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Post by Dawnstar on Dec 7, 2023 18:35:01 GMT
I thought Amour at Charing Cross worked equally well from both sides, having seen it twice, once from either side. Of course sometimes there were backs of heads but it seemed pretty equal on both sides. The only time I've seen a four-sided show from more than one side was Ayckbourn's Awakening Beauty at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, which I saw twice in one day from opposite sides of the square & I thought that was pretty evenly directed. Of course that theatre should be expert in square stagings as I gather it's always in that configuration. It also takes me out of the experience when I keep seeing the audience on the other side (or every side) and I can't lose myself in whatever world is presented on stage. I find this more of a problem than any issues about a show being directed more to one side, including if one is sat at the side for a thrust staging at e.g. Chichester & The Other Palace.
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Post by Dawnstar on Dec 6, 2023 23:28:24 GMT
I wish they'd announce the cast before booking opens but they're not so I'll have to hope there are still tickets left by the time the cast is announced. I'm not travelling nearly 3 hours each way to Leeds unless there are going to be singers I like in the cast.
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Post by Dawnstar on Nov 29, 2023 22:40:54 GMT
TallPaul Non-existant! (Very few internationally-performed operas in Hungarian, opera listening being how I've picked up most of my limited knowledge of Italian & German.) I saw Jonathan Sayer tweet the other day that there's a production of The Play That Goes Wrong opening in Ukraine. Impressive for a country to tackle that while at war.
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Post by Dawnstar on Nov 29, 2023 17:01:36 GMT
A phrase from the article: "it’s for the lily-livered who can’t hack the gory bits in Titus Andronicus". I for one would never ever walk into a Titus Andronicus but I see nothing wrong with people leaving a performance if they find it too unpleasant. Far better to have people leaving than have them fainting, having panic attacks, maybe even being sick. I've left at the interval for two opera productions which, while not having Titus Andronicus levels of goryness, included things that I found unpleasant (and which were not in the libretto so I couldn't know in advance).
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Post by Dawnstar on Nov 6, 2023 16:57:17 GMT
In my experience, venues that have 15-minute intervals, unless they are really low capacity, invariably run to at least 20 minutes as they wait for the queues for the ladies toilets to clear. I can sort of understand a 15 minute interval over-running but I do find it really annoying that the ROH often has intervals that are 25 or 30 minutes yet they still over-run fairly frequently.
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Post by Dawnstar on Nov 3, 2023 22:24:42 GMT
It means I got it wrong, Dawnstar . I meant it when I said I wasn't an "expert" on the Royal Family lol. Thanks for setting me straight. It's especially helpful as it's too late to edit the original post. Thanks. As I haven't seen the play, I wondered if I had misunderstood something.
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Post by Dawnstar on Nov 3, 2023 18:03:09 GMT
The Queen mother was a Queen before she was a mother Is this meant as some sort of statement of philosophical importance? Because in a literal, chronological sense she certainly wasn't, as her daughters were born in 1926 and 1930 and she didn't become Queen until 1936.
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Post by Dawnstar on Oct 25, 2023 21:17:15 GMT
I was looking forward to Manon, not having seen it live, but it says the director is "fresh from a critically acclaimed Titus Andronicus" which makes me nervous!
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Post by Dawnstar on Oct 23, 2023 21:44:15 GMT
I haven't been since it was still on Shaftesbury Avenue, but I always thought it was a nice little place I was under the impression it was still on Shaftesbury Avenue! Not that I've ever been in it, as I never go into cafes in London.
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Post by Dawnstar on Oct 20, 2023 13:08:37 GMT
I'm quite shocked to read this. It seems so quick, considering she presumably must have been in reasonable health until just before she pulled out of Old Friends, & that was only a few weeks ago.
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Post by Dawnstar on Oct 4, 2023 12:18:42 GMT
The budgetary constraints mean the set is rather cheap looking How about the costumes? The only reason I'm potentially interested in seeing this is if there are lots of stunning recreated Dior frocks!
