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Post by Jon on May 23, 2022 23:09:12 GMT
I thought this was very good for a first performance. No technical issues and the cast seemed on point. Amy Adams gave a great performance. Very unshowy bur moving. Paul hilton as old tom/narrator was excellent as well Staging aas very good though not THAT unique. There is a second platform on stage, so if you do have front row seats, there will be some stuff at the back you will miss(though not much I don't think) Ran to 2 hours 20 mins, including the interval. Didn’t ever realise this had started! I thought it wasn't opening until Friday until I saw the post!
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Post by FJ on May 26, 2022 21:31:00 GMT
Finally got a rush ticket today on the 4th day of trying.
Really, really enjoyed this. Very powerful. Simple staging, but so well done.
As mentioned above, most of the action takes place on a raised platform so being in the rush tickets at the front you miss a tiny bit of people sitting at the side looking on, but everything of note happens on the platform.
Amy Adams, as expected, was fantastic but the biggest surprise of the night was Lizzie Annis who played Laura, who was absolutely sensational.
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Post by mrbarnaby on May 26, 2022 21:38:30 GMT
In every production I’ve seen of this play, Laura usually manages to steal the show. I think Kate Flynn (?) was the last I saw and she was incredible
Is it set In a rehearsal room? It looks like it from the photos. And the platform revolves? Glad I’m not sat at the front seeing how high it is
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140 posts
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Post by FJ on May 26, 2022 22:39:32 GMT
In every production I’ve seen of this play, Laura usually manages to steal the show. I think Kate Flynn (?) was the last I saw and she was incredible Is it set In a rehearsal room? It looks like it from the photos. And the platform revolves? Glad I’m not sat at the front seeing how high it is Sort of yeah, it's done with the actors sitting off the platform looking on when not in a scene. And I didn't think the platform revolved from what I could see, I thought there was just movement of a couple of set pieces to change the perspective but because it happened in blackout maybe it did actually revolve and I just didn't notice at the time. They were being very strict on no photos of the set tonight, but it was a nice contrast of modern and more traditional. But yes the dress circle or slightly further back in the stalls would be optimal I think, but for the £25 rush ticket I definitely had no complaints.
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Post by frankubelik on May 27, 2022 6:43:53 GMT
A disappointingly underpowered performance from Ms Adams although she has her moments in Act 2. From the fourth row of the stalls, I found her frequently inaudible; I also think she "reads" a little young for Amanda and for me was not directed to highlight the character's delusion strongly enough. Speaking of direction, why oh why do we (and the actors) have to endure the pointless pre-show milling about on stage? It's hugely distracting. The younger actors fare pretty well. The set is ugly (as is her Act 1 costume) and I simply did not understand the reason for the back projections which are intermittent and serve no purpose. Sigh.
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Post by shambles on May 27, 2022 8:02:06 GMT
I wouldn't say I was disappointed. It's solid all around. Maybe it's just that I've seen Amy Adams hit all those character notes across so many of her performances that I didn't get the kind of poignant experience I expected from seeing someone of her calibre perform in person.
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Post by pauln on May 28, 2022 10:56:35 GMT
Hi, does anyone here know what the view from the standing spots is like?
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Post by shady23 on May 30, 2022 22:08:01 GMT
I went tonight and I enjoyed it although the second act (when Amy wasn't on for a big chuck) did drag a bit.
I thought she was great and everyone else very good too. I wouldn't go back but I am glad I have seen it.
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Post by gmoneyoutlaw on May 31, 2022 13:53:25 GMT
The last time I saw The Glass Menagerie was on Broadway with Jessica Lange. Audience member back then said they could not hear her at the back of the venue and it happened again last Wednesday when a lady behind me commented that Amy is a film actress and she could not hear her from her seat. I saw this from stalls seat M15. Every actor I've seen seems to channel Laurette Taylor, who originated the role. She played it quietly, but the result and comments from the reviews say you believed she believed she was Amanda and she existed in that room. As I observed many times during the evening, Amy was waiting for her next line. If she could get herself into the play it may become a performance to talk about.
The separation of the character of Tom worked well if not necessary or adds to the structure of the play. Paul Hilton was competent in the new role.
Tom is suffocating and Tom Glynn-Carney beautifully play that, when Amanda ignores his frustration he throughs the most exquisite tantrum.
Lizzie Annis, first time on a West End stage, is perfection as Laura.
The setting is absolutely ridiculous, Laura must have a trust fund to afford all of those glass animals. The Glass Menagerie takes place in the 1930s in a tenement apartment in St. Louis, Missouri. It should look cramped and it is on the floor but the massive open space about the walls should not be there. I also would have thought that there was some naturally light in the room but the choice was to have no windows. The projection were interesting but not a satisfying or complementary to the script.
