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Post by ceebee on Jul 14, 2024 21:55:14 GMT
Me too- am in Tuesday. I enjoyed the OAT production. Not for the influencer nonsense but for Douglas Hodge's memorable tunes.
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520 posts
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Post by theatreliker on Jul 24, 2024 6:31:07 GMT
She the tour last night in Leicester with Faye Tozer. It's a charming show with some nice ideas. Great for kids.
Tozer was a bit panto villain but the script takes her in that direction especially in her relationship with Casper and Jasper.
I can't say I remember any of the songs now. Some are really quite short, mere scene setters. Others drag out.
Good puppets... and a puppy!
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5,177 posts
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Post by Being Alive on Jul 24, 2024 9:17:23 GMT
Kerry Ellis as Cruella in Oxford and Brighton.
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Post by greenandbrownandblue on Jul 24, 2024 9:47:14 GMT
Kerry Ellis as Cruella in Oxford and Brighton. Good casting - would've liked to see her, though Faye Tozer was excellent. I enjoyed this, some lovely puppetry, a couple of decent songs (loved the opening number with different dogs/owners), simple but effective set. Charles Brunton excellent as always. The story loses its way a little in Act 2. It's too long and muddled. I've not seen the Glenn Close film in ages, and have never read the book - does the plot of this differ much from either? |
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Post by ruggerlad on Jul 25, 2024 21:12:56 GMT
Saw this tonight and thought it was pretty magical.
Lots of kids in the audience, throughly engrossed.
Puppetry for me was A+ for me.
Great staging, felt very lush and expensive, great production values.
Always lots going on the stage, all the transitions were super smooth.
Beautiful sentiments running through it.
TBH I only booked it as I've a week off and to see Faye in it.
What I got was a glorious reminder that the best theatre is when you surrender to the illusion before you.
Loved it.
'Take me hoommmeee!'
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Post by d'James on Jul 25, 2024 23:31:11 GMT
Saw this tonight and thought it was pretty magical. Lots of kids in the audience, throughly engrossed. Puppetry for me was A+ for me. Great staging, felt very lush and expensive, great production values. Always lots going on the stage, all the transitions were super smooth. Beautiful sentiments running through it. TBH I only booked it as I've a week off and to see Faye in it. What I got was a glorious reminder that the best theatre is when you surrender to the illusion before you. Loved it. 'Take me hoommmeee!' I was there tonight too. I really enjoyed it. Great fun for the family. It was also funnier than I expected. Great to see Faye get to show off her vocal range after last seeing her in Singin’ in the Rain. She was clearly loving camping it up all over the place. I much preferred the way they portrayed the animals here than in The Lion King. Would love a recording but only if it’s Faye on it. |
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Post by theatrefan2007 on Aug 14, 2024 21:37:36 GMT
Saw this tonight and thought it was really good. The cast was brilliant and I thought Kym was a great Cruella. Loved the music as well and thought the set was great.
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3,316 posts
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Post by david on Sept 25, 2024 18:10:59 GMT
A few thoughts from last night’s viewing at the Liverpool Empire. Having a great night at the OAT during its original run and giving it a 4⭐️ rating and based on my viewing last night I’d still rate this tour the same.
A really fun watch with a great cast and staging that seemed to keep the young and older audience members throughly entertained for the entire night. The cast really do a great job with the puppetry in bringing the dogs and cats to life. Sitting in the front row of the stalls, all the Dalmatian puppets looked fantastic up close. As with the OAT, the 101st Dalmatian at the end of the show definitely gets a really nice reception on its appearance.
Alongside the puppets, Kym Marsh made for a really good and funny CDV with Sam Thomas and Jessie Elland making an engaging couple as Tom and Danielle.
This is definitely recommended for a nice night out at the theatre with the kids.
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2,014 posts
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Post by distantcousin on Oct 2, 2024 7:34:25 GMT
My work colleague - a regular theatregoer, usually of the the more "feelgood" end of musicals - found it completely boring and underwhelming! She and her 17 year old daughter nearly left at the interval! Oh dear.
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Post by d'James on Oct 2, 2024 11:28:36 GMT
My work colleague - a regular theatregoer, usually of the the more "feelgood" end of musicals - found it completely boring and underwhelming! She and her 17 year old daughter nearly left at the interval! Oh dear. A 17 year-old girl is hardly the target audience... |
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1,259 posts
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Post by theatrelover123 on Oct 2, 2024 22:42:27 GMT
My work colleague - a regular theatregoer, usually of the the more "feelgood" end of musicals - found it completely boring and underwhelming! She and her 17 year old daughter nearly left at the interval! Oh dear. a 17 year-old girl is hardly the target audience... Surely it depends on the 13 year old girl? |
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1,742 posts
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Post by fiyero on Oct 22, 2024 21:28:46 GMT
Saw this tonight in Southampton.
What? I.. what? How? Who? Why?
7pm start and has jokes about weeing so must be a kid's show?
Big Dick Energy*, what the Bleep song and other bits I wouldn't expect in a kid's show.
Daft sidekicks, oh it's a panto?
Is one of the puppies non-binary? Ok
As you might guess I really didn't connect with this. Part might be audience behaviour causing a distraction but definitely more to it than that. The cast were all fab (though not sure if Kym was on a click track or otherwise enhanced)
*From reading this thread it seems it may be big stick energy but the context wasn't strong enough for me to hear that.
