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Post by bren on Jun 14, 2018 15:00:34 GMT
A number of the dates had sold pretty well; there were only a handful of tickets left for the Palladium.
Apparently she has another musical theater role in the pipeline, so I guess it could be rehearsal time for that...
I would be surprised if she ventured into the Big Brother house considering how marmite she was on Strictly. There was also talk of her judging on X Factor but I think that's unlikely too.
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Post by bren on Jun 11, 2018 0:08:27 GMT
Sharon should never ever be cast in Chicago but I do like her. She’s honest at least!
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Post by bren on May 15, 2018 15:22:27 GMT
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Chess
May 14, 2018 11:40:18 GMT
Post by bren on May 14, 2018 11:40:18 GMT
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Post by bren on May 14, 2018 11:17:55 GMT
Borrowed these quotes from Popjustice; good to see her getting kudos for her turn as Svetlana.
The Guardian
There are some great songs – most notably I Know Him So Well, which is beautifully delivered by Janson and Burke. The latter brings musical and emotional light and shade to an underwritten role which predominantly requires her to stare into the middle distance and look sad.
Evening Standard
Michael Ball as Anatoly gets to close the first half with the poignant song Anthem, yet feels underused, and so does Alexandra Burke, whose dignified and passionate Svetlana barely appears until the second half.
The Independent
Alexandra Burke has been given a new song “He is a Man, he is a Child” (from the Swedish-language version) to beef up the underwritten role of the Russian's discarded wife and her soulful renderings brings a pained authority to this woman's emotional confusion and she duets plangently with Cassidy Janson as Florence on the classic “I Know Him So Well”.
Express
Alexandra Burke keeps her megawatt star power just about under wraps as the discarded Svetlana, including a beautiful Someone's Else's Story, but also holds her own alongside the seasoned veterans in the epics group numbers.
The Stage
The only consistently decent performance is from Alexandra Burke as Svetlana, although she barely features in Act I and has a supplementary song to give her more to do – He Is A Man, He Is A Child from a 2002 depoliticised Swedish-language version of the show.
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Post by bren on Mar 13, 2018 20:59:40 GMT
^^ Of course it's a daft thing to say but presumably she meant she doesn't have dialogue (much if any?). Alexandra can be inelegant in how she expresses herself at times (making her an easy target) but there is an almost childlike enthusiasm about her that I like.
To be fair to her, she was pretty amazing on the Bruce Forsyth tribute and did a fine job with a snippet of 'Memory' on that Ant and Dec takeaway thing.
As unpopular as this opinion may be in here, I booked Chess almost solely to see her in the role (Cassidy ain't bad either to be fair) so I hope she can do herself and the show, justice.
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Post by bren on Feb 16, 2018 15:04:03 GMT
This cast is SUPER disappointing. The main problem I have with Alexandra Burke is that I have tried to see her THREE TIMES- and each time she wasn't on. From what people told me during her time at The Bodyguard, she was constantly off and the understudy (who was great each time I saw her) was on almost as much as she was. She has ONE West End credit to her name. ONE. I like Michael Ball...but, yeah...can't see much chemistry between him and Burke. Maybe he should do ESC again! Cassidy Janson was alright in Beautiful (felt squawky and shrill both times I saw her in it) but I hope she rocks it. I hate that this sounds so negative and I hope I am proven wrong. For £105 a pop (yes, we booked early hoping- and honestly, expecting- a stellar cast) this price is not justified. I am excited for the huge orchestra though! Re Alexandra, she didn't do matinee performances but I remember her saying that she only missed 3 or 4 performances out of the whole Bodyguard run (due to illness). She had scheduled breaks but it certainly wasn't the case that she missed a lot of performances. The same for Sister Act. I like Cassidy so hopefully they gel well together for the big duet.
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Post by bren on Dec 17, 2017 20:35:04 GMT
Joe is not so squeaky clean if these allegations are correct. David is getting some backlash, which is an interesting double standard to the recent #MeToo events.
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Post by bren on Aug 29, 2017 19:46:47 GMT
Sad to hear her mother Melissa Bell passed away- may she rest in peace.
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Post by bren on Aug 22, 2017 10:03:25 GMT
Announced for this years Strictly! The Alexandra mystery is over Good for her. It'll be interesting to see what her next step is afterwards...
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Post by bren on Aug 11, 2017 15:05:32 GMT
Forgot to post my thoughts on this. I thought it was a delight. The plot was threadbare, and there were some silly superfluous moments, but I thought the songs were catchy and the cast did their utmost with the material. The set was decent and the costumes impressive. Kerry Ellis has a fantastic voice. Wendi Peters was super too- she's got a great stage presence. We had the understudy as the Mad Hatter, Francesca (I think) and her voice was incredible. There were a few technical faults (the show had to be stopped three times) due to a malfunctioning 'looking glass'. Having read some of the reviews here, I almost didn't buy tickets but I found it thoroughly enjoyable and it was definitely one of the most joyful things I've seen this year. The crowd was modest but people seemed to have really enjoyed it. As for this sorry premature end to the tour, it's awful to read. Such a shame for the cast and those who had bought tickets for the rest of the tour.
