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Post by The Lost on Feb 2, 2018 19:42:38 GMT
Sad to see lots of the TCAABR lot moving on, I feel like this show has had far more cast changes than it should have, but I guess there've been a few people leave and join at times other than the annual cast change. Thrilled most of all that Holly Sumpton is staying on, mainly because I majorly fancy her but I will definitely try and catch the last show for everyone else. I wonder if anyone can tell me ( Dawnstar perhaps), was Leonard Cook original cast of TPTGW? I think I saw him as Trevor in the show's first year, and then as one of the leads the year after, possibly in Henry Lewis' role? And then he left, and came back again... I think? It's so hard to keep track of where everyone drifts off too, they really need a Mischief Theatre historical list of productions and casts like they have for Wicked. I definitely saw him as front of house at the Lyric Theatre a year or so back too, but I'm not too sure that counts
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 2, 2018 20:09:30 GMT
Sad to see lots of the TCAABR lot moving on, I feel like this show has had far more cast changes than it should have, but I guess there've been a few people leave and join at times other than the annual cast change. Thrilled most of all that Holly Sumpton is staying on, mainly because I majorly fancy her but I will definitely try and catch the last show for everyone else. I wonder if anyone can tell me ( Dawnstar perhaps), was Leonard Cook original cast of TPTGW? I think I saw him as Trevor in the show's first year, and then as one of the leads the year after, possibly in Henry Lewis' role? And then he left, and came back again... I think? It's so hard to keep track of where everyone drifts off too, they really need a Mischief Theatre historical list of productions and casts like they have for Wicked. I definitely saw him as front of house at the Lyric Theatre a year or so back too, but I'm not too sure that counts Holly & Mark Hammersly joined as understudies during the original cast run & then there was a semi-cast change at the end of November with 4 cast members leaving so yes, I guess there have been more cast changes than your average West End show with its once a year cast change. Leonard was an understudy in the original West End cast, covering Trevor, Dennis, Jonathan & Chris (I saw him go on for all but Chris). He then got promoted to full-time Robert for the second West End cast. He left for the duration of the third cast's run, which was when he was ushering at the Lyric, before returning to play Robert again with the fourth cast. Incidentally Chris Leask also did a stint of Lyric ushering between his TCAABR appearances. There was a period of maybe about 9 months where I couldn't go & see Showstopper without bumping into one or the other of them! If there's interest I can put together a run-down of all the casts of the Mischief shows, as I've seen them all.
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 15, 2018 0:07:01 GMT
Dave Hearn was back in TCAABR tonight due to Sam Fogell being off injured & Jack Whittle on for Warren. I did a very last minute dash down to London. It was great to see Dave as Sam again. Not to in any way denigrate replacement casts but there's something about seeing original cast members in all the Mischief shows. They always make everything look so natural & right. It was my first time seeing Jack as Warren & I thought he did a good job, especially as the character is 3 times his real age!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2018 20:58:10 GMT
Dave! I adore him. Was it an emergency cover situation?
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 15, 2018 21:29:37 GMT
Dave! I adore him. Was it an emergency cover situation? Yes. Sam Fogell is injured, Niall Ransome on leave & Jack Whittle needed as Warren. Jack has tweeted that he's back to Sam tonight so I don't know if they've recalled Niall for Warren or what. Basically the whole thing stems from Mark Hammersly getting injured at the beginning of January so the cast has been 1 man down since. (We're kind of doing this discussion on the wrong thread! Don't know if mods can move?)
