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Post by greeny11 on Oct 6, 2023 11:10:16 GMT
I saw George as Sky in August and thought he was really good - just as good as Andrew (I preferred George vocally).
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Post by greeny11 on Oct 4, 2023 7:22:51 GMT
Much as I think this production isn’t as good (mainly because of the set), I love this show. The last time I saw it in Liverpool, the audience absolutely adored this show and You Can’t Stop The Beat was basically a huge party with the whole stalls dancing along (from the start of the song!). The social media for Liverpool is filled with people eager to book tickets, so I think it will sell well again.
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Post by greeny11 on Oct 3, 2023 3:44:29 GMT
Dionne Ward Anderson is alternating between this and Six for the next 2 weeks - surprised she hasn't left (or wasn't allowed to leave) Six early to concentrate on this.
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Post by greeny11 on Sept 19, 2023 20:10:12 GMT
Pleased Marisha's version of Luck Be A Lady is on there - it's a great version to accompany the dance party that happens post curtain call.
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Post by greeny11 on Sept 13, 2023 15:54:08 GMT
Josh seems to miss a lot of performances. Chris does Mondays, I know, but he seems to be on a lot of other performances as well. He's taken 2 holidays (both a week long) in a very short space of time which probably contributes to this thinking. I'm guessing it was holiday he had to use before the end of the contract.
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Post by greeny11 on Sept 5, 2023 4:12:07 GMT
It's always like this just as schools go back - the weather is always better in the first couple of school weeks than it is across the whole of the summer holiday. I do not consider nearly 30 degrees to be better than low 20s!! Neither am I, especially when I'm stuck teaching inside. However, the weather during the summer holidays has been so mixed, and now we have a week (or two) of sun (albeit hot) as soon as we return to school.
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Post by greeny11 on Sept 4, 2023 17:52:24 GMT
The weather forecast for the next week makes me want to scream. It's hotter than July & August. It's always like this just as schools go back - the weather is always better in the first couple of school weeks than it is across the whole of the summer holiday.
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Post by greeny11 on Aug 31, 2023 16:27:29 GMT
Happy to see it again as it's one of my favourite musicals, but I would prefer the original touring production (based off the West End show) than the Curve production.
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Post by greeny11 on Aug 30, 2023 20:15:07 GMT
What is Josh's day off each week? Is it still Monday? And has he and Stewart listed and holiday dates? Josh has just returned from holiday, so should be on for most performances except Mondays for the foreseeable future.
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Post by greeny11 on Aug 11, 2023 15:13:09 GMT
All roles have been played by people of all races and sizes. There do seem to be some roles that are cast a certain way more often - but the variety of principals we've seen in London suggests that there is not one set demographic for most of the roles.
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Post by greeny11 on Aug 10, 2023 17:08:33 GMT
I saw Claire with the understudy Thenardier last week, who I is quite a bit younger than Claire, but make up and wigs made the difference much less noticeable. Hopefully, they will be able to work the same magic with Luke.
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Post by greeny11 on Aug 10, 2023 15:16:27 GMT
Monique has just posted she's also leaving (in fact, she's leaving a week early for her next venture - Moulin Rouge maybe?) - so it will be a full cast change.
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Post by greeny11 on Aug 10, 2023 11:55:00 GMT
New cast has been announced:
Josh Piterman, Stewart Clarke, Lulu-Mae Pears and Claire Machin are all staying from the principals.
The new (or returning) principals are: Katie Hall - Fantine Luke Kempner - Thenardier Will Callan - Marius Amena El-Kindy - Eponine Djavan van de Fliert - Enjolras
A couple of familiar faces returning in the ensemble - Jordan Simon Pollard and Adam Pearce. New cast start September 25th.
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Post by greeny11 on Aug 10, 2023 11:49:33 GMT
Everyone except Monique has posted on Instagram to say they're leaving at cast change - October 15th. I'm not sure if that means if Monique is staying, or if she just hasn't posted on IG today, but it's a massive cast change.
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Post by greeny11 on Aug 8, 2023 7:33:47 GMT
I was quite pleasantly surprised by this when I saw it last week - I haven't seen the film, but was laughing throughout. I thought Gabriel Vick was fantastic as the lead - the amount of impressions he does is fantastic (even if some are very much aimed at the British audience, which doesn't necessarily fit in with where this is set) while showing off the vulnerability, and he kept the Mrs Doubtfire persona up very well, and Cameron Blakely was brilliant as Frank. I know people are saying the music isn't great, and I thought that when I listened to the cast album, but I quite enjoyed it. There are quite a few 'filler' songs, but I did leave with 4 stuck in my head (Let Go, As Long As There Is Love, Make Me A Woman and What The Hell), which was a pleasant surprise.
The audience was filled with families, and the theatre quickly ran out of booster seats, but audience behaviour was generally very good at the show I was at.
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Post by greeny11 on Aug 4, 2023 20:00:21 GMT
Satine is far too big of a sing for Alexia - her singing is OK, but not to the level required for Satine. . How has the principal Satine been this year? I went twice in the first year, and thought Tanisha (as standby) was a lot stronger than Liisi.
