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Post by distantcousin on Sept 20, 2019 9:42:51 GMT
Well, you can put me in the Love camp for this one. Is it faultless, a throughly worked-out interpretation of Eva’s character and motives? No. Is it the only way I’d like to see Evita produced from now until the end of time? No. Do I think it gave a kick up the backside to a musical which risks descending into fixed ideas bordering on cliché? Yes. You're right about that. I actually think it's great it's divided opinion as it shows they really have gone out and breathed new life in to something that really needed it (although I didn't know it needed it until now). My final visit last night. Better than ever for me. Up close and personal in row E and as was dark before Act 1 started you had the full effect of the lighting design which really focussed things and added to the drama. Another reason I feel it would work indoors. I get what people mean by Pauly shrieking - her voice is sharp - not sure if it's helped by having to design for sound outdoors. But the same was said of Elena Roger. For me I like the quality of her voice and she nails the notes. Her acting is also brilliant. IMHO a true triple threat - hope we see her in the UK again. Only downside - my God I was cold!!!! Poor Trent Saunders..... Yeah, seeing it in the dark totally worked for the tone of the piece.
I had no problems with La Pauly and her vocals at all. She hit all the notes, and her tone suits a tough character. I wouldn't particularly want to hear a "pretty voiced" Eva.
One other thing I liked is the fact the leads were all of American, and their accents encouraged a "foreignness" and "otherness" in their characters. For me, I always found the characters in previous productions slightly coloured by typical RP English accents., when the characters are anything but! Just my own personal taste there.
Like you, I felt for Trenty! Drenched in cold paint and stood in his boxers at 10pm on a mid September evening. Suffering for his art!!!
I SO hope it comes back in (what would have to be) a couple of years. Want to bring friends to see it too!
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Post by distantcousin on Sept 17, 2019 17:53:33 GMT
Well, if it’s well played and well sung I’ll be happy enough (although she sounds a bit screechy on YouTube). We always knew this wasn’t going to be Evita as we knew it, there would be zero point in doing that. So we’ve got what we expected, which is something unexpected. I do find it a bit baffling though that in reinterpreting it so drastically he gives us the kid in the jewels and wig. If this is no longer to be about the historical character we all know, why bother making the reference? And is Che wearing only a pair of denim cut off shorts at the end? {Spoiler - click to view} So the kid in the jewels and the wig is like a bratty kid prom queen - she sings "Dear Gentle Eva" and her and Eva look at each other with mutual disdain. At the end the kid holds out her hand and is given a fat pile of dollar bills which she puts into a bumbag around her dress.
At the VERY end during Che's final words (ending in 'Evita's body disappeared for 17 years') Eva stands there and is dressed in the big white dress and the iconic blond wig. (The first time we see a traditional Evita costume). I think it is making the point that this image of her, even though it IS how she looked, is something that has been cemented in her death. In life, she is portrayed as this rough gritty common girl, seeking fame in the style of X Factor contestants today.
In fact overall, I know we are always left in limbo of bitch vs saint in Evita, but this production is skewed very much towards bitch. Not entirely though, you do see glimpses of humility and feeling. It's made very clear though that most of the smiles for the cameras are fake.
Che during Waltz for Eva and Che gets undressed till he is in his boxers. At the end of the song Eva throws 2 buckets of water over him then one of ticker tape and he collapses as if injured. As the show progresses through her death he is then increasingly weak, such that when she dies it appears as if he has too. The interpretation I took is that Che represents the people, the descamisados and the prosperity of Argentina (now bankrupt). And they died over her reign as she was all mouth and actually did nothing for them. "Little has changed for us peasants down here on the ground."
This is all open to interpretation though!
Actually it was white and pale blue paint and then the confetti. A representation of a tarring and feathering.
I felt this scene was the best interpretation of the context of The Waltz of Eva and Che. (much like in the film)
However it was from that point that it clicked for me, that Che was actually Eva's alter ego - or should I say the physical manifestation of her conscience.... The Angel on her shoulder. Which I thought was so, so clever. (if indeed that is the intention, but it works for me)
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Post by distantcousin on Sept 17, 2019 17:49:37 GMT
For me edgy is what Harold Prince did with the original production. Lloyd's production is just bonkers. Still I look forward to a second viewing.
Edgy in the 70's and 80's, yes. We have moved on, significantly.
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Post by distantcousin on Sept 17, 2019 12:00:01 GMT
Gawd, I'm finally reading this thread (after seeing it last night) and the reviews are SO polarising. I love that!
