24 posts
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Post by bobwordsmith on Apr 14, 2019 11:57:19 GMT
Saw this again a few nights ago and it was even better this time. (Saw it previously in previews and also saw it twice in New York.) Really love this show! Hilariously funny and heartbreakingly moving in places - wonderful writing by James Lapine and William Finn's score is packed with his usual biting wit, subtlety of emotion and beautiful melodies. (Days later I am still walking around with some of the songs in my head!)
And every member of the Arcola cast delivers a brilliant performance. If I lived in London I would definitely be back again. Will have to settle for seeing it somewhere on tour instead .
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2019 12:53:28 GMT
Going to wait until it hits Brum in the summer as I am sure there will be deals.Excited to see this with my daughter and thanks for the positive thumbs-up on this show.Really impressed that Selladoor are branching out into less mainstream fare such as this and Amelie.
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Apr 14, 2019 15:32:18 GMT
There's already a special offer (2 4 1) on tickets at one of the touring venues. Is it permissible to post the promotion code here ?
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Post by theatre241 on Apr 14, 2019 16:21:43 GMT
Yes please!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2019 16:26:36 GMT
I really enjoyed this at the Arcola. It's very slight, and I can only really remember one of the songs (obviously the one that you should least like to find yourself singing in public), but the cast were terrific and I'd consider seeing it again on tour if the price is right. I think the second half was far stronger than the first, so if you're wavering at the interval, you may as well hang in there.
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Post by theatre241 on Apr 14, 2019 16:49:32 GMT
How do you think it will adapt for a bigger stage?
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1,907 posts
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Post by sf on Apr 14, 2019 16:51:15 GMT
Lapine wrote the books for Sunday, Woods and Passion and then without uncle Steve this happens. I find it unbelievable that this has come from the same pen Lapine had worked with William Finn before he worked with Sondheim - he directed the original production of March of the Falsettos - and he has a co-writing credit on Falsettoland and A New Brain. Those shows are terrific, and Finn at his best is a unique, distinctive talent; I do think, though, that Lapine is better at structure than at dialogue, and that he's a better director than writer. I'm seeing this in a couple of weeks. I'm familiar with some of the music, I'm not absolutely sure this particular film needs to be made into a musical, and the people involved are interesting enough that I'm willing to give it a shot.
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Apr 14, 2019 18:27:04 GMT
2 for 1 offer for Little Miss Sunshine at the Churchill Theatre Bromley. Valid all performances Thu 16 - Sat 18 May. Use code LMSUNSHINE when booking online, at box office or over the phone. Offer valid till 23.59 on 30/4/2019.
Churchill is first venue of the tour. I saw this show at the Arcola and enjoyed it very much but I think it's going to struggle sales-wise at some of the (sizeable) venues booked. Sincerely hope I'm wrong.
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Post by xanady on Apr 15, 2019 7:41:05 GMT
paul26,thanks for this.I think it might discount throughout the tour as it is not a very well known piece
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1,907 posts
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Post by sf on Apr 26, 2019 17:36:35 GMT
Saw this last night.
Charming show, although it's minor William Finn. Lovely performances. Some quibbles with the direction (I understand the constraints involved in working in a smaller space, but it makes no sense to use the truck unit for the VW all the way through Act One, then NOT use it in Act Two until the very last scene). The girl who played Olive was an absolute star.
The overall experience... oy. Box office staff surly - basic courtesies like 'please' and 'thank-you' are not optional - and the woman on the door to the auditorium was downright rude (she told me to go back outside, pushing my way through a long line of people behind me, to enter via a door from the outside; there'd been no instruction to this effect on the ticket itself, and the request was not made politely).
There were cigarette ends on the floor of the auditorium near my seat. The view from my seat - D1 - was not worth the price I paid for it, based on the prices of seats elsewhere in the auditorium; the £10 restricted view seats in the balcony would have had a less restricted view than the seat I sat in.
The cubicle I used in the Gents before the show was filthy - a urine-up-the-walls nightmare that made me want never to touch anything ever again.
