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Post by sophizoey on Sept 7, 2018 10:46:53 GMT
I saw opening in Sunderland last night and oh wow! It was incredible, I've shared my thoughts on Amy and Helen before but last night was a show and a half. Helen and Amy had that crowd in the palm of their hands. While Amy is not the Elphaba for me, what she does she does with such nuance and perfection it's impossible to fault. Helen is Glinda, I could watch her Popular forever and her vocals in Thank Goodness were particularly incredible. However Aaron is still drowned out by everyone else on stage (I spent DtL watching the Fiyero Understudy because he had more stage presence), his vocals were actually quite enjoyable during ALAYM. Also another observation is I found Iddon's Boq bareable last night? He was just giving some sort of emotion and not looking too bored with it.
Now I'll be going to many a show in Sunderland so I'll wait until the end of the run to share more thoughts, but opening was so amazing I had to share now 😂
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Post by sophizoey on Sept 3, 2018 17:49:31 GMT
Eighty odd quid top price is an absolute scandal. I'm sure the last time the tour was here you could get half decent seats in the twenty quid range. Now even the balcony starts at thirty quid. Hardly accessible. If you are sat miles away from the stage, as the balcony is, the prices should reflect this. On the most expensive shows the cheapest seat in the stalls is £35. (The very ends of the first few rows) Luckily for all you students and u25s out there, £15 tickets will be available after midday on that day of the performance. I found this out from messaging ATG on twitter.
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 31, 2018 9:49:59 GMT
It's definitely Jackie Burns as Elphaba, but I cannot place the Glinda but I know it's not Amanda Jane Cooper. However last year didn't they film new footage of the then Broadway cast?
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 29, 2018 22:13:02 GMT
It's not like London when an understudy goes on and everyone RUNS to the AV to get a tick on their top fan bingo card. Attendance at the tour is very sporadic. As is finding the cast board! Oh playing the find the castboard game is my favourite, remember when Leeds didn't even bother to put it in the theatre 😂
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 29, 2018 22:00:15 GMT
Definitly not heard about any Wizard/Dillamond debuts yet either for this cast... Howard Ellis went on for Wizardmond in Birmingham. Where did you get this info, I follow all of them on all the social media and never saw a word about this 😱😱😱 (just if it is true he needs a green tick on my nerdy tour spreadsheet)
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 29, 2018 20:47:57 GMT
I'm a hostel person and without fail if I'm staying a strange city for the first time I will always try to say in a Safestay hostel. I've stayed in Edinburgh and Elphant & Castle and have felt secure and safe. They have same-sex room options amd the rooms are always discounted at the last minute. Only bad experiences I've ever had at their hostels have been due to snorers, however that is nothing to do with the hostel and with the guests - which is the risk you run unfortunately.
If traveling as a pair in London there is a hostel called London Backpackers in Hendon (around 20/30 on the northern line in to central) and their twin bunk rooms are lovely and really cheap 😁
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 28, 2018 21:35:13 GMT
The tour has been in Dublin for 7 weeks, which makes it a week longer than Zürich and two weeks longer than Edinburgh. I think it's gone quite quick considering I wasn't able to pay a visit to Dublin. (That might be me wishing Sunderland to be sooner because the theatre is a mere 20 minutes away)
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 28, 2018 15:24:02 GMT
Bit of promotion in Manchester yesterday as they got Elphaba (whoever is playing her on tour, they didn't announce her name) to perform Defying Gravity on the main stage at Pride. Very impressive performance but can't believe they brought her over from Ireland for just one song! It was Standby Elphaba Nikki Bentley!
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 23, 2018 21:06:24 GMT
Sunderland never do dayseats. Unfortunately. I remember reading on the back of a Matilda leaflet I picked up at Eldon Square that they did the £5 ones for students or 16-25 railcard holders. Is that just Matilda's policy? That is a Matilda UK Tour policy not a Sunderland policy unfortunately. Sunderland are disgraceful for discounting. I'm hoping they'll follow suit of the the other ATG Venues on tour and do £15/20 student tickets, just so I don't have to spend too much money on catching Nikki as many times as possible. However I'm doubting it.
