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Post by jgblunners on Sept 28, 2017 22:44:44 GMT
I think the reason that Bradley stood out so much for me was that he seemed like a bit more of a bad boy, and I really liked that. Oliver Savile was indeed amazing, but I think Bradley matches him vocally (Bradley with perhaps a bit more power, but Oliver a more effortless voice) and since the only other two Fiyeros I've seen were Matthew Croke (I don't remember much about him other than that he was good) and James Darch (ok but unremarkable), who all played the role very similarly, I never considered whether I'd like a Fiyero who's a bit more hot-headed/feisty/whatever it is about Bradley's interpretation that made him seem like less of a rich posh boy and more like the rebellious hottie that everyone wants.
As a side note, it was really weird seeing a Fiyero and Glinda who are the same height, after getting used to the pretty mammoth gap between Oliver and Suzie 😂
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 27, 2017 22:28:25 GMT
Also Bradley Jaden's 'toss toss' beats everyone else's. No Glinda or Elphaba will ever compare. I nearly swooned in my seat. Plus I'm pretty sure he was finding every possible opportunity to accentuate his ass in Dancing Through Life. My eyes knew exactly where to look.
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 27, 2017 22:22:40 GMT
Ok so a few thoughts on tonight's show... I'll try to keep it brief. Firstly, hugely impressed by the ensemble, who have maintained the energy of the 10th anniversary cast and tonight created the most full-bodied, balanced, and coherent sound I've heard from the ensemble at any Wicked performance. Now onto the leads...
Alice Fearn - exceeded all my expectations. Her acting was very strong, although she was at times a bit shouty and she took a little while to 'get going' at the start. She has a really lovely voice, both soprano and belt, and tonight I thought she r*ffed respectfully. I'm definitely in the 'Yes to Alice Fearn' camp.
Sophie Evans - oh dear. There's a beautiful voice in there, but it very rarely gets the chance to shine through fully. Otherwise, I really don't think this is the role for her. Strange line deliveries and mannerisms. She was actually ok with the comedy, most of it landed, but she just wasn't a convincing Glinda.
Bradley Jaden - 😍😍😍 I have a new favourite Fiyero. His voice is as gorgeous as he is (I really liked that he opted to float the first few phrases of ALAYM rather than going straight in with power), and I really liked his Fiyero, similar to Oliver Savile's but a bit rougher. He's the best dancer of all the Fiyeros I've seen, and he did wobbly knees as the Scarecrow which was weird but cute.
Melanie La Barrie - ooh the sass. I loved her interpretation - a bit different to the last few Morribles. It worked really well, and she's got a nice strong voice too.
Andy Hockley- it's so lovely to hear a Wizard who is actually a good singer. He really brought through the Wizard's manipulative and menacing side, which was great.
Jack Lansbury/Rosa O'Reilly (on for Nessa)/Martin Ball - all fine. Nothing to complain about with their performances, but also nothing particularly remarkable.
After the curtain call, Sophie and Alice said a few words thanking audiences/casts/crew/etc for their support over the last 11 years, before leading three cheers for Wicked and releasing some '11 Wicked Years' balloons. It was a nice touch - I didn't expect them to do anything since 11 isn't a particularly significant anniversary. It's just a bit of a shame the audience wasn't full - the stalls were probably 3/4 full which is pretty good but the atmosphere was pretty tame.
Anyway, the show is in great shape and I'll be booking my next visit to be during one of Sophie Evans' holidays.
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 27, 2017 13:52:54 GMT
Ashleigh Gray didn't perform at the 10th anniversary, it was Rachel Tucker Touché
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 27, 2017 12:29:19 GMT
Ooh I love those new photos - nice to see wicked doing something new with their marketing, it certainly makes a change to the photoshop surprises we normally get!
On another note, I was thinking I might use my only night off for a while to head up and see the new cast tonight - here's hoping it's not fangirl central as Twitter has just reminded me that it's the 11th anniversary today (which of course means that exactly a year ago the Queen of Green knocked everyone's socks off with her phenomenal performance at the 10th anniversary show)!
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Company
Sept 21, 2017 22:25:27 GMT
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 21, 2017 22:25:27 GMT
WOW, that certainly came out of the blue!! Can't believe that we'll have Patti on the West End again! Never thought I'd get to see her perform live
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 21, 2017 16:07:09 GMT
It was announced yesterday that Danny Mac is doing most of the 2018 dates apart from a few weeks around January. I'm assuming his understudy will play the role for those weeks The only dates for the whole tour that Danny is NOT appearing in are: Bristol Hippodrome 9th - 13th Jan 2018 Southampton Mayflower 16th - 20th Jan 2018 Woking New Victoria 22nd - 27th Jan 2018 Also 26th February 2018 Well I'm there on the first night in Bristol so will be able to report back with who it is!
