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Post by viserys on Oct 20, 2018 4:44:36 GMT
I wonder if there's a tiny chance of it extending after all if there's no demand for the Dominion? Looking at the seating plans, the Mon-Wed Eves look dire, but the weekends are looking really good, sales-wise, so maybe it's finally finding its mojo. Or is that just the effect of announcing its closing that prods people to finally go and see it? Anyway, would love a tour and I'm sure there's a market. Tour it for a year, then return to the West End
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Post by viserys on Oct 18, 2018 13:24:43 GMT
Whoops. Almost forgot. There's a Hamilton shop across the street from the Richard Rodgers (if you're a fan) and another theatre shop beside the Shubert which is a cool little experience. There is another great theatre shop in New York but I forget the location. Maybe someone here can help? It's a good deal bigger than the one at the Shubert and is on split level? Do you mean Theatre Circle next to the St. James Theatre that's basically two rooms? I really like that one - the front room is pretty much a lot of souvenir tat, but the back room has a great selection of plays and other proper theatre stuff. I once found a play there that even the Drama Book Store didn't have, which pleased me alot. They sell merchandise from almost every show which is handy if you want a particular souvenir brochure or T-Shirt and aren't actually seeing the show. It's much bigger than One Shubert Alley beside the Shubert Theatre. There used to be another theatre shop in the bowels of the Marriott, but I'm not sure if that still exists.
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Post by viserys on Oct 17, 2018 17:33:48 GMT
The view is amazing from the Dress slips for this show! Although daniel has looked and told me apparently the slips aren't on sale or if so, are sold out. I sat in one of the dress circle slips seats for Company last week. For £25 they're excellent value; for £55 maybe not such a great buy. Interesting Well, I still consider myself happy about the bargain and look forward to see it from there.
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Post by viserys on Oct 17, 2018 16:46:59 GMT
What are the seats at the back like? My sister just said she wanted to see this show but neither of us can afford particularly expensive tickets right now! If you book for the extension now, you might be able to get the slip seats in the Dress Circle? I haven't yet seen Company from there, but I sat there for another play some time ago and thought they were fantastic, side view yes, but very close to the stage and the action (and the sixpacks). That said, when I booked for Company eons ago, these seats were 25 pounds and I saw they go for 55 pounds now, so I consider myself very lucky.
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Post by viserys on Oct 16, 2018 18:01:25 GMT
Is there a tour planned afterwards? For some reason an English-language version of Chicago has been scheduled here in Cologne next June and we've had the UK Tours of Cats and (soon) Miss Saigon rock up here as well. My first guess had been the US Tour, but that's still running over there when it opens here. Surely they won't keep the London cast around for a few months just to turn up here briefly in summer?
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Post by viserys on Oct 15, 2018 17:53:04 GMT
I just forked out for two tickets to this in April next year. Strangely, our seats were $159 (Orchestra, Row D in the middle), the two seats directly beside them were Premium at $225 - make of that what you will.
But I find Beetlejuice surprisingly reasonably priced for now and am really looking forward to it. Sophie Anne Caruso was amazing in Lazarus.
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Post by viserys on Oct 13, 2018 14:51:10 GMT
I always thought they were knock-off Jimmy Choos, though I don't know if we're meant to think Miss Hedges assumed the kids wouldn't realise, or if she herself doesn't realise they're not the real deal. I think the former?
There's a line (after Miss Hedge tells Jamie he cannot go to prom in a dress), where he goes "look at Miss Hedge in her knock-off Jimmy Choos, she's just jealous" (as per the text book, which I have). So they might be.
That said, I think it wouldn't be impossible for a teacher to save up for something like this. A friend's teenage daughter here saved for ages for a designer hand bag, because... well, it meant a lot to her for some reason. Others spend an unholy sum on trendy basketball sneakers, the latest smartphone or... theatre tickets. So while it seems weird for a teacher to be fixated on glamourous shoes (especially in school, where she'd spent a lot of time standing up), I'd just put it down as a quirk or some deep-seated longing for a more glamourous lifestyle, but yea, it's a slightly over the top portrayal of a teacher.
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Post by viserys on Oct 11, 2018 14:25:21 GMT
The Great Ocean Road is unmissable
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Post by viserys on Oct 11, 2018 5:53:40 GMT
I'm putting this here, because I don't know where else to put it and don't know if it's worth starting a new thread for. I've been pretty upset by the closing notice of Bat this week and I've noticed the discrepancy there between very well sold weekend performances and badly sold weekday performances. Something I've seen at other shows, too, when poking around the booking sites.
