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Post by Jan on Feb 3, 2017 18:19:12 GMT
^Only because there wasn't that much competition for entertainment until recently. Until the early days of television, the only entertainment was live theatre (legit or variety) or cinema, and most children would have been taken - or gone by themselves - as a matter of course, thus setting up the habit and providing the National etc with their audience today. No you are wrong - in the early days of television children didn't go to the theatre, it was an exclusively adult pastime apart from pantomime.
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Post by lynette on Feb 3, 2017 18:24:16 GMT
I was thinking Matilda....I'm sure it will keep going for a year or two so I'm aiming for 2018 😁When both will be up for it. Thanks for the tips.
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Post by Jon on Feb 3, 2017 18:39:58 GMT
I saw the original production of Blood Brothers - it remains one of the most mawkish and overrated things I've ever seen. Ugh. Was it similar to the Kenwright production that's been doing the rounds since 1987? To be fair to Kenwright, had he not toured it three times and nagged Willy Russell to return it to London, I imagine it would have been forgotten.
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Post by Tibidabo on Feb 3, 2017 19:47:25 GMT
I saw it in the early days with Kiki Dee and also Lyn Paul and fell in love with it.
Saw it more recently with whichever Nolan's turn it was to be wheeled out; not to mention a Mickey who looked about 45, and it was just weird. Still love the show though - seems to be contrary to popular opinion!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2017 19:47:32 GMT
I was lucky enough to see Blood Brothers with Barbara Dickson and Stephanie Lawrence when it was still fairly fresh. I do like it quite a bit, too. I wonder what exactly it is that people dislike about the show? The story? The music? The annoying narrator? haha the last one when it's Marti Pellow...who isn't as cheap as a Nolan but is just as bad. For me it was partly a 'I just don't get what all the fuss was about' moment, which is always the danger when you've heard about it for years and then see it. Both times I've seen it (yup I did give it a second whirl!) it felt just so over the top in terms of being melodramatic, which I am mostly putting down to the acting, because I do like Willy Russell's writing. But what I said further up, I think mostly- it just feels like emotionally manipulative writing 'You WILL cry at the end and then think this is the most moving drama EVER' type feeling- and the sense it was wringing every last drop of drama out of every moment...while also being fairly dull (which is quite an achievement) But I stand by, if I'd see a) a fresh non-Nolan production b) I'd seen it when I was a teen as many do I'd probably love the thing. But I might well be 'sick' the night of my mate's amdram production...although him singing it with a Brummie accent instead of Scouse might well be entertaining!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2017 19:48:24 GMT
I saw it in the early days with Kiki Dee and also Lyn Paul and fell in love with it. Saw it more recently with whichever Nolan's turn it was to be wheeled out; not to mention a Mickey who looked about 45, and it was just weird. Still love the show though - seems to be contrary to popular opinion! haha yes when I saw it Mickey looked 40 if he was a day! (the Nolan actually looked younger)
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Post by Tibidabo on Feb 3, 2017 19:54:36 GMT
I saw it in the early days with Kiki Dee and also Lyn Paul and fell in love with it. Saw it more recently with whichever Nolan's turn it was to be wheeled out; not to mention a Mickey who looked about 45, and it was just weird. Still love the show though - seems to be contrary to popular opinion! haha yes when I saw it Mickey looked 40 if he was a day! ( the Nolan actually looked younger)True! I could go to my spidery cupboard and check who he was in the programme, but it would be a bit mean to name him so I won't. It was my family's first (and only) visit and I think they were wondering why I'd gone on about it so much - that first visit with Kiki certainly left an impression on me. I saw Con O'Neill as Mickey that time too, who was perfect.
