Opening Night - Gielgud

Thanks for the welcom TallPaul! We also have tickets to the Hills of California, Operation Mincemeat and Witness for the Prosecution (finally, for Witness, I've wanted to go for several years now but kept putting it lower on my list). 

Can't wait! Will be in London early next month.

It does sound somewhat experimental, but the ditty that Shez did on the One Show was quite ordinary. If it’s just her bumbling around backstage going “ooh I’m a bit mad me”, “ooh so am I” “me too” it might not hit quite as deep.

Who is Sheridan's u/s for this show? She will likely go on a lot...

Sheridan didn’t miss a single show at Shirley Valentine.
Likewise her attendance at Legally Blonde was exemplary.
Joseph she missed about a week near the end of the run which was most likely due to morning sickness (never confirmed but rumoured due to the timeline of her pregnancy).
Funny Girl was the exception not the rule. She was going through hell.

Few people in this industry will I defend with the strength I will defend Sheridan.
She's a worker as she's shown in all her shows, with Funny Girl being the exception to the rule due to horrendous personal circumstances.

I'm excited to see it.

One thing about Sheridan is that she’ll have her army of homosexuals fighting to the death for her LOL (myself included)

Agree totally.
I was in the very privileged position to be working with Sheridan during the early run of Funny Girl and that woman gives 110% every night. She is a real trooper and one of the nicest people I have ever met. She is also so appreciative of her fans and went above and beyond to meet as many as she could. I do think she is going to give a brilliant performance in this musical. Really looking forward to seeing it in 2 weeks time.

I recently came across a reminder that the day I saw Legally Blonde Sheridan was taken ill and Amy Lennox went on as Elle for the first time with very little rehearsal. She knocked it out of the park! Interesting that they're together again in Opening Night.

Sheridan and Rufus were on Radio 4's Front Row this evening and she performed her opening number Magic with the orchestra. After a dull opening verse it builds and builds into a clever upbeat song with a great lyric, lively tune and interesting orchestration. (It reminds me of the patter numbers Fred Ebb would write for Liza in the seventies.) That and the interview has ignited my interest in the show, though Rufus was pretty clear it's not like any other show in town, and it probably wouldn't have got a London production without Sheridan Smith's name attached.

What qualifies as typically Wainwright? He's always been pretty versatile writing in a wide variety of styles. I can appreciate that some find his voice off-putting (it took me a while to warm to it) but his writing has always had a touch of the theatrical and he often writes for character rather than constantly about himself.

Elaine Paige repeated the song “Magic” on her R2 show today. I have to say, I adore the orchestration and it suits SS’s voice so well. Excited to see this later this month. Not sure a musical about putting on a play needs the video treatment we’ve seen so much of in London in the past few months, but going with an open mind.