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Post by kathryn on Feb 10, 2024 20:45:22 GMT
I enjoyed this - found it quite funny in places - right up until the curtain call when the woman in front decided to hold her phone above her head to record it, at which point my annoyance seriously soured the experience. I did tell her after that I didn’t want to watch it through her phone screen but she was pretty unrepentant.
WTF 😡 can’t people watch things without getting their phone out any more?!
Anyway, it’s clearly intended to be an inspirational piece but I don’t think it quite works that way, with most of the charm coming from nostalgia. Nostalgia both for the innocence of the time when people really thought they could ‘Feed The World’ and for the music.
Characters are engaging enough and I think they were wise not to have impersonations of the original artists.
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Post by kathryn on Feb 10, 2024 14:27:28 GMT
Just settling in for today’s matinee. Most of the audience is definitely old enough to have watched Live Aid at the time, as you’d expect of a Saturday afternoon at the Old Vic!
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Post by kathryn on Feb 10, 2024 14:21:46 GMT
Gosh it’s funny to get a ‘like’ notification on a post from over 4 years ago, read my own comments and realise I barely remember the play.
I know 2019 is a whole other era, but still!
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Post by kathryn on Jan 18, 2024 12:35:46 GMT
What exactly is in the tv drama that wasn't already widely reported years ago? It’s a funny thing, but it is nevertheless true: most people just don’t get emotionally engaged by facts reported in print they way they do by images and film (or theatre). I have been following the story for years, and indeed there was nothing in there I didn’t already know. I think the difference is in the palpable emotions you see in a drama.
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Post by kathryn on Jan 4, 2024 11:07:17 GMT
All episodes on ITvX - I binged them.
Compelling drama about a horrendous miscarriage of justice.
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Post by kathryn on Dec 25, 2023 9:46:26 GMT
Everything being predetermined is the main feature of Greek tragedies and we’ve had some very good productions of those. It should not be a fatal flaw for a good director. Ehhh, I don’t quite know how to explain the difference… I guess in the Greek tragedies there’s just more of a sense of things being inevitable because of the fundamental nature of the characters, other choices were open to them in theory but they were doomed to make the choices they made, whereas with Macbeth it’s predetermined ‘just because’. Maybe it’s just that I have different expectations for Shakespeare? Macbeth just feels clunky; like a play that has been written to order to hit certain plot points. I know that the histories were also propaganda but they have a lot more nuance than Macbeth.
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Post by kathryn on Dec 24, 2023 21:59:04 GMT
Funny that, Jan. and just to add that the Othellos I’ve seen have all been remarkable and in the Hytner case, brilliant. What is it about the Scottish play that makes it a problem? I think partly that it is incomplete, there are plainly scenes missing that make the plot disjointed and implausible - specifically there should surely be a scene where they actually decide and plan to kill Duncan. At the moment there’s a “What if …” discussion and then the next thing you know it’s somehow all decided. There are likely other missing scenes too (it is unusually short for a tragedy). Missing scenes might explain some of it. In addition I would say that it’s just too black and white, because it is written as propaganda to please James I. There’s not the sense that the characters could make different choices and that everything could end differently, because we are told it’s all preordained from the start, and there’s no room in the play for the witches not to actually be witches and the Macbeths to not actually be murderers.
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Post by kathryn on Dec 12, 2023 19:44:36 GMT
I really enjoyed Ncuti Gatwa’s new Doctor.
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Post by kathryn on Nov 22, 2023 15:06:28 GMT
This is not a 5* production. As much as I enjoyed it, it just is not. 4* at most. I agree. It’s pretty good, but it just lacks that extra bit it needs for 5 stars. There’s no ‘When I grow up’ moment in it - nothing that truly takes your breath away or puts a lump in your throat. I know that the lack of emotional reaction at the deaths of parents and children is very Dahlian, but it’s not in keeping with the basic premise of musical theatre, and makes the whole enterprise emotionally flat.
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Post by kathryn on Nov 22, 2023 14:59:13 GMT
We have just watched all 4 and really don't get the negative critic reaction to it It does dwell on Diana. But she was central to the family at that period. I didn't see a drop off in script quality. The production values are as high as ever. Yes we have seen this with The Queen. But there was enough new material to justify revisiting it. Oh good, I was debating whether to bother with it or not this series.
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Post by kathryn on Oct 30, 2023 11:21:41 GMT
Yes I don't think it has really sunk in for a lor of us yet. Our thoughts have to be with his parents, the rest of his family and his associates and friends. He had apparently been playing pickleball which is a version of racket sports for a couple of hours yesterday and had gone into his pool to relax afterwards. He had been sober for a few years, was keeping himself fit so its not like his passing was directly linked to his addiction battles which he seemed to have finally won. It was a hot tub. So if he already had a dodgy heart from the drugs and the smoking (combining alcohol and cocaine is known to be disastrous for heart-health), had just been exerting himself, and then was further dehydrated in the heat of the tub, that likely contributed to his heart attack. Sadly when that sort of thing happens when you are alone and in water there’s almost no chance of survival.
