176 posts
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Post by tom on Jun 23, 2020 20:59:12 GMT
I hate to say it as I love POTO and I don’t know if I would be back as often if things did change but theatre is a business and although in an ideal world everything would be the best that money could buy, it isn’t feasible. I know the show has long since recouped it’s investment but if it is to continue for a long time to come there need to be changes. Change is not always seen as a good thing and I think everyone realises that any changes made to this production would likely lessen the wow but change is sometimes necessary. Having said all of this, I am appalled at the way people who have been with the show for years appear to have been treated. None of us know the real story but by all accounts there’s definitely something fishy going on. Time will tell I guess.
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Post by tom on Jun 18, 2020 14:35:20 GMT
For me it's a toss up between Aspects of Love and Sunset Boulevard. I do have a soft spot for Evita. I know I may be going against the popular consensus here but I love the film. It's really Antonio Bandaras' film. I love how it's a bit gritty and really shows the workers- the descamisados- of Argentina of the time (Generally speaking) Lloyd Webber only tends to write several songs and repeats the underlying score throughout the whole show. The film version of Evita is better than any of the productions I’ve seen. I love the score but they can never seem to stage it right for me. That awful Regent’s Park thing last year was by far the worst.
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Post by tom on Jun 18, 2020 12:10:41 GMT
Chose JCS but could have easily been Evita, LND or Phantom too. Like Sunset but as others say a bit repetitive.
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Post by tom on Jun 14, 2020 21:59:05 GMT
Book of Mormon is amazeballs x Hamilton is double swinging amazeballs x Come From Away is triple swinging amazeballs x The Great Comet is so amazeballs it's like one of those pits full of coloured balls that kids play in x Six has more amazeballs than anyone else, but it is not a musical. It is a fantastic cabaret act that didn't have a home anywhere else so they called it a musical and shoved it Off West End. The fact that this show is created by 2 BRITISH Uni students and has opened on Broadway a little over 2 years after it's inception is an unparalledled and extraordinary feat. The fact that so many people are willing to sh*t all over it instead of celebrating it's immense achievements angers me. If they were a football team of men you'd be giving them parades in the streets, but instead...crickets...and endless bitching and moaning about how sh*t it is instead of praising the doors it has and will open for modern British musicals x The first half of Kinky Boots is amazeballs, the 2nd half is just balls x Fun Home, Caroline or Change and Falsettos are unwatchable manipulative muck x Sondheim is so overrated they actually invented the word just to describe his work x Bette Midler was atrocious in Hello Dolly x The recent JCS revival was like watching an ALW themed episode of American Idol. The singing was phenomenal but it was cold, heartless and had no soul x Apart from Sunset ALW is incapable of writing a decent show on his own. His 2 best shows post 70's were his 2 biggest flops...The Beautiful Game and Whistle Down the Wind x Not seen six but listened to the awful soundtrack which is a pop wannabe version of hamilton which is overrated as it is. Six does not appeal to me and if it is the future of british musicals I certainly don’t want those doors opened.
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Post by tom on Jun 12, 2020 19:05:29 GMT
Her version of Memory is thrilling. I bought the 25th anniversary concert CD (wish I'd gone to the gig!) When I saw her in cats it was the only time I thought she wasn’t brilliant. Loved her in Bodyguard and Memphis.
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176 posts
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Post by tom on May 14, 2020 18:51:19 GMT
They rang me today to arrange the refund that I requested last Tuesday as I had paid by PayPal and they were unable to refund to there so had to choose a card to refund to. Very quick and friendly service.
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Post by tom on May 5, 2020 21:51:50 GMT
Also went with a refund. Had they offered the same seats at a future performance i’d have been more likely to let them keep my money. The whole way they don’t even mention refunds and act like the voucher is the only option wound me up enough to get my refund. Along with the fact that anyone that bothers to ring is then offered a larger voucher and money off bar/merchandise purchases. I am reluctant to book through atg again due to their dishonesty. I totally get the fact that for companies to stay in business at this time they need to keep things going but you only do that by having your customer’s trust - not by being greedy!
