Strike Up The Band - Upstairs At The Gatehouse
Mar 7, 2019 8:58:28 GMT
Steve, FrontroverPaul, and 1 more like this
Post by Dr Tom on Mar 7, 2019 8:58:28 GMT
The first preview for this Gershwin musical was last night and I have to say this is the best musical ever written about the price of cheese.
They have the theatre set up differently to many shows, with seats at three sides and a larger stage area. The band (five piece, I think) was at the back of the stage.
I ended up at the front in one of the side blocks, only spotted afterwards that these were the seats without armrests so there wasn't a great deal of room. There were also a few times when the cast stood right in front completely blocking my view. There are roomier seats in the back row of the main block if you get there early (no reserved seats, unfortunately).
The (very pleasant) lady next to me also found the seating difficult as she was larger than average. She did ask to move to a reserved seat which no one claimed, but wasn't able to do so until the interval. I also ended up without a full seat, which was tough being next to the aisle where the performers enter. There were a few very close misses. I couldn't recommend the side blocks, even if (like me) you usually like to sit on the front row.
This was in good form for a first preview with only very minor slips. Ran straight through without any unplanned stops, run time 2 hours 55 with a 15 minute interval. It is a long first half, not everyone came back.
The man behind me was a super fan, having flown in from the States to see the performance. He said he produced this in (I believe) Harrisburg back in the early 1990s. He said this is the third production of the musical in the UK in the past 10 years. This is slightly contradictory to the way the production has been publicised as the UK debut, but perhaps it means this is a different (1927) version. He also knew all the words and helped out by singing along at times. Normally I'd be annoyed at this, but many of the vocals were hard to hear over the band, so this helped.
The staging itself is rather simple. A few projections at the start to set the scene. There aren't really any big production numbers but there are good vocals and a few songs that have become standards.
This is presented by Alces Productions, who I don't believe I've come across before. It's not the in-house Ovation team and I think you can tell. But they do well to present and perform this with the cast of 11.
There are many reasons why this doesn't get produced often, not least the plot. But it is accessible if you want a night out with a rather foolish story. And, all credit to the cast. There were some who looked slightly familiar, maybe from ensemble work elsewhere, but I couldn't quite place them.
This plays until 31 March.
They have the theatre set up differently to many shows, with seats at three sides and a larger stage area. The band (five piece, I think) was at the back of the stage.
I ended up at the front in one of the side blocks, only spotted afterwards that these were the seats without armrests so there wasn't a great deal of room. There were also a few times when the cast stood right in front completely blocking my view. There are roomier seats in the back row of the main block if you get there early (no reserved seats, unfortunately).
The (very pleasant) lady next to me also found the seating difficult as she was larger than average. She did ask to move to a reserved seat which no one claimed, but wasn't able to do so until the interval. I also ended up without a full seat, which was tough being next to the aisle where the performers enter. There were a few very close misses. I couldn't recommend the side blocks, even if (like me) you usually like to sit on the front row.
This was in good form for a first preview with only very minor slips. Ran straight through without any unplanned stops, run time 2 hours 55 with a 15 minute interval. It is a long first half, not everyone came back.
The man behind me was a super fan, having flown in from the States to see the performance. He said he produced this in (I believe) Harrisburg back in the early 1990s. He said this is the third production of the musical in the UK in the past 10 years. This is slightly contradictory to the way the production has been publicised as the UK debut, but perhaps it means this is a different (1927) version. He also knew all the words and helped out by singing along at times. Normally I'd be annoyed at this, but many of the vocals were hard to hear over the band, so this helped.
The staging itself is rather simple. A few projections at the start to set the scene. There aren't really any big production numbers but there are good vocals and a few songs that have become standards.
This is presented by Alces Productions, who I don't believe I've come across before. It's not the in-house Ovation team and I think you can tell. But they do well to present and perform this with the cast of 11.
There are many reasons why this doesn't get produced often, not least the plot. But it is accessible if you want a night out with a rather foolish story. And, all credit to the cast. There were some who looked slightly familiar, maybe from ensemble work elsewhere, but I couldn't quite place them.
This plays until 31 March.