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Post by musicalmarge on Jan 12, 2018 10:19:12 GMT
CUBA GOODING?? That’s good no?
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Post by musicalmarge on Jan 12, 2018 9:22:09 GMT
Finally saw this last night -
It needed more songs and didn’t know if it was a play or a musical (imagine Stiles and Drew attached to the project).
The set either looked amazing or too sparse and a big black stage (random ladders for no reason?).
The puppets worked mostly but not having their mouths move was a big mistake. They looked frozen.
Jiminey Cricket was wrong in everyway, not funny, too much talking, no top hat, miscast and why was he played by a woman?
The pleasure-island section in Act 2 was a mess. What was the Scottish girl Krankie doing punching everyone in the face? (The donkey transformation was cool).
Some of the effects and cast were amazing, some wonderful ideas but overall despite the good ending of humans needing pain and the puppet/human reversal - the production was kinda a mess (I can see the similarities to Harry Potter too).
If it had been more Disney/Mackintosh production, maybe in American accents, ten minutes less dialogue in both acts, and generally more of a musical - it might have worked better. 6/10.
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Post by musicalmarge on Jan 11, 2018 6:37:08 GMT
I wonder what Julie Taymor would have done with Frozen? How sad to think that Frozen wouldn’t sweep the awards boards.... ![:(](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/sad.png) (((
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Post by musicalmarge on Jan 10, 2018 7:00:06 GMT
Saw this tonight. So, I thought I was going to love it. It's not my type of theatre at all, really, but Aladdin is my favourite Disney movie, Jafar my favourite Disney character (odd, I know), I love Eurovision (like, I even watch all the National Finals from around Europe) so I was extremely excited to see Jade Ewan and I'm a Disney addict (even have a Disneyland Paris annual pass to prove it!). I hated it. So, Jade Ewan. I feel awful for saying this, actually, but it was genuinely one of the worst vocal performances I've ever seen in my entire life. These Palace Walls was honestly a car crash. during the note at the end, I was cringing and you could hear murmurings in the rows behind me. There was even a delay in the applauses after the song. I thought, maybe, she couldn't hear herself. I was close enough that I could see that her eyes were darting around the stage like crazy and she honestly looked panicked. Sets are great. Genie was great (had the u/s). Carpet was amazing. The writing, however, is just so off. I got the impression that the writers knew it was pretty bad, so it's been propped up by great sets and cheap jokes to get laughs. Great sets???!!!!!
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Post by musicalmarge on Jan 9, 2018 18:41:46 GMT
The worst show I’ve ever seen at the Mernier. The person who cast the Marcus Brigstock thingy in the lead role needs to be shot - he can’t sing or act and was like a dork rather than a showman! He fell off the tightrope three times and has a big bum. Dreadful... Bad staging, a two legged elephant, an over acting ensemble (ok the acrobats and lead woman Laura Pitt-Pulford were good) but the production was badly directed, had restricted sight-lines and the narrative and story that was just lost. What a shame. 4/10 ... you make that sound like a bad thing?! I don’t get why you think the bodies of actors can’t be commented on. It’s all about casting. Body shapes, sizes, height, weight etc are constantly mentioned at the audition panels I’ve sat on and certainly are by agents, creatives and casting directors. It’s the business. Simple. An actors body is part of their brand/casting and there’s nothing insulting about it. Big bum might be harsh to some but the fact is his physicality was wrong for the role as was Marcus as a talent in general.
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Post by musicalmarge on Jan 9, 2018 6:48:44 GMT
I think all will be forgiven if and when Frozen has an ice castle forming during Let It Go. Currently they just have snowflakes forming over the Swarovski curtain that they've borrowed from Dreamgirls. I am praying you are right. I am sure no Disney exec or Broadway creative in 2017/18 would say “hey we saw how Charlie flopped we see how successful Wicked and Harry Potter have been with the stage magic - let’s go for a simple glitter curtain and nothing else for the end of act one?” I am hoping with every atom the stage work and hydraulics are so amazing, expensive and sensational that they just couldn’t do it in Denver. This show has the potential to make billions, without a successful Let It Go - this show will be a flop. We.... shall..... see.....
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Post by musicalmarge on Jan 7, 2018 21:29:28 GMT
I read the article in the Daily Mail and my first response was "Leave it alone!". ALW seems to be meddling more and more with his musicals of late. I really don't see how they are going to be able to pull this off for a film. This kind of plot suits the stage, with it being set in the one location and with the nature of the stories being told. Not only that, but ALW wants to add more songs. He last experimented with changing the "Rum Tug Tugger" song by adding a rap and made osme changes to Grizabella, he's demanded a huge overhaul on Starlight...clearly he's not satisfied with his work and leaving them as they are! I TOTALLY AGREE. Leave Starlight alone and leave CATS alone!!! They ran for over two decades and work brilliantly. Write a new fun show! Not a serious melodrama ALW!
