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Post by Jon on Sept 23, 2022 15:24:48 GMT
MJ opens January 2024 at the Prince Edward I assume there's an option for ATP to extend until January or will MJ open for previews in December with press night in January?
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Post by mrbarnaby on Sept 23, 2022 15:40:46 GMT
MJ opens January 2024 at the Prince Edward I assume there's an option for ATP to extend until January or will MJ open for previews in December with press night in January? January for previews - February Opening
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Post by Someone in a tree on Sept 23, 2022 15:49:56 GMT
I'm not going to this theatre anytime soon then.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 23, 2022 15:57:15 GMT
I'm not going to this theatre anytime soon then. Certainly nothing there to tempt me either. I get why producers are attracted to these projects. They sell to the non specialist audience. But with the rise of bad behaviour in recent years (and more particularly post lockdowns) at similar productions, something needs to change.
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Post by alece10 on Sept 23, 2022 16:07:39 GMT
Isn't the title bad grammar?
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Post by Jon on Sept 23, 2022 16:10:05 GMT
Isn't the title bad grammar? It's a Temptation song TBF.
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Post by Jon on Sept 23, 2022 16:11:51 GMT
I'm not going to this theatre anytime soon then. Certainly nothing there to tempt me either. I get why producers are attracted to these projects. They sell to the non specialist audience. But with the rise of bad behaviour in recent years (and more particularly post lockdowns) at similar productions, something needs to change. I'm sorry but your post comes across as a bit snobby. It can't all be serious plays in the West End, you need some shows which are purely entertaining. I assume you rather have dark theatres rather than shows that can bring in audiences.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 23, 2022 16:36:22 GMT
I find the explosion in the number of this sort of biographical jukebox shows to be really lacking in imagination and creativity.
Sure they are entertaining for the right crowd.
But they are not going to help build the repertoire or the future of musical theatre.
I know it is difficult to create new musicals with (largely) original scores. But that is where my interests lie.
That isn't snobbish. It is rooted in a deep love for musical theatre. Stories being told through words and music. Not the story of a performer or group of performers being played out with their songs making up the score.
There are many shows that failed to find a West end home over recent years. Shows that could have found an audience but never got the opportunity. So I don't buy the oft repeated line that theatres will necessarily be dark without jukebox shows.
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Post by Jon on Sept 23, 2022 16:52:56 GMT
I find the explosion in the number of this sort of biographical jukebox shows to be really lacking in imagination and creativity. Sure they are entertaining for the right crowd. But they are not going to help build the repertoire or the future of musical theatre. I know it is difficult to create new musicals with (largely) original scores. But that is where my interests lie. That isn't snobbish. It is rooted in a deep love for musical theatre. Stories being told through words and music. Not the story of a performer or group of performers being played out with their songs making up the score. There are many shows that failed to find a West end home over recent years. Shows that could have found an audience but never got the opportunity. So I don't buy the oft repeated line that theatres will necessarily be dark without jukebox shows. But shows with original scores are still being created. I don't agree that we'd have more original shows if jukebox musicals didn't exist. I'd rather see ATP over Hex. Theatre is a business hence the phrase show business and money is what keeps the lights on in the West End.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 23, 2022 17:00:48 GMT
Hex is never going to transfer so it is ludicrous to even raise that as an example.
There will always be a place for some great jukebox shows.
But the balance is wrong right now.
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Post by musiqualetheater on Nov 22, 2022 23:46:43 GMT
Cast announcement tomorrow at 10am
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Post by andrew on Nov 23, 2022 0:16:07 GMT
Could it be Jeremy Pope?
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Post by cezbear on Nov 23, 2022 12:24:05 GMT
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Post by shady23 on Mar 31, 2023 18:20:53 GMT
Not much buzz about this show on here yet.
It's opening night tonight, is from the forum there?
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Post by bobbievanhusen on Mar 31, 2023 19:58:42 GMT
Has there ever been a new West End show with so little buzz on here?
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Post by andypandy on Mar 31, 2023 21:04:36 GMT
From the chat with most of my “theatre mates” it’s because from Dreamgirls to Drifter Boys to Tina we have seen this rags to American riches story before…
We are done with it / that’s why there is little interest… fact.
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Post by Jon on Mar 31, 2023 21:08:04 GMT
It's a good show but the story is very similar to Jersey Boys.
