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Post by ncbears on Jun 30, 2022 7:02:40 GMT
I was at the Wednesday matinee. Very senior audience (plus one school group(. Audience was barely engaged in Act I. I knew nothing of the show or film. Bianco was the draw (and a 15£ ticket)
Mari might be the biggest monster of a mother I have ever seen on stage. Why is this billed as a comedy (or comedy-drama)? Maybe in a Russian sense - but this was a straight drama. Yes, characters are over the top and there are a few funny bits or lines, but not enough to make it a comedy. Agree that the set for the fire scene and aftermath were weak
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Post by ncbears on Jun 27, 2022 17:01:07 GMT
I don't know whether this is "bad audience behavior" - but when did London audiences become New York audiences where everything gets an instantaneous standing ovation? Before the cast even starts lining up for bows? We haven't been in London since 2019, but both my bride and I commented on the change.
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Post by ncbears on Jun 27, 2022 10:49:18 GMT
We had the "B" team on evening of 25 June. Alternates/Understudies for Bonnie (Lauren Jones), Buck (Charlie McCullough) and Blanche (Anne Guy). But, all were excellent. Hard to believe the regular cast would be any better. That Jones and Guy could deliver You Love Who You Love with such harmony and emotion together is remarkable under the circumstances. We thought Jordan Gage was magnetic, charismatic and totally believable. He should be a star from now on. Lauren Jones was radiant and engaging and totally believable, even where the book doesn't provide enough motivation, her performance made her actions seem "right" for her. Guy was right up there with Gage and Jones - hard to say any was better than the other. Just really well performed. Any issues I have are with the show itself and not the performances - odd to say, but it seemed like there were almost too many songs! And not all of the songs advanced character/plot in a way that required a song.
Oh, and Pippa Winslow was awful as an actor.
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Post by ncbears on Jun 27, 2022 10:25:37 GMT
Seeing mostly 3 Star reviews - and I can't really disagree. Harbour and Pullman and Henry are exceptional. The set is excellent. The revolve to start Act 2 was unexpected but welcome. Acts I and II are really separate plays. And I missed having Pullman for most of Act II. It's hard to write about the show without spoilers. This is not so much a "comedy" as a play with laugh lines. And I spent much of Act I wondering where the show was going. Rebeck's refusal to explain much - and willingness to obscure things - detracts. There are some very funny moments in Act I - and the build-up to the insanity of the end of Act I is welcome and a delight. But, both my bride and I really did not like Sinead Matthews as Pam. She just sucked the life out of Act II. I felt like she put everything into keeping an accent going (an accent, by the way, that is different than her brothers and father, so I don't know where she got it) and just had some exceedingly painful flat line readings. Everything was one note of near screaming and vileness. Pam does get a speech in Act II that is meant to, if not humanize her, at least provide some explanation for the venom. But, the moment doesn't hit. And since Act II revolves around Pam and her actions, Act II, to me, just doesn't work very well for the most part - whenever it is about her. Henry gets her emotional moments in Act II and the final Pullman/Harbour sequence work, but little worked for me with Pam. The play does seem to end abruptly, with almost every element of conflict left unresolved. But it really wouldn't take much, in my opinion, to make it a little more meaningful/logical. It still wouldn't fully resolve anything. {My Version of Final Moments} At the end, as Michael walks away, Pam just quickly shouts at Michael "you're not going to get away with this" but what "this" is, is left vague. After Michael leaves, it seems to me that Pam should go to Daniel's body and find the deed that has been talked about throughout, read it, see that the property belongs to Michael and then with the deed in hand, deliver that last line. And in much angrier, resentful tone and a little sad as she realizes her machinations are too little and too late for her purposes And, Daniel's desires in Act II seem out of line with his actions in Act I. {Daniel Motivation} He goes from denying he is dying throughout Act I to not only accepting he is dying but to want an immediate death? I didn't really get a sense of what changed for him. I wished Michael asked "why" and Daniel responded "I'm old, I'm sick, I have all of my kids back at home for once. What else do I have to live for?" or "Seeing all of my kids at home for once - what better reason to want to die?" or something like that. Pullman would have delivered such a line with intense sarcasm. Anyways, we are not sorry to have seen this, but can't really recommend it. There were some excellent and memorable performances, but the one key performance of Pam just sunk the show for me (and my bride). It was fun to be there for the "gala" opening performance, although being from the States, we didn't recognize any "celebrities" on the red carpet having their photos taken. Oh, yes, we were in Row H in the circle. Wouldn't not have wanted to be much higher as the rake is significant. But view was unimpeded and clear. Close enough to the stage to have clear view of faces and emotions. We had asked at the Box Office about rush ticket policies and the very nice gentleman told us that Sunday seats had opened up and offered us the Circle seats for 40 pounds each. Last row in the circle was priced at 25 pounds. From our vantage point, the stage did seem very high for the first few rows and there are actions at the back of the stage particular on the stairs that might be missed from being that close in Act I.
