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Post by lonlad on Apr 24, 2023 23:58:09 GMT
Saw it for the second time tonight and will be back many more times -- everyone was on, and also on fire: Andrew Richardson's voice fuller and richer than before, and his performance sexy as all get out; Celinde knocking every moment out of the park in surely the defining Sarah Brown of this or any generation; Danny loose-limbed, witty and wonderful; and Marisha so confident and commanding that it's actually quite moving to behold her wholesale makeover of that role: about not the accent here but about feeling and truth and then more feeling again. And if there is a better-staged/sung/acted musical theatre number on stage in London just now than "Marry the Man Today", I don't know what that is: it's a master class in performance and direction that I could watch on a perpetual loop. Oh, and Cedric Neal is even better than before, too - he's now having the sort of fun with the role vocally that comes once a run is really gaining its footing. Bring on the next visit, and the one after that.
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Post by lonlad on Apr 5, 2023 23:48:35 GMT
Except that question above isn't actually addressed by the plot which instead seems, as it wends its gatheringly awful way, more like an arbitrary array of gratuitous cruelty and rotten luck.
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Post by lonlad on Apr 5, 2023 23:15:05 GMT
Most of the press came during late previews but last night (Weds) was the official opening night and reviews are starting to appear online now. The play wasn't remotely my thing - a wallow in misery to no cathartic purpose - but the cast is excellent (Norton, Armin, and Varla especially) even if quite a lot of them have surprisingly little to do. How Norton will sustain this for five months is a major mystery - others might wonder why he would want to.
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Post by lonlad on Mar 26, 2023 23:20:20 GMT
She was a true one-off -- feared in some quarters, revered in others, fiercely loyal and 1000 percent devoted to the theatre and to her clients: they were her life, and London theatre won't see her like again, that's for sure. The hole created by her passing will be enormous.
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Post by lonlad on Mar 25, 2023 22:39:29 GMT
Easy as pie to get to - take the Northern Line to Battersea Power Station, turn left, and it's a 10 minute walk max if that. The only problem is that the show isn't remotely worth the travel time, sadly.
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Post by lonlad on Mar 21, 2023 15:14:17 GMT
Last night's press night cancelled due to illness. Such a shame.
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Post by lonlad on Mar 15, 2023 7:48:55 GMT
Yes, including from Variety and the NYTimes, and deservedly so. I expect a long life for this one.
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Post by lonlad on Mar 12, 2023 15:13:50 GMT
Same at SHIRLEY VALENTINE where the mostly-female audience was busy out-drinking Shirley, though whether they were also drinking Riesling, I couldn't tell. They got tanked before the show and during -- ATG must be making a mint ! The last half hour contained more than one intrusive sound of crushed glass .... I feel so sorry for the theatre staff.
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Post by lonlad on Mar 12, 2023 14:46:17 GMT
Heaven in every possible way, and I say that as one who saw both the Eyre revival (several times) and the Jerry Zaks one in NY with Nathan Lane and Faith Prince.
This production doen't self-consciously reinvent the show but just comes at it with such vitality and freshness and verve and it's AMAZINGLY touching. The acting is the occasion, though there are some damn fine voices, especially from the two resplendent leading ladies< Celinda is a ravishing Sarah and Marisha's powerhouse Adelaide is a human being first and foremost, not an assemblage of funny accents. Daniel Mays also the funniest Nathan I have ever seen and by some measure the sweetest.
Go go go go go !
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Post by lonlad on Mar 10, 2023 12:44:08 GMT
It's a brave and fab show, just a nutty one for the Barbican to do - especially since this is a commercial venture as Anything Goes was last summer. Well, the NY production (which was praised to the skies) discounted continually so this one, which has already been panned by some of the London critics who saw it in NY, faces a challenge. It's as simple as that, all shills to the contrary notwitstanding.
Let's hope this cast is fronted by a leading man who can navigate a run -- the NY lead was indisposed an awful lot, or showed up and then left at the half, and at one point the show's creator went on himself, or else the musical wouldn't have. The Broadway chatrooms on all this are a story in themselves.
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Post by lonlad on Mar 9, 2023 18:05:23 GMT
It wasn't a hit in NY despite winning the Tony so why should it be a hit here -- and at the Barbican?? The whole thing is very odd. Will be interested to see whom they cast here given that the NY company had its, um, issues .....
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Post by lonlad on Mar 8, 2023 10:19:29 GMT
Very mixed-to-negative reviews as well from the i and the New York Times but I doubt the audience for this show cares one whit about the reviews.
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Post by lonlad on Feb 28, 2023 18:59:40 GMT
JERUSALEM was/is magnificent but, like CONSTELLATIONS last year, shouldn't have been eligible. It's a reprise of a pre-existing production - same set/star/director etc - rather than a reconsideration of it, the way a proper revival would be. I'm rooting for GOOD or STREETCAR. Too bad no room for Jamie Lloyd's thrilling if contoversial SEAGULL.
