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Post by callum on May 24, 2019 23:39:33 GMT
Struggling to see point of Matt Baker in this... I would presume Zerdin is taking the usual Buttons/Idle Jack role, so is Baker just there to be the butt of the joke? Or in the Diversity/Vincent & Flavia come on and do a talent then bugger off role?
Delighted to see POG back - will he be in drag? Still think this is crying out for a principal female role. Julie Walters would be the ultimate, but think that the troupe is so entrenched they’ll all leave together before the format is changed significantly.
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Post by callum on May 21, 2019 21:53:01 GMT
Theatre evacuated tonight / Bomb located in the Coliseum...
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Post by callum on May 21, 2019 21:49:40 GMT
This was definitely a play and a half (although length-wise it is literally just one half)! What a corker! Very ASMR but shan’t say any more. VERY VERY spoilery question ONLY for those that have seen it... was the whole thing a plan between Anna & Elena/Robert to get revenge on Max? How did Anna know that Max was going to implicate himself on tape? What made her throw her marriage under the bus like that? Need to see it again...!
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Post by callum on May 13, 2019 23:41:38 GMT
I don’t want to be snobby or personal or anything like that, but Jenna Coleman’s lack of theatre acting experience really shows. And I say this as a fan of contemporaries Lily James, Hiddleston, Mulligan etc. The fact they spent their early 20s at the Donmar, Royal Court etc and not Emmerdale really shows!
Dreary voice projection and really quite an insipid performance. And I know it’s a fairly superficial criticism, but a very poor accent. Ann is the wedge in this family and the catalyst for its ultimate destruction, and I didn’t buy her as such for one minute!
And I had no problem with Colin Morgan’s performance! Strange how different people perceive different things
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Post by callum on May 9, 2019 9:00:59 GMT
Saw this Monday from the front row and a lot of what I got out of it was all of the facial expressions and small details - I don’t think anyone sat farther back would have the same experience. Sally Field’s stares of terror and she strides towards Ann for example, or the flickers of torment that Bill Pullman is showing on his face.
Absolutely worth seeing and a great privilege to see those performances up close. Front row is the way to go if you can get it.
Both day seat and stage door process were remarkably well-organised by the Old Vic, I have to say.
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Post by callum on May 4, 2019 23:49:37 GMT
There tonight (so was Marianne) and this is absolutely stunning! She totally breathes life into this production and makes it seem frankly unbelievable that it was written 70 years ago. Gorgeous set, fabulous music, and simply the most shattering performances I've seen in for ages from Wendell Pierce. Sharon D Clarke gets her moment towards the Act 1 and she gives it both barrels! The whole experience was so rich and so textured, I am gobsmacked that it was still only a preview. All of the cast at the curtain looked overcome with emotion, and I'm sure that that's how the audience felt too. Pure theatre and totally extraordinary.
Needless to say, 5 stars. This MUST transfer so everyone gets the chance to see it!
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Post by callum on May 3, 2019 22:50:17 GMT
Don't think the Palladium would want to be sloppy seconds to Richmond for Robert Lindsay, would they?
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Post by callum on May 2, 2019 18:48:29 GMT
callum has the show, but he doesn’t have the cast Not bad for a tongue-in-cheek stab in the dark! More cast coming out tonight or just La Ball?
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Post by callum on May 2, 2019 11:08:50 GMT
I'm looking forward to The Wild Party starring Daniel Day Lewis and Amanda Holden. Putting the pieces together now from Being Alive’s clues - HAIRSPRAY starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Edna and Amanda Holden as Velma?
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Post by callum on May 1, 2019 22:00:50 GMT
The Sweeney/Sunset model worked best - glossy prestige Broadway imports with an orchestra and production that could ‘only’ be put on in the London Coliseum.
Something like Jake Gyllenhaal reprising Sunday in the Park with George?
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Post by callum on Apr 26, 2019 16:07:23 GMT
Should ‘turn off your phone’ announcements now be mandatory before every theatre performance? A lot of audiences just can’t manage it!
And to think it’s often my younger generation that get blamed for being phone-obsessed... trust me, from the sounds of the ringtones I’ve heard recently, it ain’t the young people that can’t switch off!
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Post by callum on Apr 20, 2019 16:39:16 GMT
It does also mean if anyone has left any of the cups behind in the auditorium you can pick them up and take them to the bar and hand them in for £1 each.
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Post by callum on Apr 19, 2019 19:13:40 GMT
Does anyone know if the box office are being strict when people pick up tickets? I'm seeing this soon but my friend booked for me, and I've suddenly been struck with dread by the idea of this being the one production where they're going to insist on seeing ID belonging to the ticket booker, and rocking up with just the booking reference isn't going to be enough. They asked for my postcode each time I’ve been.
