Wednesday is Matinee Day Part One

Wednesday is the second Matinee Day in London. We had loved the Saturday combo of ONE MAN, TWO GUV'NORS and COMEDY OF ERRORS, and were looking forward to today's shows.
We arrived at the Duke of York's Theatre which is just down St. Martin's Square around the corner from Trafalgar Square, so an easy walk from Rupert Street.

The Program from the show

 The Duke of York's theater was opened in 1895 and its first big hit was a one-act play titled MADAME BUTTERFLY, by David Belasco. Incredibly, Puccini was in the audience and loved the play so much that he turned into his famous opera. Since it opened, there have been a string of smash successes at the theater, which still has (even after renovation in 1979) a Victorian feel about it: plush seats, velvet curtains, a huge highly decorated proscenium arch and gilt box seats.
When we got to the box office to pick up our tickets, we still had about one hour to kill, so we went across the street and ate a pre-theater lunch at a sandwich and salad restaurant. We returned to the theater and bought a bag of M&Ms and went to our seats right smack in the middle of the Stalls section, which is the main seating close to the stage. We were in Row H (8 rows back), seats 11 and 12, so absolutely in the center. Perfect seating. The people next to us were a young Trinidadian couple. She told us that it was her 30th birthday and that she was studying in London to get a certificate as a School Head (principal) and hoped to go back to Trinidad to start her own school. She said, "Did you come to see Zach Braff?" We had never heard of Zach Braff (the author of the play) but she said, "Everyone LOVES Zach Braff. He is so very funny." We smiled dumbly.
When we looked around at the matinee crowd we suddenly noticed that we seemed to be among the oldest people there. A LOT of teens were piling in. We guessed that Zach Braff was a bit hit on American TV or movies.
His biography says: "Zach starred in OZ with James Franco and Michelle Williams; he played Dr. John 'J.D.' and played Dorian in NBC's comedy Scrubs. He has acted in The Broken Hearts Club, the Manhattan Murder Mystery, and Dreamworks' The Last Kiss. This is his first full play script."
The story is simple: The dead of winter in Long Beach Island, New Jersey. Charlie (Zach Braff) has hit rock bottom and is about to hang himself as the curtain opens. The door opens and Emma, an English eccentric real estate agent enters and saves him. Her boyfriend, the crazy fireman, Myron, comes to help. They are interrupted by the entrance of a gorgeous and completely stupid prostitute, Kim, comes in, sent by Charlie's best friend as a gift to "cheer you up. I'll do anything you want, but stay away from my asshole."
This is not a complex story, and the characters are very one-sided. The fireman is a stereotypically American "tough guy"; the English girl is ditsy without being real and the hooker is just plain dumb. It is not a good play. There are very funny moments and the audience loved. We enjoyed the afternoon, but this was definitely on the bottom of the list as far as we were concerned.
It's funny, but with a poor script, and characters that are comic versions of "funny people", the play didn't have substance. Comparing it to ONE MAN, TWO GUV'NORS, which is a pure and honest bit of Commedia del 'Arte, and a slapstick miracle, this play was hollow. The word FUCK brought the most laughs in the audience, as in: "I don't give a fuck if you hang yourself, just don't leave the fucking clean-up to me. Have a little fucking self-respect. And even if you don't respect yourself, at least show me some fucking respect."
After the show, many people in the audience rushed out to the sidewalk near the Stage Door, just to get a photo of Zach Braff and maybe his autograph.
We walked back to the flat to rest up for the opera that night. A sort of rainy, drizzly day in fact. We went to a store and bought two tiny umbrellas for EngPd 5 for the pair. Perfect for the walk to Covent Garden later that night.