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Post by saints on Oct 21, 2023 7:29:39 GMT
I saw this earlier in the week. I listened to a few songs before, Journeyman, wait for me and this time stand out for me. I thought it started strongly but dragged a bit in the first half. The second half has more momentum. Recommended if you are a fan of the film, or looking for a entertaining/ undemanding evening, especially if discounted! My group enjoyed it. As mentioned before, avoid front rows of stalls as stage is high! I thought Joanna sung beautifully.
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Post by parsley1 on Oct 21, 2023 7:44:51 GMT
Perhaps Parsley needs to attend this show and post their opinion! I hope you have all been very well Has been a long time I am pleased to be back ☺️
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Post by andypandy on Oct 21, 2023 8:49:22 GMT
Post show thoughts
The leads do their best with the terrible material. They sing well but the songs all sound the same are repetitive and go nowhere. The score is bad / the weakest thing of the show. With a different composer this would have been much better. The cast are talented but the material is so weak, the magic and effects so amateur and the whole musical drags and drags because of this.
Some people will enjoy the performances and the leads - but that’s not enough to save this for me.
1 star from me. I’m sorry! Can we have a poll please mods?
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3,070 posts
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Post by Rory on Oct 21, 2023 8:55:40 GMT
Perhaps Parsley needs to attend this show and post their opinion! I hope you have all been very well Has been a long time I am pleased to be back ☺️ Welcome back, parsley1!
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Post by parsley1 on Oct 21, 2023 9:12:21 GMT
Perhaps Parsley needs to attend this show and post their opinion! I hope you have all been very well Has been a long time I am pleased to be back ☺️ Welcome back, parsley1! 🙏🏽
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Post by interval99 on Oct 21, 2023 10:51:33 GMT
Had hoped this would be a good break for David Hunter in creating his first west end leading role as he has done so well in his take overs of kinky boots and once which he made his own.
It did seem board members were more enthusiastic about the show on its initial tryout run than what has ended up on the west end. Has anyone seen both and see any difference.
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Post by LaLuPone on Oct 21, 2023 11:26:08 GMT
Had hoped this would be a good break for David Hunter in creating his first west end leading role What was Waitress then?
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Post by dave on Oct 21, 2023 12:45:25 GMT
I’m at the show now - in the interval. Gosh this show is baaaaaaaad 1 star. I’m sorry. The score book set story and performances are all TERRIBLE. I think it’s the worst musical I’ve seen in years on the West End. The music is hideously bad! How did this get past workshops? Awful Was at the same performance last night and have to agree. Just awful. I was bored within the first 20 minutes. No character development due to seemingly hundreds of very short scenes. The music is banal and repetitive. Can't see this lasting it's 6th month run - be very lucky to make it past Xmas. Trying to find some positives - there is a nice use of Peppers Ghost in Act1, and the short physical theatre & projection sequence at the top of Act 2 livened things up but was completely atypical of the whole show and frankly looked out of place.
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Post by richey on Oct 21, 2023 13:12:58 GMT
There doesn't seem to be much promotion for this. I was in London for two days and didn't see one poster anywhere. I'd forgotten it was on until I walked past the theatre yesterday.
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Post by interval99 on Oct 21, 2023 13:44:58 GMT
Had hoped this would be a good break for David Hunter in creating his first west end leading role What was Waitress then? Waitress was still a cover for a role already created on broadway, and the doctor is not the lead role. It would be great for the very talented David who often goes beyond just the stage performance in supporting the show and the fans of it to have success in a west end show and fully be the initial creator of the musical role.
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Post by andypandy on Oct 22, 2023 0:20:07 GMT
Can we have a poll please?
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18,808 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 22, 2023 8:07:28 GMT
Poll added
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Post by mrbarnaby on Oct 22, 2023 13:21:37 GMT
I don’t understand why producers go to the effort and expense of staging these shows, workshopping them, and then the score is not good enough. It seems so basic.
After these reports, unless this gets amazing reviews, I shall be skipping this one.
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Post by iwanttix on Oct 22, 2023 16:41:31 GMT
I saw this Friday night - I admit the only reason I wanted to go was for David Hunter but I did enjoy the show as a whole. Unfortunately we were front row so with the ridiculously high stage we did feel as though we missed a fair bit. Both me and my friend want to go and see it again from further back.
