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Post by theatrefan62 on Jun 29, 2023 9:02:40 GMT
Jennifer Elison taking over from Kym Marsh
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Post by david on Jul 11, 2023 19:44:15 GMT
Saw this in Liverpool last night and really enjoyed it. Writer Tim Firth has written a decent engaging book that has a nice balance of love, loss and laughs played out against the songs of Take That. As jukebox musicals go, I thought this book was certainly better than some others that have done the rounds in recent years (WWRY / Tonight's The Night I am looking at you here). Tim has written characters here that you could care about as their individual story arcs played out.
Having the story use both firstly the younger and then older versions of the girls worked well for me, though I felt the older group was the stronger and more fun to watch on stage with plenty of humour and emotional turmoil to have a go at. The transition of the younger 1990's group into the older group at the end of Act 1 was a particularly good and got plenty of laughs from the audience.
As for the lads, they certainly didn't disappoint. They brought plenty of energy in their choreography and vocals during the musical numbers backed by a 4-piece band and a nice lighting design from Rob Casey to bring the TT songs to the stage. They really got the audience going and clapping along with the high tempo numbers. With the score, there was a nice blend of both some of the classic songs like Pray and Never Forget and some of the more recent stuff.
One criticism I would make of this production is the set design from Lucy Osborne. It was a drab grey thing with a few bits that lit up occasionally. When not singing, the lads moved different bits of it around to create different configurations. One minute it is an airport, then its a police station, then some hills. Personally, a few more bits of set would of been nice and some video screens at the back of the stage just to bring a bit more colour to the stage and help set the different scenes and during the songs would of been welcomed.
I have to say, with these sorts of shows, I now expect to have the hen party crowds take over and have a sing along and ruin the show for everyone else, but to my amazement, last night's audience was good as gold and only joining in the songs when invited to by the cast and saving their vocal talents for the mega-mix at the end. I could actually sit back and joy the show in peace. For many, like me as a teenager when TT burst onto the scene in the 1990s, it was a great trip down memory lane to hear those songs and talking to folk during the interval and at the end, they all gave rave reviews to this show.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2023 20:26:14 GMT
Great review, I agree with the staging, it was far better in the original tour when it was called The Band (the costumes where far better too!) Check out the trailer for the original stage version, you can see how much they have scaled down the set. |
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Post by theatrefan62 on Aug 25, 2023 13:48:03 GMT
The movie version of this is now on Prime video free for members
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Post by newda on Sept 29, 2023 9:28:28 GMT
Oh god, I enjoyed this in it's previous life. This new version really doesn't work for me.
The boyband look too old, their singing doesn't sound great - is someone off? Are the harmonies working? I'm not quite sure.
The set looks like it's been designed to fit in a school hall and subsequently looks completely lost on the stage of the Mayflower. It's not even like they can expand it to fill the space of different theatres. So the whole show, singing, dancing, stage entries and exits, all take place in an area the size of a double garage.
That's before we get to the grey drabness and audible clunkiness while it's pushed around by the band.
Dialogue between the younger version of the girls just ends up in high pitched accented screeching.
I remember being up in the balcony for the last version. The place was sold out on a weeknight. This time it was perhaps half full.
2 Stars.
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Post by BVM on Sept 29, 2023 9:47:47 GMT
Oh god, I enjoyed this in it's previous life. This new version really doesn't work for me. The boyband look too old, their singing doesn't sound great - is someone off? Are the harmonies working? I'm not quite sure. The set looks like it's been designed to fit in a school hall and subsequently looks completely lost on the stage of the Mayflower. It's not even like they can expand it to fill the space of different theatres. So the whole show, singing, dancing, stage entries and exits, all take place in an area the size of a double garage. That's before we get to the grey drabness and audible clunkiness while it's pushed around by the band. Dialogue between the younger version of the girls just ends up in high pitched accented screeching. I remember being up in the balcony for the last version. The place was sold out on a weeknight. This time it was perhaps half full. 2 Stars. Sad really. So many productions just get cheaper and cheaper with each new version (cf. Calendar Girls musical). I quite enjoyed the first tour of this but that wasn't exactly lavish and do recall thinking if it got any cheaper it would tip over the edge of not being enjoyable... |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2023 21:54:48 GMT
Oh god, I enjoyed this in it's previous life. This new version really doesn't work for me. The boyband look too old, their singing doesn't sound great - is someone off? Are the harmonies working? I'm not quite sure. The set looks like it's been designed to fit in a school hall and subsequently looks completely lost on the stage of the Mayflower. It's not even like they can expand it to fill the space of different theatres. So the whole show, singing, dancing, stage entries and exits, all take place in an area the size of a double garage. That's before we get to the grey drabness and audible clunkiness while it's pushed around by the band. Dialogue between the younger version of the girls just ends up in high pitched accented screeching. I remember being up in the balcony for the last version. The place was sold out on a weeknight. This time it was perhaps half full. 2 Stars. It does suffer from changing producers who clearly went down the budget route. I don't mind the age of the boyband, especially since it is set over 30 years, as long as they look like they could be the same age as each other. Couldn't agree more on the set, it is by far the weakest part of the tour, much prefer the polaroid photo set from the original staging of 'The Band'. I find it interesting that even Take That seem to have really distanced themselves from this tour, they where all over it when it was The Band, I think they have barely acknowledged this tour. |
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Post by Rozzi Rainbow on Nov 26, 2023 17:59:21 GMT
I saw this as The Band and seem to remember really enjoying it. I also loved the film version earlier this year.
I saw this last week in Sunderland, and whilst I did enjoy it, for me it didn't work as well as the film version. I preferred the overlap of the timelines, and being able to have more scenery made it work better in my opinion.
I still enjoyed it, especially the 90s throwbacks, and Back For Good may have brought a tear or two to my eye, I just didn't enjoy it quite as much as I'd thought I would. At one point I'd thought I might have gone again this week to Leeds, but I decided I'd rather just watch the film version instead.
Saying that, if it were on again next year or later, I'd consider going again, depending on what other options I had.
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