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Post by alison on Nov 2, 2017 18:39:06 GMT
If this doesn't come to Birmingham for a reasonable price I'll actually lose my mind 😂 i think it's going to the Hippodrome later on in the tour! Won't be a reasonable price then, the Hippodrome don't know the meaning of the phrase.
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Post by alison on Nov 2, 2017 17:14:39 GMT
I'm there tomorrow and I'm really excited now, thanks for the review! I'll be a little sad if Fight the Dragons is gone though (my favourite from the Broadway CR).
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Post by alison on Nov 1, 2017 17:57:16 GMT
Yes! I've managed to swap mine (originally first Friday, reallocated to Jan 5) for stalls row E on Friday 15th.
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Post by alison on Oct 28, 2017 23:24:30 GMT
Booked for the first preview. I've never seen a professional production of Pippin so really looking forward to it.
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Post by alison on Oct 12, 2017 17:58:27 GMT
Dear god. I hope they don't add I Got Me into the show. Yes it will be in the 2018 version. I actually liked it and had it stuck in my head for ages after. It will replace a whole lotta locomotion. Starlight Express will have the “when the night is darkest” lyrics and the rap will be totally accapella with lyrics similar to the 90s version. All traces of David yasbek have been removed and the new orchestrations are based more on the original version UGH. I liked a lot of the changes, and didn't mind I Got Me as much as most did, but I hated the changes to Starlight Express. Why?
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Post by alison on Sept 28, 2017 16:18:35 GMT
Ooh, I finally have some details in mine!
January 5th, which isn't a date I requested, but is a Friday (and fortunately one I can do) so I can't complain too much. Row J stalls, a few seats in from the edge. I'll take that.
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Post by alison on Sept 20, 2017 17:53:31 GMT
Out of interest, do you know if all the understudies listed actually went on for any of the roles they covered? Most of them went on due to cast illness at some point but they gave scheduled shows to pretty much everyone who didn't in the last few weeks of the run as a courtesy thing. West End Covers tweeted about all of them going on except Anthony Selwyn and Jonathan Cordin, but Anthony Selwyn DID actually have a Tink show, they just missed it. So it's only Jonathan Cordin I don't actually know about, but he covered Blake which is the smallest of the lead roles, meaning he may have gone on and none of the Bat fans thought to make a big deal about it. He probably didn't, I'm just giving him the benefit of the doubt. Jonathan is second cover Blake and didn't go on in London or Manchester. Jordan Lee Davies didn't go on as second cover Ledoux (but did get a show as second Tink so would be eligible for that). They're the only covers who didn't go on in London, everyone else got at least one show. And no, I wasn't at all of them (unfortunately )
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Post by alison on Sept 20, 2017 17:51:02 GMT
Still nothing on my account re what show I am allowed to attend, despite filling in the form straight away. 11 days ago. It really shouldn't take this long! Same situation here. I'm one of the lucky ones in that it's more of an inconvenience for me rather than a major financial loss, but having to keep three weekends clear in the run up to Christmas is proving tricky. Just tell me already. I went past the theatre on Saturday and got a very quick sneaky peek in the door the workmen use as they were constantly coming in and out. Didn't see much, but it certainly doesn't look anywhere near ready. Not living in London, I'm only ever around the theatre when I'm in that area seeing something else anyway (in this case Starlight Express at TOP), so I had no idea how far behind it was until the ticket announcement.
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Post by alison on Sept 17, 2017 16:11:35 GMT
Someone on a Facebook group mentioned that if you request the receipt for your cancelled date it shows the new ticket details, mine shows I got my 3rd choice date. Not sure how safe it is to rely on until we get the email. Nothing showing for me at all, it just gives me the cancelled receipt with my old order details.
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Post by alison on Sept 14, 2017 20:44:12 GMT
Maybe not..."Nie Genug" already exists in English as "Whole Lotta Locomotion". It replaced "A Lotta Locomotion" in the 2003 US tour before being adopted in Bochum in 2013. @tbfl also mentioned Buffy and Ashley aren't named, but they are in "Whole Lotta Locomotion" and the lyrics themselves are...far from feminist. It does sound like a lousy Icona Pop ripoff though! You can listen to it in English here. Pretty sure "I Got Me" is something totally new! Good grief, that was even worse than I remembered it (and that's saying something). Count me in as being there Saturday afternoon too (row L somewhere off to one side, I think). Not gonna lie, I'm way too excited about this, mainly for the cast.
