639 posts
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Post by ncbears on Jun 23, 2016 14:49:38 GMT
I didn't hate Stephen Ward. I did very much appreciate the box office giving me a fifth row center stalls seat for a day seat price (ok - it was after the show announced its closing date). Hailing from the States, I knew vaguely the outlines of the story of Christine Keeler but had no knowledge of the Ward aspect. I felt like the show didn't really explain itself to anyone who didn't know the details of the story.
I didn't mind Act One - but it ended strangely and Act Two just sort of took off with little regard to what had happened. And suddenly a show called Stephen Ward is about everything and everybody other than Stephen Ward for a very long time. The promise of the opening of explaining how he ends up in a "villains" display is unfulfilled - yes, it is unwarranted - but the show never explains why he becomes a "villain".
I also agree with Ryan that a tap number could only have improved the show.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2016 15:27:57 GMT
Yes I have the CD too. One of the few that I have only ever played once. I keep hoping to see it on a collectors item list some day.
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1,582 posts
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Post by anita on Jun 24, 2016 9:20:18 GMT
I don't think it helped that Andrew Lloyd Webber was so biased in thinking Stephen Ward was innocent. I never bought that.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2016 9:25:07 GMT
I don't think it helped that Andrew Lloyd Webber was so biased in thinking Stephen Ward was innocent. I never bought that. It worked with his Eva Peron musical so I suppose he thought he could play the same trick again. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2016 19:00:45 GMT
Whatever is going on with this, looks like Charlotte Spencer is still involved.
I personally think it's great that this is being redone, even though some people on here think it isn't. I imagine it probably will be for The Other Palace, maybe an announcement could be due early in the new year??
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2016 23:18:01 GMT
Whatever is going on with this, looks like Charlotte Spencer is still involved. I personally think it's great that this is being redone, even though some people on here think it isn't. I imagine it probably will be for The Other Palace, maybe an announcement could be due early in the new year?? I'm glad they are looking back into it, it needs re-working for it to work though. When I saw it on its second preview, it wasn't bad, but it was one of the least-impressive or enjoyable shows I have seen in London. I would go back to see it purely because I only saw it on second preview and would of hoped it had gotten better. It could work well in a smaller venue though, with work done to both the book and score. The leads were terrific though. It will also need a small venue to work for the simple fact it will be remembered, if at all, only as "that Andrew Lloyd Webber flop" to the general public. So it needs a smart promotion team and a suitable venue for it. And take their time and really work hard on making it work.  |
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Post by firefingers on Nov 7, 2016 23:20:43 GMT
It was/is being workshopped behind closed doors at the St James theatre. Definitely was in September anyway.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2016 23:55:56 GMT
Can't someone just give it to the Dame that no one cares?!?!
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4,806 posts
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Post by Mark on Nov 8, 2016 9:54:06 GMT
One of the worst shows I've ever seen.
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1,483 posts
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Post by steve10086 on Nov 8, 2016 10:50:10 GMT
I'm another who liked it, and would welcome another production.
Act II needed a major overhaul, but otherwise I really liked the songs, and the subject matter fascinated me. I like it when a musical raises a topic/story that inspires me to research further, and this was one.
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571 posts
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Post by westendwendy on Nov 8, 2016 11:27:10 GMT
Dreadful show. Let it rest in pieces!
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1,064 posts
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Post by bellboard27 on Nov 8, 2016 11:32:10 GMT
I quite enjoyed this. Wouldn't mind seeing it again.
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2,452 posts
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Post by theatremadness on Nov 8, 2016 11:38:22 GMT
It's not that I hated this, more that I found it so mind-numbingly boring that I just didn't see the point in this musical being a thing. And some of the music and lyrics were laughably pedestrian and bland. From the composer, lyricist and book writer that brought us Sunset Boulevard, I just don't understand how Stephen Ward happened.
But I can't lie, if this was revived, I think I'd have to go out of morbid curiosity!
