Blog: Eric and Little Ern

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Regular visitors may have noticed a slight dropping off in BLOGS just lately. Usually when this happens it's because not much has been going on, but THIS time it has been due to QUITE the opposite: LOADS has been happening, in ALL areas of life!

For instance, on Friday night myself and The Lines In My Script met with The Hewitts in London's Fashionable THEATRE LAND, to go and see a SHOW! It was "Eric & Little Ern", which three of us had seen in Edinburgh back in August. That had been GRATE, even though we'd seen the whole thing from the SIDE. We hadn't seen any facial expressions, but because most of the show was a re-enactment of classic Morecambe & Wise routines that didn't matter, as we'd SEEN the facial expressions so many times we knew them off by heart!

We had SUPER POSH seats for this performance (which Steve had spotted in a DEAL), and it was TWICE as long as the version we'd seen. The play (for that is what was wrote) starts of with Ernie Wise in bed after a heart attack, where he's visited by The Ghost Of Eric. In the original version they chat for a bit, go off, then come back on and do a traditional Morecambe & Wise Show, with all the old routines. I thought that this expanded version would do a bit more of the show and then return to the hospital bed for the pay-off, but that didn't happen at all. Instead they expanded the hospital bit into the whole first half, using a sofa and the bed to recreate a lot of the sketch material from the shows, with them hanging around the flat together. This was LOVELY, as none of that part of their shows had been in the original version, and they even managed to squeeze in and adapted version of the Andre Previn sketch, to CHEERS from us!

However, they DIDN'T ever go back to the first scene, ending the second half with "Bring Me Sunshine" and that was that, which all felt a bit odd and/or a missed opportunity. Still, it was WONDERFUL to hear the old jokes once more, though a bit STRANGE to get the feeling that, for a lot of the audience, this was the first time they'd heard them. Afterwards I thought maybe that's The West End for you - in Edinburgh the room was packed with people who LOVED Morecambe & Wise, but maybe a lot of the audience this time were tourists who come to see a West End Show. For instance, as I went back to my seat at half-time one chap said to another, as I passed, "What do you think to the show so far?" OF COURSE I turned round and said "RUBBISH!" and he replied "Yes, it was a little weak, hopefully it will get better." WHAT?!? That's not right - i hope that when they DID the "What do you think of the show so far?" gag in the second half he realised his mistake!

So all in all it was a delightful evening of FINE entertainment with LOVELY CHUMS (especially as NONE of us had to rush back from/to a show of their own at any point!) but I think I might have preferred it when we couldn't see as much!

posted 26/11/2013 by MJ Hibbett

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