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Post by mrbarnaby on Apr 30, 2022 11:39:16 GMT
Surely it has to be tell me on sunday?? It’s…. ASPECTS OF LOVE!
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594 posts
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Post by AddisonMizner on Apr 30, 2022 12:02:48 GMT
I HATED the David Essex tour, which was my first exposure to ASPECTS and has put me off it ever since. I hated the story - the characters just seemingly having it off with everyone for two and a bit hours. I thought they were going to jump in the orchestra pit at one point and start on the musicians! It didn’t help that it was quite badly directed, with blackouts every five seconds that stopped the flow completely.
That said, the score is typical romantic Lloyd Webber and is beautiful. And if Michael Ball is in it, then count me in. He could make it bearable for me.
I was a teenager when I first saw it, so I may see something different in it now.
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Post by Rory on Apr 30, 2022 12:43:47 GMT
Wonder what will go into the Apollo between Jerusalem and Aspects of Love? Everybody's Talking Abaout Jamie must not be returning for a while then, if at all?
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Post by danb on Apr 30, 2022 13:05:16 GMT
I’d heard that Jamies’ break-even number was a bit precarious long term for a Shaftesbury Ave home, that’s why its being drip fed.
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2,153 posts
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Post by richey on Apr 30, 2022 13:23:12 GMT
If it is Aspects of Love, I'd love to see Kelly Price reprise her role from the Hope Mill production. Her performance of Anything But Lonely was worth the ticket price alone.
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Post by max on Apr 30, 2022 13:39:50 GMT
Lloyd Webber has used leitmotif brilliantly (Evita), well (Sunset Boulevard), and very badly (Aspects Of Love). I remember members of the audience at Birmingham Hippodrome (Davis Essex 'Aspects' tour) laughing when yet another person took up the tune of 'Love Changes Everything' - it's just indiscriminately spread around. Even as owned by Alex, why does he sing it near the end of Act 1 when writing a letter from his army posting "News takes time to reach us here"? Why reprise the worst tune in the piece, and poorly?
'Hand Me The Wine And The Dice' was very well done though, when fully danced it has an exciting dialogue with death.
Also on the plus side, seeing it on stage for the first time the 'bit part' of Marcel really came through. It seemed another 'aspect' of love was a gay man's infatuation with the drama/diva qualities of a woman performer. So I think I've solved Mr Barnaby's riddle, the person fronting a recent London Sondheim revival and appearing in this, can only be... Patti. Lol.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2022 13:57:02 GMT
I remember enjoying the David Essex tour overall, but do remember the music being quite repetitive and reused from other shows. It's also one of those shows that could use less singing, I remember quite a few moments of cringing when people started singing, sometimes just speaking is ok.
If this is with Michael Ball then it seems a bit of a vanity project as he is completely unsuitable for George.
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Post by theatremiss on Apr 30, 2022 15:47:49 GMT
I saw the original with Ball and I really enjoyed it. Saw the David Essex tour and hated every single second. It was dark, too much sex and naked boobs and it just felt labouriously flat. I wanted to leave but was with someone who wanted to stay. My poor parents went the next day, hated it also (they saw the original) and did leave after the interval. I may be drawn to see Ball back in a different role, but it isn’t wow for me
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Post by inthenose on Apr 30, 2022 16:01:01 GMT
I remember enjoying the David Essex tour overall, but do remember the music being quite repetitive and reused from other shows. It's also one of those shows that could use less singing, I remember quite a few moments of cringing when people started singing, sometimes just speaking is ok. If this is with Michael Ball then it seems a bit of a vanity project as he is completely unsuitable for George. I love this, because pretty much everyone I've ever met in "the biz" or just a theatre lover, or on here even has absolutely loathed that tour. You're the first person I've encountered who liked it, which is great! I am just happy it clicked for you. I liked Jerome Pradon as George at the Southwark Playhouse. But then, I always like Jerome.
