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Post by eatbigsea on Mar 20, 2024 22:50:52 GMT
My God there was so much coughing at Long Day’s Journey into Night this evening, from what sounded like two or three people. It’s a quiet atmospheric play, if you’ve got a persistent cough, stay home!
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Post by eatbigsea on Mar 20, 2024 0:53:24 GMT
Well there’s a pair of actors I would never have put together
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Post by eatbigsea on Mar 15, 2024 14:35:03 GMT
Both "slay" and "my bad" were used in ball culture in the 1970s, and by musicians. "My bad" made it into popular culture, as I remember "my bad" being used as dialogue in the film Clueless in 1994.
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Post by eatbigsea on Mar 14, 2024 23:36:25 GMT
is it a controversial opinion to say that i don't think someone who has left at the interval can give a full or fair report of a performance - as they've not seen an actor's full offering? I will be happy to defer to anyone who has seen the full performance of this cast…(and the original two stars and two other casts, as I have). If anyone thinks that Cara D is a wonderful singer or an all around great actor, I will be very interested to hear it.
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Post by eatbigsea on Mar 14, 2024 23:06:49 GMT
Well that was jolly interesting. I first saw it with Eddie and Jessie (top notch, going again in New York), and then in the first round of casting after that, and then in Sept last year.(I am fairly sure I saw Fra Fee then, he was great, and the Sally was also v good). I am sorry but I did not pay a lot of attention to the subsequent cast, I went with friends who were going for the production.
Tonight I saw Cara and Luke. Luke is a safe pair of hands, he can sing and act well and knows what he’s doing. I went to see what Cara could come up with. She’s very beautiful. Don’t Tell Mama wasn’t great and Mein Herr was worse. But, out of nowhere, Maybe this time had a poignancy I’ll never forget. She didn’t have great chemistry with Michael Ahomka-Lindsay (who was working overtime to produce it, and I have all the respect in the world for him) but all of a sudden, you felt every feeling of failure Sally has ever had. She can’t sing for toffee but there was some acting there.
It wasn’t enough for me to return for the second act, I think I saw everything necessary, but I was a bit impressed. In my opinion she was better than Lindsay Lohan (same theatre, ironically, 10 years ago with Richard Schiff in Speed the plow) and Lily Cole at Shakespeare’s globe somewhere between now and then. Reminded me a bit of Matthew Perry (also same theatre, again, in 2016). One good scene which was inspired by real life.
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Post by eatbigsea on Mar 13, 2024 23:38:52 GMT
Wow wow wow, what a show. 4 stars for the show (they leave you wanting more after the first act, although there were amazing moments (I do agree there was a lot of talk about budgets)) and a fifth for Myles Frost, who was just phenomenal. His singing, dancing, body language, everything! How can someone born in 1999 manage to do that. All the cast was great (little Michael was amazing!) with particular praise for Ashley Zhangazha, who made it utterly clear through body language and voice whether he was portraying Joe or Rob and switched effortlessly, and Mitchell Zhangazha, who has such a tough role as young adult Michael, and does it stunningly. Thriller was jaw-dropping, and this might sound odd, but it had the menacing energy I wanted to get from Moulin Rouge and didn’t. What a brilliant production. I booked again for May. In terms of seats, there are side seats in the front stalls at £20 less than the rest of the front stalls, which as an aisle seat devotee I think are a bargain. (Oh, and if I’m going to nitpick, US accents were great all through, except “Newark” is pronounced “noo-ark” (or “noark” if you’re really from there), not “nyoo-ark”. And I don’t think most of the audience knew who Don King was. But that’s ok).
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Post by eatbigsea on Feb 27, 2024 11:16:48 GMT
In the printed version of Stoppard's Leopoldstadt the word is used - some joke about marrying a Hottentot - but in the version on stage the word was replaced by Eskimo - softer, old-fashioned, but less likely to make an audience uncomfortable. I think that jokes whose butt is black people, even in the mouths of those who might have made them in the past, do make audiences feel uncomfortable. That’s really interesting and I wonder how it went down in New York. The word “Eskimo” is seen as being offensive in Canada and I would have thought in the US as well.