And at £5 the programme for this production is an absolute ripoff - a glossily printed but VERY thin booklet including the cast bios, some rehearsal photos, an indecently short interview with James Lapine, and short articles - not credited to any particular author, which isn't surprising because anybody with any integrity would be ashamed to own up to it - about the VW Type 2 and adapting films into stage musicals that seem to be based more or less entirely stuff the anonymous authors remembered from a ten-minute trawl of Wikipedia several months ago. The author of the VW article doesn't know how to use an apostrophe, the author of the article about screen-to-stage adaptations seems to have somehow formed the impression that Maury Yeston's 'Nine' premiered in 1973, and the person responsible for putting the programme together clearly couldn't be bothered to proofread it.
I did enjoy the show; every other part of the experience, I'm afraid, was unacceptably poor.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2019 11:57:37 GMT
Anyone know who's meant to be taking over from Laura and Gary for the tour? If they announced them, it'd definitely help with ticket sales.
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Post by xanady on Apr 27, 2019 12:25:01 GMT
sf,sounds like the theatre you saw this at need to get their act together.
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Post by Mr Snow on Apr 28, 2019 21:08:10 GMT
Not a bad night out but....I couldn't hum you a single song from this.
Well cast and directed it followed the film plot more closely than just about any adaptation from one form to another, that I've ever seen.
Also - spoiler alert - did we imagine it or was the ending far more upbeat than the Film, which seemed to be far more nuanced?
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18,801 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on May 1, 2019 17:45:40 GMT
Tour cast
Mark Moraghan ('Coronation Street', 'Holby City', '9 to 5'), Lucy O’Byrne ('Evita', 'Les Misérables', 'The Sound of Music'), Paul Keating ('Little Shop of Horrors', 'The Full Monty'), and Gabriel Vick ('Sunny Afternoon', 'Les Misérables' stage & film, 'EastEnders').
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1,316 posts
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Post by tmesis on May 11, 2019 17:48:45 GMT
I really enjoyed this today. True it's not a particularly memorable score but it's very effective with witty lyrics. Excellent cast - they struggled a bit with pitching in the quite complex ensembles but otherwise excellent. Olive was sensational. It was a very clever, inventive production, using the tiny Arcola stage to great advantage. Also excellent sound-balance (are you listening Southwark Playhouse?) The audience lapped it up.
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1,103 posts
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Post by mallardo on May 12, 2019 16:59:41 GMT
I was at the final Arcola matinee of this - wonderful to see the place so packed - and wanted to love it but... no. James Lapine has a note in the programme re not all movies are suitable for being turned into musicals. Alas, his own show is one of those. To me it never made the case for adding songs.
The cast is good but, frustratingly, the show doesn't allow anyone to really shine except little ten year old Olive, Lily Mae Denman at this performance. The highlight, easily, is the pageant itself, played to the hilt by Ms Denman and by two of the supporting players, the hilarious Ian Carlyle and Imelda Warren-Green. The fact that the pageant is at the end means the show goes out on a high - always good - and might account for the wildly enthusiastic audience response at the curtain. Or maybe everyone - but me - genuinely loved it.
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4,631 posts
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Post by Phantom of London on May 12, 2019 17:26:33 GMT
Saw this last night too and this didn’t knock it out of the park for also, the book seems problematic and mostly set in a Volkswagen tourer, in the film you can make this more interesting with different locations, this cannot happen with theatre, this didn’t help when leaden with unmemorable songs.
2 Stars
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2019 18:10:08 GMT
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90 posts
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Post by gazzaw13 on May 12, 2019 18:45:39 GMT
I was at the final Arcola matinee of this - wonderful to see the place so packed - and wanted to love it but... no. James Lapine has a note in the programme re not all movies are suitable for being turned into musicals. Alas, his own show is one of those. To me it never made the case for adding songs. The cast is good but, frustratingly, the show doesn't allow anyone to really shine except little ten year old Olive, Lily Mae Denman at this performance. The highlight, easily, is the pageant itself, played to the hilt by Ms Denman and by two of the supporting players, the hilarious Ian Carlyle and Imelda Warren-Green. The fact that the pageant is at the end means the show goes out on a high - always good - and might account for the wildly enthusiastic audience response at the curtain. Or maybe everyone - but me - genuinely loved it. I agree that the audience reaction is more likely based on the ending than what went before. For me, it didn't gel even though Laura was excellent (as always) and Gary Wilmot was fun. Agree 100% re the supporting cast - Imelda W-G was hysterical. Prefer to remember the movie.
