Oh good lord. What the fuck is going on here? What the actual fuck...?
There are people on the pavement. People in the road. People standing in the way of cars, and people who are going to get run over if they are not careful.
I've never seen any thing like this.
No, wait. That's not true. I have seen something like this.
Not outside of protests though.
It's like a friggin' anti-Trump rally out here.
What the hell is going on?
"This is the Royal Circle and boxes queue only," hollers a man walking down the line on the opposite pavement. "Stalls are one queue along, and Grand Circle is two along."
Oh. Okay. So apparently getting into the London Palladium now involves queueing down the street. Which is strange. Because I've been to the Palladium before, and I've never encountered scenes that look as if they've been lifted straight out of a textbook on hyperinflation.
I join the queue for the stalls. I have an e-ticket for some reason, and I'm not happy about it, but I'm not about to go trotting off to the box office when there's this going on. Ten minutes arguing for a paper ticket might see the queues stretching all the way down the street, across the road, and into the Liberty habadashery department.
I tell myself it's good practice for post-Brexit Britain.
We shuffle forward inch by inch, the woman behind me muttering with every step.
It hasn't escaped my notice, that my queue, the one for the stalls, is on the opposite side of the road to the theatre. It hasn't escaped the notice of the people standing in the queue, while also, at the same time, standing in the middle of the road. Nor the notice of the taxis, trying very hard to drive through said road.
"Stupid people thinking they can get through here," says the woman behind me. I don't know whether she's referring to the taxi drivers or the queuers here. Or possibly: both.
As it's our turn to cross no-man's land, a pretty girl in a multicoloured shaggy jacket runs out to pose in front of the theatre signage. You got to respect a gal who not only dresses to theme, but also puts her life on the line for a photo. Instagram models are the heros we have, but don't necessarily want.
I make it across the road without getting run over, thank the theatre gods. The woman behind me also makes it across unscathed. I'm unclear about the gods' motivation on that one, but I suppose they have their reasons.
"Have your bags ready. There's checks both in and out the door," booms the queue-controller as I reach the doors.
"Can I just...?" asks the bag checker. She pokes around inside a little, prodding at the top layer with a single finger. "My colleague will check your ticket."
I get waved through the door and I pull my phone out. E-ticket it is then. I pinch my fingers and zoom in, instantly losing the barcode. Technology is not my friend. "Where is it...!?" I mutter as I search around the pdf for the damn thing. The ticket checker laughs, then beeps me in as the barcode sneaks into view.
I wind myself down the cream-coloured corridors, past the surprisingly subdued merch desk and into the bar. It's a very fancy bar. There's a twisting staircase, lots of old posters on the walls, and a display case with a model of the Palladium inside, topped by showgirls.
And a queue. Another massive queue. Stretching from the doors to the auditorium, round the corner and all the way back.
A front of houser comes round, via a shortcut. "Entrance to the stalls this way," she says, beckoning us forward. I'm immediately rammed in the back as the person behind me rushes up the steps.
I let him go ahead. He must be gagging to sit down.
Eventually, I get to the doors. There are two sets, with a tiny lobby in the middle. Like those porch areas people tack onto the front of their semis. Somewhere to keep the pram and the bikes and wellies and whatnot. Except here they're keeping a bottleneck of audience members, trying to squeeze through too many ushers.
I show the nearest one my phone. "Standing?" I ask.
"Head to the left," she says, pointing left. "And stand behind the gold bar."
Well, alrighty then.
I head left, walking down the back of the stalls, past the tech desk, past an endlessly long row of seats until, yes, there it is, a short gold bar right at the end.
There are a few people standing already. I dump my bag down next to them, as close to the middle as I can get.
It's very high. Too high for my five foot three inches to lean on. I could just about rest my chin on it if I had a mind to.
And then I realise something. I haven't seen anyone selling programmes.
I look around at the people sitting in the stalls. Prime programme-buying audience members. But none of them have one.
I scan the room for an usher, but there aren't any in here. They're all in the bottleneck.
Oh well. That's what intervals are for, I guess. Gives me an excuse to check out the merch desk.
Looks like the girl sitting in front of me has already hit it up. She's wearing a Joseph t-shirt with technicoloured text all over it.
I never know how I feel about wearing show merch to the actual show.
It demonstrates dedication though, and I respect that.
Unlike the man sitting in the row ahead of her. He's wearing a Thriller Live t-shirt. I turn away. I can't even look at him.
There's an usher standing behind me. He's not holding any programmes. "Are you with the five?" he asks, indicating the group next to me.
I shake my head. So does my neighbour. We don't know these people.
"Would you mind moving over to the other side? There's supposed to be ten on each side be we have eleven over here."
My neighbour picks up his bag and goes off to the other side.
Turns out, his sacrifice is not enough, because the usher is back. "Are you on your own too?" he asks me.
I almost laugh at the thought of me managing to convince someone to come stand with me at a weekday matinee performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. I'm sure this musical has a hella lot of fans. I'm just not friends with any of them.
"Do you want me to go over?" I ask, maintaining my composure like the theatre-going pro I am.
"If you don't mind," says the usher, very apologetically. "You'll have more space."
Turns out, that was a lie. The standing area down at the other end is full. I walk all the way to the end, where the golden bar turns into a solid wood panel and ask the woman on the end to squidge up a bit.
She stares at me blankly.
"Sorry," I apologise. "I just got moved here from the other side. Can we all move down a bit?"
