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Post by loureviews on Feb 5, 2018 8:30:56 GMT
My review of this:
Set in the round, this tale of the circus’s greatest showman boasts a memorable score by Cy Coleman and Michael Stewart.
The Menier has turned the bar area into a museum of curiosities ‘on loan from the estate of PT Barnum’, into which ringmaster Dominic Owen kickstarts the show by looking for Tom Thumb – in the auditorium itself there are coloured lightbulbs, posters and a circus ring with a tiny stool and piano.
The original productions of Barnum, starring Michael Crawford and Jim Dale, are renowned for their comic timing, showmanship and stunts. This production is high energy but falls a bit flat in its leading performance; Marcus Brigstocke interacts well with the audience in the second half, but his voice is weak and he looks more like a fish out of water than the centre of attention. If Barnum doesn’t steal the show (although he did make it across the tightrope in one go), then there’s something not quite right.
As the ladies in his life, Laura Pitt-Pulford makes a steely yet touching Chairy, while Celinde Schoenmaker hits the high notes as the Swedish nightingale Jenny Lind.
In the ensemble, Owen catches the eye throughout with tumbles and liveliness, Preston and Kelsey Jamieson do lifts and fire work, and the company perform a range of routines from a brass band and tap dancing, to aerial hoops and basic magic tricks (some of which involve the audience at the start).
Recommended even with the central miscasting, director Gordon Greenberg uses the space well and Harry Francis dances with aplomb as Tom Thumb. There’s even a tiny toy train to represent travel and a range of model buildings hoisted on hooks to show location, and ‘a real live elephant’. It’s all rather charming and displays quite an amount of what Barnum describes as ‘humbug’.
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Post by loureviews on Feb 3, 2018 20:10:59 GMT
It should have been, I agree - it just wasn't for me.
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Post by loureviews on Feb 3, 2018 16:47:37 GMT
Thought Brigstock was adequate vocally - just adequate - but he won me over by the end. He fell off once, clowned about it, then did it in one. Enjoyed the production a lot overall, great ensemble. Will blog more later in the week. He didn't fall off this afternoon but hid voice is woefully inadequate with no personality. The first time I haven't been touched by 'The Colors of My Life'. A great ensemble though, very hard-working.
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Company
Feb 3, 2018 13:42:57 GMT
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Post by loureviews on Feb 3, 2018 13:42:57 GMT
I have no problem with Bobbi now being female. I didn't with Malvolia either in the recent NT Twelfth Night.
Also have no problem with the Peake Hamlet, Hunter Cyrano, Jackson Lear etc etc, although that's something quite different, like the Rylance Olivia.
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Chess
Jan 31, 2018 7:57:35 GMT
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Post by loureviews on Jan 31, 2018 7:57:35 GMT
I remember the 1990 tour and the tilting chessboard very well. Rebecca Storm, Richard Barnes, Maurice Clarke. Where are they now, three decades on?
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Post by loureviews on Jan 20, 2018 16:02:06 GMT
Ones I still have and regularly read:
Narnia series Watership Down Ballet Shoes and Curtain Up St Clare's series Wind in the Willows Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner Hilda Boswell's Omnibus The Secret Garden The Railway Children
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Post by loureviews on Jan 20, 2018 10:10:19 GMT
Disruptive drunks at School of Rock last night. Stewards disturbed everyone on our row about six times (taking a bottle of wine from them, etc), before they finally asked them to leave. Considering an official complaint to the theatre as it really spoilt the first half of the show and could have been handled better.
The show was simply OK, nothing to rave about.
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Post by loureviews on Jan 15, 2018 20:43:15 GMT
I've been following Philip Quast ever since Sunday in the Park more years ago than I care to remember; if he has done his final musical performance here I will be sad but have so many happy memories ... then again if he comes back for another Follies run I will be there Remember South Pacific at the NT too.
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Post by loureviews on Jan 13, 2018 11:55:30 GMT
Who are these 'celebrities?!
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Motown
Jan 12, 2018 23:27:28 GMT
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Post by loureviews on Jan 12, 2018 23:27:28 GMT
I liked this but wouldn't rush to see it again: understudues on for Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson and a lot of hard work from a talented supporting cast (especially Jay Perry as David Ruffin and Jermaine Jackson).
