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Post by sophizoey on Jan 1, 2019 17:55:47 GMT
Despite Amy Ross confusing me by taking antibiotics for what she said would was a viral infection, it looks like she's going to be back for the week!
Also another cover is Sara Morley as Nessa, she was added in Cardiff after Grace Chapman spent a lot of time on 1st Cover for Glinda and I was told Hannah Cadec was also quite ill and that one day Emily Shaw was actually left without any covers. Very doubtful she will go on due to only being added at the last moment but one to be aware of.
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Post by sophizoey on Dec 30, 2018 10:44:23 GMT
How does this (and London of course!) work with the Matilda’s?! If there are 5/6 children playing the lead do they each have a show each week or is there a ‘lead’ Matilda and her understudies/Standbys?! 4 children for Matilda, and they all get 2 shows a week. It's not published for child protection purposes and must change from week to week, or atleast monthly because I went two consecutive Thursday in Sunderland and it was two different Matildas. I believe the other children have 2 or 3 actor each depending on the size of the part.
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Post by sophizoey on Dec 25, 2018 7:49:16 GMT
A year I never expected to happen theatre wise. It started normally, seeing most of the big productions that visited my local touring house (Sunderland Empire) once or twice if I enjoyed them. Also went down to London every few months to catch me a dose of my favourite mediocre musical Wicked.
Then I saw the touring production of Wicked with their Standby Elphaba at the helm and my stagey year changed a little bit. I know this is crazy but I've some how seen Wicked 33 times this year (3 times in London and a shockingly embarrassing and I didn't realise this until I counted 30 times on tour). However production wise that has not been the highlight of the year and I've mostly kept going back because the performers in the touring production are some of the best I've ever seen. (I can assure you that in 2019 once the production has close, I will be back to my standard Wicked every 2 months, unless there's something better to see in London)
I've seen 21 other shows this year including visits to 10 new shows. With the other visits mainly being repeat visits to the shows I've enjoyed most. Kinky Boots (London and UK Tour) along with finding a love for Legally Blonde in general has been the highlight of my year.
So that's 54 theatre visits this year, 10 west end visits but visits to 6 various touring houses up and down the country. It might have mostly been for one show, but I'm quite proud of all the travelling I managed to fit in with my theatre trips.
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Post by sophizoey on Dec 23, 2018 13:15:36 GMT
They've even stopped doing student/u25 discount. It's like they don't want to sell the remaining tickets. Would they rather have a more seats sold at a reduced price, which equals more profit or no seats sold because they're extortionate. I've seen a fair few shows on this tour and have been 6 of the venue, without even thinking about my closing night trip - Manchester has already been the most expensive venue so far.
Last week I went to purchase tickets for shows and there was single seats for the Saturday evening performance available at £31. The next day when I went to purchase the actual ticket because I'd been paid. The price had increased to £60+, which I actually rang ATG about to complain. I can understand not reducing any firther tickets but reinstating the price of already reduced tickets was too far.
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Post by sophizoey on Dec 5, 2018 19:33:13 GMT
I went to the matinee today. I am going to miss everyone of them so much, they're all very special to Wicked.
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Post by sophizoey on Nov 29, 2018 12:30:48 GMT
Peanut butter sandwich with coffee, in such a rush this morning I didn't even have time to toast the bread.
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Post by sophizoey on Nov 17, 2018 21:22:07 GMT
Amy Ross was on for the matinee today and Amy Webb is on tonight (a friend is doing a double show day), it must be a challenge when they're pretty much all called Amy.
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Post by sophizoey on Nov 4, 2018 8:20:19 GMT
All I want to say is that Nikki has been scheduled to do this event for months and the only reason she would not have been sent is due to her own illness. The timing was unfortunate however.
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Post by sophizoey on Oct 11, 2018 13:24:27 GMT
I guess they'll have brought in an emergency Glinda? They have Rosa as second cover Glinda and to my knowledge both Nessarose covers are rehearsed and in the building so there shouldn't need to be any emergency covers in yet.
