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Post by Someone in a tree on Feb 11, 2016 15:56:43 GMT
Knowing the producer it won't go to comp city. Shame as I want to see this train wreck, sorry spaceship wreck !
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1,936 posts
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 11, 2016 16:09:51 GMT
It was on TKTS for £70 the other day!!
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377 posts
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Post by Nelly on Feb 11, 2016 16:20:28 GMT
Knowing the producer it won't go to comp city. Shame as I want to see this train wreck, sorry spaceship wreck ! They comped for the first preview (the actual first preview, not the one that was cancelled) I forget if I'm allowed to say that or not.
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Post by Marwood on Feb 11, 2016 21:25:22 GMT
Thank God I got my money back rather than going to see this another night, sounds like an absolute car crash of a show.
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Post by harveyjunior on Feb 12, 2016 8:23:16 GMT
I saw this the other night, really hoping to enjoy it as i love certain people in the cast/ ensemble. But it was so dire. It's supposed to be a concert not a theatrical show so you can forgive the OTT lighting and sound (at times you can't hear the vocals due to the band being so loud), but it was the performances as well. At one point - and i must stress i would never do this as it's rude, but five people all in the front row got up during act 1 and walked out (they may have moved to a back row of seats where it was quieter though?) anyway, beddingfield saw this and laughed on stage to another actor, which was noticed by everyone. And not appreciated . Vocally he was very odd, a vibrato which i could not understand at all! Why has no one in the team spoken to him about it!! Heidi was mega weak too. And hoarse. In fact not s single credible voice or acting performance by any of them. I also left at the interval.
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Post by wisu on Feb 12, 2016 9:25:08 GMT
I decided to buy a last minute ticket on Tuesday. Didn't know it was the first preview. I've seen a lot of strange things on this stage that night, but nevermind. I wanted to experience it, because I've been told that the music itself has a huge following and I was hoping for an amazing sound because of that.
The sound mix didn't work for me. I couldn't hear a single clear word coming out of those speakers during the dialogues. And so, for the first time I left a production within the first 30 min of act 1.
After "The War of the Worlds" I appreciated "The Peace for the Ears".
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2016 9:38:39 GMT
Reading all of these brutal reviews actually makes me want to see it now!
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Post by firefingers on Feb 12, 2016 10:00:20 GMT
Knowing the producer it won't go to comp city. Shame as I want to see this train wreck, sorry spaceship wreck ! They comped for the first preview (the actual first preview, not the one that was cancelled) I forget if I'm allowed to say that or not. Well the old forum the rule was you could say a show was comping, but not which companies were doing said comps. But that rule may have been imposed by our now overthrown overlords at WhatsOnStage, so even that may no longer apply.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2016 10:19:04 GMT
The conversation did come up in the Feedback board; I think the general rule of thumb is to be discreet rather than triumphant, and if mentioning comps contravenes the rules of any body that is offering comps, then definitely don't mention it because it would suck for people if they stopped offering comps just because one person couldn't stop themselves from going "HAHA THIS SHOW IS SELLING SOOOOO BADLY" on the internet.
EDIT: from The Matthew: Sooo... *clears throat* I hear War Of The Worlds isn't doing all that well and half the audience are there on comps. *ahem*
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377 posts
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Post by Nelly on Feb 12, 2016 10:33:00 GMT
When is the official opening night? I'm excited to read what the critics think! Hehe
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2016 14:33:31 GMT
Wednesday is the 'Gala' performance. Think press are going in from Monday.
Every show in the West end comps to some degree. The fact that War of the Worlds is doing it is hardly news!
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7,497 posts
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Post by alece10 on Feb 12, 2016 15:09:19 GMT
Reading all of these brutal reviews actually makes me want to see it now! Me too, nothing like a car crash show. Makes good dinner party conversation.
