Marry Me a Little - Stage Door Theatre

Saw the first performance, enjoyed it! just an upstairs space in the pub, so tiny

The seats are unallocated. It basic pub tables and chairs, you turn your chair round so you can see the show.

Thankfully the stage is raised, i suspect everybody can see everything.

I didnt eat, but i would as the fish and chips looked tasty (freezer to fryer type menu). I liked the beer!

I hope you enjoy the show Mr Snow

Adding the two songs from Evening Primrose and Rainbows from Into the Woods to the song list as bookends really boosts the emotional potential of this show. The original version always felt like the collection of leftover bits and pieces it was. Might be worth a visit.

This production, the first ever at Drury Lane’s new cabaret-style space above the Prince of Wales pub, is brilliant. The two performers, Shelley Rivers and Markus Sodergren, and their pianist fill the intimate Stage Door Theatre admirably. It is an interesting set-up with patrons, who choose to, enjoying food and drink before the performance. For others like me, show-only tickets are available - although you are limited to the bar stools at the back of the space.

With no microphone (microphones are for wimps, as the great Shaun Williamson once said), Rivers’ vocals could not have sounded any more luscious. Musicals performed without microphones are a rare breed in London and, in a venue like this, it genuinely adds so much to the atmosphere.

Rivers’ takes on the more well-known numbers Marry Me a Little and There Won’t Be Trumpets steal the show, but Sodergren holds his own alongside her powerful vocals. His Happily Ever After proved a real highlight of this hour-long revue.

I loved this piece of musical theatre. Sondheim, as you never really get to hear his compositions; totally stripped back to the piano chords. I’m not sure I’d love to see it in a cabaret environment again but put this production in the Union or Southwark’s Little space for a limited run and I’d be there several times over.

I had a nice chat with another bloke on his own near the bar (wearing a Guys & Dolls t-shirt) and a chap who had seen Old Friends a couple of times. In hindsight, I’m sure at least one of them are members here! So hello.

Four stars.