London: Into the Woods; Much Ado About Nothing; Phantom of the Opera

In parallel with New York, London is a great theater town. We saw three shows in three days. Benjamin thought it a little excessive, but we did it anyway. Into the Woods is a new production of the Stephen Sondheim classic that turns fairy tales upside down. Staged at the Noel Coward theatre, we found it delightful. It was highly rated, and because it had just started its run, we could get decent seats. Points in its favor.

Then that British colleague of mine suggested a Shakespeare’s Globe performance. For 5-10 British pounds you can watch the performance as a “groundling” standing for the entire performance next to the stage. We thought paying extra to sit would be better. “Rent a cushion” said my British colleague. And we did. In Shakespeare’s time, you just had a hard bench. That hasn’t changed, but now you can rent cushions and blankets in 2026. Our performance was at 7:30 pm in mid-October, so we brought jackets too, as this is an open-air performance, just like they had in Shakespeare’s day. We saw a modern adaption of Much Ado About Nothing. By “modern” I mean the actors dressed like someone on the street today. But the language was all old English. The actors make it understandable with good phrasing and a lot of comic gestures. Actors frequently exited and entered the stage through the “cheap seats” which the groundlings loved. The groundlings, mostly twenty-somethings, were enthusiastic, to say the least. It added a lot of energy to the performance. Highly recommend.

Our last performance was The Phantom of the Opera. It’s been showing at His Majesty’s Theatre for forty (40) straight years, with a brief break during Covid. Forty years! It’s an opera within an opera and could not be described as subtle, with a flying chandelier that hovers over the audience and many other special effects and five bjillion costume changes. Benjamin thought it very Disneyland. The singers are opera stars and the dancers are actual ballerinas. The Phantom turned out to be tall man with a deep voice straight from the U.S. The lyrics were not as memorable as other Andrew Lloyd Weber musicals, but the recurring deep notes of an organ playing before the evil Phantom appears will get you every time. A nice mix for our three-day theatre feast.