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Post by d'James on Apr 5, 2016 13:09:04 GMT
Absolutely. Josie was just wow. That's why I found the Cast Recording of 'Enough' so disappointing.
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Post by theatremadness on Apr 5, 2016 13:14:13 GMT
Josie was one of my absolute favourite things about this production both at Southwark & King's Cross. How she didn't get nominated I'll never know. As much as I think he's totally fantastic, I whole-heartedly agree that David's nomination and subsequent win was one of the strangest decisions of the night!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2016 13:14:17 GMT
Absolutely. Josie was just wow. That's why I found the Cast Recording of 'Enough' so disappointing. Speaking of the Cast Recording, I listened to it on Spotify earlier, it really doesn't do this show justice. And there is something really off-putting about Lin's rapping and singing (I know I am in minority, don't judge!) but I can't stand his voice! It's the trouble with this production in particular, where it is so visual and when you see it it is stunning! Like, you can't recreate that incredible Act I finale at all on Recording because it is a mix of everything that is amazing; the lighting, the dancing, the vocals etc...
I can hope and pray they bring out a Cast Recording for this production.
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Post by d'James on Apr 5, 2016 13:40:39 GMT
I agree. I would love a London Cast Recording. Maybe the Oliviers might make that happen. I think someone's got a petition going. I'd be happy with an EP with 'Enough' and a few other tracks on it.
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Post by Steffi on Apr 5, 2016 14:24:06 GMT
Absolutely. Josie was just wow. That's why I found the Cast Recording of 'Enough' so disappointing. Speaking of the Cast Recording, I listened to it on Spotify earlier, it really doesn't do this show justice. And there is something really off-putting about Lin's rapping and singing (I know I am in minority, don't judge!) but I can't stand his voice! It's the trouble with this production in particular, where it is so visual and when you see it it is stunning! Like, you can't recreate that incredible Act I finale at all on Recording because it is a mix of everything that is amazing; the lighting, the dancing, the vocals etc...
I can hope and pray they bring out a Cast Recording for this production.
The finale of the Broadway production was visually stunning and the choreography was incredible. I mean, I love the London production and how they've managed to transform the show to fit into an intimate space so perfectly but when it comes to the visual aspect Broadway was a lot more impressive than London. :-) There's a lot I prefer about the London cast in terms of vocals and acting. I do love Lin on the recording though (but then I'm biased - I'm a bit of a Lin geek).
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2016 14:38:00 GMT
I think Lin is a genious, with his music and as an actor... but I just can't with his voice haha! It's a good voice but the tone just grinds on me haha. The downside of him originating most of his leading roles, he is always on the Cast Recording!
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Post by d'James on Apr 5, 2016 14:46:22 GMT
Josie looked gorgeous on the Red Carpet at the Oliviers. I swear I could almost see myself going straight for her.
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Post by HereForTheatre on Apr 5, 2016 19:11:04 GMT
The act 1 finale is my favourite moment in the show. I think everything combines really well and it's quite special. I get goosbeumps thinking about it to be honest.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2016 19:16:21 GMT
The act 1 finale is my favourite moment in the show. I think everything combines really well and it's quite special. I get goosbeumps thinking about it to be honest. Agreed... I haven't been able to get it out of my head... especially the chant of "fireworks" and the lighting design... just stunning!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2016 20:19:06 GMT
I understand not liking Lin's singing voice (it doesn't bother me personally because he puts so much emotion into it) but he's a great rapper, better than anyone else that has been in In the Heights in New York or London in my opinion.
