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Post by mallardo on Jul 21, 2018 23:01:12 GMT
It has been done too much but it's still a very great show. Let's not lose sight of that.
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Post by mallardo on Jul 21, 2018 18:35:55 GMT
Did anyone see The Chairs with Richard Briers and Geraldine McEwan? Apart from Godot it’s the last absurdist success I can remember in the West End, must be twenty years ago. Rhinoceros is good but difficult to stage well for obvious reasons. Whenever we get a classic absurdist or expressionist play nowadays I see people slagging off the writing, do the plays not mean anything today? Are we too used to realism? Can actors act them? I thought Machinal was let down by some pedestrian acting, for example, it needs more extremes, greater caricatures, at times it felt like I was watching Ibsen (for me, that’s not a good thing!)
The Royal Court staged Rhinoceros about ten years ago - starring Benedict Cumberbatch, no less. I remember it as working well. The problem with the Theatre of the Absurd right now is that the metaphor is no match for reality. What could be more absurd than Trump?
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Post by mallardo on Jul 9, 2018 16:17:57 GMT
For those who are able to day seat - you should definitely do so. Day seats are in the front row with loads of leg room and a perfect view of the show because of the low stage. Ten pounds.
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Post by mallardo on Jul 9, 2018 11:05:12 GMT
Well said, foxa - I agree with you, especially about that love scene, beautiful in its conception and, in this case, so beautifully played by the actors.
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Post by mallardo on Jul 7, 2018 19:58:41 GMT
Saw it this afternoon (appropriate day, I know, and there were Pride stickers available in the foyer). Knew nothing about it at all before seeing it - managed to avoid the spoiler here. OK, it's polished and absorbing and done very beautifully by the Young Vic. My only reservations are that the American emotional open-ness, that "child like" quality American writing invariably has, took a little acceptance. I did, as it deserved it. Second, I did feel that there wasn't quite the impact at the end that I was expecting. I perhaps wanted a clearer meaning of it all to be telegraphed. Still, delighted I saw it, and am looking for the book now.
I rarely disagree with you, TM, but I can't let this go by unchallenged. The "child like" quality American writing invariably has? Does emotional open-ness equate to naivety? Do you really think European writing is that much more subtle and sophisticated - and if so does that make it better or more dramatic or more intelligent?
Where is the non-American musical that exhibits the structural sophistication, the musical complexity or the depth of characterization that Fun Home offers?
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Post by mallardo on Jul 7, 2018 19:36:40 GMT
The only other play of McDonagh's I can think of - and I haven't seen them all - that is as grotesquely violent yet as farcically funny as this one is A Behanding in Spokane. In both cases the comedy trumps (you'll excuse the expression) the violence and it's quite legitimate (IMO) to play them that way.
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Post by mallardo on Jul 7, 2018 10:42:31 GMT
The only other production I've seen of this played it with equal parts comedy and menace - and was effective. This is not Michael Grandage's approach. He and his actors are all in for comedy, to the point where the play can be seen as a farce with graphically violent episodes. This bothered me at first but as the show went on I realized that I, and everyone else in the theatre, was having a great old time. It was working!
If The Ferryman played its IRA gunmen as small time, small-minded thugs, Grandage's take on The Lieutenant of Inishmore plays them as simpletons and buffoons. And what better way for the play to express its condemnation of these murderous monsters than to laugh at them.
It's very VERY funny. And leading the laughs is Aidan Turner's psychotic clown of a Padraic - for me a great comedy performance. If he comes up short on the menace it's no matter. That approach would not work in this setting. The rest of the cast are not at his level - Charlie Murphy as Mairead, the only woman in the piece, makes surprisingly little of what can be a great part - but they keep the laughs coming and under the circumstances that's what's needed.
A crazy and, on the whole, wildly enjoyable interpretation of a great play.
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Post by mallardo on Jul 6, 2018 15:19:21 GMT
With all due respect one can find things wrong with just about every show. But that is not to say those shows are not "ready". Heathers has been around since 2010. The creators have tampered with it but it's basically the same take on the movie it always was. It's ready. Does it belong in the West End? That's another question.
One can say it's an off-West End/off-Broadway show, not big enough for prime time. But people said that about Little Shop of Horrors (for example) so what are the criteria? When one considers the shows that have populated the Haymarket stage in recent months, this one looks like a potential blockbuster.
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Post by mallardo on Jul 6, 2018 10:04:54 GMT
An adaptation is the best of all possible writing jobs - someone else has done the hard work for you. So, I suppose, one could be grateful for that.
