174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Jun 7, 2023 22:25:09 GMT
Really enjoyed this, beautifully written with excellent performances from Will Keen and Luke Thallon, and Tom Hollander with a really outstanding performance. A couple of minor quibbles - there is no Nobel prize in Mathematics, and they had the judge wearing a barrister’s wig (why do they always do this?) I do understand that we shouldn’t boo excellent actors providing superlative performances, and of course I didn’t, but it did feel very odd to be applauding “Putin.”
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on May 17, 2023 7:29:58 GMT
I enjoyed this very much and thought that Mark Gattis and Johnny Flynn were both excellent. I’m afraid I agree that Tuppence Middleton was miscast - I’ll have to see it again when it transfers to Broadway and they cast someone else in the Elizabeth Taylor role. Liz had a beautiful speaking voice, much less nasal than what Middleton is doing here.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on May 11, 2023 23:48:13 GMT
Really enjoyed this when I saw it last week, fab evening. Groban’s voice was stunning and his acting v good. Not as threatening as my ideal Sweeney but thoroughly enjoyed it. Annaleigh Ashford did fine (apart from the accent), good comic timing, but for me, the Tony should go to Micaela Diamond who was utterly stunning in Parade. (I quite liked Ben Platt too but would prefer to see Groban take it this time around).
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Dec 20, 2022 2:05:59 GMT
Best (of new to me, otherwise Jerusalem would have made an appearance): Prima Facie Tammy Faye Operation Mincemeat Blues for an Alabama Sky The Band’s Visit
Honourable mention (please don’t give half points for these though, all five should go to those above): The choir of man Othello Jack absolute flies again Best of enemies Cabaret Oklahoma Cock Six @ Hampton court palace was v cool
Worst: Hex (again) To kill a mockingbird (sorry, the accents did it in for me)
ETA the just boring: The Crucible, The Father and the Assassin, Who Killed My Father
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on May 3, 2022 21:57:45 GMT
I enjoyed it very much, although I agree it was not as transcendent as in New York. The highlight for me was Marisha Wallace, who was stunning. As I recall (it’s been a while) the indigenous people of Oklahoma played more of a role in the NY production than this one. I understand why they didn’t here, but subtleties were lost. But overall a brilliant reimagining and appropriate, at this particular moment for the US. The likes of Laurey and Ado Annie will have many fewer choices, going forward.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Nov 25, 2021 3:02:57 GMT
My perspective may still be pandemic-skewed, but I liked this a lot more than the following at the NT: Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Exit the King, I’m Not Running, When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other, etc.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Nov 18, 2021 1:08:29 GMT
I loved it. The Royal Circle box (which we booked at the last minute, and at the same price as standard stalls seats) had perfect views. Highly recommended.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Apr 19, 2021 7:05:42 GMT
This is a good documentary about the show (and the events), and the Canadian High Commission is offering free tickets to see it: bit.ly/32jYFdV
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Nov 5, 2020 23:40:13 GMT
Oh, I have missed this. A play, a new (to me) play, to watch and to which to react and with such great actors “interacting” with each other. Monologues are good (in many cases, great) but this was different. The acting was uniformly superb. The use of Zoom was innovative and clever. The play...had issues. In many ways I wish the playwright hadn’t used the names of real people, because so much of this depended on suspension of disbelief that just wasn’t possible. I’m sure some of the details with respect to Stein and Toklas were inaccurate, but I don’t know as much about their lives as the others. But (spoilers here, both for the play and for the history): {Spoiler - click to view} Lillian Hellman was no innocent in June 1940, she was a communist sympathiser from years before. Muriel Gardiner may or may not have been the “Julia” of Hellman’s Pentimento, but there is no denying that Gardiner was a very good spy and no spy would have acted in the way the character did in this play. And Agatha Christie was many things (I am a big fan) but she was no friend of the Jewish people, at least not as reflected in any of her books. {Spoiler - click to view}
The historical inaccuracies took me right out of the play. But I was gripped, and recommend it highly.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Mar 12, 2020 7:44:44 GMT
