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Post by jgblunners on Jan 24, 2022 19:19:23 GMT
Shaq Taylor will be on the Big Night of Musicals performing Beauty and the Beast tonight live / on Saturday night on TV Huh? Is the title song not sung by Mrs Potts in the stage version like in the film?
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Post by jgblunners on Jan 13, 2022 10:21:57 GMT
I was also there last night - I didn't think it was completely abysmal, but it does have a lot of problems. Firstly though, the one really good thing about the show - the cast are uniformly excellent. Rosalie Craig and Tamsin Carroll in particular do a lot of the heavy lifting with the material and work very very hard to pull it all together. Vocally everyone sounds fantastic. A special mention to Daisy Maywood who steals scenes in her two supporting roles. Kat Ronney needs to get one of Cam Mac's team in to see the show because she'd be a shoo-in for Eponine.
Regarding the show itself: I wonder if it started life as an idea for a family show, because the moments when it works quite well are any time where it is simply trying to be fun and silly. Most of the big comedic numbers are very entertaining and there is a fair amount of irreverent (at times childish) fun in the show which you can't help but smile and laugh along with. If they cut it down, it could be a nice 90-minute musical version of Sleeping Beauty for all the family. Unfortunately somewhere along the line the writers decided to be a bit more ambitious, and failed abysmally.
All the additional material (i.e. anything not in the traditional Disney-esque plot of Sleeping Beauty) feels unnaturally shoehorned in - none of the plot points involving the Ogress arise out of the circumstances within the story, they are all manufactured. Most of these additions are attempting to add a darker or more mature undertone to the story, but the writers lack the skill to successfully weave these themes into the fairytale plot (compare with Into The Woods which does this very successfully). The book and lyrics in these extraneous scenes are not good at all, and while the music is at times quite promising I think that the composer needs a lesson in how to structure songs for musicals. In many cases the songs do not have a satisfying musical journey, and this is mirrored in the lyrics lacking any dramatic journey. If the show is to fulfil its potential in this version, it will need some major re-writes and probably a lot of advice from more seasoned writers of musicals. Somehow I doubt that will happen.
In summary: not a complete disaster, but the fun moments and the quality of the performances can't make up for the poor writing. 2 stars.
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Post by jgblunners on Jan 13, 2022 10:03:34 GMT
Alex Young cast as Cora - she's sublime and I'd watch her play practically any role but I would've expected her as Fay rather than Cora. I'll be very interested to see her and also to see who is cast as Fay!
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Hex - NT
Jan 12, 2022 10:05:06 GMT
via mobile
Post by jgblunners on Jan 12, 2022 10:05:06 GMT
From what I’ve seen of the design and staging, it looks like a good production. However, what I’ve heard of the book and lyrics is completely abysmal. I’m going tonight and am interested to see how it all comes together.
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Post by jgblunners on Jan 12, 2022 9:42:33 GMT
This is quite frustrating, because it looks like it might actually be a decent film, not least because of the decision to cast Dinklage and use his dwarfism in place of a prosthetic nose, and then they start singing and it's all so bland and banal that I just hate every second of it. It's based on an off-Broadway musical (in which Dinklage also starred) with tunes by an American band I think - does anyone know how it was recieved on stage?
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Post by jgblunners on Jan 3, 2022 19:02:08 GMT
Spring Awakening tomorrow, Palladium Panto on Thursday!
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Post by jgblunners on Dec 31, 2021 14:56:32 GMT
I got to 53 performances this year, a small improvement on 39 in 2020. It's been a really challenging time for theatre makers and I'm immensely grateful to everyone who persevered and continued to provide stunning productions despite little to no support for the creative sectors during the pandemic. My top 5 is:
1. Anything Goes (Barbican) 2. Carousel (Regent's Park Open Air) 3. The Last 5 Years (Garrick) 4. Joseph and the... (Palladium), specifically with Linzi Hateley! 5. Wonderful Town (Holland Park)
Happy New Year everyone and may 2022 bring us all may more wonderful theatrical experiences!
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Post by jgblunners on Dec 20, 2021 10:19:18 GMT
2 stars in The Times, 3 in The Guardian. Both largely praise the production and in particular the young cast, but have problems with the show itself.
