Appointment at the Palace

A special treat for the Boy today - 'Thomas the Tank Engine Live! on Stage'.

No, not a concept that would have occurred to me either, but there you go.

It was being staged at the very splendid and sumptious Palace Theatre in Downtown Albany. There, beneath a ceilingful of cherubs, were more little boys in Thomas T-shirts than I have ever before seen gathered in one place either side of the Atlantic.

Now, I'll make a confession here: I'm highly susceptible to musical theatre. Let's just say that I have been known to cry during the soppy bits in pantomimes. But even with this self-knowledge I was dismayed to find myself bursting into tears the moment cheeky little Thomas appeared on stage to the strains of that rather annoying theme tune. Who knows what that was about? I'd rather not speculate.

Anyway, I soon recovered - though frankly the wafer-thin plot was enough to make anyone weep. The Boy thoroughly enjoyed it, and didn't seem to mind that Sir Topham Hatt (he's never called the Fat Controller here, I guess that would be stoutist) was neither convincingly overweight nor bald. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Boy's really best bit was the intermission popcorn, but no matter! It was a Red Letter Day and now Albany will always have a special place in his heart.