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Post by martello736 on Apr 14, 2018 23:44:06 GMT
If there's interest I can put together a run-down of all the casts of the Mischief shows, as I've seen them all. I know this was a while ago but I would definitely find this very interesting! EDIT: Oops, tried to delete the rest of the two posts and messed it up, but I think it's clear I was trying to quote you Dawnstar I saw the show tonight for the first time with the new cast, I thought it was in really strong shape overall and was just as funny as the first time I saw it. Jack Whittle was on for Sam (and was on the last time I saw the show too) but other than that it was a full cast. It was great to see Leonard Cook and Chris Leask in Mischief again, both are fantastic in their respective roles. Leonard had big shoes to fill as Sean Kearns was a really good Freeboys, but I think he lived up to his performance even if he didn't quite manage to pass for the right age as effectively. Jenna Augen was good as Ruth but she doesn't quite have Tania Mathurin's presence or vocals, and as a result I felt that I didn't really connect with her character until the final scene. Peter McGovern and Jack Baldwin as Warren and Shuck were really good, Peter's head slamming in the bank scene in act 2 didn't seem very realistic but I think he actually hit his head at one point so it makes sense he was being careful after that. I can't say I was massively keen on Matt Hunt as Mitch, his diction was very variable and especially at the beginning jokes weren't landing as they should have and it was a struggle to decipher a lot of what he was saying. This improved later on but there were still lines frequently lost to mumbling. I preferred Samson Ajewole's Cooper to his predecessor (not sure of his name), he was great at playing up the stupidity, and I think having a POC as Cooper adds to the hilarity of the Three Boys Freeboys scene when nobody can tell apart three people who look nothing alike. Jack Whittle is a great Sam and doesn't at all appear like an understudy. His chemistry with Holly Sumpton is fantastic and really natural too, the two of them bounce off each other brilliantly and their scenes are the highlight of the show for me. Holly Sumpton was my favourite cast member last time and definitely remains so this time. Her comedic timing is second to none and she's so captivating when she's onstage that it's hard to watch anyone else. She really owns every scene she's in and her physicality is brilliant, I was aching from laughing so hard in the scene where she mimes to Sam personal information about her dad. She seems to have a great voice from the little we hear of her singing a lullaby so I think she would be great as one of the Mischief Movie Night cast (I also only just realised that scene is a repeat of Nancy's character singing the Darling children to sleep over loud noises in PPGW). There were a couple of mishaps during the show. The old fashioned microphone they sing into during the musical interludes stopped working during Warren's first solo, so after that they used a regular handheld microphone for the rest of the show. I was really impressed at how effortlessly they solved the problem, although the sound balance was a little off and the singer tended to drown out the backing music and anything else going on onstage. There were a couple incidents of what appeared to be corpsing / ad-libbing during the show, they seemed organic but I'm not entirely convinced they were as years of panto have taught me that these interactions tend to be very carefully choreographed. When Chris was playing the very old man at Caprice's apartment (I forget his name) he broke character and said something about "made myself laugh there" and went to carry on before laughing again and saying "this is meant to be a short bit, damn it" or something along those lines. Jack (Whittle) also broke character and laughed during the "Simon" bird bit but I can't imagine that was natural as surely that bit wouldn't be funny any more after playing the role so many times. Really enjoyed the show on the whole and can't wait to see it again soon. Will have to book the tour when it comes near me as it'll be great to see totally different takes on all of the roles.
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Post by Dawnstar on Apr 15, 2018 12:59:11 GMT
EDIT: Oops, tried to delete the rest of the two posts and messed it up, but I think it's clear I was trying to quote you DawnstarI did compile a list at the time but didn't post it as I never got a reply to my post but I can do so. I'll just need to do a bit of an update as TPTGW & TCAABR have both had cast changes in the interim. I haven't said anything about the new cast, as I reckoned everyone is probably sick to death of me going on about TCAABR/Mischief in general, but I can't resist replying to a few of martello736's comments. martello736 I missed you by a few hours as I was at the matinee yesterday. It was great to see Leonard Cook and Chris Leask in Mischief again, both are fantastic in their respective roles. Leonard had big shoes to fill as Sean Kearns was a really good Freeboys, but I think he lived up to his performance even if he didn't quite manage to pass for the right age as effectively. I found it interesting that at the first cast change they tried to cast actors who were more age-appropriate for the characters as Freeboys, Shuck & Ruth but then went for younger actors this time round. Having seen 6 actors as Freeboys, 2 older & 4 younger, I really don't mind either