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Post by jgblunners on May 22, 2019 8:52:02 GMT
Well I’m sad to say that I found this quite disappointing last night. I think my main criticism is that the pacing felt far too slow, particularly in Act One where we see little snippets of small town life. It needed to be far more concentrated. As soon as scenes shift toward the story of George and Emily, it suddenly picks up and everything feels much more engaging. There are some great performances, particularly from the performers playing George, Emily, and Emily’s parents.
I really struggled to see how this play won a Pulitzer. The three acts are tonally very different, and while the concept of using no scenery and few props until that scene close to the end is a neat one, the overarching message of the play doesn’t land very smoothly for me. Honestly, i’d rather watch a whole play explicitly about George and Emily’s life than this attempt at existential advice. It will be interesting to see what the critics say after press night tonight, as there were many audience members around me who seemed to really enjoy it.
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Post by jgblunners on May 20, 2019 14:44:13 GMT
Tonight: Rosmersholm Tomorrow: Our Town Thursday: Amelie Saturday: Benjamin Button and Death of a Salesman
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Post by jgblunners on May 16, 2019 7:53:48 GMT
This is lots of fun and drama for the fans but I feel sorry for the understudy. It does seem unfair doesn’t it. Is this perhaps something that the American producers have pushed for? I remember when Andy Karl was out of Pretty Woman for a week and they rehearsed Adam Pascal to take over rather than putting the understudy, people were saying that it’s not uncommon for this type of thing to happen in America when principles are out for several consecutive shows.
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Post by jgblunners on May 15, 2019 21:51:07 GMT
So we know that Kat is away for the rest of the week, now take a look at these tweets:
We all love to speculate here, so I’m gonna go ahead and say that Lucie Jones may well be going on tomorrow...
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Post by jgblunners on May 14, 2019 9:29:59 GMT
Small Island at the NT tonight, The Music of Eric Whitacre at RFH tomorrow
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Post by jgblunners on May 9, 2019 15:39:42 GMT
Saw this last night from a standing place in the Stalls (not bad for £15) and thought that it was very good but missed out on a lot of its potential. Gillian Anderson and all of the supporting cast are perfect. The direction and staging are brilliant (I loved the rising walls). The use of film is further refined from van Hove's work in Network and is very smooth and impressive. However, it did not feel like it belonged in this play. In another setting, it could be an immensely powerful theatrical tool, but here it sort of felt like he had just included it because he could. It felt particularly odd to use film in a play about stage actresses, where theatre is mentioned constantly and screen work only in passing. And then there's Lily James - she was good, I'll give her that, but only good. I wanted more nuance, more of a journey for Eve. I'd bet that most people in the audience knew at least the basic premise of the play, which means they know where Eve's going to end up (it's even stated in the opening monologue). This means that the actress playing Eve has to be totally convincing in her facade, especially in the first half when we have to believe that she's innocent or at the very least believe that she could convince the other characters of that. I didn't get that from Lily James - she started too close to the 'final' Eve and thus failed to impart the full potential of the character.
That may sound harsh, but in a play with the character's name in the title, I had hoped for the casting of Eve to be absolutely spot-on. Anyway, I did enjoy it immensely and am steadily forming a very high opinion of van Hove as a director, this being the third play of his that I've seen.
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Post by jgblunners on May 9, 2019 15:24:07 GMT
Saw this on Tuesday - 5 stars, absolutely incredible performance from Her Royal Highness Maggie. I don't care whether she was acting the forgetfulness or genuinely losing her place, because she was riveting. The material is indeed pretty average, but in her hands it is elevated to a captivating and thought-provoking evening during which a woman in a chair conjures up vivid images of a time and place that is miles away from anything I've ever known. For me, the most intriguing aspect was the ambiguity of whether she genuinely felt guilt-free about the part she played or whether she simply buried the guilt for her own protection. After all, she goes to great lengths to tell us how intelligent and hard-working she was, but then claims that many things simply passed her by because it 'wasn't her place' to know them or because she was simply 'too stupid' to notice. And then there's the whole 'I had no choice' argument, which is another kettle of fish...
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Post by jgblunners on May 9, 2019 15:13:38 GMT
I have no doubt that they'll find a good way to fill these large stages, be it with set, lighting, projections, band, whatever. What I'm wondering though is how the loss of intimacy will affect the show - at the Arts, it's like you're part of the gang for 75 mins. From the back row of the Mayflower, it definitely won't feel like that...
