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Post by theatre on Aug 1, 2017 22:06:07 GMT
It looks like they updated Amber's holidays on ATG website. It now shows that she's off on 1st August, 9th August and then in September. I did think it would be weird to have Amber and Marisha away at one time! Who knows if this is just a simple holiday change or whether it has anything to do with Amber's recent absence. I personally like to imagine Marisha and Amber having a riff off to see who wins the holiday time!
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Post by theatre on Aug 1, 2017 21:41:05 GMT
I know it's all a bit uncertain but if Amber goes ahead with her holidays, Karen could be getting a long run of shows as Marisha is also on holiday from tomorrow! You beat me too it! First time the poor girl has been on in weeks, maybe Ruth will make an appearance? 😎 Maybe Candace will get her Effie debut? I know she's been removed from the programme, but we've had no evidence that Karen can do a week of Effie without a show off with more pointing towards the fact that she may struggle a bit for this? And surely Candace was rehearsed in, being that she was listed as an Effie understudy for so long? Even more exciting times at Dreamgirls! Someone should make a show about this....
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Post by theatre on Jul 30, 2017 17:20:33 GMT
Great topic!
I've always been somewhat blessed in the understudy/standby/alternate department so I'll cut it down to my absolute favourite 4.
MARISHA WALLACE as EFFIE WHITE, DREAMGIRLS Wow. That's all I can say. Amber Riley who? If you haven't seen her performances at Magic at the Musicals or her Sunday set from West End Live go and look!
RACHEL JOHN as FELICIA FARRELL, MEMPHIS Another performance I preferred to the original. If you haven't seen her do Colored Women at West End Live, check it out!
ARUN BLAIR MANGAT as LOLA, KINKY BOOTS They say your first time will always be your favourite when it comes to MT, and Arun was by far the best Lola I've seen in the role. Still hoping he'll return to the show to play Lola full time!
TANYA MANALANG as KIM, MISS SAIGON How does such a big voice come out of such a tiny person? Acts the socks off of Eva in my opinion. Again, she was the first Kim I saw
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Post by theatre on Jul 29, 2017 19:23:23 GMT
Quick question: if I book balcony seats via TodayTix, what are the chances of being upgraded to somewhere lower? I was hoping to get the good half price deals they were doing on TT but they seem to have disappeared now, and I seem to remember that the balcony and sometimes even grand circle are closed due to low sales?
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Post by theatre on Jul 28, 2017 20:37:51 GMT
OMG. Maybe she IS pregnant! Congratulations Amber! She's not feeling well, she's got pain... Amber, we all got pain!
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Post by theatre on Jul 28, 2017 8:34:12 GMT
Didn't someone see her this week? I saw her two weeks ago on a Thursday, immediately before Marisha did her 12-show run in Amber's absence and I'm sure I'm the last two pages someone else (maybe two people) definitely saw her this week.
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Post by theatre on Jul 26, 2017 21:33:52 GMT
Hmm, the people on website duty need to get their act together... the homepage still says 7 out of 8, with the about section being the only place 6 is mentioned!
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Post by theatre on Jul 26, 2017 21:30:00 GMT
Ooh, checked this just a few hours ago and it was the same but good to see that they've also changed the wording about alternates too since Karen and Marisha are no longer referred to as such and that has been bothering me. As many have said, this is what she should have been scheduled for from the beginning, but I have a feeling 6 is purely a target and may not be met that often...
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Post by theatre on Jul 26, 2017 21:13:00 GMT
So if Amber was off for some time, now she's back on, I wonder what will happen with her holidays that are scheduled from this Friday. I can't see that she wouldn't go ahead and take her holiday as planned. Her attendance record is through the floor anyway so I think the damage has been done on that one. If memory serves, this is her 2 weeks off, too, which doesn't look great..., you never know though, Karen *might* get a show whilst she's off 😱 Just for 'one night only', mind Sometimes I wonder if Marisha and Sonia have Karen locked in a dressing room whilst she quietly weeps 'and you, and you, and you, you're gonna love me...'
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Post by theatre on Jul 26, 2017 16:09:16 GMT
I wonder who my Effie will be. My money's on Ruth. She's got this!
