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Post by moelhywel on Sept 12, 2017 16:16:23 GMT
A tribute programme to him will be on BBC4 tonight at 9 o'clock.
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Post by moelhywel on Sept 12, 2017 9:04:17 GMT
just heard on the radio that Sir Peter Hall has died, aged 86.
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Post by moelhywel on Sept 7, 2017 21:00:38 GMT
Just noticed that the Vue cinemas are showing the first two of these being broadcast in the cinema, in November and March respectively. I assume other cinema chains will probably follow suit.
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Post by moelhywel on Aug 1, 2017 12:40:31 GMT
Venus and Adonis at the Swan in Stratford tomorrow afternoon Possibly a screening of Cyrano de Bergerac from the Comedie Francaise at Warwick Arts Centre on Thursday Maryinsky Ballet in Don Quixote Saturday afternoon followed by Yerma in the evening
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Post by moelhywel on Jul 23, 2017 12:11:34 GMT
Anyone want to watch a play while in the air? In today's Sunday Times is the following: "Icelandair has its own initiative for keeping passengers happy. To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the airline, it is staging a play on some of its flights from London to New York, with a short stop in Reykjavik. Icelandair says it is responding to passengers who want more than just the usual in-flight programming. Cabin staff have even enrolled in stage-school training for the three-act play, which tells the history of the airline since 1937. A tad dry? Pity they couldn’t have come up with some Icelandic saga instead."
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Post by moelhywel on Jul 23, 2017 11:58:07 GMT
Went to see this again yesterday, this time sitting on front row stalls as against back row circle last time. Lovely to be so close and able to see facial expressions but to actually see the dancing properly the far view was better. Some of the ensemble members have changed, also the two minor characters were played by different people, otherwise the same cast as before except for Ashley Day as Jerry Mulligan instead of Robert Fairchild. I liked Day as a character but his dancing wasn't a patch on Fairchilds. The fact that he wasn't trained as a ballet dancer really showed. Anyway I still enjoyed it immensely and glad that I went to see it again.
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Post by moelhywel on Jul 9, 2017 15:53:30 GMT
While I have no objection to these parades I do feel more thought should be given to people who are trying to get somewhere to cross the route. I was trying to get to Wyndham's yesterday and thought the best way to cross would be to use the underground as a crossing but Piccadilly Circus was closed and I had to walk quite a bit further than I needed to down to Charing Cross at Trafalgar Square where I was able to cross. I got there with 5 minutes to spare. I suppose it's my own fault for not taking more notice of the times and route but when you don't live in London you don't always realise how these things are going to affect you. There were plenty of "crossing places" but these couldn't be used once the parade was in place. Why can't the parade be stopped occasionally to allow people to cross the road?
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Post by moelhywel on Jun 29, 2017 9:41:06 GMT
I've booked to see this because of the opinions of people on this board and because of her performance at the Oliviers, where I thought she was way above every other singer there. However I'd never heard of her before and, I suspect, the same applies to the majority of the British public, who therefore won't be rushing to buy tickets for a show that doesn't get rave reviews. I know I wouldn't have done, especially as I don't live in London.
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Post by moelhywel on Jun 28, 2017 8:15:57 GMT
5 star review in the Times, ends with "get a ticket".
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Post by moelhywel on Jun 27, 2017 9:21:48 GMT
The queue has now restarted.
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Post by moelhywel on Jun 26, 2017 22:39:48 GMT
Went to see this tonight, with Prince Charles in attendance, and the theatre was full, although how many of these were in on £10 or free tickets I don't know (I did comment to my husband I wonder if Charles paid £10 for his ticket!). There were certainly a lot of young people there which is not that usual on a Monday night. A good fun evening at the theatre, although Shakespeare it ain't, more Up Pompeii. Sophia Nomvete as Dexter was excellent and at first I thought Kim Hartmnan wasn't going to have anything to do but she came into her own in the second act. Slight audience participation at the beginning and a few times throughout and if you sit in the front row of the Stalls you might get your "portrait" drawn!