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176 posts
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Post by tom on May 2, 2020 9:29:47 GMT
Isn’t 62 smokey joe’s cafe?
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176 posts
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Post by tom on Dec 29, 2019 14:33:12 GMT
I hope that if there is another tour coming that they don't change it too much to be like the film! I also do not want that boring new song in there either.
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176 posts
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Post by tom on Dec 20, 2019 17:27:38 GMT
It wasn’t awful but it wasn’t good either. Some parts were good like skimbleshanks, some were just plain boring and overall I just feel it didn’t work. Such a shame as I love the show.
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Post by tom on Dec 19, 2019 12:41:17 GMT
I still think (hope) I’ll enjoy it. Cats is a very weird musical and it divides people who love musicals so for people who aren’t necessarily into musicals anyway, it’s a tough sell. My concern isn’t with the look of the effects or the lack of real story as I know about that already. I am concerned that the best part of the show is the dancing and if it is not real humans in a theatre but computer enhanced cat-people “dancing” on a screen then it loses the spectacle of the dancing. What is left? I like the music so like I said, I’m sure I’ll still enjoy it.
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176 posts
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Post by tom on Dec 13, 2019 18:19:04 GMT
Would be weird to have Growltiger in it (Ray Winstone) without the song!? Think it’s just not on highlights as mentioned.
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Post by tom on Nov 28, 2019 18:17:45 GMT
It's just such a shame that it's not JOJ being preserved digitally forever ☹ With Alfie’s attendance you never know...I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
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Post by tom on Nov 24, 2019 6:10:02 GMT
I’ve got tickets for Dec 2nd and I’d love to see any if not all of the 4 “names” replaced by their understudies as I know from personal experience that JOJ, Earl and whoever is understudy to Thenardier played by a character from little Britain for laughs are better than Ball, Boe and the one joke wonder from little Britain. However, as it’s the one going out to cinemas I have a feeling they’ll miraculously recover like sarah brightman did in POTO for opening or press night or whatever it was. The people who have seen shows this week probably don’t realise how lucky they are! Jesus, why on earth are you going if you can't bear any of the leads?! Did I say I can’t bear the leads? I said their alternates/understudies were better!
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176 posts
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Post by tom on Nov 23, 2019 22:04:27 GMT
I’ve got tickets for Dec 2nd and I’d love to see any if not all of the 4 “names” replaced by their understudies as I know from personal experience that JOJ, Earl and whoever is understudy to Thenardier played by a character from little Britain for laughs are better than Ball, Boe and the one joke wonder from little Britain. However, as it’s the one going out to cinemas I have a feeling they’ll miraculously recover like sarah brightman did in POTO for opening or press night or whatever it was. The people who have seen shows this week probably don’t realise how lucky they are!
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176 posts
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Post by tom on Nov 23, 2019 21:46:25 GMT
Also saw the show this afternoon. Went in with low expectations as I don’t like the plot and think the music isn’t anything special. The show itself was better than I expected and some things are done very well but my issue was the casting. For such a hyped and anticipated show I don’t think they’ve got the cast to match up with the show. The alternate Evan wasn’t a great singer at all which is a shame. Several of the main cast hit bum notes too. Lauren Ward was a very good standout though. Don’t want to sound too harsh as like I said, enjoyed it more than I expected, just thought it could have been better with a better cast.
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176 posts
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Post by tom on Nov 8, 2019 12:11:15 GMT
Surprisingly easy to get tickets for Dec 2nd for me. Row E stalls
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Post by tom on Sept 13, 2019 21:42:30 GMT
This was awful. It was as if it was directed by a bunch of sixth formers... I know let’s use loads of balloons and confetti, it’ll be amazing. The acting doesn’t matter! Samantha has no depth. She was shout, screech, shout a little quieter. Where was the vulnerability when required? Who hired the non-entity playing peron? The ensemble were good, che was mostly good and the theatre is lovely. That’s as far as I can go in terms of positives. I can’t believe that somebody thought this production was worthy of the prices being charged!? The audience reaction at the end said it all. A lot of people stood but it actually went quieter when Evita took her bow!
