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Post by jgblunners on Sept 19, 2021 19:03:30 GMT
I was intrigued. I looked at the prices. I am no longer intrigued. For a concert version of a show the prices are obscene. But then again, it's one night only so the producers need to recoup Aren’t the proceeds going to charity? In which case the price hikes are slightly less cheeky.
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 18, 2021 19:35:09 GMT
In one of the small breaks between the performances, they screened a teaser for a new production to be announced in October (or November, I can’t remember). It was a black and white video of a woman in the backstage of a show, I think. I wasn’t paying it too much attention, but then Ruthie said the only hint she could give that that it was a Sondheim show which hasn’t been produced in a long while! Obviously that got me excited and curious. Could it be that the gods heard my prayers and A Little Night Music is coming back? Was this the clip they played? I have to say, Ruthie as Desiree would be inspired casting. She’d be glorious.
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 18, 2021 16:31:19 GMT
Saw this again last night - Declan Bennett is an excellent actor. Really lives the parts he plays. Agree with others - Jo Eaton Kent is awful as Mrs Mullins. Shouts her words and thinks acting is about eye rolls end hair flicking. No probs whatsoever with trans actors provided they can act. To be fair- that character is always played badly. Everyone is desperate to make it count - when it really doesn’t! Charlotte Riby was on for Mrs Mullins when I saw a preview at OAT and I thought she was superb and pitched it just right!
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 17, 2021 18:56:55 GMT
Can someone explain to me why it’s ok for Richard E Grant to play a gay character but when James Corden did it it caused unbelievable outrage?? I haven’t seen the movie yet but I presume that Richard E Grant’s performance is much more nuanced and genuine than Corden’s horrific display.
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 14, 2021 10:03:43 GMT
My knee-jerk reaction to this news was 'surely she's far too young!' but having read a bit more about Herrin's approach and seen the top-notch creatives involved, plus the inclusion of the brilliant Paul Hilton in the cast, it is actually quite exciting!
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 6, 2021 21:27:33 GMT
At the moment I think the only person who could steal the crown from Sutton is Jessie Buckley - she’s home grown talent making a big name for herself and has the potential to give a real star performance.
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 6, 2021 11:54:31 GMT
The pole had some kind of rubber tubing on it when I went, so I assume it’s connected to a compressed air supply which is used to clear out each sprinkler nozzle to prevent drops in act 2.
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 6, 2021 10:14:03 GMT
Having seen the show but not listened to the cast recording (concept recording? It’s not actually the full stage cast is it?) I have to say that I’m in the ‘not sophisticated’ camp for this discussion. The music is decent but I didn’t find it particularly special or exciting. Yes there are musical themes which get picked up at various points in the show but that’s not a remarkable feat. If you compare to the shows that I feel contain ALW’s most complex and clever music (Phantom, JCS, Evita) then it’s really not in the same ball park. That's a strawman. I never said I thought it was sophisticated because "musical themes get picked up at various points". You're deliberately caricaturing my argument. You mentioned ‘the development of the themes’ in your previous post - I’m saying that the themes aren’t really developed that much, just picked up at different points in the show. The ‘Bad Cinderella’ theme in particular is a recurring motif. I’m not saying that’s bad, but I personally wouldn’t refer to it as development of musical themes.
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 6, 2021 9:53:50 GMT
Having seen the show but not listened to the cast recording (concept recording? It’s not actually the full stage cast is it?) I have to say that I’m in the ‘not sophisticated’ camp for this discussion. The music is decent but I didn’t find it particularly special or exciting. Yes there are musical themes which get picked up at various points in the show but that’s not a remarkable feat. If you compare to the shows that I feel contain ALW’s most complex and clever music (Phantom, JCS, Evita) then it’s really not in the same ball park.
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 5, 2021 15:41:37 GMT
I'm intrigued by this... from pictures of the show it doesn't look like the kind of production that should be aiming for the big houses (including the Palladium), but enough people are saying that the projections work well for me to want to see it! I just wish they'd announce more tour dates down south...
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Post by jgblunners on Sept 5, 2021 15:37:19 GMT
Do we think CHF will get a nom for Cinderella? I saw the show, and while I didn’t really enjoy it, I do think she did a good job. Same with Rebeca Trehearn and VHB for supporting? This is a tricky one to predict - I personally didn't think that Cinderella was good enough to warrant a lot of nominations, but given how warm the critics were towards it there may be a similar response from the Olivier panel.
At the moment I'd say the major contenders for the musical categories are Anything Goes and Carousel. Frozen and Back To The Future will likely also do well. For the plays I'm not sure - there are a few coming up (such as Camp Siegfried at the Old Vic and Macbeth at the Almeida) which could score lots of noms if they live up to the hype.
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 28, 2021 14:14:16 GMT
I can only imagine the creatives have not visited the show for a while, I think they'd be very disappointed. Unfortunately, I think the creatives are totally fine with what’s on stage! I believe that the director (Andy Fickman) was around not that long ago as he was rehearsing the cast for the touring production. Paul Taylor-Mills also checks in with the show fairly regularly judging by his Twitter posts.
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 20, 2021 11:29:57 GMT
It's a real shame that none of the big papers seem to have sent critics to this - I guess they were unfortunate that Cinderella rescheduled their press night to the same evening.
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 19, 2021 14:44:31 GMT
Apparently they’re eyeing up a London transfer in 2022, though I don’t know how much has actually been organised.
