Let’s gets real. Truth hurts!

I completely agree with you on this one! I saw the show during its Sheffield run, and we said that the close of Act 1 was one of the weakest parts of the show, just didn't have the impact that it should have! So when it was transferring I was hoping that that some changes would be made to improve it, but sadly not!

Hamilton was such a snooze-fest after the first half hour and Everybody's Talking About Jamie managed to get hyped up somehow but so disappointing.

I was thinking more then anything that the song is poor, it conveys the right meaning for the moment, but musically its not the best. The projection wasn't there at Sheffield, so the addition to that for the London run was very welcome. Its just such a big moment for Jamie and for the story they are telling, and for me I think it slightly misses the mark.
To be honest in the right hands, drag make up can be done quickly, but then it is a lot of effort for a finale moment, then the interval, so there has got to be some compromises!

I've been reading this thread for a few days now and I had to laugh heartily a few times. Thanks a lot for this!!!

But why doesn't anyone think of the most annoying and untalented singer on the musical stages: Kristin Chenoweth?!?

100%!!!!!!!

I like the Les Miserables movie.

Dr Dillamond is alright.

Original cast is not necessarily best.

The Goodbye Girl was the first show I saw on Broadway. I can understand why it might not have been a very happy experience for her - the bookwriter and lyricist hated each other, the show changed directors during the out-of-town tryout run, and her co-star, Martin Short, who had never done a musical on Broadway before, walked away with the (otherwise dismal) reviews. But still, there are ways of dealing with difficult or disappointing experiences gracefully. The night I saw the show, Ms. Peters made it abundantly clear that she did not want to be there. She sleepwalked through the performance, she didn't make eye-contact with anybody else, she mumbled her lines, and her singing voice was fried. It's still probably the single most unprofessional, contemptuous display I have ever seen from a professional actor, and it was 27 years ago. The woman has absolutely no respect for her audiences.

I really don’t get the Rachel Tucker hype ... I just don’t understand it.

As with a poster above, I’m not feeling the hype for Rachel Tucker these days though I appreciate lots of people love her and she’s clearly got an incredible work ethic. Sadly I personally can’t stand her corny American accent which is very amateur theatre to my ears. Her vocals sounds flat and strained to me, particularly in recent years, and I’ve often felt she’s not really in control of those big belting moments. I’ve definitely winced at some real duff notes more times than I haven’t with Rachel. Also a bit too much showboating for me, but there’s lots of performers guilty of that... sorry!

Interesting that you say that about Marin Mazzie (RIP).
I saw her play Diana on Broadway and from clips I’ve seen of Alice Ripley, I much prefer MM’s more understated and utterly heartbreaking performance.
I absolutely loved the show and it’s one I’ll never forget ( particularly as some of the subject matter was very close to home for me).

I wonder why the license has so far been withheld for a UK production given it’s been produced in a lot of other countries ? It’s hard to imagine who would be the right casting for Diana over here. My nightmare casting would be Jenna Russell, Hannah Waddingham or any of the Menier Choc Factory repertory company. And God forbid Trevor Nunn getting his hands on it too 😱.

Some further thoughts for this thread:


Groundhog Day was a shocker. Goodness knows why the British critics were fawning all over it ( maybe playing it safe because it came from the same team as Matilda)?. The amped-up sleaze factor did a terrible disservice to the film, not helped by Andy Karl’s utterly charmless performance. The score was very poor and the book was worse. The reception it got on Broadway was spot- on.

With so many great musical comedy performers in this country, what was the casting director for Waitress thinking when he/she put Jack McBrayer ( is he that big an audience pull in the UK?) and then some You Tube vlogger in the part of Ogie? It’s an iffy role in the first place, but that casting made it ten times worse.

Cassidy Janson would have knocked the role of Jenna in Waitress out of the park.

The Light in the Piazza was an outstanding piece of theatre at The Lincoln Centre. The production at the RFH was a travesty. It’s hard to think of any aspect of it that did the show justice and the RFH really isn’t the auditorium for staging musicals in the first place.

Are we ever going to see Adam Guettel’s musical ‘Millions’ come to fruition? I heard some songs from the show when Guettel did a solo show at The Hippodrome some years ago and they were wonderful. I wonder if he’s abandoned it at this point?

How many more chances are Stiles & Drew’s going to get before somebody realises that ‘Just So’ was as good as it gets? I mean ‘Soho Cinders’, ‘Wind in the Willows’, Betty Blue Eyes’? I rest my case.

Jason Robert Brown. Parade, yes. Everything else, NO. There should be a ban on any more revivals of The Last Five Years for at least the next five years, although I guess it would be the perfect show for social distancing purposes.