When you go see a show or a concert, or anywhere that requires a ticket for a seat, you will most likely be given a seat number. Then, when you get to the event, you go to the section you're sat in and look for the seat number. DON'T YOU!? That's what I thought, until I got to the Palace Theatre on Oxford Road. Now I've been to the Palace before and it's a theatre I absolutely love. I first saw Starlight Express here and later took my Mum to see Chicago - although getting seated was much simpler back then. Okay, back to the night in question. I had bought my sister tickets to see We Will Rock You for her birthday. We first saw the show in London when going to see Les Miserables (Jesus Christ... no not Superstar, although I am aware I'm plugging ALL musicals in this blog) and we loved it so much that when I heard it was touring I had to get tickets. Sarah (the big sis) was overjoyed. When do I ever use words like that in my blog? She was buzzing.
So we get to the show, have a pint (Yorkshire girls) and find our seats. Considering the show starts at around 7.30pm, I should have known that sitting down at 7pm, I'd have to endure half an hour of "WHAT SEAT NUMBER ARE YOU JUDITH!?" and "Oooooh look it's the tall one from Hear'say!" as they read their programmes. We were sat on row D, on the right hand side of the aisle, where there are about ten or twelves seats. In came Peter and Catherine (it's amazing how much you get to know about a person just from listening - Catherine had taken Peter to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert not so long back but oh my days was it smutty!) Peter then insisted on checking the letter of each row by bending over and placing his face an inch away from the side of the seat (and the side of my thigh) as Catherine followed shouting "E! E! E! We're in E!" She definately looked like she was on them. This continued until they realised they were on the wrong side of the theatre. Goodbye Peter and Catherine.
Enter Audrey and the entire bloody cast of Last of the Summer Wine. Now I don't know why We Will Rock You attracts a more... mature audience, maybe it's the fact they assume it to be a 'nice' collection of Queen classics, not a journey with Shagileo Gigolo to the place of living rock. (Audrey and her girl guides did admittedly shit themselves when the music kicked in and the strobe lighting started.) It's a case of simple mathematics. There were 12 women and only 12 seats on the right hand side. They were able to work out that they had the entire row. Problem solved? Not quite. Instead of letting me have an easy life, Audrey and her posse, instead of sitting down in the seats they KNEW they had, proceeded to check each and every ticket, ensuring they were sat in the exact seat in accordance to their own ticket. What can only be described as ten whole minutes of pandemonium broke out. They were in and out of that row more times than a Manchester doler at the job centre. My head was buffeted with more snakeskin handbags and waterproof anoraks than I've seen in Principles. The bedlam died down and I felt safe enough to turn around. There they were, waterproofs folded on laps, plastic cups of wine in hand (although Frances already looked like she'd had enough.) Happy. Subdued. As I turned back to face the front I heard one of the troops pipe up, "But I wanted to sit next to Edith." Commotion.
On a lighter note, the show was one of the best I've seen - better than the original West End cast. Noel Sullivan cast his 'Popstars' label aside (fantastic voice, great acting) in the lead role of Galileo (and damn he's got hot!) and Amanda Coutts as Scaramouche has one of the best voices I've heard in a long while. Leon Lopez played his part extremely well, and it's hard to take your eyes off him when he takes centre stage. (My sister will wholeheartedly agree, although I think his arms play a bigger part in this for her). Amazing show. So amazing we went three times. And God can those OAP's dance.
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