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Post by lichtie on May 10, 2024 18:57:31 GMT
I often sit in stalls around row P (the behind the pillar seats). They're absolutely fine. For a tenner it's definitely worth it despite its flaws.
That's good to hear. I booked O16/17 a bit spontaneously but after having a look on Seatplan I was a bit deflated. It's easy to move you head around bit then and still see everything?
I've never had any problems - I think it's probably worse further back. My favourite is N7 (bit more space as well for bags!), but I was in O16 for Lyonesse and it was fine.
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Post by lou105 on May 24, 2024 11:30:45 GMT
Lovetheatre.com have a sale for today only: all their available seats for the rest of the run at £24 each. Some good bargains to be had, if anyone is still looking
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Post by frosty on May 24, 2024 14:28:05 GMT
Lovetheatre.com have a sale for today only: all their available seats for the rest of the run at £24 each. Some good bargains to be had, if anyone is still looking Great, thank you, just bagged 2x stalls row M for 8th June for £24 each, £162 saving!
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Post by joem on May 24, 2024 22:33:49 GMT
I assume everyone who wants to see it from here already has but just in case there may be spoilers ahead.
The problem I have with Jez Butterworth plays is that I'm always hoping for another "Jerusalem" and ending up with "Not Quite Jerusalem". This is in many ways a solid play; well written, beautifully staged and excellently acted, but it is overlong and at times the story isn't quite interesting enough to match the writing. The cast is far too big, with judicious cutting/doubling you could lose at least four actors and maybe bring the tickets down by ten quid!
So I see the character of Veronica, the matriarch, here and think "Ah! Here's our new Johnny 'Rooster' Byron". Charismatic, lippy, domineering, but tragically flawed. Except the play then drifts away from her and she spends the third act offstage. So who is/are the protagonists? The girls then. Except they are totally dominated by mum in the first act and need perhaps a little bit more finessing to delineate their differences.
My main grouse though is the last act which is to me largely unnecessary, very padded, and only there to justify a three-act structure. Essentially after the drama of Joan's return we have rather too much of Joan's travails and a totally redundant Macguffin in the baby she brings in tow. What's its purpose? To show us Joan's callousness/descent? We already know this. To tie this to the visit to see/not see her dying mum is simply a distraction. Finish the play when Jill is pleading with Joan to see her mum and you end with drama and ambiguity, instead we carry on until we end with some very pretty singing (both the adult and young actresses did a great job in that department) which tells us the play is ended but makes it rather cosier than we had a right to expect.
If some of this sounds petty or even harsh it's because Butterworth set such a high standard, for me, with "Jerusalem" that I am always holding up a glass to it when comparing it to his other works. It's certainly an event when he writes a new play and this is well worth going to - even with the steep prices involved. I just wish he'd pruned it a little more, perhaps given it a trial run outside London for fine tuning.
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1,223 posts
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Post by theatrefan77 on May 27, 2024 0:32:30 GMT
Loved this and will see it again on Saturday. Maybe a bit long but the performances are all excellent.
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Post by jr on May 27, 2024 19:31:21 GMT
Left after the first act. All exposition, no drama. I haven't been that bored in ages.
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Post by sweets7 on May 28, 2024 8:32:12 GMT
Saw it yesterday and found it interesting. I found Gillian the most interesting character. Absolutely truthful and really quite resilient despite everything. However, an obvious codependent. Ruby was avoidant. Gloria almost too addicted to the negative energy, and the mother and Joan total fantasists. There was a lot there that could have been mined. Did they even have a father or did they all have different ones. There only seemed to be a year between each, or had he run off. Was Joan on drugs in the USA? How did she survive at 15? Was the mother really an alcoholic who ran in her knickers in the street . Who was the most accurate of those sisters. Gloria was supremely negative or was Gillian who was more measured. Ruby and Joan didn’t seem to have any opinions.
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Post by bigredapple on Jun 4, 2024 16:15:25 GMT
Transferring to Broadway
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Post by Rory on Jun 4, 2024 17:03:33 GMT
That was fast. Hopefully Sonia Friedman can transfer Stereophonic over here just as quickly.
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6,559 posts
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Post by Jon on Jun 4, 2024 17:15:34 GMT
Given it hasn't sold that well in the West End, the Broadway production will need a few names to make the run a success.
Stereophonic is likely to transfer but I suspect they're waiting for the Tonys before they do. I'm not sure how big the set is though so unsure what WE theatre would be suitable.
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Post by dr on Jun 4, 2024 17:32:07 GMT
I'd imagine Stereophonic would go to the Harold Pinter - a kind of swap! It's Sonia Friedman's go-to playhouse in the West End (Hills of California, Lyonesse, Dr Semmelweis, The Human Voice, and so on...) Plus, its capacity (796) is almost exactly the same as Stereophonic's current Broadway capacity (802 at the Golden.)