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Post by musicalmarge on Jan 6, 2018 14:33:50 GMT
With Frozen finally starting previews on Broadway next month - do you think they are going to make ANY changes? Surely they can’t just have Elsa finish Act One with a bare stage waving her arms in the air?
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Post by musicalmarge on Jan 1, 2018 10:28:26 GMT
London
Yank Jamie Working
New York
Hello Dolly, War Painf Come From Away
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Big Fish
Dec 31, 2017 6:08:52 GMT
via mobile
Post by musicalmarge on Dec 31, 2017 6:08:52 GMT
Saw the matinee today. Lovely show. Feel you need to see it in entirety for it to fully make sense. In the early stages it may feel a bit bonkers. Plenty of hankies out at the end. Delayed start to the 2nd half. Out of interest do daffodil petals normally fall from above the stage. A few odd petals fell down during the show but nothing of note. Quite a few empty seats despite it being sold out. Yes they do fall in the show .....
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Post by musicalmarge on Dec 29, 2017 4:45:38 GMT
So I think this is likely to be the biggest overhaul since the 'new' London 1992/3 version. Speaking for myself am very excited. I think most likely whatever they do though there will be some resistance from the fans - people, myself included, get attached to there version they know and love. Having said am excited, am also slightly nervous lol. Taking the opportunity I missed with London to visit again before the changes so I can see the current version before it's no more. Have booked for the farewell weekend. Also wondering if to go once more before that. After years of Bochum practice, I've got it down to a cheap and easy combo of hotel and flights! Bochum has never closed like this for three weeks so yes I’m sure there will be more changes than just making Papa into a woman. I presume Ashley will go, I Got Me carriage song added, Girls Rolling Stock removed and other changes. What gets me is having seen the show in Bochum every few years over the past two decades it doesn’t ever improve the show, in fact the opposite. The original Du Alien (Only You), LiebessExpress (Engine of Love) version was simply the best and most magical before they started playing around with everything. It’s a desperate attempt to keep the audience coming in I suppose....
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Post by musicalmarge on Dec 26, 2017 7:43:25 GMT
Has anyone else ever dreamt they watched a musical that doesn’t actually exist in real life. The set, songs, costumes - I mean a song or two not a full show? I dreamt about a futuristic themed Broadway show with a torquoise set and three revolves - the choreography was excellent. Ha.
How on earth can this be possible? Parallel universe? I woke up thinking how on earth can I dream such detail instantly if this show doesn’t exist?! Weird.
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Post by musicalmarge on Dec 26, 2017 7:25:10 GMT
The thing is, the actors amongst those contestants all probably went to stage school, they all probably are trained, most people on soaps and tv are. Idon't really see being known more for tv than stage roles should be held against them. What just because they happened to be offered a big tv role before a stage one? And also does anyone think that these leading musical theatre stars don't/didn't audition for tv too? Cus they all pretty much did and do. You know the difference between someone like Rachel Tucker being known for stage rather than tv and seen as a credible theatre actress? That she was given that opportunity first. That's all. Lucy Fallon there probably auditioned for theatre before she got the role on Corrie. If she was cast in something on the West End she might be a big theatre star, but because she instead took a role on Corrie she's seen as a pretender and not credible and should stick to the cobbles and not 'infect' the west end. I went to one of the top 5 “stage schools” and indeed some of my class mates have been in soaps - take it from me, 3/4’s of them (including ones who worked on TV) still weren’t that good. A soap audition is one or two meetings reading an easy script usually typecasting you to who you are in real life, musical auditions have panels of up to 20 people and you can be recalled over 10 times.
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Post by musicalmarge on Dec 26, 2017 7:08:29 GMT
A friend who works for the company promoting this has said they are doing staggered release of tickets and thinks that less than half the total have been put up for sale so far. Ah cool! Thanks for the heads up!!! In that case I’ll wait a while for the bank account to recover post Xmas! I’m taking a group of friends and I couldn’t get the stalls. I am the back of the dress and I was quite shocked that the stalls seems sold out for what seemed months. NOW WE KNOW! GRRRRRRR....
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Post by musicalmarge on Dec 25, 2017 20:53:19 GMT
The workshop in London in June. They want to keep the show fresh and show women in power and taking the lead!
