Nine days to Christmas; soon we will be in 2009. Where has the year gone to? With advancing age time seems to go faster and faster. So does money come to think of it. I might have mentioned this but I’m not going back to earlier blogs to take a look, Baz Bamigboye in his Friday column wanted to know where all the new musicals are and I see in the latest Daily Mail an ad for Cameron Macintosh’s new production of OLIVER – what? Yet again? He really does pull this one out of the bag at seemingly regular intervals, obviously a sure-fire money spinner, but let’s take a close look at this advertisement. All the prices quoted are per person so, say I was a married man with two kids and living in Leeds which is a far enough journey from London and the bargain rail fares are only from selected mainline stations, and I wanted to take the family to see OLIVER. Tickets in the upper circle, that is as far away from the stage as you can get, and a night in a hotel, cost a hundred and twenty pounds; all put five pence, so that is £480 for starters. The train fare (per person) is another one hundred and forty pounds, minus that five pence which makes £560. Taxi fares to and from the theatre if necessary would add another say £30 (This is an estimate from news I have had of current taxi fares in London.) The hotel that is included, albeit four star, provides breakfast only so there is lunch and dinner to cater for, say another £20 for a snack lunch of sandwiches (£4 a throw) and drinks, and another £90 for dinner, possibly even more and we now have a grand total of £1180 plus, and that is supposed to be a bargain evening at the theatre. It’s only a bargain because the ad states “from” and tickets can be upgraded at a supplement. I guess there must, even in these days of severe recession, be people around who can flaunt that kind of money. Of course if you’re not satisfied with spending just one night in London and really want to push the boat out you and the family can stay extra nights at the same hotel for £60 per person (minus that ubiquitous five pence).
I don’t wish to be killjoy and the theatre was after all my living for a good many years and could still be, but while you are answering this advertisement and thinking of spending your thousand and odd pounds on an evening’s entertainment keep in mind that Christmas is only nine days away, a lunatic thug and his cronies are starving his nation to death, if the people are not dying of cholera and other assorted illnesses due to lack of medicines, and there are other parts of the globe where Christmas and its Christian message is absolutely meaningless. Enjoy the show.