Ghost quartet: soho

So many thoughts. I wanna talk about the show and the theatre.

THE SHOW: It is very risky opening a brand new theatre, considerably close if not in, the West End. What's even riskier is the debut show this theatre has chosen. Has it paid off? I'm not sure. Ghost Quartet is odd, quirky. You're not quite sure where you stand with it. The cast are great. Great voices on everyone. They sound better singing solo than together as a group, I'm just not sure all their voices blend well together. That or something is a bit off technically. The songs are ok. I think the melodies are pretty but alot of the lyrics had me very confused. Some of which referred to someone getting pushed infront of a train, which after the tragic accident at Oxford Circus earlier on. It was difficult to stomach. There is a story, possibly stories, but it's messy. It wasn't for me. The book felt like it was complex, just for the sake of it. Pretentious, almost. I felt that I was stupid for not getting it and that's not cool. But the acting wasn't pretentious and the cast are warm and inviting. There is audience participation but it's very jovial and not overly forced. Do I remember any of the songs? Something about wind and rain? And ghosts, obviously. The lighting is very nice. It is subtle, but really effective. I was sat very close to a very loud drum played wonderfully by Maimuna Menon but this did result in alot of vibration through my seat, that was off-putting. It's not the actors fault, the floor is suspended, not on the ground floor, if thats makes sense. Errr, hollow underneath! So vibrations go right through the entire floor. I'm sure something could be done about that. I'm also not sure health and safety would like that there is a massive gong blocking the fire exit for the entire show. Yes, I notice small, possibly silly things like that. There's not much more to say on the show really. It was pleasant, perhaps a bit long. 75 minutes would have been much better. Do I recommend you see this? Maybe. It's different. It's a bit edgy. There's plenty of offers around as it's not selling particularly well at the moment. I also consider a roulette seat at £12, I don't think thats a bad deal.

THE THEATRE: Hmm, where to begin. From the outside, it looks clean and modern. A bit bland, no character. Looks like an office block. There's a building directly opposite that looks the same. I didn't check to see what use it's going to have. It's slap bang in the heart of grungy Soho and this theatre doesn't really fit that aesthetic. There's a shop just opposite selling extra herbal Viagra and poppers. Very Soho. Once inside, it's kind of bare bones; minimalist? Looks like someone opened a Made.com catalogue and said I'll take it all! For me, it's basic. Not very cosy feeling. The general ambience of the place felt a bit try hard. I have never had someone formally walk up to me before to tell me the house is open, a tannoy announcement would be far more relaxed, in my opinion. The box office attendant didn't seem to care about his job and was standoffish. The building also felt claustrophobic. Oddly low ceilings for what looks like a new build. They have tried to combat this by putting lots of big windows everywhere but the restaurant is completely boxed in, apart from a far window up the other end. The theatre space itself is tight in its current configuration. I believe it can also be turned into a more traditional end on layout. So that will be interesting to see, as it looks like a whole section of the wall and balcony needs to be removed to do it. But I have no idea. The seats were ok. Not very padded, but it was nice to get two slim armrests and feel like you had your own personal space, no overspill from anyone either side. I appreciated that. As the theatre has only just opened, I'm sure it will get better with time. But much like the Turbine, it does feel a bit like a pop up. Who knows what the future will bring?

Really loved this last night - even though I found myself onstage playing the glockenspiel in the finale (and I'm, let's say, not always massively enthusiastic about audience participation). Yes, it's sometimes too pretentious, but the music is gorgeous, the four performers are all thrilling singers, and I found it surprisingly moving. And I don't think it was just the whiskey.

Right now I think my plan is to wait until closer to the date I want to see the show and guage how much of the stalls is booked up to see what chance I'd have getting a seat there with roulette tickets. But I'll keep that in mind if roulette tickets are unlikely to work out thanks.

I wonder if the theatre's broken on the change over. A lot changes between shows. All the sets taken out. Seating in stalls changed, floor tasked instead of flat. The balcony rotates 180 degrees as well.

A lot to go wrong mechanically, I was there for cabernet last Saturday, you wouldn't have thought they had the ghost quartet set up in the earlier that night.

Just brilliant - such a haunting number.

Really need to try and catch this again before 4th January.

You won't LOL

I've been listening to the soundtrack for 2 years and still don't fully understand it...

Another video!


Two in a week - smashing.

Finally got to see this and I loved it (but that was no surprise). I think I may even prefer these performers to the original cast which is surprising since I was worried that some of the magic might be lost with more conventional-sounding voices but it was gorgeous. A great way to start a year of theatre-going!

Dave has nicely posted a filmed version of the original production...enjoy!