I’ve never seen this before and thought that Fraser, Craig and the other usual MT suspects were fine, but that Rebecca Trehearne was the true standout, amazing. It felt like there was a lot of filler in the first act, most of the men (other than Fraser) could act but not sing particularly well and I didn’t relish any of their songs. Agree that the tennis song was particularly uncomfortable. I also hated Stine’s character (although not as much as Fidler’s). I thought that I was being asked to choose between Harvey Weinstein and Aaron Sorkin and frankly, I reject them both. Team Donna and Bobbi.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Feb 27, 2020 21:22:39 GMT
Right oddity, this. Thought I was going to be bored, ended up admiring if not actually loving a lot of it. 4* and worth it for the curious. Main plus is that it isn't some bloke blundering around the stage with a rubber nose. It's far cleverer than that all round. I saw this on Friday night, and loved it. I bought a copy of the text at the interval and just need the time to read it through. All of the performances were great, but I must admit my favourite bit was the moment when Cyrano is pretending to be Christian. James McAvoy's impersonation of Eben Figueiredo was spot on when reading the letter, and the staging is so simple but very effective, so that she has no idea of what's really happening. Tom Edden makes for a wonderfully hissable villain too. In the interval now and so agree. James McAvoy does a wonderful MLE (Multicultural London English) accent.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Feb 18, 2020 20:49:40 GMT
Am in the interval at the moment. I’m enjoying it more than I thought I would - the cast are charming, the singing is lovely as is the dancing. The songs are forgettable but adequate. But honestly, I paid £82.50 for my stalls ticket and the costumes are actually offending me. I could get better ‘80s-influenced dresses anywhere on the high street - Phase Eight, LK Bennett, even M&S.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Dec 7, 2019 11:05:08 GMT
Come From Away A German Life Present Laughter Rosmersholm Sweat
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Dec 7, 2019 0:01:03 GMT
Loved loved loved this, but they need to sort the Raj character before going to London. He’s far too stereotypical, especially with the song about the prices. The actor is wonderful, but no. Fix it. Everything else is great.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Nov 24, 2019 11:01:20 GMT
I have much the same opinion as many of you in that I thought the plot was fairly indefensible. The difference on Broadway I really think largely came down to Ben Platt, who gave such an astonishing performance. His breath control in the singing alone was just beyond words, to go from soft (but perfectly pitched) and shy to full on belt which was also perfectly in key, within a bar or two, is not at all easy and he made it look so.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Nov 16, 2019 12:09:05 GMT
Well I just loved this. It’s obviously lower budget than Moulin Rouge (which I saw last week) but this had oodles of feeling and was beautifully performed and I enjoyed it more. I felt that the songs were used to great effect and I didn’t have the feeling that trying to spot them took me out of the show, which I had had last week. I loved all the cast, who were clearly having a ball. I think it’s just what we need in these times and could have something of the same effect that Mamma Mia did.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Nov 10, 2019 4:35:46 GMT
I thought this was visually amazing, gorgeous dancing and singing, and the costumes and sets were stunning, but it moved me not a jot. It was worth it for Danny Burstein, god bless him, but I could have taken or left the rest of it. Other than Danny (and Sahr Ngaujah and Tam Mutu, who were fab) it felt very paint by numbers. I had such high hopes sitting down, with the beautiful cast unsmiling, striding about and casting a menacing presence. But that dissipated immediately in favour of an aerobicised and clinical approach, which was decidedly lacking in sex appeal, for me. The only moments I began to feel something were the songs from the film - all of the rest just felt like very high grade karaoke. For me, there was much more passion in Virtue and Moir’s Moulin Rouge ice dancing programme from the most recent Winter Olympics. I was gobsmacked to hear people sobbing near the end and wanted to tell them to get to their nearest opera house and see La Boheme and/or Carmen, which do this much, much better.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Oct 24, 2019 0:33:54 GMT
I appreciated it overall, but I did note the passage of time. The scene near the end was devastating, but didn't feel particularly earned. I thought of news stories I had read with similar outcomes whilst listening . I enjoyed the dinner party scene more than I probably should have as a paid up member of the middle classes, but it felt like over-egging the pudding in a number of ways. {Spoiler - click to view} Treating the deliveroo wine delivery person noticeably worse than the actual drug dealer made little sense, especially since they accused the former of dealing drugs and welcomed the latter in a frankly unrealistic way, even given the tenor of the conversation. And I appreciate that Mum didn't want to miss anything, but {Spoiler - click to view} you wouldn't hesitate to go and see if your child had been pissed on, if only to keep up appearances .
