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Post by tonyloco on Aug 29, 2017 8:21:05 GMT
No, I didn't see the incident with a mirror that Sempala refers to. Maybe I was too far gone in my ecstatic trance-like state. And sitting in the front row also means I don't really see what is happening on the floor of the stage if it happens upstage. The only minor incident I have noticed in five performances was last Monday night (21 August) when Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson's (covering for Clare Halse as Peggy Sawyer) little white hat came adrift in the opening scene and Jasna Ivir very coolly removed it. It looked as if it was meant to happen!
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 28, 2017 23:48:19 GMT
It looks like dippy is leading with seven visits so far. I too have seen those same covers and tonight we had Greg Bernstein replacing Christopher Howell as Bert Barry. He was very good although seemed somewhat younger than Christopher Howell which slightly unbalanced his pairing with the amazing Jasnar Ivir as Maggie, but it was fine. The audience was smallish, but what they lacked in quantity they made up for in lively responses to all the numbers. Maybe it's like that every night but the punters did seem very enthusiastic, more so than last Monday night with lots of cheering throughout the whole show and also some intermediate cheering at key points during the finale.
Tonight I specially admired all the costumes, particularly Sheena Easton's dresses. Also, tonight for the first time I spotted Clare Halse executing a fine jetée during the 'Go into your dance' routine but I nearly missed it so that's my excuse now to go and see the show again so I can watch it properly!
The show just gets better and better and my imagination was running riot because I kept on thinking that there were more dancers on stage than before. I know that's not possible but it seemed like there were multitudes of them! Again it's surely my imagination but I got a bit more out of Clare Halse's performance tonight than I did the first few times I saw her. I spoke briefly to Jae Alexander at the end of the performance before he left the pit and told him the continuing success of the show was entirely down to him and he seemed pleased!
A0 (first time) was cramped as expected but as soon as the band struck up I completely forgot about the restricted leg room. And I have decided the two greatest words in the English language are not MUSICAL COMEDY but FORTYSECOND STREET!
After all that magic tonight, how am I going to respond to Follies tomorrow night??
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 28, 2017 14:33:16 GMT
Moving on from the rather serious discussions currently taking place on the Follies thread, please make me jealous by announcing who has seen 42nd Street the most times? I don't suppose my upcoming fifth time tonight cuts much ice! And I find it hard to try to spot individual performers in the ensemble because as soon as numbers start I go into a kind of ecstatic trance and I am mentally transported into a higher plane of theatrical pleasure where all the dancers are like celestial beings, assuming celestial beings tap dance. 'Dames' last Monday night was particularly heavenly, but then so are all the other numbers. Even when Julian sings the opening lines of Lullabye of Broadway standing still I still go right off! And Julian is right: the two greatest words in the English language are MUSICAL COMEDY!
I will be in A0 stalls tonight and if anybody happens to be there and fancies to come over to say hello I will be happy to hold court.
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 27, 2017 23:05:30 GMT
Everyone on stage is wonderful. They may have gone out as youngsters but they are all stars once they start dancing!
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 27, 2017 15:36:34 GMT
I've just checked the programmes. The Carousel programme does not list the make-up of the orchestra. AAIP shows two violins, one cello and one double bass, plus one piano and one 'keyboard' in an orchestra of 13 players. 42nd Street has 18 players of which only one is strings, being a bass, but for the nature of the songs, I think the good complement of reeds and brass is about right and there are no 'keyboards' apart from the piano. On the Town had 15 players including two violins, and two 'keyboards' as well as a piano. So it looks as if AAIP at 13 players is the meanest, particularly compared with 18 at Drury Lane. Point well made, sf!
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 27, 2017 14:02:34 GMT
Hmm. Very interesting point sf makes about the make-up of theatre orchestras. As someone who has worked for many years in the classical record business, I should be able to distinguish between several violins, one violin and synthesised strings, but sadly that is not something I am particularly sensitive to. I saw 'Les Mis' at the Palace and then I went to see it at the Queens after there had been one hell of a fuss about the orchestra being reduced and synthesisers replacing some of the original instruments but I thought it still worked well enough and the new orchestra supported the show and the singers perfectly well. Coming back to AAIP, I did not feel the orchestra was inadequate for that music, but maybe the fault lies with me and not what I am listening to, and perhaps I have been brain-washed by hearing too many theatre orchestras using synthesisers to notice the difference. I did however notice how rich and full the strings sounded at Oklahoma! so there is hope for me yet. But I can't imagine producers employing that many strings in the pit for a commercial run of any musical. I wonder how many strings there were at the Coliseum for Carousel? That sounded good to me.