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1,186 posts
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Post by Steve on Feb 13, 2016 12:46:43 GMT
The cast... Why hire Q-list celebrities, when they can't even sing or act?! David Essex got quite a big response, but the rest of them were 'ooo wasn't that that girl who used to be in that girl band, Girls A... No. Misteeq? No oh, the Sugababes.' Daniel Beddingfield's acting consisted of shouting every third word, he also does this very bizarre flasetto A LOT which needs to be seen to be believed. David Essex cannot sing even remotely, but got the second biggest cheer of the night, after Jeff Wayne This is a fundamentally misconceived project. The problem is that the project wants to please core fans of the bombastic prog rock 1978 concept album, but since that won't pack in enough people to fill the Dominion for months, they hired a cast to expand the core, who appeal to people who will HATE this. If you are old, and attended The Who's Quadrophenia concert, or Roger Daltry's Tommy concert or Roger Water's The Wall concert, you are the kind of person who might like this. If you are young, and attended Muse's hyberbolic space-themed "Black Holes and Revelations" tour, if you think "Supermassive Black Hole" is awesome and "Knights of Cydonia" is overwhelming, you might like this. But if you think the magnetic moving Madelena Alberto is going to be able humanise this onslaught of drums and electric guitars and alien invasion, remember she's only going to be able to tug your heartstrings for a couple of minutes during "Forever Autumn." If you think that Michael Praed can bring the charm to this he brought to "The Sound of Music," be assured he is a charismatic capable leading man who hits the notes that Marti Pellow couldn't reach in the O2 Arena show, but remember his job is to look look wide-eyed and gob-smacked that the Martians are taking over the Earth as Liam Neeson drones on about Red Weeds, while Jeff Wayne's guitars and strings swamp the lot. If you can't understand why David Essex (who hits the notes but not the way he used to) gets the biggest ovation, you may not be the core audience. He gets the ovation because he played Daniel Beddingfield's part of "The Artilleryman" on the original 39th-best-selling-in-the-UK-2.5-million-copy-shifting 1978 album. He gets the ovation for being "alive on stage" to quote the front cover programme blurb. Heidi Range is there to get Sugababes fans to see something that is almost certainly not up their street, and hey, she can sing as well as Michael Praed, which is pretty well. Jimmy Nail is there to get "Auf Weidersehn Pet" fans in, to cash his cheque, and to look bug-eyed and bonkers while his below-par singing is dwarfed out by guitars and strings. Poor Daniel Beddingfield is asked to sing high notes he can't manage, and desperately veers between a choking chest voice and a screechy falsetto trying to hit them, but he has been cast to try and get wives to accompany their husbands, who want to relieve the simple times when bad meant Martians, and shades of grey were not acknowledged. The choice of Liam Neeson as narrator is fundamentally misguided also. Yes, he's a star, but he hasn't got the iconic booming once-in-a-lifetime voice that Richard Burton had, which leant deceptive gravitas to a space-aged slice of simplistic "cowboys and indians" back in 1978. Richard Burton is someone every theatregoer WISHES they could have seen on stage, and he would have brought in more of the "aristocratic pensioners" (to quote the mischievous Robert Icke) that form so much of the theatregoing audience. The orchestra and guitars and strings are excellent, and Jeff Wayne conducts them with gusto. For nostalgic lovers of the super-hit album, seeing Jeff Wayne in person is a major draw. If seeing Jeff Wayne is not a draw for you, you may not be in the core audience for this. For years, the Dominion hosted Queen's equally bombastic music in "We Will Rock You," so why can't this repeat that success? Well, Queen's Greatest Hits is actually the number one UK album of all time, not number 39. But more importantly, the show was a campfest, full of knowing silliness, that perfectly reflected the way Freddie Mercury never took himself or his crowd-pleasing bombast seriously. That innate modesty translated beautifully to today's post-modern cultural mix of sensitive despair and hedonistic silliness. Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds comes from a more portentous place and moment, and simply doesn't translate much further than it's shrunken target audience of (old) boys who love toys, and those who love pomp and rhythm and drums. 3 stars from me, 4 stars if you own the album and still play it, 2 stars otherwise.
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Post by DebbieDoesDouglas(Hodge) on Feb 13, 2016 17:56:35 GMT
COMPS COMPA COMPS
I doubt any company is gona stop doing them coz people talk about them, init.
I can get COMPS a fair bit but nowt juicey has been offered (to me at least) in ages. All must be well in the land of show
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2016 21:07:33 GMT
Just seen on Facebook that Daniel Bedingfield is out tonight. The shows only been open a week!