Jeremy Herrin is a hit or miss director, a local friend told me that.
Over all it was "a" production of the play but not at the level of the West End.
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Post by Mr Crummles on May 31, 2022 15:22:45 GMT
The last time I saw The Glass Menagerie was on Broadway with Jessica Lange. Audience member back then said they could not hear her at the back of the venue and it happened again last Wednesday when a lady behind me commented that Amy is a film actress and she could not hear her from her seat. I saw this from stalls seat M15. Every actor I've seen seems to channel Laurette Taylor, who originated the role. She played it quietly, but the result and comments from the reviews say you believed she believed she was Amanda and she existed in that room. As I observed many times during the evening, Amy was waiting for her next line. If she could get herself into the play it may become a performance to talk about. I remember seeing, many centuries ago, A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway with Jessica Lange, Alec Baldwin and Amy Madigan. I believe I was in row M; can't be too sure, but I was not terribly far away from the stage. I really struggled to hear and understand any of the actors, apart from an actress who played a minor role. I was very disappointed. I suppose I expected cinema actors to be just as comfortable on stage. Eventually I saw a filmed version of the this and I thought Jessica Lange was excellent.
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Post by lonlad on May 31, 2022 22:36:29 GMT
I was in row l tonight and heard every word and Ms Adams is amply miked so it shouldn't be a problem, truly. Her performance isn't very good but that has nothing to do with audibility.
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Post by scarpia on Jun 1, 2022 9:04:24 GMT
Hearing rather mixed things about this. This is also very soon (probably TOO soon) after the last revival of Menagerie in the West End so probably won't tempt me back.
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885 posts
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Post by lonlad on Jun 1, 2022 9:51:47 GMT
Mostly three stars across the board (Times/Stage/WOS/Telegraph/BWW) with two from the Evening Standard
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Post by shambles on Jun 1, 2022 10:57:26 GMT
The reviews are very fair I think. Perhaps it might not have been the best choice, especially for what is virtually a stage debut, but Amy Adams seemed another one in a long line of movie actors who can't project the same kind of vigour on stage.
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885 posts
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Post by lonlad on Jun 1, 2022 12:59:15 GMT
I don't envy her coming on the heels of Jodie Comer, a stage novice of inordinate power -- and Adams, by contrast, has done stage before, albeit musicals and not plays
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Post by Being Alive on Jun 1, 2022 23:21:01 GMT
Very underwhelmed by this I'll be honest.
Amy Adams is obviously good, but to me never truly for into her stride apart from a few moments into Act 2. It's a good role for a star actress, hence why lots of interesting people have done it. She didn't feel too young for me /, just a bit underpowered. Tom Glynn-Carney is pretty hopeless as Tom in the actual play but it felt to me like everyone had been directed to do it all at 80% - he just leaves no mark at all, especially in the final scene. Lizzie Annis is good, but again I wanted her to really deliver at the end and it falls short.
Whilst the framing device of Tom later in life looking back on the story and narrating it in theory is fine, it's really unnecessary. Thankfully Paul Hilton is good otherwise it's have become really tiresome really quickly.
It just felt like everyone got told to not give it their full effort, and thus the whole thing just feels very flat and uninteresting. I think we've only had two good productions of Tennessee Williams in recent memory (Almeidas Summer and Smoke, and YV Streetcar), otherwise British directors just don't seem to understand how to stage Williams. Glass Menagerie is a great play, but you'd kinda never know it with what's on offer at the Duke of Yorks right now.
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Post by fizzym on Jun 2, 2022 20:56:49 GMT
I saw this last night. It was the second production in a week (the first being My Fair Lady) where the production looked lost on the size of the stage. As a result - and true in both cases - it lacked the emotional connection you’d hope for…
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Post by adolphus on Jun 3, 2022 11:28:09 GMT
It was alright, apart from the staging which didnt, as someone mentioned, convey the cramped ,impoverished conditions that the characters dream themselves out of. I'm an admirer of Amy Adams' film and tv work, and was expecting a great performance. She was fine, just not a patch on the previous two Amandas I've seen, Deborah Findlay and especially Cherry Jones.
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Post by jm25 on Jun 6, 2022 21:49:21 GMT
Saw this earlier this evening - though it was touch and go at one point with the Tube strike!
Came at this with perhaps a slightly unusual perspective in that I wasn’t familiar with the play at all. Obviously I’d heard of it but had no clue what it was really about and hadn’t seen any previous productions. Therefore had a completely open mind going in and would say I was neither underwhelmed or overwhelmed. Enjoyed it but it was just ‘fine’. Nothing spectacular or particularly memorable.
