Trip to see 'The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe' Stirs Many Memories and Passions for Alfred Muggins!

17/10/25
    At the Lyceum Theatre in Sheffield, the city of his birth, and most of his life, even though much of the city centre was now unrecognisable, having been rebuilt, not due to war (although it had been rebuilt after its 'Blitz' by the Germans in the Second World War!), such as the Nazis did earlier during the war, or the recent Israeli's might have done, but due to money and economics, and the often strange decisions of town planners and road designers who just couldn't stop themselves messing about with the town (city!) of his youth, and even that of his maturity. He was sure that by the time he actually died, and hopefully went to heaven, that none of it would even be recognisable to him any more. Massive blocks of strange block like buildings were taking the place of all the places he had once known. (He was starting to wonder whether Minecraft, the young grandkids' video game  had taken over the building planning, or perhaps just LEGO, or maybe Sheffield City Council had let AI take over the running of the city's planning permission and design departments. (As a sort of artist, in the past, he was sure he could have done a better job, but who was he to say? He was only a citizen, and they never asked him directly for his opinions on the development of the city! That all lay in the hands of profit seeking Companies and Developers, with some oversight from the Council!))
      Thank God the City Hall and the Lyceum, and even the now not so modern Crucible (home of snooker contests, but much earlier in his life of 'Joseph and His Technicolour Dreamcoat' and Mozart's 'Magic Flute', of Big Bill Broonzy (Blues), and on one very splendid evening, probably around 1980, of Richard and Linda Thompson's splendid rock'n'rolling 'Folk Rock', in which he and his friend found themselves dancing onstage with many of the audience to that folk rock'n'roll! (Probably one of the best gigs he ever went to!)) All of these memories, and particularly the Richard and Linda Thompson one tied up quite well with the magnificent Folk inflected music used in tonight's spellbinding revolution of the Lion and his people (talking beasts etc!) against the evil exploitative White Witch, the wicked Queen who had held Narnia in her wintry thrall for the previous hundred years.
     Naturally Alfred drew lots of relevance to current events in the (once) United States, as the evil tyrant Trumpenstein (the ultimate philistine!), with his millionaire (billionaire! or trillionaire?) buddies and his paid spies and informers tried to place a 100 year winter on that once (relatively) free and fair land. Suddenly the talking animals were having to go underground again, and strangers were not to be welcomed.
    The Lyceum Theatre itself, the older theatre next to the modern 1960's/70's style Crucible Theatre, in the round, was the actual one they were visiting tonight, which Alfred could not remember going to as much when younger. He could remember vaguely going to a pantomime there when he was quite young, with his parents and sister, but which pantomime had it been? He couldn't even remember that any more, as his memories distanced themselves from him. Maybe 'Jack and the Beanstalk' or Aladdin? - but he just could not remember. Later, in the early eighties the theatre had been revamped as a Rock venue, in opposition to the successful Crucible Theatre next door. He remembered seeing blues bands there on a couple of occasions -Nine Inch Nails (great punky blues) and another time The Blues Band, with Paul Jones (originally of Manfred Mann back in the sixties). 
       The Lyceum Theatre had eventually gone back to being a pure theatrical theatre, but it had taken him many years of working life to get back into the theatre. He had finally gone a few months before in March/April 2025, a few months before, with his wife's firstborn son, treated to a murder mystery show, which had been good. Unfortunately a couple of months before that (in January or February) he had been unable to attend the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang show (another childhood favourite!), as Mrs Muggins had failed to relieve him from their care client job in time, (despite having months of pre warning!), and her sons and teenage grandson had all gone without him. He had been understandably upset as he had really been looking forward to returning to his youth (so to speak!), but adults have to take this sort of thing on the chin, particularly if they are married!
     However the dramatic story which meant the most to him as a child, and even held much meaning for him as an adult was this drama 'The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe', as well as all the other Narnia books, which not all of which Hollywood and Broadway/London West End had strangely even bothered to make yet. So, ever since he missed 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' his wife's firstborn son and he had repeatedly discussed the importance of not missing this favourite of his. And thankfully, months later after it was originally booked, it finally came to pass! The day when he would finally go through that wardrobe, so to speak, and end up in Narnia once again! He had actually spent rather a lot of his own childhood in Narnia (and later places a little like it - such as Middle Earth!).
     Some might say he had spent rather too much time in Narnia, and in places like it, such as Middle Earth, and even in places he had invented himself in his own writings in the years since, although unfortunately none of those places would be anywhere near as famous as Narnia, or Middle Earth, as there was no way advertising his own fantasy lands or his own books to a wider heavily saturated world.
     It wasn't that 'The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe' was the only Narnia story which mattered. As a child he had loved all six of the stories fairly equally, and he had never quite understood why this particular story was the only one which most people knew or concentrated on. Although a very good version of 'Prince Caspian' had been made a few years before, and even a rather good 'Voyage Of The Dawn Treador', why hadn't they yet attempted the other stories? He had loved 'The Silver Chair' as a child, and even 'A Horse And His Boy', but the seriously existential and most philosophical 'Magicians' Nephew' and 'The Last Battle' would have made magnificent films if done correctly and with devotion. Perhaps the players who performed 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe' so well should do all the other stories next? 
     He supposed that 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe' was a perfect story with a straightforward and most effective/satisfying plot. 'Prince Caspian' basically told a very similar story, the overthrow of a tyrannical government', and the restoration of a good (monarchical!) government on behalf of the people (including all the talking animals etc who should be treated as equals with citizen rights.) Both were effective and satisfying stories, full of moral lessons and purpose, which today's corrupted world could very much do with!