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Post by anthony40 on Mar 30, 2018 16:52:23 GMT
So, what are the costumes in the show like?
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2,132 posts
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Post by richey on Mar 30, 2018 16:56:21 GMT
It was Caiaphas,I was there. I'd been a bit of a fan until that performance but it really was awful and put me right off him
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1,895 posts
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Post by sf on Mar 30, 2018 16:56:38 GMT
A few years ago, I saw Will Young perform as the Emcee in a touring production of Cabaret at the Lowry (I won't say he acted the role because he didn't). I saw him in it a few months ago. He hadn’t improved. Had he at least managed to learn to pronounce the words 'wilkommen' and 'bienvenue'?
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 30, 2018 17:01:39 GMT
No. The accent was absolutely bizarre, much of his dialogue was unintelligible. And that version of What Would You Do in small voice while he paced about in a nightie was hideous.
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4,359 posts
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Post by shady23 on Mar 30, 2018 17:07:18 GMT
His performance at Manchester Pride a couple of years ago was quite bizarre. He did half of it wearing a dress then the other half in underpants and see thru plastic coat. I just had to Google that to see if it was as bad as it sounded... That is not a good look, is it? I know it rains alot in Manchester but that is ridiculous!
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Post by showoff on Mar 30, 2018 17:21:31 GMT
Who exactly is the average Will Young fan? I mean I bought his second album and a couple of individual downloads after that, but that’s that. Are they a particular demographic? He doesn’t strike me as the kind of artist to have some rabid fan base - this is coming from someone who was part of the crazy Michael Jackson fan community for most of my life. From what I saw yesterday the super fans/fanatics are women who are roughly middle aged. I knew a few people who were crazy fans of his during the Pop Idol days, and I think some of them have lived on. As Shady says, everyone seems to have an element of these fans lately. I'm a fan of Roger Federer, in that I enjoy watching his tennis, but there are some crazy fans of his, wearing RF earrings, dresses and talking and following him around like he's Jesus.
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Post by sophie92 on Mar 30, 2018 18:43:51 GMT
I saw the show in Leeds and really enjoyed it, and was so pleased that it was coming in to town and that Zizi Strallen had been cast. However, the change from a mix of original songs & film songs to an entirely jukebox song list and having only one person sing? I’m not sure I can get behind that. Friends who saw it in Leeds and were there yesterday have said positive things, so maybe it isn’t as bad as it seems, but I think I’ll be waiting a while to see it.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2018 19:12:24 GMT
I really like Drew McOnie's work, I find it hard to believe he is behind something as bad as is being made out here. Maybe they are just having teething problems and will have it fixed by opening night.
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2,302 posts
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Post by Tibidabo on Mar 31, 2018 9:07:24 GMT
*Arrives armour plated* Ach. You lot make me laugh. You don't complain (well ok, you do, but not as vociferously as this) at having purchased Chess tickets and they stick in Mickey Ball and here they put in someone *readjusts armour* with a far superior voice and you're all up in arms! Well I was actually in the process of booking when the pipe burst. So there. I'm going. And looking forward to it. (Hope the costumes didn't get wet.) For me, it's not even his voice, it's what he's doing there. He's in the way most of the time, actually touching the dancers while they are dancing. Or he's hopping around while Scott is actually dancing. It's just odd at times, especially when he has a dress over his outfit and he's just sitting there in it. Fair enough. Maybe some of the stick should be aimed at the director?
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Post by fridayfan on Mar 31, 2018 9:46:09 GMT
And god forbid the Will Young Online Fan-Club discover this thread!
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Post by Dr Tom on Mar 31, 2018 11:44:02 GMT
Will Young definitely has super fans. I remember being in Bristol one night when he was in concert (not to see him) and fans were loud and visible all over the local area. Like many celebrities, there are a lot of them who will try and see him every night (no different to those of us who go and see a theatre show multiple times really).
So, I think it's a good commercial decision to cast him and use him as an ever-present role, not dissimilar to the MC in Cabaret.
I'll reserve judgement until I've seen him.
Has anyone got to a preview and seen the second half yet?
