Murder Ballad

Having sat in the second row, I was pleased it was only 9 minutes or my neck would of given out. If they are sellingthe front row as dayseats, honestly brace yourself for the front row ahesd of entering the theatre, it is really damn high, mainly because of the addition of more staging to accomodate the use of the revolve built inti the stage. You can see very clearly the usual black staging with the new part of the new part of the stage built on top on white and how much of a difference it makes.

Come to think of it, an easy way they could improve the show would be to introduce 'Defying Gravity' and 'I Dreamed a Dream' and cut out most of the rest of the 'songs'.

So actually, you either love it, hate it, or be ambivalent about it?

Went into this with an open mind as I really knew nothing about it and I loved it. .

Quirky and edgy, not the usual thing I would go to see but being a populist and with Ms Ellis in a lead role I booked tickets.

The music is great and whilst I can't sing you any of the songs now, I loved how each of the leads had a slightly different theme. The themes all linked together and it was cleverly done.

I enjoyed all the performances especially Victoria H/B as the narrator, a slight raspiness/rock chick sound to her voice really suited the role. My only criticism was actually Kerry Ellis, where through no fault of her own I kept seeing "Kerry Ellis" and not the character she was playing. Don't get me wrong, I don't know her and I've only ever seen her in Wicked, but I struggled to connect with the naughty side and kept thinking she was a bit too "nice" for the role. I would go back and see Natalie McQueen if I lived closer as I think Natalie will portray the rock chick/naughtiness side of Sara better than Kerry. The male leads were so contrasting in their roles and really played the bad boy versus family man well - Ramin has a great set of pecks btw!

But me and the other half enjoyed it and it's worth seeing if you can - it's only 90 minutes after all.

The theatre itself though... what a hovel!

I'm still torn in what seat to buy, I really wanna see it because of Ramin, but it doesn't seems worth to pay £50 to see him this close lol god help me

I sat in Slips seat L8,having chosen to move from the front row. Had an great view. So glad I moved as a lot of action takes place on the floor! Seats L9 or L10  or the equivalent on the opposite side would be even better as the lighting bar was slightly in the way. They are directly above the 3rd or 4th row in the stalls and you only miss a tiny corner of the stage. I paid £25. Hope this helps.

I would have to say I agree with you.

Saw this last night as part of that cheap lastminute.com deal. I was in the back row of the stalls, but the theatre is so small I had a great view, all I missed was the top of some of the projections, which I don't have a problem with at all (how creepy were they? Why did they think it was a good idea to project a massive child's head onto the back of the stage?).

I sort-of-enjoyed this. I liked the music but it could have been better - I liked the rock style but the songs weren't different enough from one another. I loved Ramin, obviously, and I was impressed with Kerry Ellis too (this is the first thing I've ever seen her in). Victoria Hamilton-Barritt was amazing, but I wasn't that impressed with Norman Bowman. I didn't think his voice was very good, though his acting was fine.

I agree that the characters weren't really fleshed out enough for us to care about them. In particular I didn't see what was so "bad" about Tom that he was labelled the "bad boy". I mean, yes he broke Sara's heart, but does that make him "bad"? Really?

I also spent a lot of time wondering what Sara was supposed to do for a living. Okay, she was a housewife and mother with Michael, but what did she do when she was with Tom the first time around? How did she pay her rent? Having a job or a subject of study might have made her a more rounded character...

I didn't think there was much chemistry between the leads, but I put that down to the heavily choreographed movement. I liked the ending, but I thought it ended way too abruptly.

At the opening night, there was no applause unti, the end which was a full house standing ovation and loud cheers. There was gasps and the odd sniffle during the show though from audience membeŕs though. But I personally thought it worked tonot have applause during the show, as the songs all flow into one another anyway.

Does anyone knows if Ramin is doing the matinees?

Undecided about this one. My tickets were comp'd and I had a great seat but frankly found it all a bit pointless. There were some nice moments in the score (although a lot of it is does all sounds the same) and the performances were good and committed, but there's no real substance to it ultimately. The actors deserve better material!

Arts theatre needs a complete overhaul too.