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Post by stagebyte on Jul 3, 2021 17:25:38 GMT
That’s good to hear.
2hrs 40 still seems a bit bum numbing for a fluffy light comedy rather than a Les Mis with a sweeping epic tale to tell.
For those in the know. Is the run time usually set at this point or do we expect around 30 mins to be shaved off somewhere?
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Post by danb on Jul 3, 2021 17:27:08 GMT
I’d expect them to shave another ten off it tbh.
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Post by stagebyte on Jul 3, 2021 17:30:48 GMT
I’d expect them to shave another ten off it tbh. Done before the official opening night? Is it set then with no more changes? Have any shows undergone rewrites after the reviews? |
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Post by ceebee on Jul 3, 2021 17:34:12 GMT
That’s good to hear. 2hrs 40 still seems a bit bum numbing for a fluffy light comedy rather than a Les Mis with a sweeping epic tale to tell. For those in the know. Is the run time usually set at this point or do we expect around 30 mins to be shaved off somewhere? Having watched today with a more critical eye, I think the only opportunity would be to drop some of CHF's reprise sections, but this would leave a gap. The pace of the second half would run better if her reprise followed the wedding and Sebastian's path crossed hers, as they could cut the retelling of the story which brings things to a halt just as they are getting momentum. They could probably knock 15 mins off. |
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Post by ceebee on Jul 3, 2021 17:39:32 GMT
Sorry - one more thing - the importance of midnight is signposted far better, particularly in the second half. I'm not sure what (if anything) has changed except the second half was so much better this time with similar pace and energy to first half. Another slice could be made into the man's man section which still feels a little too long. Screen / changeover was so much better today plus Cinderella seems to have a different (better) blonde wig.
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Post by steve10086 on Jul 3, 2021 17:48:35 GMT
I’d expect them to shave another ten off it tbh. Done before the official opening night? Is it set then with no more changes? Have any shows undergone rewrites after the reviews? Pretty much the norm for ALW shows to be be changed after reviews, to the point of closing them briefly and relaunching. |
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Post by karloscar on Jul 3, 2021 17:59:08 GMT
It's seems strange that most of the problems people have identified would have been obvious in rehearsal before it got to the theatre. It's not just little technical adjustments and working out hitches.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jul 3, 2021 18:10:51 GMT
Audiences rarely ever react as you would expect or hope. You are in a bubble in the rehearsal process. It is not easy to see the wood for the trees in terms of how well a given sequence is working.
Put it in front of an audience and you see immediately what works and what doesn't. The question is then whether the director can make the necessary changes.
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Post by firefingers on Jul 3, 2021 18:20:40 GMT
Audiences rarely ever react as you would expect or hope. You are in a bubble in the rehearsal process. It is not easy to see the wood for the trees in terms of how well a given sequence is working. Put it in front of an audience and you see immediately what works and what doesn't. The question is then whether the director can make the necessary changes. Yes the amount of stuff that killed in the rehearsal room and fell flat at first preview is surprising large. As is me sitting there going "well this'll never work, that bit won't make it past preview two" and people end up loving it. In my experience it is often a sign of a good director if they can scrap or change something large after previews began, when they know a lot of time, effort and budget have been spent on something but realise the show needs the change to work. |
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Post by FairyGodmother on Jul 3, 2021 18:24:42 GMT
Carrie's doing a live video on Instagram with Lauren Byrne, nice close up of their first costumes.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2021 19:15:40 GMT
Sorry - one more thing - the importance of midnight is signposted far better, particularly in the second half. So they actually reference it now? What have they added? |
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Post by ceebee on Jul 3, 2021 19:40:54 GMT
