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Post by adrianics on Sept 1, 2017 9:01:13 GMT
We don't go to the theatre as often as we used to and rely heavily on discounts/ticket clubs largely because of affordability. Especially since we bought a flat and that's started to gobble up all of our money, it suddenly dawned on me that £30 per ticket being considered 'affordable' is bonkers, particularly considering the cost of travelling to Central from zone 6 and the necessity of buying food, drinks etc since we have to go straight from work on a weeknight.
Case in point: I really want to see The Toxic Avenger and have heard amazing things, but the ticket prices are completely obscene. The best deal I can find for this, considering it's a pretty obscure show, is £39 per ticket to sit right at the back. It's crazy and I refuse to believe demand and sales are justifying this cost.
Ultimately, though, it's the audience. In my experience, the standard of behaviour has been in a sharp decline over the years and this shows no sign of stopping. I cannot put into words how much I resent paying somewhere around £70 for a pair of tickets, then £12.40 for tube travel, then roughly £20 on a quick dinner, then (if we're feeling extravagant) another £10 on a drink each, only to end up once again sitting next to a group of arseholes whose conversation simply has to happen *right there and then* and cannot wait for the interval or the journey home. The entire experience, when all is said and done, often costs upwards of £100 and can be completely ruined in an instant by one person in 1,000.
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Post by adrianics on Aug 29, 2017 8:42:05 GMT
I went to Mitchell and Webb Live with some friends when I was at university, we went to the stage door afterwards (they're both pretty much exactly as you would expect them to be based on their public personas) and to my horror a coursemate had brought a cake he genuinely seemed to expect Mitchell and Webb would:
A: Find funny or endearing, or both
B: Keep
As it happened, Mitchell just paused for a second then signed it and made it clear, politely but firmly, that he wasn't going to take this cake. All very bizarre.
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Post by adrianics on Aug 24, 2017 14:19:47 GMT
I got in a huge argument with my AS Level English Literature tutor over my interpretation of Death of a Salesman. The details escape me now but she kept saying "that's not what Miller was going for" and I'd say "sorry, were you a friend of his?"
I still subscribe to the Death of the Author approach to this day.
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Post by adrianics on Aug 21, 2017 10:44:04 GMT
I'm not sure its deemed bad behaviour.. At Angels in America last week, a couple had brought in numerous snacks\drink's. They left them all over the floor during the intervals. I had to navigate myself around the snacks to get out. It was very disrespectful. I assume their house needs a good clean. One of my bugbears, not just at the theatre but basically anywhere accessed by the public. I was brought up to clean up after myself and abhor the "I'm giving the staff something to do" attitude from people who leave rubbish strewn everywhere.
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Post by adrianics on Aug 14, 2017 15:34:39 GMT
Can we *Spoiler* the joke? Not see it but feel left out haha {Spoiler - click to view} Summer sings 'Memory' and Dewey says (paraphrased): "I never want to hear that song in this room again", a reference to Cats premiering in the New London Theatre.
As I said in my review, it's one of the more genuinely funny meta lines I've heard in a show and it got a round of applause when I saw the show.
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Post by adrianics on Aug 8, 2017 8:30:55 GMT
TANGLED IS BETTER THAN FROZEN. Phew. That's better. So happy I'm not the only one!
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Post by adrianics on Aug 7, 2017 15:04:18 GMT
Ooh, speculation! How about The Breakfast Club?
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Post by adrianics on Aug 6, 2017 21:16:55 GMT
"Stage door" is a verb ("I might stage door after the show) and "*the* stage door" is a noun, no?
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Post by adrianics on Aug 6, 2017 21:15:11 GMT
Patty originally had her own song but this was removed during previews on Broadway, I believe. I agree that it's a very underwritten role and it's a shame that the incredibly talented and funny Preeya Kalidas (the only good thing about the Godawful Bend It Like Beckham) isn't given much to work with.
I completely agree with you re the score, I was so pleasantly surprised by it. Special mention to the book as well, which I was astounded to find out was written by Julian Fellowes, it's so genuinely funny and in sync with Mike White and Jack Black's sense of humour that I never would have guessed he wrote it.
I rewatched the film a few weeks back, it's a really great movie and there's things the film does better and things the show does better. Expanding the roles of the kids and seeing their home lives was a masterstroke and adds a great dimension to the story. Katie, my favourite child character from the show, is also barely in the film.
