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Post by mallardo on Apr 6, 2016 21:31:39 GMT
I still think his best play was his first success, Relatively Speaking. It's genuinely funny in a way few of his other plays are.
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Post by mallardo on Apr 6, 2016 21:24:36 GMT
David Bedella was far superior to his Broadway counterpart, I can assure you. I've seen some comments on American boards wondering how THIS role could produce an award winning performance. Bedella found something in it no one else has found.
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Post by mallardo on Apr 4, 2016 18:50:01 GMT
Compared to other areas of society, theatre and the arts in general DO lead the way in diversity. Everybody wants to be in show biz and not everybody makes it for many many reasons, chiefly lack of talent and/or lack of connections. I'm sure race or ethnicity or gender plays a part sometimes, but certainly not in the majority of cases. That, at least, is what I've witnessed. I've done a lot of TV pitch meetings in the last few years and I don't remember the last time I pitched to a room of straight white male executives. That's not how it is now. This is mainly in America, granted, but recent experiences here tell me that it's pretty much the same.
Because the diversity situation is not perfect doesn't mean it's not improving and quickly. Credit where it's due.
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Post by mallardo on Apr 4, 2016 13:45:30 GMT
The guy's making a gesture and hoping that others follow suit, what's wrong with that? North Carolina has a couple of well known universities with respected performing arts schools attached and those schools would be seriously impacted if other composers started withdrawing their works. So this is a form of political pressure that could have some small meaning.
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Post by mallardo on Apr 3, 2016 15:05:51 GMT
Mallardo makes it a habit to be out of London when I'm down Next Saturday I'm going to Bug and 'Another World' at the NT.
Re London, some would say it's the other way around. Not accusing, mind you.
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Post by mallardo on Apr 3, 2016 14:33:07 GMT
As I am out of London at exactly the wrong time - thus missing the excitement of Sunset Boulevard - I will be taking a long drive on the real Sunset Boulevard on Tuesday night en route to downtown LA for the touring production of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.
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Post by mallardo on Apr 1, 2016 18:35:04 GMT
Maybe she wants to be seen as a serious singing actress and not just as a high belter.
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Post by mallardo on Apr 1, 2016 18:31:04 GMT
But Ayckbourn usually gets a free pass from the critics, no matter how dire some of his plays are. I suppose he's an institution now so to criticize is to lack respect, or something.
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Post by mallardo on Apr 1, 2016 0:07:00 GMT
The movie has damaged its reputation but it remains a great play. A great long play.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 30, 2016 21:41:32 GMT
Really enjoyed this today with rather elderly matinee audience around me "Oh, the playwright is American then?" , "What's happening now?" " The box is rather good isn't it" etc etc. I felt like I had secret extra knowledge, having seen the first part at the Alemida all those years ago! It was quite surreal as the box set was EXACTLY the same and the scenes were even in the same places so it was a tad freaky as it was now in another theatre and I didn't remember the set in detail until I saw it! Loved the way the characters had changed and that the dilemmas were all turned on their heads a bit...and yes, quite Chekhov in places...useless indecisive men, letting down sassy women all over the place! Looking forard to part 3. Wouldn't it be great if the women decided to rule the world and not just hang around waiting for the men to love them? Oh and a play that had one interval and had finished and thrown us all out onto the street 2 hours 15mins later! Hurrah! (Yes Old Vic, I'm looking at you!)
Speaking as a useless, indecisive man, I think you're being a bit harsh on us, Latecomer. As this play demonstrates, we do get it together eventually.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 27, 2016 13:06:46 GMT
I'll be interested if you think that after seeing this production. You might be right (you frequently are) but IMO, it would have been an unneeded distraction - the play and performances are raw enough without it. It's staged with the audience on all sides and really close, so the actors would have been exceptionally vulnerable and I would have sat there worrying about some idiot trying to take photos of Norton's willy or making exploitative comments about Fleetwood's anatomy rather than just concentrating on the play. Look at how nudity has dominated the discussion of other plays/films - even a quick shot of Hiddleston's bottom makes the internet/tabloids go crazy.
Foxa, it's difficult to really talk about it here because it involves the plot in a major way. For me, the spiralling descent of the two protagonists must lead to a complete surrender to the idea that's driving them - until all they have left is their own skin. It's written that way and (virtually) always played that way. Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon got naked in the movie version. It's how the piece goes.
