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Post by sph on Dec 30, 2020 22:26:30 GMT
Oh I wasn't referring to that rumour. I know nothing about that. I just meant that of all the shows currently out there it's the only one I could imagine doing a sit-down outside London. I haven't heard of it actually potentially happening though.
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Post by Phantom of London on Dec 31, 2020 1:07:22 GMT
I grew up in Warrington & could get to and from Manchester or Liverpool for an evening show on the train. (and still could do last year). I was responding to PoL’s comments about my home town Sheffield. Warrington benefits by not having a mountain range between it and Manc. So does Sheffield benefit from not having a mountain range between it and Manc. Ain’t it?
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Post by Phantom of London on Dec 31, 2020 1:09:32 GMT
I go to Manchester a lot (old uni City) for tours. Have previously looked into seeing a show in Liverpool on one night of a long weekend and getting train back to Manchester after - sadly not possible as no trains back after evening show. So connections certainly not as good as one might think/hope. That said, guess it's easier with a car. And certainly Manchester did have a big geographical pull for the surrounding counties of Cheshire and Lancashire. And depending on how you define urban areas it has a good case for claiming to be England's 2nd city. So if there ever was to be an open ended run of something again, I think Manchester would be the best bet. Think there are now later trains, but service is not ideal and after 21:00 Liverpool Lime Street is like a ghost town, nice to grab a latte on the way home.
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Post by danb on Dec 31, 2020 6:08:16 GMT
I grew up in Warrington & could get to and from Manchester or Liverpool for an evening show on the train. (and still could do last year). I was responding to PoL’s comments about my home town Sheffield. Warrington benefits by not having a mountain range between it and Manc. I was merely stating the ease of my personal experience vs yours BB and highlighting how travel inequality is all around us...I did however, often get held at Old Trafford on match days. Most inconvenient. (My daughter was at uni in Sheffield & had a mare getting home from a Pretty Reckless gig at the Ritz one night).
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Post by TallPaul on Dec 31, 2020 9:40:25 GMT
I'm going to backtrack about three pages, but there is a nice symmetry between Cats in London and Blackpool.
Back in 1989, Blackpool's three piers, the Tower and Winter Gardens were all owned by First Leisure, which was run by Bernard Delfont...the same Bernard Delfont who did the initial deal with ALW and Cam Mack that gave Cats its London home for so many years.
And, of course, he's the Delfont in Delfont Mackintosh Theatres.
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Post by musicalmarge on Jan 3, 2021 23:27:08 GMT
The very first Les Mis & Phantom tours both did at least three months in Manchester as their first stop. I bet you are young and under 30/35! Phantom was in Manchester in the early 90’s for over two years!
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Post by danb on Jan 4, 2021 6:00:13 GMT
The very first Les Mis & Phantom tours both did at least three months in Manchester as their first stop. I bet you are young and under 30/35! Phantom was in Manchester in the early 90’s for over two years! If only...
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Post by TallPaul on Jan 6, 2021 14:36:10 GMT
Should building work ever actually finish, it will be interesting to see what impact the opening of The Factory has on the Manchester theatre scene.
Alhough there seems to be some confusion as to how many seats it will have - somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 - there will be a significant number of tickets for a new entrant to sell, especially as the focus, at least initially, is going to be avant-garde work.
Suppose that the half a dozen weeks currently taken by visiting opera and ballet companies no longer have to be accommodated, will that make either the Palace or Opera House more amenable to open-ended runs?
As always, I'm happy to be corrected, but I think when Manchester did previously have truly open-ended runs, it was in the pre-ATG days. I'm only half-joking in suggesting that maybe ATG is able to charge higher contras on one and two week runs. 😉
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jan 6, 2021 21:05:46 GMT
Should building work ever actually finish, it will be interesting to see what impact the opening of The Factory has on the Manchester theatre scene. Alhough there seems to be some confusion as to how many seats it will have - somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 - there will be a significant number of tickets for a new entrant to sell, especially as the focus, at least initially, is going to be avant-garde work.Suppose that the half a dozen weeks currently taken by visiting opera and ballet companies no longer have to be accommodated, will that make either the Palace or Opera House more amenable to open-ended runs? As always, I'm happy to be corrected, but I think when Manchester did previously have truly open-ended runs, it was in the pre-ATG days. I'm only half-joking in suggesting that maybe ATG is able to charge higher contras on one and two week runs. 😉 I should not expect to be seeing Evita there then? 😤
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Post by TallPaul on Jan 7, 2021 10:26:46 GMT
The Jamie Lloyd production of Evita was quite avant-garde, wasn't it? Maybe that will head north, BurlyBeaR. Probably best to take a pac-a-mac with you, mind, just to be on the safe side. 'Ambitious' buildings are notoriously leaky, so there's no guarantee you'll be able to watch it in the dry!
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jan 7, 2021 10:41:02 GMT
Given that the current estimate of an opening date is December 2022 I might be past it by then!
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Post by stuart on Jan 8, 2021 9:14:13 GMT
Surely Edinburgh would be a no brainier for a sit-down production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child? It’s far enough from London to not massively damage prospects there but Edinburgh also gets a lot of Harry Potter tourism. Stick it in the Festival Theatre and leave the Playhouse for the big tours.
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