Sleepless - A Musical Romance - Wembley Park Theatre

Just read a hilarious quote from Walsh where she says she’d like to play Glinda in Wicked because it would be a ‘really easy sing for me’..

Too funny.

What a shame that so many on a theatre forum are being so sniffy about this. These guys have has pulled off the near miraculous feat of staging a brand new show indoors (a far greater achievement than that of JCS at Regents Park), and they deserve our full gratitude and respect.
I think many producers in the UK will keep a close eye on how this production works out.

Well said, completely agree.  The Troubadour is a perfect venue for a socially distanced production and we so need this kind of innovation and imagination at the moment.  The producers are taking a huge risk with this, and as you say they deserve our gratitude and our support.  I do hope this goes well.

I have a single ticket for next Wednesday but have been in two minds as to how comfortable I am going - it's not so much the theatre itself I'm worried about as the tube journey there.

The trailer has pretty much sold me on going, though. Not because I think it makes the show look amazing, but because it makes it look like a SHOW. Of the fully staged, fully cast variety that I love so much and want desperately to come back. That's not to say I'm not delighted about all the small scale outdoor things that have been going on, I'm supporting them too - and JCS in its very solid middle ground between the two.

Everyone involved in the production is putting in so much to give us this, of course I want to support that. So now I'm excited, and looking forward to my two show day with the first weekday matinee of JCS beforehand. A two show day in London, what normality!

Sniffy? Sounds to me like you’ve lost your sense of smell during the Covid shutdown. You can applaud them all you like for mounting a show at this time, but the script, songs and lyrics were all written well before Covid, and any faults in the writing can’t be glossed over by the “We should be applauding all theatre” panacea.

"I can't tell if this is a good song because there are no other shows playing. And I've never heard a song before".

What a bizarre opinion.

I'm not sure bad theatre is going to get audiences back.

Ah the same old tired argument.... it's new writing so we must support it. Added to that "There's nothing else to see, so we musn't say anything against it".

Well let's play it your way then. It sounds amazing, the songs are so cool, and that dancing... wow, it's just simply stunning.

Hmmm, I can see both sides of this.

Yes it is wonderful that ANY theatre is happening at the moment and I fully agree that we should be encouraging any producers making the effort to bring things to stage. Heaven knows we need more of them to so do.

But I don't think that means the actual show produced gets a 'free pass' from opinions on the piece itself.

Certainly for me personally there is nothing about this musical that appeals. The story, the trailer, the history of the previous productions. Nothing against Kimberley and Jay (there were fine in Big) but again their casting generally is not in line with the type of show I go for. But most crucial for me - it's a musical, and none of the music I've heard moved me.

Still, I hope there is an audience for this and I hope they pull it off, as they are our first indoor musical back.

(Oh and the last musical trailer that didn't contain much singing - I think might have been the Cats film?!)

Has anyone else had their ticket reassigned to a completely different date without being asked? I booked for next week and only just realised my ticket was changed to tomorrow instead which is naturally very stressful for me to try to sort out now

Gosh that’s incredible. What an extraordinary effort they’ve made - should really be commended. Hope they even manage to make the run profitable.

(Just wish I wanted to see the show lol).

Seeing these amazing wide open spaces, rows of loos and long long bar does rather highlight the problems of the physical FOH spaces in the West End....

Weirdly the thing that jumped out while watching it is what happens if someone doesn't have a smart phone? Can't go to the theatre? Hopefully there's something for those people.