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Post by jamesd123 on Oct 24, 2024 8:27:54 GMT
Saw this tonight in Southampton. What? I.. what? How? Who? Why? 7pm start and has jokes about weeing so must be a kid's show? Big Dick Energy*, what the Bleep song and other bits I wouldn't expect in a kid's show. Daft sidekicks, oh it's a panto? Is one of the puppies non-binary? Ok As you might guess I really didn't connect with this. Part might be audience behaviour causing a distraction but definitely more to it than that. The cast were all fab (though not sure if Kym was on a click track or otherwise enhanced) *From reading this thread it seems it may be big stick energy but the context wasn't strong enough for me to hear that. I also heard big d*ck energy when I saw it… I fear this is a bit of a dud. |
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Post by Dave B on Nov 11, 2024 10:38:14 GMT
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5,886 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Nov 11, 2024 10:48:38 GMT
I do love the Apollos commitment to putting on terrible musicals every year.
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Post by blamerobots on Nov 11, 2024 11:36:20 GMT
This was prematurely up on TodayTix yesterday night but I didn't even bother posting it here because I didn't think anyone would care. Thought it was terrible at OAT but to be fair, I'm outside the target audience. 
Marketing material looks downright awful. Cookie cutter-looking logo and awkward black with barely any outline on a red background... readability nightmare. I'd settle for the simplified style and the wonderful poster that was used before.
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Post by d'James on Nov 11, 2024 12:17:52 GMT
If it’s Faye playing Cruella, I’ll definitely go and see it again. Really enjoyed it in Leicester in July.
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Post by ceebee on Nov 11, 2024 13:39:18 GMT
I do love the Apollos commitment to putting on terrible musicals every year. That's a bit rrruff on 101 Dalmatians. |
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Post by theatrefan2007 on Nov 11, 2024 15:35:50 GMT
I loved this when I saw it in Belfast and I thought Kym Marsh and the rest of the class was brilliant but why are they putting it in the Eventim Apollo?
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Post by ladidah on Nov 11, 2024 15:55:58 GMT
Looks like they are hoping to capture the summer school holidays
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Post by SilverFox on Nov 12, 2024 17:11:21 GMT
If it’s Faye playing Cruella, I’ll definitely go and see it again. Really enjoyed it in Leicester in July. I think it is Kerry Ellis for the Hammersmith run - tickets £35 to £119 |
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Post by d'James on Nov 12, 2024 17:19:04 GMT
If it’s Faye playing Cruella, I’ll definitely go and see it again. Really enjoyed it in Leicester in July. I think it is Kerry Ellis for the Hammersmith run - tickets £35 to £119 Oh I thought she was doing Oxford and one other date. I haven't seen her mentioned anywhere for Hammersmith. If she is doing it, I hope it's split with Faye somewhere. |
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Post by duncan on Nov 20, 2024 15:32:20 GMT
Looking upthread the show I saw last night appears to have very little in common with what was originally produced in London - it looks like most of the first act has had new songs dropped in to replace many of the originals. Mind you it also looks as if they've lost about a third of the cast/roles as we had 16 people on stage last night.
Its a very beige show - there is nothing that I can say I didn't really like but there is also nothing I can say blew me away. The puppet dogs are fine, the singing is fine, the acting is fine and so on. The only real negative I can think of is that the set was lost on the Playhouse cavern and there seemed to be large chunks either side draped off with black to try and hide how small in comparison the set was.
No Faye last night with Rachel Lea-Gray on as Cruella and she was giving it her all, which is what the part needs.
There are questions I have regarding the story - its a very abrupt ending, we go from the dogs being lost and unable to find their way home to being at the front door in the blink of an eye and the twilight barking really needs introduced earlier as its a bit deus ex machina when it does appear to move the plot along. Contrast with the set up of how they are going to turn the electricity* off to get the dogs out of the cages where the resolution to that is set up well in advance.
A very big family audience in and a lot of dog ears and cuddly Dalmatian toys being sold and yet there are several jokes that are shall we say adult in their intent and hopefully go over the heads of the youngsters or else there could be awkward questions on the way home.
* - although I did wonder if by calling it electrickery that was a call out to long forgotten terrible ITV kids show, Catweazle.
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Post by d'James on Nov 20, 2024 16:57:22 GMT
Looking upthread the show I saw last night appears to have very little in common with what was originally produced in London - it looks like most of the first act has had new songs dropped in to replace many of the originals. Mind you it also looks as if they've lost about a third of the cast/roles as we had 16 people on stage last night. Its a very beige show - there is nothing that I can say I didn't really like but there is also nothing I can say blew me away. The puppet dogs are fine, the singing is fine, the acting is fine and so on. The only real negative I can think of is that the set was lost on the Playhouse cavern and there seemed to be large chunks either side draped off with black to try and hide how small in comparison the set was. No Faye last night with Rachel Lea-Gray on as Cruella and she was giving it her all, which is what the part needs. There are questions I have regarding the story - its a very abrupt ending, we go from the dogs being lost and unable to find their way home to being at the front door in the blink of an eye and the twilight barking really needs introduced earlier as its a bit deus ex machina when it does appear to move the plot along. Contrast with the set up of how they are going to turn the electricity* off to get the dogs out of the cages where the resolution to that is set up well in advance. A very big family audience in and a lot of dog ears and cuddly Dalmatian toys being sold and yet there are several jokes that are shall we say adult in their intent and hopefully go over the heads of the youngsters or else there could be awkward questions on the way home. * - although I did wonder if by calling it electrickery that was a call out to long forgotten terrible ITV kids show, Catweazle. Faye was advertised from the beginning as missing last night due to the Steps' show gala night. |
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Post by duncan on Nov 20, 2024 17:20:04 GMT
Yes - it was on the website etc.
If you didn't know then you'd probably not have been able to tell anyway!
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