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Post by alison on Sept 13, 2017 19:03:13 GMT
I also liked the original production, Alison, you're not alone. I would have thought Peluso would play Walter Hartright who has more and better songs to sing. But I can definitely see him as the dastardly villain. Yes, I could see him as Walter, too. And Ashley Stillburn would make a fine Sir Percival.
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Post by alison on Sept 13, 2017 16:09:59 GMT
The show would probably have got me there anyway (I may be one of the few who really enjoyed the original London production), but that cast definitely will. I assume this means Chris Peluso has recovered from whatever it was that took him off the Funny Girl tour, good to know.
carrieharayel, I assume there will also be a small ensemble. There was in the original show.
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Post by alison on Aug 31, 2017 19:55:40 GMT
If it's Jason Howland it's the Astonishing version, and I'm sorely tempted. Debating over whether I can justify a day trip to Manchester during the school term.
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Post by alison on Aug 30, 2017 19:46:43 GMT
Wooot, I got the last ticket for the Saturday matinee! I was on holiday when this was announced and sold out, so I was miffed to miss it. The London production was the first West End show I saw (summer 1999 with Adrian Hansel as Rusty).
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Post by alison on Aug 24, 2017 18:42:50 GMT
I've never timed it but I would describe it as long enough that it's impressive he holds his breath that long (he doesn't, there's a little water-less space he can go to breathe) but not so long that it's boring. While this is true, Rob very rarely used it as far as I'm aware. Although there were a few days when he jumped out early because he had an infection and the water was freezing!
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Post by alison on Jul 30, 2017 10:59:45 GMT
Are people naming these favourite understudies having seen the people that they were covering aswell? Fair enough, yes Alice Fearn made a far superior Princess in Shrek, but Carolyn Maitland a better Ellen in Saigon? I don't think so sunshine! ☝️ I would absolutely rate Carolyn better than Tamsin, who I found to be weak in many ways. If you disagree, that's fine, but that's only your opinion. I'd rate Siobhan higher than both of them, though, and still wish she'd just been cast in the first place. And just to bring me back on topic ... Niall Sheehy, whom I first saw as u/s Lancelot in the Spamalot tour and made a point of seeing as Chris in Saigon. Again, I much preferred him to Alistair.
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Big Fish
Jul 27, 2017 22:53:57 GMT
via mobile
Post by alison on Jul 27, 2017 22:53:57 GMT
Oh, exciting! A show I haven't seen, with a score I know and like some of, and one of my favourite actors (Jamie Muscato). Count me in.
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Post by alison on Jul 24, 2017 17:33:07 GMT
Good actor, charismatic, and very easy on the eye ... I'm on board that train. Also gives very good hugs. You've had a hug from Johnny B? Hurrumph. You may leave this forum now. Collect your things on the way out. You needn't come back. First preview of The Last 5 Years at St James last year. I would say sorry, but I'm really not.
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Post by alison on Jul 24, 2017 12:15:12 GMT
Bat Out of Hell for me again on Thursday evening, with the possibility of something else in the afternoon.
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Post by alison on Jul 24, 2017 12:14:28 GMT
I think it would be clever if Chris Chibnall manages to squeeze in a guest star from 'Broadchurch' into each episode every week. Like Johnny Bailey. And Johnny Bailey. And Johnny Bailey. And Johnny Bailey. Oh and perhaps Johnny Bailey. Good actor, charismatic, and very easy on the eye ... I'm on board that train. Also gives very good hugs.
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Post by alison on Jul 13, 2017 21:27:40 GMT
Absolutely LOVED it... was always going to be an easy sell for me as the original album holds so many memories, the music takes me straight back to a time when I was young and full of hope and a place where I met some of my dearest friends. Anyway, sentiment aside.... great voices on stage and a front row perch that removed me from the hearing zone of all but one of the sing-a-longers and I was a happy camper. As a regular theatre-goer, I was very much in the minority, with everyone I spoke to asking how many times I'd seen Meatloaf live... um, that would be none! But it was the same music that drew us all there, and I was just one of many smiling faces inching up the aisle after the show. I'd quite like to go again, but can't justify that ticket price more than once and don't think I'd want to see it from anywhere else now I've seen it from there! If you'd be willing to sit slightly further back in the stalls, they do £25 day seats Mon-Thurs. I got row G stalls on Monday night at 6:00, and the view was great.
