1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 25, 2016 13:17:34 GMT
The film was made. It's out there somewhere.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 24, 2016 18:58:37 GMT
How was Irons' American accent? In a post above, Oleanna mentioned it as being pretty awful and that's certainly my experience with him in an American role.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 24, 2016 18:52:16 GMT
Look Back In Anger. I can understand its importance but it is a really dire effort. Worst John Osborne I've seen by a country mile. I couldn't agree more. I used to blame bad productions for hating it, but no, it's the play.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 20, 2016 0:45:13 GMT
Sunset Boulevard, Saturday afternoon: There was some confusion over seating there at this. For you see, this boyfriend is... Unusually and exceedingly peculiar, And altogether quite impossible to describe... and she was... Blonde. I knew there would be trouble when they were last to their seats, pushing along the whole row when there is a perfectly good side door right by the seats. Carrying drinks, and a quick selfie or six before the show. Act 1, well, at least they were quiet, but he was happily stretching down often to get a drink or two from the glasses on the floor, and handing her some water. Not during the gaps – during the songs. Act 2, “As If We Never Said Goodbye,” and she actually PUTS HER WINE CUP ON THE FRONT OF THE STAGE. The edge bit by the side of the orchestra pit. Thank goodness she removed it in the end, because, no kidding, I was that close to removing it myself – and having it stowed somewhere the sunset may have shone out of....
Quoting Glinda now! You are full of surprises, TM.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 20, 2016 0:10:43 GMT
Lesli Margherita is a good compromise if you can't get Lonette McKee who was certainly an amazing Julie. But she was perfect, she was the part - that doesn't happen very often. And Rebecca Trehearn's voice probably overcomes any qualms I might have.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 18, 2016 15:40:53 GMT
"Bug" has a double meaning.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 17, 2016 18:47:38 GMT
Showboat appeared in 1927, raising the racism issue in a way it had never been raised before on a musical stage. Perhaps it appears lightweight to you, David - and by modern standards it is! - but try to imagine it in a world in which racism was deep-seeded and overt and accepted as normal. See Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, for examples.
Hammerstein and Kern were very bold indeed. And Hammerstein was bold again in South Pacific, 22 years later. Let's respect him for being a man of principal rather than someone not "hard hitting" enough.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 16, 2016 21:35:18 GMT
I think the writer's idea was to sew confusion in our minds - up to a point - allowing us to enter into the father's confusion. The scenes without the father are as skewed and puzzling (to us) as the scenes with him. The tone doesn't change.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 16, 2016 18:57:27 GMT
I thought American Psycho was one of the most brilliant musicals I've ever seen. The cast album confirms that.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 15, 2016 22:57:35 GMT
Dippy, you can't just add credits to IMDB - you need evidence they can check. I speak from experience. I had to go through quite an ordeal before I was able to get the credits that were due to me on one particular series.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 15, 2016 15:55:54 GMT
Steve, I saw that same 1995/96 production - not in LA but Toronto, where Robert Morse played Captain Andy (not well, he was replaced) - and you're so right about Michel Bell standing out as Joe. He was the one who garnered all the big reviews and ended up winning a Tony Award - check out his performance at the Tonys on YouTube. Yet you're the first person here to even mention the name of the actor playing Joe in the current production, so the balance is obviously different.
Also, good analogy with Mimi and Musetta. As usual when I read your reviews I end up saying to myself, damn, why didn't I think of that?!
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 14, 2016 17:49:53 GMT
Absolutely - dementia takes different courses in different patients. I think perhaps reviews and to some extent word of mouth were a bit misleading in maybe suggesting 'if you have experience of a loved one having this condition, you will totally connect with this play!' I think she was also slightly nonplussed by the script having something along the lines of, 'But don't you remember we talked about this, dad?' She was absolutely clear that anyone who cared for a dementia patient would NEVER say something like that to them!
A. The daughter is not a professional nurse who knows "procedure" and this line is spoken before her father's condition has deteriorated.
B. The play attempts to explore the disease from the POV of the victim. Unless your friend actually has Alzheimer's she won't really know what it's like, will she?
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 13, 2016 23:46:17 GMT
Well done to you, talkstageytome, for your continuing advocacy of this hilarious and wonderful show. Like you, I loved it!
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 13, 2016 20:29:12 GMT
Yes, production accountants and caterers et al are now listed along with creatives for every movie and many TV shows and it's quite in keeping with an era in which everyone can be a critic or a commentator online or be followed around via Twitter or record themselves doing just about anything for all the world to see. The Expanded Credits Syndrome is historically pretty much in sync with the development of the internet - they're symptoms of the same thing. We all want recognition and now we can get it!
