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Post by musiqualetheater on Apr 10, 2023 9:39:17 GMT
To those who have seen it, what's the approximate running time, please? The Almeida have yet to put this info on their website (surely they could give an interim one until after PN?) and though 2 pm - for matinees - isn't the earliest start they've had, it does suggest a long show. Act 1: 1 hour 10 20 minute interval Act 2: 1 hour 5 Started late and got out just before 10:15.
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Post by showgirl on Apr 10, 2023 10:41:14 GMT
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Post by anthony40 on Apr 12, 2023 11:02:21 GMT
I am there tonight
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Post by anthony40 on Apr 13, 2023 11:04:31 GMT
Well, what an unexpected, pleasant surprise that was.
Although I have never read the book, I am certainty aware of it.
So much so that, at the time, I attended the screening of it in Leicester Square as part of the BFI Film Festival. I don’t remember a great deal about it. I do remember that the fate of one of the female characters differs significantly that what I saw last night.
The theatre was about ¾ full yesterday. Possibly because it was mid-week and the weather outside was so rubbish.
Sitting in the audience the first thing that struck me was the simplicity of the set.
Then when those ladies walked on stage, the beautiful wide smiles.
Kudos to the casting director who sought out these women. Such wonderful, varying, rich and full voices that harmonised and blended so well.
And the way each of them held themselves, their stylised movements.
The dresses were in keeping with the time period.
Although original, I thought the music was great! I found myself tapping my left foot and my hand on my thigh. Give me a cast recording now!
The carefully choreographed beatings in the show carried out in slow motion was darn powerful!
Whilst racial tension was a theme throughout the show, did anyone else whose seem it pick up on the quickly glossed over lesbian sub- plot involving the eldest sister, August?
The respect and admiration for Black Madonna was also beautiful
Genuinely, I didn’t anticipate being as moved by this piece as I had expected.
In fact, I’m struggling to fault the production, in any way.
My only wish, is that this transfers to the West End so that it us seen by a much wider audience.
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sky
Auditioning
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Post by sky on Apr 14, 2023 9:56:44 GMT
Hi there, does anyone know when previews end or if there is a preview period at all?
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1,379 posts
Member is Online
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Post by Dave B on Apr 14, 2023 10:15:31 GMT
Hi there, does anyone know when previews end or if there is a preview period at all? Press night is the 19th.
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Post by alessia on Apr 16, 2023 7:19:55 GMT
Surprised there aren't more reviews of this... Went last night and found it excellent, one of the rare occasions I see a musical and loved it. The music and songs are very good (still remembering some bits this morning, I guess a good sign) and all performers were perfect, some truly stunning voices- particularly Ava Brennan/June. Nice to see the fairy from Jerusalem taking one of the central roles here. Found myself sat next to one of the producers, Lauren Schuler Donner - of course I did not know who she was but at the end she asked me if I liked the show, and then said 'I'm proud of it'. Later on the train I looked on the programme, googled some of the names and found her. (Interestingly, she was in the worst seat behind the slim pillar - F11, so an unplanned visit for sure). Have not read the book or seen the film so went completely blind, no idea how faithful this was but really enjoyed how the music and songs narrated the story, it was all very smoothly done and the time flew by. I have nothing negative to say about this at all.Very much recommend!
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Post by NorthernAlien on Apr 20, 2023 13:18:51 GMT
How 'restricted' are the 'restricted view' seats in the Circle? I've never been to The Almeida and TheatreMonkey's excellent site doesn't seem to cover this venue. Thanks in advance.
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Post by FJ on Apr 20, 2023 14:57:44 GMT
How 'restricted' are the 'restricted view' seats in the Circle? I've never been to The Almeida and TheatreMonkey's excellent site doesn't seem to cover this venue. Thanks in advance. It can vary production by production at the Almeida, but this gives a pretty good idea of view from the seats: seatplan.com/london/almeida-theatre/seating-plan/
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Post by partytentdown on Apr 20, 2023 15:20:26 GMT
I enjoyed this overall - I did feel the second half was perhaps a smidge too long. Having gone in totally blind, have never read the book or know what it's about, I was a bit confused about what was going on once we got to the 'bee farm' - who were these glamorous ladies, and why are they in some kind of honey cult?! But a very talented cast and I hope it does well.
