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Post by sf on Mar 28, 2019 16:53:47 GMT
I think it is incredibly unfair to brand any performer "unreliable." We never know the state of their physical and mental health, nor of their private lives. When something happens and time has to be missed, it's always down to one of those things. To hold it against them is tantamount to bullying, I think.
Sometimes producers don't help, in terms of performers getting a reputation for not showing up. Laura Benanti missed a lot of performances in a Broadway revival of Into the Woods and eventually left the show and was replaced, and the fact that she missed a lot of performances attracted a lot of snide commentary online - but it later emerged that she'd sustained a spinal injury during a pratfall and treatment for it hadn't gone smoothly, and the producers forbade her from talking about it in public while she was in the show.
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Post by sf on Mar 28, 2019 16:32:31 GMT
Oh and one comment about the piece itself - I don't quite get the structure. It is ramping up into a gut wrenching tragedy of unhappy relationships and fundamentally broken characters. Then instead of letting that peak in an all out gut punch (which I found I wanted at this point) it descends into Vaudeville with the Follies themselves. The Loveland sequence IS the peak. It's four nervous breakdowns presented as pastiche Follies performances - Buddy as a vaudeville clown, Sally as a torch singer, Phyllis as dancer (or, in a production that uses 'Ah, But Underneath' instead of 'Lucy and Jessie', a stripper), and Ben as a song-and-dance man - and those performances are carefully designed to expose each character's individual folly.
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Post by sf on Mar 28, 2019 16:06:18 GMT
The VAAAAAST majority of theatre performers will not take a day off lightly, they've worked too hard to get where they are and they know it could all disappear at a moment's notice.
True. But also, if they make a living from their voice they also know that pushing those muscles in the wrong way could cause serious, permanent damage.
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Brexit
Mar 28, 2019 15:11:37 GMT
Post by sf on Mar 28, 2019 15:11:37 GMT
Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg yesterday gave up any and all pretence that any of this is about literally anything other than their own self interests and careers, it's high time we treated these hypocritical, self-obsessed gasbags with the contempt they deserve.
An entertaining piece of trivia: Jacob Rees-Mogg's majority is smaller than the number of his constituents who have signed the Revoke Article 50 petition.
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Post by sf on Mar 26, 2019 21:37:38 GMT
I enjoyed that way more than I did last year. Will do full report later, but really enjoyed it, in my opinion this is the cast this version of Follies deserves and should have had last time around! But, surely, with Quast , the rest I can agree with
Quast is a better singer than Alexander Hanson, but in this role I thought Hanson was giving the better performance. And I thought Quast was very good.
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Post by sf on Mar 26, 2019 16:14:51 GMT
Brexit sounds like a good idea now, given Article 13/Article 11 has just been approved by the EU Parliament. Song parodies? Gone. Animated gifs? Nope. Memes? Illegal. Uploading clips or screencaps from films and TV shows to the internet? No more. Basically anything that contains copyrighted content will not be allowed online any more in the EU if you do not own it. Also if you link or post snippets of a review or news article from a mainstream source, you now have to pay a license fee for it. Yes, that's right, it's that bad. Well, Sellafield will be able to resume dumping hundreds of litres of toxic, radioactive waste into the seas polluting our food chain, med prices will rise whilst nurse staffing figures plummet, etc etc but we'll still have our memes. In all seriousness, the copyright laws are seriously out of date and are in-part fundamentally to blame for the crash of the Music Industry. Also parodies are covered by an exemption rule of A13, as are memes. Apparently.
And in any case, the best way to deal with this kind of legislation is to retain our seat at the table so that we can influence the direction it takes, rather than walking away. Any outcome that leaves us outside the EU will turn us into rule-takers, and the only question is whose rules.
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Post by sf on Mar 26, 2019 15:49:51 GMT
Was expecting a horrendous queue for this one but got my favourite seat in the Old Vic by 10 past 12. I don't know much about Scott's non stage career and was led to believe that there'd be a ridiculous demand for this. And also after Seawall was such a smash. Not complaining, I haven’t got round to booking yet.
Sea Wall was a two-week run, which probably has a lot to do with why tickets went much more quickly on the day booking opened. For THIS, that initial surge of demand was spread across a much greater number of performances.