I liked the songs, the lead roles were well played and sang and the constant disappearing and reappearing was actually pretty impressive.
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Post by max on Oct 22, 2023 17:04:36 GMT
I don't think Dave Stewart has much talent as a musical dramatist - for odd reasons: rather than bringing the more unusual and creative impulses of his days in Eurythmics, he writes in an over-obvious (and somewhat cliched) pop Musical Theatre style. I've listened to three songs from this show, and one of them hits 'that' supposedly euphoric Musical Theatre harmony, that we've just heard too often over the last 20 years ('Rent' probably started it, or certainly cemented it as a 'go to'). Does it work anymore? Probably if you don't go to musicals that often.
I remember being suprised by the two big songs for Oda Mae in 'Ghost' - two generically lazy 'strong Black woman' songs, that absolutely didn't deserve Sharon D Clarke selling them to make them sound so much better than they were. To think he co-wrote 'Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves' as sung by Annie Lennox and Aretha Franklin. The real deal ebbed away long ago.
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Post by musicbox on Oct 22, 2023 17:39:00 GMT
I had been planning on seeing this show when it was announced as I was a fan of Joss Stone since I was a kid, but I had the misfortune of meeting her at the start of the year, and she was so vile to me that I was devastated and decided never to support anything she does ever again (Never meet your heroes and all that!).
I was just thinking today that I haven’t heard any buzz or real promotion for the show and wanted to see what the consensus was - it really doesn’t surprise me that the general feeling is that the music isn’t great, as I’ve never enjoyed anything that Dave and Joss have made together. Joss is also not a great composer or songwriter in general to be honest, she is a brilliant vocalist whose best albums have been covers or collaborations with soul and blues legends (The late, great Betty Wright basically launched her career).
I might still pay a visit out of curiosity if there are any good dynamic pricing deals in the next few weeks.
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Post by singingbird on Oct 22, 2023 17:46:09 GMT
Really in two minds about going to this now. I dislike Joss Stone's music - it always seemed bland has never remotely grabbed me. Dave Stewart, on the other hand, was one of my early musical heroes. Eurythmics were my favourite band as a teenager (especially their earlier artier stuff - their first two albums are bonkers and brilliant) and his first couple of post-Eurythmics albums were touchstones for me circa 1990. But I never thought his work had a musical theatre feel to it, and Ghost was singularly unmemorable. I'll probably go if I can get a cheapish ticket at some point, just for old time's sake, but nothing I have heard about the show so far has really sold it to me. I can't see it lasting long - there is zero buzz around it.
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Post by interval99 on Oct 22, 2023 18:34:00 GMT
If anyone would rather relive Dave Stewart Eurythmics music he is doing a concert celebrating 40 years of sweet dreams at the palladium on November 17th. Sadly without Annie but apparently its a show he has done before and got good reviews. Tickets a bit pricey and the top ones include being able to watch the sound check but chance to hear some classics.
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Post by max on Oct 22, 2023 20:41:37 GMT
I had been planning on seeing this show when it was announced as I was a fan of Joss Stone since I was a kid, but I had the misfortune of meeting her at the start of the year, and she was so vile to me that I was devastated and decided never to support anything she does ever again (Never meet your heroes and all that!). I was just thinking today that I haven’t heard any buzz or real promotion for the show and wanted to see what the consensus was - it really doesn’t surprise me that the general feeling is that the music isn’t great, as I’ve never enjoyed anything that Dave and Joss have made together. Joss is also not a great composer or songwriter in general to be honest, she is a brilliant vocalist whose best albums have been covers or collaborations with soul and blues legends (The late, great Betty Wright basically launched her career). I might still pay a visit out of curiosity if there are any good dynamic pricing deals in the next few weeks. Urgh, that's horrible. Sad to hear you experienced that.
