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Post by karloscar on Apr 22, 2024 17:10:53 GMT
Although the Mendes production started out at the Donmar, London never had the full Studio 54 production which had two substantial runs in New York with Alan Cumming, Natasha Richardson and all the stars who followed them. Memories of that production do linger on Broadway, so it's not surprising that the reception of this new version has been mixed at best.
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Post by karloscar on Apr 17, 2024 7:59:52 GMT
Odd that Miss Brightman is completely missing from any publicity and rehearsal footage so far. Is she there and her Norma is elusive and camera shy, or are we back in the days when opera divas would park and bark their "Norma" in different productions without much rehearsal?
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Post by karloscar on Apr 7, 2024 16:59:33 GMT
Piccadilly was the graveyard of so many new musicals that she probably had a lucky escape despite the Prince Edward being a barn.
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Post by karloscar on Apr 7, 2024 9:31:01 GMT
Three million wasn't a huge budget even twenty five years ago, and there were no star names attached to bump up the costs. Judy Craymer was taking a huge risk with a show that few people believed would succeed, but it paid off big time.
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Post by karloscar on Mar 25, 2024 22:34:49 GMT
Has there ever been a successful stage adaptation? Many have tried Apparently the script of the hit 1926 Broadway production has recently been rediscovered and is getting published next month. The adaptation,which got a much better reception than the actual novel did at first, took great liberties with the plot, added gangster characters, didn't have Caraway as narrator, and made Gatsby's dodgy background explicit from the start. This was long before it was regarded as a classic and Fitzgerald was in France so had no involvement with the production apart from some much needed royalty cheques. Maybe all the more recent attempts have been too faithful?
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Post by karloscar on Mar 19, 2024 10:30:19 GMT
Surely the risk you take going to an early preview of a new work (just so you have bragging rights that you saw it first) is that it won't be in perfect shape and will be in the process of being refined and rewritten. That's theatre! Quit yer bitchin'! Nope nope nope The vast majority of people won't be booking knowing its a preview, or even what that potentially means. They will see something is on that interests them, and they can make that particular date. There is a massive difference between some tech elements not working, some flubbed lines, some minor scene or script changes/cuts etc, and basically workshopping a show and charging people full price. There really isn't many areas of life where you would accept such a sub par product at full price. Theatre lost the right to have the attitude of 'previews are basically a rehearsal' when they started charging people full price. You can't blame the producer if the audience member doesn't do the research before buying a ticket. I agree that this show needed a workshop rather than opening cold, but if you want to see the finished product don't buy a preview ticket.
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Post by karloscar on Mar 19, 2024 8:44:36 GMT
Surely the risk you take going to an early preview of a new work (just so you have bragging rights that you saw it first) is that it won't be in perfect shape and will be in the process of being refined and rewritten. That's theatre! Quit yer bitchin'!
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Post by karloscar on Mar 14, 2024 13:29:03 GMT
Adding the two songs from Evening Primrose and Rainbows from Into the Woods to the song list as bookends really boosts the emotional potential of this show. The original version always felt like the collection of leftover bits and pieces it was. Might be worth a visit.
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Post by karloscar on Mar 13, 2024 11:54:40 GMT
It sounds like this show needed to be workshopped and given a chance to iron out its problems before heading to the commercial theatre. With musicals there are so many pitfalls that it's madness not to work out whether you've got a viable product before asking people to pay West end prices, especially when it's your first musical as a writer.
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Post by karloscar on Mar 11, 2024 10:41:20 GMT
I lasted until best supporting actress, and would have switched off earlier had Richard Armitage not been on Wossy's incredibly dire preshow. Kimmel's jokes dying a death and Mary Steenbergen not being able to read the autocue (you'd think an Oscar winning actress could memorize one sentence, or don't they rehearse these things any more?) sent me off to bed. Thankfully it seems I missed out on nothing!
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Post by karloscar on Mar 11, 2024 0:04:48 GMT
Laura and Marcus were the heart of the show and they were pitch perfect. Murray Bartlett came close to being a worthy replacement in the most recent version Don't forget Billy Campbell as Dr Jon Fielding! Absolute perfection.
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Post by karloscar on Mar 10, 2024 12:11:31 GMT
There are quite a few contenders this year so there might not be a runaway winner which is great. Sweden, Lithuania and Australia are all immediately impactful, but something else might sneak up on the outside. Luxembourg is a bit of an earworm for me, and I love the French song but it might be too good for Eurovision unless there's a repeat of Portugal's victory from a few years ago. Olly will be lucky if he makes it onto the left side of the scoreboard and that will depend on how the song is staged and performed. There are a lot of strong singers and he's always been a bit weedy live.
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Post by karloscar on Mar 3, 2024 13:16:01 GMT
The Dune 2 experience looks like a real money-spinner!
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Post by karloscar on Feb 28, 2024 19:24:33 GMT
What qualifies as typically Wainwright? He's always been pretty versatile writing in a wide variety of styles. I can appreciate that some find his voice off-putting (it took me a while to warm to it) but his writing has always had a touch of the theatrical and he often writes for character rather than constantly about himself.
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Post by karloscar on Feb 26, 2024 23:04:32 GMT
Sheridan and Rufus were on Radio 4's Front Row this evening and she performed her opening number Magic with the orchestra. After a dull opening verse it builds and builds into a clever upbeat song with a great lyric, lively tune and interesting orchestration. (It reminds me of the patter numbers Fred Ebb would write for Liza in the seventies.) That and the interview has ignited my interest in the show, though Rufus was pretty clear it's not like any other show in town, and it probably wouldn't have got a London production without Sheridan Smith's name attached.
