Grease the Musical, Piccadilly Theatre - review

So in a final salute to Flyingpops' birthday, Saturday saw us taking (an extremely rare) weekend trip up into town (it's hard to do the commute when you don't *have* to), starting with a bus journey (as Flyingpops wasn't sure how much cash she had on her Oyster card, the queue to top it up was about 300 people long, and buses take small change) which seemed to take about 40 minutes to cover the same distance as the 10 minute tube journey (thanks to the huge amounts of traffic) -

- we got off the bus by Foyles (just opposite Denmark Street on Charing Cross Road) and worked our way through the alleys to Frith Street where our (pre-planned) venue for lunch was located - The Gourmet Burger Kitchen -

- we got a seat quite easily (it being out of the way a little bit) but considering that - it did fill up rather quickly thereafter (which was lucky!)-

- Flyingpops went for the Butternut Squash burger, her mum (Nanjan) opted for the BBQ Burger (well done) and I really couldn't decide between the Blue Cheese and the BBQ (so I had both!) cooked medium rare -

- and to quote Samuel L Jackson "Mmmmmmm! This is a tasty burger"! After a brief pause to consider options - Flyingpops took hers to bits to reduce it's height, Nanjan used her knife and fork, and I got Blue cheese and BBQ relish all over my face...delicious! ;)

That done, we started walking towards the Theatre, first through Chinatown -

- all decked out with (festival) lanterns for the Chinese New Year celebrations (which is actually today! Happy Year of the Ox everyone!) -

- (which makes the people hugging guys in cow costumes seem a lot more sensible)
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- we struggled through the crowds across Picadilly Circus, stopping only briefly to goggle at the new flagship Barclays store opening where Wimpy/Burger King used to be -

- where I waited outside (staring at the guys squirming with embarrasment dressed in blue Grenadier Guard uniforms)-

- while Flyingpops and Nanjan fought (successfully) to grab a few free goodie bags they were giving away (containing flyers and a pocket-sized London street atlas (quite useful)...!

And then (many pedestrian collisions later) we made it to our destination, the Piccadilly Theatre-

- we had pre-ordered tickets (just to make sure I had enough leg room - Chicago had been so bad I had to move seats!) - had a quick drink in the pub opposite (as we were there about half an hour early) watching others arrive - this lot were part of a Hen do, all dressed up as Pink Ladies (really good idea by the bridemaid there!) -

- and then in!

It was a really good show (as I said to Flyingpops, it was never going to be able to compete with the Beauty and the Beasts or Josephs of the Musical world, but) the cast was great (the winners of the related ITV talent show were playing the leads) and *Jimmy Osmond* was playing the Teen Angel (he got the loudest applause of all)! If I were to have booked it up again I probably would have sat a bit further back - a lot of the characters smoke herbal cigarettes on stage (and they honk!), when the pyrotechnics going off it was a bit like being Ross Kemp in Afganistan and the smoke machine made it a bit hard to see at times but overall it did what it said on the tin, and Flyingpops loved it (and that's all that matters)... ;)

I want to go and see Oliver (with Rowan Atkinson) next, Flyingpops is voting for Billy Elliot (which I will point-blank refuse to go to), so we'll just have to see what happens... ;)