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Post by sophizoey on Sept 22, 2018 9:43:50 GMT
Hearing bad things about the Sunderland stage door... sounds like the fan crazy behaviour from London has made its way north! When when of the actors turns to you and says “oh here again?!” it’s probably a hint that you’ve been too much and are starting to annoy them... add in that half the actors bolted from stage door without even stopping to say hi to anyone (when they’re usually people who stop!), I’m going with a safe bet that it’s in part to avoid having the same conversation for the god-knows-how-many-times that week with the same people.... It’s a shame as the tour cast are so friendly and accommodating but when actors are rushing off, other fans who only went last night seem to have missed out. Note - I wasn’t there but a very good friend was and I’ve no reason to disbelieve what happened! I think you'll find you're talking about me 🤗🤗 My two friends and I had no intention of talking to anyone but Amy Webb last night, because she was phenomenal. (Not out of rudeness and disrespect for the rest of the cast, but because we have met them before and we want the other people at stage door to have the chance). I do not expect people to stop for me or recognise me and I am well aware of my stage door presence in Sunderland. Know that my behaviour is a lot more respectful than that of those at the London stage door.
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Post by sophizoey on Sept 7, 2018 10:46:53 GMT
I saw opening in Sunderland last night and oh wow! It was incredible, I've shared my thoughts on Amy and Helen before but last night was a show and a half. Helen and Amy had that crowd in the palm of their hands. While Amy is not the Elphaba for me, what she does she does with such nuance and perfection it's impossible to fault. Helen is Glinda, I could watch her Popular forever and her vocals in Thank Goodness were particularly incredible. However Aaron is still drowned out by everyone else on stage (I spent DtL watching the Fiyero Understudy because he had more stage presence), his vocals were actually quite enjoyable during ALAYM. Also another observation is I found Iddon's Boq bareable last night? He was just giving some sort of emotion and not looking too bored with it.
Now I'll be going to many a show in Sunderland so I'll wait until the end of the run to share more thoughts, but opening was so amazing I had to share now 😂
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Post by sophizoey on Sept 3, 2018 17:49:31 GMT
Eighty odd quid top price is an absolute scandal. I'm sure the last time the tour was here you could get half decent seats in the twenty quid range. Now even the balcony starts at thirty quid. Hardly accessible. If you are sat miles away from the stage, as the balcony is, the prices should reflect this. On the most expensive shows the cheapest seat in the stalls is £35. (The very ends of the first few rows) Luckily for all you students and u25s out there, £15 tickets will be available after midday on that day of the performance. I found this out from messaging ATG on twitter.
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 31, 2018 9:49:59 GMT
It's definitely Jackie Burns as Elphaba, but I cannot place the Glinda but I know it's not Amanda Jane Cooper. However last year didn't they film new footage of the then Broadway cast?
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 29, 2018 22:13:02 GMT
It's not like London when an understudy goes on and everyone RUNS to the AV to get a tick on their top fan bingo card. Attendance at the tour is very sporadic. As is finding the cast board! Oh playing the find the castboard game is my favourite, remember when Leeds didn't even bother to put it in the theatre 😂
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 29, 2018 22:00:15 GMT
Definitly not heard about any Wizard/Dillamond debuts yet either for this cast... Howard Ellis went on for Wizardmond in Birmingham. Where did you get this info, I follow all of them on all the social media and never saw a word about this 😱😱😱 (just if it is true he needs a green tick on my nerdy tour spreadsheet)
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 29, 2018 20:47:57 GMT
I'm a hostel person and without fail if I'm staying a strange city for the first time I will always try to say in a Safestay hostel. I've stayed in Edinburgh and Elphant & Castle and have felt secure and safe. They have same-sex room options amd the rooms are always discounted at the last minute. Only bad experiences I've ever had at their hostels have been due to snorers, however that is nothing to do with the hostel and with the guests - which is the risk you run unfortunately.
If traveling as a pair in London there is a hostel called London Backpackers in Hendon (around 20/30 on the northern line in to central) and their twin bunk rooms are lovely and really cheap 😁
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 28, 2018 21:35:13 GMT
The tour has been in Dublin for 7 weeks, which makes it a week longer than Zürich and two weeks longer than Edinburgh. I think it's gone quite quick considering I wasn't able to pay a visit to Dublin. (That might be me wishing Sunderland to be sooner because the theatre is a mere 20 minutes away)
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 28, 2018 15:24:02 GMT
Bit of promotion in Manchester yesterday as they got Elphaba (whoever is playing her on tour, they didn't announce her name) to perform Defying Gravity on the main stage at Pride. Very impressive performance but can't believe they brought her over from Ireland for just one song! It was Standby Elphaba Nikki Bentley!
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 23, 2018 21:06:24 GMT
Sunderland never do dayseats. Unfortunately. I remember reading on the back of a Matilda leaflet I picked up at Eldon Square that they did the £5 ones for students or 16-25 railcard holders. Is that just Matilda's policy? That is a Matilda UK Tour policy not a Sunderland policy unfortunately. Sunderland are disgraceful for discounting. I'm hoping they'll follow suit of the the other ATG Venues on tour and do £15/20 student tickets, just so I don't have to spend too much money on catching Nikki as many times as possible. However I'm doubting it.
