5,185 posts
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Post by Being Alive on Aug 7, 2022 20:55:15 GMT
Ampil worthy of a nomination, I'd say Houchen probably isn't but that's the part's fault rather than his
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Post by inthenose on Aug 7, 2022 21:02:33 GMT
Ampil worthy of a nomination, I'd say Houchen probably isn't but that's the part's fault rather than his I preferred Daniel Koek when it comes to recent productions, but Houchen was fine. He’s not a patch on the other three. |
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5,898 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Aug 7, 2022 21:43:58 GMT
Ovendon and Beck deserve to win Oliviers for this. Who are the other 2? R Houchon and J Ampill? They aren’t award worthy roles IMO I mean, neither is the Bird woman, but the Oliviers still went there. There’s very little else to choose from in all honesty so far this year. Don’t get me started on how ridiculous THAT was !! |
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Post by inthenose on Aug 8, 2022 0:47:03 GMT
Also, I know I’ll get crucified for this, but with Houchen I just didn’t buy it. Sorry, but it’s true. Not believable for the energy the character was meant to have. Sang “Younger than Springtime” beautifully though.
Had the same issue with this young man as Marius too, where he sang “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” wonderfully too.
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916 posts
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Post by karloscar on Aug 8, 2022 0:56:51 GMT
Playing Luther Billis can get you a Tony nomination ahead of Lt Cable if you're Danny Burstein. The role seems to have gone unnoticed in most of the reviews of this production.
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Post by angie on Aug 8, 2022 5:10:30 GMT
Also, I know I’ll get crucified for this, but with Houchen I just didn’t buy it. Sorry, but it’s true. Not believable for the energy the character was meant to have. Sang “Younger than Springtime” beautifully though. Had the same issue with this young man as Marius too, where he sang “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” wonderfully too. Its your opinion and I accept that. You are, as you are probably aware in the minority. I personally believe him to be a huge talent and the reviews on this show agree. Perhaps you are just not liking the way the director wanted him to play the part. He also was absolutely brilliant as Marius, played him for nearly three years in the West End as well as in the staged concert. He changed my view on Marius as a character, gave him more depth than other portrayals. Mr Houchen has already won best supporting actor in a production (Regional Production) for South Pacific some critics award I think and I am sure he will be nominated at the Oliviers. He is always in demand and I just love his beautiful voice. Daniel Koek was my favourite JVJ |
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5,898 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Aug 8, 2022 5:45:29 GMT
The guy who plays Billis here is truly terrible. Weakest performance of the show IMO
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Post by inthenose on Aug 8, 2022 7:07:50 GMT
Also, I know I’ll get crucified for this, but with Houchen I just didn’t buy it. Sorry, but it’s true. Not believable for the energy the character was meant to have. Sang “Younger than Springtime” beautifully though. Had the same issue with this young man as Marius too, where he sang “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” wonderfully too. Its your opinion and I accept that. You are, as you are probably aware in the minority. I personally believe him to be a huge talent and the reviews on this show agree. Perhaps you are just not liking the way the director wanted him to play the part. He also was absolutely brilliant as Marius, played him for nearly three years in the West End as well as in the staged concert. He changed my view on Marius as a character, gave him more depth than other portrayals. Mr Houchen has already won best supporting actor in a production (Regional Production) for South Pacific some critics award I think and I am sure he will be nominated at the Oliviers. He is always in demand and I just love his beautiful voice. Daniel Koek was my favourite JVJ Yeah. I found him very wet as Marius (similar to Gary Tushaw or Alistair Brammer) and he was going for stoic in South Pacific but comes off wooden to my taste. I’m not buying his attraction to Liat either. I know he’s a bit of a golden boy and he has a lot of superfans. So I appreciate the need to defend their guy. I’d do the same with my favourites/friends. If Daniel Koek was your favourite Valjean, it fits that Houchen’s Marius “changed your view … as a character”. Having seen every cast since the mid 90’s of that show, including covers and many second covers, I’d rank him towards the bottom. His Phantom was also pretty average. As was his Anatoly in Chess (except for Anthem). I am glad you are a fan of these actors but you won’t change my opinion of what I saw. If I see him in something and think he is great I will say so. |
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Post by angie on Aug 8, 2022 8:05:32 GMT
Apologies posted above x 2 managed to delete I think...also replied but not sure its been submitted....OR.....it will be duplicated 1/2 doz times, if it is I apologise again, hang my head in shame and back out of the website. |
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Post by angie on Aug 8, 2022 8:57:56 GMT
"I am glad you are a fan of these actors but you won’t change my opinion of what I saw. If I see him in something and think he is great I will say so".
I am sure you will. It wouldn't do for everyone to see the same thing in an actor or role, how boring that would be. I personally did not enjoy Michael Balls Javert in the Staged Concert I felt he was totally miscast but how can they do Les Mis without him?
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2,422 posts
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Post by robertb213 on Aug 8, 2022 12:58:29 GMT
I'm a massive fan of Rob Houchen but I thought he was a bit lacking in the acting stakes and unconvincing in this. I think he's just stronger as an singer. Still a top talent though and I'd watch him in anything. His Marius was superb.
