Bohemia

Yesterday, we made a last-minute decision to book tickets for One Night in Bohemia, a celebration of Jonathan Larson at the Phoenix Arts Club. It was an 8:30 pm start, so I did not meet PY until about 8 pm as he’d been in the office and I’d been at home. There was a bit more decorating today, with a final touch-up due tomorrow, although I suspect we won’t hear it as they have now taken all their equipment away apart from a small set of step ladders.

The show was raising money for The National AIDS Trust with a cast that wasn’t born when Jonathan Larson worked. Larson is probably most famous for Rent, a musical that began an Off-Broadway run in early 1996. Larson died the day before its first preview performance, but the show became a significant success on Broadway and in London. We saw the original London production at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 1998, featuring some of the original Broadway cast, and the revival at the Prince of Wales Theatre over the 2001–2002 Christmas period.

The performances tonight were as good as many I have seen over the years. Joshua Williams-Ward was particularly fantastic, with the energy that I remember from the original show. And, of course, they performed Seasons of Love (five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes), the favourite of many people in the audience.

We had such a nice evening, staying with an extra glass of wine for a while. Sometimes, the least planned, unexpected evenings can surprise you.