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Post by foxa on Apr 20, 2023 15:42:00 GMT
These comments have made me very excited to see this on Saturday!
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Post by mrbarnaby on Apr 20, 2023 21:41:48 GMT
Is there an original cast recording of this? (From the original production) I can’t see one which is weird!
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Post by anthony40 on Apr 21, 2023 8:05:47 GMT
Is there an original cast recording of this? (From the original production) I can’t see one which is weird! I too would love one!
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Post by mrbarnaby on Apr 21, 2023 17:55:31 GMT
Is there an original cast recording of this? (From the original production) I can’t see one which is weird! I too would love one! I can’t believe there isn’t one. The Americans record everything!
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Post by QueerTheatre on Apr 21, 2023 21:46:55 GMT
i saw the show this evening & was pretty disappointed to be honest. it’s a brilliant cast and production, but the material is severely lacking and at points completely tone deaf.
glad the white girl ended racism by standing up to her dad 🙄
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Post by pws on Apr 21, 2023 23:55:22 GMT
i saw the show this evening & was pretty disappointed to be honest. I was at the same show. Thought it was lacking and nearly left at half time. Wish I had...
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Post by shownut on Apr 22, 2023 7:29:16 GMT
i saw the show this evening & was pretty disappointed to be honest. I was at the same show. Thought it was lacking and nearly left at half time. Wish I had... I thought the same as you did though I felt the first act had promise. But the show ran out of steam very quickly in act two. The songs, of which there were far too many, stopped moving the action forward when the song cues kicked in I kept thinking "Good God, not another one" which is not the norm when watching a musical. I did think the performances were quite good but what a shame they did not have better material to work with.
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Post by jaqs on Apr 22, 2023 17:39:41 GMT
Great cast, great vocals, loved the lighting. Agree the story didn’t do enough. It was neither Lily’s story or a civil rights story. It wimped out on both.
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Post by zahidf on Apr 24, 2023 21:13:42 GMT
Thought this was very good. Great songs
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Post by annette on Apr 27, 2023 0:21:14 GMT
I had much the same criticisms as Queer Theatre, Shownut,Jacqs and PWS about this show, so won’t go over the same issues again.
I would add that the score didn’t measure up well against some of Duncan Sheik’s other work. A lot of it felt too generic and how that number about the car, which was completely out of place and sounded like something from Hairspray, made it into the show is a mystery to me.
I very rarely find myself drifting off during a performance, but after a very short while that’s exactly what happened. The linear adaptation of the book, lack of any significant character development and way too many underwhelming songs that definitely hindered the flow of the story failed to grip my attention in any meaningful way.
Very disappointing.
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Post by tmesis on Apr 29, 2023 17:15:11 GMT
I found this all a bit well, bland really. The music was perfectly pleasant but never really achieved any melodic, or harmonic distinction and all the songs, musically did what you expected them to do. The story also aimed for a powerful punch but didn’t deliver - towards the end the music could have ramped up the emotional temperature here but it was all pretty pedestrian. And, as others have said, there was way too much of it, particularly as it wasn’t furthering the plot or heightening the tension.
I started looking at my watch towards the end of Act 1 and then constantly in Act 2.
Lovely set design and lighting and an excellent cast.
75% standing ovation at the end so maybe it’s just me.
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Post by Being Alive on May 1, 2023 22:15:27 GMT
Oh this was actually very bad to me.
Great cast (Rachel, Danielle, Ava etc I'd pay to watch sing anything) but gosh, what a diabolically written musical this is.
Wild to me that Lynn Nottage and Duncan Sheik produced something so turgid, uninteresting and unengaging.