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 13, 2016 14:12:44 GMT
Interesting to read your comments on Richard Fleeshman, ianm, because Oliver Tompsett, in the current London production, plays Sky pretty much the opposite way - he's almost too nice! Seems the actors are being allowed to find their own characters and not being forced into some preconceived directorial straightjacket. To me that's always a good thing.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 13, 2016 13:54:30 GMT
The last few years have seen strong revivals of Chicken Soup With Barley, The Kitchen and Roots so there have been signs of a renewed interest in his work. He was a major playwright to be sure and, I'm told, a warm and funny and congenial man. RIP.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 10, 2016 17:47:10 GMT
Could anyone tell me which cast recording is the most up to date? So many on Amazon, was just wondering which would be best. I wonder if they will record this new version?
The show has been done in many different versions but the one I would recommend is its last Broadway incarnatation, the Hal Prince production labelled on Amazon as the Toronto Cast recording - it had an extended pre-Broadway run in Toronto. It does have its quirks. "How Do I Love You?" is sung as a lullaby by Parthy (Elaine Stritch) to baby Kim, for example. But it's quite complete and the cast is exceptional.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 10, 2016 17:40:15 GMT
I just saw A Gentleman's Guide in the American touring production and it feels like a show that could be very successful in the West End. The two male leads are great parts - the kind of parts good actors would kill for.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 10, 2016 16:41:58 GMT
Well, Brecht called it a "play with music" because he wrote the play part. There are 21 songs in it (including reprises) so where does one draw the line? Certainly Weil's music is the reason it's performed, not Brecht's uncompelling script.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 10, 2016 15:20:49 GMT
With all due respect, Threepenny Opera is not an opera. It belongs in the musicals section.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 9, 2016 23:38:41 GMT
How much do you need to be aware of who Ken Campbell was to get this? I only know him as the guy who was very funny in one of the funniest Fawlty Towers episodes.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 9, 2016 14:20:50 GMT
No, I asked her. She denies it. Ah, a lady who prefers to know exactly where her man is, then? Or just believes that every man should have a hobby?
Since you asked, TM, let's just say that Mrs. M, a former actress herself (3 Broadway credits), "understands".
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 8, 2016 17:23:21 GMT
I commented on the Oliviers performance in another thread but I'll say again here that they should have been promoting the show's number one asset which is Emma Williams and the girls. The Olivier number should have been Emma's fan dance. That would have grabbed the attention they so desperately needed. I've suddenly hatched a private theory that the decision to "post the notice" may have in fact been taken - or at least heavily influenced - by Mrs Mallardo...
No, I asked her. She denies it.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 8, 2016 16:11:13 GMT
I commented on the Oliviers performance in another thread but I'll say again here that they should have been promoting the show's number one asset which is Emma Williams and the girls. The Olivier number should have been Emma's fan dance. That would have grabbed the attention they so desperately needed.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 8, 2016 15:57:08 GMT
Much as I loved If Mountains Were Easy To Climb at the Oliviers, I'm thinking MHP should have done Emma's fan dance number with her dropping the fans at the end in careful lighting, as in the show. That's what the show's about and that would sell it.
Reminds me of The Full Monty at the Tony Awards several years back when the guys performed Let It Go and went through with the full strip - rather shocking the audience. It sure worked for them, the buzz from that was tremendous.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 7, 2016 14:50:05 GMT
Simmer down it's getting like the Mrs Henderson thread over here.... ...that said they were a BEAUTIFUL chorus. If they'd used the DRS cast at "Mrs Henderson," though authenticity would have been compromised, I'd guess that there wouldn't be a front stalls seat until about November 2019...
Frankly, I'm pretty happy with the quality of pulchritude in MHP and with my front stalls seat. No need for an upgrade.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 7, 2016 14:45:13 GMT
Jersey Boys is the crème de la creme of jukebox musicals in the way it integrates a genuinely compelling story into its parade of hits. Its book is innovative and strong in a way that few others are. I would also say that Beautiful, a more traditional piece, has a strong book, by turns funny and dramatic, which links the songs in an expert way. Neither show is making it on the songs alone.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 7, 2016 14:19:08 GMT
No way "Rent." That show has always nauseated me - bunch of irresponsible twentysomethings in troubles of their own making mostly because they appear seemingly spoilt to the point of infantilism. "In The Heights" has real grit. Anything anyone gets is through work, with a little luck everyone is entitled to. The characters and issues are real and immediate. I'd guess that "West Side Story" may have had a level of reality to it as well, when it first opened. If I HAD to choose between the two quoted in this thread, then WSS is a bit closer. That said, I think ITH is something unique and very, very special. Much as I enjoyed "Kinky Boots," I'd have given the Olivier to ITH by a mile.
The Rent thing is in the sound of the show, not the story. But, really, TM, your take on Rent... Of course AIDS does have a strong personal responsibility component but does that make it less devastating and, ultimately, less tragic? Some of the Rent characters are playing at being bohemians while others are genuine street people. It's a mix. No one is infantile, they're trying to cope with dying, a fairly big deal.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 6, 2016 21:47:55 GMT
I know the opera snobs turn up their noses at Adriana Lecouvreur but to me it's pure bliss.
|
|
1,103 posts
|
Post by mallardo on Apr 6, 2016 21:40:55 GMT
The Rent vibe is definitely there - Miranda has spoken often about how much that show influenced him.
|
|