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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2017 11:43:59 GMT
I didn't think there was anything unnecessarily grumpy about your first post, it was very reflective of my own experience, and far more helpfully put too.
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Post by westendwendy on Apr 20, 2017 19:51:00 GMT
At this tonight, the WORST music I've ever witnessed in a musical in my life. What a horrible show. Nice cast but dreadful material. "Ring the belllsssss ring the bellsssss love the belllllssssss"... I rarely leave at the interval but this disaster made me think about leaving during act one! 1/10 AVOID. How on earth did this make it past a workshop? I love to support new work too - but what a turkey!
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Post by djp on Apr 20, 2017 20:05:28 GMT
I feel bad for saying it, because I like supporting new musicals and there should be more of them on the London stage, but... this was pretty crap. As others have said, it doesn't know what it wants to be. The story relating to four people struggling to cope with the situation this war has suddenly thrust them in is really strong, thought-provoking and has something to say. It's then coupled to the most pointless ghost story... And that's the worst thing about it, it's completely pointless. The ghosts have almost nothing to do with the wartime plot (and what to do have could easily be excised), and serve as a distraction every time things threaten to get interesting. Their plot also has no narrative, conclusion or resolution, adding to the 'so-what' nature of it. The ghost characters also sing the majority of the songs, which are for the most part quite samey and forgettable. The exception is the first song, which I really liked. I feel bad slating it like this - the performances from the six-person cast are uniformly excellent, and some real thought has gone into the staging here (except - why do they all go into reverse in one number? I couldn't grasp the significance). But it needs the ghost story chopping, another hour of the wartime plot adding, and some melodies wouldn't hurt either. Also - the sound mixing in there was horrible. Much of the time during the songs the 'chorus' was overwhelmed by the music, meaning you couldn't hear the words - adding to me not knowing what was going on or why, part of the time. Seems pretty much a definition of being a ghost - you haunt - period - for a very long period. The question is how does that relate to the story elsewhere? Seeing it Saturday. sorry to hear the sound is still unreliable - it was a problem in Exposure and Wild Party too.
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Post by shady23 on Apr 20, 2017 20:35:53 GMT
Seems pretty much a definition of being a ghost - you haunt - period - for a very long period Or in the case of this show, just for an hour and twenty five minutes...
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Post by theatremadness on Apr 20, 2017 21:33:34 GMT
Well I have to totally agree with westendwendy on this one. Was also there tonight (sorry to have missed you!), but I stayed on for Act 2 for my sins. Possibly the worst musical I have ever seen and I can't understand how it got as far as a public showing! The music was boring, bland and banal, the lyrics were childish and amateurish, no real thought or care seems to have gone into what any character is singing and the book.....good grief the book. To call it Drama GCSE standard would be insulting to Drama GCSE students. Completely baron of any sense of drama, any stakes, anything interesting what-so-ever. An excruciating case of over-acting from Simon Bailey, strutting around the stage with 'smell the fart' acting on his face. Coupled with pretty shoddy performances all-round, disappointing from a pretty good cast on paper. Only redeeming features were the band & orchestrations and Simon Lipkin, mostly. Avoid!!
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Post by westendwendy on Apr 21, 2017 7:33:34 GMT
Locked up in a haunted lighthouse singing the worst songs possible with no storyline THE MUSICAL
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2017 13:01:34 GMT
This isn't it's first production either. It played at the La Jolla Playhouse in Californina a while back. This is the improved version!
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Post by anita on Apr 21, 2017 13:13:03 GMT
This isn't it's first production either. It played at the La Jolla Playhouse in Californina a while back. This is the improved version! Glad I didn't see the original then.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2017 20:46:15 GMT
I was just looking on the website to see what was on and I remembered I saw that the national youth music theatre were doing Sunday in the park with George there and I was excited to see i can not find it in the website and I think it might be cancelled but I did not see anything about it. Anyone know what has happened?
