue. They actually asked me to fill out a questionnaire yesterday, which consisted of one question - have you had Covid symptoms recently? And after I answered in the negative, they consented to email me my ticket.

After another hectic day at work, things died down in the evening, and I headed off in decent time. I could get the #8 - but I'd have to change - or the #11, direct, with a little walk to the theatre. However, the #11 was not shown as coming at any time! That didn't stop it being the first of the two that appeared, and off I went. I was glad to get off, mind, once the small, strident woman got on and sat somewhere behind me, talking loudly - on her phone, it seems. She was both very angry and very religious! The amount of swearing she did down that phone.. as well as predicting that God would smite the (string of rude words)..

Well, the bus beat Google Maps' estimate by 10 minutes, which was lovely. Now, I'd been warned that the theatre wouldn't even open until 15 minutes before showtime.. I arrived five minutes before that, and was rather glad I had, when I saw the queue that stretched right down to Great Windmill Street:

(You can just about see the show sign, off in the distance.) And just as the crowd was trying to decide whether to queue across the road, or at an angle up the pavement, the doors opened and the queue began to move. A very cursory bag check, a quick ticket check, and up a reasonable amount of stairs. A lady at the top asked where I was sitting and told me roughly where that was, then where the bar and toilets were - so, off I schlepped to the bar, where I got a large wine. Decent size, for once. And when I got to my seat, I was glad I'd done that first - it'd have been a bit complicated otherwise.

The lady at the end of the row offered to hold my drink while I struggled into my seat - I was just lucky that the people either side of me hadn't arrived yet. You see, despite appearances, the view wasn't the problem here - I could lean and see all I needed to. It was that the pillar juts into the seating area, severely limiting legroom and manoeuvrability. Mercifully, just as it was starting, the guy to my right confided that there was a free seat beside them, and they were going to move up and I could then have his seat. Ah, bless! So I was much more comfortable - and could stretch my legs into the seat behind the pillar, thus compensating for the generally snug legroom. I was equally glad not to have someone on my left - these seats fit very cosily together, and I felt quite squashed on the side where I was beside someone. Plus, the lady to my left now had somewhere to leave all her stuff!

So, another jukebox musical. I'm not as familiar with Bob Marley as I am with Tina Turner, but I certainly knew most of these, and was surprised that one I was familiar with was one of his! Plus, I just love the laidback vibe of the music.. what a perfect antidote to a stressful day at work. Very pleased with myself.

At the end of the interval.. gee, the owner of the originally unoccupied seat showed up. I was thinking I'd been lucky - the place was packed. Poor guy, missing all the first half! And poor me - I was back behind the pillar for the second half. And the lady to my left had to move all her stuff - somewhere. Speaking of whom, she was a rather large lady, and my left leg was squished into the pillar for the duration - agony. And although I was happy enough to sing along - when I knew the words - when the standing ovation came at the end, and the standing around, bopping to the beat - why, I couldn't! I literally didn't have the room - I'd just have been hugging the pillar. Will never, ever take that seat - or similar, in this theatre - again. But it's an excellent show - currently booking until 17th September.

Waiting for the bus back - which I caught across from Charing Cross - I found myself listening to a peculiar rendition of When the Saints Go Marching In. I looked around for the source - as usual, it was a busker outside the station gate. This busker had appropriated a traffic cone, and was using it as a megaphone.. And so home, and alighted at the stop that is no longer listed on the route.. And delighted to be home earlier than last night.

Tomorrow, back with London Classical Music & Theatre Group, for a concert by the London Philharmonic in the Royal Festival Hall. Really must make an effort to meet the group this time - but it can be tricky, if they don't bring a sign or indicate how they can be recognised!

And on Thursday, the Crick Crack Club is back - online - with Trickster, live-streamed from Oxford again. Well, assuming it works, this time..

Musical: Showstopper!

So, I made it back again - last night's flight was a whole three minutes earlier than the previous one. Mind you, there I was blaming Ryanair, until another misfortunate soul - waiting for departure, as I was, with no definite word - suggested I check the Stansted website. Sure enough, it was an absolute litany of severely delayed flights - including the one to Shannon, which was presumably due to take us back again. I assume they're bursting at the seams with summer travellers.

Anyway, they at least redeemed themselves with the baggage claim - last time, I had a 45-minute wait once I got to the baggage hall, before our baggage arrived. Last night, I was absolutely stunned to discover, upon arriving in the hall, bracing myself for another lengthy wait - and another call to my mother from the hall, pretending I was home already - that the baggage was already there, waiting to be collected! See, they can do it if they want.. Within a couple of minutes, I had my bag and was headed for the buses. Called her from the queue (pretending I was home), and caught a bus nearly two hours earlier than last time! Despite a lengthy wait for the city bus home, I was still home over an hour before last time. Mind you, it was still 4:16am..