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Post by eatbigsea on Feb 24, 2024 1:00:00 GMT
I had few expectations about this but it was exactly what it said on the tin. Very Broadway, dated in the sense that a lot of posh public spaces in New York (or at least, Manhattan) are dated (Plaza, Pierre, dare I say it St Regis, most museums, madison square garden, grand central etc etc). But it was kind of reassuringly expensive, in the way of SJP’s Henri Bendel shopping bag in the first act.
I thought they were both utter pros and worth the price of admission (which was whatever I paid for it when this first went on sale, under £100).
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Post by eatbigsea on Feb 22, 2024 21:15:23 GMT
I really loved this. A bit melodramatic but so well written and acted, and the plot twists really worked (why are adolescents the way that they are?) There was a school group in this evening and I’m not sure they were ready for the material, but they were engrossed and generally well behaved (apart from a few shrieks at the plot twists) and one lad raised his fists in the air in triumph when a particularly significant plot twist landed. It is always nice to see young people falling in love with theatre.
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Post by eatbigsea on Feb 22, 2024 1:16:55 GMT
Was at Plaza Suite tonight, they had run out of programmes, people were annoyed and the staff were very apologetic. I think it depends on the production and the clientele.
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Post by eatbigsea on Feb 22, 2024 1:07:57 GMT
3hours 5minutes tonight. But 45 minutes of the 2h 45 playing time is set changes. Technically, this must be a nightmare. Short scenes, set changes with substantial objects coming on an off, rapid costume changes, videography. The narrative sags. Keeley Hawes is great, but her romance with the Jack Davenport character doesn't ring true (maybe partly because we don't see any chemistry between them) - and that isn't helped by the filmed scenes, which just confirm the artifice. The tricky relationship with the husband isn't helped by the fact that Goodman Hill, unlike Davenport, is playing several other characters, which makes this relationship less substantial, even though the message the production is given, with the filmed sequences, is the other way around. Then, there's an entire subplot about the Hawes character's attempts to be an MP, which give her an excuse to travel, but disrupts the politics of the ending.. This feels like a script that wanted to be a film. As a play, it becomes heavy-handed and unconvincing. With less dialogue, and less clumsy on-stage filming, and more easy close-ups, and instant transitions, and a two-hour playing time, it could fly...
For this production, perhaps the best medicine would be to ditch all the substantial bits of set, and perform the entire thing with four chairs, a desk, and a trolley.
Yes, and ditch the “handwashing.” I don’t know why (perhaps because we’ve all just been through Covid) but that irritated me enormously.
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Post by eatbigsea on Feb 21, 2024 10:59:14 GMT
How long was it? They haven't put the running time back on the site yet, so presumably still in flux. 3 hours 10. There was constant motion and the scenes were mostly short, but I did feel it (especially the 90 minute second half).
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Post by eatbigsea on Feb 20, 2024 23:36:37 GMT
Oof. First half OK, if overlong (there were some departures around us following the interval), a bit derivative, both of Brief Encounter and of Jamie Lloyd’s cameras. Saved by Keeley Hawes’ exquisite face and acting. I’m afraid it went completely off the rails in the second half, when the war hero husband {Spoiler - click to view} Turned into a monster. There might have been some subtleties in that scene that we missed, as we were completely unable to see any of the action, so I’m afraid I’m going to have to go on what we heard. Then there was a second scene just to reinforce it (this one was a little more plausible). Then there were some attempted parallels between the birth of the health service and her personal life, which I’m afraid I didn’t understand at all. It was just so long, and I’m afraid I didn’t feel the chemistry between Hawes and Davenport at all. Two stars, all for the acting, which I can’t fault. But the play was awful. And it made me feel very capitalist at the end ( {Spoiler - click to view} Team Dior ), which I can’t imagine was the intended result.
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Post by eatbigsea on Feb 16, 2024 0:09:35 GMT
There wouldn’t be any harm in making a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority: www.asa.org.uk/make-a-complaint.html At the very least, it might make them change the “you will never miss out” wording.
