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Post by Jon on Feb 15, 2024 21:51:20 GMT
A strongly worded letter is not going to hurt ATG and nor would people boycotting their venues. In London, you probably would but much harder to do in other places like Manchester or Liverpool where you end up missing the big tour.
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Post by Jon on Feb 15, 2024 21:46:13 GMT
Oliver! has been revised before, the 1994 production had a prologue added to it by Lionel Bart as well as new incidental music which I think was Cameron's way of giving him royalties since he no longer owned the rights to Oliver! by that time.
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Post by Jon on Feb 15, 2024 11:34:03 GMT
I see that Nigel Havers features as a 'character' in Redlands by Charlotte Jones. Wonder if he'll like that! It's based on his dad defending the Stones so probably he'll be chuffed. Would be inspired casting to cast him as his father,
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Post by Jon on Feb 15, 2024 11:30:45 GMT
Interesting they're going for an older Dodger, I mean it's not much older but having to cast only one saves a bit of dough.
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Post by Jon on Feb 15, 2024 1:14:37 GMT
I do think any actors boycotting ATG would end up hurting producers who would be left with limited venues for their shows.
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Post by Jon on Feb 14, 2024 20:44:07 GMT
A Black Nancy isn't unusual, Sophie Okonedo played the role in a BBC adaptation of Oliver Twist.
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Post by Jon on Feb 14, 2024 20:43:06 GMT
Producer David Pugh - Pride & Prejudice (Sort Of) among others - just posted this on X: "Went to the @nationaltheatre tonight to see ‘Till the stars come down’. Paid £65 and couldn’t hear. As it happened it was a signed performance but unfortunately I don’t understand sign language so I went home." Wonder where he was sitting, I went and sat in the cheap seats and heard every word. The cynical side of me wonders if he wants a freebie from the National.
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Post by Jon on Feb 14, 2024 19:13:46 GMT
Jodie is rumoured to be in the MCU Fantastic Four. Just been confirmed that Vanessa Kirby got it instead! I did say rumoured TBH Vanessa Kirby will be great as Sue Storm.
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Post by Jon on Feb 14, 2024 1:44:06 GMT
I’m not familiar with this play at all but Jodie Comer posted it on her Instagram stories earlier today. She doesn’t have much in the pipeline and I saw an interview recently where she said she was currently ‘unemployed’. Of course she could have just posted in support of the producers after Prima Facie. Jodie is rumoured to be in the MCU Fantastic Four.
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Post by Jon on Feb 14, 2024 0:10:12 GMT
Okay, so you have a point with the ATG membership this time round - that was sh*tty and they should have done it better. Systems crash though - it happens all the time when big music gigs go on sale. It's a fact of life. But I have absolutely no issue with inflating the ticket prices during the presale. It's dynamic pricing. It's been with us for decades. The show was going to sell out today, so rather than inflate the prices tomorrow (like starlight did for example) they had to do it today or they wouldn't get the additional money (and dynamic pricing is built into a budget). I know that's an unpopular opinion, but the pricing for this (before and after the dynamic pricing) in my eyes is very reasonable. Honestly, I didn't think it was too bad considering it's Tom Holland. Plaza Suite was a lot more expensive. Everyone uses dynamic pricing, even places like the National Theatre which upped prices for sold out shows like The Motive and the Cue once the reviews came in. All the complaints here are echoed every time a big tour goes on sale via Ticketmaster. In America, fans have started legal action over it. ATG aren't going to get sued, the Ticketmaster situation is completely different plus it's very expensive to go to court and unless you have a number of people willing to cough up then it won't happen.
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Post by Jon on Feb 13, 2024 13:40:16 GMT
People do realise ATG is a commercial business? I'm not defending them using dynamic pricing but they've done this for other shows so it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.
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Post by Jon on Feb 13, 2024 10:53:11 GMT
Look Back in Anger is one I wonder if it'll have a name for Jimmy.
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Post by Jon on Feb 13, 2024 8:54:12 GMT
Maybe it’s the shocker of Plaza Suite- but £145 top price seems reasonable now 🤣 For a play it's expensive but TBH I've seen much higher premium seats.
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Post by Jon on Feb 13, 2024 8:50:39 GMT
In all seriousness, I think there is ground for ATG+ members to take legal action here. The amount of times things have not gone in members favours when they pay a premium for the service is simply not ok. I think the chances of them getting sued is very unlikely. The membership isn't just for getting early access so you wouldn't have a leg to stand on.
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Post by Jon on Feb 13, 2024 8:48:53 GMT
Booked a stall ticket at £95 in May.