So this morning I suddenly wondered if the whole "playing all week" system might just not work anymore. It stems from a time when people had very little entertainment at home, so had to go out for movies, theatre, music, etc. Today most people have massive entertainment opportunities at home - movies and streaming services on big screens, the internet, computer games and so on.
At the same time work life has become more and more demanding, longer hours, more stress, long commutes, etc. and I guess many just don't feel up for a night at the theatre after a long work day, with the commute still ahead in the late evening, getting up early again next morning, especially when they know they can kick back with some good TV or a game at home instead. I've found that when I catch a mid-week show here at home, I can't fully enjoy it the way I can a weekend performance, because I often have work-related stuff on my mind. I also don't want to get home too late, because I need to be up early next morning. I still do mid-week here, because prices are lower for mid-week performances than for weekends and there's a conveniently early 6.30pm performance once a week. If it cost the same and started the same time (like in London) I know I'd book Fridays or Saturdays instead though.
Long-runners like Wicked, Les Mis, Phantom, etc. probably profit more from tourists that are in London mid-week, while new musicals and plays need to rely more on a local audience and it makes sense to me, that these people would prefer a Friday or Saturday for a nice evening out. I don't know if there's a solution though, I know all the arguments against Sunday performances and I don't know if it's feasible to just cut at least Monday and Tuesday completely or maybe lower prices mid-week/do earlier start times to attract the post-work crowd. Or if I'm totally wrong about this anyway.
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Post by viserys on Oct 10, 2018 13:09:07 GMT
Does Rob Houchen count as a "known" then? I had never heard of the guy until two months ago when I bought the Broken Wings-CD and then saw him in Eugenius two weeks ago - a small show in a small fringe theatre. I'd still classify him as a relative unknown deserving of a big break.
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Post by viserys on Oct 10, 2018 9:48:22 GMT
Maybe if it had been able to go straight to the Dominion last September it could have run a bit longer, who knows? I wonder about that, too. It really struggled in the first months with the heatwave and the world cup, then seemed to pick up for a while, but advance bookings for the next few months were dire. They must have hoped for more there, as the dark grey autumn months and the pre-christmas period with tourists, christmas shoppers and company outings should have meant better business. I know that Coliseum+Dominion put together meant a full year-run in big houses and that's certainly not bad, but how this didn't last further when WWRY managed ten years and there's such a big demand for a glorified tribute act like Tina - the Musical, is beyond me. I would have thought BOOH would become the go-to-show for all those who aren't really keen on musicals and were looking for a fun night out with glorious rock music. It was a niche they had pretty much for themselves.
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Post by viserys on Oct 9, 2018 18:28:16 GMT
Well, not exactly a huge surprise or shock considering the weak advance sales, even though I kept hoping it would be "enough" to keep running. I'm now very glad that I went all-out crazy in summer with more frequent trips to London to cram a few Bats in and I'll see it at least once or twice more before it closes.
But I just fail to understand how this show with so many dedicated fans and such great audience reactions every time I saw it, didn't do better and couldn't even manage a full year when so much dross runs for years. I honestly don't think it was successful enough to justify a tour in the UK. They'll do the US Tour and hopefully sell decently over there and I guess that'll be it.
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Post by viserys on Oct 8, 2018 18:05:13 GMT
I just got back from seeing this. I would agree with the other posters that the first hour is by far the best part - after that I started checking my watch every so often. The leap from budding newcomer to grammy-nominated pop princess came too fast for me and I also didn't like that Gaga's Ally changed from a fairly natural-looking young singer to this super-glammed up look, practising dance routines and so on, I'd rather see her stick with a country music trajectory or something. But I suppose the "pop princess" à la Beyoncé (and indeed Lady Gaga herself) is currently the best a female performer can aspire to.
Always been a fan of her and I thought she was terrific and worth seeing this for. Cooper was okay as an actor for me, but as a director I would like to see him hung, drawn and quartered for over-use of the shaky handheld camera. It doesn't lend "authenticity" or "edginess" to a movie as directors seem to believe, it just gives me a headache.
Figures that the only one I recognized apart from the two leads was the kid from Hamilton.
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Post by viserys on Oct 7, 2018 17:55:07 GMT
I'm so here for Adam Pascal returning to London.
Pretty Woman will be plastered all over Europe with Stage Entertainment as a producer.