For me, as an Evita superfan - (it's top 3 of all musicals for me), I found it astoundingly good. 5 out of 5.
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Post by distantcousin on Aug 30, 2019 15:57:02 GMT
Ive been listening to the cast recording today and its doing some clever stuff with the songs! If you want a song to listen to I would recommend Elephant love Medley. They have done a lot of medleys which sound very good!
Sorry, but they've dicked around with the Elephant Love Medley too much for my taste. The original was perfect.
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Post by distantcousin on Aug 17, 2019 20:41:45 GMT
The bar in ATS isn't bad for drinks beforehand; there's a Nando's and Dirty Burger at the station but I've found the Portuguese place next door (Pico's) reliable and cheap (and often packed)
Big fan of Pico's! A bank holiday tradition for myself and friends!
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Post by distantcousin on Jul 31, 2019 16:46:25 GMT
Church-going Christian here. I am very familiar with the story being told and I found act one hard to follow. The narrative could be clearer. Given I accept that ALW didn’t set out to explain the gospel, I have to put it down to dramatic choices he made (dropping us into the action, having it sung through.) If someone didn’t know the story (someone from a different faith perhaps, or no faith at all) and who didn’t know the musical beforehand, I think they’d really struggle to explain what’s happening, but I think they’d catch the buzz and still enjoy it (if this is their sort of thing...I think this is a fabulous production and I am going to see it again next week. We were in the upper circle £18 seats far stage right and we missed the tableau and anything that happened on the cross. We’ve picked same level, other side for the return.
I've been saying this since I first saw it in 96. The score assumes a LOT. THere is virtually no exposition. It seems to be assumed that the audience know the full context, and there is very little to help in the text.
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Post by distantcousin on Jul 11, 2019 21:19:36 GMT
Bugger, I won in the lottery and didn't check my junk mail in time! Fuming!
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Post by distantcousin on Jun 7, 2019 17:58:42 GMT
distant cousin,you are correct about the initial sales being big even though often promoters tell porkies to inflate interest,but on the re-sale market it has been a disaster.For example my two tickets for Coventry had a face value of £130 each but we got them for £60 each and other friends of mine got the same deal.Someone got their fingers burned! Never had so many comps or deals offered to me in the last 20 years as I have had in the last year or so.I totally agree with the Monkeys comments posted earlier.Also Burly’s comments about BP’s promoters are spot on! Buyer beware with this promoter and what a crying shame for all BP fans and for the great lady herself.
I've looked at twickets (official resellers) and viagogo and haven't seen anything less than face value....(I was thinking of upgrading my ticket for next week to the Spice Circle) - the Spice Circle £210 tickets haven't sold out in most cities and venues have been giving free upgrades to anyone they like the look of who has general admission pitch standing tickets (lucky beggars!)
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Post by distantcousin on Jun 7, 2019 10:58:54 GMT
The tour wasn’t selling well enough.I have been saying for ages that people in general are being more careful with their spending.Got a fab deal on two weeks in Gran Canaria earlier this year and my booking agent,who I have booked with for nearly twenty years, says this is the worst it has ever been in his memory for holiday bookings.Another 1700 jobs about to go at Fords’ carmakers,the high street in tatters and all the worry about Brexit! The Spice Girls tour a complete sell-out?Utter rubbish! Regional tours like Hair,Amelie,Little Miss Sunshine are hanging on by a thread.Bernadette Peters had no chance in my opinion.Curtains will struggle,I fear.Saw the movie Aladdin last week and there were 6 other people in the audience...6!! People will go for sure-fire hits rather than ‘chance it’.Sorry to sound like the Grim Reaper but when the purse-strings are tight, entertainment/leisure is the first to suffer. You make very good points EXCEPT, The Spice Girls tour was virtually a sell out.
Their promoters said in an interview this week that 95% of all available tickets were sold in the first weekend they went on sale.
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Post by distantcousin on Jun 3, 2019 10:42:04 GMT
For those who are interested in this sort of thing: Jacob and Sons was a tone lower than usual (D instead of E) Any Dream Will Do was a tone higher than usual (D instead of C for JD and Mead/D Flat for Donny Osmond). It’s possible that Any Dream Will Do was only in a higher key this evening to make for a cleaner segue between songs, and could return to C or D flat in the show. It’s not surprising that Jacob and Sons is a tone lower. Belting high E’s is a tough ask for anyone playing the narrator, let alone somebody not necessarily known for consistent high belting. If the person you cast can't sing the role, you have cast the wrong person. She wasn't even able to sustain the line at the lower tone.
I've always found that thinking very narrow - "the score must be sung as written" level of sacrosanctness.
