Kiss Me, Kate (Leeds Grand Theatre & London Coliseum)
Jul 4, 2018 22:59:49 GMT
wickedgrin likes this
Post by duncan on Jul 4, 2018 22:59:49 GMT
25. Kiss Me Kate - Festival
A production of Taming of the Shrew has more backstage than onstage drama - a leading man and lady who are divorced but still in love with each other, a second lead lady who is an awful actress and a second lead actor who is a drunk (in a storythread that goes NOWHERE after its introduction) and a gambler. Meanwhile two goons arrive at the theatre looking for payment on a gambling IOU with less than hilarious consequences.
Well I enjoyed the 32 or so orchestra who gave a very nice and rich performance, so rich that it drowned out a lot of the vocals - not that it really mattered as I was so unengaged with the onstage antics that I was hoping the dead pigeon would fall on me the second time.
Sometimes less is more and the second half of this show goes on and on and on and on in a series of songs that never end but then when they do they decide to come back and carry on for another five minutes before finishing but then they decide to come back on and carry on for another five minutes.
Zoe Rainey was the stand out for me in the cast, putting her heart and soul into it and also being heard from row F - something that couldn't be said of Quirijn De Lang as Fred who I found to be far too quiet compared to the orchestrations.
You know a show isn't entertaining you when you are spending long chunks wondering how they are paying for an orchestra of 30+ and another 30+ onstage performers. Cant help but think it would have been better in a scaled down version that concentrated on the actual show rather than seemingly flashing its penis jokes at us in an attempt to prove bigger is better.
A poor 3/10 for me.
A production of Taming of the Shrew has more backstage than onstage drama - a leading man and lady who are divorced but still in love with each other, a second lead lady who is an awful actress and a second lead actor who is a drunk (in a storythread that goes NOWHERE after its introduction) and a gambler. Meanwhile two goons arrive at the theatre looking for payment on a gambling IOU with less than hilarious consequences.
Well I enjoyed the 32 or so orchestra who gave a very nice and rich performance, so rich that it drowned out a lot of the vocals - not that it really mattered as I was so unengaged with the onstage antics that I was hoping the dead pigeon would fall on me the second time.
Sometimes less is more and the second half of this show goes on and on and on and on in a series of songs that never end but then when they do they decide to come back and carry on for another five minutes before finishing but then they decide to come back on and carry on for another five minutes.
Zoe Rainey was the stand out for me in the cast, putting her heart and soul into it and also being heard from row F - something that couldn't be said of Quirijn De Lang as Fred who I found to be far too quiet compared to the orchestrations.
You know a show isn't entertaining you when you are spending long chunks wondering how they are paying for an orchestra of 30+ and another 30+ onstage performers. Cant help but think it would have been better in a scaled down version that concentrated on the actual show rather than seemingly flashing its penis jokes at us in an attempt to prove bigger is better.
A poor 3/10 for me.