way, since they've all been god at acting the role. Jenna Augen was good as Ruth but she doesn't quite have Tania Mathurin's presence or vocals, and as a result I felt that I didn't really connect with her character until the final scene. The first time I saw Jenna I got quite a shock, as her take on the role is very different, but having now seen her 4 times & so got used to her I'm really enjoying her performance. Yes, her voice is very different to Tania's & she sings noticebly higher harmonies in places in some of the ensembles numbers. I can't say I was massively keen on Matt Hunt as Mitch, his diction was very variable and especially at the beginning jokes weren't landing as they should have and it was a struggle to decipher a lot of what he was saying. This improved later on but there were still lines frequently lost to mumbling. That's interesting to read. I haven't found that personally but that may be because I know the show so well that my brain can automatically fill in any lines that my ears miss. I preferred Samson Ajewole's Cooper to his predecessor (not sure of his name), he was great at playing up the stupidity, and I think having a POC as Cooper adds to the hilarity of the Three Boys Freeboys scene when nobody can tell apart three people who look nothing alike. Assuming you last saw the show between 29th November and 25th Feberuary then it would have been Laurence Pears as Cooper. I personally find Samson's very outgoing Cooper almost a bit too much for the role. It doesn't seem realistic that someone so full of personality would allow himself to be bossed around so much by Mitch. Of course ever since the opening scene was re-written in previews there's been a problem with inconsistencies in Cooper's character - he says "I tell Tony everything" and is back-slapping & hugging the other guards but then in Act 2 says none of the other guards liked him - which can't help the actors who play him. Jack Whittle is a great Sam and doesn't at all appear like an understudy. His chemistry with Holly Sumpton is fantastic and really natural too, the two of them bounce off each other brilliantly and their scenes are the highlight of the show for me. I said almost exactly the same thing after yesterday's matinee. Usually if I see a show because of an understudy then I mostly focus on that character but I kept on kind of forgetting to focus on Jack because he blends in so well with the rest of the cast that one forgets he's an understudy. He has been on quite a few times, which must help, but I saw his second Sam show back in December & he was extremely good even then, though I do think his & Holly's chemistry has improved noticeably since then. I've also seen him on for both Warren & Mitch & he gave very good performances in both those roles but Sam is definitely the role he's naturally best suited to. In fact it's perhaps the best natural understudy-role match I've seen in this show since I saw Gareth Tempest understudying Mitch with the original cast & when Sam Fogell (who is also excellent in a very different way) leaves I really hope Jack gets promoted to lead. Yesterday was the first time I'd seen Jack's Sam opposite Matt's Mitch and I enjoyed seeing the contrast between the former's younger, more vulnerable & appealing Sam & the latter's older, hard-bitten Mitch. Holly Sumpton was my favourite cast member last time and definitely remains so this time. Her comedic timing is second to none and she's so captivating when she's onstage that it's hard to watch anyone else. She really owns every scene she's in and her physicality is brilliant, I was aching from laughing so hard in the scene where she mimes to Sam personal information about her dad. She seems to have a great voice from the little we hear of her singing a lullaby so I think she would be great as one of the Mischief Movie Night cast (I also only just realised that scene is a repeat of Nancy's character singing the Darling children to sleep over loud noises in PPGW). I saw her on for Ruth over a year ago, when she was 2nd cover with the original cast, and yes she does have a great voice. Obviously she's better suited to Caprice in terms of age but she gave a really good, sassy performance as Ruth. Yes, it is rather. I remember commenting when the show was new that one of Mischief's requirements for their female members seemed to be that they could sing loudly enough to be heard over power tools! There were a couple of mishaps during the show. The old fashioned microphone they sing into during the musical interludes stopped working during Warren's first solo, so after that they used a regular handheld microphone for the rest of the show. I was really impressed at how effortlessly they solved the problem Oh dear, I wonder what went wrong this time? They had the same problem a few months ago when apparently there was a flood in the restautant above which dripped down through the ceiling & damaged the microphone & the back-up so they had to spend a couple of weeks using a handheld mic. When Chris was playing the very old man at Caprice's apartment (I forget his name) Irving. If anyone other than me is keeping track of understudies, Chris made his Freeboys debut on Friday. It only took 2 years! (Okay, he wasn't in the show for 9 months of that.) I thought he did a very good job, though I found it kind of surreal seeing him in a different role after seeing him as Everyone Else somewhere in the region of 30 times & from what he said afterwards I think he found it strange at times too. Sorry, this has ended up rather longer than I intended.
