Flowers for Mrs Harris - Crucible / Chichester

Didn't realise how much the train fare from London to Chichester has gone up. £30.60 cheapest return ticket so with the theatre ticket and lunch not much change from £100.
Makes it an expensive day out but still looking forward to seeing the show in September.

 Many thanks for that info showgirl. I don't have a railcard as I probably use National Rail once a year if that (as I live and travel within London) most of the time, but the link to the Daysave ticket was great as its nearly half the price of the cheapest day return to Chichester so I am going to book that.
Great tip, thanks again.

I dont normally ask this but i am trying for a certain london train after the matinee on 22 September. What is the running time? A few here saw the show in Sheffield. I am hoping for 2 hrs 45 max. Ta muchly.

Thanx

Has anyone heard any inklings of a transfer- gutted doesn't begin to describe how I feel about not being able to see it!

Do you think it could take the same route as 'Caroline, Or Change'; play a run off-west end then a west end run?

Just booked to see this. Didn’t see it in Sheffield but don’t want to miss it again. Love Claire Burt she has such and interesting quality and is a brilliant actress.

Saw this today and after the first half I really wasn't sure. not a lot happens and it is almost inaudible at points. For me there was too much singing at times. The second half is brilliant, funny and deeply moving and by the end I loved it. The characters in the second half also seemed more likeable and more well rounded.

The score is not one of listen to but I the show is serviceable, not that it's a show that really has stand alone songs.

It also got a strong ovation than Me and My Girl when I saw it. 1/4 to half of audience were on their feet and applause was very enthusiastic.

I went to the Saturday matinee performance and have to say I really enjoyed it. I knew very little about it before I went apart from the basis of the story and had not heard any of the music before. As someone else has pointed out the orchestra was drowning out the singing at the start of the first act but as it went on seemed to get better. To me there were no actual songs, it was more like continuing music (bit hard to explain really) but I really liked it and thought the singing was excellent.
Clare Burt was outstanding as Mrs Harris.
I cried at the end but out of happiness.
In a way it reminded me of London Road in its musical style and I almost expected to here "ive got 20 hanging baskets" at the end.

The downside was the journey from London. Door to door it took me 12 hours and I was exhausted when I got home. Engineering work on the line meant we had to go allover the place to get there. Im sure I could have gone by train to Manchester to see a show and get back quicker.

I saw yesterday's matinee and loved it.

First, the quibble about sound. I was in a £10 seat to the left of the stage, two rows back, and I could hear everything about from a couple of lines delivered from the other side of the stage. Annoyingly, one of them got a big laugh. Someone I know that I bumped into in the interval was sitting further back and complained that she couldn't hear a lot of the (sung) dialogue. I hope they get the sound issues sorted.

I was surprised at frankubelic's comment about the audience being bemused and merely polite applause at the end. As theatregeek62 noted, there was a standing ovation; I estimate about 40 per cent stood, which considering a significant proportion probably had mobility issues, is pretty impressive. The applause, as stated, was prolonged and enthusiastic and the only lead in a musical I can recall getting a warmer response, in my 20-odd years of Chichester Theatre visiting, was Imelda Staunton for "Gypsy."

I feel it is a show that takes a while to work on an audience not familiar with the story. I heard several members of the audience say after the show that they enjoyed the second half/the Paris section most. When Mrs. Harris boarded the plane at the end of the first half, there was a cheer from a small section of the audience. As Mrs. Harris encounters snobbery at the Dior Fashion House and Chassagne gives a speech about democracy, there were loud and widespread cheers and applause and I felt that the audience was starting to root for Mrs. Harris. By the time she brazened her way through Customs, the audience were cheering and clapping her on.

It is a show that will not appeal to everyone. If it transfers, I can't see it drawing in hen-parties (Thank God). But it was a tender, lovely show and Clare Burt as the lead was tremendous.

I was 4 rows back on the side but centralish and missed about 10 % - 15% of what was said