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Post by theatre on Jul 26, 2017 15:11:11 GMT
Well I guess at least no one can complain about under-rehearsed understudies!! 😂
Seriously though the cast 'schedule' for this is virtually non-existent and the sooner they remove the part about Amber doing 7 shows from the website, the better.
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Post by theatre on Jul 23, 2017 22:22:11 GMT
I must say this has restored a lot of my faith in Karen having read her early reviews, heard some dodgy early audios and not enjoying her at WEL. Whilst this is still in my opinion far too riff-heavy (and at points sounds like she's imitating Amber on the OLCR) it is certainly powerful, passionate and most importantly in tune! Maybe I will check her interpretation of Effie out after all.
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Post by theatre on Jul 22, 2017 15:17:27 GMT
I can only comment on Amber in the show. And i only saw her once. I would say her vocals were amazing and flawless and blew everyone away, certainly in the interval that's all anyway was talking about, however i do agree with the comments she could so with putting more emotion into the acting side of the performance, that was something a little bit missing for me. I saw Marisha in The Color Purple concert and emotion wasn't something anyone had to worry about with her, as a performance overall, great, but honestly vocally not for me. I would say if you mixed Marisha and Amber you probably have a perfect performer/Effie. Totally agree, both of them have amazing parts to their performance - together they'd be unstoppable!
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Post by theatre on Jul 22, 2017 13:53:26 GMT
To be fair judging from the performances I've seen from her live and on video she needs to work on her own technique a bit as well. I agree. Yes, Marisha might not have missed, but Amber IMO gave a flawless vocal performance, whereas Marisha's was mostly good at times, but she struggled at points and screams in rage when her voice gives up. It might have worked for some people during And I'm Telling You, but you're not fooling me, sister. The only number in which Marisha is a little rough and ready vocally is And I Am Telling You and I think that's largely an acting choice. Just look at how she sings I Am Changing - her voice has both the power and the delicacy required and it's by far my favourite version of the song. Don't get me wrong, in AIATY when Marisha goes for the high note on 'I know you can' it can sound like a scream and comes across poorly on recording, but for me it only adds to the performance in the room since the note IS there beneath the gruffness. Amber, whilst vocally is absolutely perfect on the notes she sings, doesn't attempt that note very often at all, not even on all TV performances. Whilst there is some emotion in her voice, there's nothing at all in her performance or face to match in AIATY - the only song in the show for me in which her acting stood out as being flat and I felt like she'd burned out a little. Admittedly this was her last show before she's now been off for over a week so maybe I'll catch her again, but a video I saw of this on YouTube was much the same. Just to clarify however I do love Amber's performance in the show - her 'listen' was phenomenal. I do think though to say Marisha's voice 'gives up' at points is a little harsh! Also, it is most definitely possible to 'scream' and growl as Marisha does with perfect vocal technique and not cause any damage to your voice, so technique is definitely not a problem that she has. If she couldn't reach the note with good technique she wouldn't sing it - as a musical theatre actress in such a competitive world (especially approaching the bigger roles as she is now) her voice is her livelihood so she wouldn't deliberately do something she knew she can't sustain. ( < note the Dreamgirls quote 😂)
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Post by theatre on Jul 21, 2017 22:37:43 GMT
Marisha has, by my calculations, done every show for the past week now - looks like Amber is once again more than just a little ill 😬
I don't know much about her training but asking a non-seasoned MT actress to do 7 shows of Effie a week was always too much, especially since Amber herself admitted, on a Glee interview I believe, that she was never a 'belter'. Pop and MT vocal technique is of course very different (we only need to look at the countless pop castings to see this) and the way in which to look after your voice for 8 show weeks plus rehearsals and publicity performances is simply not covered outside of MT vocal training to the same extent. Marisha with all her MT training managed two near month-long runs as Effie when Amber was out over January and Feb/March with no days off, something that Amber and in fact Karen, also a pop singer, could not manage. I think it's important to recognise though that this is no fault of their own- it's all down to their backgrounds.
