The Magistrate, NTLive, January

Anna and I missed out on a lot of theatre recently because of my bedridden-ness, but when I knew I would be better-ish by January we booked cinema tickets to see John Lithgow's National Theatre Pinero farce. And boy were we glad we only saw it at the cinema. Yet again that was another NT Live show that I thought was tat (so far only She Stoops to Conquer and The Kitchen were ones I'd wished I'd seen for real).
I enjoyed Nancy Carroll's performance and John Lithgow of course but otherwise it was nothing special at all. The Pinero I saw in the summer (Dandy Dick touring) was a very similar pay but the pacing was much much better- it was much shorter, the sets were much better, the songs were better and the acting was the same. The only draw the Magistrate seemed to have was that this one had John Lithgow, an American movie star. When Anna and I tried to think which British actor could play the part (double-taking, eyebrow-raising caricature) we could only think of Nicholas le Prevost who had done Dandy Dick, but of course, he can't headline at the National! That would not bring in the crowds (sorry, Nick).
Anyway, glad I saw Nancy Carroll, she was my favourite. I love a good female comic turn, makes a nice change!