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 6, 2016 0:12:45 GMT
I think Lin is a genious, with his music and as an actor... but I just can't with his voice haha! It's a good voice but the tone just grinds on me haha. The downside of him originating most of his leading roles, he is always on the Cast Recording! You "just can't"...?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2016 8:53:31 GMT
I assumed it was being used as an internetism. If someone says they just can't, or they can't even, then it's not a mistake, it's purposefully using sentence fragmentation for emphasis. It sort of implies you're too emotionally affected to complete the sentence, but the beginning of the sentence is usually context enough for people to be able to mentally plug the gaps.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2016 10:14:34 GMT
One of my friends went last night and said she hated it and would never go again... bear in mind though she is a real attention seeker so probably just said it to be the odd one out... I mentioned to her that I had seen Kinky Boots three times since it opened, she turned around and said she has seen it 24 times, even though the week before she had said she has seen it twice...
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Post by Anniek on Apr 6, 2016 10:29:02 GMT
I saw this yesterday (shout-out to the best musicaltheatre pubquiz team! ) and I absolutely loved it. So much energy and brilliant staging. I believe Philippa played Daniela, and I loved her. Voice, acting, looks.. very happy I finally saw it.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2016 10:48:20 GMT
I saw this yesterday (shout-out to the best musicaltheatre pubquiz team! ) and I absolutely loved it. So much energy and brilliant staging. I believe Philippa played Daniela, and I loved her. Voice, acting, looks.. very happy I finally saw it. Philippa was on when I was there on Monday and she was incredible... one of the strongest performances of the night and possibly one of the best characters in the show too! So, so funny!
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Post by anthony40 on Apr 6, 2016 17:53:53 GMT
I saw this yesterday (shout-out to the best musicaltheatre pubquiz team! ) and I absolutely loved it. So much energy and brilliant staging. I believe Philippa played Daniela, and I loved her. Voice, acting, looks.. very happy I finally saw it. Yeah, I was there last night too. This is a really great show. Whilst I appreciate they're completely two different shows but I couldn't help feel there was a 'Rent' vibe to this show. I saw this at The Southwark Playhouse and enjoyed it there and really enjoyed it again last night. It was interesting to see which cast members, young and old, principles and ensemble who transferred across. Lots of colours, brilliant movement and dancing. Some of those girls are extremely pretty. My only two criticisms (and i'm using that term incredibly loosely) was that at time when all cast were on stage dancing there was an awful lot going on, making it hard to know where to look (although I understand the reasons why) this thing didn't start to friggin' 8:30pm, finishing just after 11pm which is a little late for a school night, Needless to say when I awoke at 6:30am to shower and shave, I was a very sleepy man.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2016 18:38:57 GMT
See I got real West Side Story vibes with the show... moreso than Rent!
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Post by d'James on Apr 6, 2016 21:27:29 GMT
As far as I could see it was not like West Side Story at all, apart from the flyer saying so.
Just because there is dancing, Latinas and it's set in New York City does not a parallel make.
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Post by mallardo on Apr 6, 2016 21:40:55 GMT
The Rent vibe is definitely there - Miranda has spoken often about how much that show influenced him.
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Post by d'James on Apr 6, 2016 21:59:36 GMT
The Rent vibe is definitely there - Miranda has spoken often about how much that show influenced him. I can see more Rent than West Side Story.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2016 3:49:45 GMT
I tend to not be influenced by the posters, nor had I really paid attention to any posters before I saw the show... the first thing I thought during just happened to be West Side Story.
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Post by freckles on Apr 7, 2016 10:05:35 GMT
Talking of posters, not keen on the new designs, I think they look old fashioned.
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Post by raiseitup on Apr 7, 2016 10:22:22 GMT
Why God, Why have they capped up the tag line other than the letter 'i' - THE AWARD WiNNiNG BROADWAY MUSiCAL - on the new poster. Is that supposed to show how 'hip' and 'modern' it is?
Overall, I quite like the design though.
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Post by Steffi on Apr 7, 2016 10:30:28 GMT
When I took my friend to In the Heights who knew nothing about the show beforehand she told me in the interval that she got a bit of a Rent vibe from the show. Personally I don't see the WSS connection but I didn't think "Rent" the first time I watched this on Broadway either.
