316 posts
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Post by martello736 on Jun 29, 2018 22:59:36 GMT
What’s the difference between a press night and a gala night and an opening night and a night where Mark Shenton hangs around the bar reminding everyone how important he is?
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Post by danb on Jun 29, 2018 23:08:43 GMT
What’s the difference between a press night and a gala night and an opening night and a night where Mark Shenton hangs around the bar reminding everyone how important he is? Is that still a thing now we know that he isn’t? |
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7,054 posts
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Post by Jon on Jun 30, 2018 0:02:17 GMT
Saw it tonight and it was just brilliant, I have a soft spot for The King and I as I saw the 2000 Palladium production when I was 12 and loved it then and it was great to revisit the show. Ken Watanabe was great as the King and even though he's not the strongest singer, his acting more than makes up for it, Naoko Mori is wonderful as Lady Thiang but the star of show is Kelli O'Hara who gives a flawless performance, the chemistry between her and Ken is on point, her singing is just divine and I wouldn't be shocked if she wins an Olivier next year.
Barlett Sher proves why he is the best director for these classic revivals and I honestly think this production will be heavily nominated like it was on Broadway. I have my finger crossed that My Fair Lady ends up transferring as well.
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Post by creativity on Jun 30, 2018 8:19:16 GMT
I really hope that this will follow in the footsteps of An American in Paris and be broadcast in movie theatres. Even tough I read that it was a scaled down version from Broadway
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1,064 posts
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Post by bellboard27 on Jun 30, 2018 8:49:38 GMT
Press Night is when producers demonstrate feats of superhuman respiratory control by holding their breath for several hours.
Gala Night is when, despite contingency planning, the theatre runs out of gin because it’s the night @ryan has chosen to visit.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2018 9:29:52 GMT
Changing the subject quickly, how long are they spending on bag checks and am I going to have to fight to keep my bottle of water on me?
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3,325 posts
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Post by Dr Tom on Jun 30, 2018 10:30:40 GMT
Changing the subject quickly, how long are they spending on bag checks and am I going to have to fight to keep my bottle of water on me? There are big queues for bag checks to all of the entrances.
I avoided taking a bag, but I think it's the look inside and shine a torch variety.
If you collect a ticket, you may then be sent back outside to join another queue and be checked again. There are routes to the Stalls and Dress Circle from the Box Office without going back outside (but not the higher levels). The ushers have been nice to me on both visits and let me straight through, but some people go back out to queue again. It may well be if you're a party of more than one, as only the ticket collector is allowed to access the Box Office.
Loads of people had water, many of whom need to take an exam about how to open and hold bottles quietly and when it's an appropriate time to drink from it. Don't know if they all purchased them inside the theatre or not.
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351 posts
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Post by Scswp on Jun 30, 2018 10:45:41 GMT
Changing the subject quickly, how long are they spending on bag checks and am I going to have to fight to keep my bottle of water on me? To be honest, I think keeping hold of your water is a simple game of chance. I know there was a big discussion about this during Chess at the Coliseum. By the time I got to the theatre (around 2:00 for a matinee), the bag check was very ‘going through the motions’ in terms of the way it was done. I opened my bag, they took a quick glance and let me through - there were two bottles of drink on the top, clearly visible, but they said nothing. I sat and drank (quietly) quite openly. I think it’s just luck depending on who checks your bag and how busy they are at the time you turn up. The priority at certain times is to get the audience in quickly and on-time. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 30, 2018 11:07:03 GMT
I don’t know if it’s possible to play the King role with any degree of subtlety or nuance but if it is you’ll not be getting it from Ken. I see what the earlier poster meant about panto, he is very OTT. Of course the character is supposed to be eccentric so let’s let Ken off and move onto his advisor. A real opportunity here to play it with a bit of sly menace, but no just a lot more aggression and stomping about. It didn’t spoil what us a hugely enjoyable show but it was wearing thin by the end of act 1.
Kelli is very good, great acting and yes her voice is lovely although I’m not sure I understand the superlatives being used. She also has an annoying pronunciation habit where words which should end with an “oo” end with an “err”. So “true” becomes “trerr”. She did it continually.
