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Post by Nelly on Feb 10, 2016 16:16:56 GMT
So, was there ever a talk about a full London cast recording of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown? When it first came out the website featured some samples from the show by the lead characters. But there is an actual full official recording of it now somehow, which has gone out without any coverage whatsoever. They actually recorded one in a studio shortly before the run ended. I'm guessing after that they decided there would be no demand for it since the show closed shortly after.
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Post by Nelly on Feb 10, 2016 10:43:26 GMT
I saw this last night. I went in knowing pretty much nothing about it. I thought it was pretty atrocious to be quite honest. I'll mix things up and start with the bit I liked.
The orchestra, however over amplified they were, were brilliant and a joy to listen to.
Right that's the good bit over with. This is a big argument at the moment about casting. I know when the casting was announced for this a lot of my performer friends were extremely pissed off with the direction they'd gone in. I always like to give things the benefit of the doubt and make my mind up so went into this with an open mind casting wise. BOY did they get this wrong. So wrong that I actually found myself having to stifle laughter at how miscast it was.
Daniel Bedingfield should be NOWHERE near a west-end stage in a musical. It makes me feel so despondent about this industry that people sat around a table (or maybe just blindly selected him) and thought that he was up to the job. David Essex simply couldn't handle his role either, he kept coming in on his lines late which didn't really work when every time any of the cast sang they seemed to be duetting with a backing track of themsleves. Jimmy Nail - another one I thought was poor, perhaps he was let down by the poor sound but I didn't think he was great.
Madalena and Heidi came out the best I think but even they got/looked lost in it all.
If you don't want to know about certain elements of the show stop reading now.
The technical side of things was such a huge let down. Usually, when a lighting designer decides to blind the audience, it's to mask something happening on stage (an actor vanishing, a quick set change etc) here it just seemed relentless and pointless. There are SO many ways the lighting for the heat ray could have been done but this was just comical and a missed opportunity! A single moving light rigged on a bit of scaff pipe trying to match the movement of the video interpretation of the heat ray behind it. The sound was all over the place, Liam Neeson's video clips were barely audible and there were several times when parts of his head were cut off because the bit of random fabric or one of the screens hadn't quite hit his mark. There were times when there was nothing at all for the projection to hit so just hit the back wall blurred. I'm also sure I saw mention that there was meant to be a hologram? There certainly wasn't last night.
When it came to the curtain call, I've never heard such a dull reaction from an audience. Just polite clapping and the odd whoop. Not the rapturous reception I'm sure they were hoping for and that the even more amplified music tried to force the audience into.
I'm hoping for the sake of those that have paid money to see this later in the run get a lot more of a slick production, but nothing can shadow how badly cast this was.
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380 posts
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Post by Nelly on Feb 9, 2016 10:35:42 GMT
The Les Mis (or should that be Les Miz, as it sounds like a US cast) video is fascinating. It looks so complicated, I'm amazed there aren't more screw-ups. I've never heard any really bad mistakes, just sometimes mics coming in late so the first word or two of a line is not amplified (and one of the advantages to sitting at the front as much as possible is being able to hear lines even if the mics are late). Might be the pedant in me and coming from a technical background but i'd actually count line drops as a really bad mistake haha!
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380 posts
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Post by Nelly on Feb 8, 2016 18:15:31 GMT
So going back to the actual sound desk, you say they are hired, but are all the same make and model, but the hire company has one spare for each show, would this because although the desk is the same, they are set up specifically for each show, with sound effects and takes along time to 'personalise' a desk, than have one desk and cancel shows, whilst building the spare? The personalisation will be a file that is on a usb stick, referred to as the 'show file'. You can load it onto the replacement desk and hey presto...!