Which is why I was rather tired today. What the hey, tonight I was back with Up in the Cheap Seats for the first time in weeks! Another performance of Showstopper! The Improvised Musical - different every night. At the Lyric again. I had a late meeting - when I discovered that yet another had been scheduled, to which they'd forgotten to invite me, I demurred; enough was enough. I left instead.

Boy, was it hot! I panted my way to the bus - which turned out not to be going the full way. Never mind, I changed straight on to a #19 that dropped me just across the road from the theatre. As it happened, I was the first of our group to arrive - I collected my ticket from the box office, then schlepped out again to join the queue, as the house wasn't yet open. Where a couple of the group joined me.. we proceeded to the stalls bar, which turned out to be largely inhabited by what seemed (from the accompanying fliers) to be a gathering of female musicians. Well, I proceeded there - the others needed the facilities first. Seeing me standing alone (holding a glass of wine that was rather on the expensive side), looking for the others, one of them kindly introduced herself and drew me into her group. Where they were astonished to find that I wasn't an "M. D.".. (musical director?)

Happily, the group finally arrived and rescued me. And we stood and chatted for a bit until it was showtime, and time to climb all the way up to (for me) the Upper Circle.

Don't ever, ever get the side slips here - they are dreadful. I don't usually make such an error - I can only guess that there weren't any Seatplan reviews of seats near mine when I booked it. The seat itself would have been comfortable - if I hadn't had to sit sideways, half on and half off of it, splayed across the wide barrier, in order to see anything at all! In retrospect, I'd have been better off standing - there wasn't a row behind me to disturb, after all. As I was sitting sideways, legroom was fine - there was a whole heap of empty space beside my seat - but had I been sitting faced forwards, I might have been a bit squashed. No, I must try to remember to avoid these seats like the plague in future.

It was actually exhausting, and really spoiled the show for me. I kept getting stiff from the strange way I was being forced to sit, and had to keep shifting and sitting back - which meant that I followed a lot of the show by sound, unable to see what was going on. I couldn't see the near corner of the stage, even when I was contorted as far as I could go! At the interval, I noticed one man who'd forsaken his slips seat in favour of sitting on the steps at the back - I'm sure it was much more comfortable. He and his companions were gone after the interval, and I don't blame them.

Having said all of that, the show was good, as ever. Suggestions yelled by an enthusiastic audience were duly noted by the mc, and we ended up with a hotch-potch musical, set in a retirement home for superheroes, done in the style of a bunch of musicals. Of the suggested ones, I'd only heard of Phantom of the Opera - which saw them sing "operatically", but they didn't take that very far. 

For me, it took off when they landed in the Wild West (don't ask - something to do with a fake time machine). They also decided to throw in some Hamilton, though the crowd didn't ask for it. But hey, you have to admit that it requires no small amount of quick thinking to draw a musical around a clutter of random suggestions, and make the whole make sense. Funny, manic - always a good night out. And gee, they now have loyalty cards! I forgot to look for one on the way out..

A quick chat outside - where it was now chilly enough that I was glad I'd brought a coat, after all - and a dash for the #19 going in the other direction, and glad to be in earlier tonight. And it was great to see people I hadn't seen in an age! Tomorrow, another Funzing talk, courtesy of London Speaks Sessions and LDN Talks @ Night - Inside North Korea. I see the code crazy_fun is still getting a 10% discount.. sadly, I hadn't seen the code TALKS20 when I booked it, which gets you 20% off. Too late now to cancel and rebook.

On Wednesday, London Literary Walks is taking us to A Circus School and Shakespeare's Dark Lady.

On Thursday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats - at the Bridge Theatre this time, for My Name is Lucy Barton, starring Laura Linney. I got the very last £15 seat!

On Friday, would you credit it, I'm back with London Dramatic Arts! to see Monogamy, at the Park Theatre. Well, it sounds interesting - and they've sold their allocation for this showing, so we're free to buy our own (gee). My good God, it's August since I was last with them..

On Saturday, Funzing is advertising an ice skating display in aid of the victims of Grenfell. Via Funzing UK. The usual 10% discount applies.

On Sunday, Let's Do This is headed to the World Illustration Awards exhibition at Somerset House.

Next Monday, I'm headed to storytelling by Crick Crack again, finally.. I haven't been able to make any of their more recent ones. It's in Soho Theatre, and it's Sally Pomme Clayton, with Crow. Blood. Snow. Oh my God, it's been ages. Naturally, you'd never know from their Meetup group that it's happening at all. Our boss was supposed to be in London that week, so I decided to leave the rest of the week free, for now.

