All the World is a show, particularly if you’re inside a theater.

Shows are back in London, and it felt like things were back to normal for at least a couple of hours. Yes, I was double-masked. We had a buffer in the Garrick Theatre of a few rows in the stalls that did not sell, but we’re as COVID careful as we can be.

Honestly, all concern vanished once the show began. I didn’t feel any mask once that first song was underway; that’s the magic of the west end.

The Garrick Theatre was on the ball. All of their communication around the tickets and signage for the performance spoke of requiring masks for the show, and the show-goers for this performance were good with the requirement.

I was pleasantly surprised by The Last 5 Years. I’ve always enjoyed the music from the Jason Robert Brown show, but the movie version underwhelmed me, and it consequently put me off from seeing the stage version. That was a mistake. The hook in this failed relationship musical is that the two leads are going in the opposite direction. Jamie is singing from the beginning of the relationship and Cathy from the end. Part of the creativity here relies on the audience to fill in these scenes based on the songs. The only thing on the stage is a piano, and the two performers sing their parts leading to their story. Jonathon Boyle’s brilliant minimalist direction lets the words in each song have their effect: one actor would sing like the other plays on the piano or becomes a prop in their partner’s rendition.

Oli Higginson was powerful as Jamie, an author whose star is rising while meeting his “Shiksa Goddess.” Molly Lynch’s Cathy is effectively sympathetic, a role I found more cold in the film. She evened out that performance for me; I thought Lynch was fine. The show, as presented, has a real nightclub feel.

It was a Theater Thursday in London, so after a brief coffee break, we were off to the Barbican Theatre. Unfortunately, it was a different mask experience. The folks sitting to my right had masked, but the two older women to Joel’s left could not be bothered. We had one seat there as a buffer (Garry’s chair and had he been there, he would have left).

Sutton Foster did not disappoint. Anything Goes is a pure old-fashioned show with numbers and schtick that kept this audience afloat for the three-hour cruise. Foster is so incredibly solid as Reno Sweeney. When I heard Megan Mullaly had dropped and Foster would take over, that’s the moment we bought tickets.

Actually we overheard a story in the row behind us regarding what happened with Mullaly. I don’t know if this is accurate so take it with a grain of salt but according to the row behind she left because she couldn’t do all the tap choreography and tried to get it completely cut from the show. When Foster was called she only agreed to do it with all the tap back in. Anyway, the tap dance numbers were very good. The show of course was an evening of Cole Porter classics, Foster, Robert Lindsay and the talented cast made sure Anything Goes was a night we wouldn’t forget.