Pinocchio - National Theatre

Poppins was different because Cameron Mackintosh had the stage rights but Disney had the film elements and songs.

Disney do license things to theatre companies, Hunchback was done by La Jolla and Papermill and Freaky Friday was done by Signature. My guess is that The National approached Disney to get the film songs and film elements, it’s not a easy sell compared to say Poppins and Lion King

The go to example is War Horse which changed very much for the better, same with musicals like Passion (famously) or, sticking to the Sondheim theme, Forum and Follies (out of town, which is where this work was done before it became prohibitive for many shows). Billy Elliot was a bit of a mess etc, etc. 

As for audiences, you really do never know. If it was a science production teams wouldn’t need to make changes but what looks good before can often change in front of a paying audience, Seussical, Leap of Faith etc., all came out of that period with everyone saying how they were going to be massive and they flopped.

Pinocchio looks like a pantomime Prince. Not impressed. The one in Shrek the musical looks much better!

Will be tricky trying to explain to youngsters who the two huge humans in period costume operating that very small cricket puppet are...

“Mummy, is that Jiminy Cricket’s mummy and daddy?”
“No Darling, just try to imagine they’re not there”

I go to a lot of kids theatre, and I've never heard kids in an audience talking like that. They understand better than one might imagine they do, or at least they instinctively understand what doesn't really need to be questioned. If a particular scene isn't immediately clear, you'll probably get a rippled chorus of "what's he doing?"s, but kids can cope with puppetry for heaven's sake.

I rather like the layers of ‘puppets’ we’re seeing in these photos... the ones on strings, the ones operated with sticks by humans beside them, and the boy who really is a puppet who’s got no strings (and no sticks).

Children are taught to suspend their disbelief from the very early stages of their development. They will have no trouble buying into all of this, like many of us adults, just as the millions worldwide had no trouble buying into War Horse. We knew there were puppeteers there, but we believed that Joey was real, just as we admired the superhumans who could bring him to life. I remember a friend taking her daughter to it at the New London, and she fell under its spell. At the curtain call she turned to her mum and said, “We’re clapping bits of wood!” She got it! On both levels!

Of course, for this type of thing you have to want to go with it. I, for one, can’t wait to see it!

Tonight's preview cancelled at short notice due to "technical difficulties during rehearsals" this afternoon.

Oh gosh. Has Pinocchio been on the Malibu?

Ah, those "technical difficulties" again?

If, as other posters have pointed out - the show is not that technical (although these shows can be more complex than appear on the surface) the cancellation of previews suggests some major work/rehearsing is going on to fix this show.

I have it on good authority that puppet Jiminy has got the boot and they’re doing it with an actor 🙂

We were also there on Saturday. Feel very lucky now that we got to see a show at all. Second preview. The only thing that didn't work, as mentioned, was the nose in the second half. It worked fine in the first half, but you could see how easy it might be to fail, as the guy playing Pinocchio really has to press the fake nose to his face hard. We were Row M so got a good effect of the stage overall.

The problem with the show as it stands at the moment is that it's just not magical enough. For all the work that ha gone into the giant puppets, and the flying, etc. the script never allows the show to lift off the page. It also, in it's design, seems to be about four different shows. Connected set pieces that don't quite create a throughline, in the way say War Horse's design and puppet use did.

An awkward problem for the show is the puppets themselves. Jiminy was actually one that fared beter, so if they have got rid of it, that would be a shame. But the giant puppets used for Gepetto, the dead-mum figure, and the Coachman, all seem to big and wieldy. This is turn means they take an age to get on and off stage, slowing it all down and killing the pace. They also seem dead behind the eyes. So you stop looking at the puppet because there's little emotion there, and start looking at the actors instead.

The songs are well done, but it seems like there are only four of them in the entire 2hr 40minute show.

(A reason I would strongly suggest to offer that this thread actually be moved to the plays category.)

This is really not a musical. The only "big" number is "I've Got No Strings" at the end of the first half, repeated to death, and coming from nowhere, just seems too forced. Makes for great production photos, but sitting there watching it, we felt nothing. A lot of sound and lights.

Also, because they've chosen only to use so few songs, they're just repeated on loop throughout. It gets tiring.

The cast worked very hard. Most of the casting choices seem right. The only miscast was the actor playing the Fox who is playing it as some sort of drag act. Very bizarre. And not in the least threatening or scary, as he should be.

As has been mentioned, there are a lot of moments (blue flames galore) taken from Cursed Child, but again, these seem out of place with the stripped back prod values Bob Crowley seems to have gone for in much of his design.

Ultimately though, the story (as someone mentioned, just 88mins in the Disney cartoon) doesn't have the weight to sustain itself (or our attention) for 2hrs 40mins. The kids in the audience looked bored. Never a good sign. Only one boy near me was excited when Jiminy was on (credit to actress and puppeteer operating it). The script, aside from the only vibrant scene in the second half with Dawn Sedgewick from Our Ladies, never provides for the creators to give real action, pace, and adventure.

It is salvageable, but in the time left before press (a week and a half), if the Olivier shows this year were anything to go by, even hacking away and ammending said script, will not be enough.

I think Disney have watched it, and demanded that 2nd cancelled show. It all looks too weak and not exciting or joyous enough.

It will be interesting to hear from others here if they can get the magic and joy back into it, beyond the initial sighting of the big puppets, and lighting effects.

The Monday preview was cancelled weeks ago, presumably to schedule intensive work after the first two previews at the weekend. Surely this gave people plenty of notice to reschedule their attendance, and took away the risk of cancelling the preview at very short notice if necessary.

Yesterday's preview is the only one so far to be cancelled at short notice, and it was at very short notice - less than a couple of hours - so the theatre must have been working towards performing it that night until almost the very last minute.