5,062 posts
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Post by Phantom of London on Jun 22, 2016 19:48:43 GMT
Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought the Alwych was one of our more smaller West End theatres?
A lot of concensus on here that the subject was very poor to select this, but then again it was a kind of important musical, as it highlighted a very important injustice in our legal history, where someone who fell from grace with the 'establishment' was wrongfully convicted, yes Stephen Ward was disolute, but never a criminal.
Both The Woman in White and Love Never Dies are meant to be somewhere in the development process, I wonder what is happening to these?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2016 19:56:03 GMT
Evita has only just been in the west end at the dominion and is on tour. It's not on tour now? And I mean in the coming years, I know there was a revival for a few months a couple of years ago. The Wizard of Oz and Sunset Boulevard could do well on tour, if they were revived though. |
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19,793 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 22, 2016 20:19:12 GMT
Evita has only just been in the west end at the dominion and is on tour. I don't think it's touring at the moment is it? im sure it's a matter of time though  |
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716 posts
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Post by theatre-turtle on Jun 22, 2016 20:34:37 GMT
Randomly - there's a player called Stephen Ward playing right now in the Irish football squad...
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2016 20:45:25 GMT
Evita will be touring early 2017, possibly starting this year i dont know. Definately next year and its not that long since the last tour ended The big west end revival of evita at the adelphi flopped so i cant imagine a major revival happen again in the next decade unless a real star comes along to guarantee sales.
Sunset probably wouldnt do well on tour unless a name can be found for norma. Its not that commercial without a star name
Stephen ward would work somewhere like the menier, and thats where it should have been first to help try it out and also have the menier brand name to help sell any transfer
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19,793 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 22, 2016 20:55:52 GMT
I'll go and see Evita when it comes around again. I like it, it's like an old friend you haven't seen for a bit. And I like that production too. I could do without Marti Pellow though  |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2016 20:59:40 GMT
I find the kenwright production superior to the west end revival
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2016 21:35:45 GMT
Stephen Ward wasn't good. That's why it closed. Someone needs to tell the creatives to stop kidding themselves
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Post by Mr Wallacio on Jun 22, 2016 21:45:02 GMT
I dayseated the penultimate performance before seeing the closing of From Here To Eternity that evening.
It was awful and came as no surprise to me it was shutting so swiftly. Absolutely no desire to see it again.
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1,499 posts
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Post by Steve on Jun 22, 2016 23:05:18 GMT
I saw one of the last performances of this. I liked the music, but the lead character was pimping out underage girls to rich men, and the whiny book indicated we were supposed to feel sorry for him. Fail!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2016 23:17:50 GMT
I quite liked it, though it needs a bit of work. As someone previously mentioned, Joanna Riding's character walked across the stage in act 1 and then got THE big ballad in act 2. We knew nothing about her character, so why should we care? And that song, I'm Hopeless When It Comes To You, always leaves me singing 'There is More To Love' from Aspects....
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jun 22, 2016 23:22:19 GMT
I think there is a show in there somewhere - but it needs to be about Profumo and Ward - otherwise it is just too remote from the real heart of the events.
Can they salvage it? Probably not - but it is worth another try.
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125 posts
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Post by CBP1 on Jun 22, 2016 23:32:56 GMT
I also thought it wasn't that bad. I saw it in the same week as From here to Eternity and I definitely preferred this one!!
It clearly needed some work and the crappy advertising did it no favours at all. Or the name actually - I don't know why it wasn't just called something like "Profumo".
I remember leaving the theatre and saying that it could have worked if it had been in a much smaller venue like the union, where they could have really played up the seedy subject matter.
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Post by d'James on Jun 22, 2016 23:53:58 GMT
Oh, cbp1, you're so right; the name didn't help.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2016 0:54:18 GMT
I actually think that the lead was quite good the last time round, and actually thought that because he was the person carrying the whole show, he was destined to be the sole Olivier nomination for the production... then I look at the list of the nominees for the Oliviers that year and there really wasn't much room for him anywhere, all the nominated performances were great:
Gavin Creel in The Book of Mormon (Winner)
Jared Gertner in The Book of Mormon
Douglas Hodge in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Kyle Scatliffe in The Scottsboro Boys
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2016 5:59:23 GMT
They need to retitle it too. I know they wanted to avoid film comparisons but 'scandal' is a much sexier and enticing title than 'stephen ward'
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2016 8:40:56 GMT
I also really liked this show. Interesting subject matter and I thought had some great music.
Agree that it needs considerable reshaping though - but there is a show in there somewhere.
Can see it doesn't have commercial appeal (tourists not interested and not a jukebox/film which is all the coach trips seem to want) so a small theatre would definitely be good for it.
I think ALW knew when he wrote this wasn't gonna be a big hit (think he said as much in an interview) but he was fascinated by the topic.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2016 9:35:28 GMT
Many were based on already established books or movies. He had the sense not to call starlight express 'trains', which was the original plan. The closest comparison is evita and that wasnt called 'eva peron'. Hardly anyone these days would know/remember stephen ward, even if they remember the original affair.
It was also rushed through as well which didnt help. Like the woman in white it should have been a smaller more intimate production and probably should have tried out on the fringe or at a regional house
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2,452 posts
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Post by theatremadness on Jun 23, 2016 9:48:47 GMT
I just can't get my head around the fact that the composer, lyricist and librettist for Sunset Boulevard proceeded to give us Stephen Ward. Better source material, I guess.
I thought Stephen Ward was more deadly boring than bad, though I thought it was quite bad, too. Nothing interesting happened in the entire show. Literally nothing. There were no stakes, no intentions or objections, nothing to care about and nothing to *make* me care. The interrogation scenes in particular were just excruciating to sit through and the projected cloth design was so poorly executed.
In contrast to others I think the score is dull as dishwater (in contrast to Love Never Dies, for example. Saw the original, original London version and was bored senseless but think there are some glorious and memorable melodies in that score) and the lyrics totally pedestrian and bland. Don wrote so many mis-stressed lyrics for this show (and others, it must be said). Why can't he hear that this is not how people talk?!
Anyhow, with a re-worked book, lyrics and libretto (which I think could be on the cards?) and if this was presented as a chamber piece at somewhere like the Almeida, Menier, Union, Southwark (as others have said), my interested would be piqued, purely to see if they have indeed improved it or not. If they're prepared to make drastic changes, I'm prepared to try it again.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2016 10:15:36 GMT
I wonder how well Cats would have done had it been named "Pussy!" (complete with punctuation).
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2016 12:37:20 GMT
Stephen Ward: Pimp!
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751 posts
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Post by horton on Jun 23, 2016 12:52:09 GMT
I was so disappointed with the whole approach. This could have been dark and really dramatic- I always associate the Scandal movie with Mona Lisa. That sleaze at the heart of the Establishment has such potential. I don't think ALW and Hampton had the appetite or worldview to really mine that.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2016 13:11:20 GMT
I think we can all agree that it could have done with a heap of nudity to make it worth the trip.
And a tap routine.
Possibly together.
Let's hope the Lord has learned his lesson this time around.
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543 posts
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Post by freckles on Jun 23, 2016 14:01:37 GMT
I didn't hate it,in fact I enjoyed it more than a lot of other ALW shows, but the whole thing seeemed unfinished. Maybe now they will make something better of it.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2016 14:34:29 GMT
Catchy titles and the promise of sexual scenes really didnt help a TERRIBLE musical in the mid 90's called 'Voyeurz'
It hit the headlines for it's subject matter - Lebians! On Stage!!! and then closed about 2 weeks later....
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