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Post by mallardo on Jul 3, 2018 18:47:20 GMT
When it's writer versus director I will always go with the writer. That said, he has made a mistake in going public. He has now given himself a reputation as a complainer and, sadly and wrongly, that can be the kiss of death for a career.
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Post by mallardo on Jul 1, 2018 20:28:27 GMT
No.
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Post by mallardo on Jul 1, 2018 20:05:26 GMT
Adam Gillen certainly chewed the scenery for all he was worth - I guess that's one way to steal a show.
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Post by mallardo on Jun 30, 2018 10:57:49 GMT
It's amazing to think that the composer of Thoroughly Modern Millie and Shrek is also the composer of Caroline, or Change and Fun Home but Jeanine Tesori proves that craftsmanship and professionalism can walk hand in hand with inspiration and, for want of a better word, genius. I hadn't clicked that the same person composed for both "Caroline, or Change" and "Fun Home!" Astounding!
By far my two favourite musicals of the year, in that they both dig so much deeper into the human condition than most musicals. I imagine she will be the heavy hitters' composer of choice now.
Or maybe Shrek is where the money is. A professional can do both, as you say.
She's also the composer of Violet, revived on Broadway a couple of seasons back. It's a dark dramatic story of a disfigured girl seeking redemption (of sorts) in the rural south and Tesori provides a beautiful country and r&b flavoured score that's not only entirely appropriate but elevates the material. It's one thing to be versatile but quite another to be versatile with the integrity she demonstrates.
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Post by mallardo on Jun 30, 2018 8:19:42 GMT
Yes, this is indeed wonderful and profoundly affecting theatre, in every possible way. It's amazing to think that the composer of Thoroughly Modern Millie and Shrek is also the composer of Caroline, or Change and Fun Home but Jeanine Tesori proves that craftsmanship and professionalism can walk hand in hand with inspiration and, for want of a better word, genius.
I loved Zubin Varla and thought he was thoroughly credible in a hugely complex role - his final epiphany was superb. But the ladies steal this show. Eleanor Kane's I'm Changing My Major To Joan, the song and the whole scene surrounding it, was an absolute highlight while young Harriet Turnbull's passionately rendered Ring of Keys was totally nailed. And Kaisa Hammerlund as host and narrator was exactly what she had to be, pulling the threads of the plot together and coming into her own with the devastating final scene.
But it's Jenna Russell's Helen that continues to haunt me on the morning after. Others have noted how little she has to actually do but in fact she's the heart of the story. She's always there, a strong if recessed presence, until her time arrives with Days and Days, a song that so eloquently captures the desperation of a wasted life that it becomes the defining moment of the show. I thought Russell was simply beyond praise.
Let's hope this show does indeed transfer - it provides a catharsis I'm eager to relive.
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Post by mallardo on Jun 30, 2018 6:42:51 GMT
Love's Comedy was done at the Orange Tree back in 2012 in a very strong production of what turned out to be quite a strong play - it certainly did not feel like an apprentice work.
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Post by mallardo on Jun 29, 2018 20:58:21 GMT
Okay thanks, I am short so that is a worry too. Are the seats at the front different?
As peggs says. I can't personally vouch for the cushions but from a distance they looked to be reasonably padded.
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Post by mallardo on Jun 29, 2018 16:23:28 GMT
Agony - Into The Woods
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Post by mallardo on Jun 29, 2018 16:00:21 GMT
The front row is better than row D - they are supplying cushions with the school chairs. The Donmar is one of those theatres where in the stalls you can be blocked by the person in front of you so row D is often a problem.
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Post by mallardo on Jun 24, 2018 8:31:37 GMT
I watched the movie of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie again last night and much preferred it to the current Donmar production. There's not much to choose between the wonderful leading ladies, although Maggie smith seemed much more self-assured than the vulnerable and slightly fragile Lia Williams and thus had farther to fall in the end.
But Jay Presson Allen's screen adaptation of her play was so much stronger than David Harrower's drab Donmar version. It's the difference between a writer with genuine dramatic instincts and a writer with a journeyman's mentality of simply telling the story in an efficient way. I gather Harrower's version is closer to Muriel Spark's original novel, but so what? Fidelity to the original is never to be preferred to a creative adaptation which identifies and highlights the key moments of the piece to capture its essential spirit.
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Post by mallardo on Jun 23, 2018 12:40:02 GMT
Thought this was a perfectly good production but my main problem was that I had no patience for the central character at all and more or else felt that she got what she deserved by the end. She basically gets married because she can't be bothered to work (she literally talks about wanting to lie in bed till noon); she's not frustrated or oppressed, she's just bloody lazy. My sympathy was all with the husband who perfectly reasonably expected the woman who agreed to marry him of her own free will to give some slight evidence of liking him.
