{"id":1591,"date":"2011-10-18T14:04:18","date_gmt":"2011-10-18T14:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bilyreid.com\/?p=1591"},"modified":"2011-11-07T13:04:36","modified_gmt":"2011-11-07T13:04:36","slug":"west-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bilyreid.com\/?p=1591","title":{"rendered":"WEST END"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Although Leicester Square is under major renovation, the discount ticket booth is still in full operation.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bilyreid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Jersey-Boys.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1592\" title=\"Jersey Boys\" src=\"http:\/\/bilyreid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Jersey-Boys-300x201.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bilyreid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Jersey-Boys-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/bilyreid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Jersey-Boys.jpg 949w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I picked up a ticket to &#8220;Jersey Boys&#8221; for no other reason than the ticket was discounted and my good friend Pat back in Ottawa had raved about the Toronto production. It&#8217;s the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.<\/p>\n<p>I was blown away by the production values, the quality of the singing and just plain musicality of the overall performance. Had the tunes rattling around in my head for the next week. Without a doubt the best musical I have ever seen!!\u00a0 Many thanks Pat!!!<\/p>\n<p>For legitimate theatre,\u00a0 grabbed a ticket to &#8220;Cool Hand Luke&#8221; for no other reason than I must be the only person on the planet never to have seen the movie!! It was in pre-view prior to its official opening the next day.\u00a0 Serendipity still lives as it featured one of my favourite actors in the lead role, Marc Warren. Marc usually plays the &#8220;crafty cockney&#8221; role alongside such luminaries as Robert Vaughn in the British TV series &#8220;Hustle&#8221;.\u00a0 Here he does a credible interpretation of Luke and the scene wherein he eats 50 hard boiled eggs is worth the price of admission alone.\u00a0 Great theatre! Should have a long run!<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Yes, Prime Minister&#8221; was just the ticket for lighthearted matinee entertainment. Amazingly up to date and\u00a0 topical, it dealt with such subjects as the Euro crisis and global warming. The straight-faced explications given to an incredulous PM by his Whitehall staff as to how the public could have been so easily taken in for so long on these issues had the audience laughing in hysterics. Dr. Suzuki would not be amused!!! Doubly enjoyable!!!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bilyreid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/olivier.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1593\" title=\"olivier\" src=\"http:\/\/bilyreid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/olivier-300x173.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"173\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bilyreid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/olivier-300x173.jpg 300w, https:\/\/bilyreid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/olivier-1024x593.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/bilyreid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/olivier.jpg 1090w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Met up with good friend Jenny and her two sons on the South Bank on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon for the final performance of the St. Matthew Passion. Afterward, with her connections to the organist Simon Over, we managed to attend a private reception for the young, talented musicians. Great entertainment!! Great fun!!\u00a0 Many thanks Jenny, Chris and Andrew for a wonderful afternoon. Let&#8217;s see if we can&#8217;t make China happen!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although Leicester Square is under major renovation, the discount ticket booth is still in full operation. I picked up a ticket to &#8220;Jersey Boys&#8221; for no other reason than the ticket was discounted and my good friend Pat back in &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/bilyreid.com\/?p=1591\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-touring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bilyreid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bilyreid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bilyreid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bilyreid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bilyreid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1591"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/bilyreid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1595,"href":"https:\/\/bilyreid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591\/revisions\/1595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bilyreid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bilyreid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bilyreid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}