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Post by palace on May 7, 2017 23:58:48 GMT
Here's a little story that should make you cry, About two unhappy dames. Let us call them Palace "X" and Kathryn "Y", Which are not their real names. Got to admit I don't get this joke - is it a song reference? Someone clue me in, please? Methinks you must be joking. Or you've made a big FOLLY. And on this page! Kathryn, you must admit this is quite funny! |
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46 posts
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Post by palace on May 8, 2017 0:03:40 GMT
Got to admit I don't get this joke - is it a song reference? Someone clue me in, please? Every theatregoer should know this. I believe it was in rep at the NT with an obscure Shakespeare and an American play.  What a fabulous person you are! Clever (the suggestion about how to make ticketing fairer) and super witty. |
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2017 0:05:51 GMT
Here's a little story that should make you cry, About two unhappy dames. Let us call them Palace "X" and Kathryn "Y", Which are not their real names. Got to admit I don't get this joke - is it a song reference? Someone clue me in, please? It's the first verse from The Story of Lucy & Jessie. |
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Post by Tibidabo on May 8, 2017 6:38:07 GMT
Every theatregoer should know this. I believe it was in rep at the NT with an obscure Shakespeare and an American play. What a fabulous person you are! Clever (the suggestion about how to make ticketing fairer) and super witty. Ahhhhh! I get it all now! I bet no one has ever seen palace and @honouredguest in the same room together....  |
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Post by andromedadench on May 8, 2017 8:05:13 GMT
It used to be a lot more common - you used to have a company of actors performing different productions on different nights, which not even the NT now does - but has mostly died out. It was how a lot of older actors learnt their trade. In the West End The Winters Tale and Harlequinade/All on Her Own in the Ken Branagh season is the only time we've had old-style rep that I can recall. If I'm wrong someone will correct me I'm sure. European theatres, on the other hand, often work on the principle, building up a repertoire of shows that they perform for years but without any exhaustive continual runs. This page for the Schaubuhne, gives you an idea. www.schaubuehne.de/en/spielplan/index.htmlAll the theatres in Serbia/former Yugoslavia have always worked on the repertory principle, so I also found it difficult to grasp the meaning of the word as I wasn't even aware there were any other principles. Every theatre has its own company of actors and resident directors/dramaturges/technicians and up to a dozen different productions are performed each month (except during the July&August summer break). There are no limited runs - every given show remains on the repertoire for as long as it sells enough tickets, meaning that a particularly good (or popular) production can stay on for decades. A meta-farce version of Feydau's A Flea in Her Ear holds a record - it premiered in 1971 and stayed on the repertoire for 34 years. So the West End concept confused the heck out of me upon the first encounter. |
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Post by michalnowicki on May 8, 2017 9:09:29 GMT
I've seen (Basienka Blake) Oh my God, this is the cutest. Basienka is a super-cute form of Barbara in Polish. Something like Babsy? |
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2017 13:44:18 GMT
As much as I think there is sometimes a certain air of pretentiousness surrounding how the National operates, it's fairly obvious to anyone that the shows play in rep - just take a look at the dates and times for the show you want to see and it will very quickly be obvious it isn't on as regularly as a production in a West End theatre is. That's not rocket science and doesn't require any kind of specialist knowledge or privileges. |
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Post by palace on May 8, 2017 17:00:46 GMT
As much as I think there is sometimes a certain air of pretentiousness surrounding how the National operates, it's fairly obvious to anyone that the shows play in rep - just take a look at the dates and times for the show you want to see and it will very quickly be obvious it isn't on as regularly as a production in a West End theatre is. That's not rocket science and doesn't require any kind of specialist knowledge or privileges. I just looked at the date/s I wanted and not all the times and dates for all the shows. I take your point though it would stand out if someone looked at all the dates. Anyone looking at the NT schedule and who knows about WE theatre productions would definitely see a difference. I remember reading that some of the cast of Coronation Street such as Pat Phoenix used to appear in rep which was probably good training as CS used to be shown live. |
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Post by brenth on May 8, 2017 17:31:32 GMT
Totally off at a tangent, but if Imelda couldn't do it, I think Sam Spiro would be a great Sally
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2017 2:35:33 GMT
I'm amazed in this day and age that it's still financially viable to run these shows at the NT in rep. I'm glad they do though It isn't. They are resorting to all sorts of tricks to make it look like they are. The Dorfman doesn't run rep any more, and the others sometimes play full weeks of a production, even a full month at times. Gone are the Peter Hall days of 3 shows in a week... But, as someone said earlier, almost all the plays were cross-cast from within a big company of actors in the Peter Hall days. So the extra cost of playing in rep was just production staff to switch the sets around, plus a very few, relatively underused actors who were just in one or two plays. And when an actor wasn't performing, they were in rehearsal for a forthcoming new production. In the Peter Hall rep system, like the present rep systems at the RSC, Pitlochry Festival Theatre and the Theatre by the Lake in Keswick, the actors were all worked very hard so it was an efficient system. Now, almost all the NT productions are individually cast, as a matter of policy, so each theatre has three separate companies of actors employed at any one time - two as actors in the two plays in rep and one rehearsing the next show to open there. Simplistically, that could triple the cost of actors, comparing now with the Peter Hall days. |
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Follies
May 9, 2017 7:51:05 GMT
via mobile
Post by kathryn on May 9, 2017 7:51:05 GMT
This is a really interesting discussion but looks likely to bury the actual Follies chat. Maybe it could be split off into a separate thread?
