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Post by Dr Tom on Nov 22, 2021 9:42:37 GMT
Urinetown - Italia Conti
I caught this last Thursday evening. There's a lot of great music to this one.
I did get a programme too, so I know who was on.
As with the last show I saw at Italia Conti, this is a very female heavy cast. Sometimes, it comes across as if they have the show licenced and then do the best they can to match the people available to the roles.
I thought Sofia Cox, who played Hope Gladwell, had great presence and lots of potential. With that said, a good cast all around but there's a bit of inexperience there too. I look forward to seeing these students further into their education.
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Post by Dr Tom on Nov 22, 2021 9:51:55 GMT
The Spongebob Musical - Arts Ed
I saw this sellout production last Friday evening. You can't fault the professionalism of the production and this is really a perfect show for a young diverse cast, with no one looking out of place. Apart from one slip in the tap dancing scene, this would be ready to go into a commercial venue anywhere.
This very much reminded me of how this was staged on Broadway, just scaled down for the climbing scene. There is infectious smiling throughout.
Ciaran Rodger as SpongeBob and Ben Culleton as Patrick were perfect. Miles Harding as Sheldon Plankton is ready for a role as a pantomime villain anywhere.
I know there has been some controversy with this production. I didn't pick up on this on Friday, but it is impossible to know if any changes had been made. But these are very important issues and certainly not ones to make light of.
With that aside, this is one of the rare student productions which I would have loved to have seen again.
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Post by partytentdown on Nov 22, 2021 11:16:47 GMT
What was the controversy?
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Post by Dr Tom on Dec 16, 2021 13:03:57 GMT
Mountview have just put their next set of shows on sale, including Company (in the Backstage Theatre) and Carousel (in the main theatre).
Carousel doesn't have many seats left. Company is unreserved seating, so it's hard to tell.
I'm sure both will be excellent, so book quick!
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Dec 16, 2021 23:18:56 GMT
Mountview have just put their next set of shows on sale, including Company (in the Backstage Theatre) and Carousel (in the main theatre). Carousel doesn't have many seats left. Company is unreserved seating, so it's hard to tell. I'm sure both will be excellent, so book quick! Company completely sold out when I tried to book earlier this evening. Carousel still has good availability for several performances. I'll be checking back for Company returns nearer the time, Carousel booked.
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Post by Dr Tom on Dec 16, 2021 23:24:42 GMT
Company completely sold out when I tried to book earlier this evening. Carousel still has good availability for several performances. I'll be checking back for Company returns nearer the time, Carousel booked. I'm sure a few will appear when they release the tickets they're holding for agents etc. But yes, these sell so fast (or some people get to book in advance). I'm sure I booked within 15 minutes of receiving the email and the dates I checked were two thirds full even then.
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Post by Dr Tom on Dec 19, 2021 11:13:20 GMT
And the Arts Ed musicals for January and February are now advertised as well.
Lysistrata Jones and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Tickets aren't yet on sale, but I'm sure it will be usual scramble for tickets sometime in January when they do get released.
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Dec 26, 2021 0:49:44 GMT
Mayflower - The Musical at The Mill Studio, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford on Saturday 12 February at 7pm.
A full-length concert presentation by musical theatre students of a brand new musical telling the story of William Bradford and the Pilgrim Fathers.
Only one performance ,I would attend but already have a show booked elsewhere.
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Post by Dr Tom on Jan 7, 2022 12:00:11 GMT
And the Arts Ed musicals for January and February are now advertised as well. Lysistrata Jones and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Tickets aren't yet on sale, but I'm sure it will be usual scramble for tickets sometime in January when they do get released. Lysistrata Jones tickets are on sale as of 12 noon today.
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Jan 7, 2022 15:08:39 GMT
And the Arts Ed musicals for January and February are now advertised as well. Lysistrata Jones and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Tickets aren't yet on sale, but I'm sure it will be usual scramble for tickets sometime in January when they do get released. Lysistrata Jones tickets are on sale as of 12 noon today. Cheers for tip off. Booked for one of the matinees, significantly cheaper than the evening performances for some reason and will book an evening musical to go with it. Looks like a fun show.
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Jan 14, 2022 22:21:56 GMT
Company at Mountview now has availability for several performances.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes at Arts Ed. is still not on sale.
