239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Nov 6, 2017 14:50:55 GMT
What's Gemma's story? We've not seen a b/f, a g/f, a hubbie or a 'waif'... Not even a mum, a dad, or- when we're really stretching it- a nan. Apart from a handful of Aljaz's crotch during that god-awful lift on Saturday evening*, I'm not sure what she's got. At least Susan and Ruth are adding a bit of 'entertainment'. (* If you didn't catch it, watch it back! It's quite funny and Aljaz laughs and says something to her!) Didn't catch that - was too busy wincing at the sheer clunkiness of the lifts, that all had the air of poor Aljaz hoisting a large bag of spuds into his arms! Will need a rewatch, clearly! As for Gemma's story, well she's very carefully not denying the tabloid rumours that she and Gorka are pairing up and, apparently, making Alexandra 'livid'! It does make her mildly more interesting than poor Mollie, who's yet another bland blonde (Laura Whitmore, Helen George, Rachel Riley, Ali Bastian etc) - all of whom had varying levels of dance ability, but were all a total bore to watch! They seemed to be trying to push a 'most improved' storyline onto her, until it became very clear that she really wasn't! Both girls will probably leave before either Susan or Ruth, which is probably as it should be, if we're valuing entertainment - they need to lose a couple of female celebs though, as they're now down to just 3 out of the 10 celebs being men. I suspect Jonnie and Joe are reasonably safe for now, but I'm betting Davood gets saved, if he ends up in the danger zone, just to keep the balance a little.
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Nov 6, 2017 11:42:19 GMT
Just be to devil's advocate here but I see a lot of criticism of the personalities of Alexandra/Mollie/Gemma but is anyone else finding Susan's continual stream of superlatives a bit boring now? She is a nice woman but every answer she gives is either telling us what a supreme being Kevin is or what the 'show is all about': giving it your all/bouncing back/having fun. Basically anything that fits her experience that week. I think Susan came in fully prepared to have her life changed by SCD and as such it is all starting to feel a little forced and saccharine now. Nope, not just you. I like Susan, but also think she's innately super competitive and ambitious in everything she does (not a bad thing!), and is a great student at the 'Kevin From Grimsby School of How To Get To The Final Of Strictly'!! He has combined her limited ability with an on-screen devotion to imbuing every theme or song with deep meaning for her (or both of them). I did believe her about Bring Me Sunshine being her first dance with her wife - that one, I'm pretty sure she requested as a song. The other stuff, I started side-eying her this week when she declared This Ole House by Shakin' Stevens as mega important to her because 'it was the first song she ever bought'! The endless upbeatness about her is slightly grating now - I'm certain she's a lovely woman, and is actually enjoying her time on the show - but (much like Kelly Bright's year on Strictly), they're getting to the 'overselling it all' stage now! Much like Kevin's partnership with Kellie Bright, I'm at the stage where I'm watching two fully adult people acting like kids on a sugar high, and it's driving me a little nuts!
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Oct 30, 2017 8:42:56 GMT
Really interesting and beautifully shot. But that circle thing with like a hundred arms shoving food in its hole was the stuff of nightmares. Sea cucumber!!! Who knew?! The camera work and colours were so vivid, it was hard to conceive that it wasn't CGI-ed. Only when they showed the ultra-slow motion camera, and the surfing cameraman filming the dolphins did I believe that it was real footage captured - worth the price of a HD TV all by itself! Loved every minute of it, it really is the best programme on TV (much as Planet Earth was). Four years to make, and worth every second of footage shot. It also is the perfect programme for the cold, dark Sunday nights - combined with Strictly, it makes for a great evening's chill-out TV.
