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Post by stevej678 on Jan 3, 2019 15:02:14 GMT
Saw this at The Lowry last night and on the whole really enjoyed it. Visually it's terrific. I loved the storybook paper-based set with the rigging on either side, while the puppets are spectacular, from the skipping rope jumping Pushmi-Pullyu, to the swooping lunar moth soaring over the front few rows in the audience, to the giant sea snail which is something truly special to behold. The puppets undoubtedly live up to the show's billing of having "never seen anything like it". The costumes are also great. With plenty of full ensemble numbers, it was hard to know where to look at times to take everything in, especially once we arrived at Blossom's Mammoth Circus in the latter part of act one. As far as the cast are concerned, Adele Anderson as Lady Bellowes and Poison Arrow certainly has the role of the evil villainess down to a T but her vocals for two brief numbers were pretty painful to listen to. At the other end of the spectrum, Mollie Melia-Redgrave as Emma Fairfax had a gorgeous voice that gave me chills every time she sang a duet or solo number. She certainly brought what in other hands could have been somewhat bland and perhaps forgettable ballads to life in quite stunning fashion. It seemed the majority of the audience were equally impressed since Mollie received the loudest cheers at the curtain call. Brian Capron doesn't have a great deal to do but seemed to be enjoying every minute channelling his inner Greatest Showman as Albert Blossom, later reappearing on Sea Star Island as Straight Arrow. As mentioned in an earlier review by Dr Tom , Mark Williams generally speak-sings but I agree that it works and I found his solo number When I Look Into Your Eyes strangely moving - I say 'strangely' because he's singing it to a seal! He has a gentle, warm stage presence about him and carries off the title role with plenty of charm, enthusiasm and likeability. I also enjoyed Patrick Sullivan as Matthew Mugg, Vicky Entwistle voicing (and partly controlling) Polynesia, and Catherine Hannay as Olga Blossom. The advertised running time in the programme seems to have lost five minutes (now running at 2 hours 25 minutes including an interval) but it could still do with some further tightening here and there. There also seems to be the potential to add more humour to the script and maybe tone down the earnestness of it all just a tad. That said though, overall this is a great production from Music & Lyrics and the Churchill Theatre in Bromley. They've succeeded in bringing Dr Doolittle's menagerie of animal friends to life in a visually striking, always engaging and occasionally quite awe-inspiring way. The attention to detail in both the puppets themselves and the puppetry skills of the cast can only be admired. As a long time fan of The Fast Show, it was great to see Mark Williams on stage, while Mollie Melia-Redgrave's beautiful vocals were worth the price of admission on their own. Four stars. Well worth a look if it's heading your way in the coming months. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2019 14:09:35 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2019 14:11:48 GMT
This will close on January 26th. Tickets for all venues after then will be refunded Oh wow, that's a short tour! Almost 10 months of performances cancelled, what a shame.  |
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Post by theidleactor on Jan 11, 2019 14:14:08 GMT
Music & Lyrics Productions has announced that its touring production of Doctor Dolittle will close at the end of its run at the New Theatre, Oxford, on Saturday 26 January 2019. It had been planned to tour the UK and Ireland until November 2019.
The company has cited lower than anticipated advance ticket sales for the reason to cancel the tour.
Chair of Music & Lyrics, Robert Sanderson, said in a statement:
"Music & Lyrics was established to create work of scale and imagination for regional presenting venues and over eight years it has met with a high degree of success. On this occasion, Doctor Dolittle has not secured the same degree of support and, sadly, members of the consortium have had no alternative but to foreshorten the planned tour.
"I would like to thank all those involved in creating this breathtaking production, which has been enjoyed by audiences and critics alike. There is still time to see the production in Oxford between 15 and 26 January."
Members of the public who have purchased tickets for venues across the tour should contact their venue to arrange refunds.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jan 11, 2019 14:16:24 GMT
You have to feel sorry for the cast and crew - that is a big gap to fill in their schedules.
Doesn't altogether surprise me that this hasn't found big audiences - though I didn't expect such a spectacular fail.
Shame for all involved - wrong piece at the wrong time.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2019 14:18:43 GMT
I kind of thought it would be the kind of show that wouldn't do well but would kind of chug along and at least meet the end of it's tour. What a shame. |
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Post by theidleactor on Jan 11, 2019 14:19:12 GMT
You have to feel sorry for the cast and crew - that is a big gap to fill in their schedules. Doesn't altogether surprise me that this hasn't found big audiences - though I didn't expect such a spectacular fail. Shame for all involved - wrong piece at the wrong time. Awful for the cast and crew. Also bad news for Mr Briscusse. Will be a long time before anyone attempts this one again. A lot of theatres on the tour are now left with two week gaps now. I'm expecting these to be filled though. |
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Post by andycat on Jan 11, 2019 14:22:16 GMT
I saw this on New Years Eve, and was actually VERY impressed overall, although I went with fairly low expectations.
Besides the things mentioned by others, the overall sound was excellent, with some great playing from the band, and some great performances from the leads.
Very of it's time though, but shame it's closing early.
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4,959 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jan 11, 2019 14:41:26 GMT
Such a shame for all the cast and crew, my heart goes out for all them.
Also, such a shame for the look and feel of this version as it appears a lot more creative and igenious to the over designed and literall West End production and subsequent tours
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Jan 11, 2019 15:13:07 GMT
I'm surprised and disappointed that this has apparently flopped. We loved it at the Churchill Bromley a couple of months ago. I thought it would do well but it would have benefited from some publicity on something like The One Show. I saw nothing in the media anywhere.
There is currently a £15 seat offer for ATG Theatre Card holders on several performances at Oxford. Not sure how many of the dates this covers as I cannot get the list of ticket offers to completely display on my PC - there are so many booking options on some seats and the £15 promotion is at the bottom of the list.