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 23, 2018 20:47:12 GMT
Best available for thirty pounds now for the Wednesday matinées. I've just went to book for the last Wednesday matinee and it's still trying to charge me normal prices. Where did you see this?
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 16, 2018 16:14:13 GMT
Wicked 2018 - 19
Elphaba: Laura Pick (s/b), Aimée Fisher, Rebecca Botteril Glinda: Carina Gillespie/Maria Coyne (s/b and maternity cover s/b), Samantha Thomas, Rosa O'Reilly Fiyero: Tom Andrew Hargreaves, Carl Man The Wizard: Chris Jarman, Rhidian Marc Madame Morrible: Kerry Enright, Genevieve Taylor Doctor Dillamond: Rhidian Marc, Sam Robinson Nessarose: Maggie Lynne, Aimée Fisher Boq: Scott Sutcliffe, Jonathan David Dudley
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 13, 2018 20:42:52 GMT
I've sat in BB43, which is side balcony, D3 and E20 in the dress circle. Personally I would go for the extreme sides of the dress, at the extreme sides there are no pillars and the view is really goodfpr the price. The balcony was horribly uncomfortable (I actually knelt infront of my seat for most of the performance) and unless you're comfortable with extreme leaning the view isn't that great. (All of these were for Wicked as well)
Also yes the seats are extremely creaky on all levels.
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 12, 2018 10:50:10 GMT
Jersey Boys matinee in Newcastle Theatre Royal yesterday. Except for the usual people who sing along and really annoyed me and one woman who kept standing up to dance in the corner of my eye.
However my favourite was a group of 3 women who swanned in at 14:29 and made a fuss someone was in their seats. Yes there was someone in their seats, because they showed up a week late. Held up the show starting while the kind box office staff found them somewhere to sit.
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 11, 2018 7:29:03 GMT
If it's possible for the set to fit into Newcastle Theatre Royal I'd like to see them play there instead of Sunderland. Even though a return to Sunderland probably isn't like because I think it's the worst sold venue on this tour
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 2, 2018 22:37:37 GMT
The two US tours of Hamilton have 2 revolves each, while the show is performing at one venue, the revolve is being set up at the next. Also it works in that you are pretty much putting a stage on top of the stage. I don't believe you could have Hamilton without a revolve, honestly it's pretty integral to the direction and flow of the show.
So maybe if we ever get a UK Tour of Hamilton, it will be after one of these US tours has ended for the set to be reused.
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 1, 2018 23:33:58 GMT
This was hard.
5) Raise you Up/Just Be - Kinky Boots 4) Let It Go - Frozen (specifically the broadway version) 3) Do You Hear The People Sing? - Les Mis 2) Defying Gravity - Wicked 1) So Much Better - Legally Blonde
I saw Defying Gravity appearing a lot but honestly, when you've had a rubbish day there is nothing better than the rush up to the 'So if you care to find meeeee, looooook to the western sky'
I'm just a sucker for a self-empowering belty woman.
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 1, 2018 20:40:19 GMT
Predictably my twitter is sophizoey, mostly wicked and complaining, occasionally witty and and even more occasionally clever.
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 1, 2018 9:24:09 GMT
Heard rumours from people who work at theatres that Phantom might be going back out after Les Mis. No word on if it was orginal or restaged.
Also that Wicked might have a 3rd UK tour provisionally booked to start in late 2019/2020
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Post by sophizoey on Jul 30, 2018 8:59:38 GMT
I always took Elphaba to be at least 5 years older than Nessarose. After the whole green thing, I can't imagine Witch's Father and Mother in a rush to have more children. However the age gap between Alice and Sophie really shows and everytime I've seen Sophie with Laura and not Alice it works better, because they are slightly closer in age.
