First order of business was catching a matinee showing of the musical Matilda at the Cambridge Theatre in Covent Garden. It's based on one of my favorite childhood novels by Roald Dahl, who's pretty much the best children's writer of all time, and it got excellent reviews so I was pretty excited.
As always, we arrived way too early, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise since J was able to snag a beer and I grabbed two large bags of sweet treats - one sour and one sweet cause a girl needs variety. =)
In any case, the theatre's smack dab in the middle of the seven dials, which is the intersection of seven shopping streets and the world's tiniest roundabout. The theatre is a bit tired looking, but the place was filled with schoolyard decorations such as chalkboards with rude sayings scrawled on them.
We weren't seated for too long when I noticed that a gentleman a few rows ahead of us looked an awful lot like Paul McCartney of the Beatles. I also couldn't help noticing that the lady next to him looked just like Paul McCartney's new wife. I couldn't stop staring because they looked so much like them that they had to be them, but it was still too improbable for it to be happening. I mean, what are the chances that I would be catching a Saturday matinee showing of Matilda with a Beatle?
And it finally dawned on me, HOLY SHIT, IT'S PAUL MCCARTNEY. I'm from LA, and it's not unusual to spot celebrities in random places. I've seen Jack Nicholson opening doors for confused shoppers at Nordstrom, and Dog the Bounty Hunter sauntering through the Grove with his wife in tow. But this wasn't any celebrity sighting - this was THE celebrity sighting. I love love love the Beatles. I grew up loving them since I was in the fourth grade, and they were so amazing that I could never grasp that these were real live talking and walking people who existed in the same world as me.
Anyway, I managed to pull my eyes away from him long enough to enjoy the musical. It was a wonderful show, but the best bit was Miss Trunchbull, the terrifying headmistress of the school. It's a very masculine woman's role, but it was played to perfection by a man who flounced and pranced better than I ever could. I really couldn't imagine anyone playing that role any better - he completely stole the show.
The two hours or so sped by, and pretty soon we were on our way out when I noticed that Paul McCartney was walking down the stairs right in front of me. I was so close that I could've reached out and ruffled his very thick head of hair. My arm started to reach out, as if it had a mind of its own, when J grabbed me and told me he had to visit the men's room. Foiled and thwarted!
As disappointed as I was that I didn't manage to grab Paul McCartney and get tackled by his security team, I managed not to cry. J tried to console me with a good wander through Covent Garden, and I was sufficiently recovered by the time we met our friends at Christopher's for dinner.
Christopher's is a neo-American restaurant close to the Strand, and the four of us spent a good three hours eating and chatting. It was good times, and the food was excellent but with one big caveat. The boys ordered from the a la carte menu, while us girls ordered off the pre/post theatre menu, and the food ordered from the a la carte menu was vastly superior. Other than that, the service was excellent, and the setting was like a proper American steakhouse without being stuffy. And we each got a chocolate truffle after our dessert. Definitely worth a trip or two back.
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