2,339 posts
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Post by zahidf on Jan 11, 2019 10:58:11 GMT
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4,567 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jan 12, 2019 7:33:06 GMT
Am I right in thinking this is a jazz juke box show?
Is it any good ?
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Post by learfan on Jan 12, 2019 9:24:11 GMT
Its apparently a revue rather than an orthodox musical. It won the Best Musical Tony beating On the 20th Century. There are excerpts on you tube. Might be good. I shall probably book.
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2,706 posts
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Jan 12, 2019 10:35:06 GMT
Saw the West End revival in the mid nineties. A collection of songs done by Fats Waller (not all by him), the staging of that was pretty average and the video of the original Broadway cast doesn’t do anything much more exciting, These rarely work anymore unless you’re happy to see a low budget gig. The only one I’ve liked in years was the Bacharach one at the Menier, because the staging and arrangements were superior. A great choreographer like Hoggett can add something useful to it.
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Post by learfan on Jan 19, 2019 12:42:28 GMT
Booked for Easter Saturday, £16 bargain. I pointed out to the nice BO lady that they might want to think about adding the fact that this won the best musical Tony in their publicity.
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Jan 19, 2019 18:13:38 GMT
Not my favourite style of music (think Mamma Mia, Jersey Boys and Dreamboats and Petticoats... hangs head in embarrassed shame) but couldn't resist a £16 centre front row seat for the Tuesday preview matinee. I like venues where the audience can sit within such close proximity of the performers and the fixed preview prices at Southwark Playhouse are excellent value.
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Post by missthelma on Jan 19, 2019 19:24:48 GMT
If this is well cast, it could be a stellar experience. I think the TV version made of this is still on You Tube with most of the original Broadway cast; if I recall there's limited attempt made at story and it really is just the songs strung together. But what songs, and Nell Carter! There is/was also a fascinating documentary about Nell Carter on YT which is well worth a watch too.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2019 17:03:39 GMT
Just read an interview with Oti from Strictly about this in the Entertainment and Arts section of the BBC News web-site and it sounds like a lot of fun.I think my dancer daughter might enjoy this.I think a trip to Southwark is in order and a theatre I have never been to before.Sorry for being ignorant but on the BBC site it says that this version has been shortened with less songs than the Broadway version (sounds like from 30 down to 20) and am wondering if this show has been completely re-worked from the original? Any ideas?
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4,567 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Mar 20, 2019 17:53:47 GMT
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Mar 20, 2019 19:03:02 GMT
Sorry for being ignorant but on the BBC site it says that this version has been shortened with less songs than the Broadway version (sounds like from 30 down to 20) and am wondering if this show has been completely re-worked from the original? Any ideas? The running time of the original was 2 hours including interval. According to the Southwark Playhouse the running time of this is 2 hours including interval, but the Colchester theatre gives it as 1 hour 50 including interval. So maybe some songs cut but can't be many. I wonder if there are some which have lyrics that would now be viewed as "problematic" (eg "Fat and Greasy" maybe)?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2019 19:48:22 GMT
Those pictures look great, but i don't know how they'll fit all that into the Southwark Playhouse. I'm looking forward to it on the 23rd.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2019 9:05:39 GMT
Nice to see Diane Abbott branching out from the House of Commons at the front of picture 6.
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3,458 posts
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Post by showgirl on Mar 21, 2019 11:50:30 GMT
I thought production photos weren't allowed? Though yes, they do look fabulous.
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5,495 posts
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Post by Baemax on Mar 21, 2019 11:52:53 GMT
You're allowed to share official production pictures, you're just not allowed to take any yourself or share other unauthorised pics.
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4,567 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Mar 21, 2019 12:04:44 GMT
I got these the Southwark Playhouse own Facebook page
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3,458 posts
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Post by showgirl on Mar 22, 2019 5:11:06 GMT
Thank you, Baemax and Someone in a tree; I wasn't aware of the differing rules regarding production photos. I don't usually pay any attention to them, which is probably why, but these are very eye-catching. Looking forward to reviews from the Colchester dates.
