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Post by mattnyc on Jun 17, 2022 16:49:41 GMT
For anyone interested, I contacted the box office and they said Vanessa is still out, however she has not left the production.
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Post by A.Ham on Jun 17, 2022 21:45:03 GMT
For anyone interested, I contacted the box office and they said Vanessa is still out, however she has not left the production. Thanks for the update. That’s an awful long time to be off now isn’t it 😟
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Post by mattnyc on Jun 17, 2022 22:05:01 GMT
It is. I think we’re coming up to a month she’s been out.
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Post by Mark on Jun 17, 2022 22:49:06 GMT
I saw Vanessas understudy in both Driving Miss Daisy and The Inheritance. If I’d have left it longer than the first week would have been the same case here. Yes she’s very old but has a terrible attendance record.
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Post by lonlad on Jun 18, 2022 11:09:12 GMT
She should stop accepting offers she can't honour. It's as simple as that. But maybe pride keeps getting the better of her? You need to know when to call it quits.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 18, 2022 11:41:22 GMT
How does the whole sick pay thing work for actors in professional productions?
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Post by theatremiss on Jun 18, 2022 14:05:23 GMT
Well the best laid plans and all that, thwarted by Southern Rail. Train cancelled, second one delayed, no time to get to London for the matinee. Thankfully we’ve rescheduled with the theatre BUT the trains are another matter to get a refund from
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2022 19:56:59 GMT
Vanessa Redgrave is one of the great Dames of acting that I've never quite understood how she got where she is. She's not awful by any stretch, but nothing exceptional either and always quite samey to me.
A months worth of absences though, the producers should really address it and level with the public. She either can't handle stage work anymore (perfectly understandable) or she is sadly too ill to perform and needs a long recovery period
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Post by mjh on Jun 19, 2022 11:39:50 GMT
It appears that covers for Eliza and Higgins were on this weekend - did anyone see them?
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Post by theatrelover97 on Jun 19, 2022 14:24:09 GMT
It appears that covers for Eliza and Higgins were on this weekend - did anyone see them? I did. I was at the Matinee and both of them were fantastic. Certainly no feeling of second best. Rebekah Lowings is actually the second understudy according to the programme. The first one is Charlotte Kennedy who performed her usual Ensemble roles such as one of the maids as usual. No announcement was done before the show only the cast board and signs by the entrance to the Auditorium. I actually liked Sharif Afifi as Freddie and his laugh reminded me of Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins up on the Celling. I don’t think a lot of the audience noticed Harry and Vanessa were out. Before curtain went up plenty of the audience around me were chatting about seeing Vanessa or Harry having had to walk past the announcement saying their roles were being covered, Heather Jackson got a massive cheer at the end which felt more like the cheer a star gets than just one for a good performance (For me she was outshone by Maureen Beattie’s Mrs Pearce but the cheers suggested for much of the audience otherwise.) They was a standing ovation in the stalls and scattered elsewhere. The sound wasn’t great through even in the dress circle. Malcolm Sinclair as Pickering was often louder than the others on stage with him and Karparthy was hard to hear. However the sound effect for the Horses racing at Ascot was very well done. All ensemble members were performing and the only swings on were to cover for the fact Paul, Rebekah and Heather were covering their leading roles. As a whole I felt privileged to see the debut of two understudies in two of Musical theatre most iconic roles.
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Post by theoracle on Jun 22, 2022 13:23:05 GMT
I don’t suppose it’s been raised anywhere that this might get filmed at all? After the success of The King & I and Anything Goes screenings, I was thinking it would be love(r)ly to have this broadcast, hopefully with Dame Vanessa too.