From the very early word of mouth King Kong doesn't look like it will set Broadway on fire (no pun intended), so I doubt it will transfer.
No one know if Beetlejuice is any good yet, but it's on top of my (very short) list for my own Broadway trip next spring because I love the source material and Sophie Anne Caruso was amazing in Lazarus.
With Comet getting productions in Japan and Brazil, I hope there's still a chance for that one to turn up, I now kick myself for having missed it.
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Post by viserys on Oct 5, 2018 12:43:59 GMT
Are you saying that Jamie and Eugenius are not heavily pop-sounding They might well and I'm generally not a fan of modern pop sounds (I'm old) but I find both Jamie and Eugenius more melodic and catchy than DEH, which often sounds overamplified and just noisy. I can't really put it in words, it's just how I feel about the music. How can you explain why one singer/band appeals to you and another not entirely different singer/band appeals not at all? Jamie also has more "typical" musical sounds, like both of the Mom's big ballads "If I met myself again" and "My Boy" which I both love, and the quiet but oh so lovely "It means beautiful". The only quieter tone I can detect in DEH is - as I mentioned "So Big/So Small" when it's finally just a lovely melody and voice. I've been told that DEH doesn't sound quite so overamplified in the theatre, which is one of the things I want to check on. Another thing is simply that Jamie fells like these typically British small shows that just keep plugging on and do good business based on word of mouth, whereas DEH feels so massively overhyped - I am not saying it's a bad show, I just don't think it deserves the adoration it gets, because there's so much potential for it to be better in the way it tells its story or could polish the music and lyrics. When it comes to Jamie, I simply have no idea how it could be bettered, it's just a little gem as it is. (I'm leaving Eugenius out here, because a) the story is quite different from Jamie and DEH and not half as seriously and b) the music is consciously 80s pastiche, which appeals quite a lot to this 80s gal).
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Post by viserys on Oct 5, 2018 8:41:08 GMT
I agree. Also fundamentally, unlike Jamie and Eugenius i find Evan a really unlikable character. But maybe that could change in casting. Anyway i do enjoy at good 3- 4 songs in it a great deal so for say £30 instead of £300 I'm looking forward to it. I agree, Evan doesn't come across as likeable. It might be Ben Platt's portrayal, but I found him massively likeable in Book of Mormon, so I don't know. We'll have to see what someone else does with the part and how it feels live. I still think part of the problem are the songs. I GET what "Waving through a Window" wants to say, but I like neither the melody nor the lyrics. With different/better lyrics, maybe that song would touch my heart the way Jamie immediately touches me when he sings "The Wall in my Head" (similar "this is the situation I'm stuck in" song). Probably a reference you personally won't get, but 'So big/so small' makes me think of 'Small far away' from Father Ted, and laugh in a silly way every time. I know My Lovely Horse, but that's as far as my Father Ted knowledge stretches
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Post by viserys on Oct 5, 2018 8:35:33 GMT
Heathers is a show that attracts a very young female audience. A group that suffers like no other from all the crazy ridiculous pressure exercised through (social) media when it comes to body image. I thought it was fantastic that they cast Veronica with a normal-sized young woman and not a stick-thin waif. If a role-model like Carrie helps just one girl in the audience to accept herself as she is and not fight perceived overweight with ridiculous diets leading to eating disorders and depression, that's fabulous. And I think it matters even more when the character is a "real" high school girl and not some fantasy figure like Elphaba or Elsa.
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Post by viserys on Oct 5, 2018 8:20:02 GMT
But I'm still glad it's coming so I can see it properly, you know not just judge it on the cast recording and weird promo clips That's my thinking, too. For me it's an "okay" musical, something like a decent first try-out that could be polished both story-wise and musically. I don't think I'm too old for it, as I can love "teenage stories" too - I adored both Jamie and Eugenius in London. But I'm not a fan of this kind of noisy pop music (my favorite song by a mile is the much quieter "So Big / So Small"), I think the lyrics are clumsy and the story doesn't sit quite right with me. I just don't get how it could turn into such a crazy hype in New York. However, I am fine accepting that I might be missing somehing here and will be happy to give it a go when it comes to London.
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Post by viserys on Oct 5, 2018 7:19:32 GMT
So, where are the hidden gems/cheap seats in this theatre we all need to pounce when booking opens?
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Post by viserys on Oct 4, 2018 6:38:18 GMT
Would you buy a last-minute ticket at the box office or book ahead? If the former, you could try for it. If the latter - I personally wouldn't risk it. If your flight is an hour late, if the queues at immigration are long, if you just miss the Heathrow Express and have to wait for the next one... all of that would make you late. Don't forget you also need to factor in getting from Paddington to the theatre.