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Post by sf on Mar 25, 2019 20:46:10 GMT
I've been drafted in to play Celie. Sierra Boggess put in a good word for me. I'll be on book for the first few shows but then I'll be OK. I'll be the new Cynthia Erivo. I'll be on Twitter next. They've cast me as your understudy, mostly because I'm already on Twitter. You've seen Showgirls, haven't you? Be careful around staircases. Muahahahahaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by sf on Mar 25, 2019 20:39:30 GMT
I had an Americano from the espresso bar in Whole Foods in Kensington High Street on Saturday (I know, I know. Don't judge.) It was so strong I think you could probably use it to power a washing machine.
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Post by sf on Mar 25, 2019 20:36:33 GMT
You are speaking for yourself, as a centrist, whatever you mean by that. Not leader of the opposition, not a left wing leader of the Labour party. Not of a country where so many areas that voted to leave were traditional Corbyn supporters. The one area I don't think you are listening to is why large swathes of these communities did vote to leave. As I said, you speak quite well on the subject, in my opinion you need to improve here. How remarkably, breathtakingly condescending of you. I am speaking as a (former) Labour voter in a northern town - a Labour stronghold with two Labour MPs, one of whom has a majority of over 8,000 and the other of whom has a majority of around 17,000 - in which the Leave vote was 10% above the national average. I'm also speaking as someone who is more than happy to see the Labour Party take a decisive step back towards the left. I know very well indeed why my neighbours voted to leave the EU, because I speak to them. I also know what they think of Mr. Corbyn; in general, they like him less than I do.
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Post by sf on Mar 25, 2019 18:22:18 GMT
I think it isn't entirely about Corbyn, who is doing a magnificent job of alienating his own side. Not all of the various attendees at that meeting at Chequers today are - I'll be kind - especially bright, and a couple of them have proved over and over again that they could be outwitted by most vegetables, but I'm sure they all - perhaps except Mrs. May - know very well that whoever is in the driving seat when/if we leave the EU will be punished for it, and probably destroyed by it. Leave voters were promised a land of milk and honey and a great big cash bonus for the NHS, and that's not going to happen. Remain voters, and there were almost as many of them, are becoming increasingly vocal, and plenty are incandescently furious about the various rights and privileges that would be lost under either a future relationship defined by the red lines contained in Mrs. May's withdrawal agreement or in the fallout from a no-deal exit, and are also incandescently furious at the way Mrs. May has not merely ignored but frequently insulted Remain voters during her lurching progress through the "negotiations" (which of course were never going to be negotiations, because our side never understood what they were dealing with). BOTH groups will blame whoever is holding the keys to Number 10 on the exit date, whenever that is. And there are also potentially serious political consequences arising from any other way forward. The coup has collapsed, I suspect, because nobody wants the top job, because they all know it's poison.
You meant not being a remainer, not supporting a people's vote? Didn't you??
I meant a lot of things, including but not limited to that. He is a walking disaster, and his influence has rendered his party toxic. It was striking, in that crowd on Saturday afternoon, just how much anger was directed at Corbyn - at Labour generally, but specifically at Corbyn, whose performance as leader of the opposition has set new records for incompetence. The Tories made this mess, and a Tory Prime Minister has spent two-and-a-half years doing her level best to push through an outcome that would be (even) more destructive than a deal which kept us in the single market and the customs union and accepted all four freedoms (even Norway+ entails a hit to the economy compared to full membership - just a smaller one than we'd take if we left the single market), but with a (very) few honourable exceptions, our main party of opposition has sat back and let her.
But I also meant a culture within the party in which the word "centrist" has become a term of abuse, and his staggeringly incompetent management of the anti-Semitism row, and the way he's appointed a front bench composed more or less entirely of acolytes and banished nearly all his most intelligent, most competent MPs to the back benches, and... you get the idea. As I said, he's a walking disaster.
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Post by sf on Mar 25, 2019 13:08:07 GMT
I was in the queue for about 50 minutes - painless enough, I was getting on with other things in another window - and I got exactly what I wanted (one of the rail-in-eyeline seats in the dress circle, and preferably one of the ones in row B). Worth the wait, those seats are an absolute bargain.