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Post by Someone in a tree on Apr 22, 2017 5:53:15 GMT
The Sondheim society may know. Although I looked on the website the other day for further details about Night Music @ Watermill and no mention of it was on the site
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Post by alece10 on Apr 22, 2017 6:32:08 GMT
I was just looking on the website to see what was on and I remembered I saw that the national youth music theatre were doing Sunday in the park with George there and I was excited to see i can not find it in the website and I think it might be cancelled but I did not see anything about it. Anyone know what has happened? I was told last week by box office that tickets go on sale towards the end of next week. It's one I want to see too.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2017 16:11:41 GMT
Well. Simon Bailey has lovely hair.
There's a LOT of walking around in this show. Someone should have installed a travelator. It would have made things so much easier.
The songs were rubbish, I'd have much preferred the show without them. Although to be fair it sounded like an extended 12" version of the same song. I'd have liked something to have evoked the era. A nice bit of Gracie Fields or Vera Lynn.
I thought Dianne Pilkington was delightful. I don't think I've ever seen her before so very much looking forward to seeing her in Young Frankenstein.
The little boy was good too. And had a lovely coat that I had my eye on.
Very strange that the cast spend most of the time in a hole though.
On the plus side, I *do* like The Other Palace, despite the name. They have such attractive staff. J'approve.
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Post by ali973 on Apr 22, 2017 17:07:43 GMT
OMG this sounds unanimously awful, and not in a "Wonderland" kind of way. Would it help if I see this show high on marijuana? I tend not to drink before shows to avoid going to bathrooms during intermission (or worse during the show..I ONCE had to during Pricilla and hated myself, but that was an emergency). Wait, where was I? Oh, right.
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Post by shady23 on Apr 22, 2017 17:21:32 GMT
I thought Dianne Pilkington was delightful Agreed! Although I bet she wishes she could incorporate a Fit Bit into that costume though, seems such a shame to "waste" all those flights of stairs.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2017 18:15:58 GMT
I thought Dianne Pilkington was delightful Agreed! Although I bet she wishes she could incorporate a Fit Bit into that costume though, seems such a shame to "waste" all those flights of stairs. I know! She's up and down them like an overworked Sherpa.
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Post by SamB (was badoerfan) on Apr 22, 2017 20:36:12 GMT
OMG this sounds unanimously awful, and not in a "Wonderland" kind of way. Would it help if I see this show high on marijuana? I tend not to drink before shows to avoid going to bathrooms during intermission (or worse during the show..I ONCE had to during Pricilla and hated myself, but that was an emergency). Wait, where was I? Oh, right. It's so short you can probably have a drink and be able to hang on till you get home.
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Post by liverpool54321 on Apr 22, 2017 23:25:05 GMT
Guess I'm in the minority with this one as I didn't feel it was too bad. No denying it is far too short. If this ever reappears in the future thenI suggest they explore the individual characters more, and build in additional songs that reflect this. Too little known about the background to each person apart from the lighthouse keeper.
In terms of story there was, I thought it was OK. We debated afterwards whether additional dialogue rather than simple one liners would have been better, but that was not the nature of the play. For me the music was reasonable. Yes some of the lyrics were a bit too straight forward. I would have liked the rest of the cast to have their own songs rather than sticking to the concept of the walls singing. No faulting the band and actual singing was fine.
I think the stage set is great. Rather than build a lighthouse up into the sky, do the opposite and create the inner part of it by going down instead. The circular walking simply reflects the fact that that's pretty much what you do with a lighthouse when getting about. Doubling up as the sea and use of projected visuals all made sense to me.
I guess there is lots you could do to develop the concept. I'm curious as to what possibly got left out as I find it hard to believe the theatre thought it was taking on such a short production.
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Post by gra on Apr 23, 2017 1:30:04 GMT
I thought it was too long and would have been quite happy with a 75 minute show without an interval. (Thought the interval was a mistake anyway)
Found the music uninspiring -very 'samey' and doing nothing to reflect the different characters.
