Standing At The Sky’s Edge - Crucible/NT/Gillian Lynne

Yes, so far I have only seen reviews from Evening Standard and The Stage so yes, that makes a couple.

Not sure what TOMMY FAYE is but in terms of TAMMY FAYE (:-)) my non-UK pals were mixed to very favourable in their consensus. Nobody hated it but I think we all agreed it had some Act Two issues and could have used some re-focusing. Most of my UK pals adored it start to finish.

For my money, TAMMY FAYE held a lot of promise and I look forward to seeing what changes they put in to hopefully make it a great show rather than a merely good one.

The area I was sat (balcony house left) was not quite that enthusiastic - yes a few folks standing but many sitting and applauding politely. As I may have mentioned before, the group sat next to us left en masse at the interval so not sure if it was the show or some other factor that kept them from remaining. 

I should add that first-previews of a pre-produced show coming in (or having transferred) are generally loaded with fans who have already decided they will be enormously enthusiastic so I take any reactions at a first preview with a grain of salt.

So, no, I don't count audience reaction as praise. It is no secret that everything gets a cheering ovation at the end (as did MANDELA the night I was there) so no, as most audiences now stand and go wild for any show they see, I do not factor that in as praise no matter how fervent the reaction may be.

However, I do count word-of-mouth.

I've heard nothing but great things from friends that have seen it. Seeing it myself next week not knowing the music at all, so will be interested to see if it works for me. Looking forward to it though.

I too celebrate multiculturalism and my decision to live in the UK most of adult life (going back over 30 years) is it's live-and-let-live approach and overall mindset that equality and diversity are of great importance in a free and open society. Maybe that doesn't ring true everywhere in the UK but overall....

My issues were not with the themes of multiculturalism or diversity. My beef was with the clunky and often confusing story structure, a dull score that seemed shoe-horned in (act two was "death by ballads") and staging that was an over-eager attempt at something 'artistic' but looked silly and pretentious (and I never want to see another microphone stand in a musical as long as I live).

But I am glad others are seeing something I did not and a win for The National is a win for the industry at large I suppose.

I've surprisingly found this board a bit out of step recently on opinions vs what I've heard day to day. Hex was slated on here but away from here I'd heard, not raves, but 3 to 4 star type comments from people.

I am going tonight

Yorkshire's finest hour!

I really liked it and it made me proud to be from the Shire.

Perhaps it's 10 + minutes too long

The cast are all excellent but especially the central trio of woman

I can't stop thinking about it.

This morning I started on the cast recording and its fab. So great to have it to hand so soon.

jgblunners in my job as a social worker I see opting for the Richard Curtis all the time. Its really frustrating and it's often defined as 'the requisite capacity to make unwise decisions'.

The ending also saddened me however it does form neat and tragic symmetry with the previous tenants

I saw this last week. I liked the set and the simultaneity of actors from different decades being on stage at the same time (something it should be done more at the theatre, one of its advantages over film or TV). I don't think it was bad but I did not get into it, left at interval. For me it was more of a play with some songs thrown into it than a musical. Story wasn't much and characters bit of a cliché. It might have improved on the second half but did not have the patience to stay until the end.

I had the same reaction to the show as an earlier post, so at least I’m not a lone voice who wasn’t thrilled by the show.

The book felt very ‘on the nose’ and rather schmaltzy for me. I wanted to know more about the characters than just the very bare bones of the issues they represented.
It was overlong and too predictably wrapped up at the end. I was also unclear what point we were supposed to take from the one happy ending (trying here not to spoil the ending but unfortunately no idea how to produce the ‘spoiler’ bar).

The complete lack of emotion from the estate agent character being back in a place that presumably held some very strong emotions was utterly baffling.

I felt an absence of incidental characters who lived in the building too, to warm up the slightly barren atmosphere that I felt during the scenes with the three families. It often felt like there were only a handful of people living there. Having such a big cast could have enabled this without compromising the focus.

There were some lovely songs in the score but some that dragged (‘Open up your Door’ for starters)and didn’t seem to push the plot forward at all. It did feel like Richard Hawley’s entire songbook had been randomly raided,rather than all the songs having been written specifically to work hand-in-glove with the book.

I’m a great admirer of choreographer Lynne Page’s previous work, but not so kmuch in this. The ensemble marching forward ,stopping and repeating their action in backward motion for instance, did nothing other than distract from the accompanying song and looked a bit daft.

Without doubt there were some stand out performances, particularly Faith Omole, Rachael Wooding, Robert Lonsdale and Baker Mukasa. Whilst I’ve loved Alex Young in other shows, I just didn’t buy her plot line in the show ( she still did her best with what she had) and didn’t think there was an ounce of chemistry between her character and her ex-girlfriend played by Maimuna Mason.

I understand why the playing area had to be kept neutral, but thought it could have been enhanced by the sort of projection used on small areas in The Curious Incident. I was also surprised not to have at any time in the show, a view of ‘the sky’s edge’.

I found the occasional direct to audience narration quite jarring and for the narrator/estate agent’s backstory to have been what it was, was just too neat and not particularly believable.

In conclusion I guess I’m one of the few people on here so far who didn’t feel invested or moved by the piece at all. I really wanted to love it and am a big fan of Richard Hawley’s music but for the most part, it left me cold.

I managed to get a Friday rush ticket for the Wednesday matinee next week. Went for row B stalls at £20 rather than rear circle for £10. Very much looking forward to it.

I really enjoyed this - sure it's has flaws like most musicals have, but it managed feel fresh and the cast are top notch. I really like the songs and choreography too.

Although - having just said it feels fresh (which it does!) - I too like foxa couldn't help feel little Blood Brother esque twinges especially as the narrator strode across the stage talking to the audience - I was just waiting for her to say "And who'd dare tell the lambs in spring What fate the later seasons bring" 😂

But all musicals owe something to other musicals so maybe not so surprising, it's a homage!