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Post by teehee on Mar 31, 2018 16:21:55 GMT
And god forbid the Will Young Online Fan-Club discover this thread! I think they already have :-)
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4,631 posts
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Post by Phantom of London on Mar 31, 2018 19:03:07 GMT
With all the musicals opened/opening this spring, the one I am interested in seeing, that is Bat Out of Hell, which I saw at the ENO.
This and Tina Turner, leaves me cold, anyway saw this in Leeds and cannot seem to recall what this is about, would be brilliant if we got Moulin Rouge instead, which I adore.
Suppose seeing the King and I again would be great.
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Post by Elle on Apr 2, 2018 22:33:02 GMT
For the people who have tickets for this, don't worry it's a fun show! Will Young is just a bit annoying at the start and then he calms down as the story takes off and we see him less. His outfit though!!! 😂 Time after Time is wonderful. The two leads are excellent and I found myself really rooting for them. I love Fran, she's adorable. The guy that's dancer 69 is pure comedy.
I agree that there's a lot going on on the stage. At some points the dancers are watching the show from the side of the set, eating popcorn and having a drink. Why??? They should get rid of that, it's distracting. It's still early days and obviously the show needs some tightening. I don't know what this is as it's not a classic musical but I know it's a good time. I definitely enjoyed it tonight and the people around me did too. Heard only praise and the audience was very well behaved. It was a fab last show to see on this trip. 😀
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Post by greeny11 on Apr 4, 2018 21:45:17 GMT
Saw this tonight - really entertaining. Could have done with less Will Young, but he was harmless enough. Thought the 2 leads were fantastic - I wish we could have heard them sing more because the bits they did sing were lovely. Gary Watson was hilarious whenever he was on stage as Ken (he's dancer 69 Elle is talking about).
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Post by raiseitup on Apr 5, 2018 11:24:54 GMT
TodayTix are now doing £25 rush tickets for this
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Post by Kim on Apr 5, 2018 16:14:12 GMT
Has anyone got the understudy list for this?
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629 posts
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Post by greeny11 on Apr 5, 2018 17:28:11 GMT
Scott Hastings - Liam Marcellino, Dale White Fran - Selina Hamilton, Gabriella Garcia Wally Strand - Ivan De Freitas, Justin-Lee Jones Pam/Natalie/Charm/Auditionee - Leanne Pinder, Hannah Fairclough Merv - Christopher D Hunt, Robin Kent Shirley Hastings - Michelle Bishop, Leanne Pinder Vanessa Cronin - Hannah Fairclough, Leanne Pinder Les Kendall - Chris Bennett, Christopher D Hunt Barry Fife - Chris Bennett, Christopher D Hunt Wayne Burns - Jacob Maynard, Dale White Doug Hastings - Christopher D Hunt, Chris Bennett Rico - Ivan De Freitas, Christopher D Hunt Abuela - Michelle Bishop, Leanne Pinder Liz Holt - Leanne Pinder, Chrissy Brooke Ken Railings - Luke Jackson, Chris Bennett
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2018 19:50:28 GMT
Dancing absolutely wonderful
sh*ts on most WE shows
As a narrated dance show
This works wonderfully
It’s certainly not a musical
But music moves things along
I am indifferent to Will young
But his music career is hardly Beyoncé
And he has to work
And he’s inoffensive enough
I am sure this will get good reviews
In many ways the dancing is
Better than 42nd Street
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2018 19:54:46 GMT
I meant to add
It’s a show that doesn’t take itself too seriously
But it’s well executed designed and choreographed
Costumes lovely
A nice bit of racial and cultural stereotyping
The end of the first half is excellently done
I think the band onstage makes it work well
Even the movement between scenes is thought out well
I actually love it
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4,359 posts
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Post by shady23 on Apr 6, 2018 20:12:27 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2018 20:22:37 GMT
It never fails to amaze me how Parsley shoehorns an excrement reference into most of his show reviews.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2018 21:05:02 GMT
I think the show will be a major success
It’s not necessarily what should be in the WE
But I haven’t seen an audience reaction like this in a long long time
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2,763 posts
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Post by daniel on Apr 6, 2018 21:12:47 GMT
Ah, of course
Parsley liked it
Therefore
It means
It's going to be
A runaway
Success
Maybe.