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Post by musicbox on Oct 22, 2023 21:13:43 GMT
I had been planning on seeing this show when it was announced as I was a fan of Joss Stone since I was a kid, but I had the misfortune of meeting her at the start of the year, and she was so vile to me that I was devastated and decided never to support anything she does ever again (Never meet your heroes and all that!). I was just thinking today that I haven’t heard any buzz or real promotion for the show and wanted to see what the consensus was - it really doesn’t surprise me that the general feeling is that the music isn’t great, as I’ve never enjoyed anything that Dave and Joss have made together. Joss is also not a great composer or songwriter in general to be honest, she is a brilliant vocalist whose best albums have been covers or collaborations with soul and blues legends (The late, great Betty Wright basically launched her career). I might still pay a visit out of curiosity if there are any good dynamic pricing deals in the next few weeks. Urgh, that's horrible. Sad to hear you experienced that. It’s not that she’s a bad person or anything, she just has a really nasty attitude, probably a product of being famous at such a young age and never developing social skills the way most people do. She made me feel about 2 feet tall, which doesn’t happen very often. I can’t deny she’s a brilliant performer though and I hope this project isn’t a massive flop or financial disaster for her.
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Post by Rory on Oct 22, 2023 22:23:26 GMT
No excuse if she acted like that towards you.
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Post by theatrefan77 on Oct 23, 2023 0:09:14 GMT
I thought this was quite boring. The whole of the first half fell flat and the last number just before the interval was embarrassingly bad. It's all too fragmented and it's really difficult to engage with the story. The second half starts with a really good opening number but it goes downhill from there. The music didn't do anything for me either, totally meh.
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Post by andypandy on Oct 23, 2023 14:03:04 GMT
I thought this was quite boring. The whole of the first half fell flat and the last number just before the interval was embarrassingly bad. It's all too fragmented and it's really difficult to engage with the story. The second half starts with a really good opening number but it goes downhill from there. The music didn't do anything for me either, totally meh. The pre interval song (wine glasses in hand) I think was the most amateur and sadly cringeworthy song and ensemble routine I’ve EVER seen on a West End stage As for the chorus boys holding their hands like limp wrists in the air to portray gay men at an art event in floral shirts / I actually found it offensive. The show is a total mess.
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Post by anthony40 on Oct 23, 2023 14:10:23 GMT
Wow! Disappointingly a lot of negative feedback fro you guys.
I've not seen it.
I wonder what sort of reaction it got through try outs before hitting the West End?
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Post by Rory on Oct 23, 2023 14:47:32 GMT
Sounds like we might soon be in for more months of one night concerts, comedians etc in a Nimax venue on Shaftesbury Avenue.
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Post by c4ndyc4ne on Oct 23, 2023 16:19:56 GMT
Sounds like we might soon be in for more months of one night concerts, comedians etc in a Nimax venue on Shaftesbury Avenue. is it selling badly?
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Post by marob on Oct 23, 2023 16:40:28 GMT
Wow! Disappointingly a lot of negative feedback fro you guys. I've not seen it. I wonder what sort of reaction it got through try outs before hitting the West End? In Chester it got standing ovations. 😂 I didn’t think it was great, but as 2 hours entertainment I thought it was ok. I liked the story and the characters, thought the central couple had decent chemistry, just the entire thing is let down by having music that is completely forgettable. Storyhouse only opened in 2017 and were still finding their feet when the pandemic came along. Apart from a Christmas run of The Wizard of Oz and a rep production of A Little Night Music and The Crucible, most of their shows are quite small-scale - adaptations or cut-down versions of existing works, with a static set and the dreaded actor-musicians. So for me personally I appreciated the fact that it was a massive step up in terms of staging and ambition, particularly as a follow-up to a rather weak Tim Firth musical. But sadly this promise hasn’t really been followed up on and it’s back to business as usual.
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Post by thistimetomorrow on Oct 23, 2023 22:14:36 GMT
it got standing ovations. tbf it got a standing o when I went and there were definitely loads of people in the auditorium sobbing
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Post by max on Oct 23, 2023 22:40:38 GMT
The cast recording is now on Spotify. I had a listen to what I guess is the end of Act 1, as it's track listed before Entr'acte. It's called "Who Are We".
The lyrics so remind me of Theatreboard, it could become the anthem:
"We can build whatever home we need Colour, class, or creed.
We've only got one life to live There just so much love to give"
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Post by Gregor on Oct 23, 2023 23:21:36 GMT
Saw it this evening - standing ovation from much of the audience. Thought Joanna Woodward and David Hunter were faultless - really enjoyed their chemistry and performances.
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