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Post by moelhywel on Jun 26, 2017 22:01:42 GMT
Snap Emi, Charles was at the Swan in Stratford watching Vice Versa tonight. He was about ten seats away from me in the row in front.
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Post by moelhywel on Jun 24, 2017 9:01:27 GMT
I think this must be a general change at Wyndham's as the tickets for Heisenberg are also showing no booking fee but the seats in the Balcony are definitely more expensive than they used to be, "nests" are £19.50.
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Post by moelhywel on Jun 23, 2017 13:27:24 GMT
Well all I know is that I went to the box office last Saturday to book a ticket for Lady Day expecting to pay less than the online price and was charged the same price. When you look at the website now the ticket price includes a £1.25 restoration levy fee but they no longer charge a booking fee, so perhaps they've just abolished it. However the cheaper ticket prices don't appear to be as cheap as they used to be, certainly at Wyndham's.
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Post by moelhywel on Jun 22, 2017 20:50:47 GMT
Also, there is no longer a separate booking fee, it has been absorbed into the ticket price. It used to be that if you bought your ticket at the box office you didn't pay the booking fee but no longer, it's the same as the online price.
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Post by moelhywel on Jun 21, 2017 8:40:22 GMT
This is at Birmingham rep at the moment said tickets from £15 so thohught I might go again after seeing it before it opened in the west end at Wolverhampton in a half empty theatre for £10 and really had a good laugh which right now we could all do with ! Well ..... most nights completely sold out and the only seats left are very back row usually cheapest seats in the house are £45 /£50 on Rep site !!!! Not accessible to all then .... must be doing something right as sold out but I'm sorry that's daylight robbery This is because the Rep are now doing dynamic pricing. When a production first goes on sale they only sell seats as far back as row J or thereabouts. If the production sells well then they open up the rear seating. The seat plan used to show the different price ranges in different colours, now they all show as green and you have to click on each one to see how much it is, which is really annoying and enables them to alter the price of the seat without it being obvious. I'm going to this tonight and only paid £21 for a seat near the end of row E and I think that pricing seats right at the back of the theatre at £45 and £50 is really not on but if people are prepared to pay that then they will continue to price them so. I suppose this offsets the loss they must make on some other productions.
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Post by moelhywel on Jun 20, 2017 8:11:18 GMT
The Play That Goes Wrong at the B'ham Rep on Tuesday BRB in Le Baiser de la Fee/Arcadia/Pineapple Poll on Thursday On the Town on Saturday afternoon. I just hope the weather cools down a bit by Saturday as the thought of having to sit in this heat doesn't bear thinking about.
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Post by moelhywel on Jun 20, 2017 8:05:10 GMT
Going slightly off topic the worst experience of finding my seat in a foreign theatre was in Budapest. The stalls in the Opera house there has a central block and two side blocks. The numbering goes from 1 on EACH gangway seat, towards the middle in the centre block and towards the sides in the side blocks, so there are four number ones, four number twos, etc. Needless to say, with seats 6 and 7 we sat in the very centre of the stalls only to find that we were actually right at the side! It's the most weirdly numbered seating plan I've ever encountered. After that we really enjoyed the performance of Swan Lake, which being a ballet you can watch anywhere in the world without having to worry about the language.
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Post by moelhywel on Jun 5, 2017 22:16:30 GMT
Just back from seeing this and like theatremad I had never seen the play before. I'm not sure having Salome played by a man really worked (my husband certainly didn't think so) although Matthew Tennyson made a very androgynous figure and was very good. I thought the set worked very well, especially the ladder down into Iokanaan's cell and the music, which plays quite an important part, I found rather over amplified at times. An interesting concept but having the play presented as a gay version just confused the story for me. I will be interested in other people's reactions to it.
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Post by moelhywel on Jun 4, 2017 13:23:08 GMT
"Ok so one or two might be using it for attention but if it puts one worried parent at ease, or helps someone figure out something has happened to someone else I'm alright with it."
