71 posts
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Post by samjane92 on Feb 23, 2018 14:30:52 GMT
I was hoping Ashley Day, but obviously he’s just gone into 42nd Street. Stuart doesn’t seem like an obvious choice to me, but happy to be proved wrong. Now that Emma Williams is not available, what do people think of Katie Brayben as Sally? Yes to Katie Brayben! She did a wonderful version of the title song with John Dagleish at the Oliviers concert in 2015.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2018 14:37:55 GMT
Now that Emma Williams is not available, what do people think of Katie Brayben as Sally? Well that would just be beautiful.
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1,102 posts
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Post by zak97 on Feb 24, 2018 21:43:40 GMT
Unlikely to happen but I’ll put in a request for Lara Pulver please.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2018 23:54:20 GMT
Laura Pitt-Pulford or Carly Bawden.
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4,530 posts
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Post by Being Alive on Feb 25, 2018 16:25:58 GMT
Laura Pitt-Pulford or Carly Bawden. Laura would be a wonderful Sally.
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364 posts
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Post by dazzerlump on Feb 28, 2018 9:14:22 GMT
oh I agree on Carly Bawden, and if Louis Maskell was to be Bill it would be a My Fair Lady Reunion
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2018 10:28:37 GMT
Matt Lucas to play Bill Snibson
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4,530 posts
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Post by Being Alive on Mar 1, 2018 10:29:45 GMT
Matt Lucas to play Bill Snibson And this was going so well!
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 1, 2018 10:34:38 GMT
That is .... unusual ... casting
He is a capable comic performer - and will bring something different to the role.
But it is certainly a left-field choice.
Catherine Tate for Sally???
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4,530 posts
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Post by Being Alive on Mar 1, 2018 10:35:16 GMT
That is .... unusual ... casting He is a capable comic performer - and will bring something different to the role. But it is certainly a left-field choice. Catherine Tate for Sally??? I mean, that was who I was going to suggest next!!
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 1, 2018 10:36:56 GMT
You will need someone of a similar personality size to match Lucas. Also has to be older (even though Lucas doesn't really look mid 40s, he will need a Sally who has a playing age of mid-late 30s at the youngest)
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1,936 posts
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Post by wickedgrin on Mar 1, 2018 10:38:28 GMT
and I was so looking forward to this.......
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 1, 2018 10:41:09 GMT
I am sure people were surprised when Woolfie (Citizen Smith) was cast as Bill back in 84 - particularly with a Sally who was a posh bird from Cambridge called Emma
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1,936 posts
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Post by wickedgrin on Mar 1, 2018 10:45:16 GMT
I am sure he will be very good - especially with the comedy "business", but he is a performer I just don't warm to, I'm not sure why?
I'll book a cheap seat - I love the show!
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 1, 2018 10:46:51 GMT
I suspect casting like this increases the likelihood of a fairly rapid West End transfer
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1,037 posts
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Post by jgblunners on Mar 1, 2018 10:49:14 GMT
I know nothing about the show, but from the photo they've used on the website I expected a relatively young actor to be cast in the lead role (a la Charlie Stemp last year) - is it normal to have someone slightly older in the role?
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 1, 2018 10:51:13 GMT
Robert Lindsay was 35 or thereabouts when it was revived in 1984
Gary Wilmot was the same age
So it is not necessarily a young role
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1,936 posts
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Post by wickedgrin on Mar 1, 2018 10:56:55 GMT
Lucas would have made a better Gerald, or even Sir John or Parchester.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2018 11:04:26 GMT
Oh god, I thought you were joking. I'm out. (For Chichester at least, I'm open to attending a West End transfer if the word of mouth is decent.)
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573 posts
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Post by princeton on Mar 1, 2018 12:43:32 GMT
Daniel Evans has made such smart casting choices in the past that part of me wants to say - let's wait and see. However, the other part is disappointed with this announcement.