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Post by jgblunners on May 9, 2019 15:10:48 GMT
I did hear a rumour that a certain Ms Sheen may be returning to the West End later this year, as a previously injury-stricken performer might take the show on tour...
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Post by jgblunners on May 6, 2019 23:56:20 GMT
A German Life on Tuesday (tonight!)
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Post by jgblunners on May 4, 2019 15:22:42 GMT
The first performance of the Opera in which she's starring at Glyndebourne is June 8th, hence the days off from this.
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Post by jgblunners on Apr 29, 2019 18:44:37 GMT
Oh my god, this is gonna be so cheesy... I love it.
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Post by jgblunners on Apr 24, 2019 12:47:01 GMT
Good, but very much in the background - she's not really given anything to do well, that's some f***ery right there. Danielle?! In the background?! Please. How about we add Two Out of Three in there, spruce it up a little bit. To be fair, she is the key player in the first (brilliant) scene change, but after that doesn't really get much time in the limelight.
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Post by jgblunners on Apr 23, 2019 10:17:01 GMT
The Almeida Three Sisters tonight!
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Post by jgblunners on Apr 19, 2019 15:31:28 GMT
That made me chuckle as there is actually a sink with functioning taps used in the production 😂
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Post by jgblunners on Apr 15, 2019 19:59:41 GMT
And word on the Glinda standby coming from the AV tonight? Maria left the weekend, there were stories of Charli Baptie, stories that they were waiting it out til cast change, but now nothing seems to have happened? I believe Samantha Thomas (1st cover) was on tonight, so they may not have a standby in the building at the moment.
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Post by jgblunners on Apr 15, 2019 11:03:16 GMT
can I dream cast Louise Dearman as Trina already? Its never too early to dream cast on Theatreboard! 😜 I actually don’t see Dearman being right for Trina. My immediate thought was Jodie Jacobs as Charlotte, but I’m not sure if that role is normally cast as a woman of colour? If so, I’d go for Rachel John. Another thought: Suzie Mathers as Cordelia?
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Post by jgblunners on Apr 15, 2019 10:48:36 GMT
The fact they apparently haven’t cast Elphaba yet, gives me hope they are searching for someone totally new , and not from the Tour. Well didn’t Lucie Jones say she’d had callbacks for it this year? So they are at least looking...
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Post by jgblunners on Apr 15, 2019 9:15:17 GMT
Yes! Been wanting it to appear over here for ages. Perfect venue for it too. Very exciting news 🎉
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Post by jgblunners on Apr 12, 2019 21:17:13 GMT
Is this one to book now or could there be discounts closer to the time? I remember seeing deals for Little Shop towards the end of the run last year. Unfortunately I can’t take advantage of the brilliant Under 18 half price tickets this year💔 Their 18-25 membership costs a one-off £10 fee and lets you book Band B seats for any production (including the Barbican transfer of JCS) for £10 each, so even if you just book one ticket for one production it'll cost you £20 in total instead of £50. The only catch is you can only book for preview performances, so it's not ideal in terms of flexibility, but you get other benefits too. openairtheatre.com/breeze
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Post by jgblunners on Apr 12, 2019 9:09:05 GMT
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Post by jgblunners on Apr 12, 2019 9:07:03 GMT
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Post by jgblunners on Apr 12, 2019 8:38:48 GMT
What are other people's thoughts of booing of a 'baddie' at CC? Totally inappropriate. Curtain call is for thanking the actors and showing your appreciation. Booing is acceptable at panto, where the whole thing is a send-up and the actors are in on it, but nowhere else. Of course this is just my opinion and some actors go along with it - when I saw the Lion King, Scar got boos and he was lapping it up.
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Post by jgblunners on Apr 12, 2019 6:30:56 GMT
I was assuming the prank was the offer letter - faked by classmates and thought by him to be real? That's how I understood it as well. The letter was the prank, not someone figuring out how to access his social media. Wow, kids are mean. What a horrible thing to do to someone who has clearly dreamed of playing this role.
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Post by jgblunners on Apr 12, 2019 6:26:09 GMT
Cardle as Pilate? That’ll be interesting. Glad to see Cornwall back, and I assume Amzi is cast as Annas which seems like a good fit to me. The others I’ve never heard of. Which is probably a good thing tbh. Intriguing that they’ve gone for a very different look this time - the guy playing Judas has more of a Declan Bennett look about him, and the guy playing Jesus appears much younger and softer. I wonder if that’s deliberate or just how the casting process turned out?
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