Unallocated seating…we have our reservations

Further to Andrew’s comments about the 39 Steps .

There’s probably still time to pick up an offer and head to the Wyndhams Theatre to see the terrific production of Sunday in the Park With George.

You’ll probably get a more overall view than the four of us did the night we went to the otherwise excellent Menier Chocolate Factory.

Operating the irritating unreserved seating policy. (Unless of course you’re one of the lucky ones who drifts in at the last minute and takes up one of the seats with “Reserved” stuck on it…prime seats natch!). The four of us arrived early enough to grab reasonable seats, or so we thought. We instead found ourselves scattered around the auditorium like dots in a Seurat painting.

Now I’m all for a bit of audience participation but I found myself stuck on the end of the front row enjoying a relationship with the orchestra that Henry Wood might envy. The cellist’s (or was it the violinist’s?) elbow was within inches of my face. Any closer and I would have had him charged with GBH. If I’d sneezed (as I’m prone to do) the band might have found themselves on different pages of the score. Do you really want your Sondheim more discordant?

I wondered how much more I would have loved this production with a decent view?