Treason - TRDL / Tour

Tbh I absolutely hates the concerts last year, thought the songs were forgettable, and everything else was too referential, the rapping narration was cringey and made no sense, people didn’t know when to clap as the songs lacked a clear ending, the ensemble costumes were bad &juliet knock offs, the king being pretty much ripped from Hamilton, plus les Denis awful vocals haha big pass don’t think this show deserved the reviews it got I think it only got them because a certain performer was in it

I saw this on Friday in Edinburgh. This was a case of the cast being far better than the material they were asked to deliver. A ballad heavy show with little character development. The songs are unmemorable and the Act One finale fails to build to a climax. The whole thing felt like a watered down Hamilton.

I was at the matinee yesterday. The cast are immensely talented and it was incredibly well sung with some great choreography but I struggled with the story telling throughout. I wasn't sure exactly what was happening at points and, despite the first Act having lots of big songs which seemed to have the intention of setting up each character, there were times when I wasn't sure who each person was. The gunpowder section was over so quickly in relation to the build up and Guy Fawkes' involvement seemed to come from nowhere. I wondered if it would have been more successful to tell a more focused part of the story. That said, Les Mis covers a much larger timeframe successfully, so it can clearly be done with the right material. It might have been helpful to go in with more prior knowledge of the story (I realised that my knowledge of political happenings of the time was woefully lacking!) and it did encourage me to read about it afterwards, so there definitely is something interesting in the source material.

There were some strong songs (particularly sung by the female lead- either solo or in duets) but there didn't seem to be a coherent style. Sometimes it was very folk-based (there were actually some really lovely folk moments when the whole cast were singing), but this was mixed with lots of huge ballads and some (I think) R&B. The King's songs felt jarring, rather than delivering the lighter moments I think they were designed for.

There is something there but not in its current form. The cast did a brilliant job with the material they had and, while I didn't particularly enjoy the show itself, I really enjoyed their performances and voices.

This really didn’t work for me. It should be good but it’s just not, unfortunately.

Too laboured, pacing all wrong, too many forgettable songs. Not enough tension or character development.

I saw it in concert last year with a stronger cast and thought it was OK, with room for improvement. Well, a year on and it has managed to go backwards somehow.

My biggest issue with it is that it is completely joyless.

Despite my reservations, Nicole Raquel Dennis was impressive and ‘The Inevitable’ sounded as good as Lucie Jones or Carrie Hope Fletcher.

Two stars.

Half time in a woefully undersold Alexandra Palace.

I have to say - I like it! There are some good songs from the concert missing, but I am more invested in the characters, the pacing is better in terms of the evolution of the plot and the performances are great.

Does it still need some work? Absolutely, but I think so many of the reviews have been harsher than the show deserves.

Must be bad if even All that Dazzles didn’t like it.

I mean Treason has been very much reviewed as a bad version of Hamilton. One of my writers reviewed it for my blog and gave it 2 stars, they quickly unfollowed us on all social platforms as a result 😂 x

The Palladium thing was quite last minute because (correct me if I'm wrong) they were due to visit Dartford but the theatre is closed because of the concrete thing that became a problem for Northampton amongst others?

Wildly misjudged, but they probably got the Palladium slightly cheaper than it would normally be as it was relatively last minute and it would give the Palladium some income for that evening rather than being dark and having £0 (it's how it works for me in my venue hiring although it's on a smaller scale than the Palladium obvs!)