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 27, 2017 9:22:48 GMT
PS At the Palladium, Philip Quast played Ben and Imelda Staunton played Hattie ('Broadway Baby')
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 27, 2017 9:04:04 GMT
Having recently become an octogenarian and started complaining about how much effort it takes me to get out anywhere, I wonder why I am going to 42nd Street tomorrow (Monday)(fifth time), Follies on Tuesday and Evita on Wednesday. Do I need therapy?
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 27, 2017 8:19:40 GMT
Ah, but the semi-staged version at the Palladium on 5 February 2007 I thought was one of the greatest evenings I have ever spent in the theatre. My diary entry says that a huge cast of top West End performers gave a truly magnificent performance of one of the iconic musical shows of the 20th century. I am still speechless with admiration for the skill and depth with which the whole cast delivered the show. It made one admire all over again the wonderful music and lyrics of Sondheim and the brilliant book by James Goldman.
I thought it was better than the production at the Shaftesbury Theatre because the characters of the four couples seemed to be more fully rounded and I felt quite involved in their mixed up emotions and psychological hang-ups, which I hardly did at the Shaftesbury. Of course, that Palladium performance was seen by just 2,298 people (assuming the house was full). If the NT production measures up to what was done at the Palladium then it will be truly memorable.
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 27, 2017 7:51:50 GMT
Thanks to theatremonkey for editing my post. I am definitely not going back for a second look at AAIP as some of you have wisely pointed out that the book and the structure will be the same no matter where I sit and I will still be annoyed that the ballet is totally abstract although it is very well danced. But I don't want the show to close prematurely either because that will mean a lot of performers will be out of work – in fact that scenario rather closely mirrors '42nd Street' when Dorothy Brock breaks her ankle at the opening preview of 'Pretty Lady' – a clear case of life imitating art, or is it the other way round?
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 26, 2017 17:39:23 GMT
I really have problems with the technology of this website. I don't understand why my response to wickedgrin ended up inside his quote and not below it. Does anybody give seminars for elderly theatregoers on how to use this thing properly or do I just keep blundering on and hope it works?
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 26, 2017 17:34:51 GMT
I would agree with your appraisal tonyloco. One viewing was enough for me and I did see it from the front row of the stalls. The book and plot does not change from the front row!! Thanks wickedgrin. Definitely glad I asked!
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 26, 2017 15:58:43 GMT
Well, as I said on a previous post elsewhere, 42nd Street last Monday night had lots of empty seats at the back and sides of the stalls and the balcony was closed so it may not last all that long. But, following on from my earlier post on this thread, I was not joking and I have just booked A0 for 42nd Street on Monday night, which seems like a sensible thing to do on an unwanted Bank Holiday. Next time I will try a Day Seat but I know I will be happy in A0 even though there are a few brief obstructions in the first Act. Ah, just thinking about the 'Dames' routine makes me feel dizzy!
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 26, 2017 15:14:04 GMT
Thanks mrbarnaby. That's just what I wanted to hear. I totally agree about 'Crazy for You' and talking of Gershwin musicals, I also thoroughly enjoyed 'A Damsel in Distress' at Chichester although that didn't please everybody. So I have saved my £31 which I can now spend on two further return visits to '42nd Street'. Whacko! And 'Bat Out of Hell' at the Dominion next year will also be welcome.
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 26, 2017 12:22:36 GMT
I was very disappointed with this show when I saw it from the centre of the stalls. Despite some fantastic projections and lighting, top class sound, immaculate singing and dazzling dancing, it felt like a long haul through a very dull book. And to top it all off I really disliked the ballet which seemed totally abstract without characters or story and failed to illustrate the raison d'etre of Gershwin's famous composition which was to capture the sights and sounds of Paris.
Should I go and see it again from the front row of the stalls to reappraise it or will I still be disappointed? I don't mind who I see.
Don't all shout at once!
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 24, 2017 21:59:07 GMT
I have just posted the following on the 'Bat Out Of Hell' website but it is relevant to the ENO as well:
Here's a little bit of history for you all. I have been researching June Bronhill in the EMI Archives and I came across a memo dated 10 September 1958 from the EMI recording producer Norman Newell to the Managing Director of EMI Records Ltd just after Norman had recorded highlights from the Sadler's Wells production of 'The Merry Widow' with June Bronhill that was playing a summer season at the Coliseum, well before it became the home of Sadler's Wells Opera which then became English National Opera:
"I attended the last night of 'THE MERRY WIDOW' at the Coliseum prior to its tour and never in my theatrical experience have I seen any reception to equal the one they received on this occasion."
Those were the days!