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Post by kathryn on Oct 30, 2023 11:16:02 GMT
Poor Matt. RIP.
Particularly shocking to think about all time times he was mocked in the press and on SM for his struggles with the addictions destroying his health.
And to see, now, the ghouls out in force blaming his heart attack on having the Covid jab (as if years of smoking, opiates, cocaine, and alcohol are not much likelier culprits for his heart being under strain).
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Post by kathryn on Oct 16, 2023 19:30:32 GMT
Thanks guys! I will have to check out when Hills of California is going on sale - definitely want to see that!
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Post by kathryn on Oct 16, 2023 17:33:42 GMT
Hiya folks,
I just discovered that I have £36 of ATG credit voucher due to expire at the end of the year (plus about £20 theatre token).
I am out of the loop on what is on where - anyone got any recommendations?
I am fully aware that 50-odd quid doesn’t get you very far these days and that I will need to pay some more towards it!
I’m looking at London/West End.
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Post by kathryn on Oct 11, 2023 8:01:02 GMT
JSO did protest the Tory Conference last week. The difference could be that security was tighter and any attempt at a direct assault on the party leader was not attempted. The failure of security today raises serious questions I missed it! Distracted from the substantive political protest by the pointless musical theatre one. And if that doesn’t indicate that JSO are just really bad at this….
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Post by kathryn on Oct 10, 2023 21:50:55 GMT
On the other hand, the pictures of it make Starmer look amazing with all that sparkle around him, and the Labour Party press office has already got themed merch out.
Add the fact that they didn’t even bother protesting at the Tory Party conference…making him look politically more important than Rishi Sunak.
At this point the incompetence of the protestors at achieving their stated aims is looking kinda ridiculous.
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Post by kathryn on Oct 8, 2023 19:15:08 GMT
Yes. As a non-football fan how bad it got passed me by at the time. I was impressed at how well he held it together under that much pressure. It clearly gave him serious problems with anxiety - one of the things the doc sort of shows but never quite talks about is his OCD tendencies.
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Post by kathryn on Oct 8, 2023 15:39:58 GMT
It would not surprise me to find that JSO are a false flag operation. They are so counterproductive in gaining public support for the cause, they are doing far more harm than good.
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Post by kathryn on Oct 8, 2023 15:34:49 GMT
Anyone else watched the Beckham doc? As interesting for what it left out as what it put in, I thought.
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Post by kathryn on Sept 14, 2023 18:52:19 GMT
You know what’s missing from this thread?
Shark Attack 3: Megalodon.
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Post by kathryn on Sept 14, 2023 13:33:09 GMT
I enjoy the Hit Parade Podcast - it’s about the Billboard charts rather than U.K. charts (usually) but it’s just really well done - lots of research and analysis of musical trends.
A more specific podcast for Robbie Williams fans (not sure how many of them there are here) is Robbie Williams Rewind. Run by a couple of super-fans they go through each album and tour discussing each song, b-side, and tour and have ‘special guest fans’ talking about their own experiences and memories, why they’re and a fan, etc. It’s literally the only podcast that actually talks in detail about his music rather than about the persona or the drama, and has also scored some amazing special guests for interviews, such as his backing singers, musicians, some of his co-writers and his long-term A&R Chris Briggs. And they did get Rob himself for an interview in January.
It’s a really good podcast if you’re interested in getting below the surface of a performance persona - in terms of ‘what is it about this artist that has connected with his audience’, and it terms of ‘what is this person actually like to work with, and how do they actually produce their work’.
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Post by kathryn on Sept 12, 2023 10:54:00 GMT
I've never been a huge Kylie fan as I didn't particularly like SAW production line music. There have been some of her songs that I've liked, she looked good in hot pants and on the roundabout in Got to be Certain video. But she has maintained a good deal of success over the years with her music, always plays decent sized venues, overcame a serious health scare in the 2000's too. Her music career has always been successful enough that she has been able to stick with it, she has never diversified into musical theatre, acting, pantos etc where the money offers would have been lucrative so she has clearly been very successful and looked after her money. Her new work musically is better than other "work" she may have had done. She has clearly has a loyal fanbase of all ages, is a lot of people's guilty pleasure as well as being a gay icon. Lots of soap stars have had a hit or a few hits but she has had 35 years of success so I salute you Kylie even if I did prefer Annie Jones in Neighbours back in the late 1980's. Ahh, isn’t funny when people who just haven’t been paying much attention graciously condescend to admit that someone might be ok, actually. Kylie has sold over 80 million records worldwide. She is the highest selling female Australian artist of all time, Billboard report she is the 18th best selling dance artist of all time and the U.K. official chart company in 2012 listed her as the 12th best selling singer in the U.K. She has enjoyed a phenomenally successful career that most pop stars can only dream of.