Bridewell Theatre has Something Old ... Something New, a musical theatre review, presented by the Musical Theatre Academy, from 9 -12 March.
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Post by Dr Tom on Jan 14, 2022 23:41:06 GMT
Italia Conti musicals for March/April are Footloose, Carrie and Cry Baby. They also have three plays coming up in February/March - A Small Family Business (Ayckbourn), Banana Boys (looks like this one is a gay coming of age story) and Innovation (drawing a blank with searches for this one). The first two plays are on sale here: www.gigantic.com/spring-season-italia-conti-tickets
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Post by thistimetomorrow on Jan 20, 2022 16:00:14 GMT
Bird College are putting on: - The Hunchback of Notre Dame 2-5 Feb - Crazy For ou 23-26 Feb - Pippin 16-19 March - Follies 27-30 April - Bare the Musical 11-14 May
I'm sure it's somewhere very obvious, but I cannot for the life of me find any information on when booking opens for any of these shows or if public booking is even possible?
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Post by showgirl on Jan 21, 2022 10:48:47 GMT
Thank you, FrontroverPaul for the Arts Ed show info as I knew nothing of any of these college productions before but your post enabled me to see some future stars at yesterday's matinee of Lysistrata Jones. You however will be seeing the other cast, though the ensemble is the same.
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Post by Dr Tom on Jan 21, 2022 12:01:49 GMT
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes at ArtsEd has just gone on sale. Runs 8 to 12 February.
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Post by Dr Tom on Jan 21, 2022 12:02:21 GMT
Bird College are putting on: - The Hunchback of Notre Dame 2-5 Feb - Crazy For ou 23-26 Feb - Pippin 16-19 March - Follies 27-30 April - Bare the Musical 11-14 May I'm sure it's somewhere very obvious, but I cannot for the life of me find any information on when booking opens for any of these shows or if public booking is even possible? Do let me know if you spot anything. Several of the Bird College productions there that I'd like to see.
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Jan 21, 2022 20:49:04 GMT
Thoroughly enjoyed LJ this afternoon and have booked same seat for GPB in 3 weeks time. Again they they are charging £8 less for seats at the two weekday matinees.
I'd never heard of Bird College and also can find no way of booking their shows. I'm going to phone on Monday and will report back.If only college and university productions weren't so difficult to find out about and, in this case, book ; I guess they aren't really aimed at the general public but they are invariably professional standard.
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Post by thistimetomorrow on Jan 21, 2022 23:18:59 GMT
I saw Lysistrata Jones today and wasn't convinced to be honest. I think that may have been more the fault of the show itself rather than the cast though.
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Jan 22, 2022 1:32:04 GMT
I saw Lysistrata Jones today and wasn't convinced to be honest. I think that may have been more the fault of the show itself rather than the cast though. i did find the first half a bit repetitive but the cast carried it, especially the two female leads, and I was thoroughly entertained for a couple of hours which is all I ever want from a musical.
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Post by showgirl on Jan 22, 2022 5:49:56 GMT
I didn't love the LJ music, which seemed undistinguished to me; indeed the whole musical seemed very similar to umpteen others based around high schools/colleges, etc. However, I did enjoy visiting a venue new to me, seeing a lively production of professional standard and being mesmerised by one of the female leads and highly impressed by one of the male leads. Sure these people are going to be snapped up soon if indeed they haven't already been.
Also booked yesterday for a matinee of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which I've only seen once and not for years. This time I'm having to go on a Saturday but matinees for seniors are still far cheaper than evenings.
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Post by Dr Tom on Jan 22, 2022 10:11:29 GMT
I managed to see both casts for LJ (mostly due to this being a local venue to me and also because I expect this will rarely ever be produced).
The production was excellent as is usually the case with ArtsEd and this could easily transfer straight into a professional venue. The musical itself has all the hallmarks of one of those sleeper hit teen musicals (Heathers etc) but it doesn't quite work for me. I think the problem is how it presents all high school girls as being desperate for sex, which rather goes against the whole female empowerment vibe.
I also thought they very cleverly avoided showing any basketball being played. The very athletic cast were not demonstrating the greatest ball skills (although that could be part of the plot).
