Views From An Aisle Seat

I’m a big fan of theatre tours and take one whenever I get the opportunity. Recently I have been on two which have been rather special. Chichester Festival Theatre, one of the best regional theatres in the UK, does not do tours very often but the one I experienced recently was outstanding. We were taken round every department with the head of each explaining how they work. I was particularly interested in the understage and backstage areas and how scenes are changed using only lifts and rails because the theatre has no fly tower.

Even better was my tour of the Gaiety Theatre in Douglas, on the Isle of Man. Here the tour was presented by a member of staff who had worked there for many years, including the period between 1990 and 2000 when an incredible restoration of the theatre took place. It is a Frank Matcham masterpiece. The tour lasted nearly two hours and covered every aspect of the theatre, including the last remaining operational Corsican Trap in the world ( too complex to explain here but look it up or watch the YouTube video ).

Both theatres are what they are today thanks to the efforts of one man. In the case of Chichester this was Leslie Evershed-Martin. He has written two books about his time at the theatre, The Impossible Theatre and The Miracle Theatre. The Gaiety owes its present success to Mervin Stokes. His book is called Saving The Gaiety. All three books are now out of print but second-hand copies can be found online.

Other tours I would recommend are at the National in London and The Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford.

This is from 1968. Several of the songs were well known by the time the show opened in London. The delay was because the show had to wait for the removal of the archaic theatre censorship laws which were in place until then. There was nudity. There was a song called ‘Sodomy’. This would have been shocking in 1967 but in 1968 it was OK. Looking at the list of musical numbers I am surprised at how many of the songs are now completely unknown. There have been revivals but it was a show of its time and doesn’t speak to a modern audience as it did to us hippies back then. Some now notable names in the chorus – Elaine Page, Tim Curry, Murray Head. As usual, most of the ads are for fags, booze and restaurants, although I am wondering if you can still get hold of the pills advertised on page 5.

Hair

This post is about ice cream, the enjoyment of which, everyone will agree, is probably the most important feature of theatre-going. Some complaints about theatre ice creams are obvious. They’re too small and they’re too expensive. There is, however, a further problem. They are often too cold and rock hard. They seem to have been taken out of an industrial deep freeze just seconds before being put on sale. Chipping away at this rock face in order to get a sliver of ice cream on the spoon is not the best way to enjoy this treat. So, front of house staff, please take the ice creams out of the freezer in good time so that they are smooth and lovely when the interval begins.

How many of the twenty theatres below can you name ? Any helpful signage has been obliterated. Scroll down for the answers.

If you would like to make it easier, here are the names of all the theatres featured but in alphabetical order. If you just want the answers, scroll further down.

Adelphi

Aldwych

Almeida

Bridge

Gillian Lynne

Globe

Hampstead

Harold Pinter

Her Majesty’s

Lyceum

National Theatre

Novello

Old Vic

Prince of Wales

Royal Court

Sadlers Wells

Shaftesbury

Theatre Royal, Haymarket

Victoria Palace

Wyndhams

A.  Old Vic

B.  Sadlers Wells

C.  Aldwych

D.  Victoria Palace

E.  Novello

F.  Adelphi

G.  Hampstead

H.  Prince of Wales

I.   Lyceum

J.  Shaftesbury

K.  Bridge

L.  Harold Pinter

M.  Gillian Lynne

N.  Globe

O.  Wyndhams

P.  National Theatre

Q.  Royal Court

R.  Her Majesty’s

S.  Almeida

T.  Theatre Royal, Haymarket

Another from 1969. This was one of the last shows at the Saville Theatre in the top part of Shaftesbury Avenue before it became a cinema ( now the Odeon Covent Garden ). The building still retains many of its beautiful original architectural features. Leonard Rossiter was a brilliant stage actor although better known for his film and TV roles ( Rigsby and Reginald Perrin spring to mind ). Although there was quite a large cast for this production it was very much centred around one of Rossiter’s wackier over the top performances. The ads in the programme give the impression that theatre ( in London anyway ) had become a form of entertainment for the relatively well-off. The show had come from the Glasgow Citizens Theatre via Nottingham Playhouse in both of which venues I imagine the ticket prices were much more reasonable. Click on the image to download the programme.Arturo

At the time of writing, theatre is just about in full swing again post Covid. Already there have been some brilliant shows. The following awards are for shows I’ve seen since the re-opening.

The Comeback         Noel Coward Theatre

This show is clever and hilarious. It starts slowly. The set up takes a while but it then develops into a masterly farce, full of theatrical tricks and slapstick brilliance. I laughed a lot. It was the first show I saw after re-opening and a perfect example of what a live show can do that film and TV can’t. Award goes to both writers/performers, Ben Ashenden and Alex Owen.

