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Post by jgblunners on Mar 16, 2022 10:21:23 GMT
One night only at the Sondheim Theatre, directed by Maria Friedman with musical staging by Stephen Mear. Starring Giles Terera as Darryl, rest of the cast tba. On sale now to DMT+ members, public at 10am on 17/03.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 15, 2022 12:32:14 GMT
Do keep refreshing the page even if it looks like there's nothing available - when I got through the queue 5 mins ago only the £1250 tickets were available, but just now a pair of £175 seats in the Dress popped up and I managed to nab them!
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 12, 2022 12:20:51 GMT
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 10, 2022 12:20:29 GMT
Our song has been revealed:
It's much better than last year's entry but I still don't think it'll do very well for us (even accounting for Brexit bias). Personally I rather like the instrumentation (I'm a sucker for a bit of electric guitar) but the lyrics are typically banal - the kind of song I'd enjoy as background music but wouldn't actively listen to.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 8, 2022 18:28:33 GMT
There's no way they could do a full orchestration at such a small theatre - Jason Carr is a very good orchestrator and has lots of experience orchestrating for small bands. OK, it won't sound like it did on Broadway, but I'm sure the score is safe in his hands.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 8, 2022 17:31:53 GMT
They also didn't like Macbeth. Saoirse Ronan snubbed(?) after all that hype I personally agree that Akiya Henry is the only performance worth nominating from that production.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 8, 2022 17:26:08 GMT
Well, this is interesting, overall pretty happy (and very pleased Charles Edwards got a nomination). Surprised Spring Awakening and Carousel didn't do a bit better and very surprised Robert Lindsay is in best actor (would have thought he'd be certain to win the supporting category). They really didn't like Cinderella though did they... Yes, Carousel not getting a look in is a pretty big snub, but perhaps not surprising given that the concept for that revival was pretty polarising. It's a disgrace that Tom Deering's new orchestrations weren't nominated in the orchestrations/score category (which is always a bit of a mess anyway).
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 8, 2022 17:19:21 GMT
Just 1 Olivier Award nomination - lol! ALW will be FUMING And not even for the production itself - a supporting actress nomination for Victoria Hamilton-Barritt.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 8, 2022 17:18:03 GMT
It would be great but unlikely if she can’t do the Manchester run I’d have thought, they’d have to rehearse two Delorises (Delori?) at once. Well the original plan was to have one Tour Deloris (I believe it was Brenda Edwards) and one London Deloris (Whoopi of course), with the tour Deloris acting as standby in London. Depending on Beverley's availability/preferences, they may well do the same this time round and have Beverley in London but another actress for the tour dates.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 4, 2022 13:22:58 GMT
I've got my fingers crossed that Beverley Knight can somehow get out of Drifters Girl because she would be perfect as Deloris.
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 25, 2022 22:15:48 GMT
If it is Fra then I’ll be very interested to see how he interprets the role - so much of Eddie’s portrayal plays with his puppet-like physicality and almost contortions of his very slender body. Last time I saw Fra on stage he was looking quite built so will have a very different presence.
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 25, 2022 11:35:22 GMT
This opens at the Finborough next week, from playwright Sophie Swithinbank and director Matthew Iliffe. There are some interviews with the cast on their twitter if you want to know more about the themes of the play: twitter.com/bacontheplay.
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 25, 2022 10:43:55 GMT
Do they actually impersonate Cher in this? Or is it more if an “interpretation”? I’ll be honest, I want to see full on Chad Michael’s level copying! This is an interesting question - the Broadway production seemed to want its three leads to have reasonable likeness to Cher, and of course the use of the Bob Mackie costumes helped. This production, without the Mackie gowns and with actresses who do not bear quite as close a resemblance to Cher, seems on the surface to be less concerned with impersonation. I think it'll be quite interesting to see where they go with this as I think there's much more scope for theatricality; it could be a far more interesting piece of theatre if these actresses tap into the essence of Cher as a personality rather than trying to recreate her physically.
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 24, 2022 23:07:11 GMT
Vanessa Redgrave is old enough to be HHP's grandmother... The Alfred P Doolittle casting will be interesting. So much of the energy of the show comes from his two big numbers I’d love to see Peter Polycarpou in that role.
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 24, 2022 22:54:54 GMT
Oh wonderful, she’ll be sublime
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 24, 2022 22:20:06 GMT
I assume that Gary Wilmot will either leave before the next cast change or take an extended break from the show because he’s due to return to the Palladium Panto again this year.
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 24, 2022 22:14:20 GMT
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 24, 2022 22:08:57 GMT
Same old crew back again, with Dawn French returning too (although it seems not as a villain this time).
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 24, 2022 16:31:13 GMT
Looks like we could be getting a cast announcment for this tomorrow. I wonder if Baz will have the scoop this evening...
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 23, 2022 13:22:14 GMT
Interesting that they have made such a large age difference between Fosca and Giorgio, but Dean-John Wilson is all kinds of wrong for Giorgio. Looking at the casts of previous productions it seems reasonably common to cast Fosca around 5-10 years older than Giorgio (and Clara), but having almost 10 years between Giorgio and Clara and more than 20 between Giorgio and Fosca does seem unusual. Both of the women will of course play much younger on stage (unless the director doesn't want that!) so I wonder if they'll want Dean playing up a bit or if it's a conscious decision to have the age gap.