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Post by Dawnstar on Oct 2, 2023 19:08:24 GMT
And yes let's be pedantic - I don't class The Rivals, and such, as Restoration. Would we label them as Regency? I wouldn't personally, since Sheridan's plays were written before the start of the Regency period.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 29, 2023 15:52:59 GMT
Thank you. I find tweets in posts take a while to show up for me so I probably scrolled past without realising there was a tweet in that post. So A Little Priest does feature.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 28, 2023 23:01:38 GMT
Honestly, whilst it is semi-staged, it is not graphic at all. Depending on quite how easily triggered your reaction is, if otherwise you do really want to see this, why not get an aisle seat near an exit, you can always make a quick quiet getaway if you need to. Content description to help you decide if you can manage it: The Les Mis side set pieces are used to give the impression of Victorian London. Characters are dressed in costume Mrs Lovett chops a small piece of fake meat on a table (which doesn’t move or squish at all, and this is before she meets Sweeney so it’s not depicting human meat) and hits dough/the table a few times as well with some loud thumps. Sweeney flicks a blade around a bit in his hand, he also mimes shaving a customer with it, and mimes cutting the customer’s throat, but there is no blood at all, the customer just goes limp in the chair/closes his eyes. The Sweeney Todd section is towards the end of the first act, it starts after “Send In The Clowns” and there are only two songs after it - “Ladies Who Lunch” which provides a nice rapid change of mood, and then “Sunday” which is done very well, and then you have the interval. Thank you very much for the information. May I ask which songs from Sweeney Todd they perform? I remember watching the TV broadcast of a Sondheim Prom about a decade ago and they did A Little Priest, the lyrics of which I found quite unpleasant. (I have tried looking back through this thread for a number of pages for a list of songs but all I've found is a comment that it's the same as the concert last year, which isn't very helpful when I didn't see that.)
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 24, 2023 12:20:34 GMT
What fulfils that role today? Drunken audience members getting into fights at jukebox musicals?
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 23, 2023 20:35:03 GMT
It would hardly be fair on the rest of the paying audience if I was fleeing the auditorium a minute or two into the Sweeney Todd section though, would it? And yes, that has happened to me before, at a school (non-musical) Sweeney Todd performance. There is a lot to unpack there. It's a show involving murder & cannibalism. I'm extremely squeamish. It's hardly surprising that I can't cope with it. I'd never see Assassins either. Into The Woods is my limit of gruesomeness in terms of Sondheim.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 23, 2023 16:11:19 GMT
Do you know why they do this? Cos Avalon won’t let them announce covers 😒. Given three-fifths of the cast are also members of the creative team, I'm rather surprised they don't push back against the producers & insist on being allowed to post casting information if they want to do so. I mean, it's not like the umpteenth cast of Les Mis or Phantom who are just hired to perform & would have to obey the producers.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 23, 2023 15:56:59 GMT
I hadn't relised this was staged. I thought it was just a concert. Oh dear, that means I won't be going to see it. I can only cope with Sweeney Todd numbers done in concert, not when staged. Your loss then. What a shame to write off the whole thing as a result. It would hardly be fair on the rest of the paying audience if I was fleeing the auditorium a minute or two into the Sweeney Todd section though, would it? And yes, that has happened to me before, at a school (non-musical) Sweeney Todd performance.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 23, 2023 11:22:51 GMT
Productions shots have been posted. There are more photos in the Twitter thread if you click through and scroll down. I hadn't relised this was staged. I thought it was just a concert. Oh dear, that means I won't be going to see it. I can only cope with Sweeney Todd numbers done in concert, not when staged.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 23, 2023 11:09:06 GMT
I was a year out, it was 2015 rather than 2016. I didn't see the 2020 repeat. Likewise I saw the ALNM concert in 2015 but I was unable to see the repeat at Opera Holland Park in 2021.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 22, 2023 17:36:58 GMT
Where can I find out even a little in advance which performers will be on? I'm not sure you can, to be honest. Yes, in terms of publically available information it seems to usually just be West End Covers & sometimes the various cast members tweeting on the day. Sometimes WEC tweets that someone will be on all week, but with this show that's not as helpful as with other shows given the prices rising through the week! Personally I was lucky because I saw Holly at random & then when I spoke to Sean after that performance I asked him about future dates & he told me he had a scheduled week on a few weeks later. (I do know him from seeing him in Mischief shows so it wasn't some random stranger buttonholing him & demanding info!) In terms of wanting to see Natasha, all I can think is to keep checking her Twitter & hope she tweets when she returns to the show. I can also imagine she might make a gradual return, not doing 8 shows a week immediately, so it might be safer to wait for a bit after she returns.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 22, 2023 17:09:18 GMT
Didn't he do a Herman, Styne & some other composer whose name I'm blanking on concert at the Palace in something like 2016? I think I remember going to it. (I'm on a train to London right now so I haven't got my theatregoing list to check.)