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2017 11:04:02 GMT
They tried splitting them into troupes under different directors for a while too. Yes, quite similar to the present RSC model, except that the RSC mini-ensembles are each restricted to one theatre whereas those NT mini-companies did one show in each of the three NT theatres. |
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Post by dazzerlump on May 9, 2017 21:14:14 GMT
Tickets are on Viagogo at £113 each plus fees for a back stalls preview!! drives me mad!! lets To get back on track, that's interesting. Knowing how the show sold over member / public booking, that suggests to me the "member" tickets went to people who will use them, leaving the touts to fight it out for what was left once the "interested public" had got theirs, too. Good. Which is how it should be! I still hope the days of touts are coming to an end though, but like I'm guessing even with Hamilton they will always find a loophole |
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Post by dazzerlump on May 9, 2017 21:56:05 GMT
So Im just listening to the most recent Broadway Follies,and I'd forgotten how high Sally has to sing in too many mornings, do we reckon this will be lowered a bit for Imelda?
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2017 9:54:47 GMT
Depends on transposition (Lupone was lowered, for example) but the generic score has Mrs Lovett (which she already played) as an E5 top note (two above middle C) and Sally a G5, so a minor third higher. Shouldn't be that much of a stretch although the tessitura (the most common pitch range) I would imagine is higher for Sally.
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Post by Sari on May 12, 2017 10:09:17 GMT
I'm going to London on December 5th, do you guys think this will still be on by then?
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2017 10:24:17 GMT
I'm going to London on December 5th, do you guys think this will still be on by then? It will still be on but Follies will then be on for only about half the week, on average, sharing the Olivier Theatre with St George and the Dragon. We don't know the schedule yet, so we don't know if Follies will be on on any particular date. |
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Post by showtoones on May 12, 2017 14:53:46 GMT
I'm going to London on December 5th, do you guys think this will still be on by then? It will still be on but Follies will then be on for only about half the week, on average, sharing the Olivier Theatre with St George and the Dragon. We don't know the schedule yet, so we don't know if Follies will be on on any particular date. Until they announce the extended dates in December though, we won't know the schedule meaning it could play for longer than just a few days each week. We just don't know. |
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Post by Sari on May 12, 2017 15:00:10 GMT
It will still be on but Follies will then be on for only about half the week, on average, sharing the Olivier Theatre with St George and the Dragon. We don't know the schedule yet, so we don't know if Follies will be on on any particular date. Until they announce the extended dates in December though, we won't know the schedule meaning it could play for longer than just a few days each week. We just don't know. Oops that means that I probably have to get the tickets as soon as they come out right? because I checked and most of the dates are sold out... |
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2017 16:05:56 GMT
Sally is a very rangey sing for any actress playing the role. Buddy's Eyes and Too Many Mornings both require the singer to have a decent low to mid range and then end with an expansive soprano… Losing My Mind has been altered so many times key-wise in previous productions, so it's hard to say what way this will go for Imelda. She really went to work on the Gypsy score and had singing lessons to prepare, and she was extremely dedicated during the 2 years that she played the role in terms of keeping her voice in shape. However that is a very different sing to Sally. I'll be interested to see what they do key-wise, but my guess is that Too Many Mornings will be brought down slightly especially for the duet section, but I should think Buddy's Eyes will be manageable for her. Her Baker's Wife had some soprano sections (it's a similar sing) and she sounds pretty decent on the OLCR of that particular show (albeit that was over 20 years ago). The best sung Sallys to my mind have definitely been Julia McKenzie in the first London production, Victoria Clark in the Los Angeles transfer of the 2011 Broadway production, and Charlotte Page in the 2013 Toulon production in Paris ( which had a predominantly British cast). I was not taken with Bernadette Peters' interpretation and I could take or leave Dorothy Collins in the original Broadway production. Imelda will act the sh!t out of the role, that's for sure. Her Losing My Mind is going to be terrifying lol.
Check out the above mentioned Sallys here (hope the links work!):
Julia McK
Victoria Clark
Charlotte Page
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Post by dazzerlump on May 12, 2017 18:49:37 GMT
I agree, Charlotte Page and Julia McKenzie are my faves!
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Post by frontrowcentre on May 13, 2017 1:54:58 GMT
I wonder if I'm the only one not feeling excited about Imelda playing Sally,... On the other hand I cannot wait to see Janie Dee, her 'Could I Leave you' in Putting it together was brilliant
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Post by Dawnstar on May 13, 2017 9:38:27 GMT
I wonder if I'm the only one not feeling excited about Imelda playing Sally,... On the other hand I cannot wait to see Janie Dee, her 'Could I Leave you' in Putting it together was brilliant I'm not fussed about Imelda Staunton. I've booked primarily to see Josephine Barstow, as she retired from the opeartic stage before I started operagoing so I haven't seen her live before. Other cast members I'm looking forward to seeing include Janie Dee, Alex Young & Bruce Graham, all of whom I've liked in other shows. |
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2017 9:43:48 GMT
It didn't sell out instantly in the first booking period so as long as you're fairly quick off the mark you should be OK. Keep an eye out here as I'm sure someone will flag up the next booking period announcement. Also have a look at info on Amex priority booking (if you or someone you know has an American Express card) and (if you are a young person!) Entry Pass. |
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Post by Sari on May 13, 2017 10:15:21 GMT
It didn't sell out instantly in the first booking period so as long as you're fairly quick off the mark you should be OK. Keep an eye out here as I'm sure someone will flag up the next booking period announcement. Also have a look at info on Amex priority booking (if you or someone you know has an American Express card) and (if you are a young person!) Entry Pass. I wish I could, but I'm from Spain  I have everything ready for me and my friends to buy the tickets so now I just have to wait! I don't think they're selling the next booking period anytime soon though... |
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I have everything ready for me and my friends to buy the tickets so now I just have to wait! I don't think they're selling the next booking period anytime soon though...