2,452 posts
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Post by theatremadness on Feb 16, 2017 11:31:20 GMT
I love Omid Djalili. He's not Jewish but he certainly acts a good Jew, and has more than enough knowledge of Judaism to carry it off. He played Fagin at Drury Lane, remember, and was brilliant, by all accounts - even if Mackintosh had to tell him to quit doing bits of "Yentel" in the show. Yes indeed Monkey, he absolutely was! I remember we went on a family trip to see it (I was at school with one of the ensemble kids in the show) and at stage door afterwards he was a really, really wonderful man, too. There was a great audio clip on YouTube (not sure if it's still there) of his final performance of Pick A Pocket and one of the kids pulled out a large pair of briefs from Fagin's trousers and exclaimed "Cor, Fagin! They stink!" and Omid, as Fagin, replied "Well so would you if you spent 6 months next to my bollocks!". I believe the parents weren't all that pleased....!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2017 11:42:39 GMT
Looks like this is going to mark my first trip to Chichester, all being well. I've wanted to see this on Broadway but didn't get the chance. I'm sure going by their previous outputs this should be good.
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Post by synchrony on Feb 16, 2017 12:46:25 GMT
Oh, absolutely emicardiff, theatre is totally subjective and it's great that classic shows are revived for new generations. For me, however, being somewhat "cough" older, I remember seeing Topol on stage!! I saw Topol and don't consider myself old! (Although did see him in the revival in 1994 rather than the original in 1983 ;-) ). I LOVE "Fiddler on the Roof" and watched the VHS repeatedly as a teenager.
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7,534 posts
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Post by alece10 on Feb 16, 2017 12:47:16 GMT
Don't like him, don't like the show. Dated and depressing. Agree on both points
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2017 13:27:14 GMT
(Psst, theatremadness , it's being staged in the Festival Theatre, not the Minerva.) Cracking series of posts though, I mean I can see some similarities with Parade (mainly the anti-semitism, also a husband and wife realising how much they mean to each other), but agree with you that both shows are about much more than that so it's hardly a like-for-like suggestion for something that should've been programmed instead. Anyway!
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Post by BGLowe on Feb 16, 2017 13:50:06 GMT
So interested in this! As a non Londoner how easy is it to get to Chichester? I normally go to London and do 2 shows in a day - would this be impossible visiting here? Apologies for my complete lack of knowledge!
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18,837 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Feb 16, 2017 13:51:45 GMT
(Psst, theatremadness , it's being staged in the Festival Theatre, not the Minerva.) Cracking series of posts though, I mean I can see some similarities with Parade (mainly the anti-semitism, also a husband and wife realising how much they mean to each other), but agree with you that both shows are about much more than that so it's hardly a like-for-like suggestion for something that should've been programmed instead. Anyway! Indeed. If it were like for like, Parade would be called Fiddler On The Roof. Anyway!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2017 13:53:21 GMT
So interested in this! As a non Londoner how easy is it to get to Chichester? I normally go to London and do 2 shows in a day - would this be impossible visiting here? Apologies for my complete lack of knowledge! Chichester is theoretically a simple enough train ride from Victoria (changing in the region of Brighton). If you're just doing a matinee at Chichester, it's usually easy enough to get back to London in the evening, but if you're doing an evening show, you do run the risk of missing the last train. I usually drive, as there is theoretically plenty of reasonably priced parking, and I have friends who take a hotel for the night, both of which are definitely less stressful for travel!
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68 posts
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Post by BGLowe on Feb 16, 2017 13:58:07 GMT
So interested in this! As a non Londoner how easy is it to get to Chichester? I normally go to London and do 2 shows in a day - would this be impossible visiting here? Apologies for my complete lack of knowledge! Chichester is theoretically a simple enough train ride from Victoria (changing in the region of Brighton). If you're just doing a matinee at Chichester, it's usually easy enough to get back to London in the evening, but if you're doing an evening show, you do run the risk of missing the last train. I usually drive, as there is theoretically plenty of reasonably priced parking, and I have friends who take a hotel for the night, both of which are definitely less stressful for travel! Thanks for this - lots to think about!
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2,452 posts
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Post by theatremadness on Feb 16, 2017 13:59:48 GMT
(Psst, theatremadness , it's being staged in the Festival Theatre, not the Minerva.) Cracking series of posts though, I mean I can see some similarities with Parade (mainly the anti-semitism, also a husband and wife realising how much they mean to each other), but agree with you that both shows are about much more than that so it's hardly a like-for-like suggestion for something that should've been programmed instead. Anyway! Ah ha! Thanks, misread whatever it is I read about it, whatever point I made about it being commercial or whatever obviously a bit invalid, but yes! Onwards
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377 posts
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Post by Nelly on Feb 16, 2017 14:23:04 GMT
This is interesting! I do love me a bit of Fiddler on the Roof. Not sure how I'm feeling about Omid's casting, but I'm sure he can pull it off. Will definitely be looking at booking this.
For the record, I don't find it dated etc. I agree with the comments on it being relevant and I do love the score.
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3,476 posts
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Post by showgirl on Feb 16, 2017 14:23:52 GMT
Direct trains from Victoria twice hourly; only reason to change at Brighton is in event of disruption. However, industrial disputes with drivers & guards continue on Southern, so beware if relying on train travel.
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Post by firefingers on Feb 16, 2017 14:47:24 GMT
Guessing this is likely to be eying a limited run in the West End.
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377 posts
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Post by Nelly on Feb 16, 2017 14:51:25 GMT
Guessing this is likely to be eying a limited run in the West End. You'd have thought so. Always does well. The last production of it I saw was the production at the Savoy with Henry Goodman. He was fantastic.
