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Post by mallardo on May 12, 2019 16:59:41 GMT
I was at the final Arcola matinee of this - wonderful to see the place so packed - and wanted to love it but... no. James Lapine has a note in the programme re not all movies are suitable for being turned into musicals. Alas, his own show is one of those. To me it never made the case for adding songs.
The cast is good but, frustratingly, the show doesn't allow anyone to really shine except little ten year old Olive, Lily Mae Denman at this performance. The highlight, easily, is the pageant itself, played to the hilt by Ms Denman and by two of the supporting players, the hilarious Ian Carlyle and Imelda Warren-Green. The fact that the pageant is at the end means the show goes out on a high - always good - and might account for the wildly enthusiastic audience response at the curtain. Or maybe everyone - but me - genuinely loved it.
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Post by Phantom of London on May 12, 2019 17:26:33 GMT
Saw this last night too and this didn’t knock it out of the park for also, the book seems problematic and mostly set in a Volkswagen tourer, in the film you can make this more interesting with different locations, this cannot happen with theatre, this didn’t help when leaden with unmemorable songs.
2 Stars
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2019 18:10:08 GMT
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Post by gazzaw13 on May 12, 2019 18:45:39 GMT
I was at the final Arcola matinee of this - wonderful to see the place so packed - and wanted to love it but... no. James Lapine has a note in the programme re not all movies are suitable for being turned into musicals. Alas, his own show is one of those. To me it never made the case for adding songs. The cast is good but, frustratingly, the show doesn't allow anyone to really shine except little ten year old Olive, Lily Mae Denman at this performance. The highlight, easily, is the pageant itself, played to the hilt by Ms Denman and by two of the supporting players, the hilarious Ian Carlyle and Imelda Warren-Green. The fact that the pageant is at the end means the show goes out on a high - always good - and might account for the wildly enthusiastic audience response at the curtain. Or maybe everyone - but me - genuinely loved it. I agree that the audience reaction is more likely based on the ending than what went before. For me, it didn't gel even though Laura was excellent (as always) and Gary Wilmot was fun. Agree 100% re the supporting cast - Imelda W-G was hysterical. Prefer to remember the movie. |
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Post by stevej678 on May 29, 2019 22:01:32 GMT
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591 posts
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Post by lou105 on Jun 5, 2019 7:22:37 GMT
Caught this on tour last night. A fun evening, though I can't remember any of the songs really. The main change, I think, is that the three "Mean Girls" are played by adults on the tour, which was OK in their Greek chorus bits but slightly odd when Olive competes against them in the pageant. The tour mum and grandad were good, I thought, and the audience seemed to be enjoying themselves. I think this will get decent word of mouth, but they've been having to put offers in place to sell it at my local, and I don't know how that will pan out on a long tour. Worth a look.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jun 5, 2019 7:47:36 GMT
The adult 'girls' sounds most jarring and as i didn't think it was half decent to begin with. Ahh well.
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Post by musicalfloozie on Jul 2, 2019 11:23:57 GMT
Front row for Sheffield are on sale for £15.00 if anyone interested, I wasnt bothered about going but for £15 I don't mind giving it a shot.
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545 posts
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Post by drowseychap on Jul 9, 2019 20:05:42 GMT
Birmingham next week all tickets £10 via travelzoo offer to good to miss booked some to give it a go
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Post by xanady on Jul 17, 2019 21:32:32 GMT
Just out of the show tonight.Incredible deal for front stalls for me and the fam.A very sparse crowd.Couple of hundred if that?
A very heartwarming show.Simple staging but effective.Have never seen the movie so can’t compare.Really strong,tightly-knit cast sold it to me.Selladoor have produced another winner imo,but this will struggle to sell,sadly.
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855 posts
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Post by stuartmcd on Jul 17, 2019 21:51:46 GMT
Saw it tonight as well. Sadly the theatre was very empty.
Overall I enjoyed the story and it has made me want to watch the movie. It was funny and dealt with a whole range of issues and emotions. I thought it particularly picked up in Act 2. I thought the cast on the whole was also very strong.
However the music is completely forgettable and weak. I don’t know if there’s much more to say. It just isn’t a good score.