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Post by Jon on Feb 3, 2017 19:58:42 GMT
haha the last one when it's Marti Pellow...who isn't as cheap as a Nolan but is just as bad. For me it was partly a 'I just don't get what all the fuss was about' moment, which is always the danger when you've heard about it for years and then see it. Both times I've seen it (yup I did give it a second whirl!) it felt just so over the top in terms of being melodramatic, which I am mostly putting down to the acting, because I do like Willy Russell's writing. But what I said further up, I think mostly- it just feels like emotionally manipulative writing 'You WILL cry at the end and then think this is the most moving drama EVER' type feeling- and the sense it was wringing every last drop of drama out of every moment...while also being fairly dull (which is quite an achievement) But I stand by, if I'd see a) a fresh non-Nolan production b) I'd seen it when I was a teen as many do I'd probably love the thing. I think Blood Brothers would benefit from a new reimagined production as the current production makes it feel like a museum piece. I think the worn out sets and recycled casting has hurt it as a piece.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2017 20:01:59 GMT
haha the last one when it's Marti Pellow...who isn't as cheap as a Nolan but is just as bad. For me it was partly a 'I just don't get what all the fuss was about' moment, which is always the danger when you've heard about it for years and then see it. Both times I've seen it (yup I did give it a second whirl!) it felt just so over the top in terms of being melodramatic, which I am mostly putting down to the acting, because I do like Willy Russell's writing. But what I said further up, I think mostly- it just feels like emotionally manipulative writing 'You WILL cry at the end and then think this is the most moving drama EVER' type feeling- and the sense it was wringing every last drop of drama out of every moment...while also being fairly dull (which is quite an achievement) But I stand by, if I'd see a) a fresh non-Nolan production b) I'd seen it when I was a teen as many do I'd probably love the thing. I think Blood Brothers would benefit from a new reimagined production as the current production makes it feel like a museum piece. I think the worn out sets and recycled casting has hurt it as a piece. I totally agree. I'd be willing to bet that if I saw a fresh, stripped down and built back up again production I'd would really enjoy it. I think honestly the original is getting lost in the endless mimicing of the original which obviously did have that special spark originally.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2017 20:03:53 GMT
Random Blood Brothers question...anyone else who studied it at school in the late 80s early 90s remember being warned not to copy the boys because you'd get AIDS? because I distinctly remember those being the exact words Mrs Scary Elworthy used....
(yes I have frequently studied and acknoledged my life long pathway to considering the links between AIDS and theatre, it will one day be my autobiography...)
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Post by Tibidabo on Feb 3, 2017 20:09:22 GMT
Random Blood Brothers question... anyone else who studied it at school in the late 80s early 90s remember being warned not to copy the boys because you'd get AIDS? because I distinctly remember those being the exact words Mrs Scary Elworthy used.... (yes I have frequently studied and acknoledged my life long pathway to considering the links between AIDS and theatre, it will one day be my autobiography...) You guys got to STUDY it? Wow - how lucky were you to escape the horrors of An Inspector Yawns........sorry......Calls! Was it a Catholic school @emicardiff ?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2017 20:09:25 GMT
I saw the original production of Blood Brothers - it remains one of the most mawkish and overrated things I've ever seen. Ugh. Was it similar to the Kenwright production that's been doing the rounds since 1987? To be fair to Kenwright, had he not toured it three times and nagged Willy Russell to return it to London, I imagine it would have been forgotten. It was different in design and not as 'overblown' as it became once it began the tour and then settled into the Phoenix. Barbara Dickson was outstanding. I think it's a bit of a gem, for the same reasons I think Annie is a gem: great 'show', great story, great score. It's the ridiculous casting that's let it down over the years, although I do remember Siobhan McCarthy being even better than the original Mrs J, and that took some beating. So I wouldn't have forgotten it, like I haven't forgotten Barbara Dickson in Spend, Spend, Spend...
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Post by Jon on Feb 3, 2017 20:37:26 GMT
You guys got to STUDY it? Wow - how lucky were you to escape the horrors of An Inspector Yawns........sorry......Calls! Was it a Catholic school @emicardiff ? I studied An Inspector Calls and found it a bit dull to read and one of the reasons I've never seen it on stage. You'd think the exams board would shake things up and introduce new plays into the syllabus and weed out the old ones. It was different in design and not as 'overblown' as it became once it began the tour and then settled into the Phoenix. Barbara Dickson was outstanding. I think it's a bit of a gem, for the same reasons I think Annie is a gem: great 'show', great story, great score. It's the ridiculous casting that's let it down over the years, although I do remember Siobhan McCarthy being even better than the original Mrs J, and that took some beating. So I wouldn't have forgotten it, like I haven't forgotten Barbara Dickson in Spend, Spend, Spend... I think the same for Rocky Horror and to an extent Grease, both shows that have been let down with carbon copies of ancient revivals and bad casting although Rocky Horror has sort of redeemed itself with the last tour, I'd love to see someone do a revival that brings it back to its roots.
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Post by viserys on Feb 3, 2017 21:00:32 GMT
Interesting. That's how I feel about a few other shows I shall not name. But OTOH I have no exposure to it at all here in Germany, so I don't feel like there's ever been hype around it or hearing about it for years. It was actually among the first shows I had seen in London a LONG time ago when I didn't know many musicals yet. Not sure how I'd feel about it if I came to it new now and then saw it with a questionable cast. I agree with Jon that maybe it needs some years of rest and then a completely fresh production.
