Rags - Hope Mill MCR / Park Theatre

Starring Rebecca Trehearn


www.whatsonstage.com/manchester-theatre/news/rebecca-trehearn-stephen-schwartzs-rags_48406.html

This won't mean much to anyone outside of the Eurovision bubble but every time I see a reference to 'Rags' the musical, I always think of this classic which was beaten in the UK national final of 1977 by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran's 'Rock Bottom'. Never has a mid-song outfit change looked so fabulous!

I'm willing to bet that there will be nothing as catchy as this in 'Rags' the musical . . .

I’m at the 1st preview tomorrow night. Just had a listen to the OCR which sounds great. As it’s being directed by Bronagh Logan who directed both the Little Women and the Putting It Together productions which were both fantastic I am hoping for something similar.

I’m just praying for a decent orchestration of the score (i.e. more than just a piano). Also, will we get to play the interval game if trying to identify what props have been used in previous productions?

Having watched the 1st preview tonight, I have to say I think Hope Mill have got another hit show here.

Due to technical difficulties, we had a 15minute delay before the auditorium opened so we had a late start tonight once everyone was seated. With the new seating blocks, depending on what colour block you selected at the time of purchase, you get the corresponding coloured card and get called up by colour. Each seat has a coloured sticker on it to make sure you are in the right block. For this production, you have the main central seating and then 2 rows of seats on the right hand side. The left side is used for staging here.

The show itself ran for 2.5hrs including interval and for a 1st preview was in absolutely fantastic shape. For those who are planning to watch this, you may be glad to know that this is a glow stick free production. The staging is very simple, but effective with a backdrop of a lot of suitcases to represent the groups of immigrants arriving in NY (as stated by Katy Lipson the Artistic Director who was sat behind me.).

The musical score was an absolute pleasure to listen to. With a band of 5 playing the score (keyboards, trumpet, flugel, trombone and percussion). For a lot of the time, the band played on stage but the sound mixing was spot on so you could hear both the vocals as well as the music. It was great to hear a mix of instruments rather than just a piano or two!

Performance wise, I couldn’t fault this. Rebecca Trehearn was the standout as Rebecca and her rendition of “Children of the Wind” at the end of Act 2 was the standout performance for me. Vocally, all the other cast members were very strong and the young lad who played David (the role is shared between 2 boys) gave a strong performance. For a bit of light relief, Valda Aviks as Rachel and Michael S. Siegel as Avram got some cracking one liners and their duet in “Three Sunny Rooms” was just great fun.

Overall 4*.

Is there no longer priority for entry given based on who visited the box office first and everyone with the same colour card now goes in together? Will be nice to be able to show up just 20 minutes beforehand rather than waiting round for an hour or more if they've stopped letting in the audience in batches of 50 based on who arrived first. 

It appears that entry to the auditorium is now based on card colour rather than what time you arrive. So this should mean that you should hopefully be able to turn up as you say 20mins beforehand rather than hanging around for an hour which really was a pain in my experience.

I’d definitely welcome allocated seating, especially if you wanted an aisle seat. Though I assume if you wanted one with the current colour cards system, an email to the theatre before hand to request may help as I’ve found the aisle seats are always the 1st to get taken.

I’ve noticed the price increase on this years musicals. I’ve booked for previews for the musicals to save myself some money.

No reviews yet? Well, I made the trip to Manchester on a wet Friday night and this gets a thumbs up from me.

The new seating system is a big plus. I only made it to the theatre a few minutes before the show was due to start, but was still able to get a front row centre seat. I was one of the first people into the theatre when they let my section in (but actually most of the front row seats went last, as for some reason people prefer to sit further back).

For the yellow (back) section, they've also added two rows of seats you can choose at the side of the stage. I wouldn't recommend those, as everything is played to the front. The stage area is rather square for this one. Maybe the very end seats, but not much beyond them.

On Friday, the show was around 80% full.

The front row seats are low, so bear that in mind. I kept my legs back, but the performance doesn't come to the front of the stage area (no big musical style numbers), so you could probably stretch out.

Running time 2 hours 30 minutes, including interval.

As for the show. It's an engaging story, with some similar themes to Fiddler on the Roof. I believe that very little survives from the original script, so it's a new book using most of the original songs. Sung and performed well by a small cast including several actor-musicians. Rebecca Trehearn is excellent, as you'd expect. The sound balance is good, so you can hear everything.

It's a gritty rather than flashy musical, but otherwise traditionally styled.

This is very deserving of a London transfer. I don't know if it will get one, as it doesn't have the name value of some of the other shows that have transferred and it's not a sell out. Certainly worth seeing if you can get to Manchester over the next few weeks.

I’m going towards the end of the run. Hang back on booking until we had some reviews and looking forward to it now.

I'm sure the side seats towards the back of the stage would indeed be terrible. The ones at the other end of the row - at a right-angle to the front row in the main seating block, at the very front of the stage - are perfectly OK (that's where I sat). When they call the yellow group into the theatre, move quickly.

I fell in love with this score when I first heard the studio cast recording many years ago (Charles Strouse's very best score imo). I saw - and loved - the production at the Bridewell in 2001 (with Sally Ann Triplett) and also the concert production in the West End in 2014 (with Caroline Sheen).

I saw this revised version at Hope Mill a week ago and was seriously blown away. So powerful in that space and the music and vocals simply soared. Every member of the cast was brilliant - and Rebecca Trehearn was incredible (as always).   It is quite a trek to Manchester for me but worth every second of the train journey just to hear Rebecca sing Children Of The Wind.  If this does not transfer to London, there is no God. lol

Oh dear I really didn’t like this.

I’m not going to go into detail because I love the Hope Mill and I could absolutely see the intent behind this production. The themes are very relevant but this was lacking in so many respects . I saw Rebecca Trehearn in Showboat at the Crucible and loved her but not tonight.

There were isolated moments of good but overall it was a ⭐️⭐️.