Although the band were good, I felt the percussion often overpowered the voices, and the rock element seemed at odds with the more folk-style of the majority of the score.
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Post by bamaboy on Apr 23, 2017 6:03:14 GMT
I love his music, and I think I want to see this on my trip to London. Is front row too close? Trying to decide which ticket to get.
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Post by gra on Apr 23, 2017 8:52:33 GMT
Suggest you sit towards the left hand side facing the stage. The 'rock' instruments are on the right and if you are in the front rows the balance may not be good.
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Post by shady23 on Apr 23, 2017 9:17:00 GMT
The front row is row C for this production and it is probably better being a bit higher, the seats are hugely raked in this theatre.
I was in second row and the view was perfect.
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Post by bellboard27 on Apr 23, 2017 9:38:49 GMT
Thought it useful to summarise some reviews: The Stage, WOS: 4 ⭐️ Express, Telegraph: 3 ⭐️ Evening Standard, Guardian, Time Out: 2 ⭐️
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Post by Honoured Guest on Apr 23, 2017 10:00:09 GMT
Am going this week, to complete my set of the four The Other Palace / St James Theatre shows this year. I've enjoyed seeing The Wild Party at The Other Palace and Rent and La Strada on tour. These first three were all different but excellent so I shan't weep too much if Whisper House, different again from the other three, isn't a masterpiece. I intend to experience it as a companion piece to The Lighthouse by Peter Maxwell Davies.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2017 10:15:26 GMT
Quick question, when is The Other Palace - "the home of new British musicals" - going to do a new British musical?
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Post by Honoured Guest on Apr 23, 2017 10:29:09 GMT
La Strada is British! It's a musical adaptation of a film and is a play, or piece of theatre, with music and songs.
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Post by bamaboy on Apr 23, 2017 15:55:48 GMT
Great! Seems like there are plenty of tickets for the Thursday matinee, so think I'll just snag a cheap seat.
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Post by ali973 on Apr 24, 2017 5:42:18 GMT
somewhat off topic, but the Secret Life of Bees (based on the book and film..which I thought was terrific) is adapted into a musical by Duncan Sheik. I do like his projects, but I'm not sure how his music style would be suitable for a story full of African American characters set in the south?
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Post by bamaboy on Apr 24, 2017 22:03:24 GMT
Maybe that's the challenge that excited him about the project?
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Post by ali973 on May 4, 2017 22:35:28 GMT
Well, this was rather avante garde.
Though the story is pretty weak, I think the show had its merits. I wish the characters sang more than the two ghosts. I wish the projections were better. I wish Dianne Pilkington gets more West End shows-- truly underused in London. I think she'd do Sondheim very well. Cast her as Fosca somewhere. She reminds me of Maria Friedman. I wish the boy had a better dialect coach. Overall, not too bad for twenty-five quid. I found myself in the first row, which I could swear I didn't do on purpose. So I went back to the box office, and asked the 17 year old if I could get a seat re-allocation because I felt it was too close and cluster-phobic. "Well, this is an exception". Power trip, much? Anyway, from my very comfortable isle seat a few rows back, I counted no more than 94 heads in the entire auditorium. The audience was extremely muted and ungenerous during the show-- they even refused to laugh at some of the dark humor sprinkled throughout.
I don't know what to think of it. I certainly didn't hate it- but I think it requires more on its content, direction and design.
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Post by sf on May 12, 2017 23:56:14 GMT
Anyway, from my very comfortable isle seat a few rows back, I counted no more than 94 heads in the entire auditorium. I counted 37 at Thursday's matinee. I'm glad I saw it, and it didn't work. I liked the performances and the direction and design, but it's too slight to stand alone as a full-length piece of theatre, and the interval is a mistake. It needs to be a one-act, preferably half of a double bill - it started at 2.30pm, and even with a 20-minute interval it was done by 4pm.
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