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 23, 2022 13:10:39 GMT
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 23, 2022 12:00:06 GMT
Yes these kind of tease announcements tend to annoy rather than excite me. I was far more excited when the Anything Goes cast was announced recently - with no warning or fanfare, just the usual Baz exclusive and then official announcement the following day. An announcement coming out of nowhere when you aren't expecting it feels like more of a reveal than one that has been advertised for days or weeks in advance.
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 23, 2022 11:07:07 GMT
I can't see Disney allowing a new production of a show that did well on Broadway, they are very strict with their brand. For a London show they will want it in a prime west end theatre. My guess would be this will replace Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward. I think this is unlikely as it's been heavily rumoured that Cameron Mackintosh is going to put a revival of Oliver! into the Prince Edward when Poppins leaves. And Disney is only strict with the very high-profile shows - they allowed a fair amount of creative license with Pinocchio at the National Theatre and Bedknobs and Broomsticks on tour. Given that they have preivously tried and failed to bring the Broadway production of Newsies to the West End I wouldn't be surprised if they've handed the rights over to another producer now.
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 22, 2022 10:43:20 GMT
I don't think anyone who saw 42nd Street would complain about the standards of dance in the West End.
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 22, 2022 10:41:32 GMT
The renovated Ally Pally theatre actually has a rather nice acoustic for unamplified music. I've not attended a concert there that used amplification so can't comment on how hard it would be to get it right. inthenose makes an excellent point about it being on the producers to ensure that sound design is given ample time. I remember that the LMTO concerts at various venues (frequently Cadogan Hall) always had excellent sound, and were often performed in more traditional concert style stood at mic stands rather than this semi-staged business that Quick Fantastic seem to be doing. It seems to me that LMTO always used to put music first in their fairly simple stagings whereas QF are being far more ambitious with their events.
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 22, 2022 10:07:25 GMT
Norris also tackles the nepotism accusations around Hex in this article, claiming that not programming any plays written by his wife for the first 6.5 years of his tenure as AD was 'anti-nepotism' (she had apparently had 3 plays commissioned by Hytner under his tenure). That's all very well, but I actually don't mind Norris programming a revival of Small Island with himself as director, and wouldn't mind him programming a play written by his wife as long as someone else was directing it. I think what many people (including myself) were concerned by with Hex was that not just one but three major creative roles were filled by either him or his wife.
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 22, 2022 9:35:32 GMT
Official announcement:
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 13, 2022 11:38:20 GMT
I saw yesterday’s matinee with a friend (with immense thanks to geraldine64 for offering their tickets on here before returning them to ATG!) and we both loved it. The real triumph is of course the reconfiguration of the theatre - it’s an amazing venue and in some places it’s almost unrecognisable from the Playhouse as it was before. The designers have also done a fantastic job of making the sight lines good - I couldn’t see the upper circle but I think every seat in the stalls and dress circles would have a near-perfect view of the stage. The show itself is excellent, particularly the club numbers which work so well with the intimacy of this space. I felt that sometimes the book scenes felt a little low energy and would have liked some more of the style from the club numbers to be infused into those scenes too. Redmayne is captivating, particularly in the way he moves, and does a great job of centring the show without stealing it. Jessie Buckley was out but her understudy Emily Benjamin was sensational - she has a cracking voice and I believe she gave just as good a performance as we would’ve seen from Buckley. The rest of the principles are theatre veterans and give excellent performances all round, with one exception. For me, Omari Douglas wasn’t right for the role of Cliff (although he did better in Act 2 than Act 1). I was particularly disappointed that in the first half of Act 1 his diction was quite poor. The small band (8 I think?) sound fantastic and the Prologue cast really add to the pre-show atmosphere. The ensemble cast also have some fun during the extended entr’acte. Personally I don’t think it’s worth paying £250 to sit in the front of the stalls or dress circle, but if you can get tickets for £100 or less then you’ll definitely be getting more than your money’s worth even if you’re sat in the rear stalls or dress circle. I can’t vouch for the upper circle as I didn’t see it. I can’t wait to see who is taking over from Buckley and Redmayne, and as I was leaving the theatre yesterday I couldn’t help but think that this version of Sally would be perfect for Billie Piper… fingers crossed!
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 7, 2022 21:52:00 GMT
Several songs cut including ‘Fie on Goodness’ chorus Acr 2 opening. Can’t think why this needed to be cut. ’Take me to the fair’ sung by Guinevere tempting the three knights to joust Lancelot. Probably cut to lose three knights. What? Why would you organise a concert presentation of a musical and replace the (admittedly less than perfect) book with narration, only to then also cut the score?! I’m glad I didn’t bother with this - the LMTO concert a few years ago was performed in full and sounded sublime.
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Post by jgblunners on Jan 30, 2022 15:28:02 GMT
If only I didn't live more than 3 hours away from Sheffield then I'd be booking for all 3 of them, as the concept sounds fascinating. Unfortunately it's probably not a great contender for a transfer or tour either, as there can't be many theatres that have 3 stages. I think the only obvious option is the National Theatre, although whether Rufus Norris would be willing to give up all three of his spaces to a transfer at the same time is doubtful. I reckon Chichester could also do it if they erected a pop-up space in their gardens.
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