Musical: Bronco Billy

The next two nights' entertainment, I got the idea for from Over 40 Living the Life, who are charging more for tickets, so I'll be seeking to avoid them. Tonight, I saw the Bronco Billy musical, at the Charing Cross Theatre. Booked with Official London Theatre. Booked to eat at L' Ulivo beforehand - I've always liked it.

Finishing the blog earlier took a little longer than anticipated - I was rushing for the bus, praying not to miss it; I was starving! As I approached the stop, I could see traffic backed up the whole way down the street - no sign of the bus, and I wondered whether it was caught up in it and hadn't arrived yet, or I'd missed it. Phew, saw it round the corner at last! which left me with conflicting emotions - yay, it'd been delayed and I hadn't missed it, and oh no, if it's delayed too much, I'll miss my booking! Happily, once we were on the main road, it became apparent that the holdup was in the opposite direction to the one we were travelling in - and wow, was that a holdup, headed to Tower Bridge! Ran for miles, it seemed..

When I got off, the cold got me moving quite fast - I arrived at the restaurant on the dot of when I'd booked for. The waiter who seated me had a word with some others, and showed me to a table for four - they must have been short of smaller ones. He asked me whether I'd mind sitting near the kitchen - not at all, there was a lovely blast of heat coming from it! And certainly, it meant that my food came to the table piping hot. 

I had garlic bread to start - which was delish, if slightly burnt on top, and pre-sliced. Main was, as usual, chicken in white wine and mushroom sauce - yum! I paid for some moreish roast potatoes - and they do the house white by the carafe, so I had that. Cheap as a single large glass in most places! And all was delicious, and I was stuffed. I tell you though, service didn't exactly come with a smile - she was blank-faced the whole time! Somewhat scary, actually. But service was efficient, and I was out of there in good time.

In the tunnel, there was a gateway..

Yes, to Heaven..

Inside the theatre, they have cut-outs:

I went straight in - and gee, you know those people I didn't join? Guess who was in the seats beside me.. Well anyway, the organiser was quite friendly, chatted to me a bit..

I have to say, this show was a revelation! I never expected it to be this good. Can't fault it - excellent tunes, clever lyrics, beautifully sung, artful choreography - and an engaging story, about a down-on-his-luck cowboy who runs a travelling rodeo show, and comes across an heiress on the run from (literally) her wicked stepmother! played with gusto by the hilarious Victoria Hamilton-Barritt. Seriously, this has to be one of the best shows in London - for goodness' sake, go see it if you can! Hell, they even choreograph their taking of the applause at the end.. Runs till the 7th of April. A must-see. Highly deserved the standing ovation at the end.. very highly recommended.

And tomorrow, I'm going to Murder Trial Tonight 2, at Sadler's Wells. I do hope I don't run into them again.. that'd be far too much of a coincidence!

Saturday is looking like film - and the film, now that the list is finally done for the week, is looking like American Fiction! I've seen the trailer a few times, and it looks excellent - a comedy in which an intelligent, well-educated black author realises that he can increase his sales by "ghetto-ising" himself, as that's what white audiences expect from black writers! Looks deliciously satirical, and is showing at three different times in my closest cinema. None of them selling out, so I'll see what suits. Not that the main listings site had any mention of it being in any Curzon, of course, when I looked.. but I do know to check them separately. Along with several others!

On Sunday, ending a Meetup drought with Discover London - History Walks and Events (DL), for a walk entitled Discover the Secrets of the Riverside Part 2: Cannon Street to Blackfriars. One of those groups that never get listed when I do a general search for a particular day.. I just have to remember to search the group individually. When it's a weekend I'm in London, anyway! They're always good. Crikey though, it's over a year since I did Part 1..

On Monday and Tuesday - yep, a small Meetup drought again - I'm with CT again. Improv both nights - Monday is for Shake It Up - The Improvised Shakespeare Show! It's at the Hen & Chickens - must dig out my membership card, given out automatically at every show there, and good for a year. After all, I was there for horror films at Hallowe'en.

Tuesday, I'm at Stage Time - an Improv Variety Show at Shoreditch Balls. Tickets generally available through Eventbrite.

Two nights with Meetup then - on Wednesday, I'm back, for the first time in most of a year, with The Horror Book Club! They always either clashed with something else, or were reading something I didn't fancy, you see.. well, I couldn't avoid this one, where they're reading Ramsey Campbell. I don't like everything he's written - but he was responsible for my favourite horror book ever, Incarnate. And I see he's still writing - the book they're covering on Wednesday is The Lonely Lands, written just last year! I just bought the Kindle edition - and couldn't resist reading the first chapter, which consists of just one sentence:

"When he heard his wife say 'I'm not alone' he thought at first she meant to reassure him."

Ooh, I cannot wait to get into the rest of it - thanks, book club, for reintroducing me! As usual, they're meeting in the Prince of Wales, Covent Garden - and I can eat there.

Next Thursday, I'm with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) - another group that never appears in the general Meetup listings, despite being one of the busiest - for Northanger Abbey, in the Orange Tree Theatre. Another place I haven't been in nearly a year..

Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend. On the 12th and 13th, back with CT for the Bitesize Festival at Riverside Studios - on the 12th, it's for Second Temple, a Jewish comedy.

On the 13th, it's for All the Men Are Going to Hate Me, another comedy, about a woman trying to write the century's great (female) novel!

Then I have five (!) days of Meetup: the next three with UITCS. On the 14th, we're at When You Pass Over My Tomb, at the Arcola. A "story of love and lust beyond the grave", as described, it sounds like an interesting way to spend Valentine's Day.

On the 15th, we're at Double Feature, at Hampstead Theatre.

And on the 16th, we're at Hir, a transgender comedy at Park Theatre.

On the 17th, I'm back (whee! at last!) with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners.. I've been persuaded to redo his Dickens walk. Well, it's months since I was on one of his - and he now only does one Saturday a month, says there's no real demand! And since I can no longer go on the midweek ones, in general.. well.. it'll be great to be back with them anyway.

And on the 18th, back with DL - I only just thought to check that website to see whether there was another walk, and there is, that day! So we're off to Discover London's Oldest Market and Original "High Street"..