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Post by Jon on Nov 14, 2019 16:06:05 GMT
For me it was a 5 star cast in a 4 star show. Outstandingly good performances from all the leads, one of the dancers and the children. Can't compare the original as I didn't see it, but I thought the house set didn't compare with the photos of the original. The show itself seemed over-long and the joins between Disney and the new stuff were often too exposed. That said, there were some strong comedy slapstick moments. More on my site if anyone has insomnia. The old house was technically stunning but very costly. I found this video about the old set from Disney on Broadway and also about the current house set |
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Post by firstwetakemanhattan on Nov 15, 2019 10:55:26 GMT
Saw it last night from slips box 2 seat 4, aforementioned by a few previously on here and it really is a great view and of course perfect for the ending, and all at just 37 odd pounds. Have to say, loved the show. Only ever seen bits and clips of the original film, but of course knew most of the songs and plot, but this delivered for me in a big way. Really impressed by the two children, who really are on stage for pretty much all of the show, fantastic showing from both of them.
The songs, the set pieces, the tricks, the colour, the special effects, just a joy to sit back and watch and take in. Will be going back to see it again for sure. Marys flight did have the audience gushing with delight and was a magical moment to end on, especially from where I was sitting as she comes literally right towards you and past. Lived up to the hype, fantastic show.
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Post by wickedgrin on Nov 15, 2019 11:17:27 GMT
Great video above - thanks Jon for posting. The house in the original production was fabulous only equalled by Norma Desmond's house in Sunset Boulevard at the Adelphi. The fold out house looks effective especially for a tour but at WE prices? Haven't seen this yet, but I will. Surprisingly (apart from weekends) there is LOTS of availability on the Delfont Mackintosh website. Perhaps it's a quiet time in the WE before the Christmas holidays and this show will appeal to families during school holidays. But for a show that has just opened I am surprised it is not more heavily booked. I enjoyed this in it's original incarnation at this theatre although I didn't think it was "practically perfect" in every way. Too long and some clunky transitions between big set pieces and the new and old material. Quite frankly I am surprised to see this revived as I seem to remember the original show did not have the long run that was expected of it, although it did play 3 years in London, but went on to play 6 years on Broadway. But Cam Mack has not produced anything original for years and seems content to keep flogging Les Mis, Phantom and the family stuff to death. Oliver will be next...…. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2019 13:45:19 GMT
For me it was a 5 star cast in a 4 star show. Outstandingly good performances from all the leads, one of the dancers and the children. Can't compare the original as I didn't see it, but I thought the house set didn't compare with the photos of the original. The show itself seemed over-long and the joins between Disney and the new stuff were often too exposed. That said, there were some strong comedy slapstick moments. More on my site if anyone has insomnia. The old house was technically stunning but very costly. I found this video about the old set from Disney on Broadway and also about the current house set Ugh. I didn't realise how different the two sets were. All in the name of cost cutting and profit margins. Why do we have to settle for less when these ticket prices are already astronomical?! Compared to the original set, this new set looks absolutely crap. Dull and cheap. Not impressed. |
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Post by critchyboy on Nov 15, 2019 14:16:28 GMT
Went with a friend who hadn’t seen the original production and he loved the house - he felt a little let down in the ‘Jolly Holiday’ number. He was expected a chalk painting type image to light up the floor of the stage for them to ‘step into’!
On another note - that Stage review is just pathetic. How sad to come away with nothing from the production!
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7,067 posts
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Post by Jon on Nov 15, 2019 14:27:11 GMT
Great video above - thanks Jon for posting. The house in the original production was fabulous only equalled by Norma Desmond's house in Sunset Boulevard at the Adelphi. The fold out house looks effective especially for a tour but at WE prices? Haven't seen this yet, but I will. Surprisingly (apart from weekends) there is LOTS of availability on the Delfont Mackintosh website. Perhaps it's a quiet time in the WE before the Christmas holidays and this show will appeal to families during school holidays. But for a show that has just opened I am surprised it is not more heavily booked. I enjoyed this in it's original incarnation at this theatre although I didn't think it was "practically perfect" in every way. Too long and some clunky transitions between big set pieces and the new and old material. Quite frankly I am surprised to see this revived as I seem to remember the original show did not have the long run that was expected of it, although it did play 3 years in London, but went on to play 6 years on Broadway. But Cam Mack has not produced anything original for years and seems content to keep flogging Les Mis, Phantom and the family stuff to death. Oliver will be next...…. He’s already did a Oliver! revival and Cameron did produce both Half a Sixpence and Barnum, the former did a West End run and the latter toured. I imagine the reason for the revival was to capitalise on the recent movie. |
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Post by partytentdown on Nov 15, 2019 22:41:40 GMT
I broadly enjoyed this but why is the cast so WHITE?! I understand this is set in Victorian-ish London but the only person of colour of note is a broad patois-speaking shop owner? There weren't even a couple of performers of colour who auditioned even suitable to drop into the ensemble? In 2019 London? They have to do better.
