Former Pakistan president General Pervez Musharraf went to see the controversial Jihad! The Musical at the Jermyn Street Theatre in London over the weekend.
'He came with a police officer, his wife and three friends,' James Seabright, the producer of the show, told The Daily Telegraph.
The musical features such songs as Building A Bomb Today and I Wanna Be Like Osama.
The satirical romp about the war on terror follows the story of an innocent young flower seller from the mean streets of Jalalabad to the midst of a sleeper cell in the West. He's helped by a very friendly local terrorist -- and an unusually proactive TV reporter in search of a 'killer' story.
'We had been contacted by Special Branch about his visit on Friday. All they required was that one of their officers should be seated beside him. After the show, the general stayed on to congratulate the cast. He was warm and generous in his praise,' Seabright was quoted as saying by the daily.
Ben Scheuer, co-writer of the musical, did not regard it as remarkable that the general should have wanted to see it.
'The show makes fun of extremists, not Muslims,' he said.
Musharraf is currently staying in a £1.4 million penthouse where eight special protection officers from Scotland Yard and his own team of retired Pakistani commandos guard him.
The cost to the taxpayer is estimated to be £25,000 a day, the report added.
Image: Geraint Lewis
