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Post by greeny11 on Mar 8, 2022 19:35:02 GMT
I too would have nominated Haydn over Gary. Gary was very good, but it didn't stand out in any way, whereas Haydn's performance was a definite highlight.
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Post by greeny11 on Mar 8, 2022 5:57:21 GMT
1. Hairspray 2. Come From Away 3. Kinky Boots 4. & Juliet 5. Six 6. Les Miserables 7. Mary Poppins 8. Waitress 9. Phantom of the Opera 10. Beautiful
To be fair, apart from Hairspray and Come From Away, most of the others are interchangable. There are other musicals I love that haven't made that list too.
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Post by greeny11 on Feb 28, 2022 5:51:38 GMT
Saw this twice again last week, once planned and once to see Alex as Romeo. Had Ivan as Shakespeare and having now seen Alex in a cover role, I think the upcoming arrangement of Alex being 1st cover Shakespeare and Ivan 2nd will work better. Alex is more suited vocally to the part than Ivan (who tried his best, but Can't Stop The Feeling is out of his range - he ends up shouting parts, and barely audible in the higher notes), as well as age wise - Shakespeare is supposed to be nearly a decade younger than Anne (which is mentioned in the show).
I will certainly miss all of the cast who are leaving, the majority of whom have been with the show since Manchester. They've helped the show become what it has, which is a fantastic, feel good night full of great pop music and a highly entertaining book. It sold very well at both shows I saw last week, so am hopeful it has found an audience. It does seem to be getting popular with school groups, I saw a few at the 2 shows I saw.
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Post by greeny11 on Feb 28, 2022 5:33:55 GMT
Having seen the show twice, Danny is comfortably better than his understudy. Aimie and Rachael were on both times and were excellent. I've seen both Happy Mans and both were great fun. Twice is enough for this show though I think, it attracts a certain audience who don't know appropriate behaviour in a theatre.
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Post by greeny11 on Feb 27, 2022 7:53:13 GMT
In all fairness, if Helen has long covid symptoms - I cannot imagine how she could possibly do 8 shows a week. I think you're being a little unfair on her with that statement.
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Post by greeny11 on Feb 27, 2022 7:50:28 GMT
The front section of stalls - I think row H is the last row in the revolving section.
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Post by greeny11 on Feb 26, 2022 8:52:01 GMT
I struggle to sympathise with the drivers when they work the same number of hours but paid 200% more than I do, and yet they want more money. I get that their job is critical to the safety of the Underground, but they are well remunerated for their work unlike other jobs. I get the feeling they want more money for less hours - and not provide a service that is useful to the customers.
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Post by greeny11 on Feb 25, 2022 22:55:44 GMT
Surely people can use buses, National Rail and the river services to get into London. I'd be surprised if anything got cancelled.
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Post by greeny11 on Feb 22, 2022 15:43:23 GMT
My understanding is that the gender neutral toilets are usually converted from ladies toilets - hence removing a safe space of female audience members who, understandably, do not want to be sharing facilities with men.
Personally, I think there needs to be gender neutral toilets, but not at the expense of ladies or gents. However, there is an obvious lack of space in most theatres for extra facilities - there's barely enough space in the facilities already there in some theatres. The gents toilets at certain theatres - the Phoenix and Vaudeville come to mind, are tiny. Some (like the Vaudeville one nearest the entrance), doesn't even have cubicles! Bit unfortunate if you need a cubicle for whatever reason.
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Post by greeny11 on Feb 22, 2022 14:55:14 GMT
I saw this on Saturday night - perfect audience, enthusiastic but no singalongs and no drunken fights! I'd say it's a reasonably good show elevated by an excellent cast. We had 2 understudies - Ethan Davis on for Tarinn, and Michael James Stewart on for Matt Henry (though based on their headshots, thought they were the other way round as Ethan has a beard in his headshot, but not in this, and vice versa for Michael!). Ethan and Michael were both excellent in their respective roles - I definitely wouldn't have thought that was Michael's 2nd cover as he gave a very accomplished performance. The only thing I could pick out was he was quite badly out of tune in a section where his character joined the army, but otherwise excellent. Tosh Wanogho-Maud was fantastic, hilarious in some of his cameos, dangerous in others, and heartbreaking in one particular role - and his delivery of Stand By Me was fabulous. Beverley Knight delivered as per usual, great vocals and her acting was fantastic.
As for the show as a whole, it is at it's best when the 4 lads are singing as a quartet. The harmonies are excellent and the choreography was very slick. It loses traction when it reaches the dialogue scenes. I'm not sure how it can solved, but the book scenes really slow the show down.
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Post by greeny11 on Feb 21, 2022 22:57:45 GMT
If Jamie had brought the vocals from act 2 into act 1, that would’ve been nice - very strong vocally in act 2, especially in Roxanne. Still a bit wooden acting wise.
I did think it’s a show that goes for style over substance mostly, but I did really enjoy it overall.
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Post by greeny11 on Feb 21, 2022 21:00:37 GMT
At the interval and I am enjoying it. Tanisha is strong as Satine (if a bit young). Simon is excellent as the Duke and I am enjoying Clive as Zedler. Jason Pennycooke’s French accent is a lot easier to understand here than in Hamilton (which admittedly could be to do with the rapping).
