490 posts
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Post by bimse on Jan 17, 2018 23:29:37 GMT
Andrew Flintoff was (in my opinion) embarrassingly poor on the tv series “Love, Lies and Records”. I hadn’t realised it was him , but I remember thinking it was strange they’d engaged this person for his looks (he was supposed to be a professional footballer getting married) rather than his acting ability, which was non existent. I felt sorry for the excellent actors in the series he was ruining , and for the professional actors who could and should have been given the role.
I haven’t seen Fat Friends, The Musical, but I’ve read his poor reviews and I just can’t understand why Kay Mellor persists with Mr Flintoff.
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183 posts
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Post by sirdaniel on Jan 18, 2018 2:23:56 GMT
On the way back to the East End from press night. It’s a nice evening, certainly not a contender for West-End or a new musical classic (that belongs to ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’)- far off it but for the target audience it’s aimed for it should have a healthy tour & will work on the amateur circuit down the line. There some nice melodies within some of its songs & there is a fantastic ‘Dreamgirls’ moment with massive flakes in a song about passion and chocolate. The story is wafer thin & light and Act 1 needs a chop for pacing - Act 2 is stronger but it’s a show that ties up all its plots and never gets too deep. So I must disclose you have to really suspend disbelief in the casting of roles and ages. Jodie’s character being 29/30 & Sam Bailey being 47 being her mam that had her young (in reality Sam is just 2 years older than Jodie being 40) & I got confused at first when she said ‘Mam’ but that said they have great voices & are the perfect stars to attract the target audience! I can’t comment on Freddie as he’s not yet in the tour but will presume he plays ‘The Vicar’ Well the cast member right now in the role has beautiful big arms!! Pleasant evening but not one to write home about (well I’m technically writing about it but you know what I mean!!) Freddie has already started but he’s only doing certain venues. He’s sharing whichever role Joel Montague has, can’t remember the name. |
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4,361 posts
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Post by shady23 on Jan 18, 2018 3:05:04 GMT
Joel or Freddie.
Waitrose finest of Aldi Basics. What a contrast!
Thankfully there's no mention of Freddie in literature for the show arriving in Newcastle next week and Joel is on the photo.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2018 8:19:31 GMT
Freddie Flintoff is no longer performing on the Thursday, Friday or Saturday in Sheffield anymore so I'll be seeing Joel instead. Can't say I'm disappointed.
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4,361 posts
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Post by shady23 on Jan 24, 2018 15:29:19 GMT
Contemplating going along to Newcastle tonight and am looking at prices online. They are pretty ridiculous. Restricted view in the dress circle £45. Restricted view in upper circle £40.
The world has gone mad!
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4,361 posts
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Post by shady23 on Jan 26, 2018 11:22:38 GMT
After lots of humming and ha-ing I had a bad day at work yesterday and decided that escapism in a theatre was just what the doctor ordered, so along to the beautiful Newcastle Theatre Royal I went. I got a half price standby ticket row C in the Grand Circle for £20.50 which was a great view.
As for the show? Yes it is predictable. Yes it is cheesy. Yes it is nothing new. Yes the set is a bit naff. Yes it is not going to win awards for ground breaking theatre, but it is also very well cast (note: I may not have said the same had I been in one of the venues that “Freddie” Flintoff was appearing…), well sung, funny and full of heart.
Thankfully we had Joel Montague playing the lead male role, Kevin. Freddie Flintoff takes the lead in some venues but I cannot imagine how a non-singer could even attempt this role, there’s some hard sings in there! Joel knocks it out the park of course and makes it look effortless and has a very believable chemistry with his fiancée Kelly (Jodie Prenger) which I cannot imagine is the case when Freddie is in that role as a likely couple that two do not make. Perhaps people seeing the tour in other venues will say otherwise, we shall see.
We had Paul Brangan making his show debut as the vicar, Paul (Jonathan Halliwell of Let it Shine fame was ill, presumably) and he was great, very sweet and a lovely voice.
The rest of the cast were great. Natalie Anderson was the Slimming Club leader, Lauren, who has a crush on the vicar and in charge of trying to motivate the hapless dieters.
Sam Bailey played Jodie Prenger’s Mum and I know someone said earlier in this thread how strange it was as they are only a few years apart. For me it worked. Jodie has blonde hair and is wearing “youthful” clothes so looks younger and you would not know they are only a few years apart. The two work well together. Sam’s acting is not exactly Olivier Award winning standard of course but it is perfectly fine and her singing voice is lovely. I think they make a great pairing and bounce well off each other (pardon the pun…) The “Dad” was played by Kevin Kennedy and he wasn’t in it that much and seems very much like a name for the sake of a name, but, again, it works and the audience lapped it up.