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Post by callum on Apr 10, 2019 19:55:59 GMT
Before tonight's posters jump in, I was there last night and she was a complete triumph. The last 15 mins or so are truly electrifying. What she is doing on that stage is so complex and layered - a real tour de force and up there in one of the best performances I've ever seen on stage. If this is the last time she's on stage, then she is going out on a total high (a part of me is thinking that Dench should see this and craft her own balls-to-the-wall stage swan song performance too).
Seats wise, the performance is definitely skewed to stage right/house left/high numbers. I was in low Row B stalls and the only restriction was the table she was sitting it.
Had a bit of a strange encounter with the Bridge box office where I bought one too many of those side stalls £15.00 seats and tried to return it. They said they wouldn't put it back online, and only sell at the box office at 6:30 on the night of the performance once all of the 20 or so £80.00 premium seats had been sold (obviously this didn't happen). Surely if it had gone back on the website it would have snapped up fairly quickly? It just seems to me like everyone loses out; me for not getting my money back, the theatre for having empty seats, and the potential buyer who isn't seeing the performance for £15? I was in the same situation with Betrayal last week, and ATG snapped my hand off for my spare ticket and gave me the refund on the spot!
Anyway, I enjoyed the play so much that I'm going back on Monday! She is too good just to see the once!
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Post by callum on Apr 1, 2019 14:40:39 GMT
I noticed that Josh Groban is one of Celine's support/guests - he'd have been a good fit for Barbara's show too. We’ve dodged a bullet!
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Post by callum on Apr 1, 2019 14:38:11 GMT
Says a lot when their concession prices are c. £35.00, and full price is £37.50
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Post by callum on Mar 24, 2019 18:22:08 GMT
Never heard of her!
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Post by callum on Mar 24, 2019 0:03:19 GMT
She misspoke and said the wrong thing, and she's apologised for it. I think everyone will have forgotten about it by this time next week.
She's been on the right side of 99% of other social/political issues and frankly risked alienating a lot of her fans for it - unlike, say, a similar 'vintage' performer that currently has her product on The Strand!
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Post by callum on Mar 19, 2019 20:39:06 GMT
Minimum £35 ticket price in an off-West End theatre for a 75 minute play is a bit steep, no? Plenty of availability by the looks of things
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Post by callum on Mar 17, 2019 18:54:35 GMT
I sat in Row B circle and in fact found it better than Row C stalls - just my preference though
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Post by callum on Mar 9, 2019 22:37:40 GMT
Just saw this evening's performance. I must say I enjoyed it far more this time round compared to a couple years ago. It was phenomenal. Jo is a great casting choice and far more convincing than Imelda. Still not convinced on the lack of interval, especially with the front Olivier stalls seats being so uncomfortable. Faultless production apart from one change in Live Laugh Love. I think the staging of the breakdown was more effective in the older version. Previously the ensemble were more bewildered, at a loss for words, whilst trying to make the song go on. Yep - 18 months ago I felt the whole atmosphere in the audience change thinking that Quast had genuinely forgotten the routine. Not so much this time so not as effective, but AH is doing his own thing.
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Post by callum on Mar 7, 2019 19:55:07 GMT
As shown in the doc, Jackson's trips to the Reagan White House made his story seem like an archetypal 'American Dream'. Perhaps US audiences aren't as keen to see him exposed like this.
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Post by callum on Mar 7, 2019 0:12:23 GMT
I have to agree that whilst the accusations are awful, another feeling I had was one of anger and fustration toward those parents who, in my opinion, were not protecting their children like any parent would and shouls. They continued to practically abandon their children with a stranger or agree to let them even stay in the same bed as a stranger. Famous or not, no matter how close, you don't do that to your own child. A lot of Part 2 is dealing with their response - Michael seduced them like he seduced the children. The Safechucks did not need to pick up Michael, he made them feel as if they were responsible for him like they were Jimmy and inserted himself into every part of their lives. Firstly, he wasn't a stranger to them and secondly just by being MICHAEL JACKSON they felt like they knew him. Neverland is literally designed to keep the parents away from the children. The reckoning that the parents have with themselves is just as compelling IMO as the reckoning that the children have. Wade said that even though he didn't meet Michael until he was 7, he felt like he was being groomed from the age of 5 just by idolising him. Fame is completely crucial
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Post by callum on Mar 6, 2019 23:02:36 GMT
Listened to an interview with the director where the interviewer posited that the Jackson machine and the MJ Innocent brigade have a massive bot/troll farm operation going on social media, and he didn't deny that it was the case.
The side that undoubtedly has the biggest financial motivation in any of this are the people that want to preserve an $825 million annual income for the Michael Jackson estate. No one was paid for participating in the doc, and hard to imagine that any financial gains that they might get down the line will be worth the criticism/abuse they'll receive - Wade said in the Oprah interview that he gets almost daily death threats.
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Post by callum on Feb 26, 2019 23:33:25 GMT
BBC2 has distribution deal with FX so probably on there at some point.
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