I'm very glad that it isn't a very youthful 'smiley' song and dance man. However, having seen the original London production many times with every cast variation, the versions which which worked best were when actor playing Bill had an effortless charm, the comedy was unforced and there was a natural rapport between Bill and Sally. My favourite pairings were Robert Lindsay and Emma Thompson, and Karl Howman and Louise English. I didn't managed to see Gary Wilmot and Jessica Martin together - one of them was always off whenever I visited - but I heard good things about them.
I don't find Matt Lucas particularly charming and he seems a bit self-indulgent as a performer - his comedy has often felt rather leaden and laboured. But people change, and he loves musicals - in past interviews has said that one of his favourite is Me and My Girl - and Evans is a good director. I'm hoping that my concerns are completely misplaced.
I'm still looking forward to seeing this - and interested to hear who else is in the cast (and fingers crossed that Sally is in the Joanna Riding rather than Su Pollard vein - the latter being a performance I have tried my hardest to forget).
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2018 19:18:39 GMT
Well we have an early contender for 2018's weridest casting choice...
Daniel Evans is very smart and likewise I imagine this is part of some clever concept or that he simply knows something we don't about Lucas...but it certainly wouldn't entice me to trek all the way there.
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5,324 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Mar 1, 2018 22:54:02 GMT
Wow this is really bad casting. Pretty stunned.
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Post by wickedgrin on Mar 1, 2018 23:07:35 GMT
Could this be this years version of casting Marcus Brigstocke in Barnum?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2018 23:15:52 GMT
What worries me about this casting is that if they get it wrong, then we may not see Me and My Girl again for a very long time. It's taken 25 years to get a major production (excluding Sheffield) that might come to London and run again, i just dont want them to screw it up. Unless there is a new UK tour and then hopefully they might cast in a more traditional way. I can only really see Matt Lucas playing the fool, or bumbling sidekick. Neither of which are Bill Snibson. Who knows, he might prove us all wrong... Is it too early to ask if the understudy is scheduled to do any performances?
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 1, 2018 23:23:57 GMT
The tradition for Me and My Girl in the 80s and 90s was the cast a comic actor from the telly. That is pretty much what is happening again now - just with a very different style of performer.
I am sure that Lucas can do the fish out of water stuff necessary for Bill. He has MT experience (whether or not you liked his Thenardier, he has performed a role on stage - unlike some involved in 'stunt' casting)
I think it is better to hold a watching brief on this one to see how he fits with the production as a whole. Lucas is not obvious casting - but neither was Robert Lindsay in 84.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2018 7:24:37 GMT
I don’t understand the concerns over this casting. I don’t know the show, but from a quick look at Wikipedia, I can see that it was written back in the 30s for a cockney comic-cum-music-hall performer who’d already played the character of Bill Snibson in another play. Lucas is a larger than life comic who can act and put across a tune as well as anyone else who’s played the role, isn’t he? I trust Daniel Evans, and Chichester certainly knows how to put on a show (and how to sell it. Take note ENO...) We might know Lucas better as George and Marjorie Dawes, but we also thought we knew Michael Crawford better as Frank Spencer. And he turned out to the Phantom every Phantom since has based his performance on for over thirty years...
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1,210 posts
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Post by musicalmarge on Mar 2, 2018 7:26:17 GMT
You are joking?? LUCAS?? Love him but it’s like casting Elaine Paige as Velma! Ugh
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2018 9:44:06 GMT
You are joking?? LUCAS?? Love him but it’s like casting Elaine Paige as Velma! Ugh OMGosh. I would LOVE to see La Paige as Velma Kelly! She'd be sensational. I rather like Matt Lucas. He has a certain sweetness about him that I think would be good for this. J'approve!
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1,210 posts
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Post by musicalmarge on Mar 2, 2018 10:56:51 GMT
You are joking?? LUCAS?? Love him but it’s like casting Elaine Paige as Velma! Ugh OMGosh. I would LOVE to see La Paige as Velma Kelly! She'd be sensational. Actually so would I! Hahaha
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2018 10:05:30 GMT
Booked and looking forward to it. A day out near Chichester with a summer evening at its theatre never disappoints!
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