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Oct 26, 2017 8:04:06 GMT
Simon has an injury and has been in dance off twice, I think he will go Saturday. Ruth has the Loose Women fish wives, Eamonn, Phil, Holly, Rylan possibly biging her up before you add in Anton's popularity. Susan's vote has been discussed before and she HAS to make it to Blackpool and not go before Ruth. AJ is apparently ill or has a lot of homework to do, so Mollie may dance with a replacement this week so scores may be down but Judges will save her if she fell into bottom 2 unless another shock couple were there. I think Davood could go fairly soon or maybe improve and last a lot longer.This week I think Nadiya will have a hot halloween outfit on, like when Ola used to wear the catsuit and that may get them a decent male vote. Also do we think Darcy is a Screamer! I agree it's Simon's time to go - I doubt he'll avoid his 3rd dance off, and a likely fairly pedestrian VW to Delilah doesn't scream 'Halloween special' to me! I'd put Davood in the bottom with him - a rumba (even if it's to Wicked Game, a favourite song of mine and pretty good for that dance) won't do well amongst all the 'jokey' and Halloween themed numbers. I predict some bemusing face paint for both Davood and Nadiya and, with his still limited dance ability, I can see it being a disappointing rumba that drops him to the bottom 3 or 4 in the leaderboard, and he ends up in the dance off. He'll survive, of course, but his days are numbered. I don't think an Ola-esque sparkly catsuit will make much difference to their votes, unless Nadiya really goes all out and sells it, and the judges also buy into the 'sexy' narrative and make specific comments! If Mollie ends up with a replacement pro, that's usually good news for the celeb, as they get a small bounce (Anastacia when Brendan couldn't dance - she left the next week when she got him back!). The judges tend to mark more sympathetically, and the public tend to give them votes for dealing with ill/injured pros. As for Susan, Kevin has been super clever giving her cleverly jokey routines, masking some pretty basic dance choreography, that Susan is (for the most part) not executing particularly well! But Kevin has always handled the 'smoke and mirrors' aspect of disguising a partner's shortcomings well! He's also been very canny about which dances they did on particular weeks - so dances like the samba, foxtrot - both with lots of technical stuff that was really exposing Susan as an inferior dancer, were overwhelmed with the themes (Wonder Woman and, this week, a foxtrot with Game of Thrones backdrop - apparently)! Of the dances they have remaining, I suspect he'll be trying to get the jive and American Smooth as the next dances - and avoiding the waltz, tangoes and salsa, as they aren't dances that lend themselves easily to comedy routines, outside of theme weeks. But I agree, Susan's likely being set up for the 'Blackpool journey', but will go soon after - along with Simon and Ruth, she's certainly in the bottom few in respect of dance ability.
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Oct 3, 2017 10:29:28 GMT
Unfortunately, due to overwhelming number of requests it has not been possible to reseat you into any of the three performances you requested. We have assumed that you want to see HAMILTON as early as possible and have therefore allocated you tickets for the earliest performance with availability. You can view your new tickets now by logging into ‘My Account’ on Ticketmaster. If you would like to attend this performance, please use this form to ‘accept’. Should you prefer to attend a later performance between March and June, please use the same form to ‘decline’. Please note that the deadline to respond is Friday 6th October, 2017. If you do choose to decline the tickets we have been able to offer you, Ticketmaster will send you an e-mail on Friday 13th October containing a special booking link to the remaining available seats for performances between March and June 2018 together with a unique access code. You will be free to book tickets for any date which has available seats. Please note that in order to do so, Ticketmaster will first refund the value of your original tickets onto your credit card which will enable you to buy your new tickets. *Except the Ticketmaster page won't load. Thankfully I'd already booked a second visit for early March 2018 with seats that *I* chose. That makes it sound like people will get some kind of priority booking preference, for the next wave of seat releases (presumably happening in the next couple of weeks). It's worth noting that, from DMT's recent statements about the number of tickets they were reorganising, that somewhere close to half the seats, in every performance, were retained and so unsold after the first ticket releases. So, unless they've reassigned a LOT of additional ticket holders and filled up performances that way, it's pretty damn close to opening night (only 9 weeks to the first preview), and they've not sold out the initial run! It'll be interesting to see if anyone manages to find a way to getting equivalent cost seats in the next run of releases, or if they dynamic price the hell out of the last minute rush for tickets.
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 29, 2017 12:50:06 GMT
I had a chat with customer service last night. They lacked any information, but said they were emailing the Hamilton team. There's a good chance it should get sorted without too much fuss. This indicates that whatever algorithm is re-selecting show dates and seats hasn't taken into account any additional bookings for the show, already on the account. Hopefully, you can get it all resolved, and can make whatever alternative arrangements you need to see the show. It just shows all the various permutations of people's bookings, and how difficult this is going to be to resolve. With all of the pre-existing nightmares of the ticketless booking system, that were already going to make this extra challenging for the front-of-house staff, this is just going to pile additional pressure onto the audience and theatre alike (that's assuming the theatre will be ready to have the show performing on all of these changed dates), to ensure that everyone has the right documents and seats! If any part of this goes t*ts up, it has the makings of a PR disaster - at the moment, everyone seems to be assuming that the renovation delays are resolvable within the additional 2 weeks they've given themselves - and that the rebooking process will give everyone a seat to see Hamilton. After I saw the theatre building site this week, every one of my fingers and toes are crossed in hopeful prayer about this assumption!