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Post by angie on Aug 10, 2022 15:56:48 GMT
I'm a massive fan of Rob Houchen but I thought he was a bit lacking in the acting stakes and unconvincing in this. I think he's just stronger as an singer. Still a top talent though and I'd watch him in anything. His Marius was superb. Interesting...Press reviews found him to be superb. I think I need to go again and maybe take off my rose coloured glasses😁 booked for Leeds in November. |
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19,786 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Aug 10, 2022 17:09:06 GMT
Did anyone see that post from someone on one of those dreadful MT Facebook groups describing Gina Beck as sounding like “bad Reba”? (McIntyre I presume). They also found R&H’s overture to be “unimaginative”. Lol.
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2,422 posts
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Post by robertb213 on Aug 10, 2022 17:33:33 GMT
I'm a massive fan of Rob Houchen but I thought he was a bit lacking in the acting stakes and unconvincing in this. I think he's just stronger as an singer. Still a top talent though and I'd watch him in anything. His Marius was superb. Interesting...Press reviews found him to be superb. I think I need to go again and maybe take off my rose coloured glasses😁 booked for Leeds in November. One of the press reviews was mine 😁 I just found him a bit wooden and not particularly convincing as a lieutenant. Vocally he's exceptional, I just don't think he's a very strong actor. |
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Post by angie on Aug 10, 2022 19:17:50 GMT
Obviously didnt see that one, please post a link so I can have a full read of you review I really am interested. I do disagree but I respect your professional experience. As I say I will see South Pacific again in November and I will try to watch objectively.😁
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2,422 posts
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Post by robertb213 on Aug 10, 2022 22:21:13 GMT
Obviously didnt see that one, please post a link so I can have a full read of you review I really am interested. I do disagree but I respect your professional experience. As I say I will see South Pacific again in November and I will try to watch objectively.😁 No problem, here you go! northwestend.com/south-pacific-sadlers-wells/ |
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Post by Oleanna on Aug 10, 2022 22:42:29 GMT
Did anyone see that post from someone on one of those dreadful MT Facebook groups describing Gina Beck as sounding like “bad Reba”? (McIntyre I presume). They also found R&H’s overture to be “unimaginative”. Lol. Are they referring to this production specifically? Because it doesn’t use the original overture. |
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Post by ThereWillBeSun on Aug 13, 2022 21:49:35 GMT
Julian Ovenden beautiful! beautiful! beautiful! After last night's performance, I need him to sing me to sleep... Me too.  |
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4,988 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Aug 14, 2022 7:36:28 GMT
Great score and themes but the book really plods on and do we those endless reprises ? Shoot me down as i really want for a Peter Brook type figure to come along and turn it into a 1 act drama.
Plus I'm not a fan of the Trevor Nunn school of directing so the whole thing was a big snooze fest from me. Ah well.
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5,898 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Aug 14, 2022 15:25:40 GMT
Great score and themes but the book really plods on and do we those endless reprises ? Shoot me down as i really want for a Peter Brook type figure to come along and turn it into a 1 act drama. Plus I'm not a fan of the Trevor Nunn school of directing so the whole thing was a big snooze fest from me. Ah well. The book doesn’t stand up well at all. It needs some major cutting and revising I think. |
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Post by danb on Aug 14, 2022 16:17:20 GMT
But what strand would you cut to tighten it up? Billis could go for me. He doesn’t feed into enough other plot points really (nothing that Bracket couldn’t do) and yes, skip the reprises.
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3,349 posts
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Post by Dr Tom on Aug 16, 2022 10:06:05 GMT
I saw the Sunday performance and managed to get a third row rush ticket. So much better than when I saw this from further back earlier in the run.
Before the start of the show, there was an announcement that it was a "cut show" (using those words) as one sixth of the cast were unavailable. This was mostly the female ensemble, who managed to make everything work with only four people. There were some changes with lines assigned to different people, which mostly worked smoothly apart from one section of dialogue where the lines were spoken in a fairly random order. They also hadn't got the updates to the sound desk as occasionally microphones were not turned on.
Despite the reduced cast size, all of the leads were on. Plus, they were all in fine form.
Got to say, this is an excellent show and selling well. It's a shame the London run is so short.
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4,029 posts
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 16, 2022 16:57:36 GMT
Before the start of the show, there was an announcement that it was a "cut show" (using those words) as one sixth of the cast were unavailable. This was mostly the female ensemble, who managed to make everything work with only four people. Did they say why they were so short of cast? Is it a covid outbreak? I'm thinking about going tomorrow & while I don't mind seeing the show short on ensemble I wouldn't want to turn up & find that it's spread and some or all of the leads I particularly want to see (Beck, Ovenden & Houchen) are now out too. |
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Post by Dr Tom on Aug 16, 2022 17:24:47 GMT
Did they say why they were so short of cast? Is it a covid outbreak? I'm thinking about going tomorrow & while I don't mind seeing the show short on ensemble I wouldn't want to turn up & find that it's spread and some or all of the leads I particularly want to see (Beck, Ovenden & Houchen) are now out too. They didn't. But it was unplanned, as the woman making the announcement said they'd only had two hours to rework everything as they didn't want to cancel and that some people were on in tracks they'd never covered or rehearsed before. So, I'd certainly think Covid, but it was never said outright. Nothing on West End Understudies (Twitter) about any leads being off tonight and they normally pick up on most covers. |
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