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334 posts
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Post by adrianics on Aug 4, 2017 8:52:42 GMT
Inspired by earlier talk of Andrew Scott's Hamlet:
Sherlock is garbage. Intellectually lazy and appallingly written, and completely misses the point and appeal of Sherlock Holmes, both as a character and wider universe. Steven Moffatt is a terrible writer and raging misogynist, incapable of writing women as anything other than whining hang-ons who only exist to be saved from themselves by the male ubermensch. Benedict Cumberbatch is an extremely limited actor and his success is baffling to me, and his version of Sherlock Holmes is basically Doctor Who in a nice jacket.
I also find Shakespeare next to impossible to follow and only see a Shakespeare play if a friend is in it.
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Post by adrianics on Aug 3, 2017 21:09:20 GMT
I will pay for tickets and travel to/accommodation in Leicester just to hear the Back to the Future theme being played by a live orchestra. I'm in!
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Post by adrianics on Jul 31, 2017 9:36:57 GMT
Indeed; took the advice above and got end seats of row C. Absolutely painless and very happy that buying from the source meant I didn't have to pay the £6+ booking fees both ATG and LoveTheatre were charging!
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Post by adrianics on Jul 31, 2017 9:13:44 GMT
There's good availability for midweek shows in December. How much of an issue is the legroom in Row B? Are we talking budget flight levels here?
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Post by adrianics on Jul 17, 2017 11:46:04 GMT
The title song from Legally Blonde and If I Could from The Hired Man for me.
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Post by adrianics on Jul 14, 2017 13:18:47 GMT
This is just the start of the show's journey, not it's only destination We'll all rave about the Union's revival come 2027... I did say to the wife on the way back to the tube that I expected the amdram rights to be out within three years... Not an insult because I think it'll be very well suited to that arena!
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Post by adrianics on Jul 14, 2017 12:59:36 GMT
Really sorry that happened to you, but how well did that manager do? What a hero!
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Post by adrianics on Jul 11, 2017 14:47:20 GMT
Stop bullying Showbizkid. Although the woman was vile I also think it doesn't take much to sign a programme. It's also obvious many West End performers actually post on this site. For example nothing can be physically harder than playing a principle role in the ballet and they mostly have grace when it comes to stage door etiquette. Reality TV culture and fame has turned some young actors into divas. Good for them, but if they decided for whatever reason they didn't want to that is also up to them. One more time: It's an unofficial practice, no one is obliged to take part and nobody who wants an autograph/photo/whatever is entitled to one. An actor deciding they don't want to greet people at the stage door, for whatever reason they have, does not mean they don't have grace and does not make them a 'diva'.
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Post by adrianics on Jul 11, 2017 10:03:21 GMT
I'm also waiting with interest for you to confirm which role you played in the West End which makes DEH a 'two hour easy pop musical' in comparison?
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Post by adrianics on Jul 11, 2017 8:14:27 GMT
Please could you expand on these 'vast differences' between siding with someone and agreeing with them? I'm completely baffled.
Thank you as well for not bothering to attempt to actually engage with any of my points and just brush them off with 'no drama'. How is it not his decision to decide how he approaches something he's not obliged to do?
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Post by adrianics on Jul 6, 2017 16:13:21 GMT
To be honest I'm on Diana's side. You're 'on her side'? So to you, it's reasonable and fair to call Platt an "asshole", "garbage" and "really rude" directly to his Twitter handle just to make sure that he saw it? I'm happy for you that you managed to play this unnamed demanding role and deal with the gargantuan throng of your adoring public on the side, but until it's in actor's contract or explicitly stated in the price of the ticket there is absolutely no entitlement whatsoever to meet a performer at the stage door. Hell, he didn't even owe anyone an explanation. It's an unofficial practice and it's up to no one but the performer whether or not they take part in it. Without applying too much guesswork DEH is the hottest ticket on Broadway and it's almost entirely because of the buzz around Platt's performance, the amount of pressure and expectation on him (even ignoring how ridiculously demanding the role is) must be excruciating and he deserves to approach the situation however he sees fit. If that includes not meeting people at the stage door no one has the right to contradict or criticise him. There certainly cannot be an excuse to publicly lob abuse at a performer for not coming to the stage door.
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Post by adrianics on Jul 5, 2017 12:26:41 GMT
Best Show: School of Rock
Worst Show: Aladdin
Best Film: La La Land
Best TV Show: The Handmaid's Tale
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Post by adrianics on Jul 4, 2017 10:06:40 GMT
Thanks Baemax. Yeah in the show absolutely none of that is made clear (even though there's some truly painful exposition in other scenes, so they're clearly not above that) and it was pretty confusing to me. My conclusion was much the same as asmdsmandm's!
