541 posts
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Post by drowseychap on Nov 7, 2019 1:51:15 GMT
So went tonight on travelzoo offer got cheapest seats and was upgraded as I walked in very small audience and press night too but a receptive audience lots of laughs nice applause at the end ..... but I do hate staged clap alongs for the bows it means they didn’t get proper applause as each individual takes centre 😟 a small group of girls at back of circle in second half we’re leading whistles and whoops mainly for mr manford .... found him ok he didn’t offend me .... but were some extremely talented performers on the stage who outshone him in every scene no ore in brum didn’t get programme so don’t know who he plays .
Overall average musical with some great one liners good set strong cast esp the director loved him overall an enjoyable night for £15 7/10 anymore than £20 -25 I’d have probably given it a miss
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2019 1:59:09 GMT
I saw it on Wednesday night to a ticket with ATG card for £30 reduced from £39 with a free drink thrown in too. Whilst it's not as good as Kander and Ebb's best work, it was certainly worth a look and with a quality cast you know you'll get a good show.
Samuel Holmes is the total showstealer IMO and gave a great comic performance. Carley Stenson has built up a solid West End resume and gave a quality performance likewise with Rebecca Lock. I hadn't seen Andy Coxon perform before but likewise he has a solid track record as was good likely a far better voice than Ore has. Jason Manford isn't the greatest singer but the largely comic role was perfectly cast with him.
Interestingly Rebecca took 2nd last bow before Jason and ahead of Carley and Andy but Carley is billed ahead of Rebecca.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2019 11:34:27 GMT
A slight technical hitch midway through Act 2 stopped the show for a few minutes so we were out at 22.30. I was at this performance too! Did you hear Jason's ad-lib when it started again after the stop? Didn't quite catch it! |
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Post by Deal J on Nov 9, 2019 19:58:26 GMT
Well I was very pleasantly surprised by this one. My expectations were reasonably low, my main reason for going was just to see a Kander & Ebb piece I was unfamiliar with. For a touring production this is pretty large-scale! Large cast, lots of fabulous costumes, lots of scenery changes... a much bigger show than I expected. Lovely score too, and some great dance numbers.
The cast are all splendid, even Jason had a much better voice than I expected. Samuel Holmes was hilarious, all the women were in splendid voice and Andy Coxon sounded just lovely. The story gets a little flat during the inevitable whodunit reveal, but it picks up again for the finale. Smashing stuff.
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Post by justafan on Nov 9, 2019 22:50:52 GMT
A slight technical hitch midway through Act 2 stopped the show for a few minutes so we were out at 22.30. I was at this performance too! Did you hear Jason's ad-lib when it started again after the stop? Didn't quite catch it! He said something like ‘oh I get a second try’ ... or words to that effect ... he covered very well |
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241 posts
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Post by justafan on Nov 9, 2019 22:54:09 GMT
Ridiculous prices in west end when tour isn’t selling ... totally stupid ... hope the actors get a huge premium for performing on west end stage to make up for lack of audiences ...
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Post by xanady on Nov 9, 2019 23:22:53 GMT
There with fam tonight...a pleasant evening of MT...got a really cheap deal...Rebecca Lock,Carley Stenson and Sam Holmes stood out for me.Nice set and costumes and a well-behaved audience.Very hard-working ensemble.Nothing ground-breaking,but good fun.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2019 0:13:52 GMT
The Wednesday night Birmingham performance was a respectable but not great audience, it was apparently busier on that day's matinee according to a couple of theatre staff I was chatting to.
The show must be costing a fair bit to run with a 23 member cast approx and several of them being names or West End leads who would command good fees.
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511 posts
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Post by Deal J on Nov 10, 2019 13:15:18 GMT
Yes the matinee was very busy - when I checked the seating plan on Thursday there were still lots of empty seats available, but the Stalls were almost full on the day. Perhaps this was because the weather was so dreary.
The programme is disappointing, hardly anything about the development of Curtains - I ended up looking up the development history online instead. One of the articles incorrectly mentions that Kander & Ebb wrote songs for the Funny Girl movie (as most will know it was for the sequel Funny Lady). And do Kander & Ebb usually have almost exactly the same wording in their biogs? I know the majority of their career history is shared, but it’s pretty much “copy and paste” here. Life goes on.
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591 posts
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Post by lou105 on Nov 13, 2019 22:53:17 GMT
Caught this in Darlington tonight. Good stalls seat for £20 on a promotion from the theatre for previous bookers. Programme £2.50. (For those within easy reach of Darlington, by the way, the theatre is 10 mins walk from the station at most and is recently refurbished. Worth watching their listings.)
I think others have covered my thoughts- I was in need of a distracting night out and this was fun,with lots of energy and some great performers. Jason Manford exceeded my expectations, and considering his character is meant to be a theatre enthusiast who wants to have a go, he fitted it well. Rebecca Lock goes a bit Patti, Andy Coxon is always welcome and Sam Holmes takes the comedy crown. Finally they are working the cast hard here with three double show days.
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Post by ronnette on Nov 13, 2019 23:28:45 GMT
I saw it tonight in Darlington too. Was a surprise if I’m honest. It’s a warm hearted show with some excellent performances. It will do well in the west end.
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Post by james1969 on Nov 20, 2019 12:54:48 GMT
Saw the show last night in Belfast.