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 26, 2017 19:17:03 GMT
Isnt the itunes chart based on streaming or actual sales? I know people who go to the theatre often, but know nothimg about the show. Its definitely not a phenomenon here. Yet. We'll have to agree to disagree I agree. It certainly isn't on the radar of any of my mates who aren't big musical fans. I do think the hype here will die down pretty quickly when the next big thing comes out. (Mormon now for example is now perfectly easy to get tickets for). It is intrinsically American and while the concept of a rap and hip hop musical is a novelty; the story doesn't mean much to the average Brit. Anyway, I walked past the VP last week and it is a huge building site. No idea how they are gonna pull this one out of the bag. I was in Victoria yesterday, and can second Dom's assessment - the entire area is half built (it seems), and the theatre itself is near inaccessible right now. ! I'm now a bit concerned that the theatre isn't anywhere close to being finished, but just have fingers crossed than the shrouding covering the building is masking a more complete project than appearance would suggest.
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 25, 2017 16:31:37 GMT
Ever the pessimist me but does anyone else think the further delay could be because they are going to push the start back even further? They seem to have reallocated many people if the thing we did on the Ticketmaster website is correct when we requested a copy of the receipt and found the new date allocated. So why hold that information back? I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they did push the start back further. To me it feels like they could be waiting until they know for definite the building will be ready before they say they've reallocated you all, although they could just be waiting until they'e reallocated everybody and then just sending one bulk email/announcement rather than contacting you all once they've sorted your individual seat. Didn't people from the original first preview already get reallocated to the new 1st preview date? That kinda fixes in the first preview date, if so. They just can't reallocate those early previews (the ones now starting from 6th Dec) again! I think they're now bound to those revised dates - whether the theatre as a whole is completely ready is another thing! I suspect that all efforts will be going into the stage and auditorium completion - if there are uncompleted areas backstage, and elsewhere, they'll likely live with that and force the rest of the work to be done during preview period. Whilst they'll need working light and sound rigs etc, they can run the previews with a less than perfect theatre as a whole. Opening night is another matter - that's the hard stop date - but given it's a whole month later than the original date they were planning to start previews, I'd say they'll most likely meet that deadline. It beggers belief that a 20 month project isn't enough to complete this work - if the original handover date was early November, changing that to mid December is surely enough lead time to complete everything (you'd think)!
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 18, 2017 16:22:37 GMT
I think it's a real shame when they get one of the harder dances on the first week - such as the jive or tango. I'm sure they all used to do either the waltz or cha cha cha and then swap the second week - it makes it easier to see their level and seems fairer. I wonder how they decide who gets what - Anton always gets a waltz in the first week (though I'm sure someone will correct me - but that's what it seems.) Paso dobles and tangos should not be to songs by Fergie, Blur or Heaven 17. Just no. I agree that no one should be doing a jive - or the highly technical foxtrot - for their first dance. There was a reason why cha cha cha and waltz were the first dances, years ago. They are basic pattern dances, that introduce celebs to dancing, without giving them a total nightmare to learn for their first dance. I suspect the incessant need for 'variety' is what has led to the mishmash of dance styles every week. It's also a result of the number of celebs going from 12 (6 waltzes and 6 cha cha chas were bearable) to 15 - they've decided no one wants to watch 15 people dance only two types of dance, even though I think the audience would. It's not really been fair, in that way, for years. And don't get me started on music for tangos and paso dobles - it's been a horror for years! I swear only about 2 celebs per year get 'proper' paso or tango music!
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 18, 2017 12:42:34 GMT
If they're all dancing on the same night, does that mean there is going to be a public vote in week one? No - as in previous years, the celebs do 2 weeks before the first elimination. Ostensibly, this allows them to perform both a latin and ballroom routine, but it also justifies the near 3 week gap between getting partnered up, and the first show. It also means that those forgettable first few contestants, in the early show, don't get penalised, as they can be reshuffled to a later slot in the next show. I think it's pretty fair - by the end of week 2, the combined scores are fairly indicative of who is really at the bottom of the scoreboard (rather than just one bad dance). Viewer votes change all that, anyway!