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Post by theatrefan62 on Mar 31, 2023 22:01:54 GMT
Personally I only know about two of their songs, and all these bio musicals tend to be quite similar so unless the music grabs me there's not much of a reason to go.
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Post by shady23 on Mar 31, 2023 22:04:48 GMT
I know nothing about this group apart from "My Girl" but I've booked to see it next month and am really looking forward to it; primarily to see Tosh Wanogho-Maud.
A very talented guy indeed.
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Post by marob on Mar 31, 2023 22:05:32 GMT
I didn’t like the clip on the lottery show last week. I thought The Drifter’s Girl was OK but had too much embellishment on the vocals. This seems like more of the same.
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Post by anita on Apr 1, 2023 9:14:49 GMT
I've got it booked for in a few weeks.
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Post by mrbarnaby on Apr 2, 2023 12:25:02 GMT
Has there ever been a new West End show with so little buzz on here? I agree. Zero excitement for this one. The mimed performance on tv hasn’t done much to impress me I must say.
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Post by Being Alive on Apr 2, 2023 14:23:21 GMT
Honestly had no idea it had even opened until I was walking back to Piccadilly through Soho on Friday night
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Post by terrylondon79 on Apr 2, 2023 18:05:06 GMT
We was "lucky" enough to get rush seats for this today....
I can now see why they chose to mine at lottery show.
Don't know if there was a bug, or just sound problems, but singing was not very good.
Book felt like someone decided to just put the Wikipedia entry for the temptations to some songs,
The set, well if you like like reading various American city's, you are in luck! They are projected, displayed on 2 screens, and on fake marquee set piece. Occasional other props and lights brought down. But nothing to write home about.
Show not interesting enough to be bad, just came out of the show thinking how can a show that dull have lasted nearly 3 hours. Especially when they only singing 30 second snippets of most the songs.
Band was apparently 12 strong, but sounded quite synthy?
Surprisingly audience not that bad this afternoon, though noticed ushers in auditorium watching like hawks. Also quite a few security there.
Went in not expecting much, hoping to be surprised, but was more underwhelmed than I thought I would be....
You wouldn't have guessed this was a Broadway transfer, just felt cheap.
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Post by TallPaul on Apr 3, 2023 10:17:48 GMT
There may be no buzz or excitement, but poll added anyway.
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Post by Dr Tom on Apr 6, 2023 11:08:51 GMT
I thought this was very watchable last night. I got a rush ticket, which was in the Dress Circle slips. A perfect view despite some of the reviews (although I'd always still pick the Stalls by choice). Fairly full. The sound was good there as well, worlds better than the recent mimed performance.
As jukebox musicals go, this is quite weak, although there are moments of jeopardy and the signing is good. I couldn't compare this with being anywhere close to the level of Jersey Boys, the only similarity really (other than the fact it's a jukebox musical) is having one character serving as a narrator. I don't see this having a long life, but perhaps that's just because I'm not as familiar with the music as with many other shows of this type (and several of the most memorable songs were ones I'd associate with other acts, or were performed by the Supremes).
We do get to see the live band at the end and good to see that most of the band from Get Up Stand Up have found more work.
The five leads are all incredibly talented. Like many others, I'm sure, I'm always excited to see Tosh, but it's Sifiso who really holds everything together. And great to see ArtsEd graduate Kyle Cox in a leading role (part of a bumper year of successful ArtsEd graduates). Kyle's performance of For Once In My Life is the show highlight.
Glad I've seen this. I would see it again, but I don't feel the need to rush back.
