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Post by shady23 on Apr 26, 2022 14:15:11 GMT
Sadly Belfast this week is the last stop of the tour. I really hope it finds a London home. Has anyone heard anything? I ended up seeing it four times in Sunderland last week so you could say I quite like it
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Post by Being Alive on Apr 26, 2022 15:42:56 GMT
I'd heard it was aiming for the Autumn - waiting for Mary Poppins to vacate as they're essentially the same show.
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Post by Jon on Apr 26, 2022 16:06:36 GMT
I'd heard it was aiming for the Autumn - waiting for Mary Poppins to vacate as they're essentially the same show. I wonder where it could go as most theatres are going to get snapped up very quickly for new plays.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2022 16:32:38 GMT
I really hope we get a cast recording for this at least. A limited London run could work extremely well, though it’s hard to imagine where it could play without it looking dwarfed, the set isn’t exactly huge. Perhaps the Apollo?
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Post by enh2 on Apr 26, 2022 16:39:50 GMT
I really hope we get a cast recording for this at least. A limited London run could work extremely well, though it’s hard to imagine where it could play without it looking dwarfed, the set isn’t exactly huge. Perhaps the Apollo? Would fit nicely in the Apollo but I'm pretty sure Jamie is going back in at some point
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Post by Jon on Apr 26, 2022 16:40:45 GMT
I really hope we get a cast recording for this at least. A limited London run could work extremely well, though it’s hard to imagine where it could play without it looking dwarfed, the set isn’t exactly huge. Perhaps the Apollo? Maybe Nimax's new theatre?
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Post by mrbarnaby on Apr 28, 2022 22:49:22 GMT
They’ve been workshopping changes this week on the show, and a London run is planned for autumn/winter.
Luckily it will fit easily in a smaller theatre
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Post by fluxcapacitor on Apr 29, 2022 5:06:44 GMT
They’ve been workshopping changes this week on the show, and a London run is planned for autumn/winter. Luckily it will fit easily in a smaller theatre Hopefully the ending. IMO That was the only weak point in the production.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2022 6:06:02 GMT
They’ve been workshopping changes this week on the show, and a London run is planned for autumn/winter. Luckily it will fit easily in a smaller theatre If the Apollo is earmarked for ALW, maybe the Ambassadors will find itself free for this. It’s a really joyous piece I’d happily see again.
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Post by Jon on Apr 29, 2022 9:44:24 GMT
They’ve been workshopping changes this week on the show, and a London run is planned for autumn/winter. Luckily it will fit easily in a smaller theatre If the Apollo is earmarked for ALW, maybe the Ambassadors will find itself free for this. It’s a really joyous piece I’d happily see again. The Ambassadors is too small both in terms of capacity and the stage. I would imagine they’d want one of the slightly bigger playhouses like the Pinter, Duke of York’s
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Post by Phantom of London on Apr 29, 2022 11:19:26 GMT
If rumours of the imminent demise of bad Cinderella are true, I could see it going into the Gilliam Lynne.
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Post by Boob on Apr 29, 2022 12:47:29 GMT
I couldn’t! It’s way too big. For me, the ideal theatre is the Gielgud or Lyric.
I really hope they spend a bit more time and money on this if/when it comes into London. Yes, the ending needs work - narratively rather than emotionally - but most of the design elements in the second half aren’t good enough.
I loved so much about this show, though, and it’s really stuck with me (I was moved to tears at the end) - so I just hope they can give it the support it needs to make it fly as high as the bed.
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Post by anthony40 on Apr 29, 2022 13:05:37 GMT
When I saw it in Manchester during the whole Portabello Road sequence with the market stall carts, it looked very cramped.
I loved the Under the Brimey Sea and Rob Madge with the florescent puffer fish and all the flying- the bed and the broomstick.
I too was hoping for a cast recording.
It's great how Disney have trolled through their back catalogue and found an (almost) near-forgotten classic and with some clever direction and stage trickery have turned it into a bloody good stage show.
What next? Herbie the Love Bug?
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Post by mrbarnaby on Apr 30, 2022 11:38:51 GMT
When I saw it in Manchester during the whole Portabello Road sequence with the market stall carts, it looked very cramped. I loved the Under the Brimey Sea and Rob Madge with the florescent puffer fish and all the flying- the bed and the broomstick. I too was hoping for a cast recording. It's great how Disney have trolled through their back catalogue and found an (almost) near-forgotten classic and with some clever direction and stage trickery have turned it into a bloody good stage show. What next? Herbie the Love Bug? I would love a Herbie musical 🤣
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Post by Figaro on Apr 30, 2022 12:06:36 GMT
When I saw it in Manchester during the whole Portabello Road sequence with the market stall carts, it looked very cramped. I loved the Under the Brimey Sea and Rob Madge with the florescent puffer fish and all the flying- the bed and the broomstick. I too was hoping for a cast recording. It's great how Disney have trolled through their back catalogue and found an (almost) near-forgotten classic and with some clever direction and stage trickery have turned it into a bloody good stage show. What next? Herbie the Love Bug? Disney decided not to pursue this, hence why it’s produced by Michael Harrison. I’d also say this is the opposite of a near forgotten classic!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2022 15:18:03 GMT
Yeah I wouldn't class this as near forgotten.
