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Follies
Feb 26, 2019 9:33:26 GMT
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Post by welsh_tenor on Feb 26, 2019 9:33:26 GMT
These reviews of the new run are really interesting, I’m going on Saturday for my first time and I know nothing about the show at all!
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Follies
Feb 26, 2019 11:15:47 GMT
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Post by jampot on Feb 26, 2019 11:15:47 GMT
These reviews of the new run are really interesting, I’m going on Saturday for my first time and I know nothing about the show at all! Also there sat for the matinee..
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Post by couldileaveyou on Feb 26, 2019 23:19:30 GMT
I saw it tonight after having seen in three times at the NT last year and on the whole I found it more beautiful but somehow less emotional.
I really liked Joanna Riding, much more than Imelda, she sang the role infinitely better and her portrayal was less psychotic and more convincing. While Imelda seemed to have come to the party directly from the cuckoo's nest with her collection of mannerisms (the crazy whisper, the hysterical clapping), Joanna has a more "housewifey" vibe, more poised and sweeter. Her "In Buddy's Eyes" and "Too Many Mornings" were great, her "Losing My Mind" beautifully sung. Sadly, the number was already over-staged and now it's even worse, which is more frustrating because Jo Riding actually has the voice to just stand there in a gown and sing it in the manner of a torch song.
Apart from that, Cooke's direction is more focused and precise, replacing the two "sailors" with the dancers in frac during "Ah, Paree" was a large improvement and the new-choreographed "Who's That Woman?" is even more exhilarating and show-stopping (it's true tho that Dawn Hope is on play-back for some bits). Dame Felicity is still sick and Josephine Barstow only took opening night's glory and left: Geraldine Fitzgerald is a satisfying Heidi, even if Alison Langer steals the scene in "One More Kiss". I really really liked the final tableau of the younger Follies girls as the guests were leaving the party, that was truly transfixing.
The new quartet of younger protagonists is very solid. Weirdly enough, Christine Tucker is actually better cast than Zizi as Young Phyllis: the Strallen girl was really too good for the role and she ended up stealing scenes in a role that is supposed to be more marginal. Christine restores the balance and "Lucy and Jessie" goes rightfully back to being Janie's big number. I missed Alex Young's desperation and somehow Gemma Sutton - who sings beautifully and was the only redeeming grace in The Go-between - would have been a better match to Imelda's Sally, party because they actually look similar and partly because they played the role with the same manic energy. I wish they had re-designed Hattie's look for Claire Moore, it was clearly designed for Di Butcher's butchness and it doesn't work equally well on Claire, who's nevertheless very good in the role and brought the show to life and the audience in with her "Broadway Baby". Peter Forbes is a gem and Janie Dee is even better than last year, especially in the book scenes.
****
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2019 23:53:04 GMT
One of my favorite things about the last Broadway revival was that Losing My Mind was staged exactly as you wished it had been here. It was elegant and crushing in its simplicity.
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Post by Hana PlaysAndParasols on Feb 27, 2019 16:08:49 GMT
Sadly, the number was already over-staged and now it's even worse Oh no, what do you mean?? I thought it was absolutely breathtaking, not only the highlight of Joanna's Sally, but the whole show. It brought the character together for me and had a huge emotional impact. I do however wholeheartedly agree on some of your other points - the tableau being gorgeous, Claire Moore's costume kinda weird, Peter and Janie fab as ever :-)
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Post by juicy_but_terribly_drab on Feb 27, 2019 17:43:17 GMT
Sadly, the number was already over-staged and now it's even worse Oh no, what do you mean?? I thought it was absolutely breathtaking, not only the highlight of Joanna's Sally, but the whole show. It brought the character together for me and had a huge emotional impact. I do however wholeheartedly agree on some of your other points - the tableau being gorgeous, Claire Moore's costume kinda weird, Peter and Janie fab as ever :-) A lot of people just prefer the traditional staging of Losing My Mind where Sally is on a completely empty stage and it allows the song and actor to speak for themselves.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2019 18:29:33 GMT
I much preferred the new staging to Losing My Mind. it gave it more drama and bite and Joanna Riding's version was one of the best I've seen live.
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Post by Distant Dreamer... on Feb 28, 2019 12:09:16 GMT
Has Felicity Lott returned to the show yet?
