(Picture of the Day -
This is a picture of the St. Martin Theatre- If you can read the Marquee it says... "56th Year". Yep, you read correctly. It is the longest running show in history.Agatha Christie's "Mousetrap" has been running at this location for Fifty-six years- Producers claim they have still not recouped, writer Christie is still waiting on royalties.. that's an investors joke)

Today was a day selling the show to the ticket agencies. Ticketmaster/Telecharge have it all locked up in New York. I remember going over to their offices on 42nd Avenue, and spending some time talking to the operators there. Here is London, however, there are probably five or so big agencies who will be selling the show. Each one needed to be visited and stroked, and it was a full day of it for me. I was really excited about their response. They said that the market is ready for a "fringy" show that isn't a musical. Most said that there are too many musicals in town and they are not selling very well. Spamalot has given notice. The biggest ticket agency said that this is just what Londoners are looking for. From their lips to the box office gross.

I also met with the TAO girls. They have hired ten cute girls to hand out pamphlets and promote the show one on one. They will be wearing tee shirts with the logo and they'll go around to bars and gyms to pitch the show. I had a meeting with them today as well. They are really excited. I would definitely go anywhere these girls recommended. The Producers have armed them with not only all the printed material but video ipods as well. The ipods have clips from the show down loaded. They can place some noise reduction head phones on a potential ticket buyer, and show them scenes from the show. I think that is a great idea, which could not have been done even 5 years ago. I think this is the first time it has been done for a show although I am sure this will not be the last.

After a long day of introducing Bob around, I took a cab back to the Dolphin House. The usual route past Parliament was blocked due to some function. The cab had to detour. I realized suddenly that we were passing Buckingham Palace. I guess I thought all the familar buildings in London were further apart. It seems all the attractions are really within blocks of each other.

I know this is a critical time for the show, getting it noticed and people aware. However, I feel like a fire horse smelling smoke, I can't wait to get on the stage and tell this story again. This week end I will do the London equvalent of Broadway on Broadway. They are building an outdoor stage at Leister Square which will showcase numbers from all of the shows running. I remember having a great time doing this function on Broadway. It is a rare chance to meet your peers and hang with all the other actors in shows at the West End. The forecast calls for rain all week end, but they have been wrong more than right this week on the weather. We hope that tend continues for the next few days.

Murphy and Paul are coming in tomorrow. The Four and Only, (Murph, Paul, Sandi and me) hope to go to Stone Henge on summer solstice this Saturday. The producer scoffed and said, "Why do Americans want to see a bunch of rocks?" If this happens in spite of the rain and I get a picture, you know I will publish it here.
As you were,
Jay