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Post by Paulw on Jun 22, 2022 13:40:39 GMT
I don’t suppose it’s been raised anywhere that this might get filmed at all? After the success of The King & I and Anything Goes screenings, I was thinking it would be love(r)ly to have this broadcast, hopefully with Dame Vanessa too. It already has been, I was there early in the run and they filmed it that night (see previous posts in this thread) but what they filmed it for is anyones guess.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 22, 2022 14:01:54 GMT
If they’re wise they won’t show it anywhere until after the tour #anythinggoes
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Post by sph on Jun 22, 2022 22:49:24 GMT
I don’t suppose it’s been raised anywhere that this might get filmed at all? After the success of The King & I and Anything Goes screenings, I was thinking it would be love(r)ly to have this broadcast, hopefully with Dame Vanessa too. It already has been, I was there early in the run and they filmed it that night (see previous posts in this thread) but what they filmed it for is anyones guess. I don't think that was for a full commercial release though was it? If it was very early in the run that would have been footage done for press/social media and very normal for any new show.
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Post by david on Jun 22, 2022 23:44:40 GMT
As my second show today, I arrived at the box office 6pm and enquired about day seats thinking I’d get somewhere in the balcony so late in the day, but was really happy when offered Stalls F27 for £29.50, especially when I saw on the coliseum ticket page that the seat normally goes for around £150 based on a similar Wednesday night. I’d definitely recommend trying to get cheap tickets this way as there where plenty of unsold seats in the stalls around me tonight and looking further down the line it seems to be a similar situation for most remaining shows of the run.
Having a look at the cast board showed that a fair few of the main cast where absent from the show tonight (Malcolm Sinclair, Maureen Beattie and Sharif Afifi present). We had Paul Westwood as the Henry Higgins, Rebekah Lowings as Eliza, Adam Vaughn as A. Doolittle and Heather Jackson as Mrs Higgins.
Having seen MFL during its run at the TRDL all those years ago with Alex Jennings, I was interested to see how TLC version faired. Whilst enjoying tonight’s show, I didn’t cone away thinking it was a great production. The ENO orchestra sounded fine from where I was sat but where the sound issue was a problem was from the cast who seemed really quiet for a lot of the show and when combining with the orchestra during the songs, it really was a challenge to hear them.
With the staging, I’d agree with a lot of other board members comments that the set seemed a little small to fill the large coliseum stage. Whilst the house looks impressive up close having only seen it briefly during a tour of the LIncoln Centre a few years ago, it might look better on a smaller stage during its tour.
Adam Vaughn was ok as Alfred in his two big songs. I did love Maureen Beattie as Mrs Pearce and Malcolm Sinclair as Pickering. Rebekah sounded great as Eliza though I wasn’t convinced by Paul Westwood as Higgins and his relationship with Eliza. I found Alex Jennings a much better Higgins who had a bit more depth to the character.
I absolutely adored the costumes from Catherine Zuber. Really great designs and looked fabulous, especially during the Ascot scene.
Certainly not having a sell out auditorium didn’t help tonight. I just felt that during the big crowd pleaser of “I’m getting married in the morning “ should of got the audience going but there just seemed a real lack of any energy in tonight’s audience. Overall it seemed a really lethargic audience tonight.
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Post by cartoonman on Jul 1, 2022 8:42:56 GMT
I saw MFL at a matinee on the 30th June. I was in the dress circle, I got the ticket months ago so even as a group booking I thought it was quite expensive. I saw the 2021? NT production with Martine McCutheon and thought that was better. This was pretty good. The Coliseum stage is 70 feet wide and it did look as if the sets were not quite big enough to fill it. If it goes on tour the stages in other theatres will be smaller. Eliza had a good singing voice but the cockney accent didn't always seem right. I have lived and worked in the East End so think I can spot a good accent. Martine was from Dalston so a natural cockney. I would give it 4* but would give the NT show 5*. Its still a good show. The costumes were good and I licked the way that during the Ascot scene the horses thundered from one side of the auditorium to the other. The front of house staff were polite, friendly and helpful.
