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Post by jgblunners on Mar 20, 2019 11:04:00 GMT
Looking at the app today, it appears that TodayTix will be doing £25 Rush Tickets for this.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 19, 2019 8:11:47 GMT
I find it slightly ridiculous that they're starting to build hype for a show that's not opening until late 2020 when some West End theatres haven't even announced their programming for the rest of this year yet. Why's it ridiculous? They've got shed loads of tickets to sell! I just find it odd to be seeing a trailer for a show that’s 18 months from opening, it feels so far away.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 19, 2019 7:53:36 GMT
I find it slightly ridiculous that they're starting to build hype for a show that's not opening until late 2020 when some West End theatres haven't even announced their programming for the rest of this year yet.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 19, 2019 7:51:45 GMT
How old is Juliet supposed to be in this show? Is it like a "10 years later" thing or is it supposed to pick up (almost) where the play ends? I believe it's the latter, creating an alternate timeline from the point where she wakes up and finds Romeo.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 18, 2019 0:32:27 GMT
On Tuesday I'll be at the Making of Follies talks at the NT before heading over to Stratford to see Equus in the evening.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 10, 2019 10:11:26 GMT
I have to agree with most of whats been said by others - it's still just as brilliant as its previous incarnation. A masterpiece from Dominic Cooke. 'Who's That Woman' was joyful and thrilling, and did seem more complex than before. 'I'm Still Here' was, dare I say, even better than last year. If Bennett was deviating from the path before, someone's clearly reigned her in as last night's rendition was focussed, funny, and musically close to perfection. I actually preferred Felicity Lott to Josephine Barstow - 'One More Kiss' was heartbreaking and beautiful last night, and pulled emotion out of me that it failed to last year.
It's very much still the Janie Dee and Peter Forbes show, but Joanna Riding made me understand Sally in a way Imelda didn't and her voice is much more suited to the score. I did, however, feel that Imelda's 'Losing My Mind' was better. In my opinion it didn't need the extra things that have been added, and while Riding knocked it out of the park musically I felt she didn't quite capture the same devastation that I got from Imelda. Regarding Alex Hanson - I would've said he was perfect if I hadn't seen Philip Quast. Unfortunately Hanson suffered from the change to 'Live, Laugh, Love' which made it less effective - I would like to see what he could've done with it had it been left in the form that Quast was given.
All the other new cast members were very good as well, although I did feel that the only one of the young lovers who managed to capture the same sparkle as their previous counterpart was Gemma Sutton. Im nitpicking though, this is still a 5 star sensation and deserves to be remembered as a NT triumph for a long time.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 10, 2019 9:53:07 GMT
I very much enjoyed seeing this yesterday afternoon. Joanne Frogatt was fantastic and the supporting cast all very good too. I really liked the set design but wasn't really a fan of the projections. I'm not sure I'd call the play a psychological thriller, but it was quite captivating and raised some interesting questions about the characters. It's not the most subtly written thing in the world, and occasionally I felt the first-person narrative style was being used as an excuse not to actually write the play rather than as a dramatic device. Nonetheless, I had a good time and sometimes that's all you want.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 8, 2019 13:07:35 GMT
Personally I'm a fan of Michael Colbourne and his basketball tank top in that scene...