Booked this to see Amy Adams as I really enjoy her film work. Like the production itself, I’d say she gives a solid performance but nothing more. As others have said, it’s probably certain moments in Act 2 (particularly towards the beginning) where she’s at her best. I might be in the minority but I thought young Tom much better than old Tom. Laura was fine and I was quite impressed with Jim. Can only really echo what others have said about the staging in that the action itself never really feels particularly engaged with the setting.
Three stars all round for me. (A personal highlight was when the girl behind me excitedly exclaimed that Amy Adams is married to Sacha Baron Cohen.)
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Post by lonlad on Jun 7, 2022 0:09:04 GMT
> A personal highlight was when the girl behind me excitedly exclaimed that Amy Adams is married to Sacha Baron Cohen
Did you resist the temptation to correct her??
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Post by jm25 on Jun 7, 2022 9:06:02 GMT
> A personal highlight was when the girl behind me excitedly exclaimed that Amy Adams is married to Sacha Baron Cohen Did you resist the temptation to correct her?? Didn’t want to shatter the illusion!
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jun 15, 2022 5:58:49 GMT
A strange question, but does the glass ornament display get changed over during the play? I’ve seen photos of it looking different
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Post by Rory on Jun 15, 2022 8:17:22 GMT
A strange question, but does the glass ornament display get changed over during the play? I’ve seen photos of it looking different I saw it last week and the display in the publicity photos is different from the one used in the production. I actually quite liked this, having gone in with slightly lowered expectations after some of the reviews, and thought that Amy Adams was great. The only bit I couldn't quite square was how Tom Glynn-Carney would ever physically morph into Paul Hilton! But there's lots to like.
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Post by cavocado on Jun 15, 2022 10:43:25 GMT
A strange question, but does the glass ornament display get changed over during the play? I’ve seen photos of it looking different It's the same case throughout the play but it moves during the interval. Most of the play is on a black platform in the middle of the stage, with the display case at the back right and a table at the front left of the platform. During the interval the table and case swap places as though the stage has revolved and we're looking at the back of the room.
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Post by theatrebee on Jun 18, 2022 17:19:51 GMT
I watched it this afternoon and it was a pleasant performance, but nothing to write home about. I’m not sure if it’s the play itself or this particular rendition of it, but it didn’t seem to me to be a “memory” play (I knew nothing about the play going in) - the unfolding of events was clear as day and didn’t seem like murky, fuzzy remnants of a memory from a long time ago. I’m not sure why they needed two Toms either, but if absolutely necessary to have two, I wish they’d put in an iota of effort to make either one look even remotely like the other (not to say the actors weren’t good). In all, I was underwhelmed.
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jun 18, 2022 22:15:04 GMT
Very disappointed in this. Amy Adam’s just doesn’t give a big enough performance and the whole production is horribly conceived. A real shame for AA. I wish she’d done something at the Donmar- a new play or something. She was horribly exposed in this, and she’s such a wonderful actress (on screen)
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Post by callum on Jun 18, 2022 22:45:50 GMT
She should have done Streetcar.
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jun 19, 2022 16:04:17 GMT
She should have done Streetcar. If she can’t handle Amanda, she sure as hell isn’t ready for Blanche. That role requires a real stage actress.
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Post by theoracle on Jun 19, 2022 21:51:48 GMT
Whilst this didn't blow me away, I can't say I walked away disappointed as such. I think Amy Adams gives a fine performance albeit not a great one, especially when compared to some other starry casting we've seen lately. I don't think the splitting of Tom's character really added much to the show nor do I think Vicki Mortimer's design to be particularly effective. I was really excited about Jeremy Herrin's direction after hearing good things but it all just felt a little flat. By no means do I think this was bad - as others mentioned, Lizzie Annis is brilliant in her scenes particularly in the second act and Amy Adams still has enough presence to grip the audience. It's great to see Tennessee Williams' work invite such a large audience too but I do worry this isn't going to create further interest as I don't think we really saw the full potential of all involved.
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Post by talkstageytome on Jun 20, 2022 11:26:00 GMT
Reading over this thread while trying to decide whether or not to book a ticket. TGM is my favourite Tennessee Williams play, and the John Tiffany production we had in London a few years ago is still one of my favourite things I've ever seen, which imo really captured the memory play vibe and emotion. I seem to remember that it was filmed for archival purposes, but no idea if it can actually be viewed anywhere now.
Interesting decision to use separate actors for Tom in this production, can anyone (in spoilers) go into a bit more detail about how they do it?
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