ST JOHN AND THE PHANTOM

What a wonderful day in London.  The sky was blue, the temperature was brisk but fine, I had a great lunch and went to a fabulous show.

First, this is Great Britain:

If you stay at the Sheraton Skyline (or any number of equivalents just outside of Heathrow--I've used the Sofitel in Terminal 5, which is expensive), the bus to the Tube or Heathrow is free, and an all day ticket for subsequent transport  into and throughout London costs around $12.  It set me back this same sum from the Sheraton Stockholm to the Arlanda Express, a quarter mile trip of 3 minutes.

My lunch at the #41 Best Restaurant in the World, St John, was terrific.  Considering that there are probably more than 10 million eating establishments, this is certainly high honor to the Head Chef, Chris Gillard.

I was the first customer at Noon, and the second showed up at 12:30.  By 1PM there might have been a dozen (there is seating for around 75), and I was probably the second youngest.  The place began to fill soon after this.  The decor is black and white and not unlike a cafeteria.  Even the wine glasses were unpretentious.

I had a St John Champagne, St John Claret (a bordeaux) and Le Temps des Gitans 2010 mas de Janin from Languedoc (white wine) to go with a soup/salad and main course.  First, the Potato soup with escargot plus roast bone marrow and parsley salad.  Imagine a truly tasty potato soup with six  escargots infused with butter and garlic.  The bone marrow was perfect, but the parsley could have instead been arugula, endive, radicchio and Maui onions.  Even then, possibly the best soup and salad combination I've ever had.

I ordered a fish and chips, but they called it Hake and chips with aioli (a golden garlic mayonnaise).  Terrific, actually, but nothing like what you get all over the town.

I was so filled that I skipped the dessert.  The total bill with all those drinks was about what one appetizer would cost at Robuchon.  Great food and good value.

 I then hurried off to see Phantom of the Opera (POTO) at Her Majesty's.  Why?  Because a quarter century ago, almost exactly on this day, I saw the original version here. in this very theater, with Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman.  Moving to New York City Broadway in 1988, POTO won almost all the Tony Awards.  There was a 2004 movie with Gerard Butler playing the Crawford role, and a 2010 West End (London) sequel, Love Never Dies, set in 1907 (26 years later, but confusing, because the timing, really, is only a decade after the end of the original show, which supposedly occurred in 1881), with Christine (Brightman role) now married to Raoul, with young son, journeying to Coney Island to perform, unaware that the Phantom is behind it all.  This version is currently playing in Australia.  There were two earlier POTO movies:  1925 with Lon Chaney and 1943 with Claude Rains (and Nelson Eddy), with no music, of course, for Andrew Lloyd Webber was born in 1948.

But tonight, the 2011 POTO, with Scott Davies and Sofia Escobar, who are the equal of Crawford and Brightman, if not better singers. But there is something about the original, any original, that cannot be matched.  The production and orchestration were impressive.  It was like reliving a memory, updated.

Interestingly enough, Michael Crawford (with Danielle Hope in what looks like a 25 year old Dorothy} is back.  He is the wizard in the Wizard of Oz.  Hmm....maybe tomorrow.  I have lunch scheduled at Zuma, #66 on the Best Restaurants of the World list.

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