As part of the GLW's Christmas present i bought tickets last summer for Dirty Dancing at the Aldwych Theatre (How about that for planning ahead?) I wrapped them up in a huge box with bricks in it so she would not have a scooby doo what was inside.

It is her most favourite film of all time ever, so it was an easy pressie to buy....plus I got to go to! ;)

I love the theatre, we usually go once a year or so and I must admit we do pick out the more popular and commercial ones. Previous trips have been to see Joseph & Chitty Chitty bang Bang amongst others. You get the idea. Theatre snob I am not...or am i? As last night, I think perhaps I was - I noticed different things and many of them annoyed the beejeepers out of me.

It all actually started last summer when I bought the tickets. £60 each is a bit steep really, and when the theatres compain that they are half empty, it is hardly surprising. However, DD is full up until the summer now, so people are shelling out. But it does rather leave a sour taste when the credit card bill comes in. Yet people are paying £75 for the Spice Girls 88| so I suppose in that context £60 is a bargain!

Anyhoos, we get there just before 7 and we are forced to queue in the rain. When eventually we are herded in there are no bars open and not even the doors to the bars are open so we have everyone packed in to the foyer like sardines and people from the back pushing through thinking we are just standing there for the hell of it.

The merchandise stall is there and plenty of people looking but not buying. On closer inspection I am not surprised. The price of the tee shirts, vests and assorted tat was outrageous. But again, I would not mind but the quality was appalling. I would not fancy the vest lasting more than 3 washes.

Finally the doors open to huge relief and I go and get a beer. £3.60 for a very small bottle (275ml, not even standard 330ml)of Carlsberg is hardly value. I don't mind a premium, but again it rather annoys me that you have this rampant profiteering.

So on to the theatre itself and how these things have not been knocked down and rebuilt is beyond me. Savagely cramped (and I am only 5'7) and not steep enough so you have to bob in opposite direction to the person in front, who is having to do exactly the same thing. The air conditioning was hardly sophisticated. Melting at one point and freezing the next. The decor is run down and the accoustics not that great. I am all for tradition, but really they all need massive investement to bring them into this century.

I noticed - naturally - that we had more of a cinema audience than a theatre one. Plenty of crisp bags and sweet wrapper rustling and a few shouts from the 80% female audience when Johnny took of his top (yes, I was a bit jealous I suppose) but the problem was someone always tried to be funny and that caused some ripples of laughter and it did seem to put off the actors...maybe that snobbish streak is coming through eh?

At half time, the queue for the womens toilets was immense. Stretching virtually the whole way around. I just find it baffling that in this day and age, these theatres have not sorted this perennial problem out. Made worse by the demographic last night of course. Some women not brave enough to go in the mens, missed the re start.

Anyway, what about the show itself?  Two words:

ABSOLUTELY MAGNIFICENT

The actors were flawless, the staging immaculate, the story superbly re created for stage. The sound, the dancing the atmosphere, just breathtaking.

So, despite the price of tickets, the poor customer service, the over prices drinks, the shoddy merchandise, the run down theatre, the queuing, the toilets, the cramped seats and the whooping and hollering from the masses, it was just the most wonderful 2 hours.

And that is the thing. If you are rewarded with a play of such brilliant entertainment then you can forgive the peripheries.

And the GLW loved it 100 times more than I did and that is saying something.

Happy Christmas, C.

Dan