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Post by Mr Snow on Feb 16, 2017 15:48:19 GMT
So interested in this! As a non Londoner how easy is it to get to Chichester? I normally go to London and do 2 shows in a day - would this be impossible visiting here? Apologies for my complete lack of knowledge! Chicester itself is in a lovely area if you could make a weekend of it. I like Bosham and the Witterings and Porsmouth has much of interest too. Hotels not that cheapest though.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2017 16:25:28 GMT
Guessing this is likely to be eying a limited run in the West End. Will there be many theatres available though? I doubt they would want to go to a big theatre so might have to settle for more of a Playhouse? Would Omid and Tracy sell in London too?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2017 17:09:17 GMT
Was rather taken by Daniel Evans' Showboat, so I reckon he could work his magic with this one. Ashamed to say I don't know Fiddler, so I'll be giving this one a go in the summer.
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3,784 posts
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Post by anthony40 on Feb 16, 2017 17:24:44 GMT
Awe, I have a bit of a soft spot for Fiddler and everything it stands for.
I really love Tevya and the fact, despite being a little mischevious, he has good intentions and us basically a nice guy.
The themes of Fiddler resonate with me on a personal level too with some issues I was going through many years back.
I was involved back stage in an Am Dram production back in Australia and played one of the youngest Pappa's in a semi-professional production also in Australia. Grew a beard and everything.
Oi Vie! Tradition!
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 16, 2017 17:48:48 GMT
Yes, Showboat was fabulous...but then it is a show that is revived a little less often than Fiddler.
There are probably about a dozen shows that are classics and box office and get revived frequently - such as The Sound of Music, Oliver, My Fair Lady, Annie, Oklahoma, Carousel, The King and I. It's just that once you have seen them several (or more) times - enough is enough. Other shows are more risky box office wise, but Chichester has a strong reputation for musicals and a staunch local following. So why not revive Mame, Camelot, Anything Goes, Gigi, Brigadoon... the list goes on. Not unknown shows - I'm not saying they should do Where's Charley or High Spirits - shows no-one has ever heard of.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2017 18:08:12 GMT
For me no one does revivals as well as Chichester at the moment but it does seem a shame they are doing a show that has been done quite recently. Id love a Me and my girl revival at Chichester
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Post by wickedgrin on Feb 16, 2017 18:20:35 GMT
I suspect getting the rights to shows is a nightmare and must restrict hugely what they can produce.
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1,119 posts
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Post by martin1965 on Feb 16, 2017 18:52:38 GMT
I was hoping for Camelot but that is so rarely revived, maybe there is a rights issue.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2017 22:22:33 GMT
Also, Fiddler is a GREAT show. I've long had a dream of the National doing it in the Olivier. Can you imagine a beginning with the cast coming down the centre aisle, led by a solo fiddler playing the overture, up onto the stage. He does a forward roll while playing (old vaudeville trick), hits his mark and Anatevka rises out of the stage floor to make him the "Fiddler On The Roof." Then at the end, the stage lighting divides in two - half red, white and blue, as some head for America, and half yellow, with dry ice, as the rest head for the concentration camps and gas chamber. Truthful and dramatic, I'd hope. Jesus, I hope this is a joke because that sounds AWFUL lol
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Post by Honoured Guest on Feb 16, 2017 23:11:04 GMT
Yes, Fiddler is a great classic show. However, it is not one of my favourites, and like most classic shows I have seen it umpteen times and would have preferred something that isn't revived quite as often. Please remind us how often it has been revived in Chichester.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Feb 16, 2017 23:16:34 GMT
Id love a Me and my girl revival at Chichester Daniel Evans did that as his first Crucible Christmas musical and it could risk being stale if he revisited it.
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Post by Mr Snow on Feb 17, 2017 8:35:24 GMT
I was hoping for Camelot but that is so rarely revived, maybe there is a rights issue. Saw this at The Open Air Theatre a few year’s ago. What a disappointment. Love L&L and somewhere in it there's the great tragic part of the King who can't hold it all together, but it's a last run out for classic sexist nonsense. Spent the whole time squirming.... Pal Joey never gets a mention and I REALLY enjoyed the Kings Head Pub production that transferred to the WE years ago. Made a star of Dennis Lawson and Sian Phillips was fantastic. But I recall Hytner saying it's book was unsolvable? Funny I saw the same production 5 times and it made sense to me.
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Post by mallardo on Feb 17, 2017 8:57:39 GMT
Pal Joey never gets a mention and I REALLY enjoyed the Kings Head Pub production that transferred to the WE years ago. Made a star of Dennis Lawson and Sian Phillips was fantastic. But I recall Hytner saying it's book was unsolvable? Funny I saw the same production 5 times and it made sense to me.
I saw the last Broadway incarnation of Pal Joey with Stockard Channing in the lead and, alas, I'm afraid I agree with Hytner. There was some song swapping and character combining trying to make things more playable but it ultimately floundered. Perhaps if there had been a truly charismatic Joey it would have helped but the character seems impossible to solve. Of course, Gene Kelly created the role and was apparently sensational in it but no one else has been able to find what he found in it. Still. it's a fascinating failure.
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Post by thebearofwestend on Feb 17, 2017 10:39:30 GMT
If only there was a recent broadway production . And if only if the actor who played the main part could do it again
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Post by Honoured Guest on Feb 17, 2017 11:25:32 GMT
I REALLY enjoyed the Kings Head Pub production that transferred to the WE years ago. Made a star of Dennis Lawson But Denis Lawson isn't enough of a star that his fans can spell his name correctly.
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Post by ctas on May 3, 2017 22:40:47 GMT
Cast now on the CFT website. Some great picks there.
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