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545 posts
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Post by drowseychap on Jul 18, 2019 19:35:40 GMT
Just on interval we are all enjoying it not gonna set the world on fire or run for years like the big shows but that’s not what you always want .... a good little show with heart and great talented cast
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545 posts
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Post by drowseychap on Jul 19, 2019 1:31:54 GMT
Ok so second half moves alot quicker show ended at 9.30 so short for a musical ...did I come out humming a song ? No . can I remember a song ? no Can I remember how I felt in the moment watching the show hell yes did it make me laugh? yes move me emotionally yes did I have a good evening at the theatre yes isn’t that sometimes all we need 👍😊
was the theatre full ? No half full ? No , quarter probably did it sound full by the applause at the end Yes
did the audience fall in love with little miss sunshine well we did and by the applause I would say most of the audience did
Hugely talented cast as others have said put everything into the performance. Simple effective set some great comedy moments and a tear or two deserves a bigger audience and better marketing for us 7/10
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Post by xanady on Jul 19, 2019 22:47:19 GMT
A longer review from Brum this week...think we got Evie Gibson as little Olive and she was very good.Incredibly well-rehearsed and surrounded by a truly wonderful cast including Paul Keating as Uncle Frank and Mark Moraghan as the Bad Grandpa.Imelda Warren-Green was hilarious in two OTT extended cameos.Clever and adaptable design for the yellow van used in the road trip with a great use of physical theatre.The ‘dead body’ and pageant scenes were a master-class in comic timing.Sparse audience but everybody seemed to leave with a big smile on their faces.About 100 minutes in total and running on tour until late September.Really ticked the boxes for me.Great fun,easy to follow and very clear that the cast and band were enjoying themselves just as much as the audience.
4 stars.
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Post by macksennett on Jul 20, 2019 13:36:50 GMT
Any songs from this available to listen to online?
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Post by xanady on Jul 20, 2019 18:31:01 GMT
^Been looking for clips for you,but sadly only the Hollywood movie is out there unless other posters can help? Obvs only legal clips.
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Post by zinone on Aug 14, 2019 14:09:42 GMT
Bizarre piece of 'stunt casting' for the Dublin run. Supposedly the guy playing Grandpa is well-known, but he reads 5-7 years max older than the Dad so it's just strange.
Quite enjoyed the show overall. Gabriel Vick in particular was excellent, I thought.
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Post by ruthieh on Aug 20, 2019 21:24:46 GMT
I saw this tonight at oxford playhouse and had no expectations, but actually really enjoyed it. The Young Olive we saw was absolutely brilliant, but I thought the whole cast did really well. Lovely theatre to see it in too.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Aug 20, 2019 21:56:20 GMT
I too was in the Playhouse for tonight's performance. Utterly charming show - very strong performances, crisp direction and an outstanding Olive.
4 stars!
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Post by robertb213 on Aug 20, 2019 22:26:59 GMT
Basee on these reviews I'm gonna try and catch it in Leicester the week after next 😀
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Post by drowseychap on Aug 21, 2019 0:16:12 GMT
Basee on these reviews I'm gonna try and catch it in Leicester the week after next 😀 I saw it in Birmingham again no expectations but was really taken by it really charming and excellent cast deserves bigger audiences 👍👍 |
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545 posts
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Post by drowseychap on Aug 22, 2019 0:19:29 GMT
Just had an email from Malvern theatre half price tickets next week with code sunshine .... looks like I’m going again 👍 .... looked and at moment sales really low so hope it picks up now for them well they have sold another 4 at least sorry 5 taking dad too 😎😆
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545 posts
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Post by drowseychap on Aug 31, 2019 21:19:21 GMT
Just back from Malvern enjoyed it more second time round we all really enjoyed it such a talented cast a really neat little musical ..... smaller theatre than Birmingham sadly an even smaller audience which was sad to see only 20 in circle and around quarter full in stalls ... some jokes and subject matter fell flat on some of the elderly audience of Malvern .... but heard great comments when leaving and audience gave very enthusiastic applause at the end
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1,483 posts
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Post by steve10086 on Aug 31, 2019 22:01:59 GMT
Seeing the show again in two weeks. Feels so long since it was at Arcola, and I have missed it. Can’t wait for Cardiff.
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Post by squidward on Sept 1, 2019 14:15:48 GMT
The production company for this tour must have very deep pockets. I imagine with such low attendance in so many of the venues, they must have lost a lot of money. I still can’t work out why anyone would have thought touring this particular show would be a good idea. In my humble opinion, it’s a poorly written adaptation of a not very recent niche movie.
I think some of the dates have been pulled already, so I hope they manage to finish the tour without too many further instances of this happening. Touring the country and playing to very small audiences can be a really demoralising experience for cast & crew.
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