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Post by sf on Mar 24, 2019 21:07:13 GMT
Now the government ‘coup’ appears to have collapsed. They can’t even get that right so how the hell are they supposed to get anything agreed when they can’t follow through on something that they actually agree on? What what fresh hell awaits us this week? So worried about Jezza, they'll keep Theresa
I think it isn't entirely about Corbyn, who is doing a magnificent job of alienating his own side. Not all of the various attendees at that meeting at Chequers today are - I'll be kind - especially bright, and a couple of them have proved over and over again that they could be outwitted by most vegetables, but I'm sure they all - perhaps except Mrs. May - know very well that whoever is in the driving seat when/if we leave the EU will be punished for it, and probably destroyed by it. Leave voters were promised a land of milk and honey and a great big cash bonus for the NHS, and that's not going to happen. Remain voters, and there were almost as many of them, are becoming increasingly vocal, and plenty are incandescently furious about the various rights and privileges that would be lost under either a future relationship defined by the red lines contained in Mrs. May's withdrawal agreement or in the fallout from a no-deal exit, and are also incandescently furious at the way Mrs. May has not merely ignored but frequently insulted Remain voters during her lurching progress through the "negotiations" (which of course were never going to be negotiations, because our side never understood what they were dealing with). BOTH groups will blame whoever is holding the keys to Number 10 on the exit date, whenever that is. And there are also potentially serious political consequences arising from any other way forward. The coup has collapsed, I suspect, because nobody wants the top job, because they all know it's poison.
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Post by sf on Mar 24, 2019 19:50:03 GMT
What what fresh hell awaits us this week? I suspect this week will like swallowing a cup of cold sick
Ah. An optimist.
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Post by sf on Mar 24, 2019 17:41:15 GMT
I couldn't begin to put a number on it, and the numbers flying about in the media and on Twitter are all over the place (seriously, ranging from 1 to 2 million) - but as someone who was in the middle of it, and who also attended the march in October, this one certainly felt significantly bigger. I couldn't get any further than Trafalgar Square, and I was towards the front of the march. Did you see James O’Brien?
I didn't see any of the speakers, I couldn't get close enough. And I haven't had a chance to watch them yet today.
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Brexit
Mar 24, 2019 17:15:58 GMT
Post by sf on Mar 24, 2019 17:15:58 GMT
it will be interesting to see the support/size of the march I couldn't begin to put a number on it, and the numbers flying about in the media and on Twitter are all over the place (seriously, ranging from 1 to 2 million) - but as someone who was in the middle of it, and who also attended the march in October, this one certainly felt significantly bigger. I couldn't get any further than Trafalgar Square, and I was towards the front of the march.
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Post by sf on Mar 22, 2019 22:04:41 GMT
As I said when i posted it i don't think the petition will have much effect its just a chance to express the strength of feeling for remain that still exists despite us having been ignored for two and a half years and particularly in the wake of Theresa May's outrageous speech. It also sends the rest of the world a clear message that despite Mrs. May's "will of the people" mantra, the will of the people is nowhere near as rock-solid as she suggests. That, I think, is very important.
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Post by sf on Mar 22, 2019 21:19:34 GMT
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Post by sf on Mar 22, 2019 19:20:39 GMT
Whereas only British Citizens got to vote in the referendum and will only be allowed to vote in any hypothetical 'deal or no deal' ballot (there will be no 'stay' option) this petition allows foreign nationals living in the UK and those who are currently below the age of the franchise to voice an opinion they won't be asked to express via the ballot box. God forbid people whose rights and status are directly affected by the outcome should be allowed to express an opinion. The nerve. It is not, by the way, entirely true to say that only British citizens got to vote in the referendum. The franchise extended to citizens of the Republic of Ireland, Malta, and Cyprus who were also UK residents. Inexcusably, it did NOT extend to UK citizens who had been living outside the UK for over 15 years, despite the fact that the outcome has significant ramifications for those of them living elsewhere in the EU.