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Post by alece10 on Apr 30, 2022 16:07:03 GMT
I never saw the original as I was living overseas at the time so the first production I saw was at the Menier in 2010 with Michael arden, Rosalind Craig, Katherine Kingsley, Rebecca Trehearn and Dave Willetts which I really enjoyed. I was just looking at my poster to get the date and then looking at the cast realised how many great names were in it. I also saw the Southwark Playhouse production a few years later and didn't really like it but don't remember why to be honest.
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Post by cezbear on Apr 30, 2022 16:28:10 GMT
I remember enjoying the David Essex tour overall, but do remember the music being quite repetitive and reused from other shows. It's also one of those shows that could use less singing, I remember quite a few moments of cringing when people started singing, sometimes just speaking is ok. If this is with Michael Ball then it seems a bit of a vanity project as he is completely unsuitable for George. I love this, because pretty much everyone I've ever met in "the biz" or just a theatre lover, or on here even has absolutely loathed that tour. You're the first person I've encountered who liked it, which is great! I am just happy it clicked for you. I liked Jerome Pradon as George at the Southwark Playhouse. But then, I always like Jerome. I liked the tour! But I can't honestly say if it was just because I was so happy to finally see a production - I was too young for the original but grew up listening to the OLC. Plus I always love Matt Rawle in anything he does. I do remember being very cross about David Essex but then relieved he was actually fine. Also had a little chuckle at two ladies next to me asking during Love Changes Everything if it was David Essex singing (we were front row!)
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Post by inthenose on Apr 30, 2022 16:37:18 GMT
I seem to remember a bit (this isn't a show I remember much of, despite having seen three productions!) where George is taken ill. Mr. Essex's acting in that part was 'interesting', that was my take away! Always nice to see Matt Rawle. Wonderful Che in Evita.
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Post by og on Apr 30, 2022 16:48:34 GMT
Lloyd Webber has used leitmotif brilliantly (Evita), well (Sunset Boulevard), and very badly (Aspects Of Love). I remember members of the audience at Birmingham Hippodrome (Davis Essex 'Aspects' tour) laughing when yet another person took up the tune of 'Love Changes Everything' - it's just indiscriminately spread around. Even as owned by Alex, why does he sing it near the end of Act 1 when writing a letter from his army posting "News takes time to reach us here"? Why reprise the worst tune in the piece, and poorly? It's an odd one, 'Love Changes Everything'. It got hammered on PR. Implied as the biggest song from the show. Always the first song from the show to land on any ALW compilation released and yet its the opening number. Over before it's begun. When I saw it, as soon as that song was finished - despite it not being a particularly good song (imo) - everything that came after felt anti-climatic. ALW also did it with the rewrite of Love Never Dies. Opens with (arguably) the shows biggest number, 'Til I Hear You Sing'. Its like after Phantom, the pressure of writing a solid melody for an overture that could become a song in the show got to him* (JCS, Starlight, Phantom all have these hugely identifiable singable melodies lead overture the show), ever since he's not really been able to match it and toyed with different ways to overture shows with varying degrees of lesser success. I feel like ALW's calling card was once the big overture that stated the case for each musical and for whatever reason he abandoned that with this show and just plonked the full song in instead, kinda like opening Evita with the full 'Don't Cry for me Argentina' (granted context plays a huge part in placement). *Not necessarily saying he wrote the overture first in each instance, but had he lifted the overture from songs written for the show (which is likely) the pressure was there to write a big number that has the power and potential to open show, which must have been daunting.
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Post by Phantom of London on Apr 30, 2022 16:52:53 GMT
Aspects was my musical awakening. An intelligent musical with thoroughly reprehensible characters. Although the story does shine a spotlight on every form of love for good and evil.
Aspects well got famous for its non appearance of 007, Roger Moore realised he couldn’t sing so pulled out as George before the show previewed. Making way to make Michael Ball a massive star, which I saw, I also saw the better revival with Kathleen Evans as Rose 3 years later in the same theatre.
The Menier and Hope Mill production was alright, the tour wasn’t good though.