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Post by horton on Nov 16, 2019 20:45:40 GMT
For me it was a 5 star cast in a 4 star show. Outstandingly good performances from all the leads, one of the dancers and the children. Can't compare the original as I didn't see it, but I thought the house set didn't compare with the photos of the original. The show itself seemed over-long and the joins between Disney and the new stuff were often too exposed. That said, there were some strong comedy slapstick moments. More on my site if anyone has insomnia. Spot on Monkey! |
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Post by appoul on Nov 17, 2019 13:17:57 GMT
I was in Slip Box 2 Seat 4 situated House Left. The final flight is over to this side meaning that Mary comes straight past you! Depends if you want the view from House Right. I was really impressed with the comfort and the ability to lean really comfortably on the ledge all night. Think it’s the comfiest I’ve ever been in a theatre!!! Thank you for your reply! All four seats of the slip box are available for the day I want to book so I was wondering whether seat 1 is better than seat 4 (there would be no one in front of me whose leaning might obstruct my view). |
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Post by critchyboy on Nov 17, 2019 13:53:40 GMT
I was in Slip Box 2 Seat 4 situated House Left. The final flight is over to this side meaning that Mary comes straight past you! Depends if you want the view from House Right. I was really impressed with the comfort and the ability to lean really comfortably on the ledge all night. Think it’s the comfiest I’ve ever been in a theatre!!! Thank you for your reply! All four seats of the slip box are available for the day I want to book so I was wondering whether seat 1 is better than seat 4 (there would be no one in front of me whose leaning might obstruct my view). I was in Seat 4 and didn’t have any problem with anyone in seats 1-3 leaning out - they’d have to lean a long way over to get in your way! |
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Post by happytobehere on Nov 17, 2019 14:47:53 GMT
Saw this on Friday night & really enjoyed it. Definitely agree with theatremonkey about this being a 5 star cast in a 4 star show. Zizi Strallen & Charlie Stemp were endlessly charming and had great chemistry. Some really fantastic dancing as well from both them and the ensemble.
The show itself felt a bit too long for my taste, maybe one or two songs could have been cut. I couldn’t tell you exactly which ones should be cut because they didn’t even stick out well enough for me to remember them! ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ was a personal highlight for me. Seeing Mary fly at the end was also incredible.
I never seen any production of Mary Poppins before this, so I can’t really compare the staging to previous productions, but I liked the set, I thought it was really well designed.
I was sat in E34 of the stalls, far on the left hand side. Slightly restricted view of the near side of the stage, and my neck was constantly craned to the right for the entire show. Still a great seat though, close enough to get a great view of all the actors faces, though probably too close if you don’t want the magic of some of the tricks to be made clear.
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Post by shady23 on Nov 17, 2019 20:50:21 GMT
What a small world. I was in that very seat for the matinée the next day!
Seen it many times before and still as wonderful. We loved Charlie. Such a likeable guy.
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Post by Lemansky on Nov 19, 2019 9:25:25 GMT
I saw this last Tuesday on the Children in Need Gala Night - not that it was advertised as that when I booked it.
I did enjoy the show and I'm very glad I've seen it, but I didn't love it. I was very excited going in to see it, so perhaps my expectations were too high.
Firstly Charlie Stemp was fantastic as Bert, I really liked Zizi's MP and the kids were great as were their parents and the lady playing the cook.
I wasn't keen on the statues and the Neleus storyline, or the Playing the Game part which was very creepy. I hadn't seen it when it was last in the West End, so perhaps would have looked on the show differently if it was something we'd been taken to see when I was younger.
Overall I think it was too long, I wasn't keen on the new Stiles and Drew songs and I think mostly I was wishing they'd kept a bit more of the film stuff in. Which I realise isn't really the point of the stage version, but it did definitely feel like something was missing.
I did love Step in Time, I wish all the dancing had been as good as that sequence. Bert's walk around the proscenium was fab too, and I really loved Mary's final flight, which thankfully worked.
The cast are definitely better than the production I think, as mentioned above. I'm glad I've seen it, but don't feel the need to see it again sadly, and I was sure it would be something I returned to.
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Post by LaLuPone on Nov 19, 2019 12:22:06 GMT
The ticket lottery for this was pretty easy, I’m all booked for Stalls S6 next Wednesday. So excited!
