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Post by jek on Jan 16, 2019 8:21:11 GMT
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Post by jek on Jan 9, 2019 21:06:00 GMT
Went this afternoon and loved it. Packed with school parties who were crazily noisy but in a good way. Saw Stephen Tomkinson on the tube a few weeks back and realised that he is now a man in his 50s (ie. my age) not the young man he was in Ballykissangel or Drop The Dead Donkey! But the energy he displays in this is that of a much younger man, jumping off the stage and dancing with glee. I was in the side of the stage seats so got the full quota of snow!
Many thanks again to those who alerted me on this board to the HOTTICKET deal. £20 very well spent.
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Post by jek on Jan 7, 2019 10:21:21 GMT
As I write this my daughter is at the Barbican Library doing A Level revision. It's a really good spot for her as one of her A Levels is music and the Barbican music library has pretty much any score that she needs to consult. She can also get there from our house door to door by public transport in half an hour. However, a couple of times over this holiday the library has been so crowded (Guildhall students, local residents, A Level students like her) that she has decamped to the Barbican cinema foyer where she can work and get a cup of tea. She says that there is barely anyone in there. Our local library is so full that she would have to be there at opening time to get a seat. Lack of space to study (needed when so many youngsters don't have a private space to study at home) seems to be a bit of an issue.
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Post by jek on Jan 4, 2019 8:59:43 GMT
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Post by jek on Jan 3, 2019 23:13:50 GMT
Sorry to be a bit dense here but is the hot ticket deal restricted to students/ concessions etc? When I put in the code the cheap offers come up with the designation Culture 1. I don't want to buy one and then get challenged at the theatre for some sort of ID etc. to prove that I am entitled to the deal. Thanks in advance.
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Post by jek on Jan 3, 2019 10:01:43 GMT
Saw this yesterday and really enjoyed it. The interesting thing, I thought, was that the gender swap didn't jar at all. It seemed completely natural. And I say this as someone who saw the Adrian Lester Donmar production and the 2010 concert production, with many of the same cast, in honour of Sondheim's 80th birthday. I also have the Donmar cast recording and so that version is pretty much lodged in my brain. Thought the whole thing was incredibly slick and just felt confident from the opening bars that I could relax in to what was going to be a quality production. Having seen Jonathan Bailey in 'The Last Five Years' I wasn't surprised that he could carry off his part. I have to admit though that the part of Joanne for me stays associated with Hadyn Gwynne who bought a wonderful physicality to it in the 2010 concert version. Thought the whole cast were tremendous - my seventeen year old daughter and I had a good chat on the way home about objectifying men because of Richard Fleeshman!
For what it's worth we were in the centre of row R of the stalls and I thought that for just under £30 a ticket (bought direct from the website) that was a good deal. All that we missed seeing from there was the orchestra. Marianne Elliott was sitting at the end of the row in front of us.
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Post by jek on Dec 17, 2018 14:42:13 GMT
As I have just posted on the Performers and Creatives Thread Daniel Evans was the guest on Private Passions on Radio Three yesterday. Well worth a listen: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0001m2b
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Post by jek on Dec 17, 2018 14:31:11 GMT
Very nice episode of Private Passions on Radio 3 yesterday with Daniel Evans choosing the music and reminiscing about his early life and career. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0001m2b
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Post by jek on Dec 12, 2018 8:22:05 GMT
Interesting how a year on from andromedadench seeing this my response is pretty much identical. Maybe you have to be familiar with the source material to fully understand what is going on. I didn't grow up in the sort of house where a book like this would have been read and I am too old to have watched the TV version (I would have been about 21 when it was shown). The secondary school party (Yr 10 or 11 drama I would guess) sitting around me were all armed with copies of the text and a booklet to fill in and I didn't feel that they were very engaged with the play either - although nothing to warrant an entry in the bad behaviour thread - and the primary school kids I could see from the balcony all sat very still throughout - not necessarily a good sign. There are certainly wonderful moments on stage but it did feel like a long afternoon. I'm glad I went but it wasn't as engaging as I had hoped for. I will, as a result though, seek out some biographical material on Masefield - clearly a fascinating life.
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Post by jek on Dec 9, 2018 9:02:18 GMT
Absolutely green with envy. Booked for this when it was first announced but had to return my tickets last month. That was because it emerged that it clashed with my teenage daughter needing transporting across the country this weekend. So glad to hear though that it is as good as it promised to be and I will keep my fingers crossed for a recording. Anyone going tonight please enjoy it for me!
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Post by jek on Nov 30, 2018 17:07:44 GMT
I'm also a member who hasn't had an email.
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Post by jek on Nov 24, 2018 22:11:12 GMT
I'm considering returning. I do love the play. The music alone is absolutely beautiful. The original song man was terrific. I wish it was all on Spotify! . The current Song Man is Bob Fox a long time folk singer who has been playing the role in War Horse since 2011 (the programme says he is the longest serving Song Man). I was listening to the original cast recording CD this morning and didn't feel that the singing on that was any better.