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396 posts
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Post by djp on Feb 15, 2016 21:15:30 GMT
The cast... Why hire Q-list celebrities, when they can't even sing or act?! David Essex got quite a big response, but the rest of them were 'ooo wasn't that that girl who used to be in that girl band, Girls A... No. Misteeq? No oh, the Sugababes.' Daniel Beddingfield's acting consisted of shouting every third word, he also does this very bizarre flasetto A LOT which needs to be seen to be believed. David Essex cannot sing even remotely, but got the second biggest cheer of the night, after Jeff Wayne This is a fundamentally misconceived project. The problem is that the project wants to please core fans of the bombastic prog rock 1978 concept album, but since that won't pack in enough people to fill the Dominion for months, they hired a cast to expand the core, who appeal to people who will HATE this. If you are old, and attended The Who's Quadrophenia concert, or Roger Daltry's Tommy concert or Roger Water's The Wall concert, you are the kind of person who might like this. If you are young, and attended Muse's hyberbolic space-themed "Black Holes and Revelations" tour, if you think "Supermassive Black Hole" is awesome and "Knights of Cydonia" is overwhelming, you might like this. But if you think the magnetic moving Madelena Alberto is going to be able humanise this onslaught of drums and electric guitars and alien invasion, remember she's only going to be able to tug your heartstrings for a couple of minutes during "Forever Autumn." If you think that Michael Praed can bring the charm to this he brought to "The Sound of Music," be assured he is a charismatic capable leading man who hits the notes that Marti Pellow couldn't reach in the O2 Arena show, but remember his job is to look look wide-eyed and gob-smacked that the Martians are taking over the Earth as Liam Neeson drones on about Red Weeds, while Jeff Wayne's guitars and strings swamp the lot. If you can't understand why David Essex (who hits the notes but not the way he used to) gets the biggest ovation, you may not be the core audience. He gets the ovation because he played Daniel Beddingfield's part of "The Artilleryman" on the original 39th-best-selling-in-the-UK-2.5-million-copy-shifting 1978 album. He gets the ovation for being "alive on stage" to quote the front cover programme blurb. Heidi Range is there to get Sugababes fans to see something that is almost certainly not up their street, and hey, she can sing as well as Michael Praed, which is pretty well. Jimmy Nail is there to get "Auf Weidersehn Pet" fans in, to cash his cheque, and to look bug-eyed and bonkers while his below-par singing is dwarfed out by guitars and strings. Poor Daniel Beddingfield is asked to sing high notes he can't manage, and desperately veers between a choking chest voice and a screechy falsetto trying to hit them, but he has been cast to try and get wives to accompany their husbands, who want to relieve the simple times when bad meant Martians, and shades of grey were not acknowledged. The choice of Liam Neeson as narrator is fundamentally misguided also. Yes, he's a star, but he hasn't got the iconic booming once-in-a-lifetime voice that Richard Burton had, which leant deceptive gravitas to a space-aged slice of simplistic "cowboys and indians" back in 1978. Richard Burton is someone every theatregoer WISHES they could have seen on stage, and he would have brought in more of the "aristocratic pensioners" (to quote the mischievous Robert Icke) that form so much of the theatregoing audience. The orchestra and guitars and strings are excellent, and Jeff Wayne conducts them with gusto. For nostalgic lovers of the super-hit album, seeing Jeff Wayne in person is a major draw. If seeing Jeff Wayne is not a draw for you, you may not be in the core audience for this. For years, the Dominion hosted Queen's equally bombastic music in "We Will Rock You," so why can't this repeat that success? Well, Queen's Greatest Hits is actually the number one UK album of all time, not number 39. But more importantly, the show was a campfest, full of knowing silliness, that perfectly reflected the way Freddie Mercury never took himself or his crowd-pleasing bombast seriously. That innate modesty translated beautifully to today's post-modern cultural mix of sensitive despair and hedonistic silliness. Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds comes from a more portentous place and moment, and simply doesn't translate much further than it's shrunken target audience of (old) boys who love toys, and those who love pomp and rhythm and drums. 3 stars from me, 4 stars if you own the album and still play it, 2 stars otherwise. Seems about right. i agree the music wins, and if you want a story or acting , you are doomed. Did you buy a programme ? The site says virtually nothing. Is Julia Thornton playing the harp and drums again? If so I might go and see it - she's a world class act, and very watchable - its was watch either her or Donovan being more wooden than a tree thing, when I last saw it, and she won easily?
