Opening Night - Gielgud

Yep, got lucky and checked the website for any last minute returns today and snapped up a ticket for the dress circle.

From reports during Old Friends it’s a high stage, but I’ll take a look tomorrow for you. I’m front row of the dress so should be able to see the front stalls fairly well.

Have chewed my nails to the bone… whats the initial reaction? 😂

Not good 🙈 Sheridan, Hadley, Nicola, Amy and the main love interest as good as they could be with poor songs, and a very dull story line. 2 hours 45 felt like 5. Few interval escapees and lots of moaning in interval. Orchestra looked bored out of their minds in second half. Video effects pretty cool but nothing new

Omg lol

I....I have no idea what I thought of this. Whatever I THOUGHT it was going to be, it wasn't. Uniformly strong performances all around but when it ended (2 hours 45 min run time) I kind of just sat there staring at the stage and listening to reactions all around me which seemed mostly "what did we just watch".

Seeing "Dorian Gray" this afternoon I did come away with the thought that the screens onstage should take a break. I don't really know that they added much to this one. Maybe in a few parts they did but overall, I didn't want to watch the screen, I wanted to watch the actors and it's kind of impossible in that situation. Like I said, a few scenes the filming added to what was happening (and that was used for about 90% of the show) but otherwise, it served as a way to show the actors when they were strategically placed so they wouldn't be seen by the audience which is a silly reason to use them - Just have the couch face the audience and problem solved.

I'm going to have to see this again in a couple of days and hear the score again because I think there might have been some music in there I liked. I'm just not sure.

Yeah...weird evening at the theatre. I wish I had more cohesive thoughts lol

Oh god it sounds horrible.

This post makes me wish the West End Whingers were still going

I’ll defend the hoovering bit, at least. It’s done during the overture - something we don’t really get much of anymore in musicals. Is it needed? Not really. But it just symbolizes getting ready backstage.

Just a bizarre show all round. Thought it might just be me, but there were lots of similar comments all around. Music too loud to make out the sung dialogue. Red voile curtain just annoying, and added nothing really to the staging. The camera work was poor, viewing the back of Benjamin Walker, crouched down and saying his lines, pointless. Shame the pre-recorded parts shown on the screen were out of sync with the live action too.
Overall, just don't bother. Waste of money and almost 3 hours.
I hope for the cast and venue's sake they make improvements, or it will be Closing Night sooner than they anticipated!

Oh my god. I had the exact same feeling. It's taken me a while to formulate my feelings as I just left puzzled by the whole experience.

I was looking forward to this primarily for the cast - Sheridan, Hadley, Amy Lennox, I thought with some great talent like that what could go wrong! Unfortunately EVERY thing. A lot of it was like watching paint dry. I found a lot of melancholy melodies that never really tell the story or connect. Then we are made to look through a curtain for lots of it further disconnecting the audience from the cast & story. 

I totally agree with the use of video in this too. For example in Sunset Boulevard I found it captivating, at moments astonishing, yet here I found it distracting, ugly and dull. I felt like in Sunset the cameras had purpose and direction where as in this they have a sequence when they project giant faces of the company sat around 'watching' the show (like we are with puzzled faces) from the supposed 'wings' while someone else is singing their heart out in the centre. It was such an odd choice, you can't but be pulled to the screen.. for no reason, so you miss the action. Also to compare again (one last one I promise it's just so recent) how they managed to walk around the block in Sunset and through a whole theatre without losing signal was clearly witchcraft as the signal dropped out a lot last night including when they were 5cm outside the side fire exit door (another odd choice). I totally agree with the above they could have cut 90% of it and the 10% that was effective would have been even better. 

I really hope they do a drastic re-write in previews. With a cast this good I hope they aren't locked into doing this every night. Such a waste.

The hoovering was fine for 2min. Then the 5min ballet with the hoover and cable that followed was dreary. I like Rufus Wainwright but not a lot of the music here, maybe it needs to be heard more? But the book is its main drawback for me. Solid 1* for the show and 1* for the cast doing their best with what they have.