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 23, 2018 20:47:12 GMT
Best available for thirty pounds now for the Wednesday matinées. I've just went to book for the last Wednesday matinee and it's still trying to charge me normal prices. Where did you see this?
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 16, 2018 16:14:13 GMT
Wicked 2018 - 19
Elphaba: Laura Pick (s/b), Aimée Fisher, Rebecca Botteril Glinda: Carina Gillespie/Maria Coyne (s/b and maternity cover s/b), Samantha Thomas, Rosa O'Reilly Fiyero: Tom Andrew Hargreaves, Carl Man The Wizard: Chris Jarman, Rhidian Marc Madame Morrible: Kerry Enright, Genevieve Taylor Doctor Dillamond: Rhidian Marc, Sam Robinson Nessarose: Maggie Lynne, Aimée Fisher Boq: Scott Sutcliffe, Jonathan David Dudley
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 13, 2018 20:42:52 GMT
I've sat in BB43, which is side balcony, D3 and E20 in the dress circle. Personally I would go for the extreme sides of the dress, at the extreme sides there are no pillars and the view is really goodfpr the price. The balcony was horribly uncomfortable (I actually knelt infront of my seat for most of the performance) and unless you're comfortable with extreme leaning the view isn't that great. (All of these were for Wicked as well)
Also yes the seats are extremely creaky on all levels.
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 12, 2018 10:50:10 GMT
Jersey Boys matinee in Newcastle Theatre Royal yesterday. Except for the usual people who sing along and really annoyed me and one woman who kept standing up to dance in the corner of my eye.
However my favourite was a group of 3 women who swanned in at 14:29 and made a fuss someone was in their seats. Yes there was someone in their seats, because they showed up a week late. Held up the show starting while the kind box office staff found them somewhere to sit.
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 11, 2018 7:29:03 GMT
If it's possible for the set to fit into Newcastle Theatre Royal I'd like to see them play there instead of Sunderland. Even though a return to Sunderland probably isn't like because I think it's the worst sold venue on this tour
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 2, 2018 22:37:37 GMT
The two US tours of Hamilton have 2 revolves each, while the show is performing at one venue, the revolve is being set up at the next. Also it works in that you are pretty much putting a stage on top of the stage. I don't believe you could have Hamilton without a revolve, honestly it's pretty integral to the direction and flow of the show.
So maybe if we ever get a UK Tour of Hamilton, it will be after one of these US tours has ended for the set to be reused.
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 1, 2018 23:33:58 GMT
This was hard.
5) Raise you Up/Just Be - Kinky Boots 4) Let It Go - Frozen (specifically the broadway version) 3) Do You Hear The People Sing? - Les Mis 2) Defying Gravity - Wicked 1) So Much Better - Legally Blonde
I saw Defying Gravity appearing a lot but honestly, when you've had a rubbish day there is nothing better than the rush up to the 'So if you care to find meeeee, looooook to the western sky'
I'm just a sucker for a self-empowering belty woman.
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 1, 2018 20:40:19 GMT
Predictably my twitter is sophizoey, mostly wicked and complaining, occasionally witty and and even more occasionally clever.
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Post by sophizoey on Aug 1, 2018 9:24:09 GMT
Heard rumours from people who work at theatres that Phantom might be going back out after Les Mis. No word on if it was orginal or restaged.
Also that Wicked might have a 3rd UK tour provisionally booked to start in late 2019/2020
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Post by sophizoey on Jul 30, 2018 8:59:38 GMT
I always took Elphaba to be at least 5 years older than Nessarose. After the whole green thing, I can't imagine Witch's Father and Mother in a rush to have more children. However the age gap between Alice and Sophie really shows and everytime I've seen Sophie with Laura and not Alice it works better, because they are slightly closer in age.
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Post by sophizoey on Jul 30, 2018 8:31:20 GMT
I'm currently en route to Darlington on my day off work to see some of my family that live in England. Have to say the free LNER wifi in Standard class is working well enough to catch up on the board! As mentioned above though these trains really are ancient now and don't give a smooth ride. Was also shocked as I can usually travel in first class for only slightly more money on a weekend...not the case today! I actually found a few weeks ago a first class advance ticket was cheaper than the standard class ticket, which has ended up being free because the train was delayed ... a lot.
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