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 13, 2017 17:24:05 GMT
isn't Christine way harder? It's a bit of a cheat really - if the full score was sung live at every performance, yes it would be incredibly taxing for an actress' voice. However, one of the most technically challenging songs (the title number) is mostly pre-recorded, so the actress playing Christine doesn't actually have to sing it during performances. Obviously she still has to be able to sing the full score so that it can be recorded, and there are other challenging songs for Christine that do have to be sung live at every show, but nothing that goes abnormally high for an MT soprano so the role is probably not much more vocally taxing than any other leading lady in the West End - probably on a par with the big belters like Elphaba/Effie White. Definitely the most challenging legit soprano role though. *Disclaimer: I'm not an expert in the female voice, what I've said above is drawn from my experience as a singer/performer and my knowledge of Musical Theatre scores.
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 12, 2017 17:57:31 GMT
I'm seeing the Saturday matinee in Woking. I'm not convinced by the look of that set design, but I'm really only going to see Lucie Jones so I can't complain.
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 12, 2017 16:02:32 GMT
Just given in to temptation and booked for Amber's last show - I'll be peeking through safety rails up in Upper Circle F but I've seen the show before and at least I'll be there - the only other 'last show' I've been to was Rachel Tucker's last in Wicked and it was a pretty incredible atmosphere so hopefully it will be similar at Dreamgirls!
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 12, 2017 15:23:26 GMT
Well I've booked for January using one of my PAYG tickets - I've not yet seen anything at Southwark Playhouse that I didn't enjoy so hopefully this will turn out to be fun too!
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 12, 2017 9:01:00 GMT
Very tempted by the cast, but looks like they're not doing the bargain £15 Dress Circle seats that I loved so much for Who's Afraid and Hamlet. Very sad. I shall wait for reports before deciding whether to stretch my budget - I've heard that even for less than £30 the upper circle and balcony at the HP are pretty dire.
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 10, 2017 6:44:02 GMT
Chqrlie has replied to someone on twitter saying he will be doing the whole run of the show before going over to Dolly! Which is crazy considering there is a very smal window for rehearsals! I think I saw Baz reply to someone saying that Charlie's rehearsaing Hello Dolly before he starts Dick, then getting 5 days to recap everything between Dick ending and his opening night on Broadway. It's going to be a very busy time for him!
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 8, 2017 6:28:07 GMT
Just listened to an audio of DG from the media night and dear lord the flying section is horrifically fast! It sounds like poor old Alice barely has time to fit all the notes in. If it's been like that since cast change, surely the music supervisor should've flagged it up by now?
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 7, 2017 15:55:03 GMT
As much as I enjoy a good Dick comparison, I'm gonna attempt to put this thread back on track by asking if anyone can advice whether it's likely they'll do Day Seats/Student Tickets for this? I've no idea if they will since it's a limited run and a panto, but the combination of Charlie, Emma and the chance to see La Paige is enough to entice me out of my panto dry spell and get myself a good dose of Dick this Xmas. I recall the monkey saying they put some performances up for GILT last year, so I may just have to wait for that if no other discounts are to be had, the prices are rather eye-watering for a student and let's be honest the balcony is no place to be if I want a good view of Mr. Stemp's Dick.
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 7, 2017 12:53:26 GMT
May as well add my two cents...
Wicked Show Count: 11
Elphaba: 1. Rachel Tucker (x6) 2. Willemijn Verkaik (x1) 3. Emma Hatton (x4)
Glinda: 1. Suzie Mathers (x6) 2. Savannah Stevenson (x3) 3. Carina Gillespie (x1) 4. Helen Woolf (x1)
Fiyero: 1. Oliver Savile (x8) 2. Matthew Croke (x1) 3. James Darch (x2)
Nessarose: 1. Katie Rowley Jones (x10) 2. Sarah McNicholas (x1)
Boq: 1. Daniel Hope (x3) 2. Sam Lupton (x1) 3. Joe Toland (x1) 4. Idriss Kargbo (x6)
Morrible: 1. Liza Sadovy (x4) 2. Sue Kelvin (x1) 3. Anita Dobson (x6)
The Wizard: 1. Tom McGowan (x1) 2. Martyn Ellis (x1) 3. Martin Ball (x1) 4. Mark Curry (x8)
Dr Dillamond: 1. Sean Kearns (x4) 2. Martin Ball (x5) 3. Russell Walker (x2)
My favourite trio would be Rachel/Suzie/Oliver.