But the fictional story is flat and the snippets of songs make you long for less titles and more complete versions. When you get a full song, it's good.
Wigs and beards though are atrocious.
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Follies
Jan 11, 2018 19:22:48 GMT
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Post by loureviews on Jan 11, 2018 19:22:48 GMT
They weren't dressed as panto dames. And in the original production men played these roles so why was Sondheim bothered?
Then again is Popbitch really a reliable source ...?
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Post by loureviews on Jan 8, 2018 19:02:22 GMT
They've been different sizes for a long time, as I discovered when I tried to organise my 30 year collection over Christmas!
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Post by loureviews on Jan 8, 2018 7:38:34 GMT
I wondered that too - it could have been his office if he didn't actually live there. Would have definitely given him inspiration!
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Post by loureviews on Jan 7, 2018 21:46:58 GMT
My review:
Before I put together this review of the musical which started in Sheffield and which now has a new life in the West End, I tracked down the original documentary on which it is based – Jamie: a drag queen at 16 – and watched the basic story of how gay teenager Jamie Campbell was supported by his mother, family friend Lee, best friend Sam(antha), and drag queen Simon to achieve his dream of having a drag show and of taking that character to the school prom.
Three years in the making, the musical version takes Jamie (now with the surname New) and his mother Margaret, and the basic plot, as jumping-off points to present a narrative filled with pulsating dance beats, big ballads, and racially diverse characters (Lee, a white woman, is now Ray, an Asian woman, and Sam has become the hijab-wearing Pritti (Lucie Shorthouse, who gives what could be a stereotypical character an interesting slant)).
After watching the documentary it feels a bit of a shame that stage Jamie’s final prom dress is so understated, and you only ever see the famous make-up from the posters just once, as ‘Mimi Me’ struts her stuff on the Legs Eleven stage.
John McCrea (who I saw last some years ago in The Sound of Music as the eldest Von Trapp boy) totally convinces as the teen who is working through both confusion and confidence, and when his doting mum purchases a dazzling pair of red high heels for his birthday, he walks in them as if he’s been wearing them all his life.
The big production numbers are all set in the schoolroom (‘And You Don’t Even Know It’; ‘Work of Art’; ‘Out of the Darkness’), while the slower songs – Jamie’s ‘The Wall in My Head’ and ‘Ugly in This Ugly World’; and Margaret’s ‘If I Met Myself Again’ and ‘He’s My Boy’ are in the home or elsewhere (maybe in a single spotlight).
At the performance I saw, Rebecca McKinnis was on as Margaret, and both her acting and singing were superb. I also enjoyed the lovely and understated performance of Phil Nichol as Hugo/Lolo Chanelle and the ‘out there’ shenanigans of real-life drag queens Alex Anstey and Daniel Jacobs, who perform as Vileda Moppe and Vinegar Strokes respectively out there, and as Laika Virgin and Sandra Bollock here; they are joined by James Gillan, a former Marilyn in the Boy George musical Taboo, and who doesn’t feel out of place.
This is a truly life-affirming musical, with memorable tunes and lyrics by Dan Gillespie Sells and Tom MacRae, and if it is a little corny, and extremely camp, it doesn’t care. I would have snipped out the bigoted dad, and toned down the pantomime queen teacher, and made Jamie really put himself out there, but these are small quibbles.
The musical is about the importance of being yourself rather than hiding behind what others might want you to be, and that message comes out loud and clear, with the audience accomplices in the claps, cheers and whoops that the cast, the fabulous band, and the book (both funny and tragic) deserve.
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Post by loureviews on Jan 7, 2018 21:44:18 GMT
My review:
The 1976 film version of this is one of my all-time favourites, a biting, pulsing, black satire on the power of the media. This production, directed by Ivo van Hove, was obviously appealing from the word go.
Howard Beale is a news anchor. He’s losing ratings, losing patience, and losing his mind. When hard-nosed executive programmer Diana Christensen sees the opportunity to exploit his slide into madness to build an ‘angry prophet’ show around him, corporate monster Frank Hackett sees a way to chisel to the top of the tree at the network, pushing old-timer Max Schumaker out along the way.
