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Post by emsworthian on Apr 8, 2024 13:07:14 GMT
I have been reading Count Binface's manifesto. Among the proposals is for loud snacks to be banned from theatres. I don't live in London but if I did I might be tempted to vote for him.
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Post by emsworthian on Apr 8, 2024 13:05:05 GMT
Another vote for This House from me, although I saw it as a Live Event rather than NFT at home. Also, I loved London Assurance. I can make myself laugh just by thinking of Fiona Shaw as Lady Gay Spanker.
I've also seen the Habit of Art, Hansard, Leopoldstadt and Beaux Stratagem. All interesting but my favourites were the two above.
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Post by emsworthian on Apr 4, 2024 8:52:19 GMT
This is more of an almost awkard encounter. When I went to see Sir Ian McKellen as King Lear at the Minerva, Chichester, Sir Tom Stoppard and his wife were in the audience. As I was leaving the theatre, Sir Tom and his wife were right behind me. I heard him say: "May I introduce you to my wife Sabrina?" For a split second I thought he was talking to me and I nearly made a complete prat of myself by turning round and saying: "Hello".
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Post by emsworthian on Feb 15, 2024 18:54:36 GMT
Interesting artwork. I'm not suggesting that it is, but it feels more set in WWII / The Blitz than Victorian London. It still says victorian in the description, but I'd actually be more interested in a ww2 set Oliver I'm afraid I disagree. The CFT production of Sweeney Todd moved the action from Victorian times to WW2 and I felt it didn't add anything.
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Post by emsworthian on Feb 15, 2024 11:35:21 GMT
I'm looking forward to Coram Boy and The Cat And The Canary (I saw the film with Bob Hope when I was a child and loved it). Redlands sounds intriguing. I hope they've cleared the script with Nigel Havers as he has always struck me as a prickly character.
My reaction to "The Promise" was the same as Jan's above and that was before I learnt the Donmar was doing a similar themed play. Also, I am tired of re-imaginings of Chekhov, Ibsen and Strindberg plays by contemporary playwrights. Can't they come up with their own original plots?
I'll probably go to see Oliver! with my son.
I would have liked to have seen one classic in the programme. Unless they consider the Pinter is the classic.
I'm moderately interested but not ecstatic.
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Post by emsworthian on Jan 13, 2024 7:39:32 GMT
Isn't Miss Julie quite a short play? I saw it at the Minerva some years ago in a double bill with Black Comedy. Is Laura Lomas going to write another play to go with it?
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Post by emsworthian on Dec 30, 2023 9:58:45 GMT
Is Damian Lewis still being eyed for this?
I hope not. I have only just recovered from him mudering the National Anthem at one of the Grands Prix.
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259 posts
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Post by emsworthian on Dec 18, 2023 7:46:09 GMT
I saw his production of "Copenhagen" at Chichester a few years ago. He was 90 when he directed it.
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259 posts
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Post by emsworthian on Nov 23, 2023 9:54:16 GMT
They should also chuck in Pirates of Penzance and call it the orphan season?
Plus "Annie"?
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259 posts
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Post by emsworthian on Nov 12, 2023 12:54:16 GMT
I saw this at Chichester yesterday and enjoyed it immenseley. I did wonder if this was because I am in, or approaching, the age group theoracle referred to (Yes, we do still get out and about and enjoy life). I wouldn't say the material was dated. It reflects a bygone age but then so do the plays of Coward, GB Shaw, etc. etc. I endorse the praise for Jack Bardoe but I'd also like to put in a word for Eleanor David as the Mother; she was in a role that was easy to overlook (as indeed are carers in real life.)
It made me realise how much I miss John Mortimer and Rumpole of the Bailey.
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Post by emsworthian on Oct 22, 2023 8:18:38 GMT
As I was leaving "A View From the Bridge" at Chichester yesterday, from the couple behind me: Man: "It didn't make sense. Why didn't he want to go to the wedding?"
I mean, where does one start to explain?
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259 posts
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Post by emsworthian on Oct 22, 2023 8:16:36 GMT
I caught this yesterday at Chichester. Like David, who saw this at the Octogon, Bolton, this was a play I hadn't seen before and I found it tense right from the start. Some great performances.
One trivial quibble; on the side of the stage was a record player and radio, which is switched on quite early in the play. Later in the play, another radio/record player appeared towards the back of the set and this was switched on. Why the two radios/record players? It doesn't really matter but it bugged me.
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Post by emsworthian on Oct 15, 2023 9:25:49 GMT
I eventually caught up with this yesterday at the Kings Theatre, Southsea, having booked to see it at Chichester early 2020 on what turned out to be the night of storm Brendan when local trains were cancelled.
I went to the 4 pm performance and, as other have commented, there were lots of primary school age children. Many of the little girls were wearing plastic crowns or coronets, which was cute, but as has been noted, made me uneasy with some of the lyrics. There were loads of teens and the merchandise was selling well.