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Post by greeny11 on Aug 3, 2023 18:23:17 GMT
Dom's voice isn't always the strongest at the upper end (thinking the end of You and Me and I Believe - of which he has now had the latter song put in a slightly lower key), so I'd be intrigued to see how he does with some of Christian's songs. I've not seen Muscato but did see Bogyo and he struggled with the high notes. My feeling is Dom would be closer to Bogyo than Muscato, but would love to be proven wrong (if it is indeed him).
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Post by greeny11 on Aug 3, 2023 17:21:48 GMT
Some long runners leaving at the next cast change (though in about 10 visits since he’s been in the cast, I’ve only seen Webb twice!) - may be worth going back to see it again, having gotten a bit bored of it with the same principal cast staying for years. Will be interesting to see a new Price (and new McKinley).
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Post by greeny11 on Aug 2, 2023 15:07:50 GMT
Next cast change is end of this month. Dom Simpson is leaving after a very long time as Elder Price.
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Post by greeny11 on Aug 1, 2023 22:44:08 GMT
Cancelled tonight due to a police incident in the area. I was walking down to Embankment to get the tube out to Guys & Dolls when this was happening. No one was getting near that theatre with the size of the area the police had cordoned off (I believe it was due to someone on the roof of a building).
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Post by greeny11 on Jul 31, 2023 14:28:55 GMT
Really not sure what to make of this - I enjoyed parts of it, but it's not one of my favourite bio-musicals. The cast really go full out with the songs, both vocally and with their dancing - I particularly enjoyed Mitchell Zhangazha as Eddie, Cameron Bernard Jones as Melvin and Christopher Gopaul who was on as Dennis. Tosh Wanogho-Maud has a great voice, but his vocals were so completely over the top, including too many embellishments for my tastes (an issue I also had with his performance in Drifters Girl) and literally yelling some of the high notes. The lead character (played by Akmed Junior Khelemai) is not particularly likeable (well, none of the leads were really, but him less so than others) which is an issue when he's the narrator. My biggest issue, and it's one that also affects other jukebox shows is that too many songs are cut very short - I would have liked a few more to have been longer than a verse and chorus.
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Post by greeny11 on Jul 31, 2023 14:19:31 GMT
Eve was on when I saw the show on Friday and she was great as Nancy.
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Post by greeny11 on Jun 6, 2023 4:24:59 GMT
Stephen Rolley is first cover McKinley, I actually have seen him as McKinley more than Stevie Webb.
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Post by greeny11 on Jun 5, 2023 15:53:19 GMT
Still hoping a cast recording announcement is made soon! http://instagram.com/p/CtE1qyHoH9q Today seems to have been recording day based on various Instagram stories and posts.
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Post by greeny11 on May 4, 2023 17:54:27 GMT
It will be Mondays, but that starts 15th May - it varies before then.
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Post by greeny11 on Apr 23, 2023 14:12:34 GMT
Even though I knew it was happening, it made me jump - especially as it came early!
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Post by greeny11 on Apr 9, 2023 16:50:28 GMT
Pretty good statement to be fair - obviously she shouldn't have said what she said in the first place, but she's acknowledged the issues people had with her comments.
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Post by greeny11 on Apr 9, 2023 14:45:11 GMT
Saw it last week and loved it - great fun, some great songs in there too (a better score than some written by much more experienced composers), I was humming Making A Man and the sea chanty coming out of the theatre. Loved the cast and enjoyed the twist that their gender was irrelevant to the role they were playing. The start of act 2 really made me laugh, even if I felt awful for doing so! I loved the glitzy finale, but loved the very end of the finale even more and thought it was very touching.
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Post by greeny11 on Apr 5, 2023 17:18:44 GMT
Saw this at the matinee today. My only experience of this previously was the RAH version with Scarlett Strallen and Robbie Fairchild, and this was very, very different. I thought Arthur Darvill was brilliant in the lead role, and Georgina Onuorah was excellent as Ado Annie. I was centre second row, so got an excellent view of her flirting with the man in the front row, and likewise when various male characters flirted with the female sat right in front of me. It did mean I was right in the splash zone! We had Finlay Paul as Jud (first performance), and considering my only previous experiences of Finlay were as Sam and Cooper in Comedy About A Bank Robbery (both fairly sweet, comedic characters), I was blown away by his Jud, scary yet vulnerable, and an incredibly powerful voice.
I did think there were a few weird choices, the most glaring being the Dream Ballet, which I didn't see what they were trying to do with it at all. But overall, I enjoyed it.
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Post by greeny11 on Feb 16, 2023 20:29:48 GMT
This is a cast I am excited to see, having not seen the show since last year. I'm not a fan of Jon Robyns as Valjean, so always tried to get a Luke McCall Valjean show whenever I saw it (a Luke McCall/Bradley Jaden combo rivals the new JVJ/Javert pair for good looks), but am excited for Josh and Stewart in this, for the voices as much as the looks! Josh was a great Phantom before his run got cut short by lockdown. Also pleased to see Claire Machin who is great in everything she does, hopefully a step up from Josefina (who was OK at best).
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