Very surprised no noms either for the amazing Lynette Linton for director (she won the Standard Award in this category in December), or the incomparable Patrick Vaill, another Standard winner, but then PV didn't get a Tony nomination either for his stunning Jud Fry in OKLAHOMA! on Bway so he must be used to being overlooked. He was streets ahead of Arthur Darvill, Marisha Wallace, and Liza Sadovy in that production. Though Sadovy's win last year for CABARET was and remains entirely deserved.
Sigh.
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Post by lonlad on Feb 10, 2023 9:27:25 GMT
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Post by lonlad on Feb 9, 2023 11:42:52 GMT
Anyone know if Emma Corrin is back in the show? Interesting that their similarly non-binary understudy, Oliver Wickham, is the older of Janie Dee's two children (and was in the very original cast, I believe, of SIX).
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Post by lonlad on Feb 3, 2023 9:43:02 GMT
There isn't a bad seat in the house and the production accommodates its circular environment with unusual ease.
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Post by lonlad on Feb 3, 2023 5:35:38 GMT
Um, sorry to add to the gloom and doom but the unfortunate fact is that Rosalie HAS dropped out of this. Meanwhile, Jamie's performance in MOULIN ROUGE was one of the worst West End debuts I've ever seen, so the indices on this aren't great.
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Post by lonlad on Feb 2, 2023 23:52:00 GMT
Saw it tonight and echo everything Steve said: a truly terrific production of a play that strikes me as much more intriguing and nuanced than the posturing acting exercise that is VENUS IN FUR - SMOKE is exceptionally well acted by its married actors, beautifully directed and designed, and a full house responded notably warmly at the end. Press night is tomorrow.
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Post by lonlad on Jan 29, 2023 3:10:25 GMT
>>He dominates whenever on stage. I hope he'll find time to grace the stage again and not be entirely lost to film and tv.[/quote]
Callum opens on Feb 21 in Romeo and Julie at the National/Dorfman, so your wish has been granted. He's the real deal and, in fact, I had thought he'd left CABARET by now (his cover, Matthew Gent, is coming in for a few weeks before John McCrea takes over). Whom did you see as Sally?
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Post by lonlad on Jan 29, 2023 3:05:31 GMT
Amber's great, I think -- wonderfully energetic and endearing. Too bad the new dad just plays his role like an assemblage of odd tics and funny walks. Oh well. Hugh will knock 'em dead in NYC
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Post by lonlad on Jan 27, 2023 0:47:49 GMT
Roger was off both shows today but Gary Trainor was v good as Doc, a few line flubs notwithstanding. I do miss Hugh Coles though - that quirky physicality was so wonderfully achieved and an unbelievable sweetness to the character shone through. His replacement doesn't have that, and in fact a lot of the new cast all seem to be straining to come by perfs that the originals nailed with ease.
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Post by lonlad on Jan 15, 2023 1:02:18 GMT
The leads are certainly the strangest ever for a major production of this play -- Elizabeth McGovern seems a million miles away from Martha, as she alas was last year from Ava Gardner, and Dougray Scott? Really? Well, we shall see. Kudos though for the return to the stage of Charles Aitken, a terrific actor who has been underemployed of late: I still remember him in HAIR at the Gate in Notting Hill, in which he was absolutely superb. Hard to believe that was 18 years ago ! Time does fly .....
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Post by lonlad on Jan 13, 2023 2:09:47 GMT
It just was. Early reviews are coming in .... 5 stars The Times, 4 stars The Telegraph
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Post by lonlad on Jan 12, 2023 23:36:12 GMT
I'm amazed this is still running.
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Post by lonlad on Jan 12, 2023 23:30:23 GMT
Anjana was back on tonight and is tremendous. Very fine production though, interestingly, no standing ovation at the curtain call.
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Post by lonlad on Jan 11, 2023 18:20:23 GMT
Good god - and the new press night is tomorrow ......
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Post by lonlad on Dec 14, 2022 0:27:32 GMT
>>superficial and anodyne at heart, so as to remain kid-friendly and inoffensive.
By the way, I love the notion of a musical about NELSON MANDELA being "kid-friendly", just in case FROZEN is sold out at the desired performance ! (MANDELA is even less rooted in reality than that show is.)
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Post by lonlad on Dec 14, 2022 0:25:51 GMT
All this ilnness (STREETCAR, HAKAWATIS, WATCH ON THE RHINE, now this) recalls this time last year with multiple shows toppling in the run-up to xmas, except for Tamsin Greig at the Hampstead as Peggy Ramsay -- who was indomitable !
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Post by lonlad on Dec 13, 2022 13:34:19 GMT
The NY production was much better cast pretty much down the line and infinitely better designed - this one is visually so drab and dreary that it wrongfoots you from the start and the configuration of the desks in the first scene seems off, just for starters. It also felt more coherent, much more moving, and less piecemeal: this version diminishes the writing, at least for me. Interesting to see 2 stars or 4 stars from the crits. I would give it 3.
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Post by lonlad on Dec 13, 2022 0:01:54 GMT
Well, having sung this play's praises in NY, I can only report that the London version doesn't land at all and is spectacularly miscast in at least three of the central roles. Oh well: a shame, too, since the play is SO much better (moving/funny/etc) than this production lets on. Jack Holden is excellent. The rest is silence .....
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