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 21, 2023 20:23:30 GMT
I'm very over this now - they're just making it too difficult for people to get tickets that anyone can afford so I'm done 😂 I'm feeling the same after reading the latest ballot email. There's no point in me signing up because even if I win (which I probably won't, as I've only won the lottery once in the several months I've been signed up for it) I'm not prepared to book over 6 months in advance when understudy dates are certainly not being announced over 6 months in advance. I've seen the show once with the full cast & once each with the two understudies I like (Holly Sumpton in 1 of her 2 roles & Sean Carey) so that will have to do me, at least unless/until the producers move to a more reasonable ticketing strategy.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 16, 2023 20:34:12 GMT
I dunno that might be an even tougher sell with its Austrian specific storyline. At least Rebecca is international. The Royal Ballet premiered Mayerling in 1978 and has revived it regularly ever since, most recently last autumn, so there must be some interest in the UK about the 19th century Austrian royal family!
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 13, 2023 17:44:38 GMT
The only scene that failed , was the big ball scene : it looked overworked and over-choreographed and it was tricky to work out the actual story. I may be going mad but I didn't think Pygmalion had a ball scene? I thought there was only the scene after the ball. Admittedly it's some years since I've seen Pygmalion but I've seen 3 productions over the years & I don't remember any of them having a ball; only the My Fair Lady productions I've seen have had one. Has a ball scene been added for this production?
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 11, 2023 10:11:32 GMT
(with a lot of quick changes and clothes over clothes which was probably torture in the sudden heatwave this week, but they didn’t show it) Patrick Warner tweeted a couple of times in the last week about that!
I wish I could see this production but Salisbury & Bolton are both several hours away from me. I saw a different production of the piece in 2020 10 days before the first covid lockdown, with very few people in the audience, & enjoyed it so I would like to see it again.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 10, 2023 11:11:50 GMT
The survey was very money centric geared to the price of tickets It also seemed geared towards the high prices, I was asked about £126 more than once. Not a single mention of Rush, £20 seats or Amex Previews etc. The questions about seating were odd as well. The choices were whether you preferred the back on the side, or the front in the center, but not the front on the side, which I prefer. It sounds quite like a survey the Royal Opera House sent out a few months ago, where the example ticket prices were absolutely eye-watering (even by ROH price standards) & none of the seat options covered the area where I almost always sit. I wonder if both organisations use the same data gathering company.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 9, 2023 12:58:39 GMT
Shout out to anyone (like me) who suffers an anxiety disorder and is wondering why their anxiety and stress is getting worse for no apparent reason - it’s the heat, and it’ll be alright! I'm surprised anyone wouldn't recognise the cause. Personally I am very well aware that the heat is causing me extra amounts of anxiety & stress. If you like the heat its great but a lot of us don't like anything over 25C and our perfect heat is about 20 to 22C effectively shirt sleeve weather. 20C is too hot for me, let alone 30C. My ideal temperature is around 12C.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 9, 2023 10:30:35 GMT
My mother & I seem to experience temperatures completely differently. Conversation just now:
My mother (calling up from downstairs): How are you getting on? Me: It's not exactly cool up here. My mother: I'm about to put a fleece on. Me (melting in shorts & t-shirt): Aaaaaarrrrrgggghhhh!!!!
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 8, 2023 21:27:19 GMT
Unfortunately we have to get through a horrendous-looking two days first. I wish I could get anaesthetised for 48 hours so I didn't have to experience it!
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