REVISIT: “Maria Friedman Rearranged”

(Rapid Fire Review #2 as I clear through a week involving far, far too much theatre.)

So instead of going to the third night of Perfect Pitch on Thursday, a friend wanted to see Maria Friedman at Trafalgar 1 and I could get us ultra-cheap tickets, so I figured why not. “I can deal with seeing six shows in a week, really,” I thought to myself and put the booking in. While said friend ended up getting sick and being unable to attend, I dragged myself out of the house, taking comfort in being able to watch two episodes of Rose of Versailles on the tube.

It would, of course, be just my luck that the already late-starting show (scheduled for 20:30 or 21:00 on weekends) would start extra late as this being the first preview nobody had bothered to accurately work out how long it would take to change the sets from the early evening performance of Horrid Henry. The result? Standing around in a very crowed and tiny bar area for an extra half hour.

Was the show worth it? I guess. The setlist was identical to that at the Chocolate Factory, but trimmed down to an interval-less 95 minutes. Ms. Friedman has a lot of fun doing these concerts, and her charm and enthusiasm rubs off onto the audience making it hard not to leave satisfied, but I honestly wasn’t in the mood to appreciate most of it and wished that I’d stayed home and given myself the much needed night off that I’m only getting now.

In other words, yes, it’s worth going if you’re a particular fan of Ms. Friedman or you haven’t seen this particular concert series before, but if you’ve already been you can spend the night elsewhere without regret.

Where: Trafalgar Studios 1
When: Until 04 Jan., W-F @ 20:30, Sa @ 21:00, Su @ 18:00
How Much: £25-35
Concessions: No idea.
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RZ Unofficial “Worth Paying:” £20
RZ Other Notes: I gave this gig the same worth paying at the Menier despite the set being a good 15-20 minutes longer. The seats are more comfortable, however, at Trafalgar and £20 will get you a ticket at TKTS including the booking fee. I think the show also works better in the shortened form, but YMMV.