And even if you'd rush into the theatre at 2.55, would you really be able to immediately chill and enjoy the show after a long journey and rush into town? Unless you absolutely want/need to see Matilda and can't accommodate it otherwise, I'd either give it a miss or just try to buy a ticket last-minute when I know I've made it to the theatre in good time and feel awake enough/up for a fairly lengthy musical after the long journey.
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Post by viserys on Oct 4, 2018 5:36:05 GMT
I know it's no consolation but prices are ridiculous in Germany as well - as I couldn't fail to notice yesterday (again). With Foxfinder closing early, I decided to give Tina - the Musical a go to see it while Adrienne Warren is in it. And to sweeten the pill of paying £60 for a ticket, I looked at the seating plan for the German production due to open in Hamburg in spring afterwards. A decent seat in the stalls that was available in London for £85 would cost me £134 in Hamburg. £60 would get you a seat in the very last row of the stalls, nothing more.
But here's the kicker: They're only selling the stalls section of the 1330-seat Operettenhaus, keeping the single circle entirely off sales/closed. Which is a) a very sad state of affairs to begin with and b) doesn't make any sense to me since the seats exist. Why not put the back stalls and the back half of the circle on sale for a lower price to put bums on seats?
The discrepancy is even worse for Bat out of Hell: In London you get the front row for £45 as, while it's certainly "immersive", you also can't really enjoy some of the spectacle, don't see the stage floor, etc. whereas in Germany the front row is extra expensive, setting you back £125. For what you save, you can get cheap flights to London AND get to enjoy the show in English.
Sorry, I know my whinge about Germany doesn't help anyone feeling that the West End is overpriced, but just saying. Broadway is of course in its own league of crazy and this new "pay in instalments" scheme is another sad sign of what I think of as FOMO culture.
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Post by viserys on Oct 3, 2018 16:09:41 GMT
Oh sadness, I had hoped to see it on my next trip over in November. Surprised the starry cast didn't draw more people.
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Post by viserys on Oct 3, 2018 16:04:33 GMT
Didn't I read somewhere that this play had been scheduled for the Dorfman *before* Blanchett's name (and thus massive star appeal) was attached to it?
I would agree that it had made more sense to put it in a bigger theatre, but since I don't really have a horse in this race, I can't get too excited. I might enter the ballot just for the heck of it.
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Post by viserys on Oct 2, 2018 6:03:55 GMT
Even if the puppet isn't broken, it will probably not work as there is no buzz about good songs or anything.
I mean, for all the flaws of the "mega musicals" of the 80s where big special effects like "the falling chandelier", "the helicopter" or "people on roller skates pretending to be trains" mattered a lot, those shows were stuffed to the brim with great tunes and people went in wanting to hear "Phantom of the Opera", "All I ask of you", etc. as much as witnessing the chandelier.
I'm presently trying to make up my mind what to see on Broadway next spring and I feel absolutely no excitement about this one, whereas I'm already sold on Beetlejuice due to the source material and the casting and I'm now getting more and more interested in Tootsie thanks to the positive word of mouth coming from Chicago. A big ape puppet alone isn't going to cut it and I think it was (is) wrong of them to promote only the puppet so far instead of 1-2 really good songs that would also showcase their indubitably talented leads.
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Post by viserys on Oct 1, 2018 5:23:28 GMT
What a lovely little show this is. I saw it on Friday and it just hit all the right buttons for me. The music, the all-around perfect performances and not least all the little lovely nods to the 80s (my decade!).
I think it might just be able to do a "Jamie" and enjoy a longer run in a smaller West End house, if they beefed up the set and tweaked things a little here and there. I don't often walk out of a theatre thinking "I need to see this again" but I'd definitely book for Eugenius again if it came back somewhere.
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Post by viserys on Oct 1, 2018 5:19:21 GMT
Well, the level of fan adoration for this one is really something else, isn't it. I was at the Saturday matinee, when the young fans were out in full force and I've never felt so old in a London theatre before. The Heathers got entrance applause, but so did Carrie on her second entrance (in the blue Heathers outfit), there was quite some whooping during "Dead Girl Walking" and when the boys took their kits off.