🙃
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Post by danb on Apr 7, 2018 6:53:05 GMT
Bend it like ballroom?
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Post by frankubelik on Apr 7, 2018 7:13:59 GMT
I found it to be excruciatingly bad. It's really a (bad) play with a "soundtrack" full of poorly drawn two dimensional characters; the night I saw it none of Ms Francolini's lines landed well and Mr Matthews was an embarrassment. Certainly not a musical and apart from the cod flamenco number closing Act 1, there really aren't enough ensemble dance numbers. It's a sin not to use a major talent like Strallen who dances superbly but only sings one line. Random songs are plucked from nowhere and apart from (I think Time After Time) none are sung through. Mr Young is inoffensive enough but why is he there at all? I am yet again in the minority as the obligatory standing ovation would attest.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2018 9:45:35 GMT
So when Will is off, we're just watching an understudy sing the songs? Sounds an awful lot like Dirty Dancing with none of the leads singing except for him.
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Post by horton on Apr 7, 2018 10:41:38 GMT
'A nice bit of racial and cultural stereotyping'
Who could ask for anything more?
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Post by romeo94 on Apr 7, 2018 19:06:24 GMT
I found it to be excruciatingly bad. I'm in the minority here with you too. Feel like I completely missed what everyone else experienced.
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Post by tonyloco on Apr 13, 2018 0:47:13 GMT
I saw and enjoyed 'Strictly Ballroom' tonight but I hesitate about putting my thoughts up here on TheatreBoard after reading some of the very severe criticisms other members have posted. But I am going ahead anyway!
Firstly, it seems that some of the members who did not enjoy the show are not relating it to the original successful and much loved Baz Luhrmann film on which it is based. OK, I guess that punters going to see a West End show will not necessarily be familiar with the movie on which it is based, but in that case why is 'Brief Encounter' currently playing successfully in the West End, and why are other shows based on movies like 'An American in Paris' considered to be so good?
For me, I thought Drew McOnie's work as director and choreographer is outstanding in the way he has captured the feeling of life in Australia in the 1950s in the world of ballroom dancing, much as he gave us New York in the 1940s in 'On the Town' last year so brilliantly.
The role of Wally Strand played by Will Young did not bother me although I couldn't help wondering what the show was like in Leeds before that role was added. But he sang well and I thought he fitted well enough into the rest of the story as a narrator.
I loved the staging, including the glamorous costumes and the band on stage, and I thought all the characters were surprisingly like those in the movie physically as well as dramatically. The principals were strong and for me it all worked as a realisation of the movie. OK, so Fran and Scott did little singing, but those two characters in the movie did not sing at all so what's the problem? In fact, come to think of it, none of the principals actually had any plot songs and, apart from Will Young's (frequent) singing, it was more a play with music where the music was to accompany the ballroom dancing. This worked perfectly well for me.
The only thing that did not ring true for me, as an Australian who lived through the 1940s and 1950s in Sydney, was the inclusion of several non-white performers in the ensemble. Now before you call for me to be deported, I do know and understand about colour-blind casting and diversity and all that sort of stuff in the theatre today. I am just saying that in Sydney or Melbourne in the 1940s and 1950s you would not have seen any black or coloured people competing in ballroom dancing competitions. From 1901 to the mid 1960s Australia vigorously pursued what was known as the White Australia Policy, so much so that in the mid 1950s Ella Fitzgerald was refused entry into Australia to sing in a pop concert because she was black. The native black Australian aborigines did not participate in any way in social or cultural activities so to see those non-white ballroom dancers on stage tonight just looked wrong, especially when all the rest of the details establishing the Australian setting were well observed.
Finally, having paid full price for A10 in the front row of the Royal Circle I was not happy to get such a restricted view of the front of the stage due to the safety rail in a dance show where so much of the dancing by the principals took place at the front of the stage. I hoped that I would get used to the obstruction by the safety rail but it remained a major annoyance throughout the whole show.
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