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Post by mattm on Mar 1, 2020 18:21:00 GMT
I attended the evening performance last Wednesday and thoroughly enjoyed it. The lighting was absolutely phenomenal and used in very clever ways throughout, the projections are used really well too and blends in perfectly with the set, and the turntable at the OH is used effectively. The leads were all excellent particularly Roger Bart as Doc and Hugh Coles making his professional debut as George Mcfly. The dialogue is well written and brilliantly funny in parts, large chunks lifted verbatim from the film delivered perfectly by the cast. The special effects are spectacular too, best I've ever seen in musical theatre, the first appearance of the Dolorean received rapturous applause from the audience, as did the final sequence which, although brilliantly done, is not groundbreaking. The new songs fit in well with the story, played by an excellent band with crystal clear (and loud) sound, although not as memorable as I would have hoped, there are some stand out new numbers. For a 20 pound seat in the front of the dress circle (F19) it's nothing short of 5* and I can see this easily doing a few years in the west end.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2020 1:15:01 GMT
I guess what I meant is . Will be good for awards and become a hot ticket?
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Post by londonmzfitz on Mar 2, 2020 14:33:30 GMT
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Post by musicalfloozie on Mar 3, 2020 14:42:28 GMT
Went yesterday to see this and loved it more than I thought I would. The cast were amazing, especially Hugh Coles as George McFly for a professional debut he was phenomenal. I've never applauded for a 'stage prop' but the entry of the delorean was worthy of it! A slight halt to the show with the curtain coming down but only a small delay. The most well behaved audience I have ever encountered while surprised me. Have booked again for later in the run and cant wait to go back.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 3, 2020 22:50:46 GMT
Huge fun. I haven’t seen the film but I found myself with a daft smile on my face through most of it. It’s very engaging, and that’s a lot down to the performances all of the leads are excellent, Roger Bart was great (forgot the lyrics to the final song and had to be helped by Marty much to their mutual amusement but no-one cared) and Olly Dobson was so relaxed and effortless it was a pleasure to watch him. A special mention to Hugh Coles as Marty’s nerdy and painfully awkward dad George, a real scene stealer.
It started 5 late and came down at 10.15 so they’re shaving time off, there are still too many songs though. I loved the Act 2 Opener, stunning lighting! But there are at least 3 songs that just stop the action from progressing and could be taken out with no harm done.
Ensemble great too. I was sure I spotted Oliver Ormson in there and I was right. Looking good!
Stunning visuals in Act 2. We were sat under the speaker on the front row and the sound effects were fantastic and LOUD. it’s all very cleverly done and the audience lapped it up.
🧸🧸🧸🧸 from me, loses a 🧸 for the superfluous songs.
What a shame London isn’t going to see this. *sigh* (of course London could always get on a train 😉)
going back later in the run and will see it from further back which I think is going to be even better.
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Post by mattm on Mar 5, 2020 14:52:28 GMT
What a shame London isn’t going to see this. What do you know that we don't??? |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 5, 2020 14:56:02 GMT
What a shame London isn’t going to see this. What do you know that we don't??? Well, just that every time someone suggest a theatre it might be going to someone else says it isn’t, or that the producers “don’t want that one” or are still looking for one. I find it hard to believe that a show of this scale hasn’t had its transfer buttoned down for some time but hey, what do I know? so as it looks like there is no theatre, there seems to be a good chance it isn’t happening? Or won’t be happening for a very long time which I also find hard to understand because they’ll surely want to cash in on the Manchester buzz. |
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Post by theatre241 on Mar 5, 2020 15:09:18 GMT
Will I miss much from the last seat of the circle in row b do you think
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Post by danb on Mar 5, 2020 16:19:23 GMT
I don’t know about for this show, but the Bat set had a lot going on and was very restricted from the end of the circle rows.
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Post by TallPaul on Mar 5, 2020 16:41:28 GMT
What do you know that we don't??? Well, just that every time someone suggest a theatre it might be going to someone else says it isn’t, or that the producers “don’t want that one” or are still looking for one. I find it hard to believe that a show of this scale hasn’t had its transfer buttoned down for some time but hey, what do I know? so as it looks like there is no theatre, there seems to be a good chance it isn’t happening? Or won’t be happening for a very long time which I also find hard to understand because they’ll surely want to cash in on the Manchester buzz. We shall have to see what happens, but the London theatre landscape could look very different in a few months. Shows that have been just about ticking over, in the hope of a summer uplift, could call it a day, but if there are far fewer people about, would producers be brave enough, at the current time, to fund their replacements? |
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Post by mjh on Mar 5, 2020 19:15:30 GMT
Cast board saying Will Haswell is on for Marty this evening - will this be the first time he’s gone on?
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Post by richey on Mar 5, 2020 20:55:07 GMT
Will is indeed on as Marty. He seems a bit old for the role.
Show stop just before car arrived but soon restarted.
Not sure this is potential West end material. It's great fun but there's a lot of forgettable filler songs.
Had to get up to let latecomers into the middle of our row, turns out it was Keith Lemon
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Post by david on Mar 5, 2020 22:25:31 GMT
Will I miss much from the last seat of the circle in row b do you think I was sat in C41 of the Circle and missed a bit of the video screen projection and (only for brief periods) some of the cast and the car when they where on the left hand side of the stage. The guy who was in the end seat must have missed the same amount if not slightly more. i would imagine row B would have similar issues that I encountered in row C. Overall, I felt that it didn't spoil my enjoyment of watching the show and for the price I paid £19.55) was a fair price for the view from my seat. |
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Post by richey on Mar 6, 2020 8:46:14 GMT
So some further thoughts after my interval posting last night.