There should be some freedom to make minor tweaks to accomodate a good actor and performer who perhaps cannot hit a few of the highest or lowest notes.
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Post by distantcousin on May 29, 2019 18:34:23 GMT
Sung through - has more artistic merit as far as I'm concerned, and is less jarring.
I don't mind it in diagetic musicals though.
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Post by distantcousin on May 24, 2019 9:19:50 GMT
The artwork suggests this is a new interpretation though. I’m expecting it to be very different. I don’t think Regents Park would be doing it otherwise, given the amount of flogging BK has done of his touring version which was only in the WE quite recently.
True, and that and Jamie Lloyd makes it a must see. But they are charging West End prices for outdoor theatre....
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Post by distantcousin on May 23, 2019 11:45:44 GMT
The sound is brilliant at the top, the view is indeed a bit far back. There are some very good cheaper seats in the front rows way off to the sides at second and third price, so you could be as far forward as K for the cash. The restricted view seats above the entrance doors, some also swear by. If you are taller and willing to chance a rail through the view, it's a fourth price seat on row O.
Thanks. I'm baulking a bit at a show I've seen so many times before, and my friend won't pay top dollar.
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Post by distantcousin on May 20, 2019 17:01:20 GMT
My rule is that all the little girls in the audience want to give Cinderella a hug. Also, all the dads in the audience want to give Cinderella a hug - but not for the same reasons... Amy Lennox fitted that very well, once upon a time.
I read that as "Annie Lennox"...
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Post by distantcousin on May 17, 2019 18:29:40 GMT
Great to read this. I am definitely put off. Loved the film. HATED Once - one of the worst shows I've ever seen, and from what I saw of "Six", it didn't look like my cup of tea. I'll save me money on this one!
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Post by distantcousin on May 15, 2019 15:33:57 GMT
I wonder who you saw last year? I assume it wasn't Adrienne Warren, based on that! Just checked back through my old posts. Last year I saw Jenny Fitzpatrick.
Ah, that's interesting. Funnily enough I saw her years ago in an unofficial Tina musical that predated this once, called "Soul Sister" - she was the alternate in that one too.
It's a living!
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Post by distantcousin on May 15, 2019 11:18:55 GMT
Saw this again on Monday with a Lucky Dip ticket. And enjoyed it more second time around. Was there unfashionably early as the booking said the latest time to collect was at 7pm. So I was there in case they did the allocations live. But they were already allocated and I had an excellent seat in the centre of the second row Stalls. Perfect place to sit for this as the stage is low. Aisha Jawando was on as Tina (the alternate). Excellent and many times better than the person I saw play the role last year. I think this is better second time around as you realise it's not going to be a particularly great jukebox musical and you can just enjoy it for what it is. The other change was the audience was much better behaved (or all the noisy ones were much further back). There was some kind of raised voice argument going on at the back of the Stalls in the first half and the odd phone, but these were mostly drowned out by the music. Would be interesting to see how the Lucky Dip ticket allocation compares with that for the Rush tickets. I wonder who you saw last year? I assume it wasn't Adrienne Warren, based on that!
I saw Aisha last year and thought she was fine, but nothing outstanding.
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Post by distantcousin on May 8, 2019 19:35:55 GMT
So it's all set in Ireland?
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Post by distantcousin on May 1, 2019 19:47:36 GMT
Next year, look - it's Martin Guerre... Don’t joke. The reworked version is due to open at the Old Vic I look forward to that!
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Post by distantcousin on Apr 29, 2019 9:17:09 GMT
It may not be going to the Adelphi, but I hear it is transferring for a holiday run. When you say "holiday", do you mean "Christmas"?
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Post by distantcousin on Apr 28, 2019 10:53:00 GMT
I think Jeremy Taylor is lead Raoul right now, I’ve noticed quite a few other less-than-favourable reviews of him actually! I think Raoul is a bit of hard sell. If he’s too fit and swoonsome he pulls focus from the Phantom and he’s labelled ‘smug’. If he’s too wet he’s a drip. Fresh faced enthusiasm is whats needed, and a spot of swashbuckling ‘derring do’. The sort of thing Xavier would have done well ten years ago. He can’t just be a fantastic voice; he needs stature which rules out lots of ex-Marius’s. Jeremy Taylor should be great at this as he made a good job of Fiyero. What’s the problem?
Taylor is definitely playing it smug and charmless. I can't remember many of the ones I've seen in the distant past to compare, but I thought Patrick Wilson got the balance right in the film.