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 8, 2019 10:24:05 GMT
Oh no anita that's terrible - glad you managed to get home eventually! I ended up returning my ticket as I was very tired yesterday and honestly wasn't that fussed about seeing it. Sounds like I made the right call - what a shambles! With so much filming done in theatres these days it seems absurd that it was so poorly organised.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 7, 2019 17:06:15 GMT
Just booked for these events and thought others on here might also be interested: ‘The Making of Follies’ day - looks fascinating, with talks from the director and some of the designers, a session showing how they approached rehearsals, and technical demonstrations of set and lighting. I love behind-the-scenes stuff like this and student tickets are a bargain at £15! www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/making-folliesI’m also going to one of the ‘After Lights Down’ tours showing workshops and backstage areas and ending with the change to go on the Olivier stage: www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/after-lights-down-tours
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 5, 2019 19:02:41 GMT
Thanks for explaining how it works. I’m not suggesting that’s the only reason that Hadestown got snubbed - as @posterj said, it had mixed responses - but given that we’ve all seen how the Olivier Awards sometimes pay more attention to other factors over actual artistic merit, I wouldn’t be surprised if what I mentioned didn’t play a part for the judging panel.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 5, 2019 14:16:07 GMT
Maybe a silly question but would this have been eligible for the Olivier Awards this year, given that it hasn't officially opened? It wasn't - it'll be eligible for next year's awards
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 5, 2019 13:56:03 GMT
Unpopular opinion, but Six getting nominations instead of Hadestown is the biggest joke of the decade. It makes sense though - it's better publicity to nominate a home-grown show by a new young creative team that has worked its way up from the Fringe and touring to a long run in a West End venue rather than an American show that's been in development for years and took up space in a publicly subsidised UK theatre when it already had the commercial success for a Broadway transfer. The Oliviers will get much better press for nominating SiX and dodge any queries about whether Hadestown was really appropriate to be staged at the National.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 5, 2019 13:52:01 GMT
Has anyone paged @emicardiff about Susan Brown? Or is she already organising her campaign...
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 5, 2019 13:22:56 GMT
I'm pretty happy with the nominations, although also surprised that there was nothing for Hadestown. Very happy to see a lot of nominations for SiX and Come From Away! There is one glaring omission though and that's Paul Hilton for Supporting Actor. He definitely deserves to be in there - more so than Redgrave deserves to be in Supporting Actress.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 4, 2019 21:23:34 GMT
Tuesday: TINA Saturday: Alys, Always and Follies
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 1, 2019 13:38:24 GMT
the producers have opted to cover her forehead in latex and pounds of makeup to blend that latex with her skin I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure stage wigs aren't made on latex caps - even if the hair itself is, the part that joins with the skin is some sort of fine netting so that it blends well. You can often see the netting if you're sat close enough in a theatre.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 1, 2019 9:09:57 GMT
I'm oddly excited by this. While I would really have preferred someone with a bigger voice, we know that Sheridan can sing well so it could have been much worse in that regard. She certainly has the charisma to be very engaging in the role, so it'll be interesting to see how she does. What does concern me, though, is the 'comedic changes' mentioned. The narrator is not meant to be gurning her way through the show and I think that Sheridan is a talented enough comic actress to bring a fair amount of comedy to the role in its standard version. If Laurence Connor pushes her too far it could ruin the balance of the show.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 1, 2019 9:04:33 GMT
Hmm. It's good but not mind-blowing. I prefer the off-broadway recording, it's much better produced. Oddly some of the vocal choices on this album are not as they were in the show - perhaps a mismatch between what the MD was telling them to do on stage and what the writers were telling them to do in the recording booth? The voices are also less vibrant than in the theatre. It feels like something has been done somewhere along the production process that has made voices flatter (not in pitch but in timbre) - I find it most noticeable with Carrie and Jamie, whose voices just don't come across as energetic or textured as in the theatre.
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 26, 2019 16:59:36 GMT
This was a play of two halves for me - partly in that Act Two is overall much stronger than Act One, but also that any scene involving Denis O'Hare is significantly better than one without him. He is really quite brilliant - he has great comedic timing, throws himself into the physicality of the role, and is very good at blurring the line between Tartuffe playing the fool and actually being one. Unfortunately he rather overshadows the other male cast members, hence why Act One is slightly flat in his absence. I felt Kevin Doyle was nearly there with Orgon but he just needed a little more authority. Enyi Okoronkwo was mugging a little bit too much for my liking as Damis and Hari Dhillon did a decent job as the straight-man Cleante. Geoffrey Lumb's Valere was suitably overzealous and self-righteous. This show really belongs to the women though - Olivia Williams, Kitty Archer, Kathy Kiera Clarke, and Susan Engel all tread the line of caricature without ever crossing it, which is an impressive feat. Williams and O'Hare's farce scenes are the highlights of the play, they have their movements and timings perfectly honed.