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Post by martello736 on Apr 15, 2018 14:08:29 GMT
Thank you for replying and clarifying / sharing information Dawnstar , I won't quote your quote as that'll lead to a message that takes an hour to scroll through It's interesting to hear your thoughts and how much we agree on, especially with regards to Jack. It's a shame we just missed each other too. I didn't realise but now you point it out the character of Cooper is written quite inconsistently, hopefully that's something they will clear up in future revisions. It's almost definitely not possible to talk about Mischief too much so you shouldn't feel conscious about posting too much, it's a shame that the Mischief show threads aren't busier generally, more people should appreciate their brilliant work. I would definitely love to see the cast / production breakdowns, future comedy historians will thank you for immortalising Mischief's legacy
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Post by greeny11 on Apr 15, 2018 15:19:14 GMT
I revisited this show last Sunday, about a year since I'd last seen it - I'd forgotten just how funny it is a piece. I'm a big fan of The Play That Goes Wrong (which I'd seen at the matinee earlier), and this is equally funny. My two favourite parts are the part where Sam is pretending to be Caprice's father, then the 3 Freeboys mayhem in act 2. The cast were fantastic, I would point out standouts, but that involve mentioning every single person on that stage! We did have one understudy, Samuel Thomas for Everyone Else, who was very impressive.
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Post by Dawnstar on Apr 15, 2018 16:39:31 GMT
It's interesting to hear your thoughts and how much we agree on, especially with regards to Jack. It's a shame we just missed each other too. I didn't realise but now you point it out the character of Cooper is written quite inconsistently, hopefully that's something they will clear up in future revisions. I doubt it. Since it's not something that has been addressed in the intervening goodness-knows-how-many re-writes I can only assume the writers aren't bothered by it. It's almost definitely not possible to talk about Mischief too much so you shouldn't feel conscious about posting too much, it's a shame that the Mischief show threads aren't busier generally, more people should appreciate their brilliant work. I would definitely love to see the cast / production breakdowns, future comedy historians will thank you for immortalising Mischief's legacy I don't know if you were reading this thread since its inception but for large parts of the time but I have been pretty much doing a prolonged monologue! I'll put the TCAABR casts in a separate post below & put the TPTGW & PPGW casts on the relevent threads (if I can find the long-dormant PPGW thread!).
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Post by Dawnstar on Apr 15, 2018 16:46:00 GMT
As requested by martello736, the TCAABR casts so far. NB: I've listed both 1st & 2nd covers but, while all the 1st covers have been on (barring a couple in the current cast who undoubtedly will go on in the future), not all the 2nd covers went on. If anyone particulary wants to know who did & didn't go on then I can tell you. West End original cast 31st March 2016-5th February 2017 Mitch Ruscitti – Henry Shields Caprice Freeboys – Charlie Russell Sam Monaghan – Dave Hearn Robin Freeboys – Henry Lewis Warren Slax – Jonathan Sayer Neil Cooper – Greg Tannahill Ruth Monaghan – Nancy Zamit Officer Randall Shuck – Jeremy Lloyd Everyone Else – Chris Leask (also 2nd cover Freeboys) 1st cover Mitch/Sam/Warren/Everyone Else – Gareth Tempest 1st cover Freeboys/Cooper/Shuck/Everyone Else – Steven Rostance 1st cover Caprice/Ruth – Ellie Morris 2nd cover Warren/Sam/Cooper – Mark Hammersley* 2nd cover Caprice/Ruth – Holly Sumpton* *Mark Hammersley & Holly Sumpton joined the