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3,458 posts
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Post by showgirl on Mar 23, 2019 5:17:14 GMT
And sure enough, just seen a 5-star blog review (did sound v enthusiastic though so may not be quite in line with those to follow) from a Colchester performance. Ironic that since my long-overdue return to the Mercury last October I've been looking for an opportunity to go back, yet the first show I've fancied there since is soon coming to London. Would prefer the Mercury as a venue, too.
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Post by learfan on Apr 20, 2019 16:55:17 GMT
Saw today's matinee at the Elephant. Superb entertainment. Dont know what they are feeding the cast of five but i want some! Only 110 mins inc interval. Recommended 4 and half stars.
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Post by winonaforever on Apr 20, 2019 19:22:29 GMT
Saw today's matinee at the Elephant. Superb entertainment. Dont know what they are feeding the cast of five but i want some! Only 110 mins inc interval. Recommended 4 and half stars. Oh good! I'm there on Tuesday 😊
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1,159 posts
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Post by Steve on Apr 20, 2019 21:34:03 GMT
Saw this tonight. Great revue, great fun. As there is no book to speak of, I found the choreography that utilised storytelling more energising and effective than the choreography which was pure razzle dazzle. Peerless cast of 5. Some spoilers follow. . . This show is 2 hours (including an interval) of infectious choreography, vivacious charismatic performances and gorgeous Fats Waller songs that transport you straight back to the Harlem of the thirties. For me, the key to the most rousing revue shows I've seen lies in making each song an involving story. The more the performers use props, and use each other as props, to tell the stories of the songs, the more charge, the more variety, the more memorable the performances. So songs like "The Vipers Drag," in which a reefer is brandished and choreographically peddled, or "Lounging at the Waldorf," in which a table is laid, champagne served, and living large is dazzling put over, marvellously communicate Waller's exuberance and loucheness. By contrast, comic songs like "Your Feet's too big" and "Fat and Greasy" don't quite work for me because nobody's feet are visibly big, noone is fat or greasy. Sure, I have an imagination, but it needs a little prodding to move me from second to third gear lol. Anyway, the 5 performers are killing it. I especially love Renee Lamb (she of Catherine of Aragon Six Cast Recording fame) for her sonorousness and dynamism, and I love Carly Mercedes Dyer (Fate in Hadestown) for her zaniness and her electric soprano. When all 5 performers harmonise,as on "Black and Blue," their voices combine so deliciously that no further storytelling is necessary. The story is heaven, whatever the lyrics say. So, although there is not quite enough storytelling to remove all trace of saminess in this evening, for me, there is enough to allow some terrific old music to sound vital and fresh, to allow 5 fantastic performers to transport you back in time to a place of vitality and creativity and sheer entertainment. For a first directing gig, Tyrone Huntley done good! 4 stars from me.
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Post by winonaforever on Apr 23, 2019 18:39:49 GMT
Saw the matinee today. Absolute Heaven!😇
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Apr 24, 2019 0:25:45 GMT
Saw the matinee today. Absolute Heaven!😇 I was there too but got held up in rail delays to London and arrived at the Playhouse at 3.15pm. They wouldn't let me in so missed the whole of the first half. Enjoyed what I saw and just caught up with the US version on You Tube.
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Post by winonaforever on Apr 24, 2019 12:04:52 GMT
Saw the matinee today. Absolute Heaven!😇 I was there too but got held up in rail delays to London and arrived at the Playhouse at 3.15pm. They wouldn't let me in so missed the whole of the first half. Enjoyed what I saw and just caught up with the US version on You Tube. That's SO annoying for you, but you can understand why, with this show, they can't let late comers in!
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Apr 24, 2019 13:13:22 GMT
Oh yes, I wasn't intending my post to read as a complaint.
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Post by winonaforever on Apr 24, 2019 15:09:03 GMT
Oh yes, I wasn't intending my post to read as a complaint. Oh no, it didn't! I just meant that for most musicals, it's pretty easy to let people dash in at the end of a number under cover of the applause, but anyone would be a bit conspicuous attempting to sneak into that space!
