Review – Assassins by Stephen Sondheim, Landor Theatre

“Yes – but apart from that – how did you enjoy the play, Mrs Lincoln?”

Right, that’s got that old gag out of the way.

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Andrew was rather touched and slightly bewildered when Phil turned up at his door on Saturday with a full motorcade to drive them to the Landor Theatre to see Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins (book by John Weidman).

Why the open-top limo on such a cool January evening? Was that a maniacal grin playing across Phil’s mouth? What was with the pink pillbox hat?

And why the elaborate detour taking in the grassy knoll at Larkhall Park fields and Lambeth education department’s book depositary?

Review – The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, Landor Theatre, London

The fringe is a foreign county; they do things differently there.

For the Whingers, attention during a fringe production always takes third place (at best) to other concerns.

Saturday night’s performance of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas at the Landor Theatre, for example, was performed against the background of additional un-scored percussion courtesy of Andrew’s pocket abacus upon which he was doggedly calculating the economics of staging a musical with 26 cast members (plus band) in an auditorium which seats 65 people who have paid just £12 to get in.

Phil, on the other hand, spent most of the show breathing into a paper bag in an effort to recover from the pre-theatre anxiety brought on by his personal bête noire which is unallocated seating.