cast June 2016. West End second cast 7th February-28th November 2017 Mitch Ruscitti – Gareth Tempest Caprice Freeboys – Hannah-Kate Boyce Sam Monaghan – Steffan Lloyd-Evans Robin Freeboys – Sean Kearns Warren Slax – Mark Hammersley Neil Cooper – Miles Yekinni Ruth Monaghan – Tania Mathurian Officer Randall Shuck – Chris Pizzey (also 2nd cover Freeboys) Everyone Else – Jeremy Lloyd (also 2nd cover Shuck) 1st cover Mitch/Sam, 2nd cover Warren/Everyone Else – Sam Fogell 1st cover Freeboys/Cooper/Shuck, 2nd cover Mitch – Mike Bodie 1st cover Warren/Everyone Else, 2nd cover Cooper/Sam – Niall Ransome 1st cover Caprice, 2nd cover Ruth – Holly Sumpton 1st cover Ruth, 2nd cover Caprice – Paula Kay West End third cast 29th November 2017-25th February 2018 Mitch Ruscitti – Gareth Tempest Caprice Freeboys – Holly Sumpton* Sam Monaghan – Sam Fogell (also 1st cover Mitch)*** Robin Freeboys – Sean Kearns Warren Slax – Mark Hammersley/Niall Ransome** Neil Cooper – Laurence Pears Ruth Monaghan – Tania Mathurian Officer Randall Shuck – Jeremy Lloyd Everyone Else – Chris Leask 1st cover Freeboys/Cooper/Shuck, 2nd cover Mitch – Mike Bodie 1st cover Warren/Everyone Else, 2nd cover Cooper/Sam – Niall Ransome 1st cover Sam, 2nd cover Warren – Jack Whittle 1st cover Caprice, 2nd cover Ruth – Lydia Fraser 1st cover Ruth, 2nd cover Caprice – Paula Kay *Charlie Russell returned to the role for several performances in December 2018. **Mark Hammersley was injured in January 2018 so Niall Ransome took over for the rest of the run with Jack Whittle as 1st cover. ***Dave Hearn returned to the role for 2 performances in February 2018. West End fourth cast 27th February 18-current Mitch Ruscitti – Matt Hunt* Caprice Freeboys – Holly Sumpton Sam Monaghan – Sam Fogell** Robin Freeboys – Leonard Cook Warren Slax – Peter McGovern Neil Cooper – Samson Ajewole Ruth Monaghan – Jenna Augen Officer Randall Shuck – Jack Baldwin Everyone Else – Chris Leask (also 1st cover Freeboys) 1st cover Sam/Mitch/Warren, 2nd cover Freeboys/Shuck – Jack Whittle 1st cover Everyone Else/Shuck, 2nd cover Mitch/Cooper – Samuel Thomas 1st cover Cooper, 2nd cover Warren/Sam/Everyone Else – Jean-Luke Worrell 1st cover Caprice, 2nd cover Ruth – Sarah Gage 1st cover Ruth, 2nd cover Caprice – Lydia Fraser *Gareth Tempest returned to the role for 2 performances & Henry Shields for 1 performance in March 2018. ** Dave Hearn returned to the role for 3 performances in March 2018.
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Post by martello736 on Apr 15, 2018 19:12:35 GMT
Thank you Dawnstar! This is really interesting and I look forward to reading the TPTGW and PPGW breakdowns.
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Post by timothyd on May 19, 2018 8:20:27 GMT
Loved loved loved this. Inventive, great actors, hilarious!!!!
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Post by basi1faw1ty on May 20, 2018 20:30:52 GMT
Finally got round to seeing this this afternoon. I had tears streaming down my face, and there were points where I couldn't breathe for laughing so hard.
Mischief Theatre, you've done it again!
Also I may or may not be in love with Matt Hunt.
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Post by Dawnstar on May 21, 2018 18:18:57 GMT
Also I may or may not be in love with Matt Hunt. Possibly due to the tight jeans. I'm sure his are tighter than any other Mitch's!
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Post by Dawnstar on Jul 16, 2018 12:57:04 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2018 18:47:37 GMT
Saw this in Birmingham the other night and absolutely loved it! I preferred it more than the The Play That Goes Wrong (and the TV specials), I wonder if they're ever going to take this to Broadway as well, considering the success of TPTGW there? I do have a question... {Spoiler - click to view} ...as the performance I attended was a preview and noticed a few little tech hiccups.
