The title of todayâs entry good well include references to secret assignations and back rooms of public houses. Around 12 noon I pitch up at Emmaâs country cottage whilst she is out at work doing the Saturday morning shift, but where her sister is already there. We head back out to Beaconsfield station, discovering no need to pay for parking and a 3 for 2 offer on day returns to London, before meeting Emma to catch the train. The train is packed and we have to stand all the way into London Marylebone.
In London we meet up with Emmaâs vet and vet nurse friends from Chalfont before descending on the Lyric Theatre for the matineé of Cabaret. The one only time Iâd seen this musical was at the tiny Seagull Theatre, when short of trombonists, my brother was drafted in from school to play in the band.
This production, was altogether different. Starring Julian Clary as the owner of the Kit Kat bar, it was a raunchy affair involving a fair bit of nudity. Oddly though, I found the nudity (most often used in conjunction with the nazi storylines, worked really well. Where I found it sat at odds, was the pantomime-esque slapstick humour favoured in particular by the Julian Clary character. When he was in serious mode, he was good, but when it drifted off into Iâm Sorry I Havenât A Clue territory, it just didnât seem to work.
After the play, we descended on mass into the upstairs room of a London pub somewhere, where Tony bought us all champagne, before we went to a Strada for a meal. It was fun to meet everyone, although I didnât get quite the grilling from Tony as I was expecting, interested as he apparently is in my Dadâs work.
