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Post by jgblunners on Mar 31, 2017 20:36:56 GMT
Great thanks, shall take a look at those links. Been on the look out for the "Bare - Pop Opera" cast recording but it's about £40 on amazon I think you can still get the two discs separately on iTunes for about £7.99 each - still expensive but less than £40!
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 30, 2017 11:16:41 GMT
I sat in A23 for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - I'm 6'2" with most of the height in my legs and I found it bearable. To be fair I didn't have anyone in A24 next to me so had a bit of extra room to play with. The view's amazing and as long as I'm enthralled by the show (which I was for Charlie and imagine everyone will be for this), I tend to find that I can put up with my legs being in mediocre comfort!
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 30, 2017 8:49:29 GMT
I seem to be among the minority who absolutely loved everything about the West End version and didn't think anything should be changed. I'm sad to see it's been so butchered as I thought it was a wonderful adaptation of the book, although I appreciate that many people were comparing it to the Gene Wilder film and feeling it didn't live up to it. I liked the subplot with the homeless person even if it was a bit obvious.
I thought the music in particular was brilliant, and I don't think it needed any more songs from the film as it was quite clearly meant to be an entirely different version. I see that they've moved 'pure imagination' away from the glass elevator scene and added a new song there. Bad move in my opinion - that song is magical and fits that scene perfectly.
By no means do I wish this bad luck on Broadway, but I think they should've stuck with the version that played here and if this indeed turns out to be the version that tours the UK, I think I'll give it a miss to preserve my happy memories of the original West End run.
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Grease
Mar 29, 2017 17:34:13 GMT
Post by jgblunners on Mar 29, 2017 17:34:13 GMT
Anyone seen this yet? Thinking of picking up a cheap ticket for Friday when I move back to Oxford - tempted by Danielle Hope and by the fact I'm not aware of any complaints about Tom Parker yet...
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 29, 2017 10:11:56 GMT
Has anyone done the Student rush tickets on Wednesdays? What time would you recommend arriving to get one? The website says that they officially only start selling them from 6:30, so that's when I turned up a few weeks ago. I got a seat without any problems, but I think they were nearly sold out so the guy I spoke to at the box office had to get his manager over to check it was still ok to sell me a student ticket. I'm not sure if they would sell them before 6:30, so I guess it's up to you if you want to get there earlier - likely to be more ticket availability, but I don't know how strict they are about the 6:30 start.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 28, 2017 12:27:16 GMT
Rachel's last show though, it was amazing that alot of the feedback on here was like "thats it, im done, I never have to see it again, that was it!". And tbh, if that was my last ever time seeing it, I would be happy with that as the final show. But it is the musical that keeps luring back with these damn castings! That being said, once Willemijn leaves, we need a new Elphaba in London. At peast with the Glinda's and Fiyero's, it does tend to be new people taking on the role, and even though I think Oliver will leave (even though he is the best Fiyero), id be perfectly happy to see him and Suzie stay! But we need a brand new Elphaba. Hopefully someone younger, who can breathe new life into the role that we haven't seen for a few years now in London as since 2014 when Willemijn initially left, it has been a continuous stream of people who have played the role for a long time. Yes it's interesting that casting can make such a difference that it brings people back even when they thought they would be done with a show. I guess it's a mark of the calibre of performers that we see in these roles. Totally agree about getting a new Elphaba - I hadn't considered her until someone on here mentioned her name, but I'd really love to see what Samantha Barks could do with the role. I would hate to lose Suzie as she's just so wonderful (no pun intended) and while Oliver is fantastic I really wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to move onto something new.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 28, 2017 11:12:08 GMT
Really must go back to see Willimjn again. I haven't been back since Rachel's last show (mainly because that was one of the best times I have seen it and it will be very difficult to top). But also, having been slightly underwelmed over her the first time round in 2013/2014, I wanna see if I can get out of it the thing everyone goes on about. She was amazing, but I didn't take away from the performance I saw that she is the best Elphaba in the world or anything. And I am sure she will be amazing this time too. I'm in the same position, although I haven't seen Willemijn before. I'm nervous to return after being blown away by Rachel's last show, but I really want to see both Willemijn and Alice.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 27, 2017 14:01:02 GMT
A very dancey double show day for me on Saturday - 42nd Street matinee, then An American in Paris evening. Very excited about both!
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 27, 2017 13:59:13 GMT
Wow, this sounds amazing! Never heard of any of those performers before but Joanna Woodward sounds like she has an incredible voice! I'm not familiar with this show at all, but the more I hear about it the more excited I am about seeing it next week 😄
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 26, 2017 22:19:40 GMT
I understand what she's trying to do in that performance, but to me it just sounds messy and off-pitch. If you're going to riff, know what you're doing and make it special, don't just mess around. It's not fair on the audience for performers to just do whatever they want without thinking about it, and to me that's what it sounds like she's doing here. Ive heard some of her less riffed-up performances and thought they sounded incredible just with her usual embellishments.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 26, 2017 8:52:55 GMT
Well that was quite a journey 😜 Although I might've done the same myself if it were Luke Evans...
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 24, 2017 8:12:54 GMT
Wasn't there Tuesday, but Monday was a 7pm start and also finished around 9pm @posterj Thanks, just trying to figure out roughly when I'll be braving the night tube after her late gig on Sat! Yep, Tuesday was also a 7pm start!