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Post by alison on Jul 9, 2017 18:50:21 GMT
I caught Saturdays matinee performance of Kinky Boots, it wasn't intended but due to change of plan had Saturday afternoon free with some family who were staying. We got some great dress circle seats from TKTS at a good price. I remember reading that it was Matt Henry's last day so I was looking forward to seeing the show again for the third time. They show was amazing as ever and my family loved it. Nice touches too as it was Pride with the flags and Pride Kinky Boots t shirt at the end. Matt was sensational and got huge ovation with the 11 O'clock number. Everyone in the dress was on their feet at the end. The only sad thing was how many empty seats there were. I don't know what it was like in the stalls but there were whole rows of empty seats in the dress circle, probably only about 2/3 full. We were probably pretty close together, given I also picked up my dress circle seat from TKTS not long before the show. I was in C16 (well, officially, I moved over one for a bit more legroom with no one in the seats beside me).
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Post by alison on Jul 9, 2017 8:52:45 GMT
I ended up going to the matinee yesterday, and Hold Me in Your Heart just about stopped the show then, too. Matt was visibly emotional at that point so I'm not surprised there was crying involved in the evening.
And yes, for anyone who was worried, the muck ups were subtle. There may well have been more that I didn't catch, since I haven't seen the show in a while, but if I missed them then they can't have been that intrusive either.
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Post by alison on Jul 7, 2017 15:02:41 GMT
So tempted but can't afford it this month - hope all the cheap seats don't go too quickly!
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Post by alison on Jul 3, 2017 15:29:23 GMT
I need to go again on a Ben Purkiss day so that I've seen all three Strats; Mon pm and Sat mat yeah? Most weeks, yes. This week he's doing tonight and Thursday matinee apparently. He's pretty good at posting his dates on Twitter.
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Post by alison on Jun 29, 2017 19:24:51 GMT
They've definitely recorded it, we've seen the studio photos. It was during the Manchester run though, so they seem to be tweaking things based on the changes in London (not much musically, actually - Out Of the Frying Pan is easily the biggest change, although I suppose they might not have recorded Making Love Out of Nothing At All since it was cut early in Manchester then put back in for London).
The latest rumour I've heard is mid-July for release.
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Post by alison on Jun 28, 2017 19:49:00 GMT
Yep, I had the same email yesterday, and same problem. 48 hours' notice and must call between 9-5 - haha, get lost!
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Post by alison on Jun 25, 2017 10:09:55 GMT
Andrew did the evening show last night, Ben did the matinee. I think Andrew's been a bit under the weather this week - he wasn't on at all on Thursday. Here's hoping he gets a good couple of days rest (he's not doing WEL today, and Ben's scheduled to play Strat tomorrow).
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Post by alison on Jun 23, 2017 21:34:23 GMT
Could I have the audio link too please?
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Post by alison on Jun 19, 2017 19:47:04 GMT
Now... I know you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet (except off-of TheatreBoard of course...) Listening to DEH videos on YouTube and on the Tony performance someone commented how cute it was that Ben Platt lifts his leg and arms up in sync to be quirky with his character. Someone then commented to say he does that as it helps him belt the high notes due to a trapped nerve. Even as I type I can see most of you rolling your eyes... but surely this is too random to be made up!? It definitely was mentioned as something that he does in an article about him before the Tonys though. Let me see if I can find it. Edit: Here's the article in question, it's about halfway down: www.nytimes.com/2017/05/10/theater/how-ben-platt-beame-the-toast-of-broadway-dear-evan-hansen-tony-awards.html"Ms. Caplan massaged the muscles around his larynx and had him put peppermint oil in his nose. “We need to Roto-Rooter out his sinuses,” she said. They went through a series of exercises that gradually grew more intense, his range expanding and volume rising. “Use the knees,” she said. “Let the hip flexors help you.” As he started to belt more, he lifted one leg and bent at the knee, to relieve pressure on the vagus nerve and, as Ms. Caplan described it, “keep the neck and upper body from straining and separating.” “We’re putting notes into his body in a positive, non-stressed way,” she said. “So then when he’s onstage in those unhealthy positions, he’ll be able to access them.” It’s a gesture you see him repeat in the show, most notably in the second-act aria, “Words Fail,” in which he confesses to the Murphys that everything he’s told them is a lie. He’s standing before them, hunched and sobbing. It seems an impossible posture from which to project a song, but he’s incorporated the leg-lifting into his character so that it reads to the audience like a bodily expression of intolerable emotion. “There are all these other little places where I lean back and fill my diaphragm, and then go back into it,” he said. “Or, because I’m crying so hard, spaces where I know I can swallow the mucus that’s coming down. We put all these little things in place, and now they’re just there, they’re second nature, so I can just let it fly.”"
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