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Follies
Feb 28, 2019 14:59:07 GMT
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Post by sf on Feb 28, 2019 14:59:07 GMT
Has Felicity Lott returned to the show yet? She has. Or at least, she was on yesterday afternoon, and she sang it beautifully.
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Post by lonlad on Mar 1, 2019 8:32:03 GMT
Saw it last night and, well, wow! I was worried that the momentum wouldn't have been sustained and I was wrong. Joanna Riding is simply incandescent and her Losing My Mind is wild, bravura stuff. Everyone vocally seemed to have upped their game from the previous run, especially Janie who was showing none of the strain that beset her during the first run. Alex Hanson will never have Phil Quast's voice but his is an uglier, messier Ben, and I mean both those adjectives as compliments: he plumbs a self-disgust that PQ never excavated. Peter Forbes remains quite simply the best Buddy I've seen, and I have seen a lot of them! Crikey -- between this and COMPANY, how blest are we? Can we not just see these two productions on a perpetual loop for the rest of time?
By the way the only slight oddity last night was the audience who seemed not to get the show, at least not entirely, and the standing ovation at the end was not total. Oh well, such is life. Those of us who appreciate what Dominic Cooke has done made up for those who were sat in the dark (quite literally). Also, it wasn't sold out and it certainly should be. Let's hope the 5 star reviews make a difference there.
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Follies
Mar 1, 2019 13:24:48 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2019 13:24:48 GMT
I've just booked front row via Entry Pass for March 26th. I've just seen it's a captioned performance but I imagine sitting at the every front, the Captions won't be that much a distraction. I'm looking forward to seeing it closer up.
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Post by paulbrownsey on Mar 1, 2019 13:47:52 GMT
By the way the only slight oddity last night was the audience who seemed not to get the show, at least not entirely, and the standing ovation at the end was not total. Perhaps the audience included some considerate people who did not want to block the view of people behind.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2019 13:53:15 GMT
By the way the only slight oddity last night was the audience who seemed not to get the show, at least not entirely, and the standing ovation at the end was not total. Perhaps the audience included some considerate people who did not want to block the view of people behind. Oh for goodness sake, you still going on about your never-ending hatred of standing ovations? We got the idea you hated the concept about fifty messages ago.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2019 15:24:07 GMT
By the way the only slight oddity last night was the audience who seemed not to get the show, at least not entirely, and the standing ovation at the end was not total. Perhaps the audience included some considerate people who did not want to block the view of people behind.
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Follies
Mar 1, 2019 15:50:58 GMT
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Post by sf on Mar 1, 2019 15:50:58 GMT
Oh no, what do you mean?? I thought it was absolutely breathtaking, not only the highlight of Joanna's Sally, but the whole show. It brought the character together for me and had a huge emotional impact. I do however wholeheartedly agree on some of your other points - the tableau being gorgeous, Claire Moore's costume kinda weird, Peter and Janie fab as ever :-) A lot of people just prefer the traditional staging of Losing My Mind where Sally is on a completely empty stage and it allows the song and actor to speak for themselves. Generally speaking,I'd be one of them. I did not love the way the number was staged for Imelda Staunton, and - in theory - I'd prefer the actor playing Sally to just stand still and sing the song. It's a Follies number - it's meant to be performed rather than acted. And having said that, I thought what Joanna Riding did with it was absolutely stunning. I knew about it before I saw it, and it sounded like a completely wrong-headed choice, but she completely pulled it off. I thought she was absolutely spectacular.
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Follies
Mar 1, 2019 15:54:39 GMT
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Post by juicy_but_terribly_drab on Mar 1, 2019 15:54:39 GMT
A lot of people just prefer the traditional staging of Losing My Mind where Sally is on a completely empty stage and it allows the song and actor to speak for themselves. Generally speaking,I'd be one of them. I did not love the way the number was staged for Imelda Staunton, and - in theory - I'd prefer the actor playing Sally to just stand still and sing the song. It's a Follies number - it's meant to be performed rather than acted. And having said that, I thought what Joanna Riding did with it was absolutely stunning. I knew about it before I saw it, and it sounded like a completely wrong-headed choice, but she completely pulled it off. I thought she was absolutely spectacular. I didn't completely hate what they did with it but agree that I'd have liked to have seen something more understated but if you enjoyed it more now that gets me excited.