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Post by sf on Mar 22, 2019 12:45:21 GMT
Flipping 'eck sf that must have been really frightening, glad to hear no physical injury but shocking none the less. Take care of yourself. Thank you. The crash happened so quickly that I didn't have time to be frightened, and I walked away with just a few minor bruises. Believe it or not, I was far more shaken up looking at the pictures I took of the crash site when I finally got home after I'd finished talking to the police.
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Mar 22, 2019 12:20:36 GMT
Post by sf on Mar 22, 2019 12:20:36 GMT
Above three million signatures as of ten minutes ago.
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Post by sf on Mar 22, 2019 12:18:31 GMT
I would second Dr Toms suggestion to avoid the side seats -- you would be side-on to the action the entire show. The seats at the end of the row towards the back of the stage would be abysmal! I'm sure the side seats towards the back of the stage would indeed be terrible. The ones at the other end of the row - at a right-angle to the front row in the main seating block, at the very front of the stage - are perfectly OK (that's where I sat). When they call the yellow group into the theatre, move quickly.
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Post by sf on Mar 22, 2019 12:00:02 GMT
Is it safe to say her career is ruined too?
Not necessarily. I think that partly depends on what she learns from this experience. She is formidably talented, and she's clearly been brought up surrounded by some pretty toxic beliefs and attitudes, and she hasn't managed to transcend her upbringing. Her parents have done her considerable damage, but she's still quite young. There are ways forward for her from this - but not if she continues to alienate people. The way this controversy came about suggests rather strongly that she really hasn't endeared herself to some of the people she's worked with so far.
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Post by sf on Mar 22, 2019 0:22:21 GMT
Who was she in Hadestown? I can't remember... She was one of the workers.
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Mar 21, 2019 17:39:57 GMT
Post by sf on Mar 21, 2019 17:39:57 GMT
Close to 1 million signed now. 970,000 and counting... Well, I’m trying to sign it but the email I’m supposed to get to confirm my address hasn’t arrived. How long should it take?
When it isn't this busy it's pretty much instant.
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Post by sf on Mar 21, 2019 17:36:21 GMT
Finally saw it yesterday afternoon.
The three-way casting just about worked for me, but it didn't make the storytelling any clearer and I suspect there might have been more effective ways to make the same point. I think it's fascinating but flawed production of a messy, sprawling, flawed play; there are some wonderful individual performances in it, and some very moving moments, and a lot of things that didn't quite hang together - but that's more or less what I was expecting from what I knew about the play. I enjoyed it, and I'm very glad I saw it, and I can certainly understand why some people have really hated it.
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Mar 21, 2019 17:22:12 GMT
Post by sf on Mar 21, 2019 17:22:12 GMT
Close to 1 million signed now. 970,000 and counting...
I signed it last night before May's speech, which I mercifully missed because I was watching Follies (yes, again).
My mother signed it about an hour ago, and there were roughly a million more signatures than there had been when I signed at 7.15pm yesterday.
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Post by sf on Mar 21, 2019 17:18:14 GMT
This was the conclusion of my taxi ride home from the station last night:
The driver either momentarily dozed off or blacked out and drove straight into the island on a pedestrian crossing at about 45mph. He didn't even brake.
I'm OK, was checked out by a paramedic at the scene, and I'm very lucky that seatbelt pretensioners work - I'm just a bit shaken up. The driver wasn't visibly hurt, but was taken to casualty, and deserves to lose his licence.
Wear your seatbelt, even if it's just a short cab ride. The seatbelt is the reason I was able to walk away.
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Post by sf on Mar 19, 2019 15:12:07 GMT
Hurrah what great news I love the video of the revolving auditorium. Can they stage Sweeney? City on fire would be wonderful as it spins round. As would the Waltz sections from Night Music CATS CATS CATS "Latecomers will not be admitted while the auditorium is in motion."
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Mar 18, 2019 19:02:58 GMT
Post by sf on Mar 18, 2019 19:02:58 GMT
Apparently a number of MPs who voted the deal down angry are that they don’t get another chance to vote for it. It’s the same deal, you idiots, you’re already on record as being opposed to it.
And of course they're mostly the same MPs who very loudly don't want the public to have another vote on the outcome, especially if Remain is on the ballot.
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