During the bedroom scene before the interval, the curtains fell down as Mitch was closing them, which got a laugh, followed by a comment by Mitch and Caprice. Was this a "Goes Wrong" thing and actually part of the show?... I couldn't quite tell!
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 1, 2018 21:32:05 GMT
Saw this in Birmingham the other night and absolutely loved it! I preferred it more than the The Play That Goes Wrong (and the TV specials), I wonder if they're ever going to take this to Broadway as well, considering the success of TPTGW there? I do have a question... {Spoiler - click to view} ...as the performance I attended was a preview and noticed a few little tech hiccups.
During the bedroom scene before the interval, the curtains fell down as Mitch was closing them, which got a laugh, followed by a comment by Mitch and Caprice. Was this a "Goes Wrong" thing and actually part of the show?... I couldn't quite tell! No, that must have been a genuine mishap as I've never seen that happen in over 50 viewings of the show. How did they manage given that both Sam & Mitch have to hide behind the curtains during the scene? I'm in agreement with you in preferring TCAABR to TPTGW. I went up to Birmingham today to see the first Saturday matinee of the tour. After being so used to seeing the show at the Criterion it was very strange to see it in such a different theatre as the modern & much larger Birmingham Rep. Having a wider stage meant that everything was more spread-out, which did work well at some points where characters are meant to not notice things even when, at the Criterion, they're right next to them, so more space made them more plausible. Other than the extra space most of the staging was the same except for the vents scene. {Spoiler - click to view} There is no vent structure built around the proscenium. Cooper, Mitch, Caprice & Sam exit from the "vent" on the stage at the end of the wall scene & then re-enter & use that same "vent" on the floor to do a shortened version of what would take place in the proscenium vents. The central section giving way so Mitch nearly falls is cut. Cooper's death is done by him "falling" through the "floor" i.e. upstage. Mitch, Caprice & Sam then exit & the rope scene is done with them descending from the flies without the audience seeing how they got up there. I realise that it would have been very difficult to do the vents on a tour & this is probably the best that could be managed but I can't say that it's as good as at the Criterion. A few other minor differences I spotted: Caprice's apartment has acquired a chair, coat stand & picture over the chest. Tony doesn't pop up at the end of the road trip. Freeboys' portrait is a different design & in landscape format. The 3 ensemble members have slightly more to do. 1 of the men replaces Mitch in the telephone scene. The woman & 1 of the men dance while Sam & Caprice are dancing on their date, as do Ruth & Everyone Else. The woman & 1 of the men join in the fish/seagull section of the car chase. Now for the cast. The only person I was expecting to recognise was Sean Carey so I got one of the biggest surprises of my theatregoing life when the female ensemble member popped out of the laundry cast & it was Ellie Morris! I had grave difficulties in concentrating on the leads in any of the ensemble scenes because I was too busy gaping at her. I didn't manage to speak to her afterwards but I did speak to a few other cast members & was told that because the actress playing Ruth is off sick & the u/s has been on since the start of the tour that Ellie has joined for a bit to make sure there's cover. Today is her first day so I timed that well! A very quick run down of the leads: Liam Jeavons as Mitch - The most intimidating actor I've seen in the role, helped by him being one of the tallest guys on stage (this cast seems quite short overall, especially compared to the current London cast). Plays it most similarly to Matt Hunt. Julia Frith as Caprice - Very assured considering this is her professional debut. Sean Carey as Sam - when I saw him on for Max in TPTGW last December I told him afterwards that he'd be great as Sam & I'm glad to say that I was right! Great smile. Not quite as fluent on some of the physical parts around the bed but I'm sure that'll come with practice. Damian Lynch as Freeboys - Different physical casting to the London Freeboys as he's slim & average height so can't physically dominate in the same way. Also didn't seem to yell as much. Jon Trenchard as Warren - He is very much the usual casting type. All done well but nothing really new. David Coomber as Cooper - Probably the most different portrayl. Plays it quite camp. I did wonder at a few points if he means it to be that Cooper's gay & fancies Mitch but I'm not sure about that. Does Cooper impersonating Freeboys with a plummy RP accent like an aging thespian, which is very funny. Ashley Tucker as Ruth (u/s) - It can't be easy to have to go on as an u/s from the first show of a run but I wouldn't have known she wasn't the lead from her performance. Very good indeed. Good chemistry with her Shuck & made the bit where Ruth says goodbye to Sam at the end the most moving I've seen it. Killian Macardle as Shuck - I thought he gave a good performance but somehow the character seemed slightly less prominent than with other actors. George Hannigan as Everyone Else - Very good. I was pleased to see the forward roll back in the 3-way fight. I haven't really finished but my phone battery's about to die (on a train in Cornwall) so better post this before I lose it.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2018 12:26:03 GMT
Saw this in Birmingham the other night and absolutely loved it! I preferred it more than the The Play That Goes Wrong (and the TV specials), I wonder if they're ever going to take this to Broadway as well, considering the success of TPTGW there? I do have a question... {Spoiler - click to view} ...as the performance I attended was a preview and noticed a few little tech hiccups.
