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Post by QueerTheatre on May 26, 2018 23:06:11 GMT
We're all the gays at the matinee today? I was there too and echo most of the sentiments above. I didn't quite have the emotional connection i expect from a Kander & Ebb show, but it was charmingly staged, with a very attractive male cast. Damn. If only it really had been a sauna in there....
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Post by freckles on May 27, 2018 9:02:07 GMT
We're all the gays at the matinee today? I was there too and echo most of the sentiments above. I didn't quite have the emotional connection i expect from a Kander & Ebb show, but it was charmingly staged, with a very attractive male cast. Damn. If only it really had been a sauna in there.... And Freckles. |
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Post by crabtree on May 27, 2018 9:43:43 GMT
Does the set have any apotheosis at the end. That original Wythenshawe production had a glorious, and technically astonishing, transformation in the last few minutes.
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Post by frankubelik on May 27, 2018 10:23:15 GMT
No apotheosis in Southwark I'm afraid. For me it was poorly directed and whilst Caroline did what she does and was very good, I'm afraid I found Ms Sutton miscast. She comes across as a very self possessed young woman with none of the desperation or vulnerability required for the character. I also thought her voice very average. People seems to be going crazy for the tap dancing on skates - well that's part of the show right? I have never seen a production (Wythenshawe, Cambridge Theatre, Orange Tree and Leicester) where the "Wreckers" don't. I also thought they were a very average bunch. Sorry guys. Did not like the "new" opening - "Coloured Lights" sets the right tone and everyone just stumbled on (direction!) Was looking forward to this but came away very disappointed.
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Post by HereForTheatre on May 27, 2018 13:58:15 GMT
Our competition to win tickets to the show closes today. Make sure to enter if you'd like to be in with the chance. The page is pinned to the top of the forum.
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Post by kelly52 on May 27, 2018 14:09:36 GMT
Saw this last night. Great, well cast production of a show I know only from the cast album. Not the most compelling book I’ve ever come across, mind. I do agree with some posters who are doubtful of Gemma Sutton as Angel, as talented as she clearly is. It seems to call for someone quirkier. Maybe she’ll find this quality more over the run. Caroline O’Connor!! Wow! Surpassed my already high expectations. I also loved the actor playing Dino. In fact all of the guys were marvellous. Some sound issues (the leading ladies mics seemed awfully low in the mix, although I’m guessing sound in this venue is a bit of a nightmare generally). I am really glad I saw this though. Love that K&E score. Might even pay a return visit later in the run to see how it has settled. Another winner for Southwark. I really do think this is my favourite theatre in London.
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Post by Mark on May 28, 2018 21:20:42 GMT
Another 5* production from Southwark Playhouse. I’ll agree with others and say the book isn’t the most interesting, but the score is great and the cast are very engaging. Really loved Caroline, but then it goes without saying she always delivers. Gemma Sutton is rocking the Lyndsey Lohan look.
Male ensemble great, especially the title number in act two when they get their skates on.
No issues with lighting or sound that I could tell tonight so they must have got that sorted. I think this will sell pretty quickly after press night so don’t delay!
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2018 22:31:24 GMT
Unfortunately this did nothing for me tonight. It's no secret that i'm not a fan of Caroline O'Connor. She is exactely the same in every show i have seen her in and she just doesn't do it for me. Between her and a charisma free Gemma Sutton, it was a long, very hot, evening in the Southwark Playhouse..
It has a great score, and i'm not sure its the book that a mess, more like the direction that wasn't clear enough. Ok, its not a story that has much to say, but it all got a bit messy in the second half.
The title song was performed really well and got the biggest applause of the night.