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Post by distantcousin on Apr 25, 2019 9:15:47 GMT
I mean personally I don't mind to the point of not going but the average cinema is just a hell of a lot more comfortable than the theatre so the have you never seen a film point only goes so far. Bigger, wider seats, better cushioned, more legroom, easier to pop out if you need to. I can easily sit in a cinema for 2 and half hours but I know now this is going to mean I'm going to start hurting at some point. There's a reason I always try and book aisles in the theatre and am happy to sit in the centre in the cinema. And when I finally went to All About Eve the seats were painfully uncomfortable and I could have done with an interval. I don't actually see why there wasn't an interval, it wouldn't have interrupted the dramatic flow as there wasn't any really. It's an odd listless play which particularly in the first hour just kind of happens and I might easily have left. After that it picks up the pace with the confrontation after the audition, the scene between the two friends when Margo can't make the performance and the restaurant scene all sparking a greater level of interest. The ending though goes on forever and despite the title when Margo isn't on stage the whole thing falters. Other than that I generally agree with previous comments, the video adds nothing but performance wise Anderson & Ovenden strong, James less so but comes to life in the restaurant scene, Dolan was excellent but she and Stone have no chemistry to the point where it's hard to care about their marriage falling apart. Sheila Reid was off but Phillipa Peak filled in well, if a little too young while Stanley Townsend seemed to be performing in a different play with a performance you could see from orbit.
Summed up better than I could have!
It makes you wonder with such talent around, they can still come up with something so mediocre, yet so high profile.
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Post by distantcousin on Apr 24, 2019 9:37:10 GMT
David's run ends 11th May from what I know and he doesn't have an alternate. He's well worth seeing, I saw him twice and his Final Lair scene blew me away! Couldn't agree more. The Final Lair scene reduced me to tears, a feat other Phantom has achieved (and I've seen a few!).
There were little touches in that final scene that were, for me reminscent of Jack Nicholson as The Joker
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Post by distantcousin on Apr 23, 2019 14:05:28 GMT
I do wonder if eventually Phantom will have a compete overhaul. Given all the recent chit chat re Les Mis original not being iconic enough to keep going according to Cam Mac. I don't think it would ever change to the touring version as it just simply isn't as good as the Les Mis version so is no contest for the original. Surely they should do SOMETHING just to update it a bit though. It needs it IMO. Perhaps they'll only wait until after Hal Prince carks?!
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Post by distantcousin on Apr 23, 2019 14:02:32 GMT
Does anyone know if David Thaxton a) does all performances? b) has any holiday coming up? No massive desire to see Phantom again but would like to just for Thaxton - loved him in Les Mis and JCS! Thaxters was absolutely SUPERB - highly, highly recommended. He has it all!
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Post by distantcousin on Apr 23, 2019 14:01:41 GMT
And what about those fireballs that the Phantom chucks at Raoul in the graveyard fight 😂 Paul Daniels has much to answer for!
Although the bit with the flames at the end of the Masquerade scene is enough to singe yer eyebrows if you're in the first few rows like we were!!!!!
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Post by distantcousin on Apr 23, 2019 14:00:25 GMT
Thanks for all the seat advice everyone! Much appreciated. I'll try and forget the spoilers before I see it in a few weeks So I saw the show the other day - sat in stalls O4 as advised, and had a perfect view! I very rarely sit in the stalls but I'm glad I did. Loved the show - the costumes and sets were stunning. The overture and the scene where they go in the boat was incredible, really spine-tingling stuff for someone who hasn't seen it before! One question though; what was with the random robot doll thing of Christine(?) that the Phantom had in his lair at one point? Obviously showing his lust for her, but there was no reference to it that I can recall (may be wrong, not being very familiar with the show) and it just seemed a bit random and made him seem more predatory when I got the impression the story was ultimately trying to elicit sympathy for him.
Funnily enough, I went recently with 2 first timers (and only semi-regular theatre-goers) and the doll/automaton confused them too.
Another thought the body that was hung was Carlotta! I must admit when actually having to explain it as Buquet, it comes across as rather lame and inconsequential! (doing away with a barely featured character who's probably not registered with most of the audience)
One friend also speculated about how The Phantom could have posssibly learned all these skills living separated from society with no access to schooling, mentoring etc...
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Post by distantcousin on Apr 19, 2019 11:07:09 GMT
Unfortunately the show needed mic'ing at the Union. Couldn't hear any of the lyrics over the music.
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Post by distantcousin on Apr 18, 2019 20:41:04 GMT
I always hoped that Elaine Paige would record Friendly Fire - how fabulous would that be!?!?
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