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 18, 2017 7:19:55 GMT
Just a reminder that the first live Strictly show is this Saturday! Starts at 6.25pm and runs until 8.45pm. All 15 celebs dancing on one night - it's a long slog in week 1! I genuinely can't decide if I preferred it when they split the shows and had a Friday night edition, just for the first week, when you have to sit through all the introductions. Second week is usually when they have very brief intros and race through the dances! Also, just to point out that there's a very sizeable overlap with X Factor ─ 45 minutes. These things used to be wrangled over incessantly in the press, but it would appear XF has given up the ghost and accepted that Strictly is the behemoth of a Saturday night show that will just crush everything in its path! BTW, if anyone is interested in the dances and music for each contestant, the BBC Strictly website revealed the following: Alexandra and Gorka are Waltzing to (You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman by Aretha Franklin Charlotte and Brendan will Foxtrot to The Best Is Yet To Come by Michael Buble Chizzy and Pasha will Cha Cha to Boogie Fever by The Sylvers Debbie and Giovanni will perform a Paso Doble to Be Italian by Fergie Gemma and Aljaz will Cha Cha to There’s Nothing Holdin' Me Back by Shawn Mendes Mollie and AJ will Jive to Good Golly Miss Molly by Little Richard Ruth and Anton are Waltzing to This Nearly Was Mine (Seth MacFarlane version) Susan and Kevin will perform the Viennese Waltz to Mad About The Boy by Dinah Washington Aston and Janette will Foxtrot to It Had To Be You Harry Connick Jnr Brian and Amy will Tango to Temptation by Heaven 17 Davood and Nadiya will Cha Cha to Dedication To My Ex by Lloyd ft. Andre 3000 Joe and Katya are Jiving to Rockin’ Robin by Michael Jackson Jonnie and Oti will Waltz to When I Need You by Luther Vandross Rev. Richard and Dianne perform the Cha Cha to There Must Be An Angel by the Eurythmics Simon and Karen will perform the Paso Doble to Song 2 by Blur And we have our first musical theatre number of the series - the rather gorgeous "This Nearly Was Mine" from South Pacific (and an actual waltz!) Looking forward to that one - I'm not sure it's ever been used on the show before, which is a minor miracle (especially when you see all the other old chestnuts being wheeled out again (When I Need You, and It Had To Be You - how many times have those been done?!!).
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 17, 2017 17:36:58 GMT
It all depends on the rebuild, and how things like the proscenium arch are sited. I am hopeful that a total rebuild of an entire theatre, both front and back, shouldn't actually reduce the number of seats in the theatre that have good views of the stage. A massive refurb from the bottom up would have even allowed them to improve the rake, perhaps remove obstructive theatre fittings, if possible and, of course, refit the entire theatre with better, brand new seats. If this is a good project (and, other than the p*ss-poor time management, it appeared to be a thoughtful and decent restoration and improvement plan), then the theatre should be a better one than before, to watch a show in. Fingers crossed that we get our first glimpse of a (mostly) completed theatre in the next month or so. I wonder when they'll release the theatre seating plan - perhaps once they've sorted out all of these ticket issues, and then know how many tickets they still have to sell. I can't imagine that there will be too many left - although those premium block tickets aren't likely to be being sacrificed to seat displaced lower tier ticket holders. People will likely be given the same, equivalent or very slightly worse seat options. I'd be surprised to hear about anyone who got a surprise upgrade in their seat quality, in the Great Ticket Shift!
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 17, 2017 17:24:20 GMT
Dress Circle and Royal Circle tend to be used interchangeably. I've never known an Upper Circle to be called the 'Royal', depending on the number of levels, the upper circle can be the balcony, or the upper and balcony can be separate levels. In a three tier theatre (and I'm presuming the Victoria Palace remains just 3 tiers), I'm expecting Stalls, Royal/Dress Circle and then Upper/Grand Circle/Balcony - but I wouldn't be surprised to see a rebranding of the tiers, along with everything else! That's what I was thinking. I just went down to my husband and said Royal can't be worse than Dress can it? He was like, 'No that would make a mockery of the idea of royalty.' ;-) If it is where I think it is, it should be fine. A little more to the side, but closer. I agree with your husband! If the Queen wouldn't be seated up in the 2nd tier of a theatre (the horror!), then the level she would sit at is the one they call the 'Royal Circle'! I am, however, thinking that there could be all sorts of confusion, with people having previously booked tickets listed as the Dress Circle (as is on my tickets), arriving to discover there's no such thing as the Dress Circle! Hopefully the ushers are clued up to this discrepancy, if they have changed the tier names, and ensure people are directed to the right parts of the theatre.
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 17, 2017 16:16:00 GMT
I just tried this and it looks like I got (I think) my third choice date. I was previously Dress Row L Seats 8-9 and am now Royal (is there even a section called Royal? Or are they trying to butter me up ;-) ) 39-40. But we'll see once it's all been confirmed. Dress Circle and Royal Circle tend to be used interchangeably. I've never known an Upper Circle to be called the 'Royal', depending on the number of levels, the upper circle can be the balcony, or the upper and balcony can be separate levels. In a three tier theatre (and I'm presuming the Victoria Palace remains just 3 tiers), I'm expecting Stalls, Royal/Dress Circle and then Upper/Grand Circle/Balcony - but I wouldn't be surprised to see a rebranding of the tiers, along with everything else!
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 15, 2017 8:49:06 GMT
Has anyone had updates on their ticket situation? I'm curious about those people who booked in the original proper opening period (i.e. between 7-20th Dec), who are now scheduled to see a preview performance, unless those are being changed too? I know the original opening night tickets have been basically auto-transferred to the new opening night, but I've not heard about everyone else, and where they're moving people to.
