Opening Night - Gielgud

Together, they have created a whole, and it's that gawdawful whole they're being judged against. The music may have been fine in a different context, but within this show, it wasn't. Good creatives learn to accept that not everything they do is liked. I'm a graphic designer and when providing concepts, choices and suggestions, literally half of my output is instantly rejected out of hand. So I focus on the half that's liked and stay sane.


Some in this production team have taken the honourable route, like Sheridan – who expressed her disappointment that it didn't work and apologised to her fans, even though she didn't need to do that at all and seemed, rightly or wrongly, to be regarded as the best asset the production had going for it, even in the most scathing reviews. Some have not, like Rufus – who appears to be one interview away from blaming next-door's cat.

Thanks for these replies. You’ve genuinely taught me something.

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Good luck with the ultramarathon. Impressive. A long runner under the 'Opening Night' thread!

I really enjoyed my second visit this afternoon. The audience were much better but I had to chuckle at the pair next to me who arrived in time for the interval!

I try not to pick shows apart anyway but am so glad I saw this properly. As has been mentioned there is a good show in there somewhere. I am certainly not the one to fix it though.

The American man next to me who has seen all the shows at the national and loads of arty plays really enjoyed it to.

Opening night played by muppets except Myrtle who is still Sheridan Smith?

Firstly it's good to see something like this in the West End. The cast is at the top of their game, and it's a challenging watch (good and bad).

I saw it last night and I'm not sure what to make of it. It's certainly not awful - there's much to admire - but it could be so much better. As others have said, it's not cohesive and it doesn't quite know what it is or wants to be. Why's it a musical? It would work so much better if the the show in a show (The Second Woman) was a musical. Also, we watch it count down through the previews to opening night, yet each time a scene from The Second Woman is performed, it's staged as if it's a rehearsal rather than a preview. Or maybe it's the day time rehearsals and we never see the previews in front of an audience?

Musically, I didn't feel as positively as Steve! But there are a few good numbers which are all performed brilliantly. Sheridan Smith singing Magic is, indeed, magic. I also loved Nicola Hughes' rendition of Life Is Thin, likewise the more understated numbers sung by John Marquez and Amy Lennox. Also the sound design is loud! At times too loud, but it's good to be in a musical where you can feel the music. So often I'm longing for them to ramp it up.

I didn't anticipate there to be so much video work in this. Some works (I loved the aerial shots), some is unnecessary; and I wished I'd seen this before Dorian Gray, as that does it better - though that's not to say this does it badly, it's just less impressive.

Couple more things. The breakdown is thrillingly staged with its strobes and pulsating beats, even if some of the action on stage is questionable (and borderline laughable). Also, if Nancy was an obsessive fan, I felt we should have seen her at stage door a few times before the accident. And I wished they'd not rushed the immediate aftermath of Nancy's death - that happens so quickly that we can't appreciate the shock Myrtle is in, but also none of the other character seem affected by it in anyway. That just didn't ring true at all.

But I am pleased to have seen it. I didn't love it, at times I was a bit bored, but I appreciated it and there are more than a couple of things which make it worth a watch. If you can get a cheap ticket, like I did, please do see it this week. Its presence makes the West End a more interesting place.

Watched the original film, Opening Night by John Cassavetes last night.

A brilliant film. Almost filmed documentary-style. It's seriously great stuff.

The only thought I had when finishing it was how could anyone in their right mind think to adapt this into a show.

Some great films should stay great films, and not hit-and-miss stage adaptations (I felt similarly about van Hove's Network.)

Chanced my arm and rushed up from a Chichester matinée to see if I could make it to the Gielgud to see this one last time tonight before it closes Saturday. Although the train stopped for half an hour, while a fight was broken up on the train in front, I made it by the skin of my teeth lol!

Despite its flaws, I've fallen in love with this show, and I'll miss it. That's why I bought the T-shirt, cos I want to remember a show I love, that I probably won't see again.

Its just so different and has so many moments unlike anything I've seen before.

Some spoilers follow. . .

Kudos to Benjamin Walker, who, each time I saw this, found a different way of improvising laughs out of Sheridan Smith. That final scene they do together is all about improvisation, how real moments are superior to parroting a leaden script, and he took that dead script and breathed new life into it every night, crossing his eyes in new and imaginative contortions, messing with his hair in every way possible, ever looking to surprise Smith and get her corpsing in genuine laughter. One time he pulled off her shoe, one time he turned his shirt full gurning Quasimodo, each time he tried to achieve more freedom, extra zaniness, more unexpected antics to reduce Smith and the audience into life and laughter that really isn't there in the scripted lines, and each time I saw it, he succeeded more than the time before;

Kudos to Shira Haas for taking a nonsensical character and charging her with such vivacity and humour, one moment quivering with tears, another moment merrily mocking the "Magic" song with supremely offhand sarcasm. Her whispering sardonic imp on Sheridan Smith's shoulder has been an absolute joy every time, and her songs never missed;

Kudos to Jos Slovick for injecting huge amounts of heart into the most minute moments;

Kudos to Amy Lennox for embodying tired vitriolic contempt, and a visceral sense of lostness, in the worst and most thinly written character in the piece. How I wish I had seen her Sally Bowles!;

Kudos to John Marquez for being the compassionate soul of the piece, the only one who genuinely seemed to care about Smith's character (and everyone else) even if he was too dumb to call her a doctor lol;

Kudos to Hadley Fraser for realising the wonderful "Pantomime" song every night to such a mellifluous degree, a song full of contradictions about shutting out the outside world, that is simultaneously narrow-minded, and so beautiful in its insular cosiness, a man constantly wrapping the world in cotton wool;

Kudos to the wondrous Nicola Hughes for belting that closing first act number, "Life is Thin" into the stratosphere, one of the best and most fearsome and majestic personifications of death in a musical;

And kudos to Sheridan Smith, who took a character that is thinly conceived and overwritten, and turning her into a proper believable human being, with a beating heart. Her "Magic" was magic every time.

I'll wear my T-shirt with a wistful sense of loss and also joy at having fallen in love with this baby so many people felt was so utterly ugly lol.

Hi, new member here. I’ve been reading the board for a few weeks so thought I should really join😂

For me, I totally agree with Steve. This is a fantastic show and the music is brilliant. The cast, led by Sheridan, really are amazing. The ladies smash it for me - Sheridan, Shira, Amy and Nicola.

I totally understand it might not be for some people but for some people to say don’t waste your money is a joke (not on this board I don’t think but I’ve seen it elsewhere). Make up your own bloody mind,m.

I have seen the show a number of times and for me just keeps getting better. Rufus’ music is very clever.

And yes I got the hoodie, tshirt and fridge magnet 😂😂😂.

Am expecting a ‘your head needs a wobble’ from Mrbarnsby😂

“Like sands through the hourglass” we enter the dying days of a dying show, and prepare ourselves for the influx of “last minute” visitors reviewing as “Do you know what, I actually really loved it”.

What is it about end of runs that inevitably invites these sudden positives? Is it the fact they saw the show just before it ended? I’ve always been intrigued.

Hmm... I'm thinking Sheridan is too happy to wash her hands of it. This is either Ivo or a producer. Assuming that Steve is Rufus. Either way, nice to have you on board! Good luck with your next project!