The set is interesting, dominated by a huge video screen and flanked on each side by glass-walled offices, and what has been termed the ‘Foodwork’ experience, where diners pay up to £250 a head for a five-course meal, a ringside seat, and a bit of show interaction.
Casting is dominated by Bryan Cranston (‘Breaking Bad’, ‘Trumbo’) as Beale, and he’s terrific, at turns vulnerable, bravura, and simply ‘as mad as hell’. You may remember a social media call for people to film themselves saying that iconic line – here those videos pepper the wall to show the national reach of the News Hour.
Michelle Dockery brings a certain emotional blankness to the part of Diana, whether she’s pitching an idea, taking a phonecall, or having rushed intercourse with Max, unable to remove her attention away from work.
As Max, Douglas Henshall feels too young and far from the jaded drunk a lifetime with television has made him, and Tunji Kasim was totally inadequate as Hackett (a role with needs an actor with range, as Robert Duvall demonstrated in the film).
Paddy Chayefsky’s screenplay has been cleverly adapted by Lee Hall, although some of the dubious and immoral politics have been filtered out, and the attempts to make the Lyttelton audience studio accomplices fell flat.
Ultimately, this plot remains presient considering how politicians have come to manipulate the media for their own ends, just as network boss Jensen (Richard Cordery) does here for the corporate good.
I enjoyed the staging which allowed both the screen and the ‘reality’ to be watched (and I’d recommend a circle seat for this). I couldn’t get invested enough in the characters, though, which makes this production flashy, stunning, but superficial.
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Post by loureviews on Jan 7, 2018 18:52:05 GMT
What happened to the NYT expose?
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Post by loureviews on Jan 6, 2018 16:45:21 GMT
Good heavens, are people still employing Tunji Kasim? I have to assume he's an absolute delight to have in the rehearsal room, because they cannot be casting him on the grounds of acting ability. He's no Robert Duvall, that's for sure, but he's a tough act to follow.
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Post by loureviews on Jan 6, 2018 16:41:06 GMT
Aired last night on Ch5. Unfortunately i found it totally unfunny, forced and cringeworthy. I completely agree. A show of its day, sadly.
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Post by loureviews on Jan 6, 2018 16:35:15 GMT
I liked Dockery in this but Max and Hackett didn't work for me, and Cranston was very good indeed.
I still prefer the film which is note perfect in casting and execution (forgive the pun) but I did like the bag of tricks pulled out for this.
Has anyone done the foodie experience yet?
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Post by loureviews on Jan 5, 2018 14:02:59 GMT
There's already been a perfectly good film of the Cats show.
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Opinion
Jan 5, 2018 14:00:00 GMT
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Post by loureviews on Jan 5, 2018 14:00:00 GMT
Parole isn't always granted at the end of a minimum term though. I hope the Board's faith in him remains justified.
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Follies
Jan 4, 2018 8:06:31 GMT
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Post by loureviews on Jan 4, 2018 8:06:31 GMT
Great news about a recording. Pity there will be no DVD though.
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Post by loureviews on Jan 3, 2018 17:39:35 GMT
I'm at the end of 2nd row right now on a GILT ticket and can't see the floor at all. I'm unlikely to visit again (although I'm enjoying the show) so what am I missing? Nothing much really just some lighting effects and LED lines/shapes on the floor that frame certain moments but nothing that you absolutely need to see. Could see the coloured lines when we stood up at curtain call. The only thing I missed really was the white shoes.
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Post by loureviews on Jan 3, 2018 16:03:03 GMT
I'm at the end of 2nd row right now on a GILT ticket and can't see the floor at all. I'm unlikely to visit again (although I'm enjoying the show) so what am I missing?
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Post by loureviews on Jan 1, 2018 21:32:17 GMT
I'm watching the TV version now. Better than the film, but it still makes me want to murder an elf. A curious choice for prime-time TV really.
Jessica Martin - haven't seen her in a long time. Ben Forster is way too camp and swish in this.
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Post by loureviews on Dec 31, 2017 18:50:27 GMT
For some reason Twelfth Night was missed off my post above. Brilliant version, fresh and original.
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Post by loureviews on Dec 30, 2017 20:20:55 GMT
My take on the year's outings:
Jan 2017
A Christmas Carol (Arts). A hit, nicely performed by Simon Callow.