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 24, 2017 21:54:39 GMT
Here's a little bit of history for you all. I have been researching June Bronhill in the EMI Archives and I came across a memo dated 10 September 1958 from the EMI recording producer Norman Newell to the Managing Director of EMI Records Ltd just after Norman had recorded highlights from the Sadler's Wells production of 'The Merry Widow' with June Bronhill that was playing a summer season at the Coliseum, well before it became the home of Sadler's Wells Opera which then became English National Opera:
"I attended the last night of 'THE MERRY WIDOW' at the Coliseum prior to its tour and never in my theatrical experience have I seen any reception to equal the one they received on this occasion."
'Bat Out Of Hell', eat your heart out! No, I'm joking. Tuesday night was fantabulous and I was very happy to be cheering along at the end.
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 23, 2017 13:52:51 GMT
Thank you wickedgrin. I fear I may also be somewhat parsleyesque because, as the theatremonkey well knows, I have been known to leave shows at the interval and my two most recent disappointments were An American in Paris and especially Half a Sixpence although I stayed to the end of both of those. My comments on these shows can be seen on the theatremonkey's website. But I totally agree with every word you said about 'La Cage aux Folles' and if anybody thinks John Partridge's interpretation of Albin was good or even vaguely acceptable then I can only direct them to the various TouTube clips of Douglas Hodge in the role. Where do I get my badge?
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 23, 2017 13:38:58 GMT
I can't resist joining in this discussion. Firstly, I am very annoyed that 'The Chase' is currently replaced by Bradley Walsh's over-complicated 'Cash Trapped' and I am very glad to hear that losing contestants on the various TV quizzes really do have a great day.
I have never been on a TV quiz or competition but I did have a small featured role in a recent BBC documentary called 'Cue the Queen' about the monarch's annual Christmas Speech. I appear near the start in the EMI Archives explaining to the fragrant Kirsty Young how gramophone records were made by the acoustic process before electrical recording was invented in 1925 and making a fool of myself demonstrating this by speaking loudly into a recording horn. Kirsty was a delight and I could have stayed chatting to her all day but the producer of the show had other ideas!
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 23, 2017 13:17:16 GMT
Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly does 'parsleyesque' mean?
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 22, 2017 23:40:33 GMT
At my second viewing tonight of 'Bat' I was very glad I saw Andrew Polec who was distinctly better than the alternate Strat, Benjamin Purkiss who performed well enough, but Polec was something special! In the second row of the Upper Circle the sound was louder than in the side front Stalls where I sat previously and really just too loud for me, which took the edge off my enjoyment a little bit but it was terrific to see the whole spectacular production from a relatively central position. I enjoyed the audience response and booked specifically to be there for the 'last night' farewell. Despite the ridiculously bad choreography I still rate the show highly, even though it is way out of my usual field and I was again thrilled by the score (magnificently performed by the singers and the orchestra) that does exactly what is required for a successful stage musical.
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 22, 2017 10:58:28 GMT
For anybody who is interested, I saw 42nd Street for the fourth time last night. I was in A1 and I put my Canadian cousin in A23 because you get a better view of the show overall from A23 than from A1. Clare Halse was off and replaced by Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson, and Tom Lister was off and replaced by Norman Bowman. Both the covers were brilliant and I actually felt that Gabrielle made a slightly more convincing star of 'Pretty Lady' than Clare, who remained a little bit 'Allentown' even after her triumph, but there was nothing to choose between then in singing and dancing. I certainly didn't feel I was missing anything with the covers though I had seen Clare and Tom three times before. As tmesis has recently pointed out, everything about the show is top class and I would love everybody in the world to get as much pleasure out of seeing it as I continue to do. Sadly, the balcony was closed and I could see a lot of empty seats at the back and sides of the stalls, although I guess for a Monday night that is understandable. I also gather that they had been selling some very good seats for £15 on the day. PS. I may be imagining it but I felt Sheena Easton's performance has slightly strengthened, the orchestra continues to sound sensational and Jae Alexander's conducting remains inspired. PS. May I revise part of my recent post to say that "...Clare... remained a little bit 'Allentown' even as she blossomed into a star during the opening night of 'Pretty Lady'. "
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 22, 2017 10:36:16 GMT
'To pee or not to pee, that is the question!'
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 22, 2017 10:12:05 GMT
Bye bye Bat for now. Hopefully news of London transfer & cast recording will be forthcoming tomorrow! Thank you for a great run! 🦇 🔥 Hey! Not yet. I will be very disappointed if I arrive at the Coliseum tonight at 7 pm and find the bat has already flown! It will only be my second viewing but I am greatly looking forward to it.