I was pleasantly surprised by Natasha Hamilton (of Atomic Kitten fame) who played the snarling diva, Julia, the head of the Slimming Business. Again, no awards are going to be won here but she had a great voice and looked like she was having lots of fun.
An underrated star for me who won’t get any of the headlines but maybe should, was Rachael Wooding, who played the sister, Joanne and also the assistant to Natasha Hamilton. The latter seemed to be a reincarnation of Natalie McQueen’s crazy Mad Hatter, whom of course she worked with on Wonderland. But Jodie Prenger is the real star of the show here, playing the hapless fiancée and reluctant dieter Kelly. She is the one who pulls this show together and is in glorious voice, belting the roof off.
All in all, it was worth seeing, but for me it is a very much a £30 show and not worth the ridiculous £50 ticket prices that they are charging. Sadly, now the standard for touring shows these days. The prices are not affecting the attendance, there have been very few empty seats all week for this. However, most of the attendees are middle aged affluent people. There was definitely a distinct lack of young people in the audience.
Three stars from me.
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821 posts
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Post by ensembleswings on Feb 11, 2018 12:33:02 GMT
I went to see this in Southampton last night, honestly enjoyed it far more than I was expecting. It's a show that I only went to see as my friend asked me to go with them, they are too anxious to go alone and nobody else wanted to go, so instead of them missing out I said I'd go. I'm glad I did though, the strong cast carried it. Freddie's role is relatively small singing wise, with only one solo song and a few lines in other songs, in all honesty he wasn't as bad as I was expecting him to be. We had the understudy on for Julia (Laura Mansell) and although Natalie Anderson played Lauren for act 1, Emma Crossley took over for act 2 (making her debut in the role) - it seems barely anyone around me had bothered to listen to the announcement at the end of the interval, as several appeared to be confused with the switch to begin with. Both covers were fab, I'd have no issues with seeing either again.
I agree that Sam Bailey and Jodie Prenger worked well as mum and daughter, I didn't think it would work as well as it did, costumes helped but for me it was believable.
For me, I found myself to be drawn to watching Rachael Wooding whenever she was onstage - especially as Joanne.
It's not a show I'd see again, but it was an enjoyable evening out. I laughed far more than I thought I would, so overall I'm glad I went.
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5,159 posts
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Post by TallPaul on Feb 13, 2018 14:01:27 GMT
I appreciate the Sheffield Lyceum is tiny compared to some venues on the tour, but it's almost a sell-out - less than 50 seats spread over the remaining 8 performances, out of 8,000.
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256 posts
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Post by grannyjx6 on Feb 15, 2018 19:37:21 GMT
I went to see it yesterday afternoon in Sheffield. I was a late booker and could only get seats for the Wednesday matinee (an additional show due to demand). I could only get seats in row D balcony which I hate because although the view is good, the leg room is awful and also you get a numb bum as the seats are not that well upholstered. However, I thought it was worth the agony as I really enjoyed it and we had Freddie! He's never going to audition for Les Mis, but coped pretty well with the singing and I thought he was quite sweet. Howled with laughing at the chocolate flake song, as did the rest of the audience. We left with a big smile on our faces and isn't that what going to the theatre is all about?
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2,422 posts
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Post by robertb213 on Mar 5, 2018 23:26:49 GMT
I must be in the minority but I left at the interval tonight at MK, I honestly thought it was one of the worst things I've ever seen. I adore both Jodie and Sam but this show was a complete waste of their talents, the script was awful, the songs were even worse, the first act felt like it was never going to end, it even resorted to a fart joke to try and grt laughs...just dreadful. My expectations weren't high going in, and I'm all for brainless fluff, but this was just diabolical! The opening night ATG offer was literally the only positive. But I'm glad others have enjoyed it 😁
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2,409 posts
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Post by theatreian on Mar 6, 2018 11:20:14 GMT
I guess that's why we are all different. It always interests me when there are 2 such different views on the same show. But hey that's why we are all different and like different things. Pity you didn't enjoy it more though Robert.
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848 posts
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Post by duncan on Apr 18, 2018 21:59:49 GMT
I was supposed to be going on Sunday but have today received a letter telling me that the Sunday performance has been cancelled and I can exchange for a ticket between Thursday and Saturday.