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 13, 2017 10:50:12 GMT
I'll be in London on 28th Dec, for Hamilton (hopefully!!). Matinee or evening? I'll be at the matinee that day The fact that Hamilton does a Thursday matinee was what got this whole trip started instead of my standard Thursday-Sunday tours. Yep, matinee too! See you there! The good thing about some shows doing Thursday matinees is, if I time a 2-day trip right on Wed-Thur that week, that's potentially 3-4 shows I can see in just 2 days! Just a case of finding those (affordable) tickets now! Fingers crossed the weather is OK, and I won't have to risk hypothermia for multiple hours of queuing, just to get cheap seats!
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 13, 2017 9:59:42 GMT
I'll be in London on 28th Dec, for Hamilton (hopefully!!). Depending on my schedule over the Christmas break, and the relative costs, I haven't yet decided if I'll do the round trip in a day (2.5h train each way), or find a cheap overnight b&b the night before or after (if that exists in that Xmas period!). That way, I could perhaps do some dayseating the day before or after - depends what the performance schedules are for that week between Christmas and New Year - does anyone know if any shows are putting on extra matinees or changing their normal day of matinee perhaps, due to the Xmas break?
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 13, 2017 8:24:33 GMT
What is Cammy on about? What about Hamilton is so extreme that there's only one venue in the West End that can take it? It has a simple revolve + deck, little in the way of automation, simple set, minimal props, no requirements for traps, small orchestra and could play to any sized venue they chose. There's a lot of lighting to rig but that's not beyond the average West End theatre. It's all marketing and PR nonsense. Completely agree - it's just a way of excusing a giant rebuild, and saying it's all for this mega-musical! That theatre did desperately need a pretty large refurb, and they (theoretically) had the time to tear down practically an entire theatre block and rebuild (Billy Elliot closed in April 2016, they had over 18 months to complete the project!). But someone didn't do their homework, and work out just how difficult it would be to access the site, and deal with the centuries of London weirdness they already knew were underneath the theatre! Not even to mention that Victoria station was undergoing massive renovations, at the exact same time, as well as the enormous building site all around that Victoria area. I'm guessing the project managers kept stringing the theatre company along, making promises that they would have their theatre back on time, until it was just far too late to do anything about the situation, except push back opening night (surely the last resort decision for any theatre). Hamilton could have gone into almost any of the 1000+ seat theatres in London - there's enough to choose from! DMT basically just decided they wanted a shiny, new theatre for their golden goose production! If you're going to charge the highest ticket prices in London, it was probably a good thing to have a completely modernised theatre to justify those prices. It's just the project to get to the updated theatre appears to have been badly managed - I have done project management as a profession, and just don't believe that the excuses they've used were actually unforeseeable. They just didn't do enough research at the start (this is such a common pitfall), to really understand the area, or know about other work going on around them, and therefore didn't build enough time into the project to deal with the issues, and/or find the right people who could circumvent any problems. I can actually believe this - because they will have literally thrown every idea they could onto the table, in order to rescue the production, at this late stage. Instead, they've gone with a delay - plus, probably throwing a large amount of extra money at the project, to get it finished. Even with the new timeline, I'm betting it's still down to the wire if they'll have a finished theatre on the first preview performance. I hope someone in the know tells all eventually - I'm sure there have been tantrums and firings aplenty, recently!
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 12, 2017 15:13:27 GMT
On the bright side, logging in to Ticketmaster reminded me that I've also booked a ticket for June! I'd totally forgotten about that. It is reminding me about my 2 more trips, though it still hurts that I likely won't be going as early in the run as I wanted. The little clip on The One Show showed how big a task the builders have, I hope it doesn't slip any further! I can't imagine it realistically could! They're likely at the last possible date for opening, just 4 days before Christmas. That's not when they would have wanted opening night - it's certainly not when the critics would have wanted to have to keep an evening free to attend the new show (no matter if it's the hottest new musical in the West End!). I can't think of any other major new shows that have opened the same week as Christmas - the logistics are insane, especially as there'll be two full dark days over the Christmas period, and that's their first week takings completely blown, as there aren't 8 full performances that week. Worse case scenario is that 2 weeks of previews becomes 10 days (or even less), but it's getting to the point where they will face such terrible publicity for ruining people's bookings, that the negative press will kill their pre-opening buzz, that I'm sure has been meticulously planned. After all, that regurgitated Imagine program was likely set to coincide with the release of the next batch of tickets - that can't happen now, and who knows how many tickets will be left, once they've reallocated 16 shows' worth of bookings. Even if those shows were originally booked under half the capacity of each performance, that will leave just a scant handful of tickets left to sell, in the early weeks of the show - and there'll be the additional first 2 weeks' worth of bookings after the original opening date, that may or may not get shifted into the later weeks of December, and perhaps early January. Has anyone got their reallocation yet - and did they get what they wanted (including seat positions)? I imagine someone at Ticketmaster is sat with a giant virtual jigsaw puzzle and is trying to fit all the pieces together! I expect the theatre itself is on an 'must finish on time at all costs' work pace now. Lots of overtime, perhaps eliminating some 'nice to have' finishing touches, in favour of more basic completion work? I'd guess that stage and front of house area completion are the priorities (surely the actual building of the stage is done?!), and backstage/offices etc will become lower priority, and get rudimentary finishes, in order to meet the deadline. Then, they could do some work piecemeal, during previews - annoying and disrupting to the company, but not stopping the show from being started on time.