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Post by musicalmarge on Dec 25, 2017 20:51:48 GMT
Interesting article in the Guardian which takes issue with plot changes from the film to the musical - URL in spoilers as it explains what it doesn't like so the URL is a spoiler in itself! Wow!!! That’s quite the read. I don’t really know where to start! lol...
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Post by musicalmarge on Dec 25, 2017 15:41:01 GMT
Plenty of talentless idiots become household names on reality shows, so having some triple threat talent on telly might raise their profiles and the result is win win. The sad reality is that so much talent on ITV comes from reality TV shows now (which basically cast people off the street), the rest are kids TV presenters who worked their way up, ex sportstars with strong agents, the odd soap actor who play themselves, former pop stars (mostly manufactures by ITV) comedians and chefs etc. I would ADORE for half the amazingly talented people I know to have raised national profiles but the reality is it is very very difficult. Also annoyingly difficult for musical theatre performers is to even pbe seen as “actors” and even get auditions for straight theatre work or TV roles. They could be just as good if not better, but that’s the industry that puts people in boxes. Very few make the jump. Win win sadly it’s not.....
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Post by musicalmarge on Dec 24, 2017 23:03:18 GMT
So they think\know there's an audience for music theatre on television. Why not get the best young talent and a few established names to do it to a really high standard, rather than feed us half-baked, badly performed turns where someone is the "winner"? The production costs won't be any different, but the quality infinitely better. The answer to this is easy. The general public doesn’t know who Louise Dearman or Kerry Ellis is. My family wouldn’t have a clue - they would know the cast of Corrie, Loose Women or Freddie Flintoff. It’s annoying beyond words but that’s the sad reality. Even established musical theatre names Elaine Paige, John Barrowman and Micheal Ball aside won’t be seen to bring in ratings for the demographic wanted.
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Post by musicalmarge on Dec 24, 2017 21:12:29 GMT
I do wish they extended this, did another run or transferred. Sadly I think along with Carrie, CandleMakers Daughter and Dogfight it will go down in my musicals memory as one of the good shows that never found another life ![:(](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/sad.png) (((
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Post by musicalmarge on Dec 24, 2017 21:07:09 GMT
imagine Avenue Q if the puppets mouths didn’t open. What an odd choice!!! It brings them alive.
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Post by musicalmarge on Dec 24, 2017 21:05:22 GMT
"Our very first 'All Star Musicals' winner" - does that mean they're going to do it again at some point? It seems to have gone on forever! And none of the 'All Stars' was gobsmackingly good or entertainingly bad - they were just...meh! It might have worked a bit better if each 'All Star' had a WE performer to help them, rather than just having Michael Crawford helping them all. ITV is celeb obsessed network that cares more about ratings and revenue than talent. That Sheridan show (I mean sure she’s ok) and this DREADFUL offering proves it. Think of all the sensational musical theatre talent we have and then there is THIS!! The commissioning editor should be shot.
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Post by musicalmarge on Dec 21, 2017 23:10:03 GMT
The worst show I’ve ever seen at the Menier. The person who cast the Marcus Brigstock thingy in the lead role needs to be shot - he can’t sing or act and was like a dork rather than a showman! He fell off the tightrope three times and has a big bum. Dreadful...
Bad staging, a two legged elephant, an over acting ensemble (ok the acrobats and lead woman Laura Pitt-Pulford were good) but the production was badly directed, had restricted sight-lines and the narrative and story that was just lost.
What a shame. 4/10
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Post by musicalmarge on Dec 21, 2017 18:20:23 GMT
Just watched the trailer. It looks like fun, same as the first film. And its great to see most of the cast back (as long as Pierce doesn't sing!). Cher looks great, and will be a welcome addition, as will Lily James. I am GUTTED as to what it seems to be implying with Meryl Streep, who was, by far, the best part of the original. Hopefully she will feature in many a flashback and we will get to see her do one or two numbers. Also, are we really supposed to believe that Christine Baranski's character hasn't changed her hair in 40 years?! 😂😂 Hahahaha I thought the same! Hahaha.... the Rosie character looks nothing like Julie Walters and has a dodgy accent.
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Post by musicalmarge on Dec 21, 2017 11:40:44 GMT
I don't understand the casting of cher. The whole point of Donnas mum is that she was strict and conservative Besides, wasn't she dead? And Meryl is 68 and Cher 70?
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Post by musicalmarge on Dec 21, 2017 9:34:20 GMT
They reaaaaaaaaally should have featured some of the new songs in the trailer - otherwise it just looks like the original film soundtrack with a different (and dodgy) storyline. Hm....
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