Excited to hear that The Hills of California will be on Broadway - I thought it was a truly wonderful, special show, even if it has been ignored by most over here. I can't see a world in which Laura Donnelly doesn't transfer with it - the others, I don't know.
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Post by kit66 on Jun 4, 2024 21:59:53 GMT
Although I liked it - didn't love it:too long and needed "pruning" - 3hrs+, 3 acts, for gawd sake!.I prefered Till the Stars Come Down as a piece about waring sisters.I can't see this going down well on Broadway as it's very British in it's sensibilities but without the depth of Jerusalem or The Ferryman.
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jun 4, 2024 22:17:41 GMT
I suspect this will tank on Broadway. Cant quite believe they are taking it over
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6,559 posts
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Post by Jon on Jun 4, 2024 22:20:13 GMT
I suspect this will tank on Broadway. Cant quite believe they are taking it over Wonder if it's a pride thing for Jez Butterworth and Sonia Friedman or if the transfer was booked ages ago, it's not going anywhere near as successful as The Ferryman or The River.
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1,061 posts
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Post by nash16 on Jun 4, 2024 22:44:12 GMT
3hrs of good acting, but theatrical boredom. Good luck, America.
As soon as his wife came on with an American accent at the end it felt obvious it was headed to Broadway ultimately.
It just feels like a vanity showcase for the Butterworth-Donnelly clan.
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Post by sph on Jun 4, 2024 23:53:30 GMT
The setting is quite specifically "British" in a way that Americans don't normally get to see, so that's a tough one to put across, but I think the Gypsy-like storyline of the stage mother and singing daughters will go down pretty well.
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Post by jr on Jun 6, 2024 12:08:28 GMT
It'd be interesting to see reviews and how well it sells in NY. Despite the good response here I found it unbelievably boring. I didn't like Jerusalem either but at least it was livelier.
I always think there is a lot of chauvinism in London regarding UK plays/musicals. Still can't believe Standing won the Olivier over The band's visit 🙄
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Post by Fleance on Jun 6, 2024 12:12:34 GMT
There is a sense that too many shows are opening in New York this season, and there just aren't the audiences to support them. There are many closings.
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Post by aspieandy on Jun 6, 2024 12:33:50 GMT
I'm not sure too many shows are selling out in the West End, either. Good deals almost everywhere.
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Post by andrew on Jun 6, 2024 13:46:03 GMT
I'm not sure too many shows are selling out in the West End, either. Good deals almost everywhere. This. Sustaining a healthy 5-month run in a West End theatre, with a new play and no names (other than the writer and director) is pretty impressive still.
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Post by dr on Jun 6, 2024 13:57:59 GMT
Given the new design style they've used for the Broadway website (the third for this show so far), I wonder if Sonia Friedman is attempting to draw on the success of Stereophonic. There's some similarities - 3 hour play, use of music, retro setting. And if that show has found success, both with audiences and (not to be too presumptuous) awards... perhaps they can carve an audience for The Hills of California too?
Plus, as it did on the West End, it'll surely sell a decent amount on the names of Butterworth and Mendes, post-Lehman and Ferryman. The Broadhurst isn't significantly bigger than the Harold Pinter - 1,156 seats vs 796.
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Post by aspieandy on Jun 6, 2024 14:08:41 GMT
.. also, a surprising level of negativity on here for a work averaging 4.1* from 99 votes.
"The Broadhurst isn't significantly bigger than the Harold Pinter" - some people might suggest over 40% more capacity probably is.
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Post by Latecomer on Jun 8, 2024 19:04:41 GMT
I enjoyed this. How lovely to have a play about women, where men just play incidental characters who talk about the women or move the plot on!!!!! I thought the story was good and the acting excellent and I was moved by the ending. I liked that it wasn’t neat and tidy, as life rarely is. Also an honour to share our dress circle row d with Celia Imrie and friends. Fabulous day out. D15 dress circle good value.
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Post by viscountviktor on Jun 8, 2024 23:07:07 GMT
During the show I was thinking about how the plot could have gone in different directions... When Ruby's husband said he had seen someone at then end of the pier (which I assume is Joan), the twist could've been that Joan never made it to America and had been living out of sight in Blackpool the whole time, like the mad woman in the attic in Jane Eyre.
Another one was when Gloria goes up to visit mother whilst Joan and Gillian chat in the kitchen - I was convinced Gillian was going to smother and kill the mother so that Joan could never see her.
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32 posts
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Post by viscountviktor on Jun 8, 2024 23:32:54 GMT
Need to also say I hated the setup of the Harold Pinter and the staff weren't good. Curtains not doors separating the bars from the seats, and staff audibly chatting away in the bars. Really poor.
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