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 23, 2017 19:39:48 GMT
They stuck the extra song in for the Lee Mead Adelphi version - and it's on the re-release of the Palladium CD. Hope they leave it out of any future revival. Come to think of it, has BK added it in? Yes, it was definitely there in last year's tour. I agree that it should be taken out.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 23, 2017 18:12:26 GMT
I grew up listening to the Jason Donovan/Linzi Hateley recording and absolutely loved the music - Linzi Hateley in particular gives a stunning performance on that recording. It was the first show I saw as a kid (it must've toured in the late 90s/early 00s, I don't precisely remember how old I was), I was too young to remember any details, but it sparked my love of theatre. Saw the BK your last year and was thoroughly disappointed. Joe Mcelderry had a good voice, but the production values were an insult to theatre. I was so sad that it didn't live up to my memories, so if this is going to be a new production or a revival of the praised Lee Mead production, it might just tempt me, but I'm never seeing the BK version again.
Out of interest, when did they add the additional song for the pharaoh? Can't remember what it's called, but it's not on the Hateley recording and i thought it was completely pointless when I saw the show last year - struck me that it was probably just added to extend the running time.
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 23, 2017 18:04:19 GMT
What is the approx running time for her show please? Finished just after 9pm on Tuesday
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 21, 2017 15:23:34 GMT
Ahh Asmeret Ghebremichael was great in Mormon, she should be fab in this!
Hasn't Ibinabo been off a lot - as much as, if not more than, Amber? The Lorell covers have certainly been on a lot. If she's not recovering from whatever it is that's keeping her from performing then maybe this was for her own health - taking a break in order to recover rather than carrying on trying to perform but not getting better. All speculation of course, but she's a fantastic performer so whatever the reasons lets hope she'll be back on the stage again soon!
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 21, 2017 12:35:13 GMT
Selling my spare ticket for Rachel Tucker's concert tonight - check the noticeboard for more info. Message me if interested!
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 17, 2017 18:27:16 GMT
Saw it this afternoon and absolutely loved it - brought back all the childhood nostalgia without ruining my memory of the original. I was very nervous going in but it exceeded my expectations in almost all ways (I won't mention the autotune...). Thought the gay themes that there's been all the hoo-ha about recently were actually very tasteful and subtle, it didn't feel shoehorned in to me. I actually didn't think any of the cast were weak, but I can understand why people are saying they're underwhelmed with Emma Watson's performance. I thought Belle was a much more genuine character in this than the original though. However, the music was definitely the best part - it sounded stunning and I thought the new material and alterations fitted well, with one exception that I'll put in a spoiler just in case: Did they change the time signature of the title song? It sounded quite drastically different to the original, which I believe is in 4/4. I couldn't quite figure it out while watching so I'll listen to the soundtrack and try to make it out, but my thought is it's been changed to 3/4 to make it feel like a Waltz for the dance scene? I may be wrong though! Unfortunately it was quite distracting as it changed it felt like the rhythm of the lyrics didn't really fit. This is perhaps the most iconic song from the movie, so I don't think they should've messed with it as much as they did. Oh well, the magnificent additions to Be Our Guest and Gaston made up for it!
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 3, 2017 12:13:46 GMT
I agree that the rape was absolutely chilling, it feels wrong to say but it was done brilliantly for maximum effect.
Interestingly, at the Q&A Drew McOnie and Paul Taylor-Mills were saying that originally, as it is in the libretto, Black is the one who shoots Burrs, but after a few previews they decided to change it to Queenie as they felt it was more fitting.
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 25, 2017 14:56:47 GMT
Just seen that Entry Pass members can buy Circle tickets to the NT Live dress rehearsal for this, at 2pm on the 8th of March. Looks like none of the tickets have sold yet - just nabbed myself the centre of the front row!
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 24, 2017 17:10:06 GMT
This made me so mad. Yes there are worse shows to do it in. But I'd be furious if I'd been in the audience. I'm watching. Chicago, not Mel B making a prat of herself Oh for goodness sake, lighten up!! It was her final show. She was once part of the biggest group on the planet. People in that audience are probably fans of her and will know who she is. She came out of character for what 5 seconds and it's not like she did that each show, is it? Yes she is playing Roxie in Chicago but she is Mel B (who people might've booked specifically to have seen) and Mel B would do that. Fair enough if she did the whole show as Mel B but she didn't. The audience obviously loved it and I'm sure you wouldn't be so "mad" if say you were at Wicked for one of those muck up matinees and they did something different?! I don't think its fair to compare this to West End muck-ups. From what I've heard, they are often full of silly little things that don't break character and would be mostly un-noticable to people who haven't seen the show before. This was a blatant break of character and the clip that was posted earlier makes her look very unprofessional. I know people are entitled to their own opinions on these things, but surely just because she's an ex-pop star it doesn't give her licence to behave like this when any regular musical theatre performer would surely face untold scrutiny for breaking character so blatantly?
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 23, 2017 15:28:17 GMT
I've not seen her at all - her last run in Wicked was before my first time seeing it.
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 23, 2017 0:09:59 GMT
Wow. What an amazing production - I loved every second of this tonight. An outstanding cast, brilliant design and chaotic, energetic, raunchy choreography. Drew McOnie has outdone himself with both the direction and the choreography here, and the music is stunning. I can see why it might not be some people's cup of tea, but I thought it was the best production I've seen since Groundhog Day. Think I might have to make a return visit now that they've got those £10 tickets in the splash zone...
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 22, 2017 12:07:15 GMT
Had no idea this was happening, but I'm suddenly very happy that I had to change my ticket from last week to tonight!
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Post by jgblunners on Feb 21, 2017 22:32:37 GMT
The rear stalls was probably fuller than it sounded, but either way it felt like a ghost town in that auditorium.
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