Mrs Henderson Presents - Noel Coward Theatre

So I must be the last person on the forum to see it..

I arrived at around 9.30 for day seats and was practically the first and only person there. At 10am they started putting up the signage, and the very polite theatre manager said they'll serve me now instead of having to wait until 10.30. So kudos to him and his hospitality.

I for one am not crazy about musicals set during the war, and there are several of them. I thought this would be yet another Betty Blue Eyes, which I didn't like.

I thought it was an absolutely charming show. Tracy Bennet is stellar and her fine detailed acting is fabulous, despite not having a great voice. Her male costar was wonderful, had great gravitas and good singing. Emma Williams, I thought was slightly inconsistent, but does well. I  just thought that the leap from awkward and clumsy to the troupe's leader in a snap of a finger was unrealistic, despite shedding her insecurities and going through sh*t. Maybe I'm just cynical. The beginning is extremely whimsical, but then it changes its tone-granted because of a series of serious events-and then back to being whimsical. People were critical of the comedian bits, but I thought they were actually pretty entertaining, clever and not out of place. 

The ensemble were unbelievable, seriously probably the best in the West End at the moment. They work great together and blend in well, but all have built solid supporting characters and get their moment. The three main girls were standouts and a hoot. The score is actually pretty meh and unremarkable, but the numbers still work and are very entertaining. Costumes were perfect, and Tracy Bennet with her knockout figure looks amazing in them.

The audience was probably the best I've sat amongst in the West End in a WHILE. Warm, generous, well-dressed, well behaved with virtually no damn candy being unwrapped. Two random American ladies stuck up a conversation with me because of my Hamilton t-shirt. One of them tapped me on my back and struck up a conversation about just getting the CDs and wanting to see it, and WITH LMM and the other chick lady next to me from Texas continued on about Hamilton and what else should she see here. 

I seriously did not expect to love it, but I thought it was a pretty fabulous evening. 

Re the oldies,  I was struck that the Mrs H  audience seems to be  relatively old couples, young females and tourists, same for Showboat today which looked 70% full ,  minus more of the younger females. Obviously this isn't a family outing show, but you wonder why marketing can't get to the rest of the potential audience?

EH? NO WE DON'T! 

ali, just when I fall in love with you (not literally, you understand!) for being able to pluck facts out of the air, like the Glynn Kerslake bit in the Martin Guerre thread, for admiring the theatre posters I too have admired, and for loving the 90s as much as me... 

And then you come out with some tosh like the above!

I want to see actors of all shapes and sizes: big ones, small ones, fat ones, skinny ones, and plenty of really gorgeous ones for good measure please.

And as for plots... Well I love Les Miserables but I would never send my precious daughter to live with a dodgy foster family. Even if I had one. And I've seen Superstar more times than I can remember, but I wouldn't betray my best mate for such a piddling sum and then top myself. I'd spend the money first, not give it back.

But I think you know that really. 

More serial killers at American Psycho.

Although too few in the Broadway neighborhood to sustain the run.

So how would that explain Southwark Playhouse and Carrie? Dorothy had her own fan club branch there. The possibilities of a gay tele-kinetic mafia in South London should be exposed today.

It's a shame in a way but the Noel Coward is a small theatre anyway so it must have done really bad to have 2 tiers shut most days. It must be a nightmare for producers as I doubt they returned half the money to the investors let alone cover running costs and make an investment.

I don't think it will ever come back to the West End. It could tour the UK, I think the cast want it to. I think it would've done better if it went on a tour instead of West End but they never knew that. If it did tour it could maybe get some more money and reuse the old set? I don't think the 4 main leads would tour with it though. Not sure how it will do in Toronto...

They've run out of money - the only reason it lasted this long was that it was being propped up someone connected to the show. I'm no producer but pretty sure they will count their losses and call it a day. I guess Canada will give them a few quid? 

I went to see this for a second time yesterday & got a day seat at 2pm, which is never a good sign of a show's health. Sure enough the stalls had a lot of empty seats, maybe half full.

I actually enjoyed the show more the second time round & found it more emotional. Sitting at the front may have helped with that as I could see more of the acting. In particular I found that Ian Bartholomew came over better. The downside of sitting at the front was the nude scenes, I had to look away a couple of times. If only the show didn't have the nudity - yes, I am aware that's the point of it but I'd prefer if it wasn't shown! - and someone would re-choreograph the Lord Chamberlain scene. I enjoyed the rest of it and once they get into WWII I find some scenes very moving, I started crying 3 times.

Totally agreed. I didn't quite understand if the choreography in this song was supposed to be funny, or something, but it just didn't fit. 

Saw this last night for the second time - this time from front row right hand side C-something, which is a good seat - no issues with neck craning or leg room, and during the show one can certainly... see... things you might not have otherwise seen sat further away. Ahem. Sat next to a delightful lady from Germany who comes over to the UK for 5 days once a year to see as many West End shows as she can.

As seems the norm, Balcony and Grand Circle closed, quite a few seats spare dotted round the stalls. I paid £39.50 for front row, bought day before.

Nonetheless enthusiastic audience and I enjoyed it more the second time - still find the Lord Chamberlain scene quite grating as others have said, but good reactions to the laughter moments and as I've had the soundtrack on repeat for the last month, good to sing (silently of course!) along to.

Graham Vick covering the Van Damm part, and he was great - pleased to see he made it his own, you would not know he was not the star. Good voice too. One downside, in the male de-robing scene, seeing his old chap - hand me the eye bleach! But "Bravo" anyway. Also Jamie Foreman away, and a great replacement in Alexander Delamere. Still hate the Hitler bit though.

Would love to see again but running out of time.

(First post, woooh!)

Am heading back next week for one of the final performances. I went to the first preview and loved it and am gutted it is closing so am looking forward to seeing the changes and how the cast have improved before it bows out.