It's Just Two Hours Too Long

We saw Showboat yesterday.

No, really.

I see you shaking your head in disbelief, but I assure you there are two perfectly good reasons:

1. It was at Royal Albert Hall and I'd never been there before.

2. The always lovely Regan has access to a box there, and she offered us tickets.

I must say, R's box provides very comfortable accomodation ... for four grown men! And the hall is really spectacular. The staging was ... well, I think it was meant to be spectacular.

This production is in the round. Which means, basically, that they performed in on a stage about the size of a hockey rink. Imagine the Ice Capades, but without the ice, or the skaters. There were, however, lots of chorus members ... I counted at least 55 people on stage at one point. And it didn't look overcrowded.

It really did seem more like a circus than a show ... but wait, that's Evita, right?

And as much as Showboat tries to dispell being racist (if you drink blood from a cut on your mulatto wife's hand, that makes you a Negro too!), it really can't help itself. After all, everyone's a little bit racist.

No wait. That's in another show. Which we're seeing tomorrow night.

I hope it translates well. And if it doesn't, well, it's only for now.