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Post by ellie1981 on Apr 2, 2018 10:24:48 GMT
I’m usually great with spelling but I admit my vocabulary isn’t the best. On the other hand I have a very good friend in my team at work who has the widest vocabulary I know, however she can’t spell to save her life. We make a great team as she drafts the outgoing correspondence and I do the proofreading.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 31, 2018 11:17:51 GMT
Jennifer DiNoia certainly did take holiday - being the last time I saw it! I had got tickets on my mum's birthday to take her for the first time, wanting to see her but I hadn't checked her holiday schedule.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 31, 2018 7:40:30 GMT
I always roll my eyes at the crazy Wicked fans but then remember in 2014 I saw Matilda 4 times in 2 days, back in my mega obsession with it... I've never seen a show more often than once every 6 months since then though. How is that even possible?
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 30, 2018 20:25:50 GMT
I love Wicked and have been a ridiculously large number of times but those times are largely spread out with long periods in between, yet there is a new breed of fan who seems to be there almost every night! I really don't understand how anyone could or why they would even want to see ANY show that much. In the "good old days" were people there almost every single night? I cant really remember but if they were I suppose we didn't have social media as much to go on about it, and to highlight every little change from the score and every single riff. Perhaps to evoke some "missing out syndrome" for those not in the audience. I'm sure the cast sometimes look into the audience and see the same faces in the audience again and think "really?!?!" There were two occasions where I went twice in a week. This was however during Idina’s initial 12 week run and I just wanted to see it as much as possible before she left.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 30, 2018 15:47:59 GMT
Who exactly is the average Will Young fan? I mean I bought his second album and a couple of individual downloads after that, but that’s that. Are they a particular demographic? He doesn’t strike me as the kind of artist to have some rabid fan base - this is coming from someone who was part of the crazy Michael Jackson fan community for most of my life.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 30, 2018 11:25:21 GMT
I recommend reading Mark Kermode’s book ‘Hatchet Job: Love Movies, Hate Critics’. Plus the very very entertaining ‘The Good, The Bad and the Multiplex’.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 30, 2018 11:16:55 GMT
Oh dear. This is really not what I was expecting at all. Although I’m going with a friend and his friend, whose only knowledge of music really is whatever tracks happen to make the generic “I Love The 80s” supermarket compilations, so he should love it.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 29, 2018 15:18:19 GMT
Do theatres have a policy on intoxicated customers? If not they should. Unfortunately the poor ushers are not paid nearly enough to have to deal with refusing entry to groups of drunks.
I still have a problem understanding why people do it in the first place. It’s one thing to have a few too many on a night out socialising in a pub. It’s completely different when you have paid to be in the audience for an expensive show. What’s the point in going at all?
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 28, 2018 15:06:34 GMT
6:20?! What cinemas are you going to, I'd love to only have to sit through *twenty* minutes of ads! Exactly. I go all the time (214 films last year which is my new record) and average is 30 minutes. There have been two occasions where the trailers and ads were 40 minutes! Luckily the BFI only have 5 minutes and Prince Charles Cinema 10 minutes, but big chain multiplexes are ridiculous - which is all the more baffling when some people arrive 30+ minutes into the film.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 28, 2018 6:58:28 GMT
I think 7:30pm is just about right, especially for anyone wanting a meal before when coming from work. What I like about theatre so much is how reliable the times are.
Just to hijack the topic for a second - What I don’t like is varying start times for Pop/Rock concerts. Almost universally tickets say that doors open at 6:30pm, when sometimes a support act might not even start until 8pm and main act not until as late as after 9pm. Encouraging people to turn up more than 2 hours early is purely a ploy to get people to buy food and drink.
You will often see people leaving shows early in order to catch their trains home. I don’t have a problem at the moment myself as I live quite central with good 24 hour bus services, but I’ve seen people around me looking at the time constantly and leaving only halfway into a concert before. It doesn’t help that some of the major London concert venues (The O2, Brixton Academy, Wembley) are on the far end of their tube lines, so the last trains are quite early. Seriously what difference would it make to event organisers and performers to just start a show an hour earlier, particularly on a Sunday?
