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Post by stevejohnson678 on Apr 2, 2019 9:31:57 GMT
Booking extended at the Criterion until May 2020.
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Apr 1, 2019 18:36:13 GMT
I'm suddenly interested, with Anna O'Byrne being in it. Booked for the 2nd preview, as £26 seems more reasonable to me than £36 at a fringe venue. I'd booked already but really pleased with this casting news. She was fab in The Woman In White.
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Apr 1, 2019 10:20:24 GMT
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Apr 1, 2019 9:48:10 GMT
I feel sorry for the poor ushers working on the new "pie fight nights" every Saturday evening. "Grab yourself a pie at the interval and find it a soft place to the land in the face of one of your fellow audience members."
I wonder which flavour is best when air-borne?
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 30, 2019 10:23:46 GMT
Tickets for performances from 29th July to 31st August are on sale on Monday.
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 29, 2019 11:35:59 GMT
Priority sale via Nederlander emails Anyone can just go to Dominiontheatre.com and buy now. Well there goes any sense of special treatment from my good friends at Nederlander!
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 29, 2019 11:08:12 GMT
Even through Nederlander, the entire stalls back to and including Row Z are minimum £81 on Fridays and Saturdays with central G-N £96.50. Rows VV-YY are £71 and Row ZZ £61. £7 cheaper for all tickets Monday-Thursday. Minimum £81 on Fridays and Saturdays and £74 on other days (apart from a handful of restricted view seats) for everything in the front half of the Circle too!
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 29, 2019 10:24:17 GMT
Website now live. Tickets on general sale from Tuesday. Priority sale via Nederlander emails as of now. 9-week run starting 6th September.
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 28, 2019 20:53:35 GMT
So over Christmas we might have The Play That Goes Wrong, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Magic Goes Wrong and The Comedy About A Bank Robbery all running in London?!
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 28, 2019 14:49:34 GMT
Is it bad I don't even know who she is? Is this stunt casting? lol I text @ryan and his response was also "who?". She is one of the Sugababes. So we lose the one from Aladdin and gain the one in Big. 😂 Not forgetting there's another in Club Tropicana too! They're like a poor man's Strallen sisters.
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 28, 2019 13:23:43 GMT
Running 15th May - 8th June.
Tuesday-Friday 7:30pm, Saturday 2:30pm and 7:30pm, Sunday 2:30pm.
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 28, 2019 13:17:06 GMT
This is on at the Salford Lowry 3rd - 7th December. Currently on sale to members only. 6pm Six and 7:30pm Peter Pan Goes Wrong on Thursday 5th December is rather tempting!
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 28, 2019 10:12:23 GMT
Wish I could make the workshop for Murder at The Gates. We really need Bonnie & Clyde or Carrie to be staged at The Other Palace. Evelyn as the lead. A nice long run. And the chance for other people to workshop stuff in the meantime.
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 27, 2019 11:57:59 GMT
£20 ticket offer for Monday-Thursday performances in Manchester using code HAIRMCR.
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 25, 2019 8:37:28 GMT
Incredible double standards. People are not born gay but she is born homophobic?!
Just not quite homophobic enough to turn down this role, obviously.
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 17, 2019 10:20:10 GMT
Yesterday - Rags (Hope Mill Theatre) Tuesday - Wise Children (Storyhouse) Friday - Strike Up The Band (Upstairs at the Gatehouse) Saturday - Alys, Always (Bridge Theatre) and The Rubenstein Kiss (Southwark Playhouse)
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 14, 2019 9:15:59 GMT
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 10, 2019 16:43:56 GMT
I caught the pen-ultimate performance of Can-Can which forms part of the Union Theatre's Essential Classics season yesterday afternoon. Interested to hear whether any fellow board members have seen this and what you thought of it.
The show received a one-star mauling from The Stage who lambasted it for being "heinously cheesy" and "groaning with cliches". Other reviews, while mixed, have included a number of four-star write-ups and a couple of five-star raves. The premise of a fun and frivolous new dance musical, adapted from Offenbach’s original operetta Orpheus in the Underworld, sounded intriguing so I decided now was as good a time as any to make my first visit to the new Union.
Overall, I really enjoyed it. Featuring a 17-strong cast, Can-Can follows the Orpheus Theatre troupe and its company of characters loosely based on real-life stars from 1890s Paris.
The central narrative arc, freely adapted from a plot by Sir Arthur Wing Pineroare, is rather flimsy for sure, as we follow the Orpheus' leading lady Jane as she tries to give up the stage for love, only to find herself trapped in the strict, rigid household of the Bontoux banking family with a tyrannical patriarch watching her every move. As forbidden love blossoms only to be torn apart, the Orpheus Theatre is closed down and Jane and her lover Christian find themselves separated as she rejoins the Orpheus troupe as they decamp to England before things inevitably resolve themselves for a happy ending.
Where the production really succeeds is in bringing the world of 1890s French music hall and cabaret to life. A revolving proscenium arch denotes front stage, back stage and the stage door effectively, aided by some sumptuous costumes in the can-can tradition and suitably shadowy lighting.
Making her professional debut, Katherine Peacock sparkles as leading lady Jane Avril, dancing sublimely and delivering a dynamic performance that does the demanding score full justice. There's great work around her from PK Taylor as La Goulue, memorably sniping how "I used to be a tour de force, now I'm just forced to tour", as well as Lauren Wood's Fifi and Sarah Kacey's Francesca as ladies' maids whose stunning operatic vocals and infectious enthusiasm threaten to steal every scene in which they appear. It would be remiss not to also acknowledge Emily Barnett-Salter who imbues the vulgar and sassy Yvette with a delightful brashness.