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Post by bulletproof on Feb 16, 2016 16:18:10 GMT
The cast... Why hire Q-list celebrities, when they can't even sing or act?! David Essex got quite a big response, but the rest of them were 'ooo wasn't that that girl who used to be in that girl band, Girls A... No. Misteeq? No oh, the Sugababes.' Daniel Beddingfield's acting consisted of shouting every third word, he also does this very bizarre flasetto A LOT which needs to be seen to be believed. David Essex cannot sing even remotely, but got the second biggest cheer of the night, after Jeff Wayne This is a fundamentally misconceived project. The problem is that the project wants to please core fans of the bombastic prog rock 1978 concept album, but since that won't pack in enough people to fill the Dominion for months, they hired a cast to expand the core, who appeal to people who will HATE this. If you are old, and attended The Who's Quadrophenia concert, or Roger Daltry's Tommy concert or Roger Water's The Wall concert, you are the kind of person who might like this. If you are young, and attended Muse's hyberbolic space-themed "Black Holes and Revelations" tour, if you think "Supermassive Black Hole" is awesome and "Knights of Cydonia" is overwhelming, you might like this. But if you think the magnetic moving Madelena Alberto is going to be able humanise this onslaught of drums and electric guitars and alien invasion, remember she's only going to be able to tug your heartstrings for a couple of minutes during "Forever Autumn." If you think that Michael Praed can bring the charm to this he brought to "The Sound of Music," be assured he is a charismatic capable leading man who hits the notes that Marti Pellow couldn't reach in the O2 Arena show, but remember his job is to look look wide-eyed and gob-smacked that the Martians are taking over the Earth as Liam Neeson drones on about Red Weeds, while Jeff Wayne's guitars and strings swamp the lot. If you can't understand why David Essex (who hits the notes but not the way he used to) gets the biggest ovation, you may not be the core audience. He gets the ovation because he played Daniel Beddingfield's part of "The Artilleryman" on the original 39th-best-selling-in-the-UK-2.5-million-copy-shifting 1978 album. He gets the ovation for being "alive on stage" to quote the front cover programme blurb. Heidi Range is there to get Sugababes fans to see something that is almost certainly not up their street, and hey, she can sing as well as Michael Praed, which is pretty well. Jimmy Nail is there to get "Auf Weidersehn Pet" fans in, to cash his cheque, and to look bug-eyed and bonkers while his below-par singing is dwarfed out by guitars and strings. Poor Daniel Beddingfield is asked to sing high notes he can't manage, and desperately veers between a choking chest voice and a screechy falsetto trying to hit them, but he has been cast to try and get wives to accompany their husbands, who want to relieve the simple times when bad meant Martians, and shades of grey were not acknowledged. The choice of Liam Neeson as narrator is fundamentally misguided also. Yes, he's a star, but he hasn't got the iconic booming once-in-a-lifetime voice that Richard Burton had, which leant deceptive gravitas to a space-aged slice of simplistic "cowboys and indians" back in 1978. Richard Burton is someone every theatregoer WISHES they could have seen on stage, and he would have brought in more of the "aristocratic pensioners" (to quote the mischievous Robert Icke) that form so much of the theatregoing audience. The orchestra and guitars and strings are excellent, and Jeff Wayne conducts them with gusto. For nostalgic lovers of the super-hit album, seeing Jeff Wayne in person is a major draw. If seeing Jeff Wayne is not a draw for you, you may not be in the core audience for this. For years, the Dominion hosted Queen's equally bombastic music in "We Will Rock You," so why can't this repeat that success? Well, Queen's Greatest Hits is actually the number one UK album of all time, not number 39. But more importantly, the show was a campfest, full of knowing silliness, that perfectly reflected the way Freddie Mercury never took himself or his crowd-pleasing bombast seriously. That innate modesty translated beautifully to today's post-modern cultural mix of sensitive despair and hedonistic silliness. Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds comes from a more portentous place and moment, and simply doesn't translate much further than it's shrunken target audience of (old) boys who love toys, and those who love pomp and rhythm and drums. 3 stars from me, 4 stars if you own the album and still play it, 2 stars otherwise. Was moved to join this forum to agree with this post Steve - it's spot on.