The cancelled dates after Oxford haven't yet been pulled from the schedule and can still be booked!
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3,325 posts
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Post by Dr Tom on Jan 11, 2019 15:22:07 GMT
Such a shame. It was a great show and had several "names" (good in their roles) in the cast.
I know it wasn't selling all that well, as there were ticket offers both times I saw it (including the first preview).
If you're near Oxford, it's well worth a look before it closes.
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Post by theidleactor on Jan 11, 2019 15:31:03 GMT
I'm surprised and disappointed that this has apparently flopped. We loved it at the Churchill Bromley a couple of months ago. I thought it would do well but it would have benefited from some publicity on something like The One Show. I saw nothing in the media anywhere. There is currently a £15 seat offer for ATG Theatre Card holders on several performances at Oxford. Not sure how many of the dates this covers as I cannot get the list of ticket offers to completely display on my PC - there are so many booking options on some seats and the £15 promotion is at the bottom of the list It had quite a few TV slots including 'Good Morning Britain' and 'This Morning'. www.itv.com/thismorning/showbiz/dr-dolittle-the-musicalUnfortunately the weekly running costs were high. Higher than the bums on seats. |
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Post by musicalfloozie on Jan 11, 2019 16:23:25 GMT
Such a shame for all involved, I had booked so sad it's announced its closure before I managed to see it.
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Post by drowseychap on Jan 11, 2019 17:08:44 GMT
Such a shame for what seems a good quality production was looking forward to seeing this had to ring and get my refund disappointed as had heard good things and much better than the tommy Steele dibarcol I suffered years ago
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1,736 posts
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Post by fiyero on Jan 11, 2019 20:36:33 GMT
I was looking forward to seeing this in the summer (though hadn't booked so I guess I am part of the problem rather than the solution!)
I think it was tricky that they hadn't announced any casting for Southampton (and other dates I believe) and the show alone won't sell
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253 posts
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Post by No. on Jan 11, 2019 21:26:47 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2019 21:50:03 GMT
I saw the Dr 'sing' on This Morning and it didn't fill me with hope. Sad for the Cast who are out of work now.
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1,936 posts
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Post by wickedgrin on Jan 11, 2019 23:28:52 GMT
Very sad news for the cast and crew. From the trailer it looks like a quality production.
However, it is a little known show really although should have appealed to a family audience.
I know we moan about "stunt" casting a lot on this board but I do feel it needed a "name" in the title role. I remember Philip Schofield touring in it long before he hit the TV presenting jackpot! Surely the producers could have found "someone off the telly"? That might have made the difference and kept a lot of actors and crew in work for a year.
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736 posts
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Post by dippy on Jan 11, 2019 23:40:58 GMT
It is sad that it's closing, I saw it and enjoyed it. I think they really got their timing a bit wrong with this tour. When it was first announced I thought they were going to try and coincide with the new (non musical) Dr Dolittle film but that turned out not to be the case. I feel like Poppins coming back at the end of the year is better timing since it's after the film and after people have been reminded about Mary Poppins. Then again Aladin is closing and there's the film of that coming out at some point.
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4,977 posts
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Post by Phantom of London on Jan 12, 2019 2:10:58 GMT
The sales must have been dreadful.
Sad this is being pulled for 3 reasons;
It is always a not so nice pill to swallow for actors and back of house staff having their show pulled, especially as they thought they had guaranteed work until November and by then they might of got another Xmas sit down, as the tour was going to close so near to Xmas anyway.
This started life and was created in a theatre local to me the Churchill, Bromley, so hope they haven’t taken a big hit and put off from producing anything in the future.
Was also done by a collaboration of independent theatres (Music and Lyric productions), you need something else to reign in the power of ATG from dominating, I always thought independent theatres working in unison was a good thing and would be to the the benefit of fans of the stage, such as us and theatre goers would ultimately benefit from decent stuff being produced and the not so well known American flops being brought over, that might work on the road and not in the West End, competition with ATG would only raise the bar, so hope this unique partnership isn’t put off from doing more work in the future.
For a road production, the production values were very good.
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Post by learfan on Jan 12, 2019 9:31:50 GMT
Like some of the other posters, im afraid this did not take me by surprise at all. Bricusse has a poor track record and Mark Williams, decent actor though he is, was not nearly enough of a name to sell a large scale tour. I saw the 90s production with the Schof, who was huge at the time and that struggled to sell a limited run at Hammersmith.
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343 posts
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Post by Sam on Jan 14, 2019 9:18:27 GMT
I was looking forward to seeing this in the summer (though hadn't booked so I guess I am part of the problem rather than the solution!) I think it was tricky that they hadn't announced any casting for Southampton (and other dates I believe) and the show alone won't sell This is the main reason I had for not booking yet, as I wanted to know which doctor I would rather see.
It's a real shame, looking at booking a last minute trip to Oxford, but it's a busy month.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2019 12:50:51 GMT
That's a real shame however, it wasn't especially full when I saw it in Bromley (and on a Friday night too). The cast were pretty good on the whole, particularly the terrific ensemble and especially Patrick Sullivan who played Matthew Mugg. I hope they pick up other work quickly, it will be well deserved if they do.
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5,799 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jan 15, 2019 9:17:00 GMT
I’m no expert , but even I could see this wasn’t going to sell well.
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343 posts
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Post by Sam on Jan 15, 2019 11:11:20 GMT
The ATG offer is on groupon as well but is only Monday-Thursday.
Anyone more familiar with the theatre able to say whether there are likely to be any other discounts (in person or otherwise), looking to go to one of the 3 shows this weekend, there are still hundreds of seats left for each performance?
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