With regards to Jamie Bogyo, his acting is rather wooden but he has a nice singing voice. In a more classic MT show, I think he’d fit in well. His voice isn’t really suited to the pop style required in this show, especially as he can’t really belt. Anything high is sung with his head voice. That said, the Elephant Love medley was as enjoyable as I hoped, and probably the best moment for Jamie so far.
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Post by greeny11 on Feb 21, 2022 19:08:58 GMT
Saw this on Saturday, and really enjoyed it again. The theatre was about 90-95% full from what I could see. Charlie Stemp was brilliant, a true triple threat. Zizi was mostly fantastic, but the whole first verse of Feed The Birds was not in sync with the orchestra which was a bit awkward. There were a few other slight timing issues with the understudies who were on.
Not quite as polished as usual, but I still had a great time.
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Post by greeny11 on Feb 21, 2022 10:11:26 GMT
Thought she would be. I'm guessing Collette will be a cover Anne, and Cassy a cover Nurse.
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Post by greeny11 on Feb 21, 2022 9:21:54 GMT
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Post by greeny11 on Feb 5, 2022 19:55:36 GMT
I see Alyn didn't even get to go back to his ensemble role - he went straight into covering Lumiere.
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Post by greeny11 on Jan 30, 2022 11:45:27 GMT
His voice isn't right for Shakespeare for me - Shakespeare's songs are too high for him. I'd get why Ivan is first cover as he's probably more age appropriate, but I think Alex (2nd cover) is a better fit for the role than Ivan.
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Post by greeny11 on Jan 29, 2022 17:57:08 GMT
Having seen Ivan as Shakespeare, and heard clips of Alex's Shakespeare, I prefer Alex in the role from a vocal point of view. Ivan is brilliant as Lance though. Alex had a period end of November/beginning of December where he was being thrown on for a different cover every day. I think he did all 3 of his covers within a week at one point.
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 31, 2021 21:14:10 GMT
I really enjoyed Kirstie Skivington as Anne - it's a tough ask to match Cassidy who is so brilliant in the role, but I thought Kirstie was great. I agree that Grace is not really a match for Miriam, vocally or acting wise.
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 31, 2021 14:46:30 GMT
Just finished watching this - as someone who loved this when it was at the Noel Coward, I'm pleased with how it turned out on film, and it reminded me of how much I loved this show and the performance of Charlie Stemp. For me, the new songs added to the show, and my favourite song in the show was one of the new ones (Pick Out A Simple Tune).
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 31, 2021 10:54:49 GMT
The cast are fantastic, so I will be sad to see them go. I will be interested to see who will stay - I imagine the newest additions to the cast will stay, but whether any of the originals will stay will be interesting (I can see Cassidy staying).
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 10, 2021 16:38:34 GMT
In response to an earlier post, it looks like they've rehearsed in additional understudies, David McIntosh is going on as Lumiere this evening and I he wasn't originally an understudy for the role.
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 7, 2021 18:46:51 GMT
This week's basically written off - all shows cancelled between tonight and Saturday.
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 6, 2021 16:36:38 GMT
Whatsonstage says it's a supporting lead coming over, but then it says it's from the US tour, and the full cast hasn't been announced yet - so I'm not sure. I'm inclined to think Toulouse is probably a good shout for the actor.
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 3, 2021 12:52:55 GMT
James Gant is one of the best Phantoms I've seen, so Killian being off is hardly a bad thing.
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Post by greeny11 on Nov 29, 2021 19:17:00 GMT
While I wouldn't go quite as far as mkb, I really didn't enjoy it. I thought the whole film was incredibly dull, and Kristen Stewart's performance as Diana was very odd.
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Post by greeny11 on Nov 29, 2021 5:23:21 GMT
I liked some of it, but for me it was too long, parts of it really dragged. Also, Jared Leto's performance, for me, was just bizarre. He did make me laugh a couple of times, but the overall portrayal left me baffled. Adam Driver was good, but I found his accent to be inconsistent. For me, Lady Gaga was absolutely the best thing about this film, she was excellent throughout. What I did find though, is that none of the characters were particularly likeable, which made it hard to care for any of them at the end.
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Post by greeny11 on Nov 24, 2021 16:24:02 GMT
[br Not sure if Distant Cousin was responding to my post, but Niall Sheehey is not that young. Hi there. I wasn't! But as an aside I think anyone playing Valjean or Javert should be at LEAST 35. More like 40+, to be honest. To have the appropriate gravitas. I can see where you’re coming from, but Luke McCall is 30 and is an excellent Valjean. With the wigs and make up, he does read older than his actual age, but I think he has plenty of gravitas.
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Post by greeny11 on Nov 13, 2021 20:56:02 GMT
I thought this was absolutely brilliant, one of the best films of the year for me. Andrew Garfield is sensational as Jonathan Larson, and is a much, much better singer than I thought he would be. A stunning performance that I hope gets some nominations. Also loved Robin de Jesus as Michael, and I loved all the Broadway cameos (there are seriously a lot of them!). I didn't know any of the music going in, and not being a fan of the Rent music, I was a bit apprehensive, but I loved the score to this.
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Post by greeny11 on Oct 28, 2021 7:42:55 GMT
Marcus did the matinees pre-covid, so I guess once they’ve settled back into the show, that will be the schedule again.
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