While the male members of the ensemble are all excellent, one or two of their counterparts in leading and supporting male roles seemed to struggle at times with the ambition and scope of the score. All of the songs are based on Offenbach and his contemporaries' classics, from Strauss' Thunder and Lightening Polka to Victor Herbert's Cuban, many of which have had lyrics written and added especially for this production. Much of the music is performed live by Rosa Lennox and Corinna Marlowe, while a small number of scenes rely on pre-recorded orchestrations.
The star of the piece is undoubtedly the dancing. From a gorgeous, spellbinding ballroom sequence from James Alexander-Chew and Grace Manley, to a passionate and beautiful ballet from Damjan Mrackovitch and Katherine Peacock that's elegantly and expressively performed. It's really all about the full ensemble numbers though, from the chaotic opening sequence as the troupe of performers prepare back stage to the wonderful act one finale, set to Tico Tico by Zequinha de Abreu, as the French police gatecrash the Orpheus Theatre mid-performance and an epic chase ensues.
The choreography by Adam Haigh provides a brilliant, frenzied showcase for the cast as the company fill the stage with exuberant tricks, leaps, kicks and turns, all delivered with extraordinary precision and technique. Inevitably, the show culminates in a spectacular can-can routine which delivered a suitably breathtaking, joyful and triumphant finale. It was completely exhilarating to watch these moments up close in such an intimate setting and particularly impressive that the cast didn't appear inhibited by the limited performance space, even if it did feel at times that those of us on the front row may be at risk of an inadvertent kick in the face!
There's the most to appreciate about Can-Can when it's taken as a fitting celebration of music hall and variety, serving as a fun-filled ode to life, liberty and the pursuit of the stage. The electric energy of the cast and the superb choreography they have to perform do an iconic era and art form full justice. With a musical fart sequence and a healthy dose of theatrical mayhem thrown in for good measure, Can-Can proves to be every inch the high-kicking delight in 2019 that it was when the dance of the musical's title first scandalised Paris and took the Moulin Rouge by storm all those years ago.
Four stars.
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 8, 2019 14:08:19 GMT
I popped onto the Lowry's website just after 10.30am & got a front row seat. Now I just have to hope the trains are running that weekend, the fare isn't too ruinous & there's not a heatwave! Glad you're all sorted! The Quays Theatre at The Lowry is air conditioned so there shouldn't be any issues with heat in the auditorium itself. And there's sometimes open water swimming in Salford Quays if you really need to cool off. 😉
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 7, 2019 21:28:33 GMT
Thanks david & stevejohnson678. I'm only prepared to contemplate trekking all the way up to Manchester (about 4h each way) if I can get a decent seat (i.e. front stalls) & as I'd only be able to do a Saturday matinee I'm worrying that all the decent seats might have already gone. All seats in the front five rows are currently still available for the 2pm matinee on the Saturday.
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 7, 2019 20:23:11 GMT
Does anyone know how long members get priority booking for at the Lowry before public booking? I'm contemplating finding out where Manchester is... Usually 24 hours though there are exceptions. Most weeks it's members' priority on Thursday and general sale Friday so I'd expect public booking to open tomorrow morning from 10am. All stalls seats are £38.50.
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 7, 2019 19:50:57 GMT
Friday: Cirque Éloize: Hotel Saturday: Can-Can and Waitress
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 7, 2019 16:45:44 GMT
Thanks for the heads up. I was going to book for a london show, but since its at the Lowry and there is a Sunday show, I'll be booking for that instead as I'm in Manchester for a theatre weekend anyway so I get to save the valuable london xmas theatre slot for something else. I'd already booked for the Vaudeville when The Lowry's email came through announcing Magic Goes Wrong was on priority sale to members. However, the dates in August coincide with when I'm at the Edinburgh Fringe so it's still worked out okay. Envious of those who get a mischievous sneak peak a few months before the rest of us though!
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 7, 2019 15:54:45 GMT
Previewing 6th-11th August at The Lowry too.
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 7, 2019 13:09:23 GMT
I mean, Daniel Buckley is in the cast. I'm there.
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 7, 2019 10:58:35 GMT
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 5, 2019 14:57:26 GMT
From a student production at the Edinburgh Fringe to WhatsonStage award winners and Olivier award nominees in barely eighteen months is one heck of an achievement for all involved!
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 4, 2019 11:24:31 GMT
Doesn't seem to be selling well at The Lowry either, sadly. A week on Friday, for example, the Stalls in the Lyric Theatre are maybe a fifth full, the Circle at 10% of capacity, while 11 tickets seems to have been sold for the Upper Circle.
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 4, 2019 9:41:27 GMT
What a shame that despite last night's deserved award this won't be transferring. It merited a London run far more than Aspects of Love and would have been a great fit for Southwark Playhouse.
I'm gutted the iconic suspended parallelogram didn't win the WhatsOnStage award for best set too.
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Mar 4, 2019 9:37:16 GMT
With the new seating blocks, depending on what colour block you selected at the time of purchase, you get the corresponding coloured card and get called up by colour. Is there no longer priority for entry given based on who visited the box office first and everyone with the same colour card now goes in together? Will be nice to be able to show up just 20 minutes beforehand rather than waiting round for an hour or more if they've stopped letting in the audience in batches of 50 based on who arrived first.
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