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 16, 2021 11:48:25 GMT
Honestly a pro shot of this would be just stellar. It's from the same people who produced King and I so it's not impossible...right? I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Trafalgar decide to film it for cinemas, I believe The King and I was successful when it released in cinemas and they'd want to build their slate of filmed productions. I've just been told that a week of performances are going to be filmed 'with multiple cameras' in mid-September. Sounds too excessive to be just for an archive recording...
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 12, 2021 15:16:48 GMT
Has anyone tried day seating for this yet? If so, what was the experience like? I know Rush tickets are available but the seats offered aren’t very inspiring. I got my ticket in the TodayTix Rush today - middle of row B in the circle, pretty much a perfect seat - so there are good seat allocations in there if you’re lucky! (Of course, it being a midweek matinee may have helped)
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 12, 2021 13:19:36 GMT
I’ve just arrived to see today’s matinee (the first back after their COVID suspension, I believe) and there are queues all the way around the back of the theatre on both sides! There’s no way that they’re going to get everyone into the theatre in time for the curtain to go up on schedule, these are the worst queues I’ve ever seen at a theatre.
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 12, 2021 9:42:46 GMT
I saw this last night and also agree with Steve's review - too much telling, not enough showing. The way that music is woven into the play is very effective, but the characters spend too much time talking about music as metaphor, the power of music, how you can say things with music you can't say with words, and it wears thin quite quickly. There's also too much historical fact-dropping - some conversations feel like a Wikipedia paragraph transcribed into dialogue. However, there is a really engaging family drama hidden in there and between SRB's magnetic stage presence and the glorious design (particularly the lighting), there is much to enjoy here.
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 12, 2021 9:36:34 GMT
What really amazes me is how quickly the seats are going. If you miss out on your first choice of show, everything is taken for the rest (the exception generally being the shows which only offer the seats at the back that were heavily discounted already). I know it's worth checking back at random times, but Rush definitely isn't as easy as it used to be. I guess there’s also a more limited number of shows right now, and combine that with school hols, less people going abroad and a lot of pent up demand that’s probably why. I’m guessing it may be easier come September/October once everything’s back open and schools are back. Also many of us on the board have been using TodayTix since it was first released. When the Rush tickets started it was really only regular theatregoers who knew about the app - it wasn't advertised in any big way and unless you were pointed to it by a friend or a show's website you could easily not notice its existence. The last 3 or 4 years pre-pandemic, though, it grew massively. They did big advertising campaigns and started selling tickets for pretty much every show under the sun. Their user base must have sky-rocketed. Hence there are now loads more people who will casually try for Rush tickets on a daily basis, making the competition much bigger than the 'olden days'.
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 12, 2021 9:28:47 GMT
I saw this yesterday, mostly just to see Christina Bennington as Veronica. Anyone who saw her in Bat knows that her voice is glorious and she handles this score with ease. Unfortunately the show is pretty dire. I've seen each incarnation of this production, at The Other Palace and in its previous run at the Haymarket, and every time it comes back the performances gets broader and less refined. I don't think it's the fault of the performers, I think that the director keeps pushing things further and it's just getting ridiculous now. Go and watch some bootlegs of the Off-Broadway run and you'll see how effective this style of direction can be when it's kept tame and focussed (incidentally the Off-Broadway run had the benefit of a slick set that didn't look cheap and flimsy...). It's such a shame because I really rate the material, but here the inherent comedy in the script is trampled over and laughs are instead provided by over-acting and slapstick blocking. I'm glad that I got to see Bennington, and Frances Mayli McCann and Madison Swan are both very impressive, but I'm sad that this show has ended up in this state.
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 10, 2021 19:10:31 GMT
For smaller (I.e. not Wicked, Lion King, etc.) touring shows the Mayflower often don’t put the balcony on sale, so it may not be completely full. Even without that it’s a big audience though! It surprised me when I looked but there were a couple in the balcony available so looks like full at 3 levels. (I’m in the stalls so can’t see up there but I can’t see that they would only sell part of the balcony) Wow, the tour must be incredibly popular if they’ve sold out the balcony too!!
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 10, 2021 18:27:36 GMT
I’m just on my way to the first night at The Mayflower Southampton. It looks to be sold out so 2300 in the audience! Have they had that size crowd before? I saw it at a half capacity Lyric theatre earlier in the year so this will be on another level!! For smaller (I.e. not Wicked, Lion King, etc.) touring shows the Mayflower often don’t put the balcony on sale, so it may not be completely full. Even without that it’s a big audience though!
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 6, 2021 15:00:12 GMT
Is this the same thing that aired a few years ago? With Ariana Grande I seem to recall? Or is it something new?
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 6, 2021 14:57:13 GMT
Has anyone actually seen Be More Chill tickets appear on the rush? It always just seems to say it opens 10am daily and to set an alert, rather than it is "Sold Out". Glad to see Leopoldstadt and Singin' in the Rain now offering rush seats. The Mousetrap also seems to have had these added! Last week I used TodayTix to see Be More Chill at a Thursday matinee - the selection through Rush went quickly, but I then noticed that after a little time (maybe 10-15 mins later? I can't quite remember) the front few rows of the Stalls were reduced to £27.50 in the standard seat selection in TodayTix. If you don't succeed in the Rush I'd recommend having a look to see if that's a regular thing that they do.
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Post by jgblunners on Aug 6, 2021 14:52:41 GMT
I didn't realise this was a jukebox musical based on a book, not a bio-musical. Sounds much more interesting now! Plus it looks like a pretty solid cast with Bronte Barbe and Kelly Price.
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