I liked Emily Berrington as the Young Woman and thought she was credibly lost and vulnerable but I agree she couldn't ultimately muster much sympathy for her character. I think the problem is the wrong-headed updating of the production. What's powerful and courageous and prescient in the 1920s is simply banal when dragged up into the present day. The play desperately needs its context.
When the Prosecutor asks the woman why she didn't simply get a divorce she has no answer and, in this setting, neither does the play.
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Post by mallardo on Jun 22, 2018 12:46:03 GMT
I don't know if it's an unpopular opinion, but I don't have a dramatic opinion on either side of the Webber/Sondheim arguement. Both have great shows, both have sh*t shows. What Sondheim show would you consider sh*t?
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Post by mallardo on Jun 22, 2018 8:02:33 GMT
Don't think it is a spoiler to mention - as is related in the programme - that we are talking about a time when the marriage bar was still very much a thing. Women in teaching, the civil service and much else were not allowed to continue working after marriage. Strange to realise how recently this was the case.
Indeed, this is what I was referring to. It's almost the most important fact of the play - it explains so much. Perhaps it's in the play and I missed it but if so my wife missed it as well and she's a lot smarter and more attentive than I am.
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Post by mallardo on Jun 22, 2018 6:38:24 GMT
Even with the exchange rate figured in, Broadway is MUCH more expensive.
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Post by mallardo on Jun 22, 2018 6:13:58 GMT
Polly, I'm afraid I had rather the opposite reaction. I thought David Harrower's new adaptation was efficient and slick in its storytelling but lacked, well, drama. It all felt rather flat and undercooked to me with many big moments not given their due. I didn't think the framing device worked particularly well and probably undercut (via foreshadowing) many of those big plot moments. And crucial information got lost. I didn't get one of the great underlying motives for Miss Brodie's reluctance to marry until I read the programme notes after the performance.
Of course, when all is said and done, the play is about one person and Lia Williams's Jean Brodie is quite magnificent. She seemed somehow crazier than I remember the character when played by Maggie Smith, but with a casual every day craziness that passes perfectly for eccentricity. And of course she has charisma to burn. It's never in doubt as to why her students adore her and the men in her life can't get enough of her.
Everyone in the cast is good - Angus Wright, in particular, is pitch perfect - but, for me, this version of the play just doesn't give them enough chances to show it.
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Post by mallardo on Jun 20, 2018 15:23:41 GMT
The bed trick is only going to work if Isabella and Mariana have the same genitalia. I think Angelo will surely be able to spot the difference even with the lights off...
Really? Please tell me more because - with the lights off - that's definitely a test I would not pass. I'd be too excited at just being there.
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Post by mallardo on Jun 20, 2018 13:36:13 GMT
I have now seen Woman and scoundrels and I didn’t enjoy either also the bits of his I have heard online I just don’t enjoy - I generally prefer a much more classical or jazz sound.
I don't know what to make of that. Yazbek's music is very much jazz oriented and always has been, full of complex rhythms and harmonies . Take a listen to Haled's Song About Love in The Band's Visit, a gorgeous pastiche of the classic Chet Baker cool jazz sound. I'm really shocked that you don't like Yazbek's music as I know you're someone with very sophisticated tastes - a Steve Reich fan, no less!
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Post by mallardo on Jun 19, 2018 15:34:19 GMT
Riding and Dee don't look similar to me. But even if they did the implication here is that Riding is not enough of an actress to play a role she's not type cast for. I'm pretty sure that's not the case and that she'll be a brilliant Sally.
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Post by mallardo on Jun 19, 2018 15:19:55 GMT
Whatever the producers are thinking, calling Heathers a "work in progress" is grossly misleading - for reasons Boob has articulated above. The Other Palace has staged more than its share of works-in-progress musicals but this is not one of them.
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Post by mallardo on Jun 19, 2018 14:44:00 GMT
Never saw Full Monty as it sounded terrible. The Full Monty was and is a great show with a wonderful David Yazbek score. It was reset to Buffalo, New York because it was created by Americans for a Broadway audience. Instead of condemning it as heretical it should be asked why no British writers and composers took up the challenge?
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Post by mallardo on Jun 19, 2018 14:36:31 GMT
Re older people clapping, I vividly recall seeing Stephen Sondheim at the Arcola Theatre a few years back (yes, he was there) watching Sweet Smell of Success and applauding loudly by slamming one hand against his upper leg - presumably the other hand was ailing. As he demonstrated, there's no excuse not to applaud.
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