The main "problem" with this is show is the muddying of the waters around what it is supposed to be.
This is a music gig, first and foremost, and not a traditional West End musical. Those going appreciating that it's a music concert with extra bells and whistles will really enjoy it. Those imagining it to be a fully fledged "musical" are setting themselves up for disappointment. I'm not sure that message has been made clear to everyone in the marketing.
I went last week and loved it - didn't suffer any of the sound issues some have complained of, but perhaps I was just lucky. I accept that some of the casting seems to have been done to appeal to particular demographics, I thought they all played their parts well (Beddingfield did have some trouble with the high notes, but I put that down to a problem with his voice - he missed the next performance because of it).
If I could make one improvement it would be to get rid of Neeson's video sections altogether and simply replace them with Burton's original voiceover - as it stands you are torn between the two conflicting versions of the journalist and either watching the video or the stage - the Burton voiceover is much more impressive and would allow you to focus on events on stage more.
I fully intend to go again asap...
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Post by Steve on Feb 16, 2016 17:44:30 GMT
3 stars from me, 4 stars if you own the album and still play it, 2 stars otherwise. Seems about right. i agree the music wins, and if you want a story or acting , you are doomed. Did you buy a programme ? The site says virtually nothing. Is Julia Thornton playing the harp and drums again? If so I might go and see it - she's a world class act, and very watchable - its was watch either her or Donovan being more wooden than a tree thing, when I last saw it, and she won easily? DJP, lol, yes I did buy a programme, and sorry, I'm afraid Julia Thornton is not listed. In The Black Smoke Band, Olivia Jageurs is playing Harp and Percussion, and Accy Yeats is on drums.
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Post by richey on Feb 17, 2016 21:02:25 GMT
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Post by Seriously on Feb 17, 2016 23:13:21 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2016 23:27:56 GMT
I still can't get over the down-right bizarre casting for this.
Bring on the reviews!
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Post by Seriously on Feb 18, 2016 0:31:51 GMT
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Post by showgirl on Feb 18, 2016 5:05:30 GMT
Never heard the album but am now really tempted to go, just to see for myself what people are talking about!
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Post by djp on Feb 18, 2016 5:29:50 GMT
Thanks. Will add this to the growing list of new shows that fail on the "would go but shame about the casting" argument. Lord knows there's enough top singers resting their vocal cords they could pick from.
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Post by mrbarnaby on Feb 18, 2016 7:58:27 GMT
Love that they are selling it saying its one of the 'starriest' casts in years... What a load of z list performers who have no career anymore!
They should have cast Sinnitta too!
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3,471 posts
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Post by showgirl on Feb 18, 2016 8:48:34 GMT
Well, Libby Purves has rated it 4-star - maybe it's one for the older audience?
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Post by stefy69 on Feb 18, 2016 8:50:18 GMT
The review in The Times this morning gave it no stars, first time I've ever seen that.....
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3,471 posts
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Post by showgirl on Feb 18, 2016 9:10:11 GMT
Wow, a complete range! So maybe more chance of offers for those uncertain whether to take the risk?
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Post by chinatoy on Feb 18, 2016 10:45:43 GMT
The Arena tour was great when I saw it. Maybe it's not transferring well. I get the impression from some of the negative reviews that it's more about the show not working rather than the cast. I don't see a problem with how a performer came to fame myself. It's whether they are up to the job. There are weak performers amongst 'star' casts just as there are weak performers amongst theatre unknowns.
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Post by bulletproof on Feb 18, 2016 10:45:47 GMT
The review in The Times this morning gave it no stars, first time I've ever seen that.....
Really ridiculous - can't track down the article online, but I can only assume that's riding on the general negative buzz of the early shows or down to a grudge of some sort...
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