The late Ann Crumb was very good I; the original. Andrew Lloyd Webber ex wife Sarah Brightman starred in this on Broadway. I’m sure it was her last stage role?
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Post by Dawnstar on Apr 30, 2022 17:24:09 GMT
Saw the David Essex tour and hated every single second. It was dark, too much sex and naked boobs and it just felt labouriously flat. Gosh, I saw the tour but have no recollection of it featuring sex & nudity. The only thing I can really remember about it was being very impressed by Poppy Tierney's "Bring Me The Wine And The Dice". I quite liked the Southwark production, particularly Kelly Price & Madalena Alberto, but thought Felix Mosse xane over as too young for Alex as the story progressed.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 30, 2022 17:42:42 GMT
I saw the original production towards the end of the run. Michael Praed was Alex but I can't honestly recall who was Rose at that performance
I love the chamber opera feel to the score. It isn't big or showy. It feels right.
The image that sticks in my mind from 30 years ago is of the back wall splitting to reveal the silhouette of the mountains. Simple but oh so effective
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Post by longinthetooth on Apr 30, 2022 17:46:14 GMT
I've never seen it, so it may turn out to be another first for me. Having read all the above, though, it may well depend on who is cast.
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Post by anthony on Apr 30, 2022 17:49:53 GMT
Saw the David Essex tour and hated every single second. It was dark, too much sex and naked boobs and it just felt labouriously flat. Gosh, I saw the tour but have no recollection of it featuring sex & nudity. The only thing I can really remember about it was being very impressed by Poppy Tierney's "Bring Me The Wine And The Dice". I quite liked the Southwark production, particularly Kelly Price & Madalena Alberto, but thought Felix Mosse xane over as too young for Alex as the story progressed. Oh I do. Picture the scene... 12-14 year old me. Obsessed with Phantom of the Opera, so really excited to see Aspects of Love, which would be my 3rd ALW musical after Phantom and Starlight. I am sitting row B of the Upper Circle at Newcastle Theatre Royal with my elderly grandmother. Suddenly, the actress playing Giulietta is behind a wardrobe screen (is that what they're called?) completely topless and we can see everything. I remember several other instances I wanted to rip my eyes out and pretend I was anywhere else. I wasn't sure if we were meant to see this or not - after all, we were high up and the stalls certainly wouldn't have had the "view" we had... Saying that, however, I remember really enjoying it... although at the time, I was so obsessed with Phantom and ALW, that I'd have probably loved it regardless. I remember loving Matt Rawle.
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Post by alwfan on Apr 30, 2022 18:45:06 GMT
Opening early next year … one of his earlier musicals.. starring someone who has a history with the same show… Opening on Shaftesbury Avenue.. I think I'e cracked it. It is not Ball, and Rosalie Craig is the person who has a history with the show as she was in the Menier Chocolate Factory production, and lead Sondheim's company. Michael Ball could well be in it too but as it is 'someone' with a history with the show and hence only one person, Rosalie Craig it is.