Thanks to vhs and dvd I'd say anyone 40 and under (maybe older) grew up with this movie. There's a lot of love for it out there. The quality of the cast is up there with Poppins, you even have Bruce Forsythe pop up.
TV networks and disney itself always push mary poppins in terms of prime tv repeats and merchandise/prominence in parks etc. But as is often the case, the movies that maybe didn't score amazing box office at the cinema have grown a fan base over time.
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Post by sph on Apr 30, 2022 22:22:52 GMT
I think Mary Poppins is the better movie overall. It is, to me, a perfect movie musical. But I've always LOVED Bedknobs and Broomsticks, which shares many of the same traits - they were basically using the same formula to make it as Mary Poppins, in the difficult years after Walt Disney's death. It's worth noting though that I don't believe this is a Disney production strictly speaking. Isn't it produced by another company who leased the rights from Disney?
Had Disney done it themselves I think the production would have been very different.
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Post by anxiousoctopus on May 1, 2022 13:09:58 GMT
I saw this back in January at the Mayflower and I was in love with the entire show up until the ending, which genuinely left me feeling crushed and with a bitter taste in my mouth. I've genuinely never left a theatre feeling disappointed before, but this one did.
For a show that markets itself with 'its time to start believing' and has so many amazing stage tricks, it feels so cynical to have the characters lecture you at length that not only is magic not real but the characters you've come to care for over the last 2 and a bit hours aren't real either, before replacing them with new versions you don't know or care about. It's like if Jane and Michael Banks told Mary Poppins 'you're just a figment of our imagination to help us deal with our father being emotionally distant' - it feels like one of those 'dead all along' / 'dying dream' fan theories about popular shows and movies.
Those kind of twists have been done before in different shows, but it doesn't work here. Also it could be so easily fixed - just have the nazis/shadows be created from the children's trauma, and have the new family unit defeat them (which lives up to the original message). But to undo literally all of the show left me feeling like I'd been robbed emotionally. Loads of reviews say "this gives us the feel-good magic we all need right now" which is extra bizarre because it takes it all away at the end and leaves you feeling bad.
However, I only feel so strongly about it because I loved the rest of the show so much (the puppets are amazing, the songs are fun, and I love Dianne Pilkington's and Charles Brunton's performances as Emelius and Eglantine). I would not complain at there being a cast album!
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Post by anthony40 on May 1, 2022 17:23:24 GMT
Welcome to the board anxiousoctopus
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Post by Jon on May 1, 2022 18:15:17 GMT
I wonder if the Gillian Lynne now being free from June might be a potential home for Bedknobs? At 1100 seats, it's not too big capacity wise but not too small either.
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Post by enh2 on May 1, 2022 18:20:32 GMT
I wonder if the Gillian Lynne now being free from June might be a potential home for Bedknobs? At 1100 seats, it's not too big capacity wise but not too small either. Seems a bit too big for Bedknobs. I could potentially see Beetlejuice eyeing up the theatre for 2023.
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Post by crabtree on May 1, 2022 18:25:34 GMT
anxiousoctopus - i know what you mean, but chitty is actually only a story until she flies in the last minutes
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Post by BurlyBeaR on May 1, 2022 18:29:05 GMT
I wonder if the Gillian Lynne now being free from June might be a potential home for Bedknobs? At 1100 seats, it's not too big capacity wise but not too small either. Seems a bit too big for Bedknobs. I could potentially see Beetlejuice eyeing up the theatre for 2023. Agree that Bedknobs could no way fill that space in its current form. anyway he’ll want an ALW related show in there surely.
