547 posts
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Post by drmaplewood on May 23, 2024 7:03:48 GMT
Loved this last night, I liked Totoro but the storytelling was quite sickly sweet. This is much more satisfying, even if it doesn't quite match the visual spectacle of Totoro.
My aisle seat in the upper for £40-ish booked way back in September turned out to be pretty much perfect too.
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132 posts
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Post by annette on May 23, 2024 11:54:10 GMT
Loved this last night, I liked Totoro but the storytelling was quite sickly sweet. This is much more satisfying, even if it doesn't quite match the visual spectacle of Totoro. My aisle seat in the upper for £40-ish booked way back in September turned out to be pretty much perfect too. drmaplewood, can I ask you why you thought Totoro had more visual spectacle than Spirited Away? I’m genuinely curious about this, as having seen both, I can’t work out what could have possibly brought you to that conclusion. Hope you don’t mind me asking. Thanks in advance. |
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547 posts
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Post by drmaplewood on May 23, 2024 12:34:33 GMT
Loved this last night, I liked Totoro but the storytelling was quite sickly sweet. This is much more satisfying, even if it doesn't quite match the visual spectacle of Totoro. My aisle seat in the upper for £40-ish booked way back in September turned out to be pretty much perfect too. drmaplewood, can I ask you why you thought Totoro had more visual spectacle than Spirited Away? I’m genuinely curious about this, as having seen both, I can’t work out what could have possibly brought you to that conclusion. Hope you don’t mind me asking. Thanks in advance. I meant more the spectacle of when you first see Totoro himself, there is nothing that quite matches that "wow" factor for me in this, but not to say the staging is poor, far from it! |
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Post by 141920grm on May 23, 2024 12:42:08 GMT
90% of this show is dominated by the bath house set, no matter which angle we see it at or which smaller section the lighting directs the eye towards- it's a big expanse of brown- whereas (in addition to the big inflatables) Totoro made use of smaller pieces that still filled the stage well and were utterly charming as their own entity, without objects and colours from previous scenes looming in the background
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132 posts
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Post by annette on May 23, 2024 14:12:20 GMT
drmaplewood, can I ask you why you thought Totoro had more visual spectacle than Spirited Away? I’m genuinely curious about this, as having seen both, I can’t work out what could have possibly brought you to that conclusion. Hope you don’t mind me asking. Thanks in advance. I meant more the spectacle of when you first see Totoro himself, there is nothing that quite matches that "wow" factor for me in this, but not to say the staging is poor, far from it! Thanks for your reply.I agree that the reveal of the huge Totoro definitely had the “Wow” factor (I wanted to jump onto the stage and hug him!) but for me overall,there were so many more jaw dropping moments of wonder in Spirited Away. I’d best not give examples here as I don’t know how to create the spoiler bar. |
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Post by ladidah on May 23, 2024 14:20:29 GMT
You are all tempting me  |
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132 posts
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Post by annette on May 23, 2024 14:27:08 GMT
90% of this show is dominated by the bath house set, no matter which angle we see it at or which smaller section the lighting directs the eye towards- it's a big expanse of brown- whereas (in addition to the big inflatables) Totoro made use of smaller pieces that still filled the stage well and were utterly charming as their own entity, without objects and colours from previous scenes looming in the background Personally I didn’t feel the bath house setting was a problem at all. The focus for me was always on the scene and characters pushing the narrative forward and I loved the sightings of certain characters in the background (particularly Kaonashi). The lighting was so precise and beautiful that I can’t think of a moment when anything other than what was intended was drawn to the eye. For me Totoro did feel lighter overall,but less atmospheric for it and sometimes a bit sparse for the large Barbican stage. Some of the scene changes seemed to take forever and then went on too long ( for example the workers tending the grasses and Mai running through the maze-type thing). Ultimately it is,of course,totally subjective. Both shows are a joy in their own way and have a very individual and unique vibe. |
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132 posts
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Post by annette on May 23, 2024 14:30:44 GMT
You are all tempting me Honestly ladidah, don’t miss it if at all possible. It may not come back to the UK any time soon and it’s a wonderful, life-affirming piece of theatre. Really unlike anything I’ve seen before. It’s only the price that stopped me booking again the day after I’d seen it. |
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Post by 141920grm on May 23, 2024 14:37:59 GMT
totally valid, and I didn't mean to say the bath house was necessarily a problem, just that in my memory of the performance, it was always in my peripheral vision vs. the lack of such an element in Totoro (the treetop structure for the band blended more into the background) for example the workers tending the grasses and Mai running through the maze-type thing funnily enough these 2 scenes were among my favourites! so simply done but totally evocative, enjoying seeing your opposite POV haha |
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Post by ladidah on May 23, 2024 14:42:36 GMT
You are all tempting me Honestly ladidah, don’t miss it if at all possible. It may not come back to the UK any time soon and it’s a wonderful, life-affirming piece of theatre. Really unlike anything I’ve seen before. It’s only the price that stopped me booking again the day after I’d seen it. I will definitely be seeing it, I loved Toroto too! |
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Post by mjh on May 23, 2024 21:12:57 GMT
Has anyone see it from the balcony yet? It'll be my first time sitting there and am just wondering if it's worth paying a bit more to be in the upper circle?
