Calendar Girls the musical (was: The Girls)

So you spend £4 on a programme, which I refuse to do!

I get your point. I was being facetious. It's what I do!!

I asked the staff at the bar right next to the screen. I'll be annoyed if that screen was what I should've been looking at. The staff at Half a Sixpence were actually very helpful at pointing me to the screen, and that screen was mainly about the show. Oh well. Very frustrating, I'll have to go with the idea that there were no understudies on. I've tried to check with the programme but my eyesight isn't great.

I have a photo that I took on my phone from when I saw The Girls, of the understudy notice, which by the looks of it is a loose piece of paper placed on the bar.

In fairness, I think the decision on cast boards comes down to the producer, rather than the theatre operator, in the same way that it's the producer who decides whether understudies are announced over the PA/with programme slips/not at all.

You know what, I'm actually not sure. It's often spoken about the three things: cast board, slips on programme and pre-show announcement, and it's generally thought that shows are obligated to do one (or two, depending who you ask) of these things. However I'm sure someone a while ago said that it's not actually decreed anywhere that this has to happen, and that it's entirely at the producer's discretion. Perhaps someone with a better knowledge of Equity rules can advise!

My personal opinion though is that it's frankly awful that understudies aren't getting the acknowledgement or recognition that they deserve. Sure, most of the audience couldn't give less of a hoot who they are seeing, but it's a courtesy. When I was at Half A Sixpence last week (Five understudies), people were outside after the show looking at the posters outside the theatre (the one with the Flash Bang Wallop scene) trying to work out who they'd seen in each role, because there's no slips or announcement, and the cast board/screen is impossible to spot unless you know where it is, and even then it's not the easiest to read.

The point being, as has been echoed by all of you, the understudies put in just as much effort as the leads if not more, and for their sake as much as the paying customer, the hey deserve to be advertised as such.

However as with lots of these things, the producer has the power. To a "normal" person (ie not a regular theatregoer who actually understands the whole understudy thing) being told that you have an understudy on is seen as a negative. Especially in shows such as The Girls/Blood Brothers where they cover each other, you can end up with a situation where you have say 2 people off, but on paper there's 5 covers on because people have jumped about. The producers hope is that by not announcing it, people will be none the wiser to the fact that the lead is off. I usehered the hairspray tour with Mark Benton as Edna - he missed a lot of performances but as his cover looked just like him (scarily so), you genuienly couldn't tell.

Right and rambling and need to stop, but my overall point is just that to me, it's a huge disrespect to a performer to not credit or even acknowledge them for their performance.

[/rant]

I don't think I've ever seen an understudy/alternate that wasn't better than the lead or at least good enough so I couldn't imagine a situation where anyone else could be better; so nothing riles me more than the lack of announcements.

I agree that the Half A Sixpence cast board is really badly situated. Even if you do spot where it is, with it being so high up if you try to stand near it the angle is too acute to read properly whereas if you stand further back you're too far away to read it, at least if you're short sighted like me. When I saw the show I spent most of the interval trying to work out which understudies were on from all the programme headshots, as I had been unable to read the board.

I don't doubt the closure notice has had some impact, however I don't think weekends have ever been a problem for this one and theatres in general have reported a bounce on Saturday because of the Adele cancellation. I think a house full on Saturday is down to those factors as much as the closure.

Don't forget Italy (unless Italien (sic) means outer space), and Ireland, with a full month in Dublin, then Cork, and possibly Poland.

The full tour is supposed to be announced mid-September, but it seems everything will be known, via Twitter, long before then.

Apparently Messrs Barlow and Firth were in the audience on 29 June. There would surely have been more of a fuss at the matinee, so it must have been the evening performance. Did you see them d'James?

I'm v disappointed, on your behalf. I kinda assumed that young Gary would have gone up on stage at the end. He doesn't usually need much persuading!!

I wonder why they're not rush-releasing the soundtrack for the final week or so. Maybe they're not going to bother and save it for the tour.