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Post by ptwest on Mar 29, 2022 20:04:44 GMT
Gaby Roslin... just ...😂🤷🏻♀️ What I wouldn’t give to see Chita, Rita, Patti, Bernadette, Julia McKenzie, Angela Lansbury, Dench, any of the ‘broads’ from Follies...anyone...else. Now that would be STAR casting. I’m dreaming I know. But just IMAGINE Can’t we have a legit ‘name’ ? Just once 🙏🏼 Chita Rivera played Roxie for a spell in 1999 and she was magnificent!
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Post by ptwest on Mar 29, 2022 12:10:38 GMT
I'll just leave this with you. This is the funniest thing I’ve seen in ages. Can we book him to do it?
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Post by ptwest on Mar 26, 2022 8:41:16 GMT
The CRH version was the only show where I was very tempted to leave at the interval but for me Alexandra wasn’t the issue; poor casting elsewhere and just a general misfiring of the production was enough. I did stay and the second act picked up a bit, but a shadow of the joyful production at the palladium.
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Post by ptwest on Mar 26, 2022 6:22:04 GMT
There a very strong case for shows like this to have both the occasional relaxed performance but also the occasional adults only performance. I would imagine that there are lots of us who would book for that!
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Post by ptwest on Mar 21, 2022 12:03:58 GMT
I suspect it’s the one role in the show where you can get away with minimal acting. But I have wonderful memories of Meg Johnson doing so much more than that in the original revival cast - the right person can elevate it to so much more than a couple of songs.
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Post by ptwest on Mar 11, 2022 9:26:15 GMT
Our best entry for a while, let’s hope he can perform it for the camera as that’s been really missing in our entires for the past few years. Although watching this video it is like Steve Balsamo has been cryogenically frozen since JCS and has now been defrosted. Has anyone ever seen them together?
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Post by ptwest on Mar 10, 2022 17:13:27 GMT
She’s one of those celebs where I just don’t get what the appeal is. Why she keeps being given airtime is beyond me, but obviously there are many many people who think differently. If this casting proves to be true then at least I can save my money.
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Post by ptwest on Mar 8, 2022 8:42:42 GMT
The order would probably change on a daily basis but for today…
1) Jesus Christ Superstar 2) Chess 3) Les Miserables 4) Sunset Boulevard 5) My Fair Lady 6) Memphis 7) Hamilton 8) 42nd Street 9) & Juliet 10) Everybody’s talking about Jamie
If we were talking productions then both 42nd street (most recent revival) and my fair lady (NT version)would be much higher and the original production of Mary Poppins would be on the list.. But musically these are the ones which resonate.
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Post by ptwest on Feb 8, 2022 11:45:53 GMT
This thread inspired me to rewatch the film yesterday. Madonna really is better than anyone at the time had a right to expect but in my opinion the Oscar committee got it right. But she sings it well and it was good to hear the improvement in her voice in her post Evita recordings. Her versions of Lament and You Must Love Me on tour proved she can sing when she puts her mind to it. Love the film, it takes a while to get going but from Buenos Aires onwards it’s superb. Maybe the last 15 minutes could do with some trimming but overall very enjoyable.
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Post by ptwest on Nov 2, 2021 18:23:39 GMT
Anyone who is familiar with the theatre able to offer seating advice? I'm wondering about what legroom is like. Thanks in advance. I usually find legroom ok, I am just over 6’ 5” tall so this is very important. It is not “stretch out” room but you don’t feel too crammed in. Also because the rake is so steep from all seats your knees are not going to be up against the back of the seat in front. My seat of choice is generally h43 -on an aisle, nobody behind to grumble about the view being blocked (although it’s less of an issue in this theatre) and a quick exit at the end. But most importantly it’s a great central view. I try to avoid the corner seats as the two adjacent seats can be at an awkward angle with each other, difficult when like me you take up a lot of room or need comfort.
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Post by ptwest on Feb 1, 2021 19:10:18 GMT
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Post by ptwest on Jun 30, 2020 7:38:18 GMT
And was to that version which I unwittingly took my very straight-laced mother in law. Thanks for that Craig!
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Post by ptwest on Jun 28, 2020 19:36:29 GMT
Rebecca Storm was, indeed, superb in the 1990 tour. She also sang ‘Someone Else’s Story’ - I think for the first time in any UK production. She sang it on TV too (I think at Pebble Mill), but unfortunately, there seems to be no clip of that anywhere. She was a superb Florence, as I believe was Jacqui Scott a few years later. Unfortunately, the Birmingham leg of that tour was cancelled, so I never got to see her. I wonder why many legs of that tour (around 1995ish, I think?) were cancelled? Anyone have any information about that? My understanding of this is that it was due to poor ticket sales. I saw the 1996 tour in York and although in many ways it was a duplicate of the previous tour, it seemed badly undercooked with weaker direction. It was very well sung but severely lacking in chemistry between the leads - only Michael Winsor really shone was the arbiter which was a surprise given the general thanklessnes of the role . It was a very empty theatre too, and most of the people around me were a school group who were listening to the FA cup final on their personal radios. It seemed such a comedown from the magnificent 1990 version.
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Post by ptwest on Jun 18, 2020 10:54:53 GMT
Very close for me between JCS and Sunset but in the end I went for Superstar. The energy and the drama in that score just wins out.