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Post by barefootmech on May 30, 2024 9:11:00 GMT
I can't wait to see it! I loved the movie and I think a live show will be wonderful for the eye and mind.
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Post by chameleon1 on Jun 5, 2024 18:27:37 GMT
Has anyone see it from the balcony yet? It'll be my first time sitting there and am just wondering if it's worth paying a bit more to be in the upper circle?
row C balcony - would not recommend. it is effectively restricted view - some of the stage is obscured, and there is an iron bar in the way. plus the rake is not so steep - so lots of heads to look past also.
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1,249 posts
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Post by joem on Jun 10, 2024 20:54:49 GMT
I believe "Spirited Away" is probably Ghibli Studios masterpiece which kind of makes this problematic as this is a masterpiece of ANIMATION and how do you reproduce that on stage and keep its magic?
I suppose the answer is "you don't", you cannot hope to do so, so you do something different - you adapt it for the stage whilst retaining the essential narrative and essence of the story.
In that sense this is largely a success without ever threatening to be as awe-inspiring as the film is. The film creates a world of weird and wonderful creatures which cannot be replicated on stage due to the laws of physics etc. This is still a great stab at giving us Miyazaki's vision, with wonder and laughs and tension and all sorts of dramedy thrown in. Wonderful performances, interesting sets and staging (perhaps suffers a little from the sheer height of the Coliseum's stage) and a committed, loving audience.
Hope this will run and run and hope we will see more Ghibli on stage.
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Post by Arcana on Jun 29, 2024 9:17:43 GMT
For anyone planning to watch this, I'd recommend watching the movie a couple of times, so that you really know it well, cause watching the 'sub' titles is really frustrating due to the fact that you constantly have to turn your head.
I was sitting central in the front of stalls. I realise if you are in dress circle or higher or just further to the side, this might not be such an issue, but I felt like I was watching a tennis match.
Overall, I much preferred My neighbour Totoro. It doesn't suffer from trying to do 100 things that just don't work that well on stage.
For example, as much of the movie takes place in a bath house, a lot of water is present during the movie. But as you can't fill the whole stage with water, they use things like smoke (which works well) and things like sheets of plastic (which is less convincing) and often just ignore the fact that water should be present.
If you're a huge fan of the movie, your imagination might easily allow for this, but for me, it just came across as a bit naff.
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Post by alessia on Jul 3, 2024 9:48:52 GMT
I have a front row seat for tonight and can no longer go, I just posted on the notice board (not sure if I did it right, first time so apologies if this isn't right) please let me know if anyone is interested ! Thanks
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Post by blamerobots on Jul 4, 2024 14:27:45 GMT
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Post by thistimetomorrow on Jul 12, 2024 12:04:34 GMT
I liked this a lot more than Totoro. Wish I hadn't had to pay through the nose for mediocre seats though  |
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Post by blamerobots on Jul 14, 2024 17:14:02 GMT
GLORIOUS! Easy 5*
For those who think it dragged, especially in the first act, they definitely have slowed the pace of all the dialogue compared to the Japanese proshot I saw, I'm guessing so they could let the subtitles catch up.
I really don't think this dragged though. I thought this was paced pretty briskly considering how quick the sets are flying on and off stage!
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Post by bluewave on Jul 15, 2024 21:49:31 GMT
Agreed, it's the best thing I've seen this year and was a joy to watch from start to finish. I'll be sad to see this go but I'm glad I got to experience it.
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