4,309 posts
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Post by Being Alive on Sept 1, 2019 13:29:50 GMT
Well, on the flip side of the above - I really enjoyed this!
I knew nothing going in, and it was the cast that sold me, and none of them disappointed in any way. We all know that Sharon D Clark is an insane talent (apart from the woman behind me who only knew her from Holby City) and she just gets a wonderful chance to show it here. She is vocally superb, but also manages to find real drama and emotion in an almost non existent book - her Act 2 showstopper really is a masterclass. Thought Debbie Kurup, Clive Rowe and Gemma Sutton we’re also all very good (it’s very different to anything I’ve seen Gemma do before but she more than held her own I felt). It’s a beautiful set, that almost took my breath away when I first saw it - really wonderful to look at. And a big shout out to the 5 piece band who manage to make it sound like there are three times more than that many players.
There is very little plot, but the thread that there is works nicely. For the £10 I paid with the Young Persons ticket, I more than get my money’s worth.
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1,895 posts
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Post by sf on Sept 1, 2019 16:33:04 GMT
In the latter regard Gemma Sutton was truly awful, over-emoting at every opportunity. She gave a quite shocking performance of Vernon Duke's wonderful 'Taking a Chance on Love' - a song that is so immaculate that, as greats like Sinatra have shown us, you need to to do very little to pull it off. She distorted the melody ridiculously and her intonation completely suffered to point where she was singing in a different key to the band at the end. I liked her more than you did - but yes, that's exactly the difference between Sutton and Maria Friedman in the original London production (and on the cast album). Friedman didn't mess around with it, and didn't try to pretend to be anything she wasn't; her performance is one I've listened to a lot over the years, and she's terrific. Gemma Sutton tried way too hard, and less would have been (much) more. if she'd trusted the song, and trusted her voice, and thrown out all the mannered ornamentations she added (or was directed to add), her performance would have been about a thousand percent better.
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1,310 posts
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Post by tmesis on Sept 1, 2019 18:35:52 GMT
sf I have been previously impressed with Gemma Sutton, having seen her in quite a few productions including Follies, The Rink and Sweet Charity but frankly she was poor in all of her songs (not necessarily her fault since she was presumably encouraged in her approach by the director and M.D) but honestly most of her efforts sounded like a bad audition for Dreamgirls.
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Post by Fleance on Sept 1, 2019 18:57:12 GMT
I loved this concert/"play." My only quibble was that I did not like the arrangement of "Taking a Chance on Love." I've heard many better jazz arrangements of that great song.
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