When I saw it a few years ago it was in a small black box theatre and the nudity was not distracting - it raised the level of intensity to where it had to be. The madness and vulnerability of the characters is the point, and it needs actors and a production that fully commit to that.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 27, 2016 2:11:49 GMT
Underwear? Wrong. There's a reason they have to strip off. To not do it undercuts the play.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 26, 2016 17:36:50 GMT
The murder ends Act One. Act Two opens with I Feel Pretty, then comes the Somewhere ballet and then Officer Krupke which is the Jets without their dead leader dealing with their freaked out state via this crazy goofy song - I think it's brilliant.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 26, 2016 10:38:08 GMT
But Officer Krupke is the only light relief in the second act - it's totally needed and welcome when it comes. Perhaps some people here are going by the movie where the song was shifted to the first act - where it's not needed.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 25, 2016 17:46:44 GMT
The 2014 is the version you'll be seeing in Southwark, so there's that. But you can't not get the original with the great Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 25, 2016 9:15:59 GMT
I don't hate it but I usually skip over More I Cannot Wish You in Guys and Dolls. The production at the Phoenix seems to get this because they play it at twice the usual tempo - so it's over much quicker.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 24, 2016 23:04:55 GMT
I know why you say that, crabtree, but the passion IS there and it's hot and intense and it runs deep in this very very beautiful work. I think a case can be made for Passion as Sondheim's masterpiece.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 24, 2016 20:12:38 GMT
The trouble with Ian is his performance is very one note for the vast majority. He spends most of the show miserable bar one or two scenes, much more than the film and a lot of his songs are very much the same. It was a good performance but of the three Henderson Actors nominated, Emma has the best shot. And as I said previously, don't be surprised if she beats Lara. Emma literally carries the show on her back and is fantastic. I wouldn't be surprised at all if she won.
I hope you're right about Emma Williams, Daniel. When was the last time someone in the Supporting Actress category totally dominated a show like she does? That's worth an award to me.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 24, 2016 15:38:59 GMT
I am very conflicted about Sky M. I adored Jamue Parker's portrayal, he was very cool and seemed more of the era. However, I've always had a bit if a thing for Oliver Tompsett and his voice just melts me. So I like them both. I need to check out the tour now, of course, to get the full set.
It looked like Siubhan Harrison might have a "thing" for Tompsett as well - she seemed almost giddy at the final bows.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 24, 2016 15:19:23 GMT
Jason Pennycooke was Benny Southstreet. I was on the front row, and noticed a distinct chilliness between Ms Spiro & the MD - Gareth Valentine. When I saw this at the Savoy, he was very animated, singing along and there was a bit of interaction between him and Miss Adelaide during Take Off Your Mink. During said number yesterday, he had his head down throughout and she whined "Why are you ignoring me?" at one point. The pit is very cramped, and I heard someone ask where the rest of the brass section was. They were told under the stage, behind a screen!
Freckles, we were at the same show and must have been very close to each other. I was in the second row on the centre aisle and I too heard Samantha comment to the MD - who kept his head down for the entire show, not just for her. At the end, he stood up and took his bow BEFORE the four principals made the gesture to the pit which I have never seen before. Seemed like he was the one with the problem.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 24, 2016 13:30:24 GMT
I'm curious as to how Natalie Dessay, a coloratura soprano, handles Fosca's music. The one clip I've seen sounded pretty good but how was she in person?
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Post by mallardo on Mar 24, 2016 12:35:01 GMT
I definitely recommend the day seats. The stage is a bit high but not bad and the front row is the place to be.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 22, 2016 18:19:26 GMT
Yes, the new cast has given this show a big lift. Richard Kind is a funny and authentic Nathan Detroit - and he can really sing! - while Oliver Tompsett is quite a different Sky Masterson, kind of a goofy guy with a permanent grin on his face which sounds wrong but he makes it work for him - plus his chemistry ("yeah, chemistry") with Siubhan Harrison's Sarah Brown is palpable. Star of the show though is Samantha Spiro. She's hilarious and touching and all Adelaide should be. Her "Take Back Your Mink" with the Hot Box girls is fabulous, as is everything else she does. Just a great performance.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 22, 2016 7:55:14 GMT
It was about four years ago that the new kinder, gentler Neil LaBute was introduced to us via the funny, angst ridden four hander, Reasons To Be Pretty, at the Almeida. Now we have the sequel, Reasons To Be Happy, and, coincidentally, the characters have moved on about four years in their lives. And it's (as they say) deja vu all over again.