Interesting that Andy Coxon is in the programme to play Aaron all week - his voice is sublime and I wasn’t upset to see him at all.
Rebecca Lock and Samuel Holmes we’re highlights for me among a very strong cast.
Jason Manford was excellent too.
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1,936 posts
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Post by wickedgrin on Nov 20, 2019 13:35:40 GMT
Ore Oduba has tweeted that he is re-joining the cast from Monday 6th January in London. The show is only booked until the Saturday 11th. I do feel very sorry for the talented Andy Coxon who will be kicked out of the WE run in its final week. How shabbily producers treat their actors. Is Ore Oduba really going to sell that many more tickets for a week?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2019 13:53:36 GMT
Ore Oduba has tweeted that he is re-joining the cast from Monday 6th January in London. The show is only booked until the Saturday 11th. I do feel very sorry for the talented Andy Coxon who will be kicked out of the WE run in its final week. How shabbily producers treat their actors. Is Ore Oduba really going to sell that many more tickets for a week? I wouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions. Ore Oduba might have always been due to rejoin the cast on that date. Andy might have something else already lined up.  |
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Post by alece10 on Nov 20, 2019 13:54:30 GMT
Ore Oduba has tweeted that he is re-joining the cast from Monday 6th January in London. The show is only booked until the Saturday 11th. I do feel very sorry for the talented Andy Coxon who will be kicked out of the WE run in its final week. How shabbily producers treat their actors. Is Ore Oduba really going to sell that many more tickets for a week? Well I'll make sure I go before that date as want to see Andy Coxon. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2019 16:45:43 GMT
Ore Oduba has tweeted that he is re-joining the cast from Monday 6th January in London. The show is only booked until the Saturday 11th. I do feel very sorry for the talented Andy Coxon who will be kicked out of the WE run in its final week. How shabbily producers treat their actors. Is Ore Oduba really going to sell that many more tickets for a week? I wouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions. Ore Oduba might have always been due to rejoin the cast on that date. Andy might have something else already lined up. EDIT: Ore had already booked panto at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon. So that immediately clashed and they needed someone. However, I do think Andy is far more appealing. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2019 0:26:13 GMT
£15 tickets for this on TodayTix
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Post by showgirl on Nov 22, 2019 6:29:52 GMT
Not that I can see - maybe that was a 24-hour offer and has expired?
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Post by Someone in a tree on Nov 22, 2019 6:45:12 GMT
Not that I can see - maybe that was a 24-hour offer and has expired? It's discounting in the upper circle. I can hold on a bit logger |
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Post by Someone in a tree on Nov 25, 2019 9:29:22 GMT
Cheapo tickets booked through TodayTix. Nostalgically we're sat in the same seats we had on Broadway #luddite
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Post by SamB (was badoerfan) on Nov 26, 2019 23:31:26 GMT
Enjoyed this tonight in Dartford, was pleasantly surprised. Manford works well in it, and it's a surprisingly engaging whodunnit. Decently full too.
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Post by lou105 on Nov 27, 2019 8:25:13 GMT
Judging by the number of us who have made similar remarks, I'm expecting to see "I was pleasantly surprised" as a tagline on their publicity!
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4,021 posts
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Post by Dawnstar on Dec 15, 2019 14:06:36 GMT
I unexpectedly saw this yesterday afternoon, when I had a matinee slot become vacant at the last minute because I couldn't get to Alexandra Palace as the trains were screwed, though I had inteneded to see it at some point in the next few weeks. I really enjoyed it. Jason Manford was a lot better than I was expecting. I'm sure we've all seen a fair few stunt cast celebrities in musicals who can just about hold a tune but I thought his voice was pretty good, with tone & depth. I was pleased to avoid Ore Oduba, who I'm not very keen on as a presenter & have no desire to see in a musical. I thought Andy Coxon was really good & while I'd like to see the show again I'd only want to do so when he was in it, so I'm eyeing up Leicester in March which is advertised as Oduba-less! Almost all the rest of the leads, indeed the majority of the cast, I've previously seen in other shows & they all came up to expectations. I was decidedly hacked off that Alan Burkitt's character got shot during his dance solo, as I think he's a terrific dancer & wanted it to go on for longer! This is the sixth show I've seen Samuel Holmes in & he's pretty much played the same character in all of them, but he does it extremely entertainingly! |
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Post by marob on Dec 15, 2019 18:18:24 GMT
Dawnstar Just FYI Andy Coxon will be playing Tony again in West Side Story at the Royal Exchange in Manchester from mid-April, so the Oduba-less shows in March might be Coxon-less too if he's in rehearsals for that. I really wanted to see this show with Andy Coxon in it, but it's been really annoyingly elusive. I had other stuff booked when it was on in Birmingham and was offered overtime I couldn't really get out of when it was on in Stoke. I was looking to finally see this in the West End only to have them announce Ore Oduba for the last week of shows, which of course is when I'm in London. 🙄 Looks like I'll have to just see it in Liverpool with the newsreader.
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Post by Dawnstar on Dec 15, 2019 19:05:07 GMT
marob Thanks for letting me know but I already booked for Leicester this afternoon - couldn't resist the one seat left in the centre of the front row for the Saturday matinee! Maybe as Andy Coxon has done WSS before he'll be let off the full rehearsal period so can do 16th-28th March in Curtains. Or if he doesn't do it then hopefully they'll get another proper MT performer rather than someone stunt-cast.
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