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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 16, 2023 20:34:12 GMT
I dunno that might be an even tougher sell with its Austrian specific storyline. At least Rebecca is international. The Royal Ballet premiered Mayerling in 1978 and has revived it regularly ever since, most recently last autumn, so there must be some interest in the UK about the 19th century Austrian royal family!
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 13, 2023 17:44:38 GMT
The only scene that failed , was the big ball scene : it looked overworked and over-choreographed and it was tricky to work out the actual story. I may be going mad but I didn't think Pygmalion had a ball scene? I thought there was only the scene after the ball. Admittedly it's some years since I've seen Pygmalion but I've seen 3 productions over the years & I don't remember any of them having a ball; only the My Fair Lady productions I've seen have had one. Has a ball scene been added for this production?
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 11, 2023 10:11:32 GMT
(with a lot of quick changes and clothes over clothes which was probably torture in the sudden heatwave this week, but they didn’t show it) Patrick Warner tweeted a couple of times in the last week about that!
I wish I could see this production but Salisbury & Bolton are both several hours away from me. I saw a different production of the piece in 2020 10 days before the first covid lockdown, with very few people in the audience, & enjoyed it so I would like to see it again.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 10, 2023 11:11:50 GMT
The survey was very money centric geared to the price of tickets It also seemed geared towards the high prices, I was asked about £126 more than once. Not a single mention of Rush, £20 seats or Amex Previews etc. The questions about seating were odd as well. The choices were whether you preferred the back on the side, or the front in the center, but not the front on the side, which I prefer. It sounds quite like a survey the Royal Opera House sent out a few months ago, where the example ticket prices were absolutely eye-watering (even by ROH price standards) & none of the seat options covered the area where I almost always sit. I wonder if both organisations use the same data gathering company.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 9, 2023 12:58:39 GMT
Shout out to anyone (like me) who suffers an anxiety disorder and is wondering why their anxiety and stress is getting worse for no apparent reason - it’s the heat, and it’ll be alright! I'm surprised anyone wouldn't recognise the cause. Personally I am very well aware that the heat is causing me extra amounts of anxiety & stress. If you like the heat its great but a lot of us don't like anything over 25C and our perfect heat is about 20 to 22C effectively shirt sleeve weather. 20C is too hot for me, let alone 30C. My ideal temperature is around 12C.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 9, 2023 10:30:35 GMT
My mother & I seem to experience temperatures completely differently. Conversation just now:
My mother (calling up from downstairs): How are you getting on? Me: It's not exactly cool up here. My mother: I'm about to put a fleece on. Me (melting in shorts & t-shirt): Aaaaaarrrrrgggghhhh!!!!
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 8, 2023 21:27:19 GMT
Unfortunately we have to get through a horrendous-looking two days first. I wish I could get anaesthetised for 48 hours so I didn't have to experience it!
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 7, 2023 19:57:45 GMT
Who wants a silent night - cut I'm surprised about that. It's the only song I found memorable from the West End production.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 7, 2023 13:25:48 GMT
Squinting at the small print of the article in this tweet, I see it says that the issue with the Royal and Derngate theatre is in the foyer. I've never been there so I don't know the layout but is there no way of getting audiences into the auditorium by side doors, bypassing the foyer? If the auditorium itself is okay then it seems a pity they have to close. Or would it contravene some access rule to have the foyer unavailable?
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 6, 2023 11:32:53 GMT
Torn ligament apparently... now that's commitment to a performance! I raise you seeing Dave Hearn dislocating his shoulder in The Play That Goes Wrong! Apparently for the second time.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 5, 2023 12:33:19 GMT
Arguably Verdi's Falstaff is better than The Merry Wives of Windsor too! Personally I've preferred most of the opera/musical/ballet adaptations of Shakespeare I've seen to the original plays! In fact the only one I can think of where I prefer the play is Much Ado About Nothing compared to Berlioz's Beatrice et Benedict. I definitely agree on preferring My Fair Lady to Pygmalion. It's not just the songs but having scenes - Ascot, the Embassy Ball - shown that are only talked about afterwards in the play. Presumably Shaw didn't believe in the "show, don't tell" principal whereas Lerner did!
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 4, 2023 21:34:18 GMT
It's always like this just as schools go back - the weather is always better in the first couple of school weeks than it is across the whole of the summer holiday. I do not consider nearly 30 degrees to be better than low 20s!!
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 4, 2023 21:32:25 GMT
Yes, rather odd. Bertie giving it plenty too, like the Wicked Witch of the West. I’d be amazed if that was the set, it looks nothing like a Richard Jones production. Yes, there's a noticeable lack of lurid wallpaper for starters!
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 4, 2023 13:00:06 GMT
We often get ‘Indian summers’ with warm days in Sept and October. Plays hell with marketing winter clothing. I know. I hate them, especially as it also plays hell with my theatregoing. I still haven't forgiven the weather for being 30 degrees on 1st October 2011.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 4, 2023 10:49:45 GMT
The weather forecast for the next week makes me want to scream. It's hotter than July & August.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 1, 2023 16:02:29 GMT
My lasting memory of Jamie Lloyd was having to stand over a pool of mud balancing on a plank and reaching out to check peoples tickets without falling into the mud at one of his shows. It was meant to be immersive! Surely falling into the mud would have made it more immersive!