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362 posts
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Post by JJShaw on Nov 8, 2016 11:40:44 GMT
But I can't lie, if this was revived, I think I'd have to go out of morbid curiosity! i think i have to second this! i agree perhaps an intimate setting would improve the feel of the show (as well as some rewrites!) its a shame they couldn't consider the Aldwych run an out of town tryout. Its commendable that they are going back to a big public flop and trying to fix it. |
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Post by stefy69 on Nov 8, 2016 12:02:08 GMT
Yes I don't normally go to musicals but I went to this because of the subject matter and really did it enjoy it, evoked the early 60's very well ! Alexander Hansen was great as SW.
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1,351 posts
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Post by CG on the loose on Nov 8, 2016 13:01:47 GMT
A marmite musical... I'm in the 'liked it' camp and would welcome the chance to see it again.
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2,702 posts
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Post by viserys on Nov 8, 2016 13:09:53 GMT
I liked some of the music and I liked the idea of the story being told as a musical but I thought the execution on stage was dire. What bugged me most that we learned so little about the two girls involved - why did they do what they did, how did they feel about it and so on? Instead we got that awful whiny "my man is awful but of course I luuuurve him" song by Ward's wife whom we had hardly met until then and didn't care about. Not to mention that I'm sick to the teeth of these songs that show women only ever orbiting around a man.
They should have given the tune to one of the girls, make it about her motivation for being involved in these sordid affairs (Excitement? Money? Getting out of boring surburbia?) and so on. Then the 60s setting wouldn't matter either, as young people today could probably relate to the young girls of then seeking something that was missing from their lives.
This said, I think it had plenty of potential and I look forward to seeing a new version.
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19,793 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Nov 8, 2016 13:17:21 GMT
Instead we got that awful whiny "my man is awful but of course I luuuurve him" song by Ward's wife whom we had hardly met until then and didn't care about. Not to mention that I'm sick to the teeth of these songs that show women only ever orbiting around a man. Miss Saigon! |
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Post by viserys on Nov 8, 2016 13:35:58 GMT
Instead we got that awful whiny "my man is awful but of course I luuuurve him" song by Ward's wife whom we had hardly met until then and didn't care about. Not to mention that I'm sick to the teeth of these songs that show women only ever orbiting around a man. Miss Saigon! Don't even get me started on that one, my blood pressure can't take it |
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Post by wickedgrin on Nov 8, 2016 14:22:26 GMT
I thought the original production didn't help the show. All those out of focus projections on those endlessly swishy curtains.....
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275 posts
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Post by emsworthian on Nov 8, 2016 14:30:22 GMT
Instead we got that awful whiny "my man is awful but of course I luuuurve him" song by Ward's wife whom we had hardly met until then and didn't care about. Not to mention that I'm sick to the teeth of these songs that show women only ever orbiting around a man. I haven't seen the musical but don't you mean Profumo's wife, not Ward's wife? |
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2,702 posts
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Post by viserys on Nov 8, 2016 14:35:44 GMT
Possibly! Should I rummage around for my CD to check? Joanna Riding played her, IIRC. She basically turned up out of nowhere in the second act, sang this lovely big ballad with its awful lyrics and disappeared again.
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2,702 posts
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Post by viserys on Nov 8, 2016 14:39:31 GMT
Erf, when I try to edit a post, it ignores my space bar!
Anyway, I checked wikipedia and yes, she was Profumo's wife (Valerie Hodson), sorry! The song title was "I'm hopeless when it comes to you" and makes me want to throw things.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2016 19:19:28 GMT
Possibly! Should I rummage around for my CD to check? Joanna Riding played her, IIRC. She basically turned up out of nowhere in the second act, sang this lovely big ballad with its awful lyrics and disappeared again. Turned up out of nowhere? She walked across the stage in act one. What more do you want??  |
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1,064 posts
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Post by bellboard27 on Dec 5, 2017 19:56:31 GMT
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