Opening Night - Gielgud

Cos it was a Royal Court production I assume. 

That's a good way of putting it. There seemed to be far too many people on stage making up the numbers without contributing much to the story, apart from doing vague eye-emoting at the cameras whenever one wobbled past their faces. All a bit second lobster, let alone first lobster.

What a load of rubbish. This can’t close soon enough. I feel so bad for the cast that they have to endure this night after night.

Someone seems to have forgotten a key requirement for a good show is actually having a story worth telling …

I left at interval. Life is too short.

I’m sorry but drunkenly slagging off a show mid show is not au fait. Especially when you’re in the second row of stalls!

I beg people to get some decorum.

Yeah bunch of middle aged, very very drunk women… 😒

I suppose on paper this had all the ingredients of a sure-fire hit and people expected it wouldn't need an out-of-town try-out.

Putting a show on somewhere else and then picking it up and moving it to London is an added expense.

I think ultimately, Sheridan Smith is a massive marketing issue for this show. Her performance doesn't matter really. The show would not exist without a star name like Smith attached to it. However, she brings the baggage of her fans (a good percentage of the current audience) who are expecting a classic musical because that's her usual stage vehicle. Therefore, that percentage goes home disgruntled by the "art house" show they didn't expect and slag it off to their friends.

It's a paradox. The show can't exist without Sheridan Smith but equally it will close because of her involvement.

I saw this on the 20th. My friend bought the tickets and, as many on this thread have mentioned, the draw for her was Sheridan Smith. I agreed to go as the tickets were well priced and I’ll pretty much go and see anything if it’s not too expensive! Consequently, it’s fair to say I have more eclectic taste but even I felt disappointed by this offering.

I thought at least two of the songs were tonally odd (Magic and the one about Broadway) seeming far too jolly. I really liked ‘Its Over’ though, dramatic, engaging and well sung. The script needs work. I found it quite jarring that Myrtle’s colleagues are supposed to be witnessing her experiencing a psychological breakdown yet are so blasé about it in their dialogue. Consequently, I didn’t feel I cared as much as I should have. I also didn’t have a clear idea of which character was which in the supporting cast and some seemed very underused.

Despite all of that I though the cast did the best with what they have. Would I go again? No, nor would I recommend to others however, I’m glad I experienced it. The person I went with hated it though, I think she’d ask for a refund if she could!

I think that's a very perceptive observation.

I mean, even the Pulitzer Prize winning "A Strange Loop," with a Broadway run behind it, which is also avant garde rarified material, swerved the West End and opened in the arty Barbican Theatre, where punters know what to expect (subtitles, auteurs, etc). And at least "A Strange Loop" was about the topical issue of "identity."

But to open blind in the entertainment oriented West End to an audience of mostly Sheridan Smith fans, with a project about creative navel-gazing and internal psychological breakdown (symbolised by a dead girl), I mean, that is really really risky.

But as you say, Sheridan Smith is the only reason we see a project like this in the West End in the first place. Catch 22.

Good luck tonight, Mr. Barnaby. I hope you stick it out till the end so you can hate all of it rather than just the first half!

I am at a loss as to what to say.

No wait

This is the most appalling show I think I’ve ever seen.

Was it deliberately created to test the audiences patience? (As well as rip them off)

The timeless, witless music and lyrics are the worst I’ve ever heard. If they ever record it (they won’t… can’t… MUST’NT) it could be used to torture people.

Sheridan’s ‘singing ‘ was absolutely painful.
She can’t sing and this exposes her terribly. A load of tuneless screeching. Even Audra McDonald couldn’t sell these songs though to be fair.

What is her character supposed to be? What is the point in all this?

I felt embarrassed for every single person on stage. What on earth must they all be thinking- looking out at the dead eyed audience- slowly losing the will to live? There are some seriously talented people on that stage. None of them deserve this. The audience reaction was bewilderment throughout. The shameless curtain call is perhaps the single most mortifying thing I’ve ever seen on a stage.
No we won’t get up and clap. No it wasn’t good. Stop trying to engineer a standing ovation.

I hated every single moment of this show and I hope it closes the day after reviews come out. I’d rather Thriller Live go into this theatre than this. At least that would give an audience some entertainment and joy.

Ivo Van Hove and Rufus Wainwright should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.

The curtain call is very much "let's all sing and dance and try to pretend the last 2hrs never happened" Please tell me there wasn't a standing ovation.