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Post by viserys on Feb 3, 2017 21:04:07 GMT
I can't for the life of me edit that to include Emily's quote about the show feeling emotionally manipulative. Argh. Oh well. Sorry about the mess.
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Post by lynette on Feb 3, 2017 21:42:55 GMT
Don't start me off on the exam syllabus. Ok, I've started. So they have this thing that it has to be English lit as in written by a card carrying 'English' person. So out goes Of Mice and Men to be replaced by Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Ok, there are other choices but as brevity is also a criterion ( they can't cope with usual novel length ) the choice is limited. Well it is to the morons who make the lists. I could go on. Macbeth is chosen because it is short. And I've yet to meet a student who is taught anything about its context. As for An Inspector Calls, it is very boring to read. Yes, the production in town is great, we all know that but enough already. If you want a twentieth century text there are a few others out there.
She ducks for cover under her Meldrew duvet.
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Post by Tibidabo on Feb 3, 2017 21:59:15 GMT
I can't for the life of me edit that to include Emily's quote about the show feeling emotionally manipulative. Argh. Oh well. Sorry about the mess. viserys I had the same problem recently and this is the answer I got when asking the admin team how to do it.....haven't tried it yet but hopefully you can work it out. Hope it helps. The easiest way is to use the quote button above the edit box. It looks like a speech bubble. Or type (quote)quoted text here(/quote) but with square brackets instead of parentheses and copy and paste whatever text you want to quote into the appropriate part of your post.If you want to get the proper attribution it's probably easiest to open another browser window, reply to the person you want to quote, copy the quote it gives you, close that window without saving, and then paste the quote into your own post that you're editing.
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Post by Tibidabo on Feb 3, 2017 22:01:46 GMT
Don't start me off on the exam syllabus. Ok, I've started. So they have this thing that it has to be English lit as in written by a card carrying 'English' person. So out goes Of Mice and Men to be replaced by Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Ok, there are other choices but as brevity is also a criterion ( they can't cope with usual novel length ) the choice is limited. Well it is to the morons who make the lists. I could go on. Macbeth is chosen because it is short. And I've yet to meet a student who is taught anything about its context. As for An Inspector Calls, it is very boring to read. Yes, the production in town is great, we all know that but enough already. If you want a twentieth century text there are a few others out there. She ducks for cover under her Meldrew duvet. I so want one of those! What she said.....especially the bit about morons....
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2017 22:10:42 GMT
One of the few bits I can remember from English Literature was when we did Romeo and Juliet, but we had a good teacher who made everything interesting so there was none of the stereotypical "Shakespeare is so boring" going on. We also did To Kill A Mockingbird, because in the syllabus we were on it was "written in English" rather than "written by English".
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Post by kathryn on Feb 3, 2017 23:34:03 GMT
I was lucky enough to see Blood Brothers with Barbara Dickson and Stephanie Lawrence when it was still fairly fresh. I do like it quite a bit, too. I wonder what exactly it is that people dislike about the show? The story? The music? The annoying narrator? This is what I actually said about it after seeing it back in 2012: Blood Brothers: like being bludgeoned over the head by someone shouting 'CRY! CRY!' As it was the cast's last show I may have been the only one in the theatre not crying/ovating. It was ok, but felt a bit long to me, and a bit dated. And that Marilyn Monroe refrain really grated on me after the first few repetitions.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2017 9:54:07 GMT
[...] the children were booked, alone, into a private box at the Garrick Theatre one night... and their phoenix set the place on fire. Don't you hate it when that happens?
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Post by kathryn on Feb 4, 2017 10:39:41 GMT
[...] the children were booked, alone, into a private box at the Garrick Theatre one night... and their phoenix set the place on fire. Don't you hate it when that happens? And we complain about bad behaviour when kids are rustling sweet wrappers!!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2017 10:49:57 GMT
I totally agree. I'd be willing to bet that if I saw a fresh, stripped down and built back up again production I'd would really enjoy it. I think honestly the original is getting lost in the endless mimicing of the original which obviously did have that special spark originally. You might have enjoyed the Sherman production back in 1985 (or possibly 1986) with Di Botcher as the mother.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2017 10:51:56 GMT
Don't start me off on the exam syllabus. Ok, I've started. So they have this thing that it has to be English lit as in written by a card carrying 'English' person. So out goes Of Mice and Men to be replaced by Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Robert Louis Stevenson was Scottish.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2017 11:38:10 GMT
^ TM, I am not Nicola Sturgeon. I was simply pointing out Lynette's alternative fact or howler.
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