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 11, 2017 8:38:25 GMT
Presumably if/when it does happen they will ask the celeb whether they want to lead or follow - every female pro will know the leader's steps so I think you'd be mistaken to assume they would necessarily follow. And you'd be equally wrong to assume someone like Rev Richard would look "wrong" following a male pro (which is what you seem to be implying) - if you ever go to any social dance which welcomes same sex dancing you will see all types of physiques and characters both leading and following. But it won't be this year, so this is all hypothetical for now, and I find the fact that Susan has got abuse online for choosing to dance with a man really pathetic. The abuse Susan is getting is really pathetic indeed! It's somehow as if she's betraying her sexuality by dancing with a man (and aparently wearing heels and a dress...) Um, I'm not sure if they've noticed but there's quite a few gay male ballroom dancers out there who dance with women- should Ian Waite have refused to dance with Zoe Ball and still refuse to on 'It Takes Two'? As for the fact she's getting crap for wanting to wear dresses and heels, I'm pretty sure the boys don't dressin sparkly shirts and skin tight trousers in 'normal' life but they aren't 'betryaing who they are' and whatever other crap Susan has had argh! it's really infuriating! Years and years of Strictly having gay male celebs dancing with female partners - just off the top of my head, Will Young, Julian Clary, Richard Arnold, Scott Mills and Judge Rinder (not to mention that 2 of the judges are gay!) - and not one of them was saddled with this kind of criticism, but the second an out gay woman joins the show, she gets all these negative headlines (which the tabloids try and pass of as them just being 'progressive' about questioning same-sex dance couples). Nope, it's just a way to criticise Susan, and remind the audience that the show has recruited a lesbian celeb. They're having to redirect the same criticism to Rev Richard Coles, to eliminate the impression that they were just targeting the gay female (which they were), but they never actually had an issue with the Rev dancing with a woman! It's totally a personal choice, and Susan has already said that it had crossed her mind but, the minute she was asked to do the show, she knew she wanted to dance with a male partner (specifically Kevin, if you believe her tears and breakdown at the prospect of having him to herself for the remainder of the competition)! As for the sparkly dresses, they're pretty much out of everyone's comfort zones (save for the female pop stars, who have usually had a fair bit of experience with the dress/hair/make-up extravaganza, in their careers). Just another stick to beat her with, really. In any case, it makes me want to support her more (despite Kevin-From-Grimsby being one of the most annoying humans ever!), given she comes across as a genuinely lovely person, and she's getting all of this unnecessary flack!
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 8, 2017 18:47:39 GMT
Someone clearly made a giant f***-up of the work plan, and the fact that they're less than 12 weeks from that expected 1st preview, means that they've massively delayed making the decision to push the show back. Fingers crossed the issue doesn't knock on for any performances after the new opening night date. ! Dame Mackintosh must be furious! No doubt! I wonder what kind of contract assurances were made that the work would complete in time for previews? There must have been contingency time already built into the timeline - no major project goes ahead without contingency time or money. It would seem they've used up all of that contingency (on an 18 month project, I'm betting they built in well over a month, and that's come and gone), and can't bring even the basic work in under the wire. I imagine the costs of rebooking - and revenues lost for seats now becoming preview price, rather than main booking - will be born by whatever insurance they'll now claim on. Let's face it, all those seats - and there clearly were a LOT held back, if they're filling 16 partially booked show's worth of previous bookings - are no longer available for the company to charge whatever inflated premium price they were going to put them on sale at, during peak publicity leading up to the opening. All of this also make sense that those seats hadn't come onto the market before now - 3 months to opening and they had a load of seats left to sell, but couldn't because they had to hold all of them back to reassign all those 'lost' bookings from the first two weeks. I just wonder how tempted they were to just screw over the preview ticket holders, and cancel the bookings outright saying 'beyond our control, sorry'?! I'm very glad they've done this, and it seems people are getting alternative seats assigned in a fairly rapid timespan. God help the poor front of house staff though, if anything slips through the net - what are the chances that at least a few people bring the wrong ticket printout to the show?! I'll be watching with even keener interest as to how the security measures are handled during the (new) previews, and if there are delays to getting into the theatre because of this extra confusion.