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Post by Jon on May 1, 2022 19:11:16 GMT
Agree that Bedknobs could no way fill that space in its current form. anyway he’ll want an ALW related show in there surely. I don't think that's entirely true, War Horse ran there for 7 years and ALW is a theatre landlord who needs successful productions to make the rent.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2022 19:38:42 GMT
I wonder if the Gillian Lynne now being free from June might be a potential home for Bedknobs? At 1100 seats, it's not too big capacity wise but not too small either. I think because there are so many illusions in Bedknobs, it may need a more traditional proscenium arch theatre with end on seating, whereas the Gillian Lynne sort of has stage side seating in the same way a thrust stage does. So if they can adapt the show for the GL or adapt the seating then perhaps it could work there. If not Bedknobs, then I could imagine What’s New Pussycat?, Hadestown or The Boy in the Dress transferring into the GL. Or possibly even Imelda Staunton in Hello Dolly if Back to the Future doesn’t leave the Adelphi.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2022 19:45:52 GMT
I wonder if the Gillian Lynne now being free from June might be a potential home for Bedknobs? At 1100 seats, it's not too big capacity wise but not too small either. I think because there are so many illusions in Bedknobs, it may need a more traditional proscenium arch theatre with end on seating, whereas the Gillian Lynne sort of has stage side seating in the same way a thrust stage does. So if they can adapt the show for the GL or adapt the seating then perhaps it could work there. If not Bedknobs, then I could imagine What’s New Pussycat?, Hadestown or The Boy in the Dress transferring into the GL. Or possibly even Imelda Staunton in Hello Dolly if Back to the Future doesn’t leave the Adelphi. I need to manifest Hadestown going in as a reality! I do think at short notice though it’s unlikely to be a Broadway transfer yet. I could see The Osmonds or What’s new Pussycat? Taking up the space in the short term.
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Post by jj9692 on May 1, 2022 20:11:54 GMT
Just home from seeing the final performance.
It was brilliant. Was a shame the theatre was just about half full.
Saw it when it was in Dublin in March and 3 times this week in Belfast Pretty much agree with what everyone else has said about the show. It is great up until the last 10 minutes. I don't get the it was all their imagination. And then to have the "real" Miss Price appear.
The one question I actually left with was, are the children psychic and the package is actually a broom? Or is she doing her work for the war effort by standing on the cliffs with a rifle? It just didn't seem to fit.
But up until then the show is just fabulous. I still can't figure out the broom effect in "A Step In The Right Direction", I worked out the actually flying, but not the broom alone.
Tonight, at times you could tell Dianne Pilkington was getting emotional with it being the final show, but she blew the audience away. And it was a lovely touch having all the backstage crew coming out for the bows.
Really hope this show gets a second life, with a slightly reworked ending.
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Post by anxiousoctopus on May 4, 2022 12:11:58 GMT
Just home from seeing the final performance. It was brilliant. Was a shame the theatre was just about half full. Saw it when it was in Dublin in March and 3 times this week in Belfast Pretty much agree with what everyone else has said about the show. It is great up until the last 10 minutes. I don't get the it was all their imagination. And then to have the "real" Miss Price appear. The one question I actually left with was, are the children psychic and the package is actually a broom? Or is she doing her work for the war effort by standing on the cliffs with a rifle? It just didn't seem to fit. But up until then the show is just fabulous. I still can't figure out the broom effect in "A Step In The Right Direction", I worked out the actually flying, but not the broom alone. Tonight, at times you could tell Dianne Pilkington was getting emotional with it being the final show, but she blew the audience away. And it was a lovely touch having all the backstage crew coming out for the bows. Really hope this show gets a second life, with a slightly reworked ending. The magic effects were phenomenal! I'm also a sucker for puppets (loved Life of Pi) so I adored those scenes. It sucks that I hate the ending so much, but it's mainly because if it had a different ending then it would have been one of my best theatre experiences so far (its up there with BTTF in terms of effects, even for a touring show)! Her flying through the window was a nice touch, like when a magician passes a hoop over a levitating assistant! Also yeah, I spotted the broom parcel and it was confusing - it seemed like they wanted to go for a 'or was it all a dream???' ending, but it just doesn't work after they deconstructed the whole narrative so brutally minutes before. A friend of mine saw the show too and cottoned onto the 'or was it' bit, so expected the bed to fly out over the audience at the end, but she was disappointed when they appeared on the motorbike riding away instead. Basically a half-baked idea that wanted to be both feel-good and have a twist, but didn't stick the landing.
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Post by callum090 on Aug 27, 2022 11:11:50 GMT
Yeah I'm pretty sure it's going on a London run. Before you click on their main website there is a description under the link saying "Official website for the UK Tour and London run of Disney's Bedknobs & Broomsticks the Musical."
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Post by Figaro on Aug 27, 2022 12:22:38 GMT
Yeah I'm pretty sure it's going on a London run. Before you click on their main website there is a description under the link saying "Official website for the UK Tour and London run of Disney's Bedknobs & Broomsticks the Musical." That has always been there, and once you go into the website it used to say prior to the West End but this was taken off before the tour started. I’m afraid nothing can be read into what it says on Google.
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