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Post by jek on Nov 24, 2018 10:56:05 GMT
Saw this last night from the second row of the stalls (the £18 tickets). The first time I saw it was in its original run. I won two tickets in a competition in the local paper (along with a copy of the book and a backstage tour) and took my then 11 year old son (he's 21 now and 6ft 5" - how did that happen?) It was a particularly magical night for us. I later saw it again at the New London with my other two kids and my late mum and again we had a fantastic time. I was therefore slightly apprehensive about whether last night would be a bit of a let down. But it wasn't at all. It still felt like a landmark piece of theatre and I especially enjoyed revisiting the design - the way it veers from bucolic pastoral to vorticist mayhem. Shame the music is no longer played live (ironically the child I took back all those years ago is today a very keen and accomplished trombonist - not something I would have predicted back then) but as someone who grew up singing Irish rebel songs at every family occasion the singing is still something special. Particularly enjoyed the performance of the lad who played Billy Narracott (Jasper William Cartwright) and liked the fact that the actor who played Friedrich (Peter Becker) is a German actor.
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Post by jek on Nov 22, 2018 12:15:39 GMT
I got an error 503 first byte timeout. I realise there is no urgency to this - just happened to be in front of a computer when they sent out the email saying that the ballot was now open.
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Post by jek on Nov 17, 2018 11:02:25 GMT
Danielle de Niese was very good in the London Symphony Orchestra Wonderful Town last year.
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Post by jek on Nov 15, 2018 10:35:50 GMT
For those of us with children born in the late 90's/early 2000's Danny John-Jules will forever be associated with CBeebies, specifically the programme Storymakers in which he played Milton Wordsworth (other presenters were styled as Shelley, Blake, Byron, Rossetti and Webster Wordsworth). I can summon up the theme tune now without even trying.
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Post by jek on Nov 15, 2018 10:00:48 GMT
My 17 year old daughter, a fan of the Hadestown concept album, was thrilled when the NT announced this. She did warn me, however, that it probably wasn't my sort of thing but, as there was no-one else available for her to go to see it with, we trotted off to last night's performance. She was right. This was so not me. It reminded me of something from the 70s (a decade when I hit my teens) partly because Andre De Shields reminded me of Huggy Bear in Starsky and Hutch but also something about the declamatory tone of the piece. But, having said that, I thought it was well done and the audience around me (including my daughter) seemed to be lapping it up. And, unlike with the recent I'm Not Running, I wasn't sitting in my National seat wishing I could be just about anywhere else.
Bonus points for the trombonist Nathaniel Cross. One of my sons is quite a serious jazz trombonist so I know just how good that young man's playing is.
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Post by jek on Nov 9, 2018 11:21:44 GMT
Thank you sophie92 I shall be poised by my computer!
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Post by jek on Nov 9, 2018 8:08:45 GMT
Wonderful news. A quick google tells me that tickets are to go on sale next week. Anyone got anything more exact than that. I don't have southbank membership (much to my teen daughter's annoyance after this week's Michelle Obama ticket shenanigans) so am looking for the date that they go on sale to a general audience.
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Post by jek on Nov 7, 2018 14:44:00 GMT
If you are a Barbican member they are offering a set tour and pre-show talk during the run.
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Post by jek on Nov 5, 2018 22:16:13 GMT
Teenage daughter and I really enjoyed this. Thought it was really touching and the body language of the girls was just perfect. And good to see Stratford East busy on a Monday night.
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Post by jek on Nov 1, 2018 8:00:59 GMT
Thanks for the heads up dani. I'll bear that in mind. I would certainly have been mortified in that situation but fortunately - at least for the girls around me - things seem to have changed a bit for the better. Kudos for this goes in part to organisations like Bloody Good Period which certainly seems to be succeeding in eliminating at least some stigmas. It would still probably be better if she went to see this with friends but - even at a tenner - many of her school colleagues would find buying a ticket a stretch.
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Post by jek on Oct 31, 2018 22:23:48 GMT
Hoping to get to see this as I have a teenage daughter who I think would enjoy it and I live in Stratford. It's funny though, I've got out of the habit of going to the Theatre Royal because there was so little on that I ever wanted to see there. I bumped in to Nadia Fall while out shopping recently and told her how thrilled I was for her with the reception for the Village (I did admit that I hadn't been to see it and by that stage it had closed). She was very nice and clearly thrilled that her stewardship had begun so successfully.
Don't know what to suggest about other things to see in Stratford. We do have a very nice park, of course. And if you live here we marvel at how quickly you can get to other places. The train from Stratford to Liverpool Street takes 10 minutes which means you can be at the Barbican from the Theatre Royal in 25 minutes. I left my house at the end of the Archers last night and was comfortably in my seat at the Barbican for a concert starting at 8pm.
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Post by jek on Oct 18, 2018 18:20:49 GMT
You are of course right Jan. But what I mean is that the fact that they are putting something on like this makes me more inclined to want to support them, just as some of their past productions, and also their educational activities (which my teenage daughter has directly benefited from) have in the past. Thank goodness you don't have to be a member to be able to book - that would be grossly unfair!
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Post by jek on Oct 18, 2018 10:44:17 GMT
Just got the Nov-April brochure through the post. Have been wondering about not bothering to renew my membership next year as I have seen so many things I haven't rated at the National recently. But there, in the upcoming productions bit in the back of the publication, comes the knowledge that they are putting on something that I didn't know - at least until I read this - was a big hole in my life that I needed to fill. Yes! In the Dorfman they are putting on Andy Stanton's Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear - The Musical. If you have offspring of a certain age (or are keen on Danny Baker's recommendations) then you will know that the Mr Gum books (published from 2006 onwards) are fantastic. The opportunity to visit the town of Lamonic Bibber and its residents is worth the price of National membership.
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