Design is great, they had me at the gold foil curtain which changed colour with each tune in the overture but then I’m a fool for a coloured light. After the ship scene it’s fairly simple (he claimed, completely overlooking the complexities of flying in a Palace every 5 minutes) but it’s big and beautifully lit all the way.
Going back to pronunciation, I have to mention the children. I don’t know if it’s because the talent pool is all London/south east England but stage kids seem to be adopting a habit of not pronoucing the “oh” sound at the end of words properly. They have a strange, almost Australian sound where “oh” becomes “oi”
so becomes soy
go becomes goy
When I was in the school choir our music teacher went to great trouble to show us what shape our lips should be in so that we pronounced words properly. It would seem nobody at stage school is doing this anymore.
Anyway, lovely show despite all of this.
Legroom in stalls row G hideous.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2018 11:46:41 GMT
Changing the subject quickly, how long are they spending on bag checks and am I going to have to fight to keep my bottle of water on me? I arrived about 6.50, queue took less than 2 mins and I was able to keep my water. No fuss whatsoever, it was a very cursory bag check! |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2018 13:21:34 GMT
I saw this. It was alright. It was an amazing production with amazing singing, set, acting, dancing etc - production values are brilliant. All the main characters are great. Kelli was amazing but I loved the Tuptim- I thought she had an amazing voice. Probably my favourite of the night. Surprised as to how small Dean-John Wilson’s role is.
However, it’s far too long. For me, it dragged a lot. I got fairly bored at places and it wasn’t my cup of tea personally. It’s a very long show and it feels it..unlike other shows that don’t even feel 2hrs30mins
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311 posts
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Post by showoff on Jun 30, 2018 15:35:52 GMT
Changing the subject quickly, how long are they spending on bag checks and am I going to have to fight to keep my bottle of water on me? To be honest, I think keeping hold of your water is a simple game of chance. I know there was a big discussion about this during Chess at the Coliseum. By the time I got to the theatre (around 2:00 for a matinee), the bag check was very ‘going through the motions’ in terms of the way it was done. I opened my bag, they took a quick glance and let me through - there were two bottles of drink on the top, clearly visible, but they said nothing. I sat and drank (quietly) quite openly. I think it’s just luck depending on who checks your bag and how busy they are at the time you turn up. The priority at certain times is to get the audience in quickly and on-time. I've been in the Coliseum twice in the past few weeks for Chess and Kiss Me Kate. Both times I've arrived very early so there's nobody waiting to get their bag checked. Both times they've let me go through with water bottles that are open too. |
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882 posts
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Post by longinthetooth on Jun 30, 2018 15:53:30 GMT
To be honest, I think keeping hold of your water is a simple game of chance. I know there was a big discussion about this during Chess at the Coliseum. By the time I got to the theatre (around 2:00 for a matinee), the bag check was very ‘going through the motions’ in terms of the way it was done. I opened my bag, they took a quick glance and let me through - there were two bottles of drink on the top, clearly visible, but they said nothing. I sat and drank (quietly) quite openly. I think it’s just luck depending on who checks your bag and how busy they are at the time you turn up. The priority at certain times is to get the audience in quickly and on-time. I've been in the Coliseum twice in the past few weeks for Chess and Kiss Me Kate. Both times I've arrived very early so there's nobody waiting to get their bag checked. Both times they've let me go through with water bottles that are open too. I had just the opposite of them 'going through the motions' at the Coliseum. I knew about the drinks ban, so didn't have any with me, but I had bought a small bottle of make up before the show (note to self: do shopping afterwards, in future). The bag checker virtually turned out my bag, before he even found the offending object - which he then picked up to examine before returning it to me. |
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311 posts
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Post by showoff on Jun 30, 2018 16:34:16 GMT
I've been in the Coliseum twice in the past few weeks for Chess and Kiss Me Kate. Both times I've arrived very early so there's nobody waiting to get their bag checked. Both times they've let me go through with water bottles that are open too. I had just the opposite of them 'going through the motions' at the Coliseum. I knew about the drinks ban, so didn't have any with me, but I had bought a small bottle of make up before the show (note to self: do shopping afterwards, in future). The bag checker virtually turned out my bag, before he even found the offending object - which he then picked up to examine before returning it to me. Wow, that's strange. When I went yesterday I had a small back, but it's a flap over but there's two zip departments to actually get into the bag. He didn't even undo and look in the zip departments. |