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Post by jgblunners on Dec 17, 2021 11:34:33 GMT
There's an interesting article in today's Guardian about the poor box office performance of the three major musical movies released this year and what that might mean for the future of the genre:
To me the most interesting part is that the movies he cites as being successes - The Greatest Showman, Les Mis - are to me far less interesting than some of the 'failures'. Of course the problem here is that the definition of success for a movie studio is big box office takings. West Side Story has had almost universal critical acclaim, but that clearly doesn't mean anything if the box office doesn't pick up.
So what do we think? Are big-budget movie musicals soon to be relegated to one-a-year awards bait? Or will the more adventurous projects no longer be picked up by big studios and instead move to smaller distribution (Annette is a good example of that from this year)? Will Disney's musical offerings like the upcoming live-action Little Mermaid still pull the audiences in, and if they do will it be on the Disney name or on the merits of the movie itself? I'd like to see some analysis of how Encanto, Disney's latest animated musical, has done. Perhaps the animated musical is the one type of screen musical that could still survive in its current form?
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Post by jgblunners on Dec 15, 2021 13:08:27 GMT
I was going to book in the pre-sale this morning but it was just too expensive - cheapest in the Grand Circle £45.00, Stalls go all the way up to £125! I'm sure there are some people who will be willing to pay that much, but having no seats for £30 or under is disappointing.
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Post by jgblunners on Dec 13, 2021 10:17:48 GMT
Saw it last night and I can only add to the unanimous praise. It’s completely sublime. Zegler, DeBose, and Moreno are the true stars of the show but the entire cast is very very good. I even quite liked Elgort - his voice was better than I expected and I thought he did a decent job as Tony. Where he really fell down for me was that he struggled to act through song. In any other recent musical movie I think he would have gotten away with it but next to the other leads in this you could really tell the difference.
I really hope the critical success of this film gives producers the confidence to give future musical movies to directors with strong visions and performers who actually have musical experience!
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Post by jgblunners on Dec 8, 2021 23:15:54 GMT
Saw this tonight - my partner and I both thought that while the play itself is clearly very good, this production doesn’t really do it justice. There’s too many bells and whistles in the staging - it needs to be more grounded and distilled. The performances are decent, but for me it didn’t quite hit the mark. I’d probably give it 3 stars - press night is tomorrow so I’m interested to see what the critics think.
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Post by jgblunners on Dec 8, 2021 11:58:22 GMT
4 stars in both The Times and Guardian. I haven't booked for this yet but I've been a big fan of Curve's musicals over the past few years so I will definitely be making a visit before this closes!
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Post by jgblunners on Dec 7, 2021 17:36:54 GMT
To me, the quote from the casting call that was posted upthread doesn't suggest anywhere near as fundamental a re-evaluation of these characters as has been interpreted by others. In essence, all that it says is that the Delta Nu sisters should comprise people of various ethnicities and gender identities and that what links them as sorority sisters is their 'femme'-ness, however that is interpreted. This requires no re-writes (other than perhaps changing a few pronouns) and seems like a natural way to represent these minorities. I reckon that what they're aiming for here is similar to what we saw this summer with Carousel, where a non-binary performer played Mrs Mullins. To my knowledge, nothing in the script was changed to reflect the identity of the performer, but diversifying your casting like that is a good step towards achieving better representation of minorities.
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Post by jgblunners on Dec 3, 2021 11:55:51 GMT
I saw the play last night and agree with the reviews - it is really very bad. I feel sorry for the cast, who are trying very hard to find some depth to their characters despite the woeful text that they have to work with. It's mind-boggling that this made it all the way to the stage at the NT without someone flagging up a concern. Perhaps I'm over-estimating the bureaucracy at the NT, but I imagine there must be a whole chain of people who had to read this play prior to it being programmed, and who then had to check in on rehearsals and report back to Norris or the board. How did they not see the problems with this play?!
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Post by jgblunners on Dec 3, 2021 11:47:59 GMT
Wow the difference between the West End and Broadway promo clips is staggering! In addition to the lack of chemistry and less powerful voices, the West End couple seem to be struggling to get their harmonies tuned properly. Quite concerning!