There are some catchy songs and this is a snappy 2 hours 15 minutes in one of the nicest theatre spaces in London. There are a lot of jokes and topical references, many of them which must have been added since the Broadway production, but they don't hit home for the UK audience.
One of the most interesting parts to me was seeing how both sets of leads were so different. Typically, a professional production has covers who look like the leads and perform things in a similar way. In this case, the two casts were very different, different ethnicities in many cases, different looks and vocal styles and there some staging changes. I don't want to pick out one cast over the other as both were excellent, just different. I did enjoy the show more the second time I saw it, but that may also be due to familiarity.
Funny note on the overheard conversations was that one of the cast had warned her mum that the show was terrible (it wasn't terrible and the mum didn't think so either - but I'm not sure it's the kind of show I'd want to invite my family to). I also had who I assume was Djavan's van de Fliert's boyfriend sat a few seats away one night, who got very loud and excited every time Djavan was on (most noticeable as he was the only person in the audience to do this, although I thought Djavan played the fun geek role well and would an excellent Jamie). I must also mention that Charis Alexandra's voice was sublime.
I wouldn't be surprised if we see more productions of this from student groups as it's very much age appropriate. I look forward to seeing GPB in a few weeks time.
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Post by thistimetomorrow on Jan 22, 2022 13:28:46 GMT
I did enjoy the show more the second time I saw it, but that may also be due to familiarity. I did wonder if I didn't enjoy the show so much because I wasn't familiar with the music or plot, but I went into ArtsEd's SpongeBob show blind and I had a fantastic time with that. I personally can't see this show having the same kind of following as Heathers or something similar, but my friend who went with me did like it a lot more than me so it's likely just a personal taste thing.
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Jan 24, 2022 13:20:11 GMT
Bird College are putting on: - The Hunchback of Notre Dame 2-5 Feb - Crazy For ou 23-26 Feb - Pippin 16-19 March - Follies 27-30 April - Bare the Musical 11-14 May I'm sure it's somewhere very obvious, but I cannot for the life of me find any information on when booking opens for any of these shows or if public booking is even possible? I just phoned Bird College and spoke to a very nice lady who explained that theirs is a very small theatre so the shows are restricted to family, friends and I'm guessing industry personnel. I explained about this Forum and she read your post as we were speaking. She kindly took my email address in case any seats do become available for the public. I said that alternatively she could join and make a post here.
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Post by thistimetomorrow on Jan 24, 2022 13:41:59 GMT
She kindly took my email address in case any seats do become available for the public. Oh I see! Well if any seats do become available for the public and you're emailed, please do let me know! I'm very interested in seeing Hunchback, Follies and Bare.
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Jan 24, 2022 14:22:08 GMT
She kindly took my email address in case any seats do become available for the public. Oh I see! Well if any seats do become available for the public and you're emailed, please do let me know! I'm very interested in seeing Hunchback, Follies and Bare. Of course. I'll post it here if I have permission to do so or send a private message if I don't. They're the same three shows I'd book.
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Post by thistimetomorrow on Jan 24, 2022 14:27:45 GMT
I'll post it here if I have permission to do so or send a private message if I don't. They're the same three shows I'd book. Fab! Thank you for doing the legwork
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Post by fiyerorocher on Jan 24, 2022 14:35:22 GMT
Hunchback and Bare are two of my favourites! I'm glad they're being performed, even if the public can't book :')
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Post by thistimetomorrow on Jan 27, 2022 20:44:21 GMT
Urdang have just released tickets for their 3 shows this term: Legally Blonde, Urinetown and Kinky Boots!
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Post by thistimetomorrow on Jan 27, 2022 20:57:40 GMT
I just checked and Legally Blonde is actually already sold out for all of their evening shows + their Saturday matinee!
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Post by Dr Tom on Feb 7, 2022 9:16:50 GMT
I saw the Mountview production of Company last week and thought it was excellent. Having only seen the recent gender swapped revival, in was different to see it in original form, with lots of 70s fashion on show.
Iwan James was on in the lead role and, unlike Bobby, I'm sure will have lots of offers for marriage if he's still unwed when he gets to 35.
Sung well throughout and making excellent space of the packed Backstage Theatre. And great to see Mountview enforcing checks of Covid tests and mask wearing.
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