Wednesday 08 January 2025.

Thursday 09 January 2025. Happy Birthday to JIMMY PAGE who is 81 today. Happy Birthday to DAVID JOHANSEN who is 75 today. --------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------- Wednesday 08 January 2025. DICK WHITTINGTON live at The Theatre Royal , Windsor. Expect traditional pantomime comedy capers, dazzling dancers, colourful costumes and a sprinkling of Magic as we join Dick Whittington to see if the streets of London really are paved with Gold… Starring Britain’s favourite fox Basil Brush, alongside Windsor’s calamitous comic Kevin Cruise and dame Steven Blakeley! Joining them this year is the hilarious Hilary O’Neil as Fairy Bowbells, and as Queen Rat, legendary singer of The New Seekers and acclaimed star of Blood Brothers, Lyn Paul! It is on until Sunday 12 January 2025. ---------- The upstairs is closed so maybe 300 folks here. The show is on for 1 hour 50 mins over two sets of 60 mins and 50 mins. It is certainly more of a family panto crowd compared to the smutty banter of The Palladium panto last week. Kevin Cruise and Steven Blakeley are regulars here, and they said this show was their 90th in the past month, and they have reached 1000 pantos together during this stint. Lots of singing and dancing from the six dancers. Plenty of comedy slapstick , including political jokes. A few innuendoes , but nothing too smutty. There was a tribute medley to pop / dance acts of the 1990s. Lyn Paul sang a nice cover of ' Bat Out Of Hell' , but didn't sing any of the hits she had back in the day with The New Seekers. A good stunt was the giant turtle that flew over the front rows. The 12 days of Christmas with props was good fun, as the folks got wet with the water pistols and guns. There was another medley of some songs in the second half . Always good to see Basil Brush. Not a patch of the Palladium Panto I saw last week, but it still had plenty of enjoyable bits. ------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ Tuesday 07 January 2025...i went to two events tonight... FAWLTY TOWERS - THE PLAY is live at The Apollo Theatre , Shaftesbury Avenue , London. Nearly 50 years since it first hit our TV screens, the ‘greatest British sitcom of all time’ (Radio Times) is now a brand-new stage play, adapted by comedy legend John Cleese and directed by Caroline Jay Ranger. It is on until March 2025 in London, then goes on a UK tour. Fawlty Towers West End Cast Basil – Adam Jackson-Smith Sybil – Anna-Jane Casey Manuel – Hemi Yeroham Polly – Victoria Fox The Major – Paul Nicholas ( now aged 80) Mrs Richards – Rachel Izen Mr Hutchinson – Steven Meo Miss Tibbs – Kate Russell-Smith Miss Gatsby – Nicola Sanderson Mr Thurston – Greg Haiste Mr Walt/Dr Finn – Danny Bayne Taxi Driver/Mr Firkins/Mr Kerr/Mr Sharp – Neil Stuart Hotel Guests – Dale Superville, Emma Fenney, Mia Austen, John Hasler, Ben Jacobson and Suzy Bloom. The press/VIP night was back in May 2024, but I was at Hammersmith Apollo that night to see that great Black Crowes show, where Steven Tyler came on for the encore. ---------------- The theatre looked pretty full The play was on for 95 mins over two sets of 60 mins and 35 mins....fairly short as we left the venue at 9.25pm. All your fave TV characters from the classic 50 years old series are here,and the Basil Fawlty is played superbly. The mannerisms, the clipped speech patterns, the boiling frustration – they’re all instantly, uncannily identifiable. he even masters Cleese-alike physical humour, making a great comic virtue of his lanky body, prompting spontaneous applause when breaking out in a goose-step in front of his German hotel guests. Alongside him, Anna-Jane Casey is every inch the “tyrant queen” as Sybil, Victoria Fox the mid-Atlantic vocal double of Polly, and Hemi Yeroham mystified by it all as the put-upon busboy from Barcelona. Paul Nicholas, a sitcom doyen himself, is here too, a mite less confused, a little more twinkling, as senile old Major Gowen. He is very quiet in the first half of the show, but comes to life in the second half. It’s all still more of a sitcom than a stage play. Cleese has woven three episodes (The Hotel Inspectors, Communication Problems and The Germans) into the 95 mins production. Lots of laugh out loud moments, very enjoyable. then 9.30pm to 11pm....press visit.... DAVE'S HOT CHICKEN - 40 Shaftesbury Avenue , London W1. American quick-service restaurant brand Dave’s Hot Chicken has recently opened its UK debut in London’s West End. The fried chicken chain will open in the London Trocadero building. Founded in 2017, Dave’s Hot Chicken operates over 200 sites globally, and recently signed a franchise agreement with Azzurri to open 60 sites in the UK. The brand is backed by big celebrity names such as Drake, Samuel L Jackson, and Usher, and is one of the fastest-growing restaurant brands in the US and on social media. -------- It is directly across the road from our earlier theatre show This restaurant has certainly got popular very quickly as we saw massive queues with security doing one in one out at 7pm , so lucky we had a reserved table for 9.30pm , as still a queue . We had a nice corner table downstairs. I had a pair of crispy chicken burgers, with honey , fries, mac n cheese , a tub of salad, a coke and cinnamon milkshake. This place looks certain to rival Five Guys in popularity. Ideal for a visit before or after the theatre.

Posted 7th January 2025