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Post by stagebyte on Dec 1, 2018 19:27:07 GMT
I saw that too
Bizarre as it supposedly sold out
They told me they wouldn’t even accept them free to pass on.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2018 19:42:31 GMT
I really enjoyed the afternoon show. I think the cast worked well together (if not all at very different levels of ability), and I enjoyed each getting their own moments to shine. Considering it’s a workshop, I felt there was a lot to build on but that there was absolutely a show there to be realised. If they get ALW doing serious VT interludes (the Americans would never get the self depreciation thing, surely) with more elaborate antidotes, it would frame the show a bit better and elevate it more toward a high end production.
15 minutes in and you know it’s building up to Phantom. It’s a bloody long show once you realise that, but moments along the way help you forget. I enjoyed the new songs, for what they were. I was sat in the front rows, so noticed that they had an autocue with the lyrics to the new songs and for The Railway Cat (making me wonder if it was added overnight?). I loved the opening medley. I was hoping for ‘This Side of The Sky’ from Stephen Ward when we got onto the (very, very small) section about the musicals that didn’t quite work.
There was only one low point for me, and that was the absolute murdering of ‘As If We Never Said Goodbye’. I sat there and thought it sounded exactly how Liza would try and do it, if she were going to do it.
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Post by djp on Dec 1, 2018 21:36:19 GMT
A great evening, with 12 top class singers producing some top notch renditions, and great ensemble singing, plus some comedy and insight from his lordship. its like a Marvel musical where 3 Phantoms, and several Jesuses, Christine's and Josephs turn up with a long list of mates , and the best of Sunset Boulevard. Great to see Siobhan Dillon back from LA - at least for a short visit, sounding and looking great.
Its a bit too long - some shows might be represented by one less song, and the songs wots bad at the end got the point over, without so much repetition.
Not sure how the concept works in practice. it sounds great because its got some of the best people who have played those leading roles, and some of the best singers around , to sing them. There's as much very top talent there as you would expect to find in 3 or 4 major WE musicals. - but you can't assemble/afford that quality of cast for any tour. And you can't let any lesser singers loose on the biggest songs, or cover the range of characters and songs with just a few top singers, and hope to match the result. . There's basically a reason those people are singing those songs, and why they were cast in those roles, and why they sounded so good.
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Post by fiyero on Dec 1, 2018 23:13:24 GMT
I loved the show tonight but really agree with djp that it worked because it had a couple of phantoms a Norma, etc... I think in this incarnation it even needs a Dewey. The fact that they have played (rather than just could play) these characters adds a lot. It needs a John Owen Jones type name at least.
I hope we see another workshop that might show how a real production would work.
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Post by Dawnstar on Dec 2, 2018 0:05:34 GMT
A few comments on this afternoon's show.
I really enjoyed it & it really brought home how many fabulous songs Lloyd Webber has written over the years. I could have happily listened to another couple of hours of it! There was very little from Starlight Express, for instance. I saw a somewhat similar Sondheim concert at the RFH, in terms of intercutting songs with videos of the composer, but I found Unmasked's videos seemed to be much better & more interesting. Lloyd Webber came over very well on them.
I thought the cast of 10 were all excellent, from people I've been a fan of for some years (Anna O'Byrne, Michael Xavier) to those I knew by name but had never seen before (Steven Leask, Rosanna Hyland). Highlights for me included Anna O'Byrne's Unexpected Song, Ria Jones's Memory (both of which had me welling up), Michael Xavier's Sunset Boulevard (now regretting not seeing him or Ria in the show), Stephen Leask's Rum Tum Tugger. I could go on. In fact the only time when I found the singing less than excellent was Hollie Aires' Pie Jesu, where I found myself worrying she wasn't going to make all the notes; of course it is a horribly exposed vocal line. I was much more impressed with Tyrone Huntley in this than in the previously-mentioned Sondheim concert; I thought these songs fitted his style of singing better.
Actually the whole Cats sequence was great, which was unexpected as I think of it as a show where dance is very important, so wouldn't have expected songs from it to work in concert.I enjoyed the somewhat sending up of Music Of The Night - which is probably my least favourite song from Phantom - at the end. After all, I should think everyone there must have seen John Owen Jones do it seriously before! I really liked the new comic group songs.
I think this is the first time I've seen two siblings in two different West End shows on the same day: Stephen Leask in this then Chris Leask in The Comedy About A Bank Robbery in the evening.
