Both my wife and daughter are big fans of Jodie Prenger who plays Nancy (may recall she won the BBC show for the part) but we have not had the opportunity to get up and see the show since it started.
Anyway, yesterday was my wife's 50th, so as a treat Steve (my mate) arranged for tickets in the company seats (best seats in the house) as tonight is Jodies last night before she leaves and so I took the family up to London.
Brilliant show but afterwards I told the family to follow me.
Puzzled, wife and daughter followed wondering what was happening.
Got to the stage door and was asked to come into reception. There waiting was my buddy with Jodie, Griff Rhys Jones (Fagin) and Steven Hartley (Bill Sykes).
Spent the next 20 minutes speaking to the three of them getting pictures and autographs, and all three were absolutey delightfull people, totally down to earth, happy to pose for picture and made sure that autographs were signed personally to my daughter rather than just the normal scrawl.
Jodie in particular is a delight and a stunning looker with a big voice. She can only be about 5 feet tall and is tiny, but did not try to hurry anyone up, and I had a real nice chat with her about what she would be doing after she leaves the show.
The best thing was that this happened in private whereas everyone else had to wait outside the stage door for when the artists left the building.
Then to cap it all off, Steve took us backstage and showed us behind the scenes, onto the stage itself, all the props, costimes, the full works, brilliant night capped by a wonderful after show experience.
Both wife and daughter came home with the biggest smile on their faces I have ever seen and my daughter has told everyone and anyone who will listen, even this morning produced a poster of her and Jodie together to go on her bedroom wall.
So my wife now believes she has had the best birthday ever even though it was her 50th
Anyone want to see a good show, worth every penny (even though it was a cheap night for us), and Griff Rhys Jones and Steven hartley are as funny as feck
As the saying goes, it is not what you know, but who you know!
Always good to have the missus in a happy mood!
