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Post by greeny11 on Jan 4, 2020 15:09:28 GMT
Matt Cavendish was there the other day as an emergency cover for the role of Max.
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Post by greeny11 on Jan 3, 2020 22:58:49 GMT
Gone a bit mad this time, but am heading down to London today for 8 days and fitting in the following Today - Curtains and Girl from the North Country Saturday - School of Rock and Juliet Sunday - Magic Goes Wrong and Book of Mormon Monday - Evan Hansen and Les Mis - real feel good day! Tuesday - Comedy About a Bank Robbery and The Play That Goes Wrong Wednesday - Matilda and Mary Poppins Thursday - The Phantom of the Opera and Six Singalong Friday - Come From Away and Waitress I have gone for seats in the gods for quite a few shows, hence why I can do so many. I cannot get to London very often, so when I do, I tend to see a lot. Well, I have reached the end of this crazy week and I have loved every second of it. It is only thanks to the shows being on Christmas schedules that I was able to do so much, but I would do it again. I saw 5 new shows, and 4 more that I had not seen in ages, with the remaining ones being favourites of mine.
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Post by greeny11 on Jan 2, 2020 22:15:32 GMT
Sam only does evening shows
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Post by greeny11 on Jan 1, 2020 23:04:48 GMT
Still the same as of the Sunday just gone - quite a bit of interaction with the audience throughout, and is absolutely necessary to certain sections of the show.
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648 posts
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Post by greeny11 on Jan 1, 2020 20:28:41 GMT
At the show this evening - Claire Moore is on as the Bird Woman and Rachel Spurrell appears to be in the Miss Andrew track - neither of which are listed in the programme understudy list, so am not quite sure what’s going on - I think Claire is much more suited to the Bird Woman, she gave a beautiful version of Feed The Birds.
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648 posts
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 30, 2019 23:36:47 GMT
I saw the matinee - thought Marcus Harman was excellent, as were the rest of the cast, Lauren Ward being particularly great I did not find Evan to be particularly dislikeable in this, but maybe that was because of how Marcus played it, though of course what he does is very wrong. For me, all the memorable songs are in act 1, so found act 2 to be weaker. The set was working fine this afternoon, and was impressed with the design. I really liked the use of lighting throughout - it is not a technical aspect I usually pay attention to, but I did enjoy how it was used.
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 28, 2019 22:44:42 GMT
Saw this tonight and adored it. The score is incredibly catchy, a funny book, and an extremely talented cast who are working so hard. Cassidy Janson was brilliant as Anne Hathaway, with other favourites being Miriam Teak-Lee and Jordan Luke Gage. It's My Life and That's The Way It Is were probably my 2 favourite songs/scenes in the show.
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648 posts
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 27, 2019 12:59:15 GMT
Friday and Monday matinees are very rare - it is only because it is the Christmas holidays that I am able to do so many!
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648 posts
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 27, 2019 8:13:22 GMT
Gone a bit mad this time, but am heading down to London today for 8 days and fitting in the following
Today - Curtains and Girl from the North Country Saturday - School of Rock and Juliet Sunday - Magic Goes Wrong and Book of Mormon Monday - Evan Hansen and Les Mis - real feel good day! Tuesday - Comedy About a Bank Robbery and The Play That Goes Wrong Wednesday - Matilda and Mary Poppins Thursday - The Phantom of the Opera and Six Singalong Friday - Come From Away and Waitress
I have gone for seats in the gods for quite a few shows, hence why I can do so many. I cannot get to London very often, so when I do, I tend to see a lot.
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648 posts
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 27, 2019 7:48:14 GMT
That is a shady picture to post. I did LOVE Grace...posting that photo is so disrespectful You're allowed to LOVE Grace, she seems like a lovely person which I'm sure attracts a lot of fans and rightfully so she is a great role model for young girls, but that doesn't mean she is an 'amazing' or 'phenomenal' performer. I have posted my thoughts on the 4 performances I've seen of hers elsewhere in this thread, so no need to drag the girl again. She clearly has talent or she wouldn't keep getting cast. But I have yet to see a performance where that has all come together in her favour and created a truly memorable moment for her. Now this may be because she is constantly an understudy and plays various roles on different nights, (which I am sure is VERY difficult, so props to her for being able to pull that off) but I have never seen her 'own' a role like most other understudies I have seen in other shows and she is certainly not the best understudy in the Six crew. The most popular maybe, but by no means the best performer. She is young and well on the way to a wonderful career in the theatre and I'm sure one day she will in fact be 'amazing' or even 'phenominal', but she certainly isn't there just yet. Unless you have seen Grace as Juliet - I fail to see the purpose of this post. Whatever you thought of Grace in Six, it has no bearing on her performances in this show.
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648 posts
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 21, 2019 20:13:06 GMT
Actual dancers - quite a lot of West End actors and ballet dancers were cast for the ensemble.
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 20, 2019 16:18:42 GMT
1. Rocketman 2. Avengers Endgame 3. Shazam 4. Le Mans 66 5. Jumanji: Next Level
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 20, 2019 15:20:02 GMT
Lots of positive comments from people around me at the screening I was at too.
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 20, 2019 14:58:13 GMT
Just got back from seeing this - it was showing in a mid-size screen (about 120 seats) and was about 90% full.
I have never seen the stage show, but I personally think the reviews have been very harsh - I found a lot to enjoy about it.