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Post by karloscar on Feb 24, 2024 1:06:34 GMT
I recently came across a reminder that the day I saw Legally Blonde Sheridan was taken ill and Amy Lennox went on as Elle for the first time with very little rehearsal. She knocked it out of the park! Interesting that they're together again in Opening Night.
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Post by karloscar on Feb 12, 2024 11:22:15 GMT
There's a two bar vamp that can be repeated at the start of "The Worst Pies in London" added to give time for the audience to react to Angela Lansbury's first entrance before she launched into "aah customer!" so it's not a new phenomenon. However, audiences, particularly American audiences, seem to get hysterical at the slightest thing nowadays and it's nothing to do with the performer and all about the screamers desperate for attention.
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Post by karloscar on Feb 10, 2024 9:50:55 GMT
Tobias isn't a cameo role. Supporting. But not cameo. Pirelli is a cameo part. So too, arguably, Beadle. A cameo role is a guest appearance by a well known person or character in a production. If Charles Dickens or Prince Albert stopped by Sweeney's for a shave that would be a cameo role. The Beadle and Pirelli are both vital to the plot, so definitely not cameos.
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Post by karloscar on Jan 31, 2024 23:39:09 GMT
He's playing Barrett in Encore's Titanic in June. He's closer in playing age to Mr Andrews which is a more substantial role, though Barrett gets the big songs in Act One.
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Post by karloscar on Jan 29, 2024 22:49:01 GMT
Tim's Instagram account is always entertaining. Not sure I would cast him opposite Brightman but could be an interesting dynamic. He's good pals with Courtney Act who could easily understudy Norma!
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Post by karloscar on Jan 26, 2024 14:58:01 GMT
I'm going to report Michael Ball to the Hague for war crimes against You'll Never Walk Alone. Two notes murdered and several more injured in one single phrase! Surely they could have found a better line than that for their trailer.
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Post by karloscar on Jan 18, 2024 20:51:17 GMT
BAFTA fecks up again failing to recognise that Andrew Scott's performance carries this film. And yet again a straight guy gets nominated for playing a gay role.
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Post by karloscar on Jan 17, 2024 22:56:26 GMT
I wonder who is trying to get permission to write the musical version of this. Could be a beautiful chamber piece with a cast of four or five.
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Post by karloscar on Jan 17, 2024 20:08:15 GMT
Stop Casting Great Actors In Musicals. We want Singers, not Actors. I want to sit and be able to close my eyes, for the whole show, and hear it sung beautifully. Perfectly. Breath control. The works. I do not go to a musical to see it acted well. I only go for the songs. There are so many of our musical theatre stars who can sing mightily, and act sort of. Why didn’t they check them? Jesus, Mary, & Joseph…and the wee baby donkey. This isn't a fair comment. Musicals are meant to make you feel something. It is no good just being a fantastic singer if the audience aren't connecting with the story. You should leave the theatre feeling a whole hoard of emotions. Some of the finest MT performances have been from people who in fact aren't the best singers in the world but who give the lyrics new meaning and pull you in. You just have to watch the Sondheim Gala to understand this. That depends very much on the role and the show. Fred needs to be able to negotiate the tricky melody of So in Love, the bombast of Wunderbar and the patter of We Open in Venice just for starters. You need and accomplished singer, preferably one who looks good in doublet and hose!
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Post by karloscar on Jan 17, 2024 11:26:50 GMT
If they're bringing over SJB for Kate, why not get her husband Sebastian as well for Fred? He'll probably be here with her anyway.
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Post by karloscar on Jan 17, 2024 9:23:32 GMT
It's odd that they're listing this as Adrian Dunbar's musical theatre debut when I saw him do Lady in the Dark with Maria Friedman at the National nearly thirty years ago! (What was that awful detective thing he did a few years ago when he sang at the end of every episode? Jo Riding was the only thing that made it worthwhile. )
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Post by karloscar on Jan 7, 2024 12:55:59 GMT
The idiotic panel is just so cringe that I can't bear to watch. But even they're not as bad as Graham Norton who can't need the money so badly he has to manufacture simpering sincerity to thick contestants on Wheel of Fakeness. Any respect I had for him is gone.
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Post by karloscar on Jan 7, 2024 0:03:54 GMT
Junior BakeOff is providing some much needed smiles and laughs. Rudi's response when Harry suggested his pet bearded dragon might want a lady friend was hilarious, and his tears of disbelief when he got star baker were sweeter than any pavlova.
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Dec 29, 2023 11:04:13 GMT
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Post by karloscar on Dec 29, 2023 11:04:13 GMT
People have been happily watching television and films for many decades. It implies that it's something that you chose to give your attention to rather than something that happened to be playing in the background by chance. I'd be far happier that someone made the effort to watch my performance than just glanced at it in passing.
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Post by karloscar on Dec 15, 2023 20:01:12 GMT
Matt Flint is the other choreographer who has been working with Ellie and Vito, and Layton and Nikita on their showdances ( not sure if he's also doing Bobby and Diane's too). All three couples are good enough to produce something spectacular for the finale, but it's been quite a few years since anyone pulled off a showdance that changed the expected outcome like ,say, Louis Smith did in 2012.
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