Hedda Gabler (National). A top ten smash, an engrossing version of a favourite play.
She Loves Me (Menier). A hit, with a bouncy score and obligatory Strallen.
Feb 2017
Round the Horne (Richmond). A muddle, with some laughs and a fab Kenneth W but a lot of it felt forced.
Mar 2017
Lost With Words (National). Improv with aged thesps, which I loved. It seems to have been overlooked by many.
Honeymoon in Vegas (Palladium). Concert version, which suffered from unsure leads but had moments which did justice to the original film.
Amadeus (National). A play I love, but I disliked this production's Mozart too much to class this as a highlight.
Shirley Valentine (Richmond). A hit, in a role Jodie Prenger was surely born to play.
An American in Paris (Dominion). I loved it with its dancing and its sweetness. It should have had a longer life.
Apr 2017
The Goat, or Who is Sylvia (Theatre Royal Haymarket). An inventive hit and a black as pitch play.
Carousel (Coliseum). Dreadful leads couldn't mar the superior material, but when the supporting cast is what you remember, there's something wrong.
May 2017
42nd Street (Theatre Royal Drury Lane). Opulent hit, nicely done songs and red hot tap.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Harold Pinter). Sensational and brilliant but Conleth Hill beat Imelda to the acting gold.
Lettice and Lovage (Menier). Quaintly dotty but quietly fun.
Jun 2017
We saw Rainbow with Sweet at the Stone Free Festival, O2 Arena. The former were great, the latter were better than expected.
Penn and Teller (Eventim Apollo Hammersmith). A new show with old favourites and quirks. Always a pleasure.
Jul 2017
Half a Sixpence (Noel Coward). Joyous fun with great songs, even on Charlie Stemp's week off.
The Tempest (RSC at the Barbican). Video projections and holograms were gimmicky but worth it for SRB.
Aug 2017
IAAF World Championship Athletics with my Sport Personality of the Year, Hero the Hedgehog.
The Mentor (Vaudeville). A strange play, but one I enjoyed.
Sep 2017
Follies (National). Musical of the Year, beautifully done and almost perfectly cast.
Oct 2017
Girl from the North Country (Old Vic). A stunning Dylan score made up for any story deficiencies.
Wings (Young Vic). Loved it, and Juliet Stevenson was terrific in that flying harness, remembering a tricky script.
Heisenberg (Wyndham's). Two actors at the top of their powers in an engrossing and curious romance of uncertainty.
Nov 2017
Beginning (Dorfman). Another strange romance in real-time, nicely played and well-written.
Big Fish (The Other Palace). Superlative in every way.
And we saw Bananarama, who were far better than expected.
Dec 2017
Glengarry Glen Ross (Playhouse). A mini-hit, but not spectacular.
Moscow State Circus (Ealing Common). It's got a big top and suspension stunts. What's not to like?
Mother Goose (Questors Theatre). Fun and boos and don't look behind you!
We also saw Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott - formerly in The Beautiful South - and they were excellent.
Shows missed due to illness this year - Art, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Grand Mort, Salome, Julius Caesar and Ant & Cleo.
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Post by loureviews on Dec 26, 2017 10:38:58 GMT
It's a real shame it doesn't seem to be getting the audiences it deserves. As I've said before, I think the title has put off regular punters, and it's interesting to note they've now dropped the subtitle "The Uncertainty Principle" from the publicity material. Agree 100%.
Personally I loved it.
Me too. One of my highlights of the year.
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Follies
Dec 26, 2017 10:27:36 GMT
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bimse likes this
Post by loureviews on Dec 26, 2017 10:27:36 GMT
I went quite a while ago and can remember the production very clearly. Sad to hear there are no plans for CD or DVD release.
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Post by loureviews on Dec 26, 2017 10:23:45 GMT
It isn't really that long since we had a huge choice of excellent plays and quality musicals which were 'events' in themselves because they had relatively short runs. The problem now is just how many WE theatres are effectively lost to the likes of Phantom, Lion King, Les Mis, Wicked, Thriller, etc. It has become a different landscape than it was 25 years ago and both Disney and the jukebox musical are largely to blame for that. Less risks are taken (which makes it great when The Goat, The Mentor and the like are staged), and as prices rise, the WE moves more towards tourist audiences.
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