Becoming Nancy - Birmingham Rep

Front row ticket Saturday night, available for £26.50, which I would say is exceptional value.

There is a lot to like with this new musical and several things not to like, including a couple of miscasts. This is a kind of Jamie, Billy Elliot with a bit of Kinky Boots, although it is not as good as those three, which might sound a bit curmudgeon, the bar for those 3 musical is high, well to be exact it’s at the top. This isn’t as high, but maybe 80% there

Stiles and Drewe always deliver with conviction a top rate score, even the flop Wind in the Willows has several decent songs, this has several decent songs too. This could end up in the West End, but there is still a work in progress before a transfer, the book seems problematic, the concept is bright with a school play of Oliver, that is used as a vehicle for Oliver to be queer. The book needs to be sharper and more witty.

I thought Paige Peddie, Rebecca Trehearn & Stephen Ashfield all 3 seasoned West End actors and this afternoon I could see why, they were tremendous.

I still hate that artificial song out that is the trend now to get people on their feet clapping.

4 Stars

Back again tonight on second row stalls….pure magic from start to finish…just enjoying the ride whilst it’s still on….back for final time on closing night…a smash in my opinion

I’ve now seen this several times (I live 10 mins away though so it’s easy).

It’s just so damn charming and warm, and the cast I’ve spoken to are all uniformly sweethearts as well. I sincerely hope for a transfer.

Oooh it’s appeared on TodayTix (greyed out) so at least a transfer is planned I think…

Yeah.

Saw this last night, and considering it was a Monday...WOW, what an enthusiastic and sold out audience! (Even with the brief show stop in the second half)

As for the actual show itself, I'm so glad I caught this in its final week as I loved it so much more than I thought I would. Brilliant songs, script and performances all round.

I hope it is able to have a future life after the Rep (although the same was said for What's New Pussycat? and Sinatra), and I wonder if they actually did record the full cast recording when they did the 6-track EP and holding back the full release?

There's a few things I took issue with. I too found myself slightly stuck on why he was playing Nancy (does the title remind anyone else of the Groundhog Day song?), especially when you throw in an eleven o'clock scene where the teacher (very well played by Mr Ashfield) is essentially asked straight up why he made the decision, and you feel like you're being set up for a big revelation, and then... no. You just sang well so I cast you in this way that would obviously get you bullied. I am decidedly not a Stiles and Drewe fan, and whilst there were definitely 3 or 4 songs that worked well, there was just so much dross in here. So many wonderful moments in this really sweet story that you could musicalise, and they're waved by in favour of the obvious and the meaningless. Half the songs are just the main character directly expressing their emotion in a really flat and uncolourful way. "I'm really nervous, I'm really scared, I'm really really nervous, I'm unprepared" is not actually a line from the show because I couldn't find published lyrics but is on the level of what happened a lot.

This basic story is a great concept for a musical, and some of the times they find those beats (mostly in act 1) like the number where Paige Peddie's character gets to shout at everyone and the world about being a person of colour in the 70s and the troubles her character keeps having thrown at her. Then bewilderingly we spend 10 minutes singing bland forgettable fare on the trip to Brighton where a main character whose entire personality is "Who cares? Let's have fun!" suddenly decides actually he does care and he can't have fun. Why wasn't that a song instead? Why even waste a third of an act on the Brighton trip when you had so much unresolved stuff to deal with at home? I love Trehearn and her song whilst anatomically not especially accurate was OK, but wouldn't it have been more interesting for her to have a number arguing with her husband and bringing him around to understanding their sons plight instead of him just doing it automatically and in perfect time to neatly round up the show? Or a song about how the mother loves her son, didn't think she'd care and always sort of knew he was gay but when actually confronted by it in the living room totally froze, because she's affected by stereotypes and fear that she can't just ignore? 

I think that was my main complaint, that the story deserved better musicalisation than it got. In my view because Stiles and Drewe are not up to it, or have not proven themselves to be up for it in my experience. Those examples above would be difficult songs to write, and they can't write difficult songs. That lack of quality ends up taking something which is admittedly quite feel-good, often funny and generally endearing and leaves it middling. I walked out thinking this was another British musical that like The Little Big Things just didn't bother to craft enough decent music to earn itself a place within the genre, relying on a loud ending where everyones shouts something cheerful at you for 5 minutes so it gets a standing ovation. 

I really didn't hate it at all, but it wasn't anywhere near a 5 star for me.

Oh dear!  Becoming Jane and Little Big Things are both included in my personal top five musicals of the last ten years ( along with Everybody's Talking About Jamie, What's New Pussycat and the Great British Bake Off Musical. BJ displaced Standing At The Sky's Edge this month.)

I loved it but there are some really strong counter points raised by you both! 😁

I am probably one of the mainly-silent probably-majority of musical theatre goers whose sole wish is to have a 100%, no if or buts, great time. I now see a stage show almost every day, often two, because there is nothing in my life as I approach 70 I enjoy more, especially, sometimes essentially, from a central front row stalls seat. 90% musicals, a few plays, comedy stand ups and concerts.

I don't, however, really think about what I'm seeing or hearing either at the time or afterwards, the good or the bad aspects, the book, the sound, whose performances are strongest or anything like that. I just have a good or more often than not, an absolutely fantastic time. I enjoy reading most of the critiques on this forum but couldn't produce something like andrew 's post above if my life depended on it. What another poster, Steve , writes often within hours of seeing a show absolutely amazes me ! 

I can only rate a show by how much I enjoy it. On that basis I would award Jesus Christ Superstar and Spring Awakening one star (but I wouldn't contribute that to a poll here on either show) and I Should Be So lucky and Now That's What I call A Musical both five stars. I don't doubt the first two are the better musicals and that raises a point I asked once before - should a star rating be subjective or objective ? i can only do subjective and  I enjoy five stars almost everything. I guess that makes me lucky and I'll keep spending the kids' inheritance on live entertainment for as long as I can do so.

I agree with your approach, I see things because I think I will enjoy them, sometimes because who is in it or if it has great reviews . I don't overanalyse what I see, either I enjoy it or I don't. In my mind there's nothing like live entertainment whether that be theatre or concert and admittedly you can't win em all and enjoy everything but you can at least try!