Sorry - one more thing - the importance of midnight is signposted far better, particularly in the second half. So they actually reference it now? What have they added? I was much more aware of it in both halves - the Fairy Godmother's "just be home by midnight" lines were brought out more (I can't be sure if they've made it more frequent or if I wasn't paying attention first time round). It's certainly repeated over and over before curtain down, sandwiching the "look at me, Cinderella... leave a light on" bit. In second half, Sebastian signposts "I only have a minute left til midnight" (or similar), and the bongs/chimes seemed much louder (I was in the spinny seats last time and at that moment those seats are pretty far from the action, so the countdown was lost on me, if it happened). Plus, on the final chime, Cinderella has her pumpkin moment, Sebastian realises it's her before she does a runner. (No spoiler in that - we all know the story...) Maybe it's just because they've really tightened the second half that it felt far less clunky and the loose threads have been woven back in. I'd recommend anybody who has seen it early on (and disliked it) to go again once it has settled in, as I think you'll find less wrong with it. I went in today looking for the issues/faults that have bugged others, but still came out grinning. PLUS... a genuinely warm standing ovation and some love between audience and cast. I think this show will still divide opinions, but believe it will fare well in the reviews. |
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Post by properjob on Jul 3, 2021 20:24:30 GMT
Sorry - one more thing - the importance of midnight is signposted far better, particularly in the second half. So they actually reference it now? What have they added? It was always referenced but what appears the previews have told us, and much more importantly the creative team, was that it wasn't clear enough to the audience. Only previews can you tell you what the audience gets and doesn't get be it jokes or plot points. Sounds like they have fixed it. |
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Post by Being Alive on Jul 3, 2021 20:34:57 GMT
Audiences rarely ever react as you would expect or hope. You are in a bubble in the rehearsal process. It is not easy to see the wood for the trees in terms of how well a given sequence is working. Put it in front of an audience and you see immediately what works and what doesn't. The question is then whether the director can make the necessary changes. To me the problems are so structural and story based that they can't solve them. They can tweak bits here and there (rework a scene, change a bit of a song) but to me there's proper chunks that need sorting, and that's not happening in previews b |
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Post by ceebee on Jul 3, 2021 21:54:05 GMT
Audiences rarely ever react as you would expect or hope. You are in a bubble in the rehearsal process. It is not easy to see the wood for the trees in terms of how well a given sequence is working. Put it in front of an audience and you see immediately what works and what doesn't. The question is then whether the director can make the necessary changes. To me the problems are so structural and story based that they can't solve them. They can tweak bits here and there (rework a scene, change a bit of a song) but to me there's proper chunks that need sorting, and that's not happening in previews b I disagree - I saw what is fundamentally the same show as last week but was significantly better for pace, plot and audience response. There are still a couple of flat spots - namely at reprises and 2 or 3 poor directorial choices which gnaw at me. I've accepted long ago that Laurence Connor is mediocre at best - pretty much any other director would have made this a 5 star treat. |
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Post by Being Alive on Jul 3, 2021 22:15:42 GMT
Agree to disagree!
Pleased to see they've ditched the weird 'all in one' curtain call and now people get their own bows as they should!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2021 22:20:39 GMT
So they actually reference it now? What have they added? I was much more aware of it in both halves - the Fairy Godmother's "just be home by midnight" lines were brought out more (I can't be sure if they've made it more frequent or if I wasn't paying attention first time round). It's certainly repeated over and over before curtain down, sandwiching the "look at me, Cinderella... leave a light on" bit. In second half, Sebastian signposts "I only have a minute left til midnight" (or similar), and the bongs/chimes seemed much louder (I was in the spinny seats last time and at that moment those seats are pretty far from the action, so the countdown was lost on me, if it happened). Plus, on the final chime, Cinderella has her pumpkin moment, Sebastian realises it's her before she does a runner. (No spoiler in that - we all know the story...) Maybe it's just because they've really tightened the second half that it felt far less clunky and the loose threads have been woven back in. I'd recommend anybody who has seen it early on (and disliked it) to go again once it has settled in, as I think you'll find less wrong with it. I went in today looking for the issues/faults that have bugged others, but still came out grinning. PLUS... a genuinely warm standing ovation and some love between audience and cast. I think this show will still divide opinions, but believe it will fare well in the reviews. Unless I'm missing something, how does that explain why she needs to be home by midnight, which the Godmother repats a few times. Sebastian has till midnight to pick a bride, and if Cinderella was home before midnight, then she wouldnt have stood a chance anyway. But given that it seems like she didnt arrive till about 11.45, i dont khow why she bothered in the first place. |
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Post by ceebee on Jul 3, 2021 22:27:17 GMT
If she arrived earlier than 11.45 it would be even longer and there'd be more reprises/padding.