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Post by Jon on Feb 13, 2024 8:37:59 GMT
The queue seems to be going down quickly.
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Post by Jon on Feb 13, 2024 8:11:12 GMT
6839 for me which isn't too bad.
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Post by Jon on Feb 11, 2024 23:24:06 GMT
Transferring to the palladium at the end of the year That seems very unlikely given they have the panto scheduled and a load of concerts.
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Post by Jon on Feb 11, 2024 23:12:41 GMT
As long as trigger warnings are avoidable for those of us who don't require them, I'm not fussed about their existence. My bugbear is BBFC certificates before a film that I now have to close my eyes for as they regularly contain serious spoilers. Two films in the last couple of years had a major, sudden and unexpected suicide as a late plot twist, and the BBFC certificate text forewarned both. When I complained to them, they doubled down. Despite the fact that their trigger warnings are freely available for those concerned on their website, their expressed view is that warning everyone watching the opening of a film that suicidal themes will follow is more important than not spoiling the film for everyone else. I'm not sure why you complained to the BBFC, they're not going to listen to one person complaining about spoilers.
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Post by Jon on Feb 10, 2024 23:10:54 GMT
Saw this tonight, enjoyed a lot of it, especially everything Paul Hilton related. Some spoilers follow. . . The set in the first half is some kind of Brechtian thing, hard lit despite no visible skylight, with all sorts of revolutionary graffiti on the walls, the least appealing of which was an exhortation to kill the Buddha (too chill I suppose). The blocking also doesn't lend itself to a believable intimacy among the characters some of the time. I recall how lovely the intimacy was in Jessica Brown Findlay's Hamlet, where she played Ophelia opposite Andrew Scott, and the two of them together just won my heart. Could have used a bit more believable humanity, a bit less Brecht, as I feel you've got to really buy the humanity before it gets threatened by the plot, even if you suddenly go Brechtian later (which it does, very effectively). On that human note, I really loved Vilberg Andri Palsson, standing in for the indisposed Zachary Hart as Billing, a character I haven't really paid attention to in the past: his earphones-on, gentle, vacant, morally-malleable long-hair was spot on recognisable from every student common room everywhere lol. I like music, and the live music did serve to humanise the characters somewhat, even as it slowed down the plot. I wished Matt Smith would sing his "American Psycho" numbers instead though, but that's just me (I loved that production so much lol!) This production has an embarrassment of good acting talent, so Nigel Lindsay as a capitalist ghoul and Priyanka Burford as a compromised liberal are good fun. But it's Paul Hilton's antagonist, Peter Stockmann, who really stood out for me: the weaselly gelatinous jibbering of a Jacob Rees Mogg contained beneath a steely, aggressive Dominic Raab surface. Hilton makes every scene he's in come alive, regardless of the staging. Matt Smith rules in the second half, especially when he gets Hulk angry. Never having attended a political event, it makes me realise why people do it, the lure and electricity of being shouted at. Anyhow, against a witty comment from a probable plant, many members of the audience did pipe up in the interactive bit, which used mics, and involved comments from all areas of the theatre. I know they were real cos they failed to address what speech they were actually reacting to, and just got indignant about the plot instead. Anyhow, I think this will bed into a 4 star show, but at this early stage, it's more like 3 and a half stars. What was the witty comment? You can put it in spoilers if you like.
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Post by Jon on Feb 10, 2024 23:02:46 GMT
Tonight's unmasking was good although has Air Fryer aka Keala Settle always spoke with an English accent?
The clues for Cricket confirmed for me that it's Lemar
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Post by Jon on Feb 10, 2024 12:00:01 GMT
Am a massive Steps fan. Absolutely the gay soundtrack of my early 20's! Got all the albums. Seen all the tours. I rather suspect this will be every bit as dreadful (both audience and plot wise) as I Should Be So Lucky but couldn't not be there and have bought tickets for Birmingham. Have the Alexandra ever launched a musical before? It's not exactly known like Curve, Manchester theatres or various other regional houses for launch and tech-ing? Also slightly unusual that no further dates announced! I think because Steps were parts of 90s nostalgia and they had some great songs, the interest is there although I suspect the appeal is UK limited. I remember watching the documentary about their reunion years ago and it was interesting to see what caused the split and now they all much happier.
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Post by Jon on Feb 10, 2024 11:28:05 GMT
The one that nobody remembers who won Pop Star to Operastar on ITV. Vanessa? Great voice, not a lot else. It's interesting that all the other Saturdays had fairly successful post careers but not Vanessa.
