Maria Friedman at Pizza Express Holborn 7-10 Dec.

Have a thanks for the heads up. She was terrific at the Trafalgar Studios a few years ago.



I can only guess she doesn’t want long runs at the moment, or surely we’d have seen more of her on stage?



We’re going Thursday.

Seen a number of these with maria, gutted we can't be there but we will be in the middle of Caribbean!

Love Maria and she is such a lovely lady too. Pity cant go tho.

So can I be an ignoramus here and ask - is this actually a concert in a Pixza Express whilst punters are eating or when it’s closed? Genuine question.

Competing with the dough balls and Sloppy Giuseppe cant be considered to be anyone’s finest hour surely?

She came, we saw, she conquered.

A Bernstein/Sondheim selection. After mentioning her friend currently at the National she then delivered soft and nuanced versions of In Buddy’s Eyes and Loosing My Mind. Some nice segues and off beat choices.So she was very good but...

Could have been amazing if
Turn the volume on the mic down
Drop nos you can’t get right. We had two of the f bomb moments last night AND I don’t think she’s retained the verbal dexterity to do the fast bits on Not Getting Married
And though she talks interestingly, after the first no is not the time to start suspect she needs a new director to give her a few notes


The room is rather nice. To save theatre monkey a job ask to be seated away from the bar. Centre of the room fine

That's all well and good but how quick is she at bringing the pizza to the table?

Well that was a lovely evening. Maria was on top form and did a great selection of Sondheim and Bernstein songs. She actually got through Not Getting Married without a hitch. Her voice is still on top form.
She mentioned that she had just been in Boston directing Merrily and that she had high hopes of bringing it to Broadway.
Also that she is writing a book but I couldn't figure out whether its going to be a novel or autobiography.

As Mr Snow mentioned earlier the mic could have been turned down a bit, as at times it was far too loud. I also would have liked the show to be in 2 halves rather than straight through as I was hoping to have dessert during the interval so missed out on my pud!!

Mr Snow also mentioned not sitting near the bar. Well guess where we were placed? Almost on top of the bar. Seems that tables are pre allocated depending on how early you book. I booked as soon as it was announced but ended up in pretty much the worst table in the house. Couldn't really see Maria, just occasionally when peoples heads moved and there was constant clatter from the bar when she was performing. They seemed to want to do a re-stock of the bar during her quieter songs. We had also been there for an hour before our food arrived and that was only because I complained. Starter came and then about 1 minute later mains arrived which were completely cold so they had to be sent back. When we got fresh mains we had about 5 minutes to eat before Maria came on. I don't like eating when performers are on the stage which is why we arrived 1hr 30 minutes before the show to give us time to eat.
Luckily I was in a very good mood last night so just let it go.
Probably wouldn't go back to the venue. They could do with having a look at how the Hippodrome do cabaret/dining properly.