Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Story - Lyric Theatre

Three visits this week, all through rush (on the days I got lucky). Tickets otherwise surprisingly hard or expensive to come by and there weren't as many rush tickets released as normal. All excellent shows, as you'd expect. I did try and guess when Ivano would be on, with the end result being two David shows, then Ivano's final show today.

I couldn't afford the closing performance tonight (which is going on as I write), so I hope everyone there has had a good time.

It's very hard to choose a favourite between David and Ivano as they perform the role so differently. But Ivano did manage to bring a tear to my eyes with Redemption Song. He got rather emotional at the end of the matinee today, which is no surprise. I want to give a shout out to Jacade Simpson as well. Always on form and it's so good to see him on stage.

Audience quality, never great at this one, but better this week than at earlier visits. Lots of talkers Today, had a group behind me in the second row who complained at the "no singing" announcement that they'd paid £80 a ticket and weren't allowed to have fun (but at least they didn't sing). Yesterday, a group of loud inappropriate laughers in the rear stalls. Today, there were hecklers at different points (multiple people, especially in the second half), even one "get on and sing, boy" type yell to Ivano during one of the emotional speeches. The strangest comment I overheard earlier in the week was someone looking up David in the programme during the interval and announcing "he's very posh" (I'm not sure how they could tell).

I was sat a few seats along from Ivano's partner this afternoon and Ivano flashed him a heart right at the end, which I thought was really sweet. Thankfully, the show the partner is in doesn't have performances on a Sunday. I did spot a few musical theatre actors in this week.

I do wish I'd been at the final show tonight so I could have given Cleopatra Rey a standing ovation after No Woman, No Cry, but it's would have looked too out of place at the matinee.

Anyway, it sounds from mrbarnaby that the closure is no bad thing, but from a perspective purely as an audience member, the cast all seem united, professional and jubilant. There's lots of on-stage noise before the start and end, with a triumphant sound to it. I do still need to fill in some gaps in my knowledge, but I appreciate Bob Marley's music and contributions to the world far more now than I ever did, even though his character is portrayed from being far from angelic. I do hope that there is an opportunity for this to tour without any unnecessary drama as I'd love to see the show a few more times.