1,236 posts
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Post by nash16 on Jun 19, 2024 15:15:13 GMT
The Dunbar vibe in this is:
Local Moorgate City Banker Wins Competition To Play Lead At Barbican Theatre.
Interestingly, the Standard picked up on his nervousness via ends of sleeve tassel fingering! (A giveaway to the audience that he’s uncomfortable, sadly.)
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185 posts
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Post by greatauntedna on Jun 19, 2024 15:52:44 GMT
The Dunbar vibe in this is: Local Moorgate City Banker Wins Competition To Play Lead At Barbican Theatre. Interestingly, the Standard picked up on his nervousness via ends of sleeve tassel fingering! (A giveaway to the audience that he’s uncomfortable, sadly.) Or maybe it’s part of his performance, being on edge the whole time? |
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Post by westendwhistledown on Jun 19, 2024 16:02:32 GMT
The Dunbar vibe in this is: Local Moorgate City Banker Wins Competition To Play Lead At Barbican Theatre. Interestingly, the Standard picked up on his nervousness via ends of sleeve tassel fingering! (A giveaway to the audience that he’s uncomfortable, sadly.) the same Evening Standard that doesn’t even know Cole Porter wrote the lyrics to this musical, I don’t think I’ll trust them on artistic integrity… I'm pretty sure that was a creative choice... |
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Post by 141920grm on Jun 19, 2024 16:12:20 GMT
I'm honestly intrigued how forgiving everyone is towards less-than-stellar performance from a leading actor, in a show with/entirely based around only 1 principal pairing. 'Everyone else is great, give Adrian a pass' 'Oh he's just doing a different kind of acting, TV acting' 'Can't sing but at least he has charisma' 'He's not MT trained so he's perfectly adequate, come on'
In any other show where half the principal pairing absolutely bombs, he'd be surely torn to shreds and drag the show's rating down with; I can only conclude he does hold an appeal only to those who know his prior work... will be a more unpleasant surprise for those new to him/the show.
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Post by parsley1 on Jun 20, 2024 10:30:21 GMT
Same way we make excuses for lots of things we pay for in this country and aren’t happy with
Substandard
Health
Education
Policing
It’s tolerated with relish sometimes I think
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Post by ladidah on Jun 20, 2024 11:01:01 GMT
I never want to be cruel or nasty, but I was so disappointed by AD, it took me completely out of the show. It's not his fault he was cast, but it is a miscast.
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Post by david on Jun 20, 2024 16:10:58 GMT
Thanks to everyone who posted about the higher stage height issue. Having bought a discounted ticket front row through an TKTS offer kindly posted by Dave B , after a few emails today I got a free swap to the back of the stalls instead (having sat there for AG, it was a great view).So a big shout out to both TKTS and Barbican box office staff for the swap. Much appreciated. |
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Post by loathehydrangeas on Jun 21, 2024 19:31:18 GMT
I went this week and thought it was fantastic! Would go again. I was in row B and loved seeing it all up close, but could just about see the tap dancing (I’m 5’2) — I wouldn’t want to be sitting any closer unless you’re very tall… a woman of my height in front row stood up to the side until an usher found her a seat further back, but she said she could only see performers from the waist up. Also the main toilets are closed so might want to allow yourself extra time to get to the temporary ones on ground floor if you’re in the stalls!
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3,572 posts
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Post by Rory on Jun 21, 2024 19:48:04 GMT
I see that the marketing has now ditched any mention of Stephanie J Block and Adrian Dunbar. Focus now on the dancing.
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Post by producerfacts on Jun 21, 2024 22:18:46 GMT
I see that the marketing has now ditched any mention of Stephanie J Block and Adrian Dunbar. Focus now on the dancing. Went to have a look at the socials and every single post today is about the cast… |
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Post by Rory on Jun 21, 2024 22:30:12 GMT
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Post by producerfacts on Jun 21, 2024 22:57:53 GMT
Then the next three tweets are about the cast again, so not quite sure your point stands? |
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Post by Rory on Jun 22, 2024 5:14:22 GMT
Then the next three tweets are about the cast again, so not quite sure your point stands? Fair enough, I should have said the print media advertising has changed. I'm just noting that pre-opening, the leads were prominent and the show was being sold with them, now print ads have taken a different direction. Not a conspiracy theory, just an observation. |
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Post by james1969 on Jun 22, 2024 19:47:52 GMT
Received this email
Important Information Regarding Kiss Me Kate
Hello
We are contacting you regarding your booking for Kiss Me Kate at the Barbican Theatre.
The theatre has advised us that because the stage is slightly higher for the production, the producers have now issues Stalls row A with the following warning;
View may be impacted due to height of the stage.
If you have any questions regarding your order, please follow this link to contact us or visit our customer services page.
We're sorry for any upset and inconvenience caused.
Kind Regards
Official London Theatre
One quick email later I was moved further back the following morning - great service from SOLT and the Barbican
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Post by ladidah on Jun 24, 2024 7:13:18 GMT
That's very good of them, excellent customer service.
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Post by solangelafitte on Jun 24, 2024 18:48:00 GMT
Anyone tried the rush tickets for this? Are they easy to get/any good?