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1,718 posts
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Post by stevejohnson678 on May 29, 2019 22:01:32 GMT
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578 posts
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Post by lou105 on Jun 5, 2019 7:22:37 GMT
Caught this on tour last night. A fun evening, though I can't remember any of the songs really. The main change, I think, is that the three "Mean Girls" are played by adults on the tour, which was OK in their Greek chorus bits but slightly odd when Olive competes against them in the pageant. The tour mum and grandad were good, I thought, and the audience seemed to be enjoying themselves. I think this will get decent word of mouth, but they've been having to put offers in place to sell it at my local, and I don't know how that will pan out on a long tour. Worth a look.
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4,591 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jun 5, 2019 7:47:36 GMT
The adult 'girls' sounds most jarring and as i didn't think it was half decent to begin with. Ahh well.
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170 posts
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Post by musicalfloozie on Jul 2, 2019 11:23:57 GMT
Front row for Sheffield are on sale for £15.00 if anyone interested, I wasnt bothered about going but for £15 I don't mind giving it a shot.
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528 posts
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Post by drowseychap on Jul 9, 2019 20:05:42 GMT
Birmingham next week all tickets £10 via travelzoo offer to good to miss booked some to give it a go
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Post by xanady on Jul 17, 2019 21:32:32 GMT
Just out of the show tonight.Incredible deal for front stalls for me and the fam.A very sparse crowd.Couple of hundred if that? A very heartwarming show.Simple staging but effective.Have never seen the movie so can’t compare.Really strong,tightly-knit cast sold it to me.Selladoor have produced another winner imo,but this will struggle to sell,sadly.
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793 posts
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Post by stuartmcd on Jul 17, 2019 21:51:46 GMT
Saw it tonight as well. Sadly the theatre was very empty. Overall I enjoyed the story and it has made me want to watch the movie. It was funny and dealt with a whole range of issues and emotions. I thought it particularly picked up in Act 2. I thought the cast on the whole was also very strong. However the music is completely forgettable and weak. I don’t know if there’s much more to say. It just isn’t a good score.
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528 posts
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Post by drowseychap on Jul 18, 2019 19:35:40 GMT
Just on interval we are all enjoying it not gonna set the world on fire or run for years like the big shows but that’s not what you always want .... a good little show with heart and great talented cast
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528 posts
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Post by drowseychap on Jul 19, 2019 1:31:54 GMT
Ok so second half moves alot quicker show ended at 9.30 so short for a musical ...did I come out humming a song ? No . can I remember a song ? no Can I remember how I felt in the moment watching the show hell yes did it make me laugh? yes move me emotionally yes did I have a good evening at the theatre yes isn’t that sometimes all we need 👍😊
was the theatre full ? No half full ? No , quarter probably did it sound full by the applause at the end Yes did the audience fall in love with little miss sunshine well we did and by the applause I would say most of the audience did Hugely talented cast as others have said put everything into the performance. Simple effective set some great comedy moments and a tear or two deserves a bigger audience and better marketing for us 7/10
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Post by xanady on Jul 19, 2019 22:47:19 GMT
A longer review from Brum this week...think we got Evie Gibson as little Olive and she was very good.Incredibly well-rehearsed and surrounded by a truly wonderful cast including Paul Keating as Uncle Frank and Mark Moraghan as the Bad Grandpa.Imelda Warren-Green was hilarious in two OTT extended cameos.Clever and adaptable design for the yellow van used in the road trip with a great use of physical theatre.The ‘dead body’ and pageant scenes were a master-class in comic timing.Sparse audience but everybody seemed to leave with a big smile on their faces.About 100 minutes in total and running on tour until late September.Really ticked the boxes for me.Great fun,easy to follow and very clear that the cast and band were enjoying themselves just as much as the audience. 4 stars.
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299 posts
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Post by macksennett on Jul 20, 2019 13:36:50 GMT
Any songs from this available to listen to online?
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