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Post by eatbigsea on Jan 31, 2024 20:39:49 GMT
I completely understand that this is objectively terrible and yet I am enjoying the hell out of it. If you remember either the film or 90s pop fondly, definitely go. The cast are doing as well as they possibly could with the material and there is some outstanding singing. Daniel Bravo, Rhianne-Louise McCaulsky and Rose Galbraith are all great.
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Post by eatbigsea on Dec 16, 2023 2:16:31 GMT
Reviews are all raves. It was great, but I still preferred James McAvoy and Claire Foy 10 years ago [shrugs, is old]
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Post by eatbigsea on Dec 13, 2023 16:14:53 GMT
Still thinking about this. The headphones both added and detracted. Added in the sense that the actors could really whisper and could use literally all of the tones in their arsenal, which were not inconsiderable (DT’s beautiful diction was amazing, his pronunciation of “rhubarb” was worth the price of admission on its own, and Cush Jumbo was stellar). Detracted in the sense that the actors were there, and acting, and we could see them, but the immediacy of live theatre was taken away a bit, for me. I tried taking my headphones off at one point (the beginning of “act 2” has some potential audience participation for those in the front row, be warned (I think you can decline by not making eye contact)) but there was too much going on to really do that for very long. The headphones worked beautifully with the witches, though. Overall I enjoyed it very much, there was some really superb acting. As an anxious person with front row tickets in late January, could you elaborate a little on the nature of the audience participation? 😅 {Spoiler - click to view} Essentially it’s like a bit of standup. The actor playing the Porter comes out and asks people their names, there’s a bit of banter, English-Scottish kind of thing, and then a bit of call and response with the whole crowd. It’s not Shakespearean, done freely. Last night he spoke to two confident-looking men so I think if you look shy/down at the ground he wouldn’t press it.
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Post by eatbigsea on Dec 13, 2023 1:21:21 GMT
Still thinking about this. The headphones both added and detracted. Added in the sense that the actors could really whisper and could use literally all of the tones in their arsenal, which were not inconsiderable (DT’s beautiful diction was amazing, his pronunciation of “rhubarb” was worth the price of admission on its own, and Cush Jumbo was stellar). Detracted in the sense that the actors were there, and acting, and we could see them, but the immediacy of live theatre was taken away a bit, for me. I tried taking my headphones off at one point (the beginning of “act 2” has some potential audience participation for those in the front row, be warned (I think you can decline by not making eye contact)) but there was too much going on to really do that for very long. The headphones worked beautifully with the witches, though. Overall I enjoyed it very much, there was some really superb acting.
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Post by eatbigsea on Dec 13, 2023 0:58:12 GMT
Top 5, no particular order: Sunset Boulevard, Old Friends, Next to Normal, Streetcar, Standing at the Sky’s Edge. (In New York I loved Merrily, Parade and Purlie, quite liked Sweeney and Here We Are).
Honourable mention: Macbeth (Donmar), Dear England, Shirley Valentine, A Little Life, The Motive and the Cue, Crazy for You, A Mirror, La Cage, Patriots, House of Bernarda Alba, Sylvia. (ETA that I suppose I should put Vanya in here, although the fact that I didn’t remember it initially is probably indicative of something).
I genuinely think it’s been a great year for theatre.
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Post by eatbigsea on Dec 6, 2023 22:35:53 GMT
So you are really going to love her in Dolly I’m sure… I will be interested to see it I have never seen her in a naturally warm or funny role And rarely see her smile on or off stage She was very funny in Good People, and did a good south Boston accent, at least as far as I understand it.
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Post by eatbigsea on Oct 4, 2023 23:44:44 GMT
I thought this was very moving. Graham Norton was in the house, which caused something of a buzz. Caissie Levy was phenomenal, I thought as strong an actor as a singer. Jamie Parker’s acting was stupendous, except for his American accent which was sometimes weirdly twangy, and I remember his NY accent in Guys and Dolls years ago being much stronger. Lucy Munden was in as Natalie and was great on all counts. For me, though, Jack Wolfe was the highlight, what a voice, what a star!