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 21, 2017 23:51:52 GMT
For anybody who is interested, I saw 42nd Street for the fourth time last night. I was in A1 and I put my Canadian cousin in A23 because you get a better view of the show overall from A23 than from A1. Clare Halse was off and replaced by Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson, and Tom Lister was off and replaced by Norman Bowman. Both the covers were brilliant and I actually felt that Gabrielle made a slightly more convincing star of 'Pretty Lady' than Clare, who remained a little bit 'Allentown' even after her triumph, but there was nothing to choose between then in singing and dancing. I certainly didn't feel I was missing anything with the covers though I had seen Clare and Tom three times before. As tmesis has recently pointed out, everything about the show is top class and I would love everybody in the world to get as much pleasure out of seeing it as I continue to do. Sadly, the balcony was closed and I could see a lot of empty seats at the back and sides of the stalls, although I guess for a Monday night that is understandable. I also gather that they had been selling some very good seats for £15 on the day. PS. I may be imagining it but I felt Sheena Easton's performance has slightly strengthened, the orchestra continues to sound sensational and Jae Alexander's conducting remains inspired.
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 21, 2017 13:06:15 GMT
Come on now: man up (or should I say 'person up') you afficianados of musical theatre. We Wagnerites are more than used to a two hour stint without any interval. 'Das Rehingold', the First Act of 'Gotterdammerung' (including the Prologue) and the Third Act of 'Die Meistersinger' all run for more than two hours. And I have seen two separate productions of Mussorgsky's original version of 'Boris Godunov' played straight through which I am sure took about two hours or more. Just remember not to drink too much before the show and make sure you have a precautionary pee before taking your seats. Easy peasy!
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 21, 2017 12:44:51 GMT
PS I was twelve years old in 1949 – a very impressionable age!
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 21, 2017 12:43:44 GMT
I can still remember the impact the movie 'My Friend Irma' made on me in Sydney when I saw Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis doing crazy things on screen for the first time in about 1949. Jerry Lewis was a great comic and a very talented man.
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 20, 2017 22:09:26 GMT
Oh dear! I fear people are looking for too much in '42nd Street'. The show 'Pretty Lady' is clearly meant to be one of those typical revues that appeared on Broadway in the 1920s and 30s with the flimsiest of plots, if any at all. The stage show '42nd Street' is based on a very successful Warner Brothers musical film of the same name directed by the legendary director of movie musicals Busby Berkley in 1933. And don't forget that the movie musical was still in its infancy, being no more than about six years old (The ground breaking first movie musical 'The Jazz Singer' with Al Jolson was only six years earlier and contained only a few sequences with sound.) Set in the height of the great depression, the film '42nd Street' is about a fictional Broadway director called Julian March who is staking his reputation in mounting a Broadway musical called 'Pretty Lady' which will help restore his fortunes and put into work a whole gang of Broadway hoofers who are otherwise struggling to find work. 'Pretty Lady' is simply escapist entertainment and an excuse to present a succession of songs and dances whose whole purpose is simply to help people forget the troubles of the time. The original movie contained only a handful of songs by Harry Warren and Al Dubin but the stage musical '42nd Street' also sweeps in a number of other songs by the same writers, mainly from other musical films of the 1930s directed by Busby Berkeley. As people have noted, it is a wonderful succession of magnificent song and dance production numbers with enough plot to get us from A to B so we can all have a great time enjoying the singing and the dancing. In its own way, this is rather similar to what 'Pretty Lady' was intended to be except with perhaps a slightly stronger plot! Not every musical needs to have a plot as good as 'My Fair Lady' or 'Guys and Dolls' or as intellectual as 'Sunday in the Park with George'. This is pure escapist entertainment for those people like me who respond to American songs of the 1930s, especially when sung and danced by a load of very talented and attractive guys and dames. If that is not your bag then so be it, but I thought it was sheer heaven and after seeing it three times I will be back there again tomorrow night in A23!
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Post by tonyloco on Aug 20, 2017 13:00:56 GMT
I have just read the article 'Why this is the future of opera' by Rupert Christiansen in today's Sunday Telegraph advocating what he calls 'concert staging' of opera. I have to admit that given my choice between some of the 'reimaginings' of recent opera productions imposed on the standard operatic repertoire in major opera houses and the 'semi-staged' concert performances that I have enjoyed enormously, I will plump for 'concert stagings' every time. I would hope this does not lead to the death of the traditional opera house but, as has been suggested more than once, something has got to change regarding the cost of mounting full-scale opera productions (often ones that fiercely divide opinion), the price of the tickets, the amount of subsidy needed and the ageing of the core audiences. Maybe this is the way forward, at least for the immediate future.
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