I've not seen any version of Tartuffe before, so have nothing to compare this to, but I felt the writing was mostly very good but it was sort of let down by the direction. Too many comic lines didn't land - they either needed more energy, a faster pace, or a more direct delivery. Perhaps in trying to keep the characters from veering into caricature territory some of the comedy was sacrificed. John Donnelly should definitely be praised for his writing (adaptation? again I don't know how much is lifted from the original) of feminism and female autonomy in the #MeToo era - this is the first time I've seen convincing discussion of these issues without it seeming shoehorned in for the sake of modernity and seeming 'with the times.' I was also impressed by how he built the verse into the script and kept it in modern language without it being cringeworthy.
The set design was suitably ornate and garish for a family with more money than sense, but I'm not sure we really needed that little trick at the very end. I can see how it fits in with the message, but I just felt that it was being done for the sake of it.
I think it just scrapes 4* from me, mostly for O'Hare and the women and because I laughed a lot and was genuinely surprised by the ending.
Oh and the front row get a lovely little surprise as the show begins courtesy of Geoffrey Lumb...
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 26, 2019 16:33:08 GMT
{Spoiler - click to view}Personally I didn't think there was anything dubious consent-wise with that scene. If I remember correctly, she tells him to start fingering her and Man encourages him through initial hesitance. He does then get a lot more confident, and I can see how his physicality could be seen as aggressive, but at no point did Woman seem uncomfortable. In fact, that whole sequence seemed to me to be about the power that both Man and Woman have over Ross - they are both controlling him and using him as a pawn in their game.
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 25, 2019 14:28:22 GMT
Tonight: Tartuffe at the NT Tuesday night: Shipwreck at the Almeida Thursday night: Rock of Ages in Wimbledon
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 23, 2019 22:12:48 GMT
Now decided I want to nominate Christina Bennington for narrator. 'Nuff said. Actually there is one well known person I'd love to see and that is Christina Bennington! Reviving these posts after seeing Christina Bennington in the MT Fest Taster Menu shows tonight and being reminded of just how fantastic her voice is. She could certainly bring Hateley levels of thrill to the score!
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 23, 2019 21:36:54 GMT
Saw the last two today - Killer Queen not as much to my taste with all the rap, but good nonetheless. Can definitely see it gaining ground if it can be tightened up a bit - there's too much faffing around at the moment. Christina Bennington's big number as Antoinette was fabulous. The Protagonists was more my style - cheesy comedy moments, but it had heart, and a nice solid score with some really inventive and clever music disguised as a cliche superhero soundtrack. I'd love to see more of it.
So, having seen all 8 of the Taster Menu shows, I think First Date and Bloody Bloody Jessica Fletcher were my favourites, with The Protagonists and Nerds as valiant runners-up. I think First Dates is pretty much ready to go for a full production (hardly surprising given its history) and the other three only need minor tweaks to be ready. Of the others, I think But I'm A Cheerleader will surface sooner or later as it was pretty solid and is aimed at the Heathers era of theatregoers. Killer Queen is definitely one to keep an eye out for - it's still fairly young but with work I could see it building a life for itself. Porn and AA really didn't do it for me.
I really enjoyed having the chance to see such a variety of works in progress and I'm looking forward to following these shows as they go forward. I hope MT Fest UK becomes a regular occurrence!
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 23, 2019 21:23:11 GMT
I was at the matinee and enjoyed it, although more for the food for thought than the actual content. I found it fascinating to watch the power struggle between Man and Woman, and thought it was very clever for how it intertwined sexual power (dominant/submissive), gendered power (man/woman), and relationship dynamics (master/servant) and how they affect each other (or don't). In that sense the writing was very clever. A lot of it still evaded me though - there were sections where I found myself slightly lost or wondering why a particular thing was happening. Blanchett is breathtaking - her two lengthy monologues, one half way through and one near the end, are utterly captivating and the way she commands an audience and the power and control of her voice are simply outstanding. Dillane shouldn't be overlooked, though, as while he is not as vocally commanding as Blanchett (but that's kind of the point) his physicality is definitely on par with hers. While Blanchett's movement is natural and flowing, always graceful even when she's not meant to be, Dillane is always measured and precise, each movement carrying clear purpose and intent. It was as though Man was relishing his control over his own movement since it was the one thing he truly did have complete control of.
An interesting afternoon for sure, and intellectually engaging, but still bloody weird.
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