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Apr 20, 2019 2:14:53 GMT
I'm currently at the Bridge Theatre and Dame Maggie is doing her bit for sustainability. If you want to take your drink into the theatre, they charge you one British pound for a plastic cup and if you return the cup to them after the show they'll give you the pound back. I don't know if Dame Maggie gets a cut from any of the profits but I did spy a rather fancy car outside with the numberplate DMS. Wow! I was there tonight too. Luckily they had free paper cups for water. Yes, if you are in the stalls and go downstairs there will be paper cups by the water fountain next to the gents’.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Mar 21, 2019 13:46:42 GMT
The Times says that the coat-thrower was seated in the row behind and climbed over the seat to sit in the empty (except for the coat) seat. Seems a bit unusual for Covent Garden. The Times story also quotes the chairman of the bench in magistrates’ court as saying there were an “awful lot of witnesses” so it would be a 2 day trial.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Mar 21, 2019 10:29:36 GMT
I’ve deleted the posts and acknowledge that the phrase ‘the great unwashed’ doesn’t refer to anyone’s gender or size. But that particular statement wasn’t very kind, even in jest. Thank you for the deletion. I believe you owe Ryan an apology for your unfounded accusations. I'm not wasting my day arguing, but that phrase is a joke, and one frequently used by Ryan (and copied by others including myself) it is a JOKE and neither he, nor any of us actually thinks we're anything other than the 'great unwashed' ourselves. I didn’t intend to accuse Ryan of anything other than criticising the musical. Any interpretation beyond that is mine alone, and clearly incorrect. I apologise, Ryan.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Mar 21, 2019 10:16:19 GMT
Ryan uses the phrase 'great unwashed' in jest all the damn time on this board. We all know it's meant in good humour. And regardless saying 'the great unwashed' in no way relates to anyone's gender or size and nowhere did Ryan say anywhere else anything relating to those two things. Either way there are actual bigots in the world, some of whom seem to be starring in shows...so maybe we can leave our kind and funny members be? I’ve deleted the posts and acknowledge that the phrase ‘the great unwashed’ doesn’t refer to anyone’s gender or size. But that particular statement wasn’t very kind, even in jest.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Mar 21, 2019 9:53:07 GMT
I’ll delete the posts in a minute, I don’t want any trouble. But for the record, none of this in any way approaches libel.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Mar 21, 2019 9:47:35 GMT
All right fine. Fat working class women are merely a subset of the great unwashed, who don’t get out much. I didn't say that either. You might have done but I haven't and if you don't retract your message, then that is libel. At no point did I say that you did. What you said, precisely, was “The great unwashed loved it though and couldn't wait to get to their feet at the curtain call and all the way out you could hear people saying that it was the best thing they'd ever seen and how amazing they thought it was. I don't think they get out much.”
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Mar 21, 2019 9:42:43 GMT
All right, since at least someone agreed with me (thanks Shady23) that (Ryan’s) view is the same as a lot of (white male) critics, from Jesse Green (NYMag, now NYT) to Peter Crawley to Michael Billington. Heaven forbid fat working class women get to celebrate their accomplishments and see themselves reflected on stage. Huh? Have I said anything about fat working class women celebrating their accomplishments and seeing themselves reflected on stage? Ummmmm, let me check for a moment. No, I don't think I have. So don't lump me in with other criticisms you might have with others thank you very much. Deleted.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Mar 21, 2019 9:34:40 GMT
Edit: Post removed by request. /Edit I’m the first to tell people off for being snobbish but what’s the first rule of Theatrboard everyone... Assume sarcasm until told otherwise. Second assume nobody is being totally serious until told otherwise. Third is assume @ryan is above all us peasants anyway. Deleted.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Mar 21, 2019 3:38:14 GMT
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Mar 10, 2019 8:14:44 GMT
As much as I’m sure SRB has his fans across the pond (one of my friends in NJ is obsessed with him), I think the draw for The Lehman Trilogy is the Lehman name - Lehman Brothers was the fourth largest investment bank in the US when it collapsed in 2008. It’s got more of a draw in NYC than Enron did.
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Mar 9, 2019 11:38:38 GMT
Agree with everyone else that this was phenomenal. I was front row centre in the stalls and had to crane a little bit to read the supertitles, but not too much at all. Highly recommended!
|
|
174 posts
|
Post by eatbigsea on Mar 8, 2019 4:05:15 GMT
This is lovely:
|
|