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Post by ncbears on Jul 2, 2020 2:54:01 GMT
Got a ticket for Saturday!
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Post by ncbears on Jun 29, 2020 18:51:20 GMT
I saw a tweet that described this version of the show as "Divorced. Beheaded. Drive!"
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Post by ncbears on Jun 25, 2020 14:24:19 GMT
So happy to have caught this on the NT @home streaming before it disappeared. I'm now kicking myself for not knowing about this when I was in the UK last summer. While it looks great on TV - it must have been even more impressive live. And, while I read the comments above about the size of the Olivier stage- at least in the filmed version, this felt plenty "intimate". This is not a complaint - but after three hours (which flew), I was so invested in the characters that I wanted to know what happens next. It is not that the story doesn't have a stopping point - or that where this production stops isn't an appropriate stopping point - it is just that I felt like I was at the end of a chapter - and there was so much more story to be told. I'll be buying a copy of the novel - even if the novel doesn't go beyond where the play ends. Just a wonderful production and Leah Harvey was just astoundingly good.
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Post by ncbears on Jun 21, 2020 0:06:53 GMT
We know which shows are being highlighted - but not which years' performances. Also no schedule for Saturday and Sunday of the highlights. No real surprises of show titles or what could be missing. Wait, I don't see Billy Elliot on the list - and I think there was a West End performance in the 2015-2019 period. &Juliet Barricade Boys Bat Out of Hell Come From Away Dreamgirls Jamie Heathers Jersey Boys Kinky Boots Lion King Mamma Mia Matilda Memphis Les Misérables Only Fools and Horses Phantom School of Rock Six Strictly Ballroom Sunny Afternoon Tina Waitress Wicked So Saturday was Wicked (4 Elphabas!), Sunny Afternoon, Six, Les Misérables, Memphis, Lion King, Jersey Boys, Heathers, Come From Away, Bat Out of Hell, &Juliet
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Post by ncbears on Jun 19, 2020 15:12:37 GMT
We know which shows are being highlighted - but not which years' performances. Also no schedule for Saturday and Sunday of the highlights. No real surprises of show titles or what could be missing. Wait, I don't see Billy Elliot on the list - and I think there was a West End performance in the 2015-2019 period.
&Juliet
Barricade Boys
Bat Out of Hell
Come From Away
Dreamgirls
Jamie
Heathers
Jersey Boys
Kinky Boots
Lion King
Mamma Mia
Matilda
Memphis
Les Misérables
Only Fools and Horses
Phantom
School of Rock
Six
Strictly Ballroom
Sunny Afternoon
Tina
Waitress
Wicked
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Post by ncbears on Jun 15, 2020 22:50:31 GMT
Richard Attenborough and I would disagree 🙂 Richard Attenborough didn't understand the material at all. In a film full of very bad choices, reassigning that song was one of the worst. The moment is not - or should not be - about a romantic relationship. It's about dedication to a craft. Attenborough that it was just a standard backstage musical - he said it was about a group of "kids" trying to get their first break. Um, no. And he brought back the original discarded idea of Cassie showing up to confront Zach and not to be part of the audition. In the film, Cassie gets her own entrance in a cab - as I recall. Bennett knew that was wrong and that idea was discarded early in the creation of A Chorus Line. And, I know, if you hire Michael Douglas, you have to show his face, but Zach being almost exclusively on the GodMike in the stage show is a whole different story than one where Zach is a "person". That's why you don't cast Michael Douglas.
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Post by ncbears on Jun 9, 2020 18:26:16 GMT
I interviewed Marvin Hamlisch (um, mumbledy mumble years ago) and I asked him about "What I Did for Love" because, to me, it just seems out of place and has a horrible bit of dialog to lead into it. He said that Bennet wanted to cut the song. Hamlisch insisted on it staying because, according to him, he needed to have "one hit song" from the show. And, yet, Priscilla Lopez - who gets two solos - did not win the Tony. And, most here probably know that Paul's monologue was pretty much, word for word, Nicholas Dante's story from one of the late night recorded sessions. Dante is credited as one of the book authors, as well. It still is one of the most emotional moments I've ever seen on stage - and I haven't seen it since, well, 1977 - but I can hear "take care of my son" in my mind, and I start to tear up. I've rarely heard an audience so quiet (aside from the tears and sobs)
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Post by ncbears on Jun 6, 2020 4:00:51 GMT
We Will Rock You is not the worst “popular” show I have ever seen. Close, but not a champion.
Stephen Ward was not that bad. Neither was The GoBetween.
I enjoy proseco at the interval.
West End Live performances overall are disappointing.
Laurence Connor is even less original of a director than his critics claim
Scarlett Strallen is the most talented Strallen sister.