Her stare continues. I wonder if there is something wrong with her eyes. She's not blinking.
The usher comes over.
"Can we make room for the lady?" he says in the polite tones of a front of houser who ain't taking no shit today.
One bloke shifts over and a squeeze into the gap.
"Did you not pay the money?" says the guy on the other side, his hand buried in a pot of Pringles.
"Sorry?"
"I thought you didn't pay the fee."
"Sadly, I did buy my ticket," I tell him. "They just had too many people standing over the other side."
Satisfied, he goes back to eating his crisps.
As the lights dim, there's a big cheer from the audience. They're so excited the air is almost crackling. Oh, no. Wait. That's my neighbour finishing off his Pringles.
Nevermind.
Still, Sheridan Smith gets a round of applause all to herself when she comes out. I join in. I do like Sheridan Smith. She was everything in that Hedda Gabler at The Old Vic. And yes, I did need to pick out her one significant non-musical theatre role to mention here. Because I am a pretentious twat. We long ago established that.
And I have to respect that she's the one cast member all in black, standing proud amongst a cast dressed in colours so bright it's making my retinas bleed just to look at them.
I'll admit, Joseph isn't my favourite Lloyd Webber. It's too... just too. Too bright. Too twee. Too school-playish with all those kids wearing fake-beards. It doesn't work for me.
Plus all that thing about dreams... I only have sympathy for the brothers. I'd sell my little pipsqueak sibling too if he insisted on telling me his boring-arse dreams every morning.
I do like the song where he's in prison though. I can fully support Joseph having an abandonment crisis in a dark cell while wearing only a loincloth. That's my jam. Right there.
As soon as the interval hits, I race back through the bar, down the cream-coloured corridor, and towards the merch desk.
There isn't a queue, and the woman behind the counter gives me a big grin as I approach.
"Hello, love!" she say.
I ask if I can get a programme.
"Of course, you can, my love. Would you like a standard programme or a brochure?” She points at the two options on the counter. The brochure is very large. Twice the size of the standard programme, and no doubt, twice the price.
"Ooo," I say, pretending to be making a decision. “Standard please."
"That's five pounds."
I fish around in my bag for my purse, which no matter how I pack it, always manages to sink to the bottom. "Sorry," I say, as I realise I'm taking far too long. "So much stuff!"
"Here, shall I move this so you can out your bag down?" she says, shifting over the programmes so that there's a free space on the counter.
It helps. I find my purse, and pay the monies.
She laughs, suddenly noticing what i’m wearing now my bag isn't in the way. "I love your t-shirt!" she says.
It is a good t-shirt. And worthy of a giggle.
At first glance, you may think it's one of those ubiquitous Joy Division t-shirts. But, oh, you would be wrong. The unknown pleasures of the pulse waves are interrupted by... cats. Lots of cats. And it says "Meow Division" across the top, because of course it does.
I take my music very seriously.
I go back to the bar.
"Yes, she's a big star over here," says a woman, trying to explain who Smith is to her friend. "She's a big TV celebrity."
Sheridan Smith? A big TV celebrity? I mean... yeah, but like... didn't you see her at The Old Vic?
I get out my programme, just to check the facts. And huh... Smith's biog doesn't mention Hedda Gabler. I begin to wonder if I imagined her Ibsen-phase.
"Ladies and gentlemen will you please take your seats. The show will resume in five minutes."
I quell the desire to reply: "Thank you, five."
I go back to my standing place.
The unblinking woman hasn't returned. But crisp-man has. With a packet of popcorn.
An usher makes his way down the aisle carrying a big white plastic bag. He dips down so people can chuck their rubbish in, giving an half cursey at every row.
The band start up, playing a medley of the act one songs.
A huge chunk of the audience clap along.
The conductor turns around to grin at us. He's having fun.
Everyone is having fun.
Spontaneous applause breaks out at seemingly inconsequential parts of the plot. Laughter rolls over the stalls with every campy move of the cast. As Smith encourages us to clap along in one number, and everyone enthusiastically joins in, it occurs to me that this might now be a standard weekday matinee. The fan-presence is high, and the end of the run is nigh. I might have found myself at a muck-up matinee.
At the final notes, everyone gets to their feet to applaud.
I'm already on my feet, so I let them get on with it.
It's time for the megamix, and people sit down to enjoy this blast through all the bangers of the show.
The stander who came with me from the other side sticks his fingers in his mouth and let's out a blasting whistle. "Well done, kids!" he shouts as the smaller members of the cast come forward.
"Do you want some more?" shouts Smith over the roar of whoops and hollers.
The roar grows even louder. Turns out they do.
"Come on! Do. You. Want. Some. More?!" repeats Smith, pumping her arm to indicate that we should be louder.
Yes, Sheridan. I think these people want more.
"Your turn now," she says. "Come on. Do whatever you want."
A woman in the front row gets to her feet and starts dancing. "Yes!" shouts Smith, pointing at her. "Go girl!"
A few more people join in and Smith gives them approving comments too. Soon everyone is back up and dancing. Or at least clapping.
Lights flicker around the audience.
Streamers descend on the stalls.
Dancing. Clapping. Singing. Music.
And then it's over. The cast wave as they disappear off stage. The three leads, Smith and Jac Yarrow and Jason Donovan, hang back to fling there arms around each other. And then they're gone too.
I decide to take their lead and slip out when the band are still blasting our their finale.
