Aspects of Love w/ Michael Ball - Lyric

Ceebee has a valid point. Mens body’s seem to be fair game for anyone to comment on without recourse, be it lascivious perving over Bongo’s boobs or derisive put downs when someone is out of shape. Either way the wokerati don’t pounce on it with anywhere near the fervour that they do when someone describes a female lady in the same terms.

Not at all offended.

A few more reflections- I thoroughly enjoyed Jamie Bogyo as Alex- thought his singing was gorgeous throughout, and his acting absolutely fine. At the end of the day he’s a soldier, so a degree of woodenness is to be expected! Laura Pitt-Pulford was, for me, the stand out of the four leads, convincingly portraying the highly complex character of Rose. I admired the sheer emotion and fear in her last number, Anything But Lonely which she sang as a broken, distraught woman- a brave decision given the temptation to belt it out torch song style. I adored Danielle de Niese’s portrayal of Giulietta, and liked her singing voice, but for me she didn’t quite nail there is more to love nor hand me the wine and the dice. I can’t quite say why- technically they were more than on point but somehow something was missing.

A huge shout out to the young actress playing the young Jenny- what a voice, just lovely. Regarding Michael Ball, I’m afraid he didn’t do it for me. He has a great voice but IMHO is too young to play George and over did the cuddly avuncular uncle act. There was little evidence of a lothario at work, and the chemistry between him and Rose was no more than with her agent, Marcel.

I really admired the video and projection work, particularly given how poorly such technology has been used in some ALW shows, e.g. woman in white. The leaves and the rain in the second act were breath-taking and I loved the reveal of the orchestra. It’s a shame the subtlety and beauty of the set and staging did not extend to the marketing materials for the show, which feel somewhat out of kilter.

I do hope that this show reminds some how talented Lloyd Webber is after his more recent ‘light’ offerings e.g. Cinderella and School of Rock. I hope, after what must have been a very challenging few months with Phantom closing on Broadway, Cinderella being (in my opinion unfairly) mauled and sad news in his family that this new production is fairly reviewed and the sublime score celebrated thirty years on from its first outing.

Thanks for sharing these, they really look incredible.  It's shaping up to be a great revival

This Romeo and Juliet line has gone. As has her marriage proposal. They speak about her being 18 a lot but the way they’ve aged Alex in act 2 makes him look more like her grandad than her older cousin.

It looks like an am dram production!!

I'm more and more excited with each drip of pictures, clips and reports...

I saw this on Tuesday and left at the interval for the first time. Not for me at all. I can usually get over a ridiculous musical storyline but this one seemed particularly unlikely, the music didn't move me and the acting felt wooden. When people say, indiscriminately, "I hate musicals!", I felt that this was the sort of thing they would be imagining. Even Laura Pitt-Pulford couldn't save it. The style of music felt very 'Woman in White' to me and I love that show, but this one just rubbed me up completely the wrong way from the beginning.

Very interesting that almost everyone here has enjoyed it so much. I'd be interested to know if the people who particularly loved it have a history of loving the show or went in completely cold as I did. Definitely a case of 'different strokes for different folks'!

I was there on Tuesday too and also didn’t enjoy the show at all. I love the show and have done since I first saw it back in the 90s. I very much wanted to fall I love with it all over again.
I didn’t.
I still like the show, but I think this production fails it. I think the design is cheap. The set is basic, the projections are sometimes laughable (a candle being blown out? Really?) the costumes look like they come from Matalan. The direction isn’t detailed enough to get the nuances from the piece. And that’s where it fails.
The performances, fabulous as most of them are, can’t save it.
I was so disappointed. I didn’t leave in the interval though. Wasn’t even tempted. I sort of hoped it was going to improve.

>> I think I prefer his completely insane stuff (looking at you Evita)

Interesting, since Aspects, like it or not, is uber-insane: best not to examine its plot too closely ..... LOL

I saw this yesterday and I didn't really have any interest in the story, there was no one I cared enough about. I kept hearing little reminders of Sunset Boulevard and it made me wish I was watching that instead.