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Post by foxa on Dec 29, 2017 12:28:05 GMT
I agree with those above who say that the actor playing Pinocchio didn't work - a grown man, half-naked, and not convincingly innocent. You make that sound like it's a bad thing. Ha - I realised after I posted it that I made it sound like he was a member of the Chippendales. I hadn't realised that Jack Wolfe was the understudy - I bet he would be good in the part - but still give him a little short-sleeved shirt.
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Post by foxa on Dec 29, 2017 10:40:45 GMT
This had some very good things about it - we liked the huge puppets, particularly the Coachman and Stromboli - their huge size emphasizing their huge awfulness - and the tricks. We were in Row A and still couldn't figure out how they did some of them. There were good performances from Audrey Brisson as Jemininy (though oddly the cricket has been turned into an self-proclaimed OCD-sufferer and nag, instead of offering the homespun wisdom of the Disney version - with some flat jokes about gluten and such thrown in); as well as the performers (sorry can't find my cast list) who played the Fox (very good opening from him) and the Blue Fairy. I agree with those above who say that the actor playing Pinocchio didn't work - a grown man, half-naked, and not convincingly innocent. I also agree that the sparse songs made it feel more like a play with a few songs than a musical. But I certainly wouldn't put this down as a flop and my companion loved the Pleasure Island sequence. However, the reaction from the audience throughout was subdued - very few laughs or other reactions - so in terms of a family show it may have missed it mark.
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Post by foxa on Dec 24, 2017 12:16:44 GMT
tonyloco - isn't'Mildred Pierce' wonderful? - that sounds like a really enjoyable bit of binge viewing you've done.
And I agree that the first episode of 'Feud' is the weakest, Tibidabo, but disagree about Lange. I thought she was absolutely brilliant in the last two episodes, when she is trying to make the best of a terrible situation in a way that I found incredibly poignant. Like Tony, I think it's toss up for me - both Sarandon and Lange are great.
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Post by foxa on Dec 22, 2017 10:19:55 GMT
Most of the comments under the Billington review are cray.
Edit: I mean on the Guardian page not here. Lots of random anti-American potshots and comments about how they think Larry David fell asleep when he saw it (like who cares?)
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Post by foxa on Dec 21, 2017 23:20:37 GMT
Yeah - sorry, posted in haste and too late to edit. But enjoy!
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Post by foxa on Dec 21, 2017 21:45:01 GMT
And if you want to see some of the cast doing Crosswalk the Musical with Richard Corden in NYC (including Jackman and Efron), there is this:
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Post by foxa on Dec 21, 2017 21:36:19 GMT
Ergh. It makes all the rigourous bag-checking and closing of various entrances seem a bit redundant if it was this easy to gain access to the theatre.
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Feud
Dec 20, 2017 17:24:28 GMT
Post by foxa on Dec 20, 2017 17:24:28 GMT
I binge-watched this and highly recommend - the last three episodes perhaps being the very best. Both Sarandon and Lange do amazing jobs. There is a heart-breaking section when Crawford is in England filming something called 'Trog' and writing a lifestyle book. The editing in that section is extraordinary.
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Post by foxa on Dec 19, 2017 20:52:55 GMT
Possibly, Bellboard - I hadn't thought of it quite like that. But (Sorry for those of you who haven't seen this, I can't think how to discuss this without spoilers...) {Spoiler - click to view} You may be right that the playwright was more consciously commenting on gender roles - I have to say, I didn't get the point of the female actor switching to playing a male role for a while - that was a section of the play that lost me a bit. However, in the two first sections her main roles were victim and cheating wife, neither of which had any agency. The woman character was killed because of who she was, a lonely woman, whereas the man was killed because of what he did (have a conflict with another man.) Then the weird panda (?) characters came on and it seemed all humans were their prey - or at least their food stuffs (okay, you can see I struggled a bit with meaning here)....It's very possible it was tongue-in-cheek/ironic (and I did like some of the first section and I wasn't bored) but when she was killed, I felt like, 'oh, this again.' Meh.
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Post by foxa on Dec 19, 2017 20:13:54 GMT
{Spoiler - click to view} Wasn't the idea that the men preyed on lonely women - they described in detail how to go about doing it and the implication was that this was something they did regularly? Whereas wasn't the killing of the man a one-off in reaction to something? I know a woman wrote it so I wasn't saying it was sexist - just something I've seen a lot of. Just like someone who said they were tired of scripts (regardless if they are written by a man or woman) where a woman's actions were dictated by their having been abused as a child...surely there must be something else that can happen to women besides being abused or murdered ;-) Yeah but....
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Post by foxa on Dec 16, 2017 9:53:35 GMT
They have released a few tickets for tonight's (Saturday's) performance. If you move quick...https://royalcourttheatre.com/book/?eID=99773
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Post by foxa on Dec 15, 2017 10:00:00 GMT
Funnily enough, my husband and I were talking about it not that long ago because I was using it as an example of what I don't want to see when I go to the theatre (the very good cast aside.) I think it was full of good intentions (about the arts; philanthropy; the contributions of refugees; recognition of the importance of having a vision; an appreciation of eccentricity - hey I'm making it sound not too bad, am I?) but so staid - really a bunch of people chatting in a rich person's drawing room. I don't think most people give a hoot about the genesis of the Glyndebourne Festival or that Christie wanted his wife (the moderate soprano of the title) to be cast in the productions.
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Post by foxa on Dec 15, 2017 8:29:37 GMT
I can't believe this is transferring. When I saw it at Hampstead, it seemed to have such limited appeal and was so lifeless. Okay, it's being restructured (is that different than rewritten?) but I can't imagine someone thinking let's pay West End prices and give up an evening to see that. Oh well, obviously it worked for some, so, go figure.