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Post by Jon on Feb 9, 2024 13:06:01 GMT
I suppose it depends on how you define success. I don't think transfers (and they had some of those) are the only way to define it. A play like The Convert, a flawed but interesting play by a writer new to me at least, got mainly 4 and 5 star reviews, had a great cast and I was glad I saw it. My daughter and I both thought Jesus Hopped the A Train was a theatre-going highlight of that year - beautifully directed and performed, with a richness of language you don't always see on the stage. I thought both of those were more interesting plays than Best of Enemies, which did transfer. I always think defining success by the number of transfers is flawed because a show might not transfer for a number of reasons.
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Post by Jon on Feb 9, 2024 11:39:33 GMT
I always thought of the Young Vic as doing a mix of new writing, revivals and classics, regardless of what it's founding mission was. During (I think) Lan's regime there were very good classic productions like The Glass Menagerie and Faustus, with a mix of American plays and new writing. He was apparently particularly proud of bringing more dance, opera and music to the programming. During the recent leadership there were successful reworked classics like Twelfth Night, Death of a Salesman and the American transferred Oklahoma. I am not sure a theatre could run solely on the brief of classics to young audiences - also something that other theatres like the NT and Orange Tree do as part of their remit. The Roundabout Theatre Company in New York mainly does revivals but has branched out into new plays. I do think a theatre company that only does revivals would be very limiting.
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Post by Jon on Feb 9, 2024 1:49:18 GMT
I want to know: What the responses were like? I imagine fairly tame but I could envision someone getting a bit carried away
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Post by Jon on Feb 9, 2024 0:47:18 GMT
If I were Rob, I'd cut ties with the producers after this shambles.
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Post by Jon on Feb 8, 2024 21:15:32 GMT
Pre-covid I thought he did a pretty good job and the programming was strong,for example, Twelfth Night, Jesus Hopped the A' Train, Death of a Salesman.They also kept the ticket prices down so that you felt like you could take a punt on something you weren't sure about. I didn't begrudge my visit to see Collaboration for a tenner. I recently watched the NT at 50 on NT live and at the end of it, if I did my counting right, there was an excerpt from one play by a woman, Alecky Blythe's London Road, and one by a black playwright, Kwame's Elmina's Kitchen. There were THREE excepts from plays by David Hare, which IMO were the lowlights of the evening. Seeing it, it was hard notto think that there were certainly must be more interesting voices out there, so it's worth theatres trying to find those voices - something that I think Lynette Linton has done very well at the Bush. I also thought her direction of Blues for an Alabama Sky at the NT was very good and shows she can handle a big stage. Whether she would want the headache of the Young Vic is another question. Is the Young Vic really a headache compared to other theatres? I think Kwame's tenure has been solid enough, maybe not as strong as David Lan's tenure but he's had plenty of hits.
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Post by Jon on Feb 8, 2024 18:45:06 GMT
I think after their tenure at The Bush and after being first choice for The new Royal Court Artistic Director position, if they want it, this is Lynette Linton and Daniel Bailey’s for the taking. O'Riordan’s taste feels a little too conservative for The Young Vic. Yeah up until very recently I would have agreed but maybe the YV now would be looking for someone a bit more conservative for financial reasons, their recent programming has looked that way - I mean that plain vanilla Pinter revival was quite a surprise. Plus I think it would be a mistake to put purely new play ADs into a venue which is not solely a new play venue - O’Riordan is better suited to the type of programming David Lan succeeded brilliantly with. I disagree, I think Lynette Linton would be able to freshen things up and likely have revivals. She directed Blues for an Alabama Sky at the National in 2022 as well as Richard III at the Globe so she's done classics and older plays. Rachel O'Riordan as I mentioned would suit The Old Vic better.
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Post by Jon on Feb 8, 2024 16:12:21 GMT
People do realise Disney is more than just movies? They make more money from the theme parks and things like ESPN. So they shouldn’t ever worry about their movies being profitable because they have other revenue streams? There’s a reason that over the next few years we are getting Moana 2, Zootopia 2, Inside Out 2, Toy Story 5 and Frozen 3. Money. They also find themselves in the middle of the “culture wars” and have a reputation that they need to rescue. Bad box office does not help the stock price. I’m looking forward to all of these sequels as I like all of those movies but it’s all coming at once as they need to turn around their box office and get people going back to cinemas to see Disney movies rather than waiting for Disney+ Their films will recover, they always do. You only have to look at the 70s and early 80s where nothing was a success and also the early 2000s where they also struggled as well. They probably leaned too much on the live action side on remakes and Marvel but that can easily be fixed. I think the stake in Epic Games is an indication of what their next move might be. BurlyBeaR Would it be better to move some of these posts to the Moana 2 thread, only because it's only a tad off-topic.
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