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Post by juicy_but_terribly_drab on Mar 1, 2019 17:09:23 GMT
There's a few Entry Pass tickets left for this in the last week so I was wondering if people think the front row is good or if it's too close and I'm better off one or two rows back (there's not much else available unless I wanna be right at the back of the circle). Let me know your thoughts on how high the stage is/how wide a view you get of the whole thing, appreciate it!
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Post by horton on Mar 1, 2019 17:38:55 GMT
There's just not enough time to swallow those pills between phrases.
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Post by juicy_but_terribly_drab on Mar 1, 2019 17:53:45 GMT
It depends if you want to see faces. The stage isn't that high (I'm in the front row for my second visit), but the set is massive and action takes place at upper levels at times. Certainly not the back of the circle, though, that's a long way back for an intimate piece. Really it comes down to legroom and your height. Row A has a lot more legroom than the others. The view is better maybe from B or C if you are shorter than 5ft 4 or so. Otherwise, view too is about the same. I've seen Follies before but it was my first show in the Olivier and all my return visits have been almost the exact same seats in the third or fourth row of the circle so I'm not experienced with the view from the stalls. I'm not too short so I think I'll go for the front row since it doesn't make much of a difference and I don't think I've ever been in the front row somehow so I may as well do it with my favourite one! Thanks for your help.
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Follies
Mar 1, 2019 18:26:31 GMT
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Post by couldileaveyou on Mar 1, 2019 18:26:31 GMT
I have always seen Follies from various seats in the first three rows of the stalls and always had an excellent experience. The stage is so deep that you can still appreciate the whole choreography of the mirror number and the loveland sequence even from that close imho.
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Post by Dawnstar on Mar 1, 2019 18:59:40 GMT
I envy anyone who can manage to get front stalls. I've been checking the NT website at intervals since the casting was announced in December & have never seen any seats in the first 3 rows available.
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Post by sf on Mar 1, 2019 19:22:04 GMT
It depends if you want to see faces. The stage isn't that high (I'm in the front row for my second visit), but the set is massive and action takes place at upper levels at times. Certainly not the back of the circle, though, that's a long way back for an intimate piece. Really it comes down to legroom and your height. Row A has a lot more legroom than the others. The view is better maybe from B or C if you are shorter than 5ft 4 or so. Otherwise, view too is about the same. I've seen Follies before but it was my first show in the Olivier and all my return visits have been almost the exact same seats in the third or fourth row of the circle so I'm not experienced with the view from the stalls. I'm not too short so I think I'll go for the front row since it doesn't make much of a difference and I don't think I've ever been in the front row somehow so I may as well do it with my favourite one! Thanks for your help.
For what it's worth, I saw it from the front row on Wednesday afternoon - and also in 2017 - and this production works quite well up close.
I also saw the original run from the back row of the circle; it was a different experience, obviously, but perfectly OK, and there's some value in seeing the 'big picture', which you don't get in the first couple of rows in the Olivier stalls. Having said that, if the choice is between the front row in the stalls and the back row of the circle, and there's no difference in price, I'd take the front stalls.
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Follies
Mar 1, 2019 20:46:42 GMT
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Post by juicy_but_terribly_drab on Mar 1, 2019 20:46:42 GMT
I envy anyone who can manage to get front stalls. I've been checking the NT website at intervals since the casting was announced in December & have never seen any seats in the first 3 rows available. I only managed through Entry Pass and even then the day I booked for there was only one left in the front row (although I wasn't expecting there to be any Entry Pass left at this point).
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Post by tmesis on Mar 1, 2019 20:51:19 GMT
I envy anyone who can manage to get front stalls. I've been checking the NT website at intervals since the casting was announced in December & have never seen any seats in the first 3 rows available. That's because they always go to people who have priority booking (£80.) I've seen it three times from row B in the stalls but only because I've coughed up that amount. Even then, within half an hour or so there's usually nothing left in the front three rows.
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Post by Dawnstar on Mar 1, 2019 21:31:12 GMT
That's because they always go to people who have priority booking (£80.) I've seen it three times from row B in the stalls but only because I've coughed up that amount. Even then, within half an hour or so there's usually nothing left in the front three rows. I must say that paying £80 in order to be able to buy a £15 seat does seem counterintuative to me. (See also the ROH.)
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