Oh and nice to bump into fellow board member Steve - or rather get tapped on the shoulder in the interval as he was sitting just behind me. I hope he will post one of his usual excellently insightful reviews.
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Post by anita on Dec 2, 2018 10:32:01 GMT
I would have liked "Evermore without you" to be included as nothing from "Woman in White". If there had been a full orchestra would have loved "Coney Island Waltz" & "Beautiful Game"intro.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2018 11:04:00 GMT
If someone gets a chance and can remember, could a song list be posted? The Lord Megamix (Cast) Wouldn't be a Webber revue show without an Andrew Lloyd Megamix. Which version of Rum Tum Tugger are they doing? The original or the cringeworthy 'hiphop' revision? |
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Post by anita on Dec 2, 2018 11:25:46 GMT
Wouldn't be a Webber revue show without an Andrew Lloyd Megamix. Which version of Rum Tum Tugger are they doing? The original or the cringeworthy 'hiphop' revision? The original Rum Tum Tugger. |
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Post by kasper on Dec 2, 2018 18:36:43 GMT
I saw it yesterday afternoon.
Nothing from Woman in White, Whistle down the Wind, Stephen Ward.
Only a few instrumental tunes from Starlight express.
It was an experiment with a good cast. I liked it. But that's it.
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Post by distantcousin on Dec 2, 2018 21:18:11 GMT
The Last Song sounded too much like Somebody To Love by Queen = deliberate pastiche?!
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1,997 posts
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Post by distantcousin on Dec 2, 2018 21:18:53 GMT
I saw it yesterday afternoon. Nothing from Woman in White, Whistle down the Wind, Stephen Ward. Only a few instrumental tunes from Starlight express. It was an experiment with a good cast. I liked it. But that's it. Err, No Matter What was included in the "love songs" section. |
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Post by Dawnstar on Dec 3, 2018 15:35:42 GMT
I saw it yesterday afternoon. Nothing from Woman in White, Whistle down the Wind, Stephen Ward. Only a few instrumental tunes from Starlight express. It was an experiment with a good cast. I liked it. But that's it. Oh gosh, I never even noticed that there wasn't anything from Woman in White, despite having seen the recent production at Charing Cross with Anna O'Byrne. I suppose that shows that it's not exactly ALW's most memorable piece!
@ryan Ah, so the lady I saw in the lobby & thought "She looks like Emilia Fox" was actually her. Usually I'm absolutely useless at recognising anyone famous.
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Post by scarpia on Jan 26, 2020 18:29:30 GMT
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Post by gmoneyoutlaw on Jan 26, 2020 20:05:36 GMT
JoAnn M. Hunter is directing and probably choreography too. JoAnn is the choreographer of School of Rock and she also did the recent R&H production of Cinderella at Paper Mill Playhouse. You must have mean that the show was written by Richard Curtis with ALW. I've got tickets for Unmasked February 15th. I've seen The Music Of Andrew Lloyd Webber many years ago and expect about the same this time. |
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Post by chernjam on Feb 22, 2020 7:04:05 GMT
Hey everyone - so I just got in from The Papermill Playhouse's production of "Unmasked" (which is billed as a "World Premiere") What an absolute delight. I'm amazed that at just over 2 and a half hours - and covering ALL that they did (even with some cuts which I missed) I was left with loving every minute of it and not wanting it to end. The pacing made it fly by - the cuts in and out with ALW seemed seamless and you really felt like he was narrating the evening. The cast hit this out of the park - which in a lot of ways is harder than performing in a standard ALW production (they have to shift story lines, characters and try to in a sense provide the context) but I didn't feel they missed a single step on that front. And even though some of the songs were cut (i.e. "Everythings Alright" omitting a recurrence of the refrain between Judas and Jesus) it didn't feel lost or awkward like it often does when those types of cuts occur on TV broadcasts.
ALW really came across fantastic (He's not as well known or rather interviewed here in the states) More than a few people commented on leaving they never knew he was so funny. Even a self-deprecating nod to the Cats film (in that intro he set it up by saying this was the exception to the rule that you need a strong story in order for a musical to work, referenced how it had set long-running records around the world and was a film that was out for "a little while") Cats is my least favorite (next to Starlight Express) and even those sections made me wanting more.
Know it would be a pipe dream that would only work for true ALW-files - but I'd love a part II with some of the lesser knowns.
Anyway - I would not be shocked if this heads out on a US Tour. It was incredibly well received and has been selling quite well (sold out tonight)
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