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Post by edi on Nov 19, 2019 17:25:17 GMT
The ticket lottery for this was pretty easy, I’m all booked for Stalls S6 next Wednesday. So excited! Good For you. I suppose it was easy for you because you were selected as winner. I was kept on hold, the walking man paused a few times and after about 25 mins I got the message it was now closed. Last week I won it, I was directed to the website, selected the date and it offered me the seats. It also had an option to reject the seats, which I did, hoping for a better one. At that point I could not select anything else. I tried to select different dates and it just froze. So even though I won the lottery, I could not book tickets. There is always next week. Or the one after LOL  |
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Post by LaLuPone on Nov 19, 2019 17:40:47 GMT
The ticket lottery for this was pretty easy, I’m all booked for Stalls S6 next Wednesday. So excited! Good For you. I suppose it was easy for you because you were selected as winner. I was kept on hold, the walking man paused a few times and after about 25 mins I got the message it was now closed. Last week I won it, I was directed to the website, selected the date and it offered me the seats. It also had an option to reject the seats, which I did, hoping for a better one. At that point I could not select anything else. I tried to select different dates and it just froze. So even though I won the lottery, I could not book tickets. There is always next week. Or the one after LOL Oh I’m very sorry to hear that! I said it was easy because I entered on my phone and laptop with different emails and I got through on both after a few minutes wait and then logged off one straight away so I assumed the demand must have been low. Hope you do get lucky with it very soon. |
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Post by eliza on Nov 23, 2019 21:30:27 GMT
I saw this last Tuesday on the Children in Need Gala Night - not that it was advertised as that when I booked it. I did enjoy the show and I'm very glad I've seen it, but I didn't love it. I was very excited going in to see it, so perhaps my expectations were too high. Firstly Charlie Stemp was fantastic as Bert, I really liked Zizi's MP and the kids were great as were their parents and the lady playing the cook. I wasn't keen on the statues and the Neleus storyline, or the Playing the Game part which was very creepy. I hadn't seen it when it was last in the West End, so perhaps would have looked on the show differently if it was something we'd been taken to see when I was younger. Overall I think it was too long, I wasn't keen on the new Stiles and Drew songs and I think mostly I was wishing they'd kept a bit more of the film stuff in. Which I realise isn't really the point of the stage version, but it did definitely feel like something was missing. I did love Step in Time, I wish all the dancing had been as good as that sequence. Bert's walk around the proscenium was fab too, and I really loved Mary's final flight, which thankfully worked. The cast are definitely better than the production I think, as mentioned above. I'm glad I've seen it, but don't feel the need to see it again sadly, and I was sure it would be something I returned to. This really does describe how I felt about this too! Mary Poppins was probably my favourite film as a child and was going for the nostaglia purposes but it was just SO different and I didn't really connect with it. Play the Game was creepy but I also thought Spoonful of Sugar was quite creepy in this too as she was giving everyone medicine to make them behave and it was all a bit sinister. I'm sure in the film there was actually a reason for the medicine and it wasn't just to drug them all! |
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Post by David J on Nov 23, 2019 23:12:24 GMT
I saw this last Tuesday on the Children in Need Gala Night - not that it was advertised as that when I booked it. I did enjoy the show and I'm very glad I've seen it, but I didn't love it. I was very excited going in to see it, so perhaps my expectations were too high. Firstly Charlie Stemp was fantastic as Bert, I really liked Zizi's MP and the kids were great as were their parents and the lady playing the cook. I wasn't keen on the statues and the Neleus storyline, or the Playing the Game part which was very creepy. I hadn't seen it when it was last in the West End, so perhaps would have looked on the show differently if it was something we'd been taken to see when I was younger. Overall I think it was too long, I wasn't keen on the new Stiles and Drew songs and I think mostly I was wishing they'd kept a bit more of the film stuff in. Which I realise isn't really the point of the stage version, but it did definitely feel like something was missing. I did love Step in Time, I wish all the dancing had been as good as that sequence. Bert's walk around the proscenium was fab too, and I really loved Mary's final flight, which thankfully worked. The cast are definitely better than the production I think, as mentioned above. I'm glad I've seen it, but don't feel the need to see it again sadly, and I was sure it would be something I returned to. This really does describe how I felt about this too! Mary Poppins was probably my favourite film as a child and was going for the nostaglia purposes but it was just SO different and I didn't really connect with it. Play the Game was creepy but I also thought Spoonful of Sugar was quite creepy in this too as she was giving everyone medicine to make them behave and it was all a bit sinister. I'm sure in the film there was actually a reason for the medicine and it wasn't just to drug them all! What's interesting is the new moments you mention are in fact taken or based on stories from P.L. Travers' books which is famously different from the film. Nelius, Mrs Corry and her daughters, Miss Andrew, the gingerbread stars, the fact Mary comes and goes, and her entrance in Let's Go Fly a Kite, they're all from the books. jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2008/06/20/mary-poppins-photo-essay.aspx'Temper, Temper', the song 'Playing the Game' replaced, is loosely based on the chapter "Bad Wednesday" which when reading it sounds creepy. In "Temper, Temper" Mary leaves the children to the toys who puts them on trial for loosing their temper. Watching that song as a kid who only knew the film Mary Poppins it really scared me and watching Mary leave by the interval I thought this isn't the Mary I knew. Which is why I personally love this musical adaptation for being different from the film, though I get that it feels padded out. |