We had a cover for Lily, seemed to be her debut by the applause from the cast at the end - she was fine.
2 stars. What a snore.
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Post by capybara on May 4, 2023 9:38:22 GMT
Was at last Wednesday’s matinee performance. I did enjoy it but without feeling the need to ever see it again.
The plot can feel a little slow moving at times but you kind of end up just going with it. The jeopardy never felt especially high, despite the nature of the issues being discussed.
Probably one of the best vocal companies I’ve seen though and some of the score really hit.
Three stars.
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Post by jm25 on May 4, 2023 21:50:54 GMT
This wasn’t entirely my cup of tea. For a production that relies so heavily on its music, the songs weren’t quite strong enough in my view - but glad to see others have enjoyed it.
It was very hot up in the circle this evening so I must admit I came close to nodding off at one or two moments!
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Post by matty on May 9, 2023 21:02:53 GMT
I was so excited about then when I booked, but I saw tonight and really disliked it. I mean, the songs were good, but at times, especially towards the beginning, i felt like i was watching The Wiz or something.
I also disliked some of the casting. I couldn't believe Abiona Omonua as Rosaleen (shes not a bad actress), she just felt too young - I swear Rosaleen is meant to be a middle-aged woman? And the direction for Lilly felt like she was giving Cassie from Skins vibes.
I did have some positives...I thought the lighting was fantastic and really liked the simple staging, for me, it was just a shame that that couldn't make up foe the rest of it.
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Post by mattnyc on May 9, 2023 22:32:58 GMT
Just getting in from tonight's performance and I had really been looking forward to this, having missed it in New York. And I liked it quite a bit. I can't put my finger on exactly why I didn't enjoy it more, say to bump it from 3 stars to 4, but I think it felt a bit unfinished - like a musical in it's earlier stages that still needs to refine itself. I found some of the music absolutely beautiful and would love a cast recording and really, the cast was all top notch, not a weak one in the bunch. I don't know what the future is for this musical but I hope they continue to work on it a little more if they move forward with productions in the UK or USA.
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Post by theatrefan77 on May 9, 2023 23:36:56 GMT
I enjoyed this a lot. Loved the set and thought some of the performances were quite wonderful. I found some of the music quite beautiful and the story have some really moving moments.
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Post by jr on May 10, 2023 7:51:15 GMT
I booked this months ago out of curiosity. I didn't know the novel or the film, and I was thinking it might be some overly sentimental rubbish when I read the plot. Well, I was wrong. Though it is not perfect I found it very moving and entertaining. The songs are fantastic; I have read some comments here saying they weren't memorable, but at least four or five numbers are really good (the love duet, the argument between the two sisters, the end of both acts). The lighting is beautiful and the acting mostly good. On the minus side, it feels a bit bland at times, Rosaleen's character half disappears on the second half, and I did not like Eleanor Worthington-Cox's acting, but to be fair I am not sure if it was the direction or the actor, or both.
I think it has not been given a full Broadway production, maybe with some work it could be a really good musical.
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Post by theatremiss on May 10, 2023 21:21:48 GMT
I saw it this afternoon and really liked it. It wasn’t amazing but made for an enjoyable afternoon. I would like to have a cast recording as there are some nice numbers in this show
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Post by david on May 10, 2023 22:54:09 GMT
I was also at today’s matinee. This really was a mixed bag for me. The big positives for me were the score - really lovely songs to listen to and the closing numbers of each Act were particular standouts for me and the cast vocals which I can only describe as stunning. I’d certainly purchase an OCR from this show from my visit today. From the technical side, the set and lighting design also get a big thumbs up from me.
The biggest issue I had with this viewing was with the book from Lynn Nottage which for me stopped it from taking this show to the next level and definitely needs further work. It felt really slow pacing wise and I just wanted a bit more tension and drama. With the subject matter of Civil Rights and the plot strand about Lily not really explored in any great depth for me, the potential was there for a more engaging story, but never materialised.
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