South Pacific              Chichester Festival Theatre

I saw a different production of South Pacific a few years ago and felt that the show was past its sell by date. Great songs but the bits in between really dragged. Not so this time. The production had a fresh, modern style and the contemporary relevance of the story was very clear. There’s a problem in that the show kind of expects you to forgive the heroine’s racism or regard it as a temporary moment of madness when she changes her mind. There’s no getting round this. The dancing, as always at Chichester, was superb and I have never heard these songs sung so well. Award goes to everyone involved.

Cruise          Duchess Theatre

I am not usually a fan of one man shows but this was stunning. It’s a cleverly constructed story in which the storyteller glides into being all the characters in the story as well as himself. The award goes to Jack Holden whose performance of his own play was an absolute tour-de-force. Joyful and moving.

Anything Goes           Barbican Theatre

This was Broadway at its best. I can’t remember a show getting a standing ovation at the interval before but that’s what happened the night I attended. It was well deserved too. The ‘Anything Goes’ number which ends Act One was accompanied by some of the most sustained brilliant dancing I have seen. I note that the show’s director and choreographer were one and the same, Kathleen Marshall. The award goes to her and to Sutton Foster for her outstanding performance in the leading role.

Big Big Sky               Hampstead Theatre

This was presented in Hampstead’s downstairs theatre and was a brilliant example of how engaging a show can be in a small space like this. It was a simple story with only four characters living ordinary lives but it packed a powerful emotional punch, very warm and lovely. It sent me out of the theatre feeling good. The award goes to everyone involved.

Leopoldstadt              Wyndhams Theatre

I finally got to see this when it re-emerged after Covid and it was worth the wait. It was quite different from most of Tom Stoppard’s well known plays. There was little clever wordplay or intellectual fireworks. It told the story of the Jewish community in Vienna from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th and was as horrifying and as moving as you might expect. The extra punch, of course, came from the fact that Stoppard was writing about a thinly disguised version of his own family. There was a long, stunned silence at the end before the applause started. To give Tom Stoppard one of my awards seems presumptuous but nevertheless.

Our Lady of Blundellsands            Everyman Theatre, Liverpool

What joy to be back at the Everyman watching a local story by a local author with a local audience. It took me right back to the early days of Willy Russell and Alan Bleasdale. The award goes to the tour-de-force performance of Josie Lawrence, hilarious, moving and at times slightly scary, backed up by a brilliant supporting cast. I hope this is not this show’s only production. It deserves a wider platform.

This is from 1969. I saw the 2016 revival of the show at the Park Theatre and it is still an engaging piece but in 1969 it seemed a game-changer. The lives of ordinary gay men had never been put on stage before and, while now it seems very self-homophobic, back then it was an exciting indication of changing attitudes. The pdf does not contain the full programme, as much of the non-specific material is identical to that in other programmes I have already uploaded. William Gaunt and John Carlisle were well known television names and continued with high profile careers. William Gaunt became artistic director of the Liverpool Playhouse for a while and John Carlisle went on to work with the RSC. I don’t remember seeing any more of the rest of the cast. The plans for the Park Theatre Company ( nothing to do with the current Park Theatre ) are interesting but sadly were never realised. It would have been a great addition to the London scene. Check out the prices of tickets at the Fortune Theatre. Twenty five shillings ( £1.25 ) for the best seats in the house. Those were the days.

BoysInTheBand Programme

In many of our older theatres there are seats with a restricted view. Maybe the seat is behind a pillar or there is a balcony rail blocking the view. Sometimes the set designer has not taken sightlines into account and created restricted view seats just for a particular production. These seats are usually indicated on seating plans and sold at a reduced price. Lately, though, the prices of these seats has been creeping up. Some West End theatres are charging as much as £75 for a seat with a pillar obstructing half the stage. The seats really shouldn’t be there at all. Let’s face it, if you pay to see a show, the theatre should provide a seat where you can see the show properly. Restricted view seats should be sold at real bargain prices, maybe allowing people to see the show who otherwise couldn’t afford it. You could see three shows from the best seats at Liverpool Playhouse for the price of one West End restricted view seat. Ridiculous.

In each case, which Broadway/West End musical has at least one scene set in this location ?

Scroll down for the answers.

USA

1. A town on the coast of Maine
2. River City, Iowa
3. Natchez
4. Oregon in 1850
5. Skid Row
6. Punxsutawney
7. Horace Green school
8. Rainbow Valley, Missitucky
9. Sweet Apple, Ohio
10. “The Cookie Jar”, a sanatorium
11. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show

UK

12. Sherwood Forest
13. “Legs Eleven”, a nightclub
14. Stradhoughton, Yorkshire
15. Limmeridge, Cumberland
16. Ipswich

Further Afield

17. Gander
18. Uganda
19. On the River Styx
20. An ocean liner named ‘Ile de France’
21. A country mansion in Sweden
22. Kanagawa
23. Merano, Italy
24. Island of Kalokairi
25. Artigat, France
26. A mosque in Baghdad
27. Anatevka in 1905
28. The Pride Lands
29. Seville in the 17^th century
30. La Grande Jatte