Forgot to mention the sheet covering the statue in first half is now red. Pretty sure it was blue last week in first preview when it got snagged on the sword.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2021 22:53:49 GMT
If she arrived earlier than 11.45 it would be even longer and there'd be more reprises/padding. Forgot to mention the sheet covering the statue in first half is now red. Pretty sure it was blue last week in first preview when it got snagged on the sword. And thats the last thing the show needs! I think the sheet was grey/black with a red ribbon on, before. If they really are opening on the 8th, I'm intrigued what the critics will make of it. Not kindly i suspect. |
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Post by lonlad on Jul 3, 2021 23:28:40 GMT
Yes it is opening on the 8th. The invites have been sent.
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Post by amuseical on Jul 4, 2021 1:37:40 GMT
If she arrived earlier than 11.45 it would be even longer and there'd be more reprises/padding. Forgot to mention the sheet covering the statue in first half is now red. Pretty sure it was blue last week in first preview when it got snagged on the sword. The sheet on the 30th (last Wednesday) was red with a white ribbon, and that wasn't able to be pulled off. The idea that BelleVille hypothetically lost their award due to their inability to correctly unveil a statue is quite funny though. I also appreciate that Theatreboard exists as a place on the internet where we can discuss the minutiae of theatre, including the specific colours of sheets. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2021 2:20:21 GMT
I also appreciate that Theatreboard exists as a place on the internet where we can discuss the minutiae of theatre, including the specific colours of sheets.
But what I find kind of scary, is that the creative team are changing the sheets to see which works best, when that's really the least of the shows problems.
(Whatever sheet they decide on, though i recommend something silky, so it slips off easier, it needs to be pulled off from the other side, because now it keeps getting caught on the spear)
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Post by amuseical on Jul 4, 2021 2:40:00 GMT
I also appreciate that Theatreboard exists as a place on the internet where we can discuss the minutiae of theatre, including the specific colours of sheets.
But what I find kind of scary, is that the creative team are changing the sheets to see which works best, when that's really the least of the shows problems.
(Whatever sheet they decide on, though i recommend something silky, so it slips off easier, it needs to be pulled off from the other side, because now it keeps getting caught on the spear)
Ooh, maybe. I was thinking more along the lines of a sheet with magnets in the middle which could pull apart into two pieces. Bit of a dramatic flair, plus less room for error. At the end of the day, they're just trying to solve whatever problems present themselves, the seemingly small (technical hitches with props and set) and the significant (clarifying the plot). It can't be an easy job, especially with Opening Night moving up, but I wish the team the best. |
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Post by fluxcapacitor on Jul 4, 2021 7:56:52 GMT
But what I find kind of scary, is that the creative team are changing the sheets to see which works best, when that's really the least of the shows problems.
(Whatever sheet they decide on, though i recommend something silky, so it slips off easier, it needs to be pulled off from the other side, because now it keeps getting caught on the spear)
Ooh, maybe. I was thinking more along the lines of a sheet with magnets in the middle which could pull apart into two pieces. Bit of a dramatic flair, plus less room for error. At the end of the day, they're just trying to solve whatever problems present themselves, the small (technical hitches with props and set) and the significant (clarifying the plot). It can't be an easy job, especially with Opening Night moving up, but I wish the team the best. Exactly. Just because they’re making smaller changes it doesn’t mean they’re not aware of and making larger scale changes too. It’s also different departments making different changes. Tweaking some of the set/dressing may seem unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but no reason why the designers can’t be making these tweaks whilst the director/writer/producers are also fixing larger issues with the script or staging. |
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Post by stompboy on Jul 4, 2021 8:02:17 GMT
I was at yesterday’s matinee and would definitely encourage any ne’er sayers to give this fun and lively show a chance… it’s certainly not the Lord’s best work but it is far, far from his worst. The audience lapped it up, especially when Carrie was belting her numbers… she really is quite good and is on stage a lot more than I had been made to expect from comments on here! The little magical coup de theatre used in the show in Act Two brings the BIGGEST of smiles to everyone sitting in the theatre and adds a fascinating dimension to the piece for 15 minutes. I found the book very easy to follow and the book niggles mentioned in the first couple of show certainly weren’t apparent to me. The whole cast gave it their all (RT and VHB ruled every scene) and deserve huge praise for sticking the last year out and bringing a fresh and vibrant new show into the West End. Biggest downside for me was definitely the quite basic sets and flats and the cast and stage crew moving things around but they mask most of it with other action on the stage… we loved it and would hope to go back once it’s bedded itself in.
(And the rather fine male bodies on display were a much welcomed boost to my post-pandemic recovery… more please!!) 👍🏻
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