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Post by freckles on May 29, 2018 10:52:57 GMT
People seems to be going crazy for the tap dancing on skates - well that's part of the show right? I have never seen a production (Wythenshawe, Cambridge Theatre, Orange Tree and Leicester) where the "Wreckers" don't. If it's the first time you've seen the show, it's a novelty. And, to be fair, doesn't really come across on the cast recording! |
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Post by freckles on May 30, 2018 10:14:01 GMT
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Post by musicalmarge on May 31, 2018 22:07:32 GMT
I wonder what will happen to this venue when Southwark Playhouse leaves? Would be a shame to lose it as a theatre space - in so fond of it (even when hot!)
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Post by sf on May 31, 2018 22:16:20 GMT
I wonder what will happen to this venue when Southwark Playhouse leaves? Would be a shame to lose it as a theatre space - in so fond of it (even when hot!)
The site is already scheduled for redevelopment, I think. Another block of flats.
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Post by firefingers on May 31, 2018 22:23:57 GMT
I wonder what will happen to this venue when Southwark Playhouse leaves? Would be a shame to lose it as a theatre space - in so fond of it (even when hot!) Whole building is coming down along with the others on the plot, and a block of flats is going up. I believe they were offered space in the new block to have rehearsal space or another venue but not sure if the Playhouse is taking them up on the offer. |
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Post by sf on May 31, 2018 22:40:15 GMT
So... The Rink. Saw it last (Wednesday) night; it's a very strong production of a show that has never really worked, and still doesn't. It has a mostly spectacular score, but with a couple of real duds thrown in too; the biggest problem, though, is Terrence McNally's turd of a book, which wants to be another 'Follies' but ends up as a tedious cross between a Lifetime movie and a bad episode of a third-rate mother-daughter sitcom. Caroline O'Connor is superb, and manages to transcend the shortcomings in the writing; Gemma Sutton is very talented, somewhat miscast, and doesn't. The men are all excellent,the dialogue is often terrible, the choreography is terrific, and the title number deservedly stopped the show.
It's well worth seeing, there's a lot in it to enjoy, and it is very easy to see why the show flopped on Broadway and in the West End.
And to go back to a point I made way, way, WAY back in this thread - looking around a nearly-full auditorium in which more than half of the patrons were female, and knowing the proportion of women to men in drama/theatre degree/training programmes is usually (at least) similar, it's (again) dispiriting to see that women account for just two of the nine creative roles listed on the show's page on the theatre's website. The creative team is also entirely white. It's not that anybody involved did a bad job - far from it - and it's certainly not a problem that's confined to the Southwark Playhouse. For a theatre that does so much (superb) outreach work within the very, very multicultural inner-London community it serves, though, it sends a mixed message - to say the least - to put up so many productions whose creative teams are not diverse/inclusive/representative of the theatre's audience/representative of the theatre's community.
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Post by lonlad on Jun 1, 2018 0:07:31 GMT
>>It's not that anybody involved did a bad job - far from it - and it's certainly not a problem that's confined to the Southwark Playhouse. For a theatre that does so much (superb) outreach work within the very, very multicultural inner-London community it serves, though, it sends a mixed message - to say the least - to put up so many productions whose creative teams are not diverse/inclusive/representative of the theatre's audience/representative of the theatre's community.
Good grief, please no. These sorts of prescriptive diktats constitute creative death. The male creative team did a TERRIFIC job with a musical whose shortcomings are exactly as you say. Let's leave it at that. And the title number is bliss (and I say that as someone who saw it on Bway in 1984.)
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Post by sf on Jun 1, 2018 0:26:37 GMT
>>It's not that anybody involved did a bad job - far from it - and it's certainly not a problem that's confined to the Southwark Playhouse. For a theatre that does so much (superb) outreach work within the very, very multicultural inner-London community it serves, though, it sends a mixed message - to say the least - to put up so many productions whose creative teams are not diverse/inclusive/representative of the theatre's audience/representative of the theatre's community. Good grief, please no. These sorts of prescriptive diktats constitute creative death. The male creative team did a TERRIFIC job with a musical whose shortcomings are exactly as you say. Let's leave it at that. And the title number is bliss (and I say that as someone who saw it on Bway in 1984.)