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61 posts
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Post by TheatreTwittic on Jun 1, 2021 18:36:08 GMT
It's back! Starring Lee Mead the production is going back on tour next year
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19,783 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 4, 2021 6:23:54 GMT
FRIDAY 14 JANUARY – SATURDAY 15 JANUARY 2022 The Orchard Theatre, Dartford www.orchardtheatre.co.ukTUESDAY 18 JANUARY – SATURDAY 22 JANUARY 2022 New Theatre, Cardiff www.newtheatrecardiff.co.uk(Lee Mead will not perform on Saturday 22 January 2022) MONDAY 24 JANUARY – SATURDAY 29 JANUARY 2022 Theatre Royal, Nottingham www.trch.co.ukMONDAY 31 JANUARY – SATURDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2022 The Lyceum, Sheffield www.sheffieldtheatres.co.ukMONDAY 7 FEBRUARY – SATURDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2022 King’s Theatre, Glasgow MONDAY 14 FEBRUARY – SATURDAY 19 FEBRUARY 2022 Theatre Royal, Newcastle www.theatreroyal.co.ukMONDAY 21 FEBRUARY – SATURDAY 5 MARCH 2022 Leeds Grand Theatre www.leedsheritagetheatres.comMONDAY 7 MARCH – SATURDAY 12 MARCH 2022 Edinburgh Festival Theatre www.capitaltheatres.comMONDAY 14 MARCH – SATURDAY 19 MARCH 2022 The Orchard Theatre, Dartford www.orchardtheatre.co.ukMONDAY 28 MARCH – SATURDAY 2 APRIL 2022 The Alexandra, Birmingham MONDAY 4 APRIL – SATURDAY 9 APRIL 2022 Mayflower Theatre, Southampton www.mayflower.org.ukMONDAY 11 APRIL – SATURDAY 16 APRIL 2022 The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury www.marlowetheatre.comMONDAY 25 APRIL – SATURDAY 30 APRIL 2022 Norwich Theatre Royal www.norwichtheatre.orgTUESDAY 3 MAY – SATURDAY 7 MAY 2022 Southend Cliffs Pavilion www.southendtheatres.org.ukMONDAY 9 MAY – SATURDAY 14 MAY 2022 Curve, Leicester www.curveonline.co.ukMONDAY 16 MAY – SATURDAY 21 MAY 2022 Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ieMONDAY 23 MAY – SATURDAY 28 MAY 2022 Liverpool Empire MONDAY 30 MAY – SATURDAY 4 JUNE 2022 The Alhambra Theatre, Bradford www.bradford-theatres.co.ukMONDAY 6 JUNE – SATURDAY 11 JUNE 2022 The Lowry, Salford www.thelowry.comMONDAY13 JUNE – SATURDAY 18 JUNE 2022 Wolverhampton Grand Theatre www.grandtheatre.co.ukMONDAY 20 JUNE – SATURDAY 25 JUNE 2022 Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury www.theatresevern.co.ukMONDAY 27 JUNE – SATURDAY 2 JULY 2022 Theatre Royal, Plymouth www.theatreroyal.comMONDAY 4 JULY – SATURDAY 9 JULY Bristol Hippodrome MONDAY 18 JULY – SATURDAY 23 JULY Hull New Theatre www.hulltheatres.co.uk |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2021 12:17:26 GMT
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19,783 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 8, 2021 8:50:03 GMT
Lee Mead, Sherrie Hewson and Les Dennis.
It’s still a hard pass for me.
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4,361 posts
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Post by shady23 on Oct 9, 2021 1:31:27 GMT
Disappointing casting for me and not really impressed by the publicity photos.
I think I will give this a miss second time round.
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422 posts
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Post by carmella1 on Oct 9, 2021 1:38:29 GMT
Disappointing casting for me and not really impressed by the publicity photos. I think I will give this a miss second time round. Who would you have cast? |
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256 posts
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Post by grannyjx6 on Oct 9, 2021 12:06:49 GMT
I’ve already got my tickets. I really enjoyed it the first time (even though we had Freddie Flintoft 🤔). I love Lee Mead and Les Dennis is hilarious.
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Post by enh2 on Jan 7, 2022 19:08:59 GMT
Looks as if this tour may been cancelled! ATG have removed all dates from their website alongside other theatres. I did see it wasn't selling very well!
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Post by FrontrowverPaul on Jan 7, 2022 22:16:03 GMT
Looks as if this tour may been cancelled! ATG have removed all dates from their website alongside other theatres. I did see it wasn't selling very well! The ATG website now shows Fat Friends as simply "Closed" and it's been removed from the Orchard Theatre Dartford website where it was scheduled to open next Friday. So sad for all involved. |
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112 posts
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Post by theatregod on Jan 26, 2022 0:35:08 GMT
Any rumours if it will get new dates if postponed rather than cancelled?!
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Post by enh2 on Jan 26, 2022 10:39:45 GMT
Any rumours if it will get new dates if postponed rather than cancelled?! It says on their website postponed. So I assume some new dates soon. |
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112 posts
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Post by theatregod on Sept 25, 2022 9:59:35 GMT
Sounds like this is completely cancelled and not returning, how gutting.
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