The Secret Life of Bees - Almeida 2023

Oh this was actually very bad to me.

Great cast (Rachel, Danielle, Ava etc I'd pay to watch sing anything) but gosh, what a diabolically written musical this is.

Wild to me that Lynn Nottage and Duncan Sheik produced something so turgid, uninteresting and unengaging.

We had a cover for Lily, seemed to be her debut by the applause from the cast at the end - she was fine.

2 stars. What a snore.

This wasn’t entirely my cup of tea. For a production that relies so heavily on its music, the songs weren’t quite strong enough in my view - but glad to see others have enjoyed it.

It was very hot up in the circle this evening so I must admit I came close to nodding off at one or two moments!

Just getting in from tonight's performance and I had really been looking forward to this, having missed it in New York. And I liked it quite a bit. I can't put my finger on exactly why I didn't enjoy it more, say to bump it from 3 stars to 4, but I think it felt a bit unfinished - like a musical in it's earlier stages that still needs to refine itself. I found some of the music absolutely beautiful and would love a cast recording and really, the cast was all top notch, not a weak one in the bunch. I don't know what the future is for this musical but I hope they continue to work on it a little more if they move forward with productions in the UK or USA.

I booked this months ago out of curiosity. I didn't know the novel or the film, and I was thinking it might be some overly sentimental rubbish when I read the plot. Well, I was wrong. Though it is not perfect I found it very moving and entertaining. The songs are fantastic; I have read some comments here saying they weren't memorable, but at least four or five numbers are really good (the love duet, the argument between the two sisters, the end of both acts). The lighting is beautiful and the acting mostly good. On the minus side, it feels a bit bland at times, Rosaleen's character half disappears on the second half, and I did not like Eleanor Worthington-Cox's acting, but to be fair I am not sure if it was the direction or the actor, or both.

I think it has not been given a full Broadway production, maybe with some work it could be a really good musical.

I was also at today’s matinee. This really was a mixed bag for me. The big positives for me were the score - really lovely songs to listen to and the closing numbers of each Act were particular standouts for me and the cast vocals which I can only describe as stunning. I’d certainly purchase an OCR from this show from my visit today. From the technical side, the set and lighting design also get a big thumbs up from me.

The biggest issue I had with this viewing was with the book from Lynn Nottage which for me stopped it from taking this show to the next level and definitely needs further work. It felt really slow pacing wise and I just wanted a bit more tension and drama. With the subject matter of Civil Rights and the plot strand about Lily not really explored in any great depth for me, the potential was there for a more engaging story, but never materialised.

Tonight's performance cancelled due to cast ill-health; rest of run sold out so refunded.
This happened to me with Spring Awakening too; I don't have much luck with musicals at the Almeida!

Ouch, sorry for you! Saw last night and enjoyed it very very much. No obvious signs of anyone struggling. Had read the book too so knew what to expect (with a few changes and a major character plotline alteration); perhaps cutting the interval and a couple of "samey" songs would tighten, but overall good!

I managed to pick up a couple of returns late on Friday night for tonight (Monday). Reading here about cancelled shows on Thursday and Saturday, it seems I was pretty lucky to get to see this show. If there were any understudies, the fact was not made known.

This was a pleasant enough way to while away an evening, but I could not get on board with the rapturous applause and ovation from nearly everyone present. The reasons have pretty much been covered thoroughly by earlier posters.

If there's blame, it rests not with the fine cast. It is mainly the script, which has the narrative pacing all wrong (especially in Act 2) and leaves characters under-developed. As is often the case in dramas involving racial tensions, the playwright draws heavily on extreme stereotypes. But partly, it's the direction. More skilled hands could have ironed out the flaws in the material.

A key problem is that I did not warm to Lily and her relentless melancholic disposition. The book has her repeatedly ignoring sage advice for self-centred reasons, and being annoyingly weak until suddenly she isn't.

Finally, there is no resolution. The material simply peters out.

And what is the significance of the bees of the title? They are entirely incidental, apart from a half-formed, love them and they love you message, whatever that was meant to mean.

The music is good but the lyrics need a lot of work. For example, when given a notebook as a present, Lily sings, "It's not too big and it's not too small". Really?

The set design proves you can do small and simple yet still evoke the feel of the American Deep South. (Are you watching Rebecca Frecknall?) The lighting design helped tremendously here, but the frequent use of back lighting was blinding for us in the front row.

The sound design was poor. Many vocals were drowned out by the music, and the quality of the reproduction of the musical instruments lacked fidelity. It was the sort of sound you hear in nightclubs with cheap speakers.

Three stars.

Act 1: 19:37-20:45
Act 2: 21:07-22:10

Yikes.

Saw a great cover on when I went, but now it seems the leads and their covers are down too.

Hoping this can go on for the matinee today, otherwise that’s some seriously bad luck for me with the Almeida and musicals (have had cancelled performances of Spring Awakening and Tammy Faye before).

It sadly looks like both today's performances may have also been cancelled. Both performances have changed from showing as "Sold out" to "Tickets not on sale" on the Almeida website. The same change has appeared for all previous cancellations. Nothing announced by the theatre as of yet though.

I'm supposed to go on Friday, but now I'm getting scared that they might cancel all remaining performances. I really wanted to see this!