The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe -Leeds/Tour/GL/Brum

Comes to Soton 23-27 Nov 21

Does this mean the upcoming tour has found its White Witch in Samantha Womack?

http://instagram.com/p/CSe8eb7DnLQ

I remember seeing this at The Bridge. I thought it was far too long and incredibly slow. I thought there would be more dazzling special effects, there was maybe 1? Even that was poorly executed. It was really shabby looking too, holes in the giant skirt of the White Witch repaired with cellotape?! I mean, really?! Come on! And the casting was a total box ticking exercise.

She looks like an extra from Gosford Park, or at best second understudy Roxie Hart. She can act well but the pics don’t fill me with hope.

Saw this last night in Dublin and really enjoyed it. Seems to have been a few changes made since the previous tour judging by the comments here (the Professor isn't played like a pantomime character anymore). Staging was wonderful and the actor-musicians successfully filled the big Bord Gáis Theatre with a magical atmosphere.

I was sitting literally last row in the Upper Circle with a €16 ticket but practically everyone in it was great (particularly Karise Yansen as Lucy, you'd genuinely think she was a little girl...granted I was very far back).

My one gripe was with Aslan both the puppet and the actual man that stands next to the lion puppet. I would have liked if the lion was much bigger than he was, currently he looks pretty much like average lion height, which while the puppet is nice, he isn't as awe-inspiring or breathtaking as he could be. Similarly his mane is more like spikes, I would have preferred a different texture.
Chris Jared as Aslan, while a fine actor, I don't think he has the physical presence to inspire us as Aslan. I'd have preferred someone with a more powerful, deeper voice and direction that let the scenes breathe more, most of Aslan's scenes were 'blink and you'll miss it' types. I also would have preferred to just not have a human representation of Aslan at all but to have had his voice off-stage but I guess they don't want to put the (probably very expensive puppet) at risk of being broken during some of the heavier scenes.

A particular final shout-out goes out to Michael Ahomka Lindsay who played the wolf fantastically. His fight scene with Ammar Duffus' Peter is one of the few genuine fight scenes that I've seen from the Bord Gáis sky-high seats to be actually believable.

Would really recommend to anyone (particularly those with kids about 6 or older, some of the scenes would be too scary for younger children), especially if you can get a cheap ticket. I'd go again if I was still in Dublin for Paddy's weekend.

www.lionwitchonstage.com/

Now on sale. 18th July to 8th Jan and seems to be priced fairly reasonably.

Hi, had a good look around the Circle and it's only the very end two seats closest to the proscenium you should avoid. Best at lowest price are C11-12 or C76-77, then A12-13 or A76-77. Avoid B10-11 and B77-78 as rails are very restricted. It's a much better view from the sides than at Cinderella bar the Ball Scene of course.

Thanks for this. By the time I made a decision they had put bottom price up from £15 to £25. A shame as there are posters all over london saying tickets from £15!

Took a chance on this this afternoon as got a fantastic, very central Stalls row E seat at about midday on TodayTix rush.

Despite having a family say behind me that opened and unwrapped 2 whole packs of chocolate eclairs individually every 2 minutes for the first hour, I really enjoyed it.

The second act is definitely stronger than the first I think. Nice to have a few songs in there, and loved the actor-musician set up, and thought some of the staging and ‘magic’ was done really well.

Wouldn’t necessarily rush back to see it as often as some other things I see in the west end regularly, but very glad I went.

Yes, me thinks they put the price up just so they could have an offer 

I've gone for some £50 ones down to £25 which seemed a great deal

Have they kept the “children’s” Yorkshire accents?