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Post by sophizoey on Jul 30, 2018 8:31:20 GMT
I'm currently en route to Darlington on my day off work to see some of my family that live in England. Have to say the free LNER wifi in Standard class is working well enough to catch up on the board! As mentioned above though these trains really are ancient now and don't give a smooth ride. Was also shocked as I can usually travel in first class for only slightly more money on a weekend...not the case today! I actually found a few weeks ago a first class advance ticket was cheaper than the standard class ticket, which has ended up being free because the train was delayed ... a lot.
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Post by sophizoey on Jul 30, 2018 8:28:19 GMT
I saw this yesterday, and okay while it is plot light. I took a huge theme of motherhood from it. Sophie making her mother proud, Donna's mother returning, Donna becoming a mother in the flashbacks and other things you'll know if you've seen the film. Yes it starts and ends in the same way as the first one but that's intentional. Standout performance for me was Jessica Keenan Wynn, she just was Christine Baranski, however many years ago this was supposed to be.
Lily James reminded more of Sophie than Donna. I suppose thats good casting though, because Donna in the flashbacks is supposed to be around the same age. Despite the glaring timeline issue.
Also When I Kissed the Teacher was a HUGE hit with me. If my graduation from Durham University is not every inch like that we have an issue.
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Post by sophizoey on Jul 29, 2018 12:38:59 GMT
David is older than Sophie. Really because I'm not going to lie in some of those press shots (especially the one where Fiyero and Glinda are standing on the bridge) he looks like he could be similar in age to me and I'm 19.
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Post by sophizoey on Jul 28, 2018 9:32:54 GMT
I've just found out that Sunderland are playing at home the day I'm seeing the tour there... . That will be fun on the Metro back to Newcastle. (Oh, who am I kidding? Which Sunderland fans would be travelling to Newcastle after a match?) Literally none Sunderland and Newcastle have a fierce, fierce rivalry. The few you'll bump into will be Newcastle fans going to laugh at the fact Sunderland are in League 1 now.
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Post by sophizoey on Jul 27, 2018 22:04:08 GMT
The covers for the sisters is a bit confusing I think. Does one person cover all three sisters, Peggy/Maria is cover Eliza, and the ensemble/standbys/alternates/swings do Angelica and cover the other two? The pattern that has emerged in most Hamilton companies is a Standby for all three, and understudy for all three and additional Peggy/Maria cover and becoming more common among the various companies is Peggy/Maria being an additional Eliza understudy. Meaning Eliza and Peggy usually have three understudies while Angelica has two (in my opinion it is the hardest role of the three so this makes sense). However with the departure of London's current standby if all three principal actors were to be off, which has happened before. There would be no way for the show to go on due to only having one Angelica cover. (Woild also be the only available Eliza cover due to the other Eliza cover being principal Peggy/Maria, who in my scenario is absent) One thing I do know about Hamilton is that they have a Universal Schuyler Standby who is employed by all (5) companies and despite the long flight. This can include the London company if they feel that a possible crisis could be in the happening. I'm sure though Hamilton LDN know this and have a plan in that they are currently rehearsing a standby, or rehearsing one of the current ensemble girls to become an additional Angelica cover.
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Post by sophizoey on Jul 27, 2018 20:54:15 GMT
Marsha has left the company permanently now. Meaning that if all 3 of the principal Schuyler sisters were to be absent right now the show would be have to be cancelled. Until they hire a standby the cover situation is as follows (in cover order)
Eliza: Miriam Teak-Lee (was 2nd cover), Christine Allado (principal Peggy/Maria) Angelica: Miriam Teak-Lee (Marsha would be second cover) (and) Peggy/Maria: (Marsha was first cover) Miriam Teak-Lee, Courtney-Mae Briggs
So they are going to have to decide upon and rehearse a new standby, or atleast cover for one of the Sisters very soon.
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