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Post by adrianics on Jul 3, 2017 22:22:43 GMT
An *amazing* audience in the Grand Circle of Wind in the Willows tonight. So impeccably behaved, not a single whisper heard or phone seen. Especially impressive considering it was almost entirely families with young children on a school night. God, I should have enjoyed it more while I had the chance... Karma will probably bite back hard next time
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Post by adrianics on Jul 3, 2017 22:16:54 GMT
Saw this tonight. Kind of hard to put my finger on it... It was definitely missing a spark. Nothing wrong or bad about it, per se, but it's not going to set the world alight or become a classic. It's aimed at children and is pretty good at providing for them, with some fun songs and memorable performances.
I liked Rufus Hound as Toad just fine, he's clearly giving it everything he has and has put the work in, he's improved immeasurably since I saw him in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. He hit his notes, gave it some good energy and got a lot of laughs. I think the issue is that he'll only ever be better than you expect a non-singer, non-actor to be... He's not really West End standard and often gets drowned in the Palladium and upstaged by his fellow cast, no matter how much effort he gives it. Gary Wilmot and Simon Lipkin are good value like they always are. Neil McDermott is a fabulous villain and ran away with every scene he was in.
There's some clunkers in the script (who was that woman who helped Toad escape prison, why did she care so much, where did she go afterwards and why didn't they attempt to make her look like an animal??) but also some really good running jokes; the hedgehog family were very funny, the courtroom scene made me bellow with laughter and Lipkin's ad-libs were a treat. I'll also never not laugh at a dummy being thrown to simulate a person falling.
The songs are... Fine, I guess. I'd struggle to name any of them now but I enjoyed them at the time. I liked 'I'm Mr Toad' especially, although Hound struggled to choke the rapping out.
Overall... Yeah, it's okay. Plenty to like, but not love, about it and it's a fun night out. It's hardly the disaster some people in this thread are making it out to be and it's nowhere near as bad as, say, Aladdin. I'd say it's good for families, the youngsters around us were loving it and impeccably behaved!
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Post by adrianics on Jun 25, 2017 8:52:32 GMT
What's all this I hear about a punch-up in the 42nd Street audience last night? Anyone there?
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Post by adrianics on Jun 23, 2017 11:59:02 GMT
A lot of politicians are bad at their jobs and bad at being interviewed (Fallon and Johnson being recent examples), yet I can't think of any individual politician who gets anything close to the amount of negative coverage that Abbott gets. When she got her sums mixed up the Sun stretched that out to almost an entire working week. Just look at the wide lack of sympathy her recent announcement got regarding her health, too. If it's not her race or gender (it is, by the way), why do you think she gets such a disproportionate amount of coverage? She is awful on camera Always looks sweaty and anxious Congratulations on dodging the question I'm actually asking! Boris Johnson is also awful on camera. Why didn't his recent disastrous interview get the same amount of negative coverage Abbott frequently gets?
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Post by adrianics on Jun 23, 2017 11:58:00 GMT
why do you think she gets such a disproportionate amount of coverage? Because The Sun is anti-Labour so they (and the Daily Mail, Express, etc.) always misrepresent Labour and downplay Tory crapness (craposity?). But why *her*? When was the last time they went after, say, Kier Starmer or Emily Thornberry with the same ferocity they frequently go after Abbott?
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Post by adrianics on Jun 23, 2017 11:45:22 GMT
There are many people Who are black Or women Or both And are major role models Oprah Winfrey Beyoncé Naomi Campbell Jourdan Dunn Grace Jones Michelle Obama I think Diane Abbott Doesn't fit into this prestigious list She is just crap at her job That's why she is mocked A lot of politicians are bad at their jobs and bad at being interviewed (Fallon and Johnson being recent examples), yet I can't think of any individual politician who gets anything close to the amount of negative coverage that Abbott gets. When she got her sums mixed up the Sun stretched that out to almost an entire working week. Just look at the wide lack of sympathy her recent announcement got regarding her health, too. If it's not her race or gender (it is, by the way), why do you think she gets such a disproportionate amount of coverage?
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Post by adrianics on Jun 23, 2017 9:50:27 GMT
I was being ironic as Diane has often played the race card and the name of the band seemed to suit. Maybe her and Catweazle Corbyn could do a duet for Xmas, Oh, you were 'ironically' calling attention to and mocking her race, shortly after you insisted that any criticism of her has nothing to do with her race. Are you actually this nasty or just on the wind-up?
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Post by adrianics on Jun 22, 2017 12:31:37 GMT
The theatre costs way too much damn money to consider leaving before I've seen everything, plus it so often isn't anything to do with the performers or crew and that feels disrespectful to them.
...Having said that, I *desperately* wanted to leave Aladdin and try to drown out the memory of the first act in the nearby Norman's Coach and Horses (one of my favourite London pubs), but we ended up staying because a friend had organised a big group trip and it felt a little harsh to them.
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