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 7, 2017 12:40:01 GMT
Has there been any news on who's taking over from Danny Mac when he's done? I probably won't be able to catch the tour until 2018, at which point I believe he'll no longer be in it.
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 28, 2017 16:12:38 GMT
Twice for me - hoping to increase that once I'm back at uni and can make it to London more easily
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 27, 2017 22:33:34 GMT
I think we need a group trip so that everyone can exchange notes on the male ensemble at the interval 😂
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 27, 2017 22:22:53 GMT
Clearly I spend too much time focusing on Sam Murphy. I don't blame you
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 27, 2017 21:58:23 GMT
I saw this last night - booked when it first went on sale, half because I had never seen Fiddler before and was painfully aware of the gaping hole in my knowledge of musical theatre, and half because I loved Show Boat and so trusted that Daniel Evans would be able to deliver another brilliant production of a classic musical. And it seems my trust was well placed, because this was phenomenal. I hadn't expected it to be so funny or moving, but it packed an emotional punch and had me in stitches several times.
Omid Djalili owns Tevye. Ok, his singing isn't amazing, but he plays to his strengths and doesn't push where he knows his voice can't go. His singing style fits with his characterisation of Tevye, and although there were a few moments where I felt he was getting laughs from playing Omid rather than Tevye, I thought his acting was very strong. Similarly, Tracy Ann Oberman was brilliant. Again, understood her vocal limitations and didn't try to overdo it, but instead gave a hilarious and touching performance in her Golde.
Among the rest of the cast, Simbi Akande was fabulous as Tzeitel, Emma Kingston was vocally wonderful but her acting felt a little stale, Gareth Snook and Liza Sadovy were very funny and pitched their respective characters well, and Jos Slovik was adorable as Motel. I also have to mention Laura Tebbutt - putting the staging aside, her vocals in the dream sequence were phenomenal. I wonder if she's a Wicked alumna? If not, I can definitely see that being a potential direction for her.
So, to the design and staging. I was sceptical when I walked in and saw a vast, empty, dark stage. However, my doubts were unnecessary as the lighting and set design brought Anatevka to life most wonderfully. Evans' staging and direction uses the space well, and really helps the audience to connect with this bustling community, which is pretty essential for the denouement to work effectively (and I was very pleased that the revolve wasn't over-used). The choreography is fun and impressive but also felt completely relevant to the culture. The orchestra sound great - I've never heard the original orchestrations so I can't comment on any differences, but I felt that they could've done with slightly increased numbers in some sections - I just wanted parts of it to be a bit more luscious. I am, however, aware that very few shows have large bands these days.
Ok, I think I've rattled on for long enough about how much I enjoyed this. I'll end by saying that this is surely shouting 'West End transfer'. Maybe that's just my desire to see it live on since I can't make it back again before it closes, but with Djalili and the reputation of the show could it at least survive a limited stint? Who knows, as Evans' last revival of a classic musical wasn't exactly a commercial success in London, despite critical acclaim. I guess only time will tell.
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 27, 2017 21:28:51 GMT
Another vote for Philip Bertioli from me! I first saw him in Funny Girl and thought he was a wonderful dancer, and he's fab in this too. I'd love to see him go on for Billy. The real stand-out for me though is Luke George. He impressed me in Titanic even though his role was pretty small, and he shines in this. Every time I caught sight of him on stage his smile was so infectious and his dancing was always sharp and expressive.
I'm kind of ashamed that I've got nothing to say about the female members of the ensemble - although the fact that I'm always watching the male ensemble says more about me than it does about them!
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 27, 2017 11:46:29 GMT
I'm also there on September 5th - it's Media Night for the new cast so hopefully they'll all be on and in fine voice How come the media night is almost 2 months after the new cast started?
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 25, 2017 6:15:14 GMT
My first ever Hamlet tonight - I'll be up at the Harold Pinter ready to be impressed by Mr Scott
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 23, 2017 15:44:54 GMT
Some interesting stuff about Hope Mill in this interview with producer Katy Lipson - including her saying that she hopes to be able to transfer Pippin to London as she has with both Yank! and Hair bit.ly/2wnVuUp
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