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Post by Mr Snow on Aug 25, 2023 7:45:50 GMT
Apologies if this is covered elsewhere but "Search" came up blank....
First of 3 nights last night.
Really enjoyed, more so than the version at the Menier. Great to see a large cast and an 11 piece orchestra in this new small space.
The ladies were particularly strong and if I see a better performance this year than Madeline Morgan as Mary Flynn, well I'll be stunned. The reprise of Not a day goes by will stick with me as a musical theatre highlight.
Direction fine but the pace of act 2 (don't know the piece well enough to say if it's always) made it less engaging generally. But overall it's a success.
New venue was a little warm last night but we'll suited to the job. Good leg room and access. Didn't think I'd ever recommend a Pizza joint but the one across the road was interesting and vfm.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Aug 25, 2023 8:29:28 GMT
Important things first, Theo's pizza ? I really like the place.
Merrily, Act 2 has 1 more scene than act 1 but this isn't about symmetry its the general pacing with many scenes lingering.
Also, I'm not sure if Beth's parents really add anything. If we see them why not Frank's?
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Post by tal on Aug 25, 2023 8:58:27 GMT
Important things first, Theo's pizza ? I really like the place. Merrily, Act 2 has 1 more scenes than act 1 but this isn't about symmetry its the general pacing with many scenes lingering. Also, I'm not sure if Beth's parents really add anything. If we see them why not Frank's? Yeah, I'm pretty sure it would be possible to do away with Beth's parents. They help understand Beth's decisions to leave, but I think a good part of their appeal is just a bit dated, and the "at least he's not black" line just does not sit well with me. But I am glad I caught this production, and well done to the actors and musicians for putting up with all that heat. |
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Post by shownut on Aug 25, 2023 9:05:10 GMT
I was there last night as well and incredibly impressed by the production overall. Great direction and a superb young cast with a very good live (but mostly hidden, except for a handful of musicians) orchestra.
I was not impressed with the actual theatre. There was no air and the theatre was stuffy and incomfortable. The seats were also cramped and not very comfortable. The public spaces were ok but the restrooms are located at the hardest place to get to during the interval which was a bit stressful.
It will need be a 'must-see' to get me back into that barn of a theatre.
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Post by apubleed on Aug 25, 2023 11:41:43 GMT
Is this a genuine young cast more in line with the original production? I'd be curious to see what that feels like as opposed to any production of Merrily now that typically use very much grown adults.
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Post by Mr Snow on Aug 25, 2023 13:14:30 GMT
Is this a genuine young cast more in line with the original production? I'd be curious to see what that feels like as opposed to any production of Merrily now that typically use very much grown adults. Yes works well with the main characters - slightly 'less' well with parents! Yes Theo's Pizza. Huge size. Share a starter and a main course will fill most up. |
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Post by lou105 on Aug 25, 2023 22:24:31 GMT
Yes the programme states ages. The leads are 19, 21 and,21 and the oldest is 23. I agree with Mr Snow about Madeleine Morgan. Amazing performance. |
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Post by shownut on Aug 26, 2023 7:18:47 GMT
Is this a genuine young cast more in line with the original production? I'd be curious to see what that feels like as opposed to any production of Merrily now that typically use very much grown adults. Yes works well with the main characters - slightly 'less' well with parents! Yes Theo's Pizza. Huge size. Share a starter and a main course will fill most up. I agree about Theo's. Totally recommend it and had to bring half of mine home. It was huge. |
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Post by tmesis on Aug 27, 2023 6:09:31 GMT
I absolutely loved this at yesterday’s matinee. What a talented cast and the band was superb too - they launched into the opening overture with huge gusto.
It’s definitely my favourite Sondheim musical (which, more or less means it’s my favourite musical period.) I enjoyed it more than the famous MCF production (which I loved) so that’s high praise indeed.
It was also great, because of the youth of the actors, to have them at the right age for the final, oh so poignant, roof top scene.