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 25, 2023 11:51:45 GMT
It also just had bags of charm and a natural flow, several times in the modern version they seem to ham up a gag or routine whereas previously it was left for the audience to pick it up naturally and respond. On the subject of gags, I don't recall Zangler's speech about water, including a toilet gag, at the very end of Act I being present in the Regent's Park production. I found it rather distasteful & jarring in tone compared to the rest of the show.
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 23, 2023 12:11:38 GMT
10/10 for this concert production, certainly one of the best of these events there has been. But the source material is still duff. Such a waste of some gorgeous music on such banal lyrics and such a ridiculous plot. I can never keep a straight face when they are recounting their night of passion (“and I licked you, and I flicked you, and I sucked you, and I f…” etc) that has been conjured out of thin air to enable them to have a son. Didn’t think Norm Lewis was right for this at all either. All these years later Steve, you never fail to entertain. Literally fell out of my chair laughing at your version of Beneath a moonless sky I was going to say I didn't remember the lyrics being quite that explicit in 2011! Although I hated what was done to the characters so much that I've never listened to the songs since. I'm definitely with those who would like a completely new plot to go with the lovely music.
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 21, 2023 21:22:26 GMT
I quite like the vocals (whether lip-synched or not) and I like Danver’s subtle mannerisms and expressions. However, whilst I have no issues with Lauren Jones’s singing, I don’t like the way she smiles after each delivery of the line ‘Mrs. De Winter is me’. She smiles in a way that is obviously gloating towards Danvers (slightly taunting her) and I don’t think this is in-keeping with the character (plus it’s a bit like Joan Collins smiling/gloating at Linda Evans or John Forsythe in a 1980s episode of Dynasty!) I've not seen the musical but based on reading the novel & seeing a straight play adaptation (admittedly both some years ago) I found Lauren Jones' acting to be rather jarring. I assume, unless the plot's been significantly changed from the novel, that we're supposed to be sympathising with the second Mrs de Winter's struggles against the malign Mrs Danvers. Instead when watching the song I found myself more taking Mrs Danvers' side because the second Mrs de Winter came over as annoyingly smug.
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 18, 2023 18:57:52 GMT
Charlie Stemp would usually appear in this number in Bela Zangler disguise rather than as Bobby, wouldn't he? Presumably he didn't for this appearance to save explanations to the TV audience as to why he was in disguise.
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 17, 2023 21:15:10 GMT
I think you're mixed up. "Janseits der Nacht" (Beyond the Night) is the reprise in Act 2, once Maxime has proven his innocence; the song that was video'd is "Hilf mir durch die Nacht" (Help Me Through the Night), which has always been sung in the middle of Act 1. Thanks, that does make more sense of the lyrics.
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 16, 2023 21:28:17 GMT
English version of Jenseits der Nacht has been released! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Some interesting translating choices "abandoned spirits" from Ich sounding particularly odd, but it sounds sooo good overall. omg.
I listened to the song fist & then looked up whereabouts it comes in the show. I was surprised to find it comes almost at the end, as from the lyrics I had thought it would be from early in their marriage. Still, it has made my interest in seeing the show go from very low to possible. It also makes me feel old as I think of Maxim de Winter as being middle aged (this is probably influenced by having seen a play version with Nigel Havers in 2005 when he would have been mid 50s) & Richard Carson looks fairly young.
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 15, 2023 19:25:31 GMT
Why does the media still always present possible hot weather as a good thing? I'm sure I'm not the only person who has been very relieved by a not too hot July & whose heart sinks at the prospect of hotter weather in the next couple of weeks. www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/66508760
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 15, 2023 17:48:01 GMT
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 14, 2023 14:37:35 GMT
I'm very pleased to see there aren't any actors I particularly like in the cast, in fact there are only a few actors I've even heard of, so I can happily not go & see this.
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 10, 2023 17:05:08 GMT
Was he tall? As "lanky" is also a term for someone tall and thin. We certainly use that term in Cornwall and say someone is as lanky as a yard of p**s.
He's reasonably tall but not especially so & not especially thin either so I personally wouldn't describe him as lanky, but maybe that is what they're thinking of.
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 10, 2023 17:00:59 GMT
Also good to see both Will Callan and Katie Hall 'promoted' from the recent UK tour to the London production (although not sure if Katie's done West End before?). She did Cosette in the WE for a few months in 2009 before moving to the then-new tour production. I'm not sure whether or not she's done Fantine though, as I haven't followed the WE casts changes in detail in the last few years.
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 10, 2023 12:19:06 GMT
Seeing this thread bumpred reminds me of something I've been puzzling over off & on since I saw the show last week. Why in this production is Lank Hawkins called Lank? In the Regent's Park production the character had longish, straggly hair, so clearly he'd been nicknamed Lank because his hair was lank. However in this production the character has a standard short-back-and-sides haircut, so why had he been nicknamed Lank? (From an in-universe prespective that is, not "Because that's his name in the script".)
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 9, 2023 21:27:11 GMT
Many consider it to be Sondheim's greatest masterpiece, so I can see why some might be nervous speaking out against it, particularly among Sondheim fans. If the subject matter doesn't work for you, the incredible craft of the book, music and lyrics, and typical staging don't make up for it. Even if it had the greatest music, lyrics & staging ever known to mankind that still could not make a musical involving cannibalism anything other than abhorrent for me.
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 9, 2023 18:44:19 GMT
Fortunately the only 3 musicals I've seen that I really hated, Too Close To The Sun, The Light Princess & Quadrophenia, have not yet shown any signs of being revived. Long may it not happen!
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