Diktats? Prescriptive? I'm not suggesting quotas. I'm simply suggesting that theatre, too often, is a boys' club - and a very white boys' club at that - and that there's an issue here that deserves some consideration.
How fascinating, though, to see you equate hiring more women/minorities in creative positions with "creative death".
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Post by showtoones on Jun 1, 2018 1:50:35 GMT
When is the Southwark Playhouse leaving that venue?
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Post by sf on Jun 1, 2018 2:19:29 GMT
When is the Southwark Playhouse leaving that venue?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2018 19:01:20 GMT
I like the Southwark Playhouse: I always feel as if I’m in good company there, if you know what I mean, and a Kander and Ebb audience is second only to Mr Sondheim’s following... And for this show- completely new to me although I’d heard of it back in the 80s when it played at the Cambridge Theatre- it was wholly appropriate to be seeing it here, a piece about something once magical having to pack up due to the demolition about to begin. I liked it. I liked the story, although it’s a little on the claustrophobic side, revolving- like the glitter-ball- around the mother and daughter with everyone else as bit parts. Caroline O’Connor was in fine form, I thought, overshadowing her daughter, Gemma Sutton, just a tad. She occasionally needed more... well... balls, to coin a phrase from the show. I also liked the music, although admittedly it’s no Cabaret and no Chicago. It’s well staged, simply but with imagination, and it looks good. I almost jumped out of my seat when Angel pulled my good friend TallPaul from a Pepsi Cola box whilst recalling all the things from her childhood! As one or two others have pointed out, there’s plenty to entertain the eye with the multi-talented supporting cast. And if you’re bored with them you can always find plenty to look at around the auditorium... Would highly recommend. |
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Post by showgirl on Jun 2, 2018 20:15:15 GMT
Hmm, I gave up on this at the interval as it - and the characters - seemed simply to be going round in circles, literally at times due to the limited space. Just lots of people standing around bawling and I'd got the idea without sitting through another hour of the same.
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Post by JJShaw on Jun 5, 2018 22:41:17 GMT
I really enjoyed this, a score I hadn't heard anything from but was humming a couple of them once I left.
This absolutely is Caroline O'Connors show her voice is just something else, quintessentially Broadway and sounds like its had been through the sweeteners in the studio!
The show reminded me sort of Grey Gardens-esque, not the most compelling plot and I think it could be trimmed a little bit (it was longer than the stated 2 hr 10min, I think it could do well as a 1hr 45 no interval) a very enjoyable afternoon and nice to see something that is so rarely done unearthed!
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Post by showgirl on Jun 6, 2018 4:11:38 GMT
The comparison with Grey Gardens (which I disliked even more and also left at the interval) might explain something to me. I have read a review which said the first act of this drags whereas in the second the pace really picks up, but if you were bored and restless in the first act, why would you expect better of the second? Too long to wait and with no certainty of improvement!
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 6, 2018 7:27:48 GMT
Was I alone in thinking the story becomes unbalanced with the handling of Dino. He starts as an interesting character with a nice song in Blue Chrystal, but becomes irrelevant and is seriously underwritten. I wouldn’t have known he was a damaged Vet if one of the ladies hadn’t said he’d changed (underacting?). The “reconciliation” is similarly pointless. If he’d remained just a memory, he would have been more effective and the focus could have been on their relationship alone.
It may be second rate Kander And Ebb, but we both really appreciated the chance to see a Star like Caroline O’Connor and a really well done production, up close in a small space. So pleased we went.
Ps The original Broadway Cast Album can be picked up for a couple of Quid on eBay in the DeAgostini Musicals collection. Although I thought the orchestrations were better at SP.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2018 13:22:32 GMT
Am seeing the show this afternoon, am rather looking forward to it!  |
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Post by David J on Jun 9, 2018 13:43:58 GMT
Am seeing the show this afternoon, am rather looking forward to it! Me too. Where are you sitting? I’m the one in bright red trousers in e22 |
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