During the bedroom scene before the interval, the curtains fell down as Mitch was closing them, which got a laugh, followed by a comment by Mitch and Caprice. Was this a "Goes Wrong" thing and actually part of the show?... I couldn't quite tell! No, that must have been a genuine mishap as I've never seen that happen in over 50 viewings of the show. How did they manage given that both Sam & Mitch have to hide behind the curtains during the scene? I think they might have just held them up while hiding, I can't quite remember now (so clearly they managed to pull it off in the end!). But I'm interested to see how they do the vents scene at the Criterion now after reading your description, I thought the touring alternative was done very well!
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 2, 2018 20:19:29 GMT
But I'm interested to see how they do the vents scene at the Criterion now after reading your description, I thought the touring alternative was done very well! Yes, I thought the limitations were dealt with well & I'm sure audiences who haven't seen it at the Criterion wouldn't realise that it's been changed. However if you do get the chance to see it in London I'd recommend it. One thing I forgot to say in my post last night. Warren's suicide scene has reverted back to the original ending with him exclaiming "I can't even die!". The seagulls holding him up are manipulated by 2 of the ensemble. I'll be interested to see if the London production changes back to the original too or if it sticks to Cooper with seagulls Simon & Deborah i.e. Warren dies & meets them in the afterlife. It's certainly interesting to have a character currently die in 1 production & survive in another!
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Post by TheatreTwittic on Sept 9, 2018 23:37:53 GMT
I saw the tour at the Bham Rep on Saturday. Extremely funny! There was a tech hitch with the fly system so that led to a second small interval for around 5-10 mins but all dealt with extremely well. The cast still put in a stellar and hilarious performance.
It was interesting to read in the programme that quite a few changes were made following the conclusion of the original cast's run. This tour is the first time those tweaks have been shown to the public. It explains a few people commenting on slight differences to the London production.
The vents scene was pretty well done but I wouldn't mind seeing it at it's home in London to see how the original was done.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 10, 2018 7:32:31 GMT
It was interesting to read in the programme that quite a few changes were made following the conclusion of the original cast's run. This tour is the first time those tweaks have been shown to the public. It explains a few people commenting on slight differences to the London production. Yes, there were major changes made to the London production when the original cast left in February 17, however a large proprtion of these changes were then dropped in June 17 & the show reverted back to something closer to what it was when the original cast left. If you look back on this thread I detailed most of the re-writes when they were happening. Apart from the vent scene, and a few other very small changes, what is being seen on the tour is what has been seen in London since June 17.
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Post by crabtree on Sept 16, 2018 14:47:39 GMT
still laughing away after yesterday's matinee.....ah the timing of that bed scene. And great singing too. The change of perspective for the room was breathtaking. Yep, a gloriously staged physical farce, and bonkers
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Sept 17, 2018 13:48:25 GMT
Caught the tour at The Lowry last week. I'd forgotten just how utterly brilliant this is, I had tears rolling down my cheeks at some points. It's in a completely different league to The Play That Goes Wrong and Peter Pan Goes Wrong (and I say that as a big fan of both shows).