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1,310 posts
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Post by tmesis on Apr 28, 2019 11:55:24 GMT
I so wanted to love this but in the end I found it a distinctly average affair. I've been playing the songs of Fats Waller on piano for most of my life and have a great affection for them. Since this is more or less a revue presentation of a large number of his songs the emphasis was very much on the performance of the numbers with little character to hide behind. The cast of five were all terrifically appealing and had great energy but none had quite the right type of voice, or vocal class to sell the songs properly. The three women were better than the two men - at least they had a bit of sass about them but a lot of the funny lines missed their mark; this was not helped by the poor sound balance, a recurring feature at Southwark. Let's hope when they move they sort this out.
The production looked very handsome and fitted the space brilliantly. The band were particularly mediocre. Flabby rhythms, no feel for the syncopations, a particularly insensitive pianist who played everything on one monotonous level. Waller's music is not particularly subtle but deserves better than this and again the poor sound balance let down the brass and reeds players rendering them virtually inaudible most of the time.
Having said all that you may love it. The audience went wild at the end.
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4,521 posts
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Post by Mark on May 7, 2019 16:39:36 GMT
Enjoyed this for what it was. A good selection of numbers with some standouts.
If there’s three reasons to go and see this though: Landi Oshinowo, Renee Lamb & Carly Mercedes Dyer. They were all fabulous. Particularly loved seeing Landi having seen her in a fair few musicals before - always great.
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Post by missthelma on May 7, 2019 17:44:21 GMT
Let's start with the good shall we? The set, minimal though it is, looks great, the five performers give their all, nailing number after number with strong powerful voices and clean dance moves. The women come off slightly better than the men I thought but possibly as they had more numbers, or so it seemed to me. The songs are just fabulous, funny, charming, heartbreaking in turn. The musicians in the band play well but without any particular flair, reading the bio's in the somewhat pitiful programme, seems to indicate a couple are quite young so maybe they need time to settle or feel able to improvise and let loose. I would think it's almost impossible to not have a good time at this show, the audience I saw it with certainly went slightly doo-lally at the end.
The bad? Well to call this a musical is an insult to most musicals, at best it is a revue, there is no attempt to have a through story or develop characters and often songs that could go together or after one another are split to different parts of the show. I don't remember the male performers being given names but the three women are called by their own names, which again seems to take it out of the world of musical and into a concert. Even most modern jukebox shows try for a semblance of a story to hang the songs on. The other issue I had was I felt that the show slipped into very tired stereotypes, especially of black women, at times. Even allowing for the fact that the songs were written mostly in the 1920's and 30's and the show was created in the 1970's, I really feel we should have moved on from 'sassy' and 'no count'tropes. Maybe just me, the predominantly white audience ate it up. I just felt a little uncomfortable, not all the way through, just at random moments.
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3,058 posts
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Post by david on May 14, 2019 16:48:29 GMT
Caught today’s matinee. Unfortunately due to cast illness we had a shortened production this afternoon (though we did get free programmes as way of compensation). Despite the reduced production, what I saw was a top class revue with the remaining cast giving great performances. Though it was the ladies, particularly in Act 2 that really stood out. The set really was as great as the pictures posted earlier.
For a tuesday matinee I think the auditorium was around 80% full and really enjoyed the production ( except a lady sat by me who couldn’t stay off her phone during the 100min show and was apparently bored senseless as she told her friend during the interval).
It’s just a shame we couldn’t of got the full production, but great work by the remaining cast and production crew to get the show on and for making it a nice afternoon’s entertainment.
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3,028 posts
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Post by Dr Tom on May 21, 2019 22:43:05 GMT
I saw this yesterday and it was enjoyable, with a lot of talent on show. The skills of the pianist are well worth watching too. It's quite a skill to play stride piano like that.
As others have said, there's no plot, just lots of songs with different combinations of the cast of five performing. Everything is varied. The only thing I could have done without is the surprise gunshot (I must have missed the warning).
I wouldn't go again, as it's not quite enough my style of music, but I can't fault this for what it was.
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