Then he pinged us, last week, to say it'll actually be the week after. Cue me booking things frantically for the week that was now free - happily, I did well. On the 19th, something very interesting - Up in the Cheap Seats is off to Whist, at Sadler's Wells. Now, turns out that this is an immersive, VR experience! Definitely different.

On the 20th, London Literary Walks is off on Pop the Weasel, and I'm delighted to be able to accompany them.

On the 21st, back to Sands Films for Fete de la Musique - Belcirque is performing, and they do sound quirky. Then it's Ireland again at the weekend.

On the 25th, I'm indulging myself with a premium seat to see Andrew Scott perform the one-man show, Seawall, written especially for him. It's at the Old Vic, two weeks only.

On the 26th, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, at Sadler's Wells. It's the Nederlands Dans Theater again - I remember good things about them from before. As I say, the boss is now in the office that week - well, he'll just have to manage without me, those two nights. I'm keeping the rest of the week, and the weekend, free, just in case. Hey, I do have to move that week as well, so could probably do with the time!

And on the 2nd, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, at the Gielgud Theatre for Imperium I - Conspirator. The first part of a double-bill, but viewable independently, it is told from the point of view of Cicero's secretary, as he watches how his master's work is used to bring about an end to the Roman Republic. I should probably have booked the second part at the same time - there's a discount for that - but well, my schedule is generally so packed..!

Showstopper! the Improvised Musical

Tonight, I was back to Showstopper! at the Lyric. (Durnit, another I could've walked to, last year!) No problem seeing this more than once, they base every night's show on audience suggestions (roughly), so it is a different show every night.. During the day, I was surprised to get a message from an Up in the Cheap Seats organiser, who had some cheap tickets going for.. the same thing! I think I know where he gets these. Anyway, nuts, but I had already bought a ticket, months ago, for a lot more money - these deals tend to be last-minute seat-fillers. Never mind, when I said I was going too, he said they were meeting in The Theatre Cafe beforehand, and I was welcome to join them.

I headed out a bit early - after tales of the delish salted caramel hot chocolate I got in Hotel Chocolat yesterday, my mother wants some: and there's a branch not far from there. I just managed to jump on the back of a #55 - now, this is a Routemaster, so you can enter by any of three doors, and I ended up at the rear, and since it was crowded, that's where I stayed. So I got a good view of fare-dodgers; there were a few, it's easy enough on a bus as crowded as this was. And there was a guy who sat on the rear steps, waving at a cyclist coming along behind us! Finally, by sign language and lipreading, they agreed that he'd get off at the next stop, and the guy got off his bike, and they walked along together. Obviously a chance meeting of friends - good timing there.

Once I got off, it was a short walk to Hotel Chocolat, where I browsed - found two kinds of hot chocolate, but not the one I wanted. I was just about to leave when she came over with  a tray of their "flavour of the month" (champagne truffle, and Lordy I had loads of them yesterday). So I thanked her, took one, and left - to the sound of her murmuring to her colleague, "Thought so!" Ah well, tough.

The Theatre Cafe was another short walk - no sign of the guy I know when I walked in, but I was early. So I queued, and ordered a hot chocolate and a slice of chocolate fudge cake. The cake that had been on display seemed to have expired, because they opened another for me - and by the time that was done, and the hot chocolate was ready, all those people in the queue in front of me had occupied all the tables. So I needs must eat my cake standing by the ticket desk - they sell theatre tickets here too, you know! Great atmosphere, actually, with showtunes playing in the background, and walls lined with theatre posters. Pity I can't say the same for the seating space - or the food; the hot chocolate was ok, except there was so much cream on top that I spent a very long time just gobbling that up: and the fudge cake.. wasn't fudgy. It was a completely different one to the one they'd had out previously, and I do wonder whether it was the right flavour at all - not very tasty anyway. If I'm here again, I think I'll just have a cold drink!

After the cake, and just as I was getting to the bottom of the cream on top of the hot chocolate, I got talking to a lady who turned out to be one of the takers of yer man's spare tickets! She was of the opinion that he was never late - I was able to tell her that he has been known to be. We grabbed the "Reserved" table by the door - as she said, if they came, we could move. As the minutes passed, we tried to get in contact with him, to no avail - finally, 10 minutes before showtime, he panted in the door! Turned out that his train had been stuck for half an hour, for which conflicting reasons were given - otherwise he'd have been early. Well, London can be a nightmare that way..