Quite deliberately this play is a mirror image of its predecessor; the structure is the same - it opens exactly the same way with an argument in a parking lot - the sets (Soutra Gilmour) are the same, the director (Michael Attenborough) is the same, and, fortunately, the leading man (Tom Burke) is the same. Burke is a wonderful actor and he fits the part of Greg, the upwardly mobile member of this little blue collar crowd, to perfection. In this instance, more so than in the first instalment, he basically carries the show. For there's no denying the sense of sequel-itis here. Things have moved on in somewhat predictable ways, it's less fresh, there are fewer surprises. Which is not to say it doesn't work - it does.
LaBute writes great extended scenes; he has the finest ear around for how Americans actually talk and his Mamet-ish dialogue with its stops and starts and overlaps and hesitations is as real as it gets. It does, however, make requirements of the actors that are not entirely met here. Burke is superb and Lauren O'Neil, who plays Steph, the girl who dumped him and now is having a rethink, is almost as good, possibly because most of her scenes are with Burke. The other two are not on that level and it's a bit of a problem. On the other hand this was a preview and they're still working their ways into the LaBute idiom.
Is it important to have seen (and remembered) the first play in order to fully "get" this one? I would say it helps but it's not necessary - this one stands alone. And, actually (according to the programme) there's going to be another one - it's a trilogy. The finale will be called Reasons To Be Pretty Happy - look for it in about four years.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 20, 2016 6:26:13 GMT
Thankfully, we're well past the era when a nude scene would be seen as some sort of stain on the career. And Emma Williams plays that particular scene so well and with such dignity and strength that the audience never become leering spectators, they are with her in the moment. The takeaway is one of complete admiration for her.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 17, 2016 18:04:27 GMT
So, since I missed Emma Williams the first time I saw MHP, I felt it was my duty to reclaim my front row seat (embarrassingly, the conductor remembered me) and see the show again with the full first team. What a difference Emma makes! Suddenly everything was working and I was loving it. The eleven o'clock number, If Mountains Were Easy To Climb, had me leaking tears although, thankfully, I was able to recover in time for the fan dance. There's just nothing like star power to enhance a show.
So I'm now regretting a lot of the negative things I said about it earlier. Not all of them - I still think the show needs less of the two leads and more of the girls - but most of them. The score, for instance, is MUCH BETTER than I thought it was, the best score for a British musical since Love Story (which, coincidentally, also starred Emma Williams). I'm really hoping this show has a life, it deserves it.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 17, 2016 10:32:05 GMT
Haha! Loving the idea that I shouldn't use words like "homophobia" in case I upset homophobes. What next, should I refrain from calling Donald Trump a racist in case that makes him cry?
Where did I say anything about upsetting homophobes? That's a hell of a leap. The fact is, in my opinion, that camp humour and homophobia are two different things. The actors themselves are ( in this case) gay. Do you think they would describe what they're doing as homophobic? Or were you just dying to bring Donald Trump into this?
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Post by mallardo on Mar 17, 2016 9:58:20 GMT
Okay, well, I take your point. Peter Bartlett and Brooks Ashmanskas, the actors concerned, are both camp specialists and are both very funny - doing the stereotypes they have done before in other shows. But I still don't class that as homophobia, which, after all, is a serious charge.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 17, 2016 9:26:11 GMT
In some ways it was amusing enough, but there was maybe just a little (read: a lot) too much homophobic humour for me to enjoy it properly. If it hadn't been for the cast, I don't think I'd have enjoyed it that much either. I'm sure they've meant for it to come to London, but it's so traditionally (and not ground-breakingly or interestingly) Broadway that I doubt it'd quite work here.
A lot of homophobic humour? Some stereotyping, perhaps, but I didn't detect homophobia, unless you equate the two.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 17, 2016 8:42:38 GMT
I would add several (but not all) Ayckbourn plays to the list.
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