The Story of the First Show

So here is probably the highlight of my week. On Wednesday, Martin took the students to The British Museum for the first time. Now, this museum is pretty amazing- it's huge and spectacular and free! But that wasn't the adventure. Katy and I were planning on going to a show on the West End that night (the West End is London's version of Broadway, some say it's even better). We were told that if we go to a box office a couple of hours before the show starts, we could get severely discounted tickets, but it was risky as we were betting on whether or not the theatre sold all their decent tickets. And we had never been there, nor had Katy and I even been out in London without at least one other person before this. Adventure, eh?

Leaving the British Museum, we stepped onto the giant steps facing a row of narrow 19th-century buildings, the buildings and streets just starting to be lit in the soft glow of the streetlights as the night fell, snowflakes falling around us in the light and fluffy way London snow seems to fall. It was stunning.
But we didn't have time to stare, we needed to find Picadilly Circus. We found our tube stop, but the stop was teeming with a mass of rush-hour travelers, and we decided that we wouldn't be able to get in let alone find our way to the West End. So we decided to walk. However, the walk was fairly long, and we weren't entirely sure that we were going the right way, and it was dark and intimidating. We eventually we found a bus stop that looked like it *might* get us to the West End, so we decided to take the bus. A huge black Londoner overheard us on the bus, and he asked us where we were going.
"Picadilly Circus," we said.
He told us where the stop was, and we thanked him and got off at the right place, the same stop where he got off. We were still utterly confused, and he asked where at Picadilly we wanted to go.
"We wanted to get to the West End," we said.
"Oh, okay. What theatre?"
"Her Majesty's."
"Okay, it's this way," said the giant, and gave us directions. We thanked him and started to go in the right direction, but I think he saw we were still a bit lost, so he started to walk with us and showed us a way through a kind of creepy tunnel that cut across a corner (it was part of a building I think). Katy grabbed my arm; we were both a little scared, especially after hearing the safety speech from the cop that Monday. But the tunnel had some light in it, and there were people in it, and tons of people on the streets, so we kept going.
"What show do you want to see?" he said as we safely made it out of the tunnel.
"We're going to try to get tickets for the Phantom of the Opera."
"Oh! Okay, you go down this street and look to your right. You'll see signs for the Phantom. Have a good evening!" And the slightly scary Londoner left us. So the British actually are nice, even to tourists!
We made it to Her Majesty's, the idea being that we would see if they had tickets for 30 pounds or less. If not, we would go to another theatre. We asked the lady at the box office.
They had tickets on the first balcony labeled "restricted view." Apparently any seats not in the center are labeled this. These seats were on the aisle, so it wouldn't hurt the view as long as we leaned in, which we would anyway. The price? 25 pounds each! I believe the original price was 50 pounds each. We were in such shock after we bought the tickets, we could barely speak! In celebration, Katy and I went to Caffe Nero's and had hot drinks and cheesecake. We had made it to our first West End show, it was one of the most fantastic shows ever, and we were paying less than $50 for tickets which would soon prove to give us not only a great view but an eye-level view of the Phantom as he hid on the rooftop angels. It was incredible!

So that is my magnificent London adventure. Phantom was absolutely beautiful, with an amazing set, great blocking, incredible voices, and fantastic players. I could hardly believe it, I was practically in a daze. But I think the adventure to the play was almost as good as the play itself. I felt so accomplished; although we used a Londoner for a short part of the trip, we still made it to the show without anyone else. Overall, it was a great night.