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 8, 2017 18:17:48 GMT
Good grief - that's a bit unexpected! It's certainly going to cause all sorts of trauma when people either can't make any of the other dates they are offered, or have associated costs with rebooking hotels, travel etc. I remember seeing tweets from people who were making transatlantic trips to come to the show! I'd have thought bookings for multiple people - all with varying schedules (especially that close to Christmas) will have some significant problems. Given the restrictions on ticket usage, they've really caused some chaos by having such a lengthy delay on completing the work.
Makes me wonder if the theatre refurb will even be fully finished during previews - they may have the auditorium area ready for an audience, but I bet they have squeezed some work out of the plan to get the theatre even open in December! Someone clearly made a giant f***-up of the work plan, and the fact that they're less than 12 weeks from that expected 1st preview, means that they've massively delayed making the decision to push the show back. Fingers crossed the issue doesn't knock on for any performances after the new opening night date. My first booking is now just 1 week after opening night - didn't expect that!
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 7, 2017 12:04:29 GMT
Where can I see the list? Pairings are: Mollie & AJ Susan & Kevin Alexandra & Gorka Charlotte & Brendan Ruth & Anton Simon & Karen Chizzy & Pasha Debbie & Gio Gemma & Aljaz Aston & Janette Rev Rich & Dianne Davood & Nadiya Joe & Katya Johnie & Oti Brian & Amy Confirmed by audience members at the recording.
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 7, 2017 10:52:53 GMT
To be fair to Anton, he has often been given partners who are more challenging to actually get any dance out of them - so he has had to work much harder. On the whole, Kevin has been given good quality celebs and has still sidelined them so he can prance around and gurn his way through routines.His wife does that, too! I suspect Simon Rimmer will do very little actual dancing, unless he's a secret ringer! As much as I like Susan, I also hope that Kevin is given a little dose of reality, when she ends up out within the first few weeks, and he shows he is only capable when given already talented/trained celebs. Unfortunately, I suspect that an early exit will mean him showboating all over ITT, for the rest of the series! I like the Jonnie and Oti pairing - she'll have to work harder than with her previous super-ringer last year(!), but I suspect Jonnie has a classic sportperson attitude towards training, and will work like a demon to achieve the necessary skills. Given his disability and what he's achieved, I imagine he doesn't know the word 'can't' - that's going to be useful! Joe and Katya are my dark horse tip - if he proves to have a personality! From the red carpet footage, he seemed to be a bit overshadowed by the comedians and larger personalities, so he'll need to come out of his shell, but I really love Katya and want her to do well this year - she deserves it for her impressive run with Ed Balls last year! Joe seems like the type of male celeb that wouldn't do this show unless they felt they had a fair chance of doing well (Danny Mac, Tom Chambers, Ricky Whittle, Matt Di Angelo etc) - hopefully that's a hint of what he is capable of. Poor Charlotte though! Brendan's been phoning it in for years now, and I can't see her being an exciting choice that gets him to give much of a sh*t this year! Ruth and Anton are an overly obvious pairing - I'd have preferred for these two to be swapped - Brendan to get a pretty high profile celeb, with built in support, and Anton to get a quieter person that he can bring out more with his own personality. Neither are likely finalists, so really, in terms of pairings, it would have been better to give them people who could compensate and compliment their own personality types.
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Sept 7, 2017 7:58:34 GMT
I do love Strictly and of course I will be watching, but it is so formulaic now and predictable - I really should find something better to do - like go to the theatre! I caught an hour of the X Factor last weekend (I will not be watching any more) and felt I was in a time warp. It was like I was watching the show 8 years ago or something with Louis, Sharon and Simon, sob stories, mediocre, karaoke singing, interviews, relations crying etc. They could have shown a repeat, saved the money and no-one would notice. I think Strictly will benefit, this year, from the lack of Len Goodman, the new head judge (and the passing of Brucie, in a way). Whilst both shows are formulaic, I think Strictly allows for more interest year after year, simply because they cast their show with a very specific mix of celebrities each time. People were moaning about the lack of 'big names' when the list was announced this year, but I suspect they've pitched it pretty right, in order to get the best mix and interest. The new head judge immediately creates a slightly different feel to the judging panel - we've yet to see how that works, but I doubt Shirley Ballas would have been recruited if the mix didn't work at all - but I suspect a more female skewing team (2 female judges, 2 female hosts) just takes the show a little step away from what it was before, and certainly distinguishes it from XF, which is currently deeply dull, even at this, the more interesting part of the show's run! The changes to Strictly freshen up the show immediately, for me.