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Post by ncbears on Jun 4, 2020 21:53:32 GMT
So, this American watched and was able to follow the show and was thoroughly entertained. I'm not sure there is any overarching message or theme - just a very well put together, scripted, acted, lighted and designed lightly/heavily fictionalized bit of UK Parliamentary history. There is nothing wrong with an entertaining evening. True, I had no idea where the various areas were as announced "the member of ….." or what the quality of life was in those areas. But, I could get the gist of it from the immediate dialog after the statement. This House was much easier to understand/relate to than Great Britain was when I saw the premiere at the NT.
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Post by ncbears on May 31, 2020 22:22:14 GMT
My only complaint was that he didn't encourage people to get ice cream during the interval. He mentioned many other things to do during the interval - but not that tradition.
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Post by ncbears on May 27, 2020 23:20:56 GMT
My question: will this be viewable in the States?
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Post by ncbears on May 18, 2020 20:45:57 GMT
Well, we made a small donation.
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Post by ncbears on May 17, 2020 18:30:58 GMT
The live commentary has about fifteen minutes of introduction and background - so if you are just trying to match up the filmed version - start the filmed version when the commentary is at about fifteen minutes. There are various places in the commentary with a specific reference so you can coordinate.
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Post by ncbears on May 16, 2020 19:56:50 GMT
In his "live" commentary, he did hint that he might do something online with Cinderella.
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Post by ncbears on May 16, 2020 18:57:51 GMT
I was able to put up two tabs - one for the Cats and one for the commentary - not too bad on the coordination. I wonder if they will leave up ALW's commentary on YouTube when Cats comes down.
Some notes on his commentary - some of which was new to me.
1. The Americans wanted Michael Bennett to re-choreograph the show for Broadway. Bennet came to London, watched the show and told ALW, et al that he wouldn't change the choreo (maybe a small bit here and there) and wrote a lovely letter of congratulation to Gillian Lynne. And the American producers wouldn't believe that Bennett had written the note!
2. ALW says a British author could not/would not have written the Eliot poems - at least in the way they were written
3. Eliot wrote Skimbleshanks to a 1930s song - and ALW thinks he knows which one - but he wouldn't disclose it! ALW's music is different.
4. John Mills did his scene in one take.
5. Others here knew - I did not - that Stoppard had written a screen treatment.
6. ALW dedicated this showing to his cat Mika that just died. I think he really loved that cat.
7. Mr. Mistoffeles was the first poem set to music.
8. I don't think ALW liked the Hooper film...…
9. I really enjoyed ALW singing along at the end.
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Post by ncbears on May 13, 2020 21:17:31 GMT
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Post by ncbears on May 11, 2020 22:06:59 GMT
He hasn’t released anything. Universal released the ALW videos in their catalogue, just as ALW said they would in his initial announcement. Not sure where people suddenly got the idea ALW would be releasing private archive recordings of shows never previously made public. Seems a lot of people misunderstood “The Shows Must Go On” series. As much as I would like it to be different, but I agree with steve10068. The "The shows must go on" program is not intended for us hardcore fans, but rather as an advertisement for musical theater for people who have not yet gone to the theater. More specifically, an advertisement for people to buy DVDs/CDs from Universal....
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Post by ncbears on May 8, 2020 18:52:30 GMT
So, is By Jeeves worth the time to watch - asking for an American family.....
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Post by ncbears on May 7, 2020 13:29:40 GMT
My daughter was/is hoping for The Light Princess. I know it was not an NT Live. But there must be an archive filming. This announcement may give her hope!
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Post by ncbears on May 3, 2020 16:52:17 GMT
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Post by ncbears on Apr 29, 2020 7:31:55 GMT
Quick bump as we watched the free stream tonite and laughed a lot. But also felt the immense cruelty played against Malvolio. If a different time, Shakespeare would have written Malvolio’s revenge. Loved most of the cast although Chris seemed to still be in One Man Two Guvnors. And marveled at the set and stagecraft. These NT Live selections all seem to show off what NT can do. Next is the heavily anticipated battle of the Sherlocks!
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Post by ncbears on Apr 25, 2020 16:56:52 GMT
I just learned that Cypress Avenue is streaming for one more day. Is it worth watching as a play or just for a Stephen Rea performance.
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Post by ncbears on Apr 22, 2020 16:18:11 GMT
We watched Treasure Island last night. That was fun. And I've never read the book, but this adaptation has prodded me to, at least, get a copy to stay on the nightstand (or Kindle). The set was the star - even on a television screen. And we had a big bold laugh at how the play ended.
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Post by ncbears on Apr 20, 2020 17:39:25 GMT
Apparently available until 10 p.m. NY Time on Monday, April 20.
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Post by ncbears on Apr 20, 2020 3:54:01 GMT
Mr. Urie performed the play in his apartment and streamed it on April 19.
I don't know how long it will be up on YouTube.
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