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Post by eatbigsea on Sept 27, 2023 21:15:45 GMT
Four stars from me. His performance was stupendous, and I absolutely recommend it. (If you’re not v familiar with the story, do bone up in advance). I thought certain characters worked extremely well (Azov, Sonia, and, erm, Maureen and Liam) and others less well. I’m not sure if it’s a commentary on the weakness of Helena/Yelena as a Chekhov character or this production that I thought that she pretty much boiled down to “hot girl” without much nuance. Ivan/Vanya was also lacking in subtlety until second act at least if not the end, I thought; until then, it was difficult to feel his pathos.
Andrew Scott was phenomenal, but I did miss the interactions between actors, especially when everything was going quickly. And I’m afraid any kind of “physical contact” didn’t really work for me, except at the end. But it was a really interesting experiment and an acting tour de force, and I’m v glad I saw it.
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Post by eatbigsea on Jul 13, 2023 16:11:17 GMT
I have at the opera (especially in Milan) but not seriously at plays or musicals.
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Post by eatbigsea on Jul 7, 2023 12:07:10 GMT
Only once that I can recall, for Breakfast at Tiffany’s with Pixie Lott, which was absolutely dire.
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Post by eatbigsea on Jun 16, 2023 20:27:17 GMT
I think that is too pessimistic a prediction for Stoppard R&G are Dead will absolutely persist in the repertoire, if nothing else. Yes, and Arcadia
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Post by eatbigsea on Jun 16, 2023 10:07:39 GMT
For anyone who has seen it so far… I know absolutely nothing about football. Given it’s based on real people from the sporting world, will it be lost on me?!? I wouldn’t say so, no. Everything is explained very well. If you know the back story then there are some jokes that might land better than others, but you don’t need to know anything about football to appreciate this.
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Post by eatbigsea on Jun 14, 2023 9:14:46 GMT
Really enjoyed this. Joseph Fiennes and Gina McKee were both excellent (Fiennes has Southgate’s voice and mannerisms down to a tee). The staging is excellent. It’s very much of the moment (in some ways it reminded me of the Great Britain play with Billie Piper) and is in some ways a play for people who don’t go to plays (to the point that the three act structure is explained, albeit in the context of tournaments). But Graham uses every tool in his arsenal to make it work. The music is a particular highlight, with Fabio Capello’s music a laugh out loud moment. Some of the laughs don’t quite land but it is very funny overall. And it plays on every England football fan’s emotions very skilfully. The three hours flew by, for me. By the time it opens it will be very tight.
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Post by eatbigsea on Jun 7, 2023 22:25:09 GMT
Really enjoyed this, beautifully written with excellent performances from Will Keen and Luke Thallon, and Tom Hollander with a really outstanding performance. A couple of minor quibbles - there is no Nobel prize in Mathematics, and they had the judge wearing a barrister’s wig (why do they always do this?) I do understand that we shouldn’t boo excellent actors providing superlative performances, and of course I didn’t, but it did feel very odd to be applauding “Putin.”
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Post by eatbigsea on May 17, 2023 7:29:58 GMT
I enjoyed this very much and thought that Mark Gattis and Johnny Flynn were both excellent. I’m afraid I agree that Tuppence Middleton was miscast - I’ll have to see it again when it transfers to Broadway and they cast someone else in the Elizabeth Taylor role. Liz had a beautiful speaking voice, much less nasal than what Middleton is doing here.
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Post by eatbigsea on May 11, 2023 23:48:13 GMT
Really enjoyed this when I saw it last week, fab evening. Groban’s voice was stunning and his acting v good. Not as threatening as my ideal Sweeney but thoroughly enjoyed it. Annaleigh Ashford did fine (apart from the accent), good comic timing, but for me, the Tony should go to Micaela Diamond who was utterly stunning in Parade. (I quite liked Ben Platt too but would prefer to see Groban take it this time around).
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