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Post by freckles on Apr 7, 2016 10:57:24 GMT
I don't get a Rent vibe at all, the only similarity I can see is that it's a sort of soap opera with multiple characters. West Side Story, I get a bit from the choreography and the energy. But I think it's one of a kind and should be acknowledged as such - as WSS and Rent were in their day!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2016 11:26:46 GMT
I think I see it as that on-going linage of "new approach" or "innovative" musical theatre- WSS through Hair, through Rent, ITH etc etc. Every now and again there's a leap or direction change and I always think whichever was 'your' one you see bits of in the next. So for me I see Rent leading to ITH in musical style (taking on elements of popular music of the day, telling stories the composer experienced etc) same argument can be made for many of course as it's all relative to personal experience.
I've always somewhat viewed ITH has LMM's 'Rent' as in his first piece as a young composer not without faults (as Rent was, but with the luxury of a living composer to carry on tweaking) and then Hamilton as the more matured, more invested in (in terms of time for the composer and from others as a now established success) Which always brings me back to the 'what ifs' of Larson, and what Musical theatre landscape would look like were they both writing today.
Anyway I digress, I have many an academic essay in my head about that sort of thing...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2016 12:15:26 GMT
Well it's similar to WSS in that it's about Latino people and it features a lot of heavy choreography. It's similar to Rent in that it focuses on mainly young people living financially unstable lives in New York. I would say both WSS and Rent are much grittier than ITH though. The worst thing that happens in ITH is an old woman passing away. That vs. drugs, AIDS and gang violence is a huge difference. Lin has said he wanted to have an example of musical theatre that features Latino characters that AREN'T violent or committing crimes, the kind of people he grew up amongst. It is arguable whether Miranda would even be a theatre composer if it wasn't for Jonathan Larson and Rent though. He talks about Rent's influence on him at 14:36 in this video He also wrote this great article for the New York Times about Jonathan Larson's influence on him back when he was playing him in Larson's autobiographical musical Tick Tick Boom. www.nytimes.com/2014/06/22/theater/lin-manuel-miranda-pays-tribute-to-jonathan-larson.html
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2016 12:19:26 GMT
Rent and In The Heights are both, in their ways, about gentrification, which isn't really a theme that turns up musicals often, to my knowledge. Also neither of them are "traditional" musical theatre in sound, and also there's an element of capturing the public spirit and imagination in the big way (though I'd argue that Hamilton is more akin to Rent than In The Heights when looking at this particular element).
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2016 13:48:54 GMT
I would also say that LMM wouldn't be a composer without Larson. Both in terms of 'gateway opening' or 'genre shifts' in the theatrical landscape, and in personal influence. In particular the approach of taking musical sound to a new direction, and drawing on other personal influences (rock of late 80s/early 90s for Larson and rap hip hop for LMM) Both also watched the world around them change dramatically-gentrification as Baemax says (and no I don't know any others that cover that as a focal point either) and in terms of life-changing elements (AIDS, drugs etc) I agree that ITH is something of a 'lighter' subject matter but there's also the more serious underlying narrative of immigration and fitting in etc.
I'm willing to go out on a limb and say Hamilton is the first since Rent to capture public imagination in this way, and for me (having y'know written a damn PhD on Rent) it's really fascinating to watch the way the public engages this time around in the age of social media, online engagement etc in comparisson to how we did it 'back in the day' in that way also Rent was one of the first to have fan online engagement albeit in a very different way, as well as the downright hysteria at in terms of tickets sales/clamouring for tickets (and Rent remembering how significant the Rent rush line was back in the day with people camping out etc)
All in all I have a LOT of thoughts on this matter. And as much as I love LMM it also makes me sad because I always get into a 'what if' cycle with Larson...If ITH is LMM's Rent, and he followed with Hamilton (having matured as a writer etc) what would Larson have done next.
It's all very fascinating to my particularly nerdy brain on this issue.
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Post by d'James on Apr 7, 2016 13:51:15 GMT
Has Lin-Manuel seen the London production?
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