Wed, 22 March 2017, 14:40 pm: Nothing and no one will keep me from London in May.
Love and solidarity to my friends there and to all my fellow travelers. Don’t let ignorance win.
Thurs, 10 March 2016, 2:09 pm: I’m stoked to get inside the Victoria Palace Theatre and claim my seat for Britain’s best-reviewed musical of the 2000s.2:25 pm: And it’s not just any seat, either. Sorry, is my front row showing?My years of West End theatre-going have taught me tricks to getting the best seats. In this case, the trick was simply to stake out the BILLY ELLIOT website. If you recall, I shared this amazing deal in a blog post, knowing it could be the final push that some of you needed to commit to the spring 2016 London adventure.
I paid $31.71 (tax and fee inclusive) for this front row seat. Here’s what the lip of the Victoria Palace Theatre stage looks like from that close.Here’s one of my comfortable black walking shoes (the only type of shoe you’ll be happy exploring London in, just so you’ll know when you’re packing), so you can see exactly how close I am to the action. BILLY ELLIOT closed on 9 April, a month after I saw it. A touring production began making the UK rounds soon afterward. Tickets for it are readily available, but nothing beats seeing the original production in its original theatrical home.
Pre-show and during the intermission, this curtain hides the stage from the audience.
You don’t think they’d notice if I borrowed this mixing board for the return of the MATT RADIO internet show, do you?crane your neck…Now that BILLY ELLIOT is gone after eleven years, the Victoria Palace Theatre is hosting… HAMILTON! The Broadway show that has critics genuflecting opens live onstage in London this November.
Thurs, 10 March 2016, 12:34 pm: A light lunch will sustain me through my afternoon of theatre. I sit down at a trendy vegetarian place at 2 St. Paul’s Churchyard.
It’s not on their regular menu, but as a daily special Le Pain Quotidien is peddling one of my favorite soups.It’s possible my palate is not the most refined, but I can’t tell whether the bread it comes with tastes seasonal or organic. I assure you it does not taste like beer. If it did my TripAdvisor review might be better.
Buttressing the stereotype that vegetarians are pacifists, the managers of this eatery are not going to fight with you if you don’t like their prearranged tip policy.I didn’t balk at the 12.5%, but I would’ve been happier if their vegetarian offerings had been more chips and salsa, less beetroot hummus.
I find out later that there are a dozen or so Le Pain Quotidien outlets throughout London, enough to serve all of the city’s flavour-averse hippies who don’t like to tip.