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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2018 3:32:53 GMT
why did my fair lady and South Pacific get great reviews on broadway but not so much on the west end with Bartlett Sher directing?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2018 9:29:38 GMT
Presumably you mean The King & I, not My Fair Lady which hasn't got here yet.
The King & I reviews are pretty much all four stars (80%) so they are perfectly fine. Showscore gives the Broadway version 90%, which isn't too much higher.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2018 9:45:58 GMT
Re South Pacific - choice of theatre
The Lincoln Center Theater has a wonderful deep thrust stage and the set could accommodate it
Sweeping sanddunes leading to a panoramic sea with Bali Hai in the distance
When it transferred here it was initially staged at the Barbican - not known for it's musical production - or audience - with the purpose of touring later which meant we got a rather tatty touring set - all flats and a "thin" stage where everything seemed cramped
It sounds like The King & I is the same
And (I think) like The King & I we got a reduced orchestra
Broadway had Kelli O'Hara - we got Samantha Womack
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2018 10:22:11 GMT
Broadway had Kelli O'Hara - we got Samantha Womack She'll always be Samantha Janus to me. Or even Samantha *kiss* Janus. Now may be the moment to insert your earplugs. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2018 11:08:36 GMT
This reminders me of the - most probably apocryphal - story of when Shaun Richie and Samantha Janus were in Grease and the R fell off the sign for Richie and the J fell off the Janus and ended up with an ichie anus.
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Post by sf on Jul 7, 2018 16:23:39 GMT
Re South Pacific - choice of theatre The Lincoln Center Theater has a wonderful deep thrust stage and the set could accommodate it Sweeping sanddunes leading to a panoramic sea with Bali Hai in the distance When it transferred here it was initially staged at the Barbican - not known for it's musical production - or audience - with the purpose of touring later which meant we got a rather tatty touring set - all flats and a "thin" stage where everything seemed cramped It sounds like The King & I is the same And (I think) like The King & I we got a reduced orchestra Broadway had Kelli O'Hara - we got Samantha Womack
I think London got a larger orchestra than the tour - but otherwise, yes, when Sher's South Pacific came to the UK we got the touring version of the set.
To be fair to Ms. Womack, she doesn't sing like Kelli O'Hara but as Nellie Forbush she didn't need to. There was nothing wrong with her performance; in terms of how she sang it, she was actually far closer to Mary Martin than Ms. O'Hara is on the production's cast album.
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Post by Phantom of London on Jul 7, 2018 17:12:09 GMT
I saw both in New York and saw South Pacific at the Barbican, as pointed out the production values away from the Lincoln Center weren’t so good, but still both excellent musicals, found Sound Pacific mind blowing how they shifted the racism to the nurse Nellie.
Saying that American classics, such as Rogers and Hammerstein, Sondheim and Fran Losser etc with O’Neill, Williams and Miller will always get great reviews if a good production is done.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2018 17:26:02 GMT
Broadway had Kelli O'Hara - we got Samantha Womack She'll always be Samantha Janus to me. Or even Samantha *kiss* Janus. Now may be the moment to insert your earplugs. Samantha *kiss* Janus lol, I remember it well. The first Eurovision I ever watched! |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2018 18:14:57 GMT
To be fair that was a cheap shot.I saw the UK version and although stick by my thoughts about the production values Samantha Womack was better than I thought she would be.After all Nellie is more a comedic role than a singing one.What I didn't like was all the choreography was staged like they were making up as they went along .I much preferred the NT version especially the route marched There is nothing like a Dame.Thank you Matthew Bourne!
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