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Post by Lemansky on Nov 25, 2019 9:23:40 GMT
This really does describe how I felt about this too! Mary Poppins was probably my favourite film as a child and was going for the nostaglia purposes but it was just SO different and I didn't really connect with it. Play the Game was creepy but I also thought Spoonful of Sugar was quite creepy in this too as she was giving everyone medicine to make them behave and it was all a bit sinister. I'm sure in the film there was actually a reason for the medicine and it wasn't just to drug them all! What's interesting is the new moments you mention are in fact taken or based on stories from P.L. Travers' books which is famously different from the film. Nelius, Mrs Corry and her daughters, Miss Andrew, the gingerbread stars, the fact Mary comes and goes, and her entrance in Let's Go Fly a Kite, they're all from the books. jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2008/06/20/mary-poppins-photo-essay.aspx'Temper, Temper', the song 'Playing the Game' replaced, is loosely based on the chapter "Bad Wednesday" which when reading it sounds creepy. In "Temper, Temper" Mary leaves the children to the toys who puts them on trial for loosing their temper. Watching that song as a kid who only knew the film Mary Poppins it really scared me and watching Mary leave by the interval I thought this isn't the Mary I knew. Which is why I personally love this musical adaptation for being different from the film, though I get that it feels padded out. I know they're from the books and understand why they've moved away from the film, but sadly I just didn't enjoy it as much as I would have done had they transferred the film story to the stage. I was intriguied to read about P L Travers' conditions to Cameron Mackintosh in terms of what she'd allow him to do for the stage version. I even went into the musical knowing that it wasn't going to be the same as the film and was excited to see something different, but it just didn't work for me. |
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Post by steve10086 on Nov 25, 2019 11:40:26 GMT
The show is so much better than the film for me, to the point that I really don’t enjoy the film anymore as I miss too many elements from the stage version, including the re-arranged and extended original songs.
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Post by dominion99 on Nov 25, 2019 17:28:23 GMT
That's one reason I didn't care for this production, the over extended musical sequences. In the movie 'super' is performed as an impromptu excursion, and is all the better for it.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2019 18:58:33 GMT
Super... is the one number i would gladly cut from the stage version. Its just shoved in there because its in the film. It has zero impact on the story.
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Post by edi on Nov 26, 2019 14:08:42 GMT
Good For you. I suppose it was easy for you because you were selected as winner. I was kept on hold, the walking man paused a few times and after about 25 mins I got the message it was now closed. Last week I won it, I was directed to the website, selected the date and it offered me the seats. It also had an option to reject the seats, which I did, hoping for a better one. At that point I could not select anything else. I tried to select different dates and it just froze. So even though I won the lottery, I could not book tickets. There is always next week. Or the one after LOL Oh I’m very sorry to hear that! I said it was easy because I entered on my phone and laptop with different emails and I got through on both after a few minutes wait and then logged off one straight away so I assumed the demand must have been low. Hope you do get lucky with it very soon. It was easier today but not without issues. I logged on the lottery from 2 different devises x2 browsers each. 2 went to ordering tickets very quickly other two wasn't winning. The first one offered me back stalls tickets. I rejected those and from than on the system didn't allow me to chose another day & another seats. I had to leave the session. Lesson: accept first offer. The second one offered me dress E tickets. I was happy with those. When it came to payment it kept rejecting my email. The time ticking down, after several attempts I put my partner's email address in. That sorted it. |
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Post by Stephen on Nov 30, 2019 23:33:25 GMT
There are things that I could criticise about this production but I won't as it brought tears to my eyes and made me feel like a child again. Pure theatrical magic is right. The big production numbers are excellent and the ending terrific. I thought that Zizi Strallen was the perfect Poppins too!
I could agree that this is a five star cast in a four star production but for me it was a magical night that'll stay with me for a while... So... A big five from me!
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Post by Stephen on Dec 1, 2019 23:33:57 GMT
I have a technical question...
VERY BIG SPOILER BELOW WHICH MAY RUIN THE MAGIC OF THE SHOW FOR YOU.
{Spoiler - click to view}
From my seat in the Dress Circle slips I could see the apparatus for the "over the audience" portion of Mary's final flight move across the pros and into place. I was wondering if anyone knows or can explain how it actually works though. When she reaches the middle of the stage there is a switch and she moves forward across the audience. The part that puzzled my is that I couldn't see the string running up to the balcony nor the apparatus chance direction and move with her?
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