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882 posts
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Post by longinthetooth on Jun 30, 2018 18:05:52 GMT
I had just the opposite of them 'going through the motions' at the Coliseum. I knew about the drinks ban, so didn't have any with me, but I had bought a small bottle of make up before the show (note to self: do shopping afterwards, in future). The bag checker virtually turned out my bag, before he even found the offending object - which he then picked up to examine before returning it to me. Wow, that's strange. When I went yesterday I had a small back, but it's a flap over but there's two zip departments to actually get into the bag. He didn't even undo and look in the zip departments. This was when Chess was on. I obviously fitted the profile of a trouble-maker - either that or the bag checker was on a bonus for contraband goods! |
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253 posts
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Post by frankubelik on Jul 1, 2018 7:27:17 GMT
I did NOT like having to queue for 15 minutes to enter the Theatre (stalls). This is a Bradway tradition I have never cared for either and usually make sure I arrive with just five minutes to spare to avoid this. Also my interval drink order could not be taken as the bartender has "already taken his quota of ten orders" - whaaa?  ? Shame on you London Palladium. A lovely revival; not as sumptuous as I would have liked and I also felt the orchestra sounded a little thin (from the third row) but Kelli was wonderful and sounded great. How nice to have a proper musical theatre voice doing justice to those superb songs. Ken is charismatic and yes he was difficult to follow at times but it did make one listen which is no bad thing. Hugely enjoyable. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jul 1, 2018 8:03:40 GMT
On Friday in the stalls queue they had two people checking bags first and only one person scanning tickets. She couldn’t keep up with the flow and loads of people were just walking past her so the records (if they look at them) will indicate a lot of no-shows which is incorrect. It was chaotic.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2018 9:09:46 GMT
Gosh. You must all look like you're dodgy. When I went, the bag check was quick AND I had a bottle of water in my bag and the ticket check went smooth. Kelli must have known I was in and had words with the staff.
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19,661 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jul 2, 2018 16:34:46 GMT
Did you actually like the Palladium, though BurlyBeaR? I can’t give it a glowing review because I felt like I’d been kneecapped at the end of those 3 hours. It was ok 😑 |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2018 17:30:35 GMT
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2,452 posts
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Post by theatremadness on Jul 2, 2018 17:54:00 GMT
And I gave them £25 of that! You're welcome, everyone.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2018 18:10:59 GMT
And I gave them £25 of that! You're welcome, everyone. And I gave them more than that so that you could go for £25. You're welcome too. |
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Post by theatremadness on Jul 2, 2018 18:43:09 GMT
And I gave them £25 of that! You're welcome, everyone. And I gave them more than that so that you could go for £25. You're welcome too. Mercy buckets indeed @ryan - you can do good sometimes  |
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19,661 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jul 2, 2018 19:04:27 GMT
@theatremonkey Is there a difference between row F and G? It looked like there was. The bloke in F 28 was positiveky wallowing in leggage, while I looked over his shoulder enviously. It was all I could do not to turf him out, but his wife may have objected.
The pitch did look bigger, may have been my fevered imagination.
Do you want me to do my first seat review for your website? (pleasesayyesplessesayyesplessesayyesplessesayyesplessesayyes)
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2018 19:59:14 GMT
And I gave them more than that so that you could go for £25. You're welcome too. Mercy buckets indeed @ryan - you can do good sometimes Well quite. As half of the GB Olympic track and field team will testify, I'm a giver. I can't help it. Generous to a fault. |
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? Shame on you London Palladium. A lovely revival; not as sumptuous as I would have liked and I also felt the orchestra sounded a little thin (from the third row) but Kelli was wonderful and sounded great. How nice to have a proper musical theatre voice doing justice to those superb songs. Ken is charismatic and yes he was difficult to follow at times but it did make one listen which is no bad thing. Hugely enjoyable.