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Post by bren on Aug 11, 2017 14:47:01 GMT
^No doubt that the atmosphere suffers but that post from 'Laura' related to a performance in Oxford. A poster who was also in attendance on the same night said that the theatre had been far busier than for some other shows, though it had been described as 'empty'.
My suggestion is that it's the same poster on multiple accounts, who appears to have an axe to grind. Either that or two perfect strangers use identical phrases. Not the first time there's been such carry on in this thread.
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Post by bren on Aug 11, 2017 13:15:13 GMT
Hi Went to see this for the second time in Bristol, its got worse. Theatre very empty. Something is missing, I cant get my head around it. Can Alexandra Burke Act? Not sure to be honest. To me she is like that in real life. Not sure if this cast is good enough for the west end. Weird. That's almost an identical post to lauraw's post on the last page. She thought something was missing, couldn't work it out either and thought the theatre was almost empty. Edit: Even weirder, Laura W just deleted her original post!
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Post by bren on Aug 11, 2017 13:09:55 GMT
How does she have the time to engage in this nonsense?
She's so talented; I despair at her lowering herself to these petty arguments on Twitter. She seems to lack self awarenesss.
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Post by bren on Jun 18, 2017 22:26:43 GMT
I don't mean to be cruel- I'm sure she can fake sexy dance moves, but she cannot fake a decent singing voice.
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Post by bren on Jun 18, 2017 15:01:38 GMT
Louise Redknapp's vocals are incredibly weak- I can't imagine her holding these tunes.
I like Will Young but casting Louise just seems wrong...
Sarah Harding all over again?
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Post by bren on Jun 18, 2017 13:55:05 GMT
I'm astonished at the range of opinions on this. It's extremely rare that I'd consider leaving during a show. I really hope it's not as bad as people are saying. I quite like the soundtrack and Kerry Ellis is an amazing talent so I'm hoping that will be enough. I'm expecting it to be camp and kitsch.
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Post by bren on Jun 5, 2017 12:18:25 GMT
Diana was the best thing about 'Big' the musical- her voice was stellar and she far exceeded my expectations.
Was happy to see this news, though I presumed she'd be going to the West End with 'Big' sometime.
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Post by bren on Jun 1, 2017 20:32:36 GMT
I love Brenda Edwards! Looking forward to this.
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Post by bren on May 30, 2017 13:08:18 GMT
Any news at all? Perpetual tumbleweed?
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Post by bren on May 28, 2017 11:19:54 GMT
Never a dull moment!
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Post by bren on May 16, 2017 11:39:54 GMT
At this stage, we've had no confirmation of whether it will transfer or not, and if it does, who the cast will be.
It all seems up in the air as to whether Alexandra would stay on- particularly if it's true that she's in talks for another role.
I presume if it does go to the West End, there would be a big promotional push. Craig had mentioned getting the cast on Strictly.
What did you make of Alice Stokoe as Sr Mary Robert?
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Post by bren on May 16, 2017 10:50:21 GMT
I stand corrected and apologise!
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Post by bren on May 16, 2017 7:29:56 GMT
Went to see sister act in Oxford last night. It was pretty much empty,the balcony wasn't even open. Not sure how it would sell in the west end, something is missing If you ask me. The songs are sung so low, can't work it out. I find it hard to believe that it was 'pretty much empty', Laura- if so, it's anomaly on the tour which has sold consistently. A whole extra week was added in Dublin.
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Post by bren on May 14, 2017 19:51:18 GMT
Yeah she seems to be concentrating on doing slim fast promoting. I guess no record deal, no album She can self release the album like she did with Renegade- she doesn't necessarily need a label to do that. As for hearing news 'soon', it depends on the person's definition of the word.
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Post by bren on May 14, 2017 14:31:09 GMT
^The tour already played Dublin for a week. They must have tagged on these dates late in the day.
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Post by bren on May 14, 2017 8:18:46 GMT
Shows are lucky to get one recording never mind two, especially just a tour cast. Alexandra maybe bankable on tour but her recording career has hardly been steller (hence why she turned to theatre) so there is no reason to assume her name could justify the cost of a new recording. Fair point on shows sometimes not even getting one recording; for what it's worth I think AB's talent was largely squandered in a lot of the material she released as a pop artist. Well it seems you're right that they aren't doing a cast album at this rate anyways!
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Post by bren on May 14, 2017 2:44:18 GMT
I can't think why they would make one. Like it or not, Alexandra is pretty bankable. It's a good number of years since the London cast album.
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Post by bren on May 13, 2017 0:42:14 GMT
Adele Dazeem
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Post by bren on May 12, 2017 22:52:00 GMT
She said she was taking a break after sister act. Would she go into another show straight away? I thought she would focus on her new album now. I don't think she has a record deal so I'm not sure how much time she'll spend on getting the album out. I think she'd be wise to get another role under her belt.
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