Yes, my son lives in London and checked in that he was safe, putting my mind at rest, even though I hadn't any real concerns that he would have been involved but it's always possible he could be somewhere where something like this happens. I think any parent who has children living in London is concerned when a terrorist attack happens there.
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Post by moelhywel on May 22, 2017 10:25:36 GMT
I came late to this so have missed all the £10 rear dress circle seats but I clicked through every date and found three separate performances with one £10 stalls seat so managed to get one for a Wednesday matinee in October. Just hope it's worth the trip, although I may fit something in in the evening as my cheapish train ticket isn't valid for return until after 7pm.
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Post by moelhywel on May 15, 2017 23:05:14 GMT
BRB North tour in Nottingham on Wednesday with my favourite short ballet Solitaire (now restored to original set and costumes), 5 Tangos and Pineapple Poll. My Country at the B'ham Rep on Thursday. Don Juan in Soho on Saturday.
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Post by moelhywel on May 14, 2017 7:54:36 GMT
Like showgirl I started going to the theatre alone when I was in my teens. These days I usually go to local theatres with my husband but when I go to London I either go alone or sometimes with my son who lives in London. He is very much a film person so l have been trying to educate him in theatre by buying tickets for him for things I think he will like to see, usually because of who is in the play. I'm obviously succeeding because occasionally he has now asked me if I want to see something. I also go to the ballet a lot and because the same people go to several performances of the same thing for different casts I have made several friends because we keep seeing each other and have got chatting. I enjoy going alone because I can do my own thing but having someone else with me does mean that I've got someone to discuss the performance with. So for me I like the combination of alone and with someone that I have.
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Post by moelhywel on May 14, 2017 7:36:14 GMT
I saw this yesterday afternoon and loved it. I hadn't realised what a good voice Sheena Easton has and thought Clare Halse was fantastic but for me the real stars of the show are the chorus. The synchronicity of the tap work and the many costume, shoe and wig changes they have to do is what makes this show. The scene towards the end when the staircase comes forward and they are all tapping for dear life sent a tingle down my spine. Magnificent!
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Post by moelhywel on May 9, 2017 15:59:40 GMT
I saw this last night in Birmingham and agree with every word Honoured Guest said. Audrey Brisson reminded me a little of a young Leslie Caron and had a very sweet voice. There is one scene where Tatiana Santini sings and she has a really strong and clear voice. Out of all the scenes I found the one in the convent really affecting, you could almost have believed you were in a church. Unlike in Milton Keynes the theatre was about three quarters full which was good to see.
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Post by moelhywel on May 7, 2017 22:32:20 GMT
La Strada on Monday and Funny Girl on Tuesday in Birmingham and then 42nd Street on Saturday. May go to see the NT Live broadcast of Obsession on Thursday but after the reviews I probably won't bother.
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Post by moelhywel on May 5, 2017 12:26:57 GMT
Kevin O'Hare, director of the Royal Ballet at Angels last night.
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Post by moelhywel on Apr 25, 2017 18:51:52 GMT
There's a very nice YHA at Stratford (I haven't used it as I live near enough to be able to travel there easily but it looks good on the website) but be aware it's about two miles from the town so might be a problem to get back to after an evening performance.
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Post by moelhywel on Apr 19, 2017 15:09:41 GMT
Just seen that NT Live will be showing Julius Caesar as well as Young Marx in the cinemas. How is this likely to impact on ticket sales? I originally thought of going to both of these but may well reconsider now and just go to the cinema instead given the distance I have to travel and the cost of the train fares.
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Post by moelhywel on Apr 15, 2017 22:17:36 GMT
"I don't understand why more people don't use the Royal Opera House cloakroom. It's free and their systems are very efficient, especially in the makeshift one they have in the amphitheatre. I've never had to wait more than a couple of minutes after the performance."
There are several ways out from the amphitheatre which don't involve having to go anywhere near the cloakroom. If I'm at an evening performance I want to get out as quickly as I can so that I can get my train as it takes me 30 minutes to get to the station. If the performance doesn't finish until 10.30 going to the cloakroom could mean the difference between catching or missing my last train home.
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