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Post by ptwest on Jun 6, 2020 20:14:44 GMT
The only production I've ever seen was the one at Sheffield's Crucible back in 2003. Absolutely loved it, top performances (looking back at the cast included Josefina Gabrielle, Michael Jibson, Rachel Wooding, Nikki Belsher, Daniel Crossley) and superb direction.
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Post by ptwest on Jun 2, 2020 7:37:32 GMT
The line that gets me every time is "I alone can tell now What the end must be They think they'll decide your life No, it will be me."
I think this is particularly because I love the first act of Miss Saigon, it feels like we are following Kim's journey and her strength when faced with unimaginable choices. The second act in my opinion loses that focus and becomes embroiled in cliched melodrama around the other characters who are much harder to care about whilst Kim becomes little more than the wronged woman character. The less said about the hotel room scene and then the American Dream the better. The finale, and particularly that moment brings back the character we all fell for in act one.
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Post by ptwest on Jun 1, 2020 20:14:08 GMT
Alfie Boe was so foghornish I had to turn off the Les Mis concert film after the prologue making me so grateful I booked a JOJ night. I’ve tried watching it three times and just can’t bear him.
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Post by ptwest on May 16, 2020 6:51:59 GMT
Last night I spent a wonderful evening watching this fabulous show. The film really does do it justice doesn’t it? I think I may well keep my subscription going, there’s loads to watch.
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Post by ptwest on May 11, 2020 8:27:39 GMT
I'm just concerned about the knock on effect in schools. If we are asked to reopen in June, then that means we have to have sufficient staff in. This then means that their children need to go somewhere, so I would assume that is their local school. Now if I offer the same to the parents of the children that I have who need to go to work, then where does this stop? I can see that before too long we will have the majority of children in across all year groups. And this is before we start talking about social distancing etc.
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Post by ptwest on May 8, 2020 20:56:12 GMT
Chicago and Memphis
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Post by ptwest on Apr 28, 2020 19:23:23 GMT
I wonder if the box office will allow me to get a partial refund. I had 4 tickets booked for this year but only want to use 2 of them for next year. Time will tell I guess! An update - I booked through See tickets and less than 24 hours after responding to their initial request they have sorted it. Really pleased with the service.
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Post by ptwest on Apr 27, 2020 12:09:26 GMT
I wonder if the box office will allow me to get a partial refund. I had 4 tickets booked for this year but only want to use 2 of them for next year. Time will tell I guess!
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Post by ptwest on Apr 23, 2020 10:47:28 GMT
So far today I have had a very beautiful 10k run early this morning. Just spent a very happy hour with the children of key workers who are in school playing in the foundation stage area - all the children here today normally don't get to go in because they are not in that class, but today they've been given the freedom to explore and are loving it. Wonderful!
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Post by ptwest on Apr 19, 2020 9:26:40 GMT
It is indeed a wonderful film, but even as a child I found the whole “Truly Scrumptious” song so nauseating it got me firmly rooting for the child catcher.
Thank goodness the palladium version made this song so much less saccharine!
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Post by ptwest on Apr 7, 2020 17:52:31 GMT
Totally echo all that is said in the original post. Thank you and farewell!
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Post by ptwest on Mar 17, 2020 13:31:56 GMT
Sadly, but not surprisingly, it has been announced that this is no longer happening.
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Post by ptwest on Mar 16, 2020 20:21:04 GMT
I had no idea this was happening and is very close to home. If it does indeed go ahead then I must try and get there - thanks for the heads up!
Penistone Station is walkable (about a mile and a half) but would be no good after an evening performance.
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Post by ptwest on Mar 15, 2020 11:30:46 GMT
The remaining dates in the UK tour of Cirque du Soleil: Crystal have been cancelled. Understandable given the current circumstances, but I hope they come back with it at some point. We saw it at Sheffield and it was a beautiful show, so well worth seeing.
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Post by ptwest on Mar 14, 2020 19:26:14 GMT
So, thoughts from this afternoon.
As a musical it is ok, some good songs in there but also a lot of filler. It would have worked just as well as a play with music in my opinion. The storytelling is well done, some obvious changes from the film but all the main elements are there. It is well acted and played for laughs which suits the material. The cast are mostly superb, really getting into their characters and hamming it for all its worth. The only exception for me I'm afraid was Olly Dobson who I felt was very weak in the first quarter, as if he had decided to turn up but not give it any effort. He warmed up as the show went on but that casting could be much much stronger in my opinion. However, Roger Bart, Hugh Coles, Rosanna Hyland and Cedric Neal were excellent. Roger Bart deserves credit for going further than simply doing a Christopher Lloyd impersonation. As a spectacle though, it is absolutely stunning - the sequence towards the end involving the clock tower towards the end is one of the most stunning spectacles I have seen in a musical, and the whole show looks incredible with fantastic use of scenery, props and projections. The lighting is fantastic, the time travel elements are really well done. The clock tower sequence is so stunning that afterwards the show didnt really recover for me, how do you follow that? As it turns out, with a fairly perfunctory rendition of the Power Of Love apparently.
So this does sound very negative, I actually had a great time but this is more because of being wowed by the technical elements as opposed to it being a great musical. I hope it has a further life beyond Manchester because it warrants it.
On a side note, Carrie Hope Fletcher was in the audience a few seats away and was being very gracious with people going up and asking for selfies.
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Post by ptwest on Mar 14, 2020 14:11:14 GMT
Sat in the opera house waiting for it to start. Love how the set extends into the auditorium.
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