Starting with my criticisms - the plot is a nonsense - it's very thin, and mostly just an excuse to stage song and dance numbers. I did have a few issues with the CGI in that it wasn't entirely consistent across the cats. Some were done well, others much less so (Rebel Wilson was probably the most notable). Also, they made no effort to make the human hands into paws in some cases, and only a small effort to do so in other cases. Speaking of Rebel Wilson, I do feel she was miscast as Jennyanydots. She was one of the weaker singers and some of her lines and comedy fell a bit flat (other bits got laughs though) - some of the scratching was rather inappropriate for a U rated film too. Also, while James Corden sang his song well, his comedy also fell flat.
On the other hand, I thought there were some very strong performances among the cast. Robbie Fairchild as Munkustrap was excellent - he's a really terrific dancer and has a lovely singing voice. I was very pleased to see he had such a big part in this. Francesca Hayward was very good as Victoria, and sang her big number, Beautiful Ghosts, really well - I prefer her version to Taylor Swift's. I also liked Laurie Davidson as Mr Mistoffelees - he did a fair bit of dancing and had a nice singing voice - though I understand his Mistoffelees is somewhat different to the stage Mistoffelees. Steven McRae makes a good Shimbleshanks, and like Francesca Hayward, has a decent voice for someone who has never sung before. Jennifer Hudson was, in my opinion, a great Grizabella, and both versions of Memory gave me goosebumps. Some of the orchestrations were really impressive and stood out in a cinematic setting - especially the crescendo towards the end of Memory.
Overall, while I do have quite a few reservations about the film, I found a lot to like about it as well, and think some of the reviews have been incredibly harsh. I think fans of the music would enjoy it just for that, as the vast majority of it is sang very well and orchestrations are great.
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 20, 2019 7:55:46 GMT
Even if the film isn't great (I'm seeing it later) - I am really enjoying the soundtrack. Jennifer Hudson's Memory is an obvious highlight - but other highlights for me include: Mr Mistoffelees, Beautiful Ghosts, Skimbleshanks and Old Deuteronomy.
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 18, 2019 18:34:04 GMT
I always sit front row at the Criterion for this - and always have had plenty of legroom - and I'm 6 foot. Yes you have to crane your neck to see the vent scene, but other than that, it's a great seat IMO.
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 15, 2019 15:54:49 GMT
Hairspray - it is one of my favourite musicals of all time, and it is the original production and choreography, not the Drew McOnie version (though I like that one, it is not as good as the Jerry Mitchell and Jack O Brien version). I never saw it in London, and not with Michael Ball, but I did see it on tour and it was the show that made me interested in musicals.
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Post by greeny11 on Dec 2, 2019 22:36:29 GMT
Worked fine in New Brighton - 3 virtually full screens (roughly 700 people) - audio and picture absolutely great quality. Enjoyed it thoroughly, except for some of Michael Ball's singing. Bradley Jaden as Enjolras and Rob Houchen as Marius were my standouts this evening.
I must mention the orchestra who sounded absolutely incredible all evening.
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Post by greeny11 on Nov 23, 2019 16:03:18 GMT
I've been to all of them except Fortune, Lyric, St Martins and Trafalgar Studios
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Post by greeny11 on Nov 19, 2019 18:22:12 GMT
So the full cast as of 2nd December is Piers Bate, Cindy Belliot, Andrew Boyer, Tamlyn Henderson, David Hunter, Lucie Jones, Sandra Marvin, Joel Montague, Olivia Moore, Ben Morris, Nathaniel Morrison, Rosemary Nkrumah, Sarah O'Connor, Leanne Pinder, Matthew Rowland, Laura Selwood, Richard Taylor Woods, Hannah Tointon, Lucia De Wan, Mark Willshire and Madison Worley.
New cast members are in bold. The leaving cast are Chris McGuigan, Stephen Leask, Joe Sugg, Charlotte Riby, Kelly Agbowu, Mike Hamway, Laura Baldwin, Juliette Clemens-Lary and Annabelle Jones.
Joel is Ogie Hannah is Dawn Rosemary will be Nurse Norma Richard will be Cal Laura is replacing Charlotte Riby Ben is replacing Chris McGuigan Matthew is replacing Mike Hamway Lucia and Madison are the new Lulus.
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Post by greeny11 on Nov 11, 2019 6:05:44 GMT
Please tell me that the cutting off of the feet wasn’t just an issue in Manchester? I couldn’t believe how badly the whole thing was framed. Loads of set at the top while the principal dancers feet were cut off at the bottom? I enjoyed it but this was hugely distracting and disappointing for me. I looked out for this once you had mentioned it - and it wasn't a problem at our screening (and it filled the whole screen). The only time we couldn't see the feet was if they were doing a close up of the actor.
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Post by greeny11 on Nov 10, 2019 16:51:25 GMT
Am in the screen ready for it to start - this has completely sold out one of the biggest screens in the cinema (about 250 seats) which rarely happens. I’m glad to hear other people have enjoyed it and that it’s transferred well to screen as I loved it in London.
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Post by greeny11 on Nov 3, 2019 12:58:07 GMT
It starts half an hour earlier than the other evening performances - so I assume they've done that so families can get home a bit earlier if they see it on a Wednesday (with school the next day for the kids).
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Post by greeny11 on Nov 2, 2019 16:50:20 GMT
There is history of eliminated pros stepping in ahead of the reserves - Gorka stepped in to replace Brendan Cole instead of Neil for one week when Brendan was with Anastacia.
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Post by greeny11 on Oct 31, 2019 23:07:03 GMT
David's hiatus coincides with when Lucie is due to leave. Could we be getting Sara Bareilles and one of the American Pomatters?
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