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Post by kathryn on Sept 8, 2023 17:53:45 GMT
I knew Freddie partied to excess and was a very hedonistic person. He was likely the wild one in the band, John and Brian always seemed more thoughtful, quiet types with Roger somewhere in the middle. Freddie had his wild days in the late-70s to mid-80s; he calmed down considerably as he aged, though, with Champagne and shopping being his main vices in his later years. Hence the art in the auction. I’ve read the books by Queen’s roadies and assistants. They were all partying, including the roadies. It was a big part of what they were in it for. The others have simply done a better job of keeping the details of their private life under wraps - they’d usually go out separately and then end up at the same bar or sometimes brothel (where Freddie would just be chatting to the girls) at the end of the night.
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Post by kathryn on Sept 8, 2023 14:53:47 GMT
Oh Freddie did lots of coke.
And he was far from the only member of Queen to do drugs, drink a lot, have lots of sex, and party to excess.
That was half the point of being a rockstar!
The reason the Jazz album launch party spawned so many legends is that it was full of tabloid journalists also getting drunk and high. Then they had to come up with stories to justify their benders and expense reports.
That was why the band invited them, of course - it was all a publicity stunt. Queen were really good at publicity stunts!
It became a problem in later years because of Freddie’s health and the moralising that went with on as they morphed stories about Queen as a band into stories about Freddie Mercury’s disgusting personal moral failings. So those stories got walked back by people wanting to defend Freddie. But of course once the myth is out there you can’t put it back. Particularly since the moralising and disgust has faded away, and now is just seems like a fun story.
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Post by kathryn on Sept 8, 2023 10:59:44 GMT
Freddie lived his life fast and to the full. His 39th birthday party with dwarfs having bowls of a rumoured substance strapped to their heads is a thing of legend.. ‘Legend’ as in ‘not true’! The party that sparked the rumour wasn’t even his birthday party. It was the Queen album launch for Jazz in New Orleans. They basically invited all the New Orleans club performers in as they’d have stolen their customers for the night by throwing a huge party - there were some dwarf performers, and that sparked the rumour off. But they were nothing to do with Freddie, really- he didn’t pick them. And they didn’t have cocaine on their heads. Not necessary anyway as the guests mostly supplied their own drugs of choice.
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The HEAT
Sept 8, 2023 10:52:45 GMT
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Post by kathryn on Sept 8, 2023 10:52:45 GMT
What I hate is that the heatwave comes along just as you’re adjusted to it being 20 degrees - it’s not the absolute heat level that is the problem (I was out and about in 30-odd degree heat on Greece!) it’s the fact that it has jumped 8 degrees in a matter of days!
That and the fact that my first floor flat just seems to *collect* the heat. It builds up over a few days.
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Post by kathryn on Sept 7, 2023 10:30:43 GMT
it. Yes it's Elton John but half the music to Tammy Faye was dross so it being him doesn't automatically make it good. No, it wasn’t. Tammy Faye may need a few tweaks before transferring, but it wouldn’t have been successful if half the music had been ‘dross’. And it was successful. Elton’s a composer with a known track record of musical theatre hits. Him being involved won’t ‘automatically make it good’ (Lestat, after all) but it will mean it gets loads of attention and plenty of time and care taken to make it as good as it can be. Which is why the production is being entirely overhauled rather than outright binned.
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Post by kathryn on Sept 7, 2023 10:24:23 GMT
I want a Take That musical made by the Derry Girls team.
They got the specificity of the 90s fangirl so much better!
I keep coming back to and being puzzled by the character who was a diver as a teenager. Why a diver? Completely random.
For a while there I was sorta hoping the girl characters were going to be thinly-veiled representatives of the actual Take That, and that we’d get sly references to their actual story, and it’s all be an interesting-meta take on fans living through their pop idols and pop idols only existing because of their fans. But no.
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Post by kathryn on Aug 31, 2023 20:05:22 GMT
MATILDA played the RSC before a West End transfer. THE BOY IN A DRESS was considered a tryout but a West End transfer never materialised (thank God). Those shows may have been produced by the RSC rather than merely hosted but both were big-budget musicals with transfers in mind But they are both children’s shows. Developed as part of the RSC’s remit to introduce young people to theatre - and not necessarily *expected* to transfer to the West End. Matilda was developed as the Christmas show and the transfer only happened because of its rapturous reception. Boy In The Dress wasn’t considered a ‘tryout’ either - a West End transfer was possible if it did well and was well-reviewed, but not a necessary part of the plan. And as you’ve said, despite good reviews, a transfer has not materialised. It wasn’t ‘big budget’ either - It featured no stars. It didn’t originally have Robbie Williams involved, the RSC asked Guy Chambers to do it and he asked if Robbie could do it with him. Prada just doesn’t fit into the RSC remit, and doesn’t make business sense either. Make no mistake, Prada is a commercial project, Rocket are not looking to share profits with the RSC, or give over any creative control.
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Post by kathryn on Aug 30, 2023 15:15:24 GMT
Because this one is being produced by Elton John’s own company, and the RSC have no reason to subsidise his business interests?
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