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Post by theatremiss on Apr 30, 2022 19:32:52 GMT
Gosh, I saw the tour but have no recollection of it featuring sex & nudity. The only thing I can really remember about it was being very impressed by Poppy Tierney's "Bring Me The Wine And The Dice". I quite liked the Southwark production, particularly Kelly Price & Madalena Alberto, but thought Felix Mosse xane over as too young for Alex as the story progressed. Oh I do. Picture the scene... 12-14 year old me. Obsessed with Phantom of the Opera, so really excited to see Aspects of Love, which would be my 3rd ALW musical after Phantom and Starlight. I am sitting row B of the Upper Circle at Newcastle Theatre Royal with my elderly grandmother. Suddenly, the actress playing Giulietta is behind a wardrobe screen (is that what they're called?) completely topless and we can see everything. I remember several other instances I wanted to rip my eyes out and pretend I was anywhere else. I wasn't sure if we were meant to see this or not - after all, we were high up and the stalls certainly wouldn't have had the "view" we had... Saying that, however, I remember really enjoying it... although at the time, I was so obsessed with Phantom and ALW, that I'd have probably loved it regardless. I remember loving Matt Rawle. That’s exactly how it happened. The actress walked from the side of the stage totally naked from the waist upwards, wearing a long skirt. I remember saying to my husband that I don’t recall this in the original West End production!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2022 21:29:31 GMT
I remember enjoying the David Essex tour overall, but do remember the music being quite repetitive and reused from other shows. It's also one of those shows that could use less singing, I remember quite a few moments of cringing when people started singing, sometimes just speaking is ok. If this is with Michael Ball then it seems a bit of a vanity project as he is completely unsuitable for George. I love this, because pretty much everyone I've ever met in "the biz" or just a theatre lover, or on here even has absolutely loathed that tour. You're the first person I've encountered who liked it, which is great! I am just happy it clicked for you. I liked Jerome Pradon as George at the Southwark Playhouse. But then, I always like Jerome. I think the strong cast helped, poppy Tierney is such an underrated talent. She was also a great Mary poppins. We didn't have Matt rawle, he had left when we saw it, it was Tim Rogers (another underrated actor)
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Post by Dawnstar on Apr 30, 2022 22:41:16 GMT
We didn't have Matt rawle, he had left when we saw it, it was Tim Rogers (another underrated actor) Thanks. I knew I hadn't seen Matt Rawle either but couldn't remember who was his replacement. I have a feeling I didn't see David Essex either but will have to dig out my programme & check that when I get home.
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Post by justfran on May 1, 2022 10:36:04 GMT
I love this, because pretty much everyone I've ever met in "the biz" or just a theatre lover, or on here even has absolutely loathed that tour. You're the first person I've encountered who liked it, which is great! I am just happy it clicked for you. I liked Jerome Pradon as George at the Southwark Playhouse. But then, I always like Jerome. I think the strong cast helped, poppy Tierney is such an underrated talent. She was also a great Mary poppins. We didn't have Matt rawle, he had left when we saw it, it was Tim Rogers (another underrated actor) Tim Rogers was brilliant in a tour of Whistle Down the Wind.
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Post by notmymuse on May 1, 2022 12:14:00 GMT
Kind of off topic, but I also love Tim Rogers (and Matt Rawle for the record). I saw the Southwark Aspects with Rosalie and was quite underwhelmed. A funny choice for a ALW revival, I really can't see it doing that well but I've been wrong before (often).
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Post by stagebyte on May 1, 2022 12:50:34 GMT
Would love to see this with the original sweeping orchestrations. Wonder if any of the book would be tinkered with for a more modern take. The Alex/Jenny arc was a little uncomfortable back then. Wonder what folk will make of it now?
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2022 13:55:21 GMT
I think the strong cast helped, poppy Tierney is such an underrated talent. She was also a great Mary poppins. We didn't have Matt rawle, he had left when we saw it, it was Tim Rogers (another underrated actor) Tim Rogers was brilliant in a tour of Whistle Down the Wind. Yes he was. I think I may have also seen him in JCS but not 100% sure. He deserved a bigger career along the likes of Ramin, Hadley, Matt etc.
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Post by justsaying113 on May 1, 2022 16:16:10 GMT
Does the West End really need this dreary old chestnut back? One of the most tedious nights I've ever spent in a theatre.
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Post by c4ndyc4ne on May 1, 2022 16:19:31 GMT
Laurence Connor AoL = Jamie Lloyd AoL =
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Post by mrbarnaby on May 1, 2022 19:09:13 GMT
Opening early next year … one of his earlier musicals.. starring someone who has a history with the same show… Opening on Shaftesbury Avenue.. I think I'e cracked it. It is not Ball, and Rosalie Craig is the person who has a history with the show as she was in the Menier Chocolate Factory production, and lead Sondheim's company. Michael Ball could well be in it too but as it is 'someone' with a history with the show and hence only one person, Rosalie Craig it is. You may find out that you are wrong…
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