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Post by mattnyc on Jul 1, 2022 15:27:23 GMT
I saw MFL at a matinee on the 30th June. I was in the dress circle, I got the ticket months ago so even as a group booking I thought it was quite expensive. I saw the 2021? NT production with Martine McCutheon and thought that was better. This was pretty good. The Coliseum stage is 70 feet wide and it did look as if the sets were not quite big enough to fill it. If it goes on tour the stages in other theatres will be smaller. Eliza had a good singing voice but the cockney accent didn't always seem right. I have lived and worked in the East End so think I can spot a good accent. Martine was from Dalston so a natural cockney. I would give it 4* but would give the NT show 5*. Its still a good show. The costumes were good and I licked the way that during the Ascot scene the horses thundered from one side of the auditorium to the other. The front of house staff were polite, friendly and helpful. Was Vanessa back?
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Post by tom on Jul 2, 2022 17:51:37 GMT
Saw this today. Saw the show on Broadway and I don’t know why but I preferred it here. Brief show stop after little bit of luck. I didn’t think Omara’s voice was strong enough on the higher notes but her performance overall was excellent. Harry was good just as he was before. No Vanessa but I’m not sure she would have given the same level of performance as Heather Jackson and would have been there as a name. I gave it 4 stars.
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Post by couldileaveyou on Jul 2, 2022 18:23:16 GMT
I'm starting to think that Vanessa went to a farm where she can play all day with other dames
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Post by theoracle on Jul 3, 2022 22:20:07 GMT
Just heard from one insider that Vanessa won't be coming back to the show. Sorry guys
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Post by Being Alive on Jul 4, 2022 1:28:42 GMT
Just heard from one insider that Vanessa won't be coming back to the show. Sorry guys Considering she could barely walk the few performances she did, this isn't surprising.
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Post by A.Ham on Jul 4, 2022 9:13:01 GMT
Just heard from one insider that Vanessa won't be coming back to the show. Sorry guys Such a shame. Was it just too much for her physically?
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Post by sukhavati on Jul 5, 2022 2:52:59 GMT
Just heard from one insider that Vanessa won't be coming back to the show. Sorry guys Such a shame. Was it just too much for her physically? Considering how much stamina one needs to play eight shows a week, even if only in half a dozen scenes, it's hardly surprising that a lady of 85 is having difficulty. It is a shame if anyone bought tickets based on her name alone, but I love Harry and Amara so I wouldn't complain too much about missing her.
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Post by A.Ham on Jul 5, 2022 11:48:13 GMT
Such a shame. Was it just too much for her physically? Considering how much stamina one needs to play eight shows a week, even if only in half a dozen scenes, it's hardly surprising that a lady of 85 is having difficulty. It is a shame if anyone bought tickets based on her name alone, but I love Harry and Amara so I wouldn't complain too much about missing her. Yes of course… 8 shows a week is a lot and it’s a long old show! She was in it when I saw it in mid-May, but think her first absences were only a few days after that. To be honest, the character isn’t on stage a lot so whilst it was nice to see her, it is very much a supporting role and a small one at that.
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Post by frappuccino on Jul 6, 2022 8:36:10 GMT
I'm starting to think that Vanessa went to a farm where she can play all day with other dames 💀
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jul 6, 2022 9:30:11 GMT
Well, they managed to get her name for those crucial early sales so mission accomplished for the producers I suppose. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was all planned this way, sign her up, get her name on the poster, perform a couple of weeks then she swans off with a handbag full of lolly and the producers got the required big name for the marketing. Yes I’m terribly cynical but it’s becoming very clear to me that behind all the eyes and teeth theatre is a rather grubby business
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Post by Seriously on Jul 6, 2022 9:39:14 GMT
As Pickering would say, it's "common knowledge" that she contracted a certain something.
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Post by westendlover92 on Jul 6, 2022 10:15:28 GMT
Just to Clear the water Categorically untrue
Vanessa Redgrave is returning, next week…
Got to love Rumours with no substance.(from insiders) haha 😂
I believe she has been very I’ll and took a hiatus.
You welcome xox
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Post by crabtree on Jul 6, 2022 11:25:55 GMT
That's great news, and I'm sure ms Redgrave is a performer who doesn't take missing a show lightly.
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Post by TallPaul on Jul 6, 2022 11:32:20 GMT
Knowing the history of Fleetwood Mac, I suspect Rumours was recorded with plenty of substance. 🤣
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