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Post by Nelly on Feb 8, 2016 15:08:17 GMT
I had this pointed in my direction today. This person seems to be crowdfunding her theatre trips (so she can write reviews etc). Clever or just silly? I guess if people are willing to pay then it's more fool them! www.patreon.com/churlishmeg?ty=h
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380 posts
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Post by Nelly on Feb 5, 2016 12:08:45 GMT
Thanks for posting the link - a very interesting piece. like every other production in the West End, will hire it instead. Although I have no doubt you are right, this^ still amazes me. I completely see the sense of something like Gypsy or Bend It Like Beckham hiring everything; however, how can it be financially efficient for long runners like Les Mis or Phantom to do the same? I guess they must have some very competitive deals and presumably it gives a very flat financial profile because the costs are continuous. Now that I'm musing on the subject, I'm curious about how often big elements of the sound systems on such shows are replaced? For example, how often does the sound desk on Les Mis get upgraded to a new one (not a replacement because the other one is faulty or just old, but when do they change the desk for one with new features so that they can use those new features)? Is it every five years, ten? Presumably, despite being hired, everything that a long-running show gets is completely new? Do they run them to the end of life (e.g. for things like mic packs) or do they get swapped out regularly and then the used ones get hired out again to lower budget productions? I can only speak from a lighting standpoint here. No show will ever buy their rig outright at the beginning. If the show is super-duper long running then eventually the hire companies will 'write-off' the equipment on their books and a deal will be agreed to charge a lesser rate but obviously are still contracted should lights malfunction and cant be repaired on site. No the equipment won't be brand new (unless it's specialised and the company either doesn't own it before and can justify purchasing it), some hire companies's equipment is more reliable than others as it's better looked after when back at the warehouses etc. Regarding technology updates, they'll really only get swapped out if there is justification for it and not so they can play with new features. For example, Les Mis had to swap their lighting desk to a totally different manufacturer as the previous desk manufacturer stopped making and supporting the desk. Hope some of this info is informative. I know this was a thread about sound, but there you go! Maybe we can change the subject to Theatre Tech! haha
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Post by Nelly on Feb 4, 2016 9:33:09 GMT
While we're on physicality - anyone else find some of Pierrepoint's barbs at Harry a bit misplaced? Seem to remember he used 'fat' a lot - but Morrissey clearly isn't, and neither do I remember Harry wearing a 'big fat smile' at any point? Yes! He definitely kept referring to him as fat which I also found really odd.
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Post by Nelly on Feb 3, 2016 10:28:03 GMT
I too, when I saw this on Monday thought that the circus line was fluffed. Perhaps it's the way Sally Rogers delivers the line? She corrects herself with such enunciation that it's like she's struggled to get the line out.
I did think the play was brilliant though and very well cast. One thought. Are we meant to find Pierrepoint making people sniff his hair funny? I took it as a show of just how powerful a man he was but the audience was in hysterics at that point on Monday!
I found the curtain call a little odd on Monday too, there was lots of grins and looks to each other amongst the cast and a few mutterings to each other. It was quite odd.
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380 posts
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Post by Nelly on Feb 2, 2016 17:21:57 GMT
(Although viserys did already say in the first post of the thread that he didn't find it particularly suitable for his needs, sooo...) So he did, it didn't stick out in the post as it wasn't a link! My bad!
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380 posts
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Post by Nelly on Feb 2, 2016 16:17:32 GMT
I use this one (not the same as castalbumsdb) : castalbums.org/I've always found it useful, informative and way more complete than the one linked earlier in this thread.
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380 posts
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Post by Nelly on Jan 29, 2016 16:16:22 GMT
I'm going tomorrow, could anyone direct me to where the cast board is, if there is one? As you enter the foyer its on the wall right next to the furthest door to the left, next to the entrance to the grand circle. Enjoy!
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380 posts
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Post by Nelly on Jan 26, 2016 11:55:54 GMT
It was the moment I witnessed two well known members of WOS staff mocking Terri's new venture on twitter that I lost any respect I had left for them. I used to support the Awards in the early years but they got a bit ridiculous in the end.
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380 posts
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Post by Nelly on Jan 26, 2016 10:56:19 GMT
This was filmed this afternoon, and apparently is being filmed all week, for some kind of distribution! Oh good lord I hope that's true!!! Praying for a Blu-ray of this amazing production/cast!
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