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Post by foxa on Dec 14, 2017 13:56:30 GMT
Four stars.
Loved the puppetry.
Said his 12 year old grandson enjoyed it.
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Post by foxa on Dec 14, 2017 12:45:58 GMT
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Post by foxa on Dec 13, 2017 8:54:24 GMT
I enjoyed the experience of this: the pre-show installation; the use of a space with which I was unfamiliar at the Royal Court ; the cameras; the twisted use of Christmas; the free mulled wine, etc. There was a familiar motif in the writing which I'm tired of the: {Spoiler - click to view} Senseless murder of young women.
but some actual tension was created in the first section of the piece. The second section lost my interest a bit and then the third was just bonkers
Overall recommend.
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Post by foxa on Dec 12, 2017 8:32:05 GMT
Sorry. Two extra afternoon performances were announced on Twitter which is where I saw it and grabbed mine. Plus there were Monday rush tickets for it (and I think are some for subsequent Mondays.)
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Post by foxa on Dec 11, 2017 21:10:11 GMT
As Jadnoop says - some more tickets available. I picked up one for tomorrow afternoon's performance.
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Post by foxa on Dec 9, 2017 14:05:10 GMT
I'm sorry I missed you Mallardo - my husband and I were back in the Row H pole seats.
I agree The Shelter was the highlight. And some of the fragments were intriguing, such as the mysterious little girl with the cocoa and the ventriloquist dummy scene. Besides The Shelter two of the other stories that were given a lot of time were the Astronaut story and the man who couldn't sleep (which provided an excuse for a song and some great nightmare stuff, but ultimately left me a bit, I dunno.) And there were some things I didn't understand (the party being shown on the TV screen.)
Serling not only smoked on camera he would advertise Chesterfield cigarettes - I think it was a bit in-jokey, but also establishes the period stuff:
And Mallardo is right - the actors were usually top-notch on the Twilight Zone series. I wonder how the play would work if it was played with more realism and genuine eeriness.
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Post by foxa on Dec 9, 2017 11:19:54 GMT
Xanderl - thanks for the heads up on this - I've just ordered it (i'd wanted to read it for a while, but this was the impetus I needed.) Plus for a few £ you can get whispersync with it so you can switch between reading and audio which, for a book this length, might be a good idea.
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Post by foxa on Dec 9, 2017 11:11:37 GMT
Ah, HG, I knew when you quoted me it would be with a correction. I have duly and (full of shame) changed my error from Mr Simpson to Mr Burns.
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Post by foxa on Dec 9, 2017 10:41:56 GMT
I saw this last night and can confidently say it is my favourite production directed by Richard Jones. Which perhaps isn't saying much since after seeing his 'Once in a Lifetime' at the Young Vic I vowed never to see anything else directed by him. But lured by my fondness for the original Twilight Zone series I took a punt on £10 tickets.
Anne Washburn's adaptation takes a bunch of different Twilight Zone stories, chops them up and interweaves them. Some are brought to a conclusion and some are left hanging. I think if you are familiar with the series you can sort of fill in the blanks in some instances, but I wonder, if you aren't if that would be particularly frustrating. The design (set by Paul Steinberg, costumes by Nicky Gillibrand) takes a playful retro approach (lots of black and white to mimic the original black and white television series; early 1960s American clothing) - including retro ideas about what the future/space travel might look like. Some low-tech effects are created by simply having cast members twirling mysterious Twilight Zone-type images (an eyeball; a sign saying e=mc2, a mysterious doorway....) All the performers are good, including John Marquez's funny Rod Serling (the show's host and one of its writers.) The fractured, episodic nature of the piece left us feeling that some of the ingredients were better than the final cake. There would be a brilliant interlude lasting five or ten minutes and then it would sink back into something less interesting/satisfying for a while. However I reckon they are on to something in reviving some of the Twilight Zone themes: the secrets/nastiness that lie beneath the apparently ordinary; how people behave selfishly in desperate situations; fear of strangers/the unknown; loneliness and mental health...
It came in at over 2 and a half hours last night, with one interval - I think it could be trimmed by ten minutes. I would (cautiously) recommend. (But remember I was one of the few who liked Mr Burns, by the same playwright.)
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Post by foxa on Dec 3, 2017 17:00:17 GMT
As ali973 says, the way complaints have been handled in the past hasn't encouraged people to come forward. In 1993 a group of women came forward to complain about the playwright Israel Horovitz's treatment of young women. The women were dismissed as being 'tightly wound' (i.e. neurotic.) Now this, 24 years later : variety.com/2017/legit/news/israel-horovitz-sexual-midsconduct-1202627067/Even Horovitz's son says he believes the women.
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Post by foxa on Nov 27, 2017 18:03:24 GMT
Kathryn - that's true - the best things about going to see 'Young Marx' was the sweet scent of freshly baked Madeleines as we walked up the stairs to the lobby and the view of the Tower/Tower Bridge from the front windows.
The play - not so keen.
Perhaps Hytner should commission a play that references baking and the Tower of London.
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Post by foxa on Nov 22, 2017 10:51:18 GMT
Like loureviews above - we were moved by this. Despite its flaws - and there are many (the first ten minutes feel shaky and there is a very important plot point in the second half that simply didn't make sense to us) - this is a big-hearted show performed by a talented cast. There are some stand out numbers/scenes (the circus, Red White and Blue) and then the last five minutes pack a real emotional wallop (there were gulping tears all around us and an almost full standing ovation at the end.) As a side point, we were celebrating last night so treated ourselves to a meal at the theatre restaurant, The Other Naughty Pig, at the Other Palace. It serves sharing plates, the service is good (and very French) and it takes away the stress of a pre-theatre meal. The wine was only so-so, but the food was excellent.
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