I was dealing with a cold and headache, so didn't enjoy the show and the atmosphere as much as I had hope, but that's entirely my (body's) fault and not the show's. I didn't know Carrie Hope Fletcher from her social media activities at all, but I thought she was fabulous and it was great to see a normal-sized girl in a leading part (especially in this show which draws so many young female fans). Most everyone else was great, too, though while I'm fine with twenty-something performers playing teenagers in general, I thought Jodie Steele - great as she was - was just a smidge -too- old to get away with it. Glad I got to see it after all thanks to the transfer and I can't fault a show that brings a new young audience into the theatre!
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Post by viserys on Oct 1, 2018 5:10:40 GMT
Well, I'm just back from a weekend in London an did my bit of fan-ambassadoring, too, dragging @emicardiff along into the Batcave on Saturday evening (sorry about the beer-spilling lady!). The stalls looked pretty much full to me, bar the odd few seats here and there. Almost the whole first cast was on, except Danielle. If the Dominion is say half full, that is still capacity of say a smaller West End house That's actually my favorite argument - if Bat was playing at a regular 1400-1500 seater, it would often be sold-out in the weekends and doing okay business during the week. They don't discount all that much and seem to use TodayTix, TKTS, etc. to fill all these hard-to-shift seats in the back and side stalls and make money on sheer mass alone due to the theatre's size. I'd also suggest that as these are American producers, they just might do things a little differently - Broadway has this system of giving out discount codes (even for shows that do pretty well), which London doesn't to that extent. They've introduced the "singalong" performances (something Mamma mia could have done years ago but no one seems to have thought of it) and unlike every other show that just sells premium tickets at outrageous prices, Bat actually offers fan packages with extra value where you get a goodie bag, a signed poster and free drinks along with your premium ticket. So why not reward the hyper fans if they bring friends along as another creative new marketing tool? It also seems to be fairly normal for American producers to just extend in little chunks, Book of Mormon has been doing it for years. I’ve also wondered if the fact that you have 3 other musicals closing in January may give it a bit of reprieve for a few months. That and word getting around, I presume. It just takes a while for punters to see it, enjoy it, tell their mates, them booking tickets, spreading the word further, etc. And finally, they are now gearing up promotion for the US Tour and Germany will be opening soon, too. I'm sure the producers will want to be flogging it in the US as "is enjoying a successful run in London and now opening on the continent" and not in "folded in London after less than a year". Their pockets are deep, none more than Steinman's and it's a prestige thing for him to see "his Peter Pan Musical" enjoying a good run after decades of wanting this on stage.
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Post by viserys on Sept 25, 2018 15:26:04 GMT
So why not say 'meh it's not for me' like someone else had above you. Perfectly reasonable, as @baemax says, save yourself some money and an evening of theatre. But you do have the story fundamentally wrong, by dismissing it in the way you (repeatedly) do. As several of us have tried to explain. It's a story about strong women and female friendship but you are being blinded by your own prejudice and assumptions that because it looks like a love story it must be terrible. Given you've made that mistake before about shows/films, not listened then been proven wrong (Heathers anyone) maybe stop being so narrow minded? and also stop boxing 'women who wouldn't mind a happy ending thank you on stage or otherwise' with 'stupid women who aren't feminist' because last time I checked wanting to fall in love or indeed watching others do so for the sake of entertainment wasn't a crime.
Great, you're talking up a musical about female friendship while then proceeding to launch a very personal attack on me on a public forum just because I happen to dislike a show you like and call me "narrow-minded" and "blinded by prejudice" or put words like "anti-feminist" and "stupid women" into my mouth? Wow, thanks.
I'm outta here now.
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Post by viserys on Sept 25, 2018 15:08:00 GMT
Christ on a bike, if I had known what it would start, I would have left the word feminist out. I am not going into a big public rant here or explain deeply personal stuff that lies behind my thinking. Feminism has so many different forms, even feminist groups are endlessly fighting among each other and each person has their own pet peeves that set them off.
One of my pet peeves is that there are so few musicals in which women are not either just the sidekick to the male hero or have an agenda that doesn't mostly orbit around men and relationships. I listened to Waitress, I read the synopsis, I decided I didn't like the music or the story, so I'm passing on it.
And my comment on people buying chick-lit wasn't meant in a derogatory fashion, I merely pointed out that there's a huge market for these books, so I assume there'll be a similar market for musicals like Waitress. I'm just not part of it and while I might give the show a chance depending on the casting and good discounts, it's just very low on my wish list.
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Post by viserys on Sept 25, 2018 14:42:33 GMT
I never labelled anyone as anti-feminist.
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