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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 18, 2019 10:56:54 GMT
I'd like to see Richard Fleeshman in a loincloth - but back to the topic!
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 17, 2019 17:06:18 GMT
The price hike is down to the spread of premium pricing. The premium seat allocation used to be just the centre front stalls and front dress circle - perhaps 100 seats a performance. Now premium seating takes huge swathes of the stalls and circle. There can also be "bands" of premium prices not just one! Top price tickets only buys you side and rear stalls and back of the circle.
Yes, of course there are cheaper seats and deals - but as I have said before, to the casual theatre goer who just looks online at the theatre websites the prices are horrific. Waitress for example - an unknown show over here with no star casting is asking £99.50 £115 and £135 for premium seats. £70/80 buys you very front stalls and sides. HUGE availability- it will have to discount - but perhaps discounting is a part of the business model?
Will theatre tickets become the new DFS sofa sale where no-one buys one unless it's "Half Price - sale must end Monday!"
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 17, 2019 10:20:53 GMT
Overall this is still a fabulous production on its revival. If you have not seen it before - go.
However, at a preview performance last week I found I did not enjoy it quite as much as the original. Clearly it was a preview - some of the dialogue was slow, stepping on and off the revolve is clearly a challenge - not as easy as it looks I suspect, Janie Dee's dress got caught in her heel during "The Story of Lucy and Jessie" although she barely missed a step. All this will be sorted of course.
If you saw the original it is impossible not to compare and contrast. Alexander Hanson - not as good as Philip Quast - I thought he struggled with some of the score although he did get better as the evening progressed.
Joanna Riding gives a totally different performance to Imelda Staunton - her take on "Losing My Mind" is (how shall we say) "different". The end of the song does not work, however, and should be cut. Vocally she is fabulous and although I believed she was once a Follies Girl, she did not move me to tears as Imelda did.
Felicity Lott is wonderful but again not as effecting as Josephine Barstow (who takes on the role of Heidi from 6th May).
Tracie Bennett is even more mannered in her performance (if that were possible), her rendition of "I'm Still Here" almost a parody. I did not believe one word of the lyrics.
Billy Boyle and Myra Sands struggled with "Rain On The Roof".
I still have a few reservations about the staging - the crumbling theatre exterior on the revolve is pushed back half way through the show and the actors end up acting on a bare stage, in a void, which does not help them and I do feel the Loveland sequence - given the resources of the National could be more lavish.
However, there are still some stunning moments - the opening sequence with the "Beautiful Girls" coming down the staircase mirrored by there younger selves is fabulous.
"Ah Paree" sang by Geraldine Fitzgerald is a masterclass in knocking it out of the park.
The staging and choreography of the Mirror number is wonderful and stops the show. In fact it is THE highlight of the show!
The numbers - " In Buddy's Eyes", "One More Kiss", "Too Many Mornings" all highlights.
The undoubted star of the show though is Janie Dee who is absolutely superb. Her dialogue is crisp, funny, her put downs devastating. Her performance in "Lucy and Jessie" proves she can dance as well as sing. But her rendition of "Could I leave You" is better than I remember it - absolutely superb!
The orchestra are wonderful.
4 Stars.
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 15, 2019 17:01:38 GMT
I LOVE this play!!
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 14, 2019 23:34:22 GMT
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 14, 2019 17:52:56 GMT
Now I never thought I would see Penelope Keith and Cock in the same sentence!
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 14, 2019 13:57:18 GMT
controversially perhaps, Jonathan Bailey. Maybe his performance has become broader as time has gone on, but he was so massively OTT and hysterical, I didn't believe in him for a moment. Plus he whispered so many of his lines I missed most of them. Yes, on a second viewing the other week, I can confirm that the adorable Jonathan Bailey's performance has become much more manic and his whispering of some of the dialogue was completely lost. The only performance in the show that is substantially different from how it was at the start. Not as effective IMO. Must have directorial approval I assume. He did get huge laughs and exit applause.
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 14, 2019 13:20:56 GMT
As well as the above I also saw her in Lettice and Lovage - absolutely fabulous! She is great on stage. A terrific stage actress. Film and TV is almost too small for her, she has to reign it back!
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 14, 2019 10:27:37 GMT
Yes, interesting article. It mentions that the population of Chichester is only 22.000 20 years ago. I suppose it has risen since but still not enough to maintain a big season. So the theatre must still be trying to attract an audience from London and the larger catchment area.
The financial pressures must be immense and the Artistic Director must be limited with very safe commercial choices combined with the availability of licenses etc. Look at the debacle recently of To Kill A Mockingbird for example. Musical rights must be very difficult to obtain for the big successful shows too.
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 14, 2019 10:18:37 GMT
Actually not particularly objecting to them putting on this type of thing, but reviving shows they've done themselves so recently seems very odd. I suppose things could have been worse - it could have been The Winslow Boy, Blithe Spirit and The Importance of Being Earnest. Next season?