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176 posts
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Post by tom on Sept 12, 2019 21:00:39 GMT
I’m hoping not. She’s overrated.
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Post by tom on Aug 30, 2019 20:16:46 GMT
Saw this in Boston and have since listened to the cast recording. A lot of it is lost without the visual!
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Post by tom on Aug 25, 2019 6:36:34 GMT
Saw the final performance tonight at the Cork Opera House, enjoyed it very much. It was a very slick show, and an excellent cast, especially Lyn Paul who was outstanding. The audience were loving it, but there was some annoyingly inappropriate laughter near the end. I think it may have been the staging or maybe it was nervous tension, anyway I was bit embarrassed for the actors. When I’ve seen this in the past, there has always been laughter after the gun shot which is the most inappropriate time. It obviously makes people jump so they get the giggles!
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176 posts
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Post by tom on Jul 29, 2019 6:39:21 GMT
Back to the Growltiger discussion for a moment: I've just listened to the segment -- my favorite in the show. I'm afraid that the reason the Growltiger/Billy M'Caw segment may not be used much these days is that it's NOT PC (although it may be favored in certain circles): "But most to cats of foreign race his hatred had been vowed To cats of foreign name and race, no quarter was allowed..."and later in the segment: "Then Genghis gave the signal to his fierce Mongolian hordes Abandoning their sampans, the chinks they swarmed aboard..."They have changed the lyrics since so it isn’t as bad.
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176 posts
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Post by tom on Jul 18, 2019 21:38:51 GMT
I think it looks a bit crap and very weird. Jennifer Hudson is not right for grizabella. She’s not fragile and despairing enough but that seems to be the direction they’ve been going with that character recently. I’ll still go to see it but I don’t hold out much hope!
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Post by tom on Jun 8, 2019 21:11:57 GMT
At the show this evening and I seriously cannot understand why this is even running. The performances are generally ok but the music is dull and the characters are so cliche and don’t even get me started on the “humour” Not for me but the majority of the audience seem to be enjoying it a lot! Let’s see what act 2 has to offer... it didn’t improve. Did not enjoy that at all.
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176 posts
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Post by tom on Jun 8, 2019 20:04:24 GMT
At the show this evening and I seriously cannot understand why this is even running. The performances are generally ok but the music is dull and the characters are so cliche and don’t even get me started on the “humour” Not for me but the majority of the audience seem to be enjoying it a lot! Let’s see what act 2 has to offer...
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Post by tom on Mar 5, 2019 22:07:06 GMT
Anybody even discussing the whatsonstage awards aka the who can get the most people from twitter to vote for them awards needs a reality check. This only won anything because Carrie Hope Influencer was in it.
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176 posts
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Post by tom on Feb 6, 2019 22:10:47 GMT
Enjoyed second act much more. Even Jeremy was fine and I didn’t even have an interval tipple!
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Post by tom on Feb 6, 2019 21:04:06 GMT
Seeing this tonight. Sadly Thaxton, whom I booked to see, was off. Here’s hoping he comes back Can only agree Scott Davies is adequate at best. He sounds like a performer who’s played his role for too long. He shows moments of creepiness and anguish at times but his singing goes all over the place Very impressed by Jeremy Jordan. Such a strong voice and he and Kelly Mathieson were touching in All I ask of you Seems we appear to disagree about Jeremy Taylor!
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Post by tom on Feb 6, 2019 20:57:36 GMT
At the show tonight. Scott is on as phantom. Seen him a few times and I just think he is now too old to play the role in my opinion. Kelly has improved in the acting department but doesn’t sound loud enough at times. She also appears out of breath and rushing at times. Jeremy is the dullest raoul I’ve ever seen. He’s even worse than last time I saw him. Talk about going through the motions with no personality and a pretty basic voice! Liking the guy playing piangi and Katy hanna is a good Carlotta. Shame some of the cast are letting the material down.
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176 posts
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Post by tom on Feb 1, 2019 6:30:47 GMT
The dance was still there Monday and Tuesday. Must have been a sudden change. Wasn’t there on Wednesday
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