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Like many Americans, I am a frequent visitor to the historic British city of Old London Towne. Whilst there are many diverse entertainments to be found in that fair city, I prefer to spend my time in a cultured manner. With this in mind, I recently went to see the critically acclaimed musical "My Fair Lady" currently playing at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Described by the press as "An unmissable treat for all the family", Here is my review.
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London's theatreland has many plays and musicals on offer to the discerning culture vulture such as myself. Rather than wade through pages and pages of reviews, I called Ticketmaster and asked them for two tickets to the most popular show in the West End. This turned out to be "My Fair Lady". I paid my 25 English Pounds for my two tickets (about $100 US at current rates or thereabouts, I still cannot understand the antiquated system of pounds and shillings used in the UK). So far, so good. The agent on the phone was courteous and polite, the tickets would be waiting for me at the box office later that evening.
Later that evening I made my way to Drury Lane via Temple tube station. The tube journey was pleasant enough compared to the NYC subway, however the station announcers were incomprehensible. I have come to expect this of Londoners, they are hard to understand at the best of times. We arrived at the Theatre Royal (note, this is an intentional mis-spelling of Theater, that's how they spell it in England! LOL!) and went to collect our tickets. This went smoothly, I stood in a box office queue, (queueing is endemic in Britain, its like their national sport) and was directed to a small booth where I signed the credit card slip, and was issued with my tickets. This was when things started to go wrong. "Go outside and turn left" the box-office attendant said brusquely. Apparently the tickets I had bought at an extortionate price, were not good enough to entitle me and my date to enter through the main entrance! Taken aback, I followed the instructions and entered via the side entrance as directed. A surly British teenager collected our tickets, and then I was confronted with the second shock of my evening. Apparently I was expected to climb about 300 stairs to get to the 'Upper Balcony' where our seats were situated. I realise that the Theatre Royal is an old building, but surely they could have installed an elevator, come on guys, I know you like to keep things "quaint" and "historic" but this is ridiculous. I could have had a heart attack climbing those stairs. But wait, it gets worse... At the top of the stairs there is a woman selling drinks and snacks. My date needed a drink after all that unanticipated strenuous exercise, so I got her a bottle of mineral water. It was one pound fifty shillings! that works out at around $10 in real money. Having bought the mineral water it was time for us to take our seats. This was the third shock of the evening for me. We had to make our way down an extremely steep staircase, so steep in fact that another theatergoer had a panic attack half way down. When we got to the seats they turned out to be narrow, with very little legroom, and quite uncomfortable. Much like a coach class airline seat, but worse, if you can imagine that. Then the show started. There was a lot of singing and dancing, and then it was time for the interval. I was ready for a drink by now, after sitting in that seat for over an hour with the guy next to me constantly encroaching into my personal space. We made our way to one of the theater's bars. It took a while to get served. The bar was tiny and the range of drinks on offer was limited. I had a Grolsch beer, and my date had a red wine. The bill for this came to 7 British pounds (about $50 US). I was outraged. Fortunately one does not have to tip bartenders in the UK - due to Socialism, they are legally required to be paid a living wage. Anyway we drank our drinks, and made our way back to our cramped and uncomfortable seats. More singing, more dancing, and the show was over. So its time to leave the theater. This time, we had to climb down the 300 stairs in the company of thousands of other theatergoers. Not only that, when we got to Covent Garden tube station, it was packed with the entire contents of the Theatre Royal plus a whole load of people from the Royal Opera House. We decided to take an alternative route back to our hotel.
All in all, I would recommend this show, but be warned, if you suffer from vertigo, or if you are not a malnourished European, you may find the Theatre Royal a bit uncomfortable. |