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 14, 2019 10:10:42 GMT
You don't have to be as old as me to have seen all the revivals recently - Oklahoma, Deep Blue Sea, Shadowlands, Plenty, etc. There are OTHER plays and musicals! But on a positive note it will save me a heap of money. As @baemax said if I lived there I would probably go but nothing worth a train trip.
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 14, 2019 4:01:46 GMT
Mmmmm….I have a feeling that there will be nothing to get especially excited about. I hope I am proved wrong.
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 13, 2019 19:50:42 GMT
He has probably realised that it is not really a dancing competition after being continually in the dance off with Ashley last season when clearly they were the strongest dance couple!
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 13, 2019 12:56:38 GMT
Maggie Smith alone on stage reads from the last edition of the Yellow Pages.
TOTAL sell out! Phone lines jammed, websites down, queues across Tower Bridge for returns!
Reviews - 5 stars across the board "The way she said "twenty four hour emergency plumber" was hilarious". Mark Shenton. "Drains, sinks and toilets unblocked" - a masterclass in timing". Lyn Gardner. "All damp-proofing and remedial woodworm work undertaken" - revelatory and deeply moving". Quentin Letts.
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 13, 2019 12:37:57 GMT
I can't wait to see and hear Joanna Riding play Sally. If she can bring half of what she put into Julie Jordan in Carousel, she'll be fantastic. I'm far more excited for her than I was for Imelda Staunton. I'm seeing it next Monday. I'm completely with you on this, as much as I loved seeing Follies last time round, it was Joanna Riding's casting that made me book to see it again Yes, absolutely - me too - going Friday! Really looking forward to seeing this again!
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 12, 2019 12:25:13 GMT
I suppose it’s a question of how it was done. If his work was dismissed you could understand him being angry, but do we really believe that someone like CM would just do that without any engagement with the original director? Even if it was just to inform him of the plan? Things change or are required to change for lots of reasons. Trevor Nunn knows that and should be celebrating those 37 years and not coming off like someone who’s bitter. Even if he has to act a bit. Further light is shed on this issue with an interview (again in The Stage) with John Napier the original designer. He acknowledges that shows should be re-invented and would have no issue with a "brand new production" with creatives that had no association with the original show, therefore bringing a totally fresh eye to the production. What is clearly galling though is that the designer for the touring production (from 2009) which is going to re-open the Queens Theatre, is Matt Kinley who was part of John Napier's own team for years, and many elements of the design and direction owe a lot to the original production. He says "we had a dispute about the whole production. I felt I was relatively deserving (of royalties) given that it was the original production that had underpinned the new production really - but there was a disagreement about that. Strong words were said on both sides". Again, interestingly, he says (and I think quite rightly) his use of the revolve in the design was ground breaking and still influences the staging of new musicals today. Come From Away and Hamilton for example. He wonders what will happen to the design in Hamilton (with its revolving stage) when it needs to move to a smaller theatre. Cam Mack producing again of course!!
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 11, 2019 23:31:49 GMT
Lots of availability for this - even this week.
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 11, 2019 22:46:41 GMT
Well it is quite possible they are sold out as even the JOJ performances are now very busy! There are seats to be had on Mon & Thurs evenings and Wed matinee but many fewer than only a couple of days ago. I can see this being a total sell out many months before it opens!
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 11, 2019 17:25:59 GMT
Waitrose The Musical on Thursday and Follies Friday!
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 11, 2019 15:08:06 GMT
With MB and AB playing (and filling) arenas, I bet Cam Mack is kicking himself he did not charge more for the tickets!!! I wonder if some have been withheld for later release at extortionate prices?
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 11, 2019 14:55:52 GMT
A very interesting interview with Trevor Nunn by Tim Bano in The Stage today (behind a paywall).
He is discussing very animatedly about his production of a long forgotten play by Harley Granville Barker called Agnes Colander which is playing at the Jermyn Street Theatre London.
During the wide ranging interview about his career the subject of the termination of the original Les Mis production turns up and this is what he had to say -
"There is a very long pause - "Don't go there is all I can say". Another long pause, Nunn looks away, and all the energy that had driven the conversation just disappears, "Thirty Seven years", he says finally, "of a show we started at the RSC is pretty extraordinary".
It clearly has to be totally gutting for his work to be dismissed in such a way. It is probably not even about the loss of royalties but about the rejection of the artistic ability, creativity and talent. His legacy with the show.
On a side note, I did not know that he turned down the opportunity (offered by Stephen Schwartz) to direct Wicked. "Idiot!" he remarks!!
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 10, 2019 23:57:04 GMT
No not restricted at all - I sat in F2 and the view was fine. All the action takes place front and centre. I think being in the front row would be problematic as the stage is high.
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 10, 2019 16:57:42 GMT
Well, despite the booking period extending to October 19th "due to popular demand" - there is huge availability for this. The prices don't help of course with the continuous spread of the premium seats taking huge swathes of the stalls and circle at £100 plus a ticket.
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 10, 2019 12:54:12 GMT
I have just checked the its-behind-you.com website which is run by QDOS and there is no mention as far as I can see about this years Palladium Panto. Goldilocks does strike me as an odd choice.
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 9, 2019 18:33:53 GMT
No plot AT ALL then!!
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