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Post by apubleed on Aug 27, 2023 7:39:39 GMT
I absolutely loved this at yesterday’s matinee. What a talented cast and the band was superb too - they launched into the opening overture with huge gusto. It’s definitely my favourite Sondheim musical (which, more or less means it’s my favourite musical period.) I enjoyed it more than the famous MCF production (which I loved) so that’s high praise indeed. It was also great, because of the youth of the actors, to have them at the right age for the final, oh so poignant, roof top scene. I agree, it was just magical and much better than I could have ever anticipated. I've seen most professional Sondheim New York and London revivals over the years now, and this will be up there in terms of all-time great Sondheim Theatre experiences. I don't think even the upcoming Broadway revival is going to quite capture the tone, subtext and magic in having these talented young performers sing "Our Time". Wow. I was crying. |
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Post by Steve on Aug 27, 2023 8:51:55 GMT
I absolutely loved this at yesterday’s matinee. What a talented cast and the band was superb too - they launched into the opening overture with huge gusto. It’s definitely my favourite Sondheim musical (which, more or less means it’s my favourite musical period.) I enjoyed it more than the famous MCF production (which I loved) so that’s high praise indeed. It was also great, because of the youth of the actors, to have them at the right age for the final, oh so poignant, roof top scene. I also saw the matinee yesterday, and LOVED it.
Some spoilers follow. . .
"Our Time" was the standout song of this production: partly because the show builds to the idealistic hopes and expectations of youth, and there they are, all so young and expectant and singing together, expressing their characters hopes and dreams, and also their own; partly because these are good singers and together they sound sublime; but, for me, mostly because the staging was so evocative, with the "me and you" refrain echoed by having the performers mostly in pairs, with each pair hugging each other, so it wasn't one blob of expectation, but also all these different friendship groups, mirroring each other and young people everywhere, all so hopeful, a kind of universal expression of young humanity's hopes.
For me personally, the Menier production is unsurpassed though, and a great deal of that is on account of Mark Umbers's corrupted saint of a Franklin, whereby in his expressions you could constantly read moment-to-moment intentions and expressions of loving and relating to everyone around him, even as he sacrificed it all.
By contrast here, moment-to-moment I couldn't read Toby Owers's Franklin (who reminded me of a young James Lafferty, who played Chad Michael Murray's brother in "One Tree Hill") and he came across for me as more distant and inscrutable than Umbers, who was the model of benignity. This is partly a reflection of how youthful faces haven't absorbed character with time, but mostly because Umbers is a terrific and experienced actor who brought so much to Maria Friedman's masterpiece of a production. That said, in moments when Owers was called on specifically to evince emotion, he did so wonderfully.
By the same token, those massive spectacles placed on Thomas Oxley's Charley may have seemed a good idea to the costume designer but they denied us access to his microexpressions, so if he was emotionally reacting to the scenes and incidents around him, we couldn't see it. Damian Humbley in the Menier production was a fountain of emotional micorexpressions and reactions by comparison.
The two actors who really distinguished themselves for me yesterday, as actors, were Madeleine Morgan playing Mary, and Sophie Blagden, playing Gussie. With those two, I knew what they were thinking about everything, every moment of the show, and their performances were rich enough that they were often thinking multiple things at once, with Morgan's Mary's romantic feelings for Franklin visibly and naturalistically at war with her expressions of disapproval of his actions; and Blagden's Gussie equally blending her attraction for Franklin with her disdain of his world.
I loved the staging on the balcony, of scenes and observers, that constantly and dynamically enriched the mis-en-scene, drawing us in.
Overall, although I did not feel this was in the league of Friedman's 5 star masterpiece of a Menier Production, I felt it was a wonderful 4 star reminder of Sondheim's genius, as well as an opportunity to feel the poignant youthful dreaming of the song, "Our Time," at an intensity never before dreamed of by me. 
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Post by apubleed on Aug 27, 2023 9:31:50 GMT
One of the other very moving moments for me was seeing the young team in the band navigate the score. Not just because of how talented they are but because of their attitude - based on the way they were bopping along I could tell some of them absolutely loved the music they were playing and they were enjoying creating and even just listening to the score. That was very emotional for to me to see because obviously I think it's important that Sondheim is being handed down to the next generation.. I really wish I could see this production again - I know they had signs it was being filmed but I don't know if it ever goes anywhere. I overheard someone asking an usher if we would be able to purchase it and they said they don't think it's for commercial release.
The other reason I think this production works is because suddenly a lot of the creaky book, soap opera lines and lack of character development seems to become less important when the tone of the production is more like a show put on by teenagers where it all feels appropriate for that kind of level vs a much more serious adult take on the material. At times the show definitely had a feeling of 'kids dressing as adults' (though in the most professional and polished way imaginable) but that is what I loved about it - it's almost like their interpretation of what adulthood is and then when it clicks and becomes much more authentic when they are playing their own ages it feels so sincere and moving because like the characters these actors really don't know what is ahead of them and it is very much 'their time', as opposed to watching Daniel Radcliffe or Jonathan Groff pretend to be young and talk about a future they've already had.
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