The touring cast are every bit as good as the original London cast. It's hard to believe this is Julia Frith's professional debut as Caprice, while Ashley Tucker is probably the best Ruth I've seen. Damian Lynch, Sean Carey, David Coomber and Liam Jeavons are all perfect for their roles, inhabit the characters so well and with such terrific comic timing, it's hard to believe this is only the second venue of the tour. It's the first time I've watched a Mischief show without the original cast and not missed them one bit!
Also, is it just me or does David Coomber looks uncannily like Dave Hearn?!
The audience absolutely loved it. I've not heard a buzz around a theatre quite like that at an interval since Natalie Barnes' Don't Rain On My Parade almost took the roof off the Savoy.
Booked again for the Storyhouse in Chester in January and will probably do Liverpool too in June.
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Sept 17, 2018 14:54:38 GMT
Can't edit the previous post now but meant Natasha Barnes!
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 17, 2018 19:39:53 GMT
Ashley Tucker is probably the best Ruth I've seen. I think it's a shame that she's "only" the understudy & I'd love it if she were still on when I see the tour again in Norwich next month. It's the first time I've watched a Mischief show without the original cast and not missed them one bit! I still miss the original cast a bit. Also, is it just me or does David Coomber looks uncannily like Dave Hearn?! I can't say I thought that at all but I'll doubtless now be looking at him with that in mind next time.
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Post by ellie1981 on Nov 7, 2018 8:53:09 GMT
A friend has an American friend visiting and we wanted to take him to shows that aren’t really playing elsewhere. So far he’s done Jamie, Hamilton (just because it’s easier here) and we went to this last night. It was my third time but first without the original Mischief Theatre troop. Really quite impressed with the current cast as I was expecting it to have lost some of its zing, but still a belly laugh throughout.
I’m still trying to convince another group of friends and colleagues to come as I think it would be right up their street. No luck so far.
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Post by stuart on Nov 7, 2018 11:00:47 GMT
Dave Hearn posted on Twitter yesterday that he was en route to Glasgow for the show. Is he back in it now?
I’m meant to be seeing it on Saturday so this would be amazing news if so!
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Post by Dawnstar on Nov 7, 2018 16:42:22 GMT
Dave Hearn posted on Twitter yesterday that he was en route to Glasgow for the show. Is he back in it now? I’m meant to be seeing it on Saturday so this would be amazing news if so! Dave joined the tour in the middle of October, after Sean Carey broke his hand, and has been in it for the Norwich, Leeds and Cheltenham tour stops (conveniently I was already booked to see it in Norwich so got to see Dave again - for the 3rd time this year!). Sean tweeted this 2 days ago:
So it looks like whether or not you'll see Dave depends on which show you are seeing on Saturday and, of course, whether Sean is actually recovered enough to do all the shows he is scheduled to do.
By the way, pace ellie1981's post, if anyone wants to see the (very good) current London cast you have until 16th December when the next cast change will happen.
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310 posts
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Post by stuart on Nov 7, 2018 18:17:05 GMT
Dave Hearn posted on Twitter yesterday that he was en route to Glasgow for the show. Is he back in it now? I’m meant to be seeing it on Saturday so this would be amazing news if so! Dave joined the tour in the middle of October, after Sean Carey broke his hand, and has been in it for the Norwich, Leeds and Cheltenham tour stops (conveniently I was already booked to see it in Norwich so got to see Dave again - for the 3rd time this year!). Sean tweeted this 2 days ago:
So it looks like whether or not you'll see Dave depends on which show you are seeing on Saturday and, of course, whether Sean is actually recovered enough to do all the shows he is scheduled to do.
By the way, pace ellie1981's post, if anyone wants to see the (very good) current London cast you have until 16th December when the next cast change will happen. Sean Carey will be on every night show? I’m going Saturday matinee so fingers crossed!
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