It was a full house and no bad behaviour to report but with all the cheering and whooping there were times when I felt I was at the meeting of a cult, of which I am not a member.
I have mixed thoughts about the show. I love the title song and enjoyed "Heart of Stone" but I thought the other songs were a bit meh. The performers gave it their all but I think my main problem with the show's concept; to me it tried to be clever-clever and succeeded only in behing sixth-formish. Towards the end when one of the Queens asks: "Who knows the name of Henry VII's wife?", I felt like shouting out: "Elizabeth of York". The plot, such as it was, felt very contrived; the "competition" and then at the end the feminist point which ignores facts from history.
I'm sorry if this makes me a pedantic bore. I am pleased that others loved it but I'm afraid it wasn't for me.
Perhaps this belongs to the Theatre Amnesty thread in general chat but noting how well the merchandise was selling at the theatre, I wondered if, when a musical goes on tour, the theatre takes a percentage of mercahndise sales. Can anyone tell me, please?
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259 posts
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Post by emsworthian on Oct 15, 2023 7:04:30 GMT
Thanks for that review, Meister. I was wondering about seeing this as I'm interested in politics but I saw "Six" yesterday in Portsmouth and I'm going to "A View From The Bridge" in Chi next week so it will be good to give my wallet a rest.
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Post by emsworthian on Aug 14, 2023 9:21:56 GMT
Just musing on name recognition. There are also some who crop up who I remember from the ALW programmes. Or sometimes I'll recognise people's names if they do concerts (especially radio ones) or the musical Proms. If you 'only' do long-running shows back-to-back then you probably do end up with less name recognition? Also "well-established MT performer excellent in another role" isn't that exciting a story. You're more likely to get a story with somebody new being catapulted to fame — even for Cinderella with Carrie Hope Fletcher the newspaper story I remember is "ALW picks somebody who auditioned as a dancer to be star of new show". There does seem to be a big gulf between knowledge of musical theatre stars among those who are MT enthusiasts and knowledge among those who are occasional theatre goers. A man in my book group astonished me when we were discussing musicals at Chichester by saying how good "Singin' In the Rain" had been despite casting "complete unknowns in it." The leads were Adam Cooper and Scarlett Strallen, who I certainly wouldn't describe as complete unknowns. The cast also had Michael Brandon and Sandra Dickinson.
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Post by emsworthian on Aug 6, 2023 11:10:50 GMT
Bernstein's Wonderful Town.
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Post by emsworthian on Aug 3, 2023 7:50:50 GMT
Could anyone who've seen it please let me know if Sam Barnett is singing a lot in this? He is the only draw for me, but now reading the reviews I’m not sure if it’s even worth it..
According to my programme, Harry (Sam Barnett's character) sings Sugar Mountain with Anna, Dee, Q and ensemble. With ensemble, he sings Follies of '77. The Hype is sung by David, Kitty, Harry and ensemble. Looney Tunes is sung by Anna, Q, Dee and Harry. Harry, the manager, is a fairly central character.
Hope this helps.
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259 posts
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Post by emsworthian on Aug 2, 2023 10:15:27 GMT
Two stars in the Times, which is about right Two in the Telegraph. Four in The Guardian.
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Post by emsworthian on Jul 31, 2023 8:19:28 GMT
I have awarded it a generous 3 stars. I would have given it two and a half stars but you can't do half stars. I decided to be generous because: The actors playing The Little Ladies were fantastic; I like Sam Barnett; I enjoyed seeing a dress like one I bought from Biba's years ago on stage.
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259 posts
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Post by emsworthian on Jul 30, 2023 9:08:28 GMT
I saw this yesterday afternoon and I agree with some of the points that have been made. It was very LOUD and at first I got irritated by lots of short scenes with actors playing several different roles. About 15 minutes in I was thinking about leaving at the interval. However, by the time the interval came I had started to care about the main characters. I thought the actresses who played The Little Ladies were fantastic.
There have been quibbles about whether the costumes were authentic to the period. I was around in the 70s and from what I can recall (As they say of the 60s, if you can remember the 60s, you weren't there) the costumes did seem authentic. At one stage Q was wearing a maroon dress that looked just like a Biba dress I had in the 70s. I can remember watching "Rock Follies" on TV and loving it but to what extent the theatre production stuck to the plot of the TV series, I am afraid I can't recall.
On the way home, I saw a near neighbour and we discussed "Rock Follies". I said I had found it very loud and sweary and I had thought about leaving in the interval but gradually I started to care about the main characters. She said that exactly the same points were made by the Minister at her local Baptist Church who had preached a sermon on "Rock Follies" (!) The message of her sermon was that we shouldn't judge people on first impressions; everyone has a backstory and we should try to get to know people and understand them.
Anyway, here endeth my lesson for today.