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Post by jgblunners on Dec 2, 2021 17:24:40 GMT
I was surprised to see this play {Spoiler - click to view} listed on a popular papering site. Has the NT ever done that before? Sales must be dire. Yes it has happened before - most recently for The Normal Heart.
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Post by jgblunners on Nov 29, 2021 10:53:32 GMT
I'm not particularly excited about this - from the MTFest showcase, I recall it being like an attempt to re-create the style of Legally Blonde/Heathers with not much attention paid to the quirks of the film. Also that artwork is really horrid. But yes I agree with the above - it's good to see Paul Taylor-Mills carry this project through to a full production.
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Post by jgblunners on Nov 18, 2021 9:16:05 GMT
O’Connor does a good impression of Merman’s Reno in the film Topsy-Turvy (about Gilbert and Sullivan) but I’m not sure I’d want to see her actually play the role. I’ll be thrilled if Rachel York really is returning to the role, she was phenomenal and for me surpassed even Sutton in quality. Actually it was De-Lovely, about Cole Porter! Have to agree regarding Rachel. Loved her. D’oh! Of course it is… I don’t know where I got the idea it was in Topsy-Turvy - G&S were obviously both dead by the time AG premiered!
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Post by jgblunners on Nov 17, 2021 21:28:23 GMT
This is excellent news - in my opinion, the perfect time in Lucie’s career. I’m sure she’ll smash it out of the park. Also excellent choices in Sophie-Louise Dann and Gary Wilmot- hopefully they can bring some good old-fashioned classy musical theatre performances and re-invigorate those roles a bit. And of course wonderful to see a man of colour as Fiyero.
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Post by jgblunners on Nov 17, 2021 21:25:15 GMT
O'Connor has played Reno before, but she's not right for it in this production. I don't see Krakowski for Reno tbh - as much as I love her. O’Connor does a good impression of Merman’s Reno in the film Topsy-Turvy (about Gilbert and Sullivan) but I’m not sure I’d want to see her actually play the role. I’ll be thrilled if Rachel York really is returning to the role, she was phenomenal and for me surpassed even Sutton in quality.
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Post by jgblunners on Nov 15, 2021 11:40:23 GMT
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Post by jgblunners on Nov 15, 2021 11:39:09 GMT
No casting news on the website at the moment so it's unclear if Kate Fleetwood is still attached.
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Post by jgblunners on Nov 13, 2021 17:25:31 GMT
Venturing up to Birmingham for What's New Pussycat? tomorrow afternoon
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Post by jgblunners on Nov 11, 2021 19:55:54 GMT
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Post by jgblunners on Nov 11, 2021 10:44:21 GMT
How wonderful - the Broadway Cast Recording is great fun and I'd love to see it on stage since I didn't think the Netflix film fulfilled its potential. I hope we get a really classy cast as Barry and Dee Dee in particular need to be old-school stars with musical theatre in their veins.
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Post by jgblunners on Nov 11, 2021 10:33:50 GMT
Julian Ovenden confirmed to be returning to the role of Emile for the Manchester and London runs. Some announcements suggest that Gina Beck will also be playing Nellie for those dates, but the official website ( here) doesn't mention her so I can't tell if her casting is confirmed.
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Post by jgblunners on Nov 11, 2021 10:30:11 GMT
It's also now a co-production with Chichester Festival Theatre ( link here) and is playing in the main house there prior to its run at The Bridge - mods, perhaps the thread title could be updated to reflect this?
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Post by jgblunners on Oct 3, 2021 12:21:19 GMT
Well that was frustrating. The TKTS website wasn’t working for me, and there was no response when I tweeted to the official account about it, so I thought I’d go to the booth to get my ticket. I arrived at 12:45 with plenty of time to buy a ticket and get to Cadogan Hall, only to find that they had taken the matinee off sale at 12:30 (1hr before curtain up - I’m sure TKTS never used to stop sales so far ahead!). I can’t make the evening and I can’t afford to pay full price at the theatre so I’ve headed home! Will look forward to reading reports from others.
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Post by jgblunners on Oct 3, 2021 9:22:27 GMT
Thanks so much for this! I’ve tried using the link but for some reason none of the payment options will work for me. Is this happening for anyone else, or is it just my phone! Thanks! :-) Same here - the "continue" button on the page where you select payment method just reloads the page instead of letting me put in my card details.
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