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Post by theatre on Jul 21, 2017 19:51:41 GMT
Miranda not on tonight, first performance she's missed. I assume illness as no holiday was announced. Was just going to mention this but daniel beat me to it! Don't suppose anyone's in tonight, or knows anyone who is? Would love to hear what they thought.
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Motown
Jul 21, 2017 19:38:48 GMT
via mobile
Post by theatre on Jul 21, 2017 19:38:48 GMT
Oh dear... 😂
And there I was thinking someone somewhere would see sense and Memphis would return to us 😉😂
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Post by theatre on Jul 17, 2017 18:07:06 GMT
Fairly substantial casting adjustment as of today according to the Dreamgirls website... Marisha and Karen have had "alternate" dropped from their title...all three are now just listed as Effie White... As I understand it, Amber's holiday will still be listed but all references to her performing 7 out of 8 shows will be dropped. I don't know if the performances will be split 3-ways, whether Amber will still do the most or if they'll have set days each, but it seems that going forwards the three of them will be equally billed. www.dreamgirlswestend.com/cast-creativeAny idea of a timescale to see the latter part of these changes to be put into action? (I'm sure if you did you would have said but what can I say, I'm an impatient person!)
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Post by theatre on Jul 14, 2017 7:00:48 GMT
Glad you finally got to see Amber! Thank you - so am I! If I hadn't seen her this time I think I would have had to give up!
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Post by theatre on Jul 13, 2017 21:40:53 GMT
Just get back from finally seeing Amber in the role - must be said that I think her and Marisha are on a par! Parts of Amber's performance I preferred like Listen and parts of a Marisha's I preferred like And I Am Telling you. On the whole I'd say Amber is the better vocalist but Marisha is the better actress in this role.
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Post by theatre on Jul 12, 2017 21:39:11 GMT
I went to see Footloose at GLive in Guildford today having seen it at the New Victoria in Woking last year, and it got me thinking... has anyone ever had the venue severely impact their view on a touring show? I always used to be of the school of thought that the show was the show and all that matters is if the stage size is big enough to accommodate the set. After today I have totally changed my mind. When I saw this show with most of the same cast in Woking I was incredibly impressed and thought it was a rather well put-together touring production, and the energy in the room was great. Today, the whole thing just seemed very amateurish to me and I'm pretty sure that it was down to the space (though a more than half empty matinee audience didn't help either). Anyone else found a similar thing?
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Post by theatre on Jul 12, 2017 21:13:21 GMT
I'm not okay with this! Obviously I'm thrilled for Marisha who I adore and for Karen but I do think to do this without a big announcement is a bit sly, especially since people will have booked in advance to see Amber rightully or wrongfully.
I just hope she's on tomorrow evening - It will be my third attempt at seeing her and I may have a minor breakdown if she's not on!
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Post by theatre on Jul 12, 2017 6:45:20 GMT
Question about the Prince Edward production - does anyone know why the production closed reasonably quickly? Was it simply that the demand wasn't there or was it the desire to get it over to the US? It seems strange to me that Les Mis can run for 30 years (admittedly in a much smaller theatre) and the revival of this didn't even make it to two.
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Post by theatre on Jul 10, 2017 19:54:57 GMT
Would the other show be Funny Girl and Sheridan's extended absence? Miss Friedman kept the paying public well in the dark about all that didn't she. She certainly did! Sonia's recent productions seem to have a bit of a curse with this. Let us also not forget that Amber was out from straight after Christmas, but it took at least 2 weeks until any announcement about her pneumonia surfaced!
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Post by theatre on Jul 10, 2017 16:44:37 GMT
Oh gosh I appear to have started something! Not my intention I promise and I just want to resiterate hhat i respect Amber massively and doubt she would pull anything like this herself. My enquiry (which I realise now was not clear at all!) was actually whether it was possible that the show published a shortened holiday knowing that she'd be away for longer to try and avoid a dip in sales/backlash for holidays/looking like she's having more time off as, as we all know, Amber has struggled with being off a lot in the last 8 months. I am pretty sure this has happened with a show before but which one escapes me? Forgive me if I came across as harsh on Ms Riley, who I know of course is not deliberately trying to come up with reasons to miss the show! 😂
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