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Post by emsworthian on Jul 20, 2023 11:02:08 GMT
I saw this yesterday afternoon with a packed house. (As has been noted on this board, the matinees are selling well). I thought Gina Beck was fantastic; I also loved her in "South Pacific", although I did find her pregnancy a distraction at times. As for discussion as to whether she was too old for the part, Ye Gods, from where I was sitting(Row J) she could have passed for 30 or possibly younger. She was singing beautifully and prancing around like a mountain goat. In contrast, as theatremiss noted, Edward Harrison as Captain von Trapp sounded like a goat to me. (How I missed Julian Ovenden)
Other points from previous comments: there was criticism of the diction of Ako Mitchell as Max but he sounded perfectly clear to me. A lady I was talking to afterwards said she had problems hearing dialogue fromJanis Kelly as The Mother Abbess. There was one line she spoke which got a laugh which I didn't quite catch but otherwise I could hear her OK. I don't get the comment that Rolf was effeminate, unless you think a boy doing ballet movements is effeminate. (I'm not haveing a go at people who made these comments; I am just giving my alternative viewpoint).
The children were delightful and the nuns' chorus superb. The audience reaction can be summed up by the comment I overheard from one lady as we were leaving: "That went down a treat."
I am going to award it 4 stars. It probably would have been 5 with Julian Ovenden.
PS As we were going through the underpass by the theatre car park, we saw ahead of us a group of teenagers going to the theatre with one lad dressed as a nun. When we went past them as they were standing by the public toilets, a woman (presumably a teacher) was making him take off the nun's outfit. He was in T-shirt and shorts underneath. Seriously, would anyone be offended by a youth dressed as a nun to watch "The Sound of Music"? I just thought it was funny.
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Post by emsworthian on Jul 14, 2023 12:53:43 GMT
There seems to be a divergence between the generally negative reviews on here and the overwhelmingly positive comments about it from audience members on twitter. I'm going next week so I'll ledt you know what I think.
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Post by emsworthian on Jun 11, 2023 8:03:27 GMT
I felt a sense of triumph attending the performance yesterday afternoon as it was the third time I had bought a ticket for "Assassins" and the first time I have made it: first time was for an amateur production, which was cancelled without explanation, then for the Chichester 2020 season.
It appeared a slightly younger than usual Chichester audience and the cheerleaders beforehand whooped them up. A section of the audience was laughing at everything. I've got quite a dark sense of humour but I was shocked when the audience laughed when "Squeaky" Fromme said how she was devoted to Charlie (Manson) "until he went and stabbed Sharon Tate." I'm old enough to remember the slaughter of pregnant Sharon Tate and her companions and how vile it was. I supposed if you hype people up enough then the unacceptable become acceptable. That was the one time when I did start to sympathise with the Sussex Express reviewer.
On the other hand, I did laugh when Charles Guiteau was dancing up to the gallows.
I'm with jr on Nick Holder; I thought his lengthy monologues lacked impact and during the one near the end I became quite bored.
I thought it was an interesting musical and I would like to see a production by a director who takes a different approach, but not in the too near future.
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Post by emsworthian on Jun 10, 2023 9:11:21 GMT
An absolutely scathing review from the local paper has just gone online. From the sound of it the critic was not familiar with the musical and found the whole concept offensive.
I'm going this afternoon. Looking forward to it.
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Post by emsworthian on May 27, 2023 17:00:08 GMT
#DavidMellorWatch Still alive, and cunningly disguised as a homeless tramp with a lot of paperwork under his arm My mother and brother saw him in a garden centre in Dorset a couple of years ago and were amazed how scruffy he looked.
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Post by emsworthian on Apr 29, 2023 11:55:07 GMT
I am old enough to have seen the late great Barry Humphries as the undertaker Mr Sowerbury in the original production of Oliver! Snap! I was taken by my parents as a child with a couple of school friends as a birthday treat. With one of the friends we've been trying to work out which year it was. If it was 1962 then the Artful Dodger would have been Davey Jones (of Monkees fame). If 1963 then it would have been Leonard Whiting (of Zefferelli's Romeo and Juliet).
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Post by emsworthian on Apr 14, 2023 10:13:27 GMT
This is a play that schools regularly put on when I was a schoolgirl but I haven't heard of a production for ages. I have often thought I would like to see it out of curiousity. I'll look out for a production near me on the south coast.
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259 posts
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Post by emsworthian on Feb 16, 2023 16:44:14 GMT
The Kander and Ebb musical "Curtains" is about a production of "Robbin' Hood of the Old West."
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259 posts
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Post by emsworthian on Nov 30, 2022 13:28:29 GMT
I have seen outside the Minerva, Chichester, where the audience sits quite close to the stage, notices that there is smoking in the play but the actors will be smoking herbal cigarettes. I suppose this is in case anyone is worried about the effects of passive smoking.
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Post by emsworthian on Nov 17, 2022 12:10:28 GMT
Apart from the Queen Mother, another example of a part in The Crown being miscast and underwritten was Prince Edward. I only realised who the actor was meant to be by a process of elimination.
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