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Post by Steve on Apr 6, 2023 23:12:40 GMT
Saw this tonight, and it was much more fun than I expected. It's a biographical jukebox musical, so the least original kind of jukebox musical, and it's straightforwardly told, so the least original approach for the least original kind of jukebox musical, but the music is terrific, the performers are terrific and there's a sly tension introduced by the book writer about whether the main character (Sifiso Mazibuko's Otis Williams, whose biography this is based on) is actually a massive villain lol! Some spoilers follow. . . This is not as clever or as good as "Jersey Boys," a Rashomon like puzzle of four accounts of the same history, nor is it as emotive or clever as "Tina the Musical," which actually makes the songs speak to the plot so much more, and which told a story of one woman's triumph over abuse beautifully. However, this, in my opinion, is significantly better than "The Drifter's Girl" (which was a musical torn between the Drifters and finding songs for Beverley Knight to sing), better than "Get up Stand Up" (which was a musical with the best denouement singalong ever but was otherwise about Bob Marley giving a girl a slap and how many times Arinze Kene could tap his foot), better than "Motown the Musical" (which was a Berry Gordy hagiography that seems to have been written to contradict "Dreamgirls"), better than "Cilla the Musical" (which was mostly one long gig in which Cilla's boyfriend was actually and wrongheadedly the main character), and about on a par with "Beautiful" and "The Cher Show," both of which were quite entertaining. Unlike those latter two musicals, this is not about genius songwriters: in fact, Smokey Robinson and Norman Whitfield, who wrote most of these great songs, are completely sidelined and we learn nothing about them. What this is actually about is:- (1) Which Temptation do you like the best? Is it the uber charismatic David Ruffin (played by the Uber charismatic Tosh Wanogho-Maud more like a rasping explosive Otis Redding than the actual David Ruffin)? Is it the sweet honeyed Eddie Kendricks, played by the sweet honeyed Mitchell Zhanghaza, who actually sounds like the real David Ruffin lol? Or is it the loveable and decent and kindly and witty Melvin Franklin, played by the reassuringly bass-voiced wonder that is Cameron Bernard Jones with more charm than anyone else on stage? Cos, realistically, those are your choices; (2) And having decided which of the above 3 you like the best, now you have to choose just how much you hate (or just maybe, like a little bit) the main character, Sisifo Mazibuko's Otis Williams? At one point, the book writer makes clear her barely hidden disdain for this least-talented but longest lasting member of the Temptations, when she has Zhanghaza's Eddie ask how come every time anyone gets on the wrong side of this guy, "poof-" they vanish from the group, despite an initial promise that all power would be shared equally among the star lineup of 5? The way the lead character builds relationships with Berry Gordy's boss character, turns the band manager into an ally and sidekick, sweettalks various band members one by one into betraying each others hopes and dreams, means that he always tops the band from the bottom, and it is the juxtaposition of this scary fact with his own presentation of himself in his monologues as the ultimate well-meaning survivor that makes this show both amusing and interesting, even as it presents us with a smorgasbord of hits beautifully choreographed and performed. As the self-justifying survivor, with the heart of a mafioso, Sisifo Mazibuko is quite wonderful, muscular and forceful, even when he's pretending just to fit in. And the real stars of the Temptations (see the above 3) are all wonderfully defined on stage, and a delight to listen to perform. This is a jukebox musical purporting to be about a Mozart, but which might actually be about a Salieri, and it's the complexity of that that spikes an otherwise utterly conventional storyline, and which makes it interesting. 4 stars for a jukebox show that is above average for this sort thing.
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Post by StageyBrum on Apr 13, 2023 11:36:29 GMT
Has anyone had experience of Dress Circle F for the Prince Edward. I’m trying to book relatively affordable tickets for this after previews. The ones I’m looking at are on the left hand side but the last two closest to the centre. I’ve checked Seatplan and Theatre Monkey but can’t really get much out of it. I’ve read there’s a bar (is it distracting) and that there’s an aisle in front of this row which you’d think would be good but a lot of people are saying you constantly get people walking past you which i don’t mind if it’s not during the show.
Anyone got any insight into this row
Thanks,
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Post by SuttonPeron on Apr 13, 2023 11:50:59 GMT
Has anyone had experience of Dress Circle F for the Prince Edward. I’m trying to book relatively affordable tickets for this after previews. The ones I’m looking at are on the left hand side but the last two closest to the centre. I’ve checked Seatplan and Theatre Monkey but can’t really get much out of it. I’ve read there’s a bar (is it distracting) and that there’s an aisle in front of this row which you’d think would be good but a lot of people are saying you constantly get people walking past you which i don’t mind if it’s not during the show. Anyone got any insight into this row Thanks, Dress row F is a safe bet. But the slip seats at the Prince Edward are much cheaper and the view is great. Nearly as good as the seats you´re looking at.
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Post by anita on Apr 19, 2023 9:26:09 GMT
I was in the front row last night. You can tell it's by the people behind "Jersey Boys". I enjoyed it. Theater was packed & from the reception the audience gave , they loved it.
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