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Post by ncbears on Jun 26, 2022 17:16:36 GMT
Will post thoughts later, but I didnt look at cast board and wondered if that was truly Sinead Matthews as Pam for today’s gala/premiere because my issues with the play were how Pam was performed. I think it is a better play than she performed it. Pullman and Harbour and Henry were in top form
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Post by ncbears on Jun 21, 2022 19:03:57 GMT
Thanks BurlyBear for creating the new thread!
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Post by ncbears on Jun 21, 2022 18:38:35 GMT
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Post by ncbears on Jun 21, 2022 15:41:00 GMT
Any thoughts on the "immersive" Dominion production. A niece was in London and enjoyed it, but more of an "what?" frame of mind.
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Post by ncbears on Jun 19, 2022 14:05:50 GMT
Not seeing a lot of availability for lesser ticket prices this weekend when we will be in London. Perhaps a nice visit to box office is in order.
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Post by ncbears on Jun 16, 2022 20:12:35 GMT
Sunday looks better to me..... perhaps we will take in a matinee on Saturday instead.
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Post by ncbears on Jun 16, 2022 13:53:53 GMT
Seems no one is pleased by the announced Freedland play.
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Post by ncbears on Jun 13, 2022 12:37:01 GMT
And Mallory Maedke replaced Abby Mueller on a few hours notice for the Tony performance!
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Post by ncbears on Jun 11, 2022 13:46:17 GMT
Oops. Forgot yesterday to try for the 1 July tix for the filming. Well, we have Jerusalem tix that evening anyway.
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Post by ncbears on Jun 10, 2022 13:55:34 GMT
City of Angels
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Post by ncbears on May 22, 2022 16:34:07 GMT
Glancing at June dates - some shows are very sold and others barely so.
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Post by ncbears on May 22, 2022 15:56:30 GMT
Thanks all for the suggestions! (She ended up not going to a Sunday evening show - but instead got inexpensive tix to Mamma Mia with a group for Monday night after failing to get rush/day seat tix for Six today)
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Post by ncbears on May 21, 2022 22:29:23 GMT
Daughter is in London for a month at New College of Humanities. She is looking for a Sunday Evening show - as she has university events on 22 May and other Sundays. She has only located Frozen (no interest); Play that Goes Wrong (middle interest) and Six (which she saw once in Chicago, twice in Boston and once on Broadway). She has Today Tix app - and would like discounted/day seat and knows to sometimes just go to box office and ask for a day seat or for "what can you do for me". But, suggestions?
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Post by ncbears on May 20, 2022 23:19:15 GMT
Vivienne’s first line is something like “all that pink you’re wearing … is that even legal?”
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Post by ncbears on May 20, 2022 18:56:56 GMT
In Legally Blonde the film she really does stand out amongst all the preppy kids. But in this one everyone is in pink and orange. Yikes, when I directed this show in the States (for a community theatre where our total budget was --- not a lot), I had the UCLA scenes with everyone wearing bright colors - and for the Harvard scenes, the students had to be in brown or dark blue colors - to be "drab" - because Elle does have to stand out. Especially Vivienne's wearing last year's sample sale (the actor playing Vivienne was not happy with her outfit but understood the purpose).
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Post by ncbears on May 19, 2022 18:03:26 GMT
Please confirm how to add tweets so they show rather than as a link.
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Post by ncbears on May 19, 2022 15:56:57 GMT
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Post by ncbears on May 16, 2022 16:35:10 GMT
I guess this is why we don't usually book from the States for our visit to London. But this year we did, and we have tickets to the closing performance and, well, these comments are only filling me with dread for our final London show.
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Post by ncbears on May 16, 2022 3:54:59 GMT
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Post by ncbears on May 15, 2022 22:07:41 GMT
What happened to the Great American Song Contest? I heard of plans to have a similar event where each state competed but it all went quiet. Did Covid kill it off? It just ended after a run of eight Mondays. A KPop singer from Oklahoma won. It pulled way in less viewers than the Monday evening regulars, especially the two firefighting dramas 911 and 911: Lone Star. I think part of the problem was the presentation in eight episodes, much like a typical music casting show rather than one big one-off event and another part was that the US simply aren't diverse enough musically to have a mixed crazy bag like the ESC. The generic KPop girlie could have been from any state. I have a cousin who worked on Great American Song Contest. There were people from Eurovision out assisting and advising - but the issue was that the Great American Song Contest has no real hook to distinguish itself from other singing shows. There was minimal "outrageousness" that Eurovision generates. And people here just don't identify with their states much - very little state pride - and I think the voting was not by state either, so the whole joy of "Cypress gives 12 points to .... " major pause for audience to shout out "Greece" before the presenter says "Greece" just doesn't happen nor would it happen. That said, he says the production values on the final episode were really really good and they are submitting it for an Emmy. I'm a bad cousin and didn't watch.
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Post by ncbears on May 15, 2022 13:18:42 GMT
Saw that y’all got WhatIsHappening trending on Twitter during the reveal of votes!
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