This is definitely a show of two halves. The first act is a bit too long and takes a while to get going. The second act is fabulous however.
Things I loved:
Roger Bart is great as the Doc- he adds just enough of his own traits whilst still channelling Christopher lloyd. His song about 'The Dreamers' in act 2 is lovely
Act two opener song. Whilst it is totally irrelevant to the plot it's a great catchy number and spectacular.
The special effects are amazing. I loved the lights coming out from the stage and when the car appears and disappears.
Hugh Coles' performance as George is briliant. Loved his dancing when Marty is teaching him.
Things I didn't like so much:
The appearance of dancing girls in some of the Docs big numbers. Why?
Slow start- the first ten minutes or so drag.
Some of the sets looked cheap compared to the big special effects. It looks like they'd spent money on the big pieces and then used when they had left for the others.
However I really liked it. Great buzz from everyone coming out of the theatre. Think I'd like to go back again to see Olly as Marty.
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Post by hitmewithurbethshot on Mar 6, 2020 11:05:23 GMT
It’s a weird meta on the show that George also understudies Marty
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Post by marob on Mar 6, 2020 11:52:11 GMT
Some of the sets looked cheap compared to the big special effects. It looks like they'd spent money on the big pieces and then used when they had left for the others. I think they might be a bit on the cheap side. At the performance I saw during the scene outside Lorraine's bedroom the window sash broke off in her hand. She then tried to pull the blind down and that broke off too. I think it was only the third preview, so it's not like its wear and tear. |
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Post by richey on Mar 6, 2020 12:20:28 GMT
Some of the sets looked cheap compared to the big special effects. It looks like they'd spent money on the big pieces and then used when they had left for the others. I think they might be a bit on the cheap side. At the performance I saw during the scene outside Lorraine's bedroom the window sash broke off in her hand. She then tried to pull the blind down and that broke off too. I think it was only the third preview, so it's not like its wear and tear. She had trouble with that last night too. Blind wouldn't stay down and you could see a hand behind trying to keep it in place |
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Post by theatre241 on Mar 8, 2020 10:16:11 GMT
There were way to many songs at the start and the opening number was a little meh. When doc came in the show lifted so much, a really nice easy Watch. I sat in the last seat of the circle row B and the view was really good for £19 you miss around 1 minute of the action I would say and then a little bit of the screen at the back but the screen. The lighting was really great and it y was very slick with the amount of automation it should be lol! I can see this going into the savoy maybe if it is free
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Post by SageStageMgr on Mar 8, 2020 15:00:47 GMT
Small stuff happens in previews. At a Palladium "Wizard of Oz" preview, Crawford went to put the shutter up at his window, it came off in his hand. He just held it there until the scenery went out. I could write a short essay on this, but solely from my own experiences if I tell a producer/higher up "this say, window blind is weak/cheaply made and will break" at a production meeting raise this, I have never been turned down. Often actors do inexplicable things with practicals, stuff they never did in rehearsal, but due to adrenaline/nerves are rougher than usual, then things break regardless of quality/cost. I've found that budget tightness for little expenses like that isn't really a thing in larger shows, but rather budgetary concerns are towards the much larger expenses - the actual fabrication/hiring of the set/costumes. |
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Post by gmoneyoutlaw on Mar 8, 2020 18:31:38 GMT
Funny thing, I saw Ghost in Manchester 9 years ago. When it came to Broadway, the producers asked me what I thought after a preview performance. They heard I had traveled to Manchester to see the Ghost before the West End. I said, you really want to know what I think, yes, and I gave them about a half hour of notes over drinks at the bar next door to the theatre.
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Post by stevej678 on Mar 11, 2020 8:11:38 GMT
Seeing this on Friday and surprised how quiet the theatre is looking. Gallery deserted, the circle maybe 25-30% full, stalls no more than 50%. All seats in the gallery, circle (excluding the first three rows) and rear stalls have been reduced to either £13 or £19.55 for Friday's performance.
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Post by richey on Mar 11, 2020 13:44:48 GMT
Big promo push this lunchtime. They've taken the Delorean out into the city centre for people to be photographed next to.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2020 14:02:03 GMT
Seeing this on Friday and surprised how quiet the theatre is looking. Gallery deserted, the circle maybe 25-30% full, stalls no more than 50%. All seats in the gallery, circle (excluding the first three rows) and rear stalls have been reduced to either £13 or £19.55 for that performance. Manchester is definitely one of the best (arguably the best) regional cities for theatre. But do think there aren’t quite the number of theatre goers there to sustain this length of run. No reflection on the show. I think the only exception were the Phantom and Les Mis sit downs back in the day. How long were Ghost, Bat and &Juliet? Bat almost sold out it’s initial run but the extension was very poorly filled. Juliet also had pretty epic dynamic pricing (down). Ghost no idea. Even the current Phantom tour has only recently picked up and still plenty of availability. Anything over 6 weeks out of London seems ambitious! But on the plus it leads to some great deals.... |
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Post by richey on Mar 12, 2020 8:01:30 GMT
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Post by justfran on Mar 12, 2020 11:46:04 GMT
Very positive 4⭐️ review on WOS.
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