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Aug 25, 2017 13:08:33 GMT
Have you considered Megabus from Shudehill bus station? Thanks for the suggestion - it's certainly an option, although an insanely early start (5am bus departure would mean leaving my house no later than 3.45am, just to get to Manchester!!!). That's definitely a last resort option - it's cheap, but inconvenient, which I guess cheap stuff usually is! Given I don't actually mind driving (it's just trains have always been the most convenient way to get to London) I think I'll drive down to Oxford Parkway and get the train from there. Parking is so cheap - £2 for 11 hours, or £4 for 24h! - and the return ticket to London is around £25. Add on the £50 of petrol I'll need for the trip, and it works out OK. Driving myself also gives me much more flexibility, and control over my journey. I'm still gutted that what would have been an easy day out, during my week off work to enjoy Hamilton, has turned into a logistical nightmare, but I'm just going to focus on the 'it's Hamilton!!!' of it all - and decide that it's worth the extra effort!
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Aug 24, 2017 14:28:23 GMT
Just an FYI, the Strictly BBC ticket lottery is now open for anyone who wants to enter. I've only been successful once in 12 years of trying(!), so the odds aren't really in your favour, but worth a go, if you want to try! Also, if anyone gets Blackpool tickets they can't use, there's a local girl here who'd gratefully use them!!!
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Aug 24, 2017 9:43:04 GMT
I'm honestly not sure how to find a solution National Express isn't as grim as it used to be if you're desperate - I went on the overnight bus a few weeks ago and it's a long journey but not uncomfortable (though the police were called at 5.30 am when someone tried to board without a ticket!). You can get some cheap tickets if you book well in advance (my last journey was around £7 but xmas stuff will probably be pricier). National Express was my first thought, but there are no overnight buses, and the daytime one gets me there too late, and leaves too early. I'd have to stay 2 nights in London, just to see one matinee performance! Flying's not a bad idea, actually, I'm an hour's drive from Manchester airport - it would just be the cost, I think, given I'd definitely have to drive (no trains for those flight times, again!!!), and combine that with parking fees (official parking which is horrific for a single's day's parking - £30, really?! - but necessary given this week's revelations about the unofficial Manchester parking scams!). Current estimate would be £170, just for flight and parking! My final option is to combine visiting my brother and his brood of babies(!) just after Christmas, and setting off from theirs on the day of the show. He lives on the east coast, and is within fair striking distance of Doncaster - which, if the east coast line doesn't get stuffed the way the west coast one is over Xmas, should have a decent schedule available. On balance, if that doesn't work out, I think driving as far south as I can, parking at an easily accessible station, and getting a train in for the last stage of the journey, is the best bet. Feel free to advise me on the best stations, near London, that fit the bill (and won't be closed over Christmas/New Year!).
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Aug 23, 2017 21:57:36 GMT
I'm on the west coast mainline, so the offer wouldn't benefit me (although I'm in London next week, with a couple of very cheap 1st class seats). However, it reminded me that I need to look at trains for December, and my first trip for Hamilton, and I just got a horrible shock - there don't appear to be any trains running the day of my theatre tickets. I've looked for any ticket between Christmas and New Year, and have made the completely horrific discovery that (I think) they have cancelled all west coast trains from Christmas until New Year!
It does appear that Euston station will be closing for an entire week, for whatever engineering works they've decided to do then!!! That will be solid gold chaos, and destroy my hopes for an easy trip in and out of London in a day, to catch the matinee performance.
I'm honestly not sure how to find a solution - although I've emailed Virgin in the hopes that they can tell me if the trains are scheduled or not, at least part of the way down. Unfortunately, I already know my local trains are not running between November and March (I know!!) because of the electrification of the line works. So that would leave me with some horrifically slow cross-country train journey to pick up the east coast line, or to drive as far down as I can, and perhaps park at a station in easy reach of London.
Does anyone have experience/opinions on some of the parkway stations, going into London? I used to live near Warwick parkway, and used that a few times, but I've heard there's a new Oxford one that had far more frequent trains, and cheaper parking. Given both are just off the M40, either are an option (although both are a lengthy drive from where I currently live).
|
|
239 posts
|
Post by dizzieblonde on Aug 21, 2017 8:53:22 GMT
A few more names have cropped up overnight - Debbie McGee, Charlotte Hawkins, Chizzy Akudolu (Holby City actress). Only Charlotte has confirmed her participation, live on GMB, but the other two have been revealed by tabloids, presumably ignoring the embargo on releasing names to the public! There's three more to go - apparently to be revealed on The One Show - and the Sun/Mirror etc appear to be allowing the BBC to have this reveal tonight!
|
|