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pb
Auditioning
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Post by pb on Jun 24, 2024 19:06:29 GMT
Anyone tried the rush tickets for this? Are they easy to get/any good? I had no problem getting a rush ticket. It gave me Stalls K6, pretty respectable seat. |
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Post by solangelafitte on Jun 24, 2024 20:21:41 GMT
Anyone tried the rush tickets for this? Are they easy to get/any good? I had no problem getting a rush ticket. It gave me Stalls K6, pretty respectable seat. Oh nice one, thank you! Was just making sure they weren't using it to shift the gallery or something. |
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Post by sph on Jun 24, 2024 22:13:58 GMT
Anyone tried the rush tickets for this? Are they easy to get/any good? I had no problem getting a rush ticket. It gave me Stalls K6, pretty respectable seat. Is it a 10am daily rush? |
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Post by Dr Tom on Jun 25, 2024 9:27:43 GMT
I finally saw this last night. I got Row C, a few seats into the row, from Rush. This is a perfect seat, as there's a good viewing angle of the stage, and you're also about as close as you'll get due to the odd way the rows are shaped. The view from the front row did look limited. It doesn't normally bother me, but with this being a dancing show, you do ideally want to see legs and feet.
Now, I've only seen Kiss Me Kate once before, which was at the Crucible, and while I saw it had a charm, I wasn't wowed. This version is so much better. It helps that they have a good set, a budget, lots of big names (but generally in small roles). I think the book is a bit stretched and it's a long show. The ensemble members also get decent roles as well. I'd not checked in detail who was in it, but it's always a treat seeing Jordan Crouch on stage, and compared even to some of the advertised leads, he had a bit part. He was also the only ensemble member to have his shirt open during Too Darn Hot, which considering the talent of the dancers on stage, was an enjoyable number for all concerned.
The theatre was pretty full, although a few people didn't make it back to the second half. A shame really, as that's where the dancing really got stepped up a notch.
A fantastic production. Before the show, I wasn't sold on this being a winner, but having seen it, I will be back!
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Post by musicbox on Jun 26, 2024 23:43:10 GMT
I went to see this tonight and thought it was great - Adrian and Stephanie really owned their parts, especially Stephanie whose voice blew me away (Those head voice runs on the word 'never' wouldn't be out of place in the opera house).
Charlie Stemp was also great, if slightly under utilised, but the person who stood out to me most was by far Georgina - she was really incredible! I feel a slight connection to Georgina at this point because I first seen her in one of her first alternate nights of Cinderella and thought she was brilliant then, but she's improved even more since. The confidence oozed out of her during her solo in the second act and her voice has really improved since I last saw her. I used to think she sounded almost identical to Carrie in her Cinderella days, but her voice out shines hers by quite a long way now, she's clearly been working really hard on her technique.
The one slightly random irk I have with the production is the really excessive use of prop cigarettes - I know it's a period piece and smoking was 'in' during the era, but it felt a bit lazy to me. At one point in the second act every member of the ensemble was pretending to smoke in the background, surely there's another way to get across the time period than that? This is probably just a personal thing for me though as I absolutely hate cigarettes and genuinely stress out every day about my voice and general health being harmed when I'm walking around London, it's just everywhere.
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Post by westendwhistledown on Jun 27, 2024 21:58:58 GMT
I was in again tonight. Everyone feels much more settled in their roles than press night and AD was vocally great! Brilliant, sold out crowd. Let’s hope it continues!
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Post by ceebee on Jun 27, 2024 22:07:31 GMT
I was in again tonight. Everyone feels much more settled in their roles than press night and AD was vocally great! Brilliant, sold out crowd. Let’s hope it continues! Great to hear - I'm back on Saturday after one preview which I enjoyed and then a turntable failure two weeks ago which meant a rebook. Looking forward to it! |
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Post by greenandbrownandblue on Jun 30, 2024 8:35:47 GMT
Caught this last night. It's a better musical than I'd remembered, having seen it in Chichester a decade or so ago.
And this is a slick production with two terrific performances from Stephanie J Block and Georgina Onuorah. The latter's rendition of "Always True to You in My Fashion" is worth the ticket price alone. Charlie Stemp is woefully underused. Adrian Dunbar was significantly better than I'd expected - decent voice, and I really enjoyed "Where is the Life That Late I Led?"
Seemed (in the stalls at least) close to sold out. Audience loved it.
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Post by ceebee on Jun 30, 2024 11:24:38 GMT
I was at Kiss Me Kate too last night (for the second time) and greenandbrownandblue is right, the audience loved it. Ia gree Adrian Dunbar's singing has improved since I last saw it, but I think people were being a little harsh on him previously. He is surrounded by at least two knockout singers on that stage and I think many established "stars" would shine a little dimmer in their presence. Even the excellent Charlies Stemp look pretty average compared to some of the folk on that stage. I thought the nod to Pride at the beginning using the lights out to the audience was a really classy touch - acknowledging the day without a big fanfare, just a really nice rainbow effect that subtly scattered into the audience for a few seconds. |
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