A Chorus Line...

Last night Stu and I went to see A Chorus Line at the London Palladium in London's glitzy West End.

At least it wasn't cancelled like last week.

Dance: Ten; Looks: Three... One... All great songs.

It's a high-kicking, cliché-ridden, toe-tapping, wonder of a musical. It's Fame meets Seaside Special.

It couldn't be more 1970s if it shat leg-warmers. Loved it.

A Chorus Line Cancelled...

What the hell is going on? We went into London last night to go the London Palladium to see A Chorus Line but the theatre was all shut up. The performance had been cancelled.

Luckily the Palladium Box Office was open and they said the show had been cancelled. They also said that See Tickets had told them that they had contacted everyone who had bought tickets and told of the cancellation. THIS WAS NOT TRUE. I was not called or got any email about the cancellation - and no, there isn't anything in my junk mail folder about it either.

I am very angry and frankly disgusted at See Tickets. They have my email address. They have my telephone number. They should have contacted me. The Palladium have asked me to keep them informed about what See Tickets now do. Rest assured I will. What dreadful customer service!

UPDATE: I got a very sniffy reply from See Tickets Customer 'Care'. The show was actually cancelled back on 22nd Nov! and See Tickets issued a refund. They did not however inform me. No email, no telephone call. A completely wasted trip into town. Not happy.

The Wizard of Oz...

Last night Roger, Stuart and I went to see The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium in London's glitzy West End.

We had fairly low expectations to be honest. And they were barely met.

Russell Grant as the wizard was just plain awful. He can't act. He has no personality. OK, he can sing a bit, but there's more to the role than that. We seriously hoped he'd not be the one to make it back to Kansas.

One of the main issues to be tackled with the The Wizard of Oz as a show is whether it's a pantomime or a straightforward musical. Wicked gets it just right - this production plain doesn't. It's neither fish nor fowl. It not only fell between two stools it died when it hit its head on the floor.

At the interval we took the Yellow Brick Road to the bar - but got stung £29-10 for three drinks. Ouch!

Back for the second act things picked up a bit. The Wicked Witch of the West had the best tunes and flying around the auditorium a la Mary Poppins was fun. Talking of flying though the monkey's where menacing enough and there weren't enough of them and took way to long to attach the harness wires to Dorothy.

Oh, and the 'actress' playing Dorothy was so vacuous we couldn't really begin to care about her fate (which is rather central to the plot don't you think?) Rainbows are too good for you, love. Stick to rep.

The Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Cowardly Lion gamely did as best they could but no number of "friends of Dorothy" gags could save this magic-free show.

Avoid.