I'd just finished my drink - leaving a sludge of mini-marshmallows in the bottom - so we left, making our way along the line of theatres to the one we wanted. They were a level below me, would you believe, with their cheapy tickets.. anyway, I was in the front row of the Upper Circle, threadbare carpet leading up to it, and the view was just fine - not as much trouble descending the stairs to it as I had in the Theatre Royal Haymarket, last week! Again, I was on the aisle, so plenty of room, both for my legs and whatever else I had. Whatever they call the level above me, I don't think it was occupied.

I'm continually amazed by the ingenuity of the Showstopper! team. As I remarked, what a party trick - to be able to sing, on demand, a song about anything, in any specified musical style. Not to mention, for this show, putting it all together in some sort of coherent story! The chap with the spare tickets tonight has been to several of these, and has some interesting stories to tell - me, I've only been once before.

I more or less remembered the format - the mc takes suggestions for a setting from the crowd, writes down about six, then the audience gets to vote on them, by cheering. Tonight's winner.. a botox clinic! When asked to choose a title, someone in the front stalls piped up "Frozen"! Ah well now, you couldn't beat that - no argument, that person got a souvenir mug. Then we had to suggest famous musicals in the style of which the show was to be performed - a varied set indeed, of which the mc picked four - and I have to say, my favourite of the styles was "Hamilton".. just a shame it's almost impossible to get tickets for.

The performances are excellent, but as I say, their main talent lies in the ability to come up with lyrics on the spot - as the guy with the spare tickets pointed out, likely the tunes stay much the same from night to night. The mc sits over the side, hurling orders for style changes. Costumes are cobbled together as appropriate, props can be used for - whatever.

As we came to the interval, we were asked to tweet ideas for the second half, for an opening number, and for plot twists. And so to a rather spectacular Upper Circle bar! Much nicer, I believe, than the Dress Circle one, downstairs:

The man with the tickets was kind enough to pop up and keep me company, for a while. And in the second half, we got Phantom of the Opera (unilaterally agreed to be the best bit), Swan Lake, Disneyland, and Tom Cruise, in a near-perpetual state of jogging. Oh, and a great running gag about a cryogenic machine that immediately freezes anyone passing through it.. Always recommended, check this show out.

Tomorrow, I'm back with North London Friends for A Passage to India, at the Park. Last time I was with them, someone asked me whether I was coming to this, and I said no.. it's hard to keep track, though!

On Wednesday, Up in the Cheap Seats is headed to Picnic at Hanging Rock (organised by the guy I met tonight) - nice and close, in the Barbican. I remember this as quite a disturbing film - will be interested to see the stage version.

On Thursday, Up in the Cheap Seats again, for Beats on Pointe. Unfortunately, this is in the Peacock, rather than the closer Sadler's Wells. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend.

Next Monday, I'm off to see Jake Bugg at the Palladium (yes, another that used to be walking distance..) Honestly, I'd never heard of him, but he sounded ok on YouTube.

On the 27th, an opera in Sanskrit..! without subtitles. Satyagraha is at the Coliseum, and is about Gandhi. So I should figure it out. Gosh, it's ages since I've been there..

On the 28th, Summer and Smoke (Tennessee Williams) at the Almeida. Does include actual cigarette smoke, and a gunshot. North London Friends are going, but charging extra, so I'm going solo. Performance sold out now..

On the 1st, back with Up in the Cheap Seats at the Bridge Theatre, for what I hear is a stunning performance of Julius Caesar. You get the choice of being part of the crowd - I'm not. Modern setting.

On the 2nd, back with North London Friends, at Hampstead Theatre, for Acceptance.

On the 3rd, Up in the Cheap Seats, and Beginning, at the Ambassadors Theatre. For once, not an official ticket for this - got better value with What's on Stage!

On the 4th, I found another Southwark tour - excellent! The "Family Friendly Liberty of the Clink" tour is run by Walking in London.. therefore Funzing.. and Londonist is involved somewhere too. Hard to keep track of everyone involved in walks.

On the 5th, London European Club is headed to Monologue Slam, an actors' showcase at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East.

On the 6th, Up in the Cheap Seats is at Sadler's Wells for a performance by Ballet British Colombia.

On the 7th, Let's Do This is off to a jazz evening at Two Temple Place. Beautiful venue - should be a lovely evening.

On the 8th, Walking Victorian London is running a walk around Il Quartiere - Tales from Italian Clerkenwell. Excellent - I've had my eye on that for a while. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again.

And on the 12th, London Dramatic Arts is at Caroline, or Change, at Hampstead Theatre. As usual, too expensive for me, and I got my own ticket, at about half the price. She's only down as going with one unnamed guest - maybe she won't go at all!