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 25, 2018 20:32:15 GMT
I didn’t see the matinee but did see Idina’s final evening show that same day. She was phenomenal that night and it’s one I will never forget.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 25, 2018 16:55:37 GMT
Whilst we're on the topic of different leads, does anybody else have performers that you didn't get to see, and in hindsight would have absolutely loved to see and are gutted that you never did? For me, it's Jennifer DiNoia as Elphaba. I was living in France when she had her West End stint, and with only limited trips back home I couldn't justify a trip to Wicked. From listening to clips of her on YouTube, she sounds like an absolute powerhouse, giving 110% at every performance. Did anyone see her in the role and have any reviews of her performance? For a Glinda it's Dianna Pilkington. I never saw her because I just wasn't into theatre when she was in the show. It wasn't until late 2010 when I made my first ever trip to the West End and was treated to the sublime pairing of Nikki and Louise. Listening to Diane on YouTube didn't make me feel like I was devastated to miss her, like in the case of Jenny, but after seeing her in Young Frankenstein and realising how naturally hilarious she is and how strong her voice is, I could just tell that she would have been a fab Glinda, and it was a shame that I missed her. Anybody else have any thoughts to share? I saw Jennifer twice during the run, with the first being a no-fly and my first trip to Wicked. Vocally she was incredibly strong and she acted the role entirely differently to any actress I’ve seen since. I missed Jennifer DiNola unfortunately. Had tickets especially to see her, but Emma Hatton was on that night instead. I saw Emma once again after that when she had taken over fully and haven’t seen the show since then. I really do need to see it again. The only Elphabas I’ve seen have been Idina, Kerry and Emma. In fact I think Katie Rowley-Jones is the only NessaRose I’ve seen.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 25, 2018 16:43:58 GMT
Darling you're in the cheap seats you ain't special. (also one caught me texting a friend about them...oops) Whenever I hear people getting a bit above their station I always think of this scene in Ab Fab
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 25, 2018 15:02:14 GMT
I just follow @westendcovers on Twitter and they usually announce any cast changes by the afternoon for all WE shows.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 25, 2018 8:15:43 GMT
Any news yet on performers on the show?
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 24, 2018 13:12:55 GMT
Just wondering, are the UK productions based in Australia? Is everyone including Will Young going to be doing an OTT Aussie accent?
Its just the very Australian tone and humour of the film is one of the things I love so much about it, and I'm not sure if I can imagine it working on stage.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 22, 2018 16:58:41 GMT
I haven't seen the movie but this show seems fabulous! Is anybody else excited for this? I'm going to see it on Easter Monday and can't wait! 💃 I’m certainly excited. The film is one of my all time favourites so I jumped at this. I do hope I’m not disappointed. I had preview tickets originally which were cancelled so have re-booked for the first week in May.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 21, 2018 16:18:06 GMT
It’s all very unsurprising. I deleted my Facebook account in 2011 as I found it utterly useless and rather annoying.
Whenever they would introduce some new feature, it would be up to you to go into your settings and turn it off, rather than opt in in the first place. This would be irritating for the population of users who didn’t log in and check their account every 10 minutes. One time I went away for Christmas and had no phone reception in the area I was staying in the mountains. Someone had inadvertently signed me up to some discussion group, and I received an email alert every time someone posted. Came back from Christmas with 3000+ emails!
I fully deleted it when the face recognition software was announced.
Also a friend of mine who had been in an abusive relationship got her account suspended when an unsavoury character from her past found her. She changed her account to put her middle name as her surname, and Facebook accused her of breaking the rules. The person would anonymously report all of her posts and pictures as inappropriate - none of which ever held up, but because she’s understandably quite sensitive it upset her a lot. Facebook had no means of contact to identify this anonymous person. She still however insists of keeping her Facebook account, although I don’t understand why.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 20, 2018 11:50:57 GMT
Warning about AMEX in the UK - quite a lot of retailers won’t accept them as they incur higher charges to them than other providers like Visa and MasterCard.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 19, 2018 21:38:30 GMT
Well I’m really pleased it’s been such a hit. Even though I didn’t particularly like it there must now be a better chance of more musical films being made. I suppose the contemporary style of music and dance used here are what have struck a chord with the younger audiences, so what next... In The Heights maybe? I heard that got put on hold because it was being produced by The Weinstein Company. The Wicked movie is forever in pre-production hell.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 18, 2018 21:17:10 GMT
I saw the film once in the first week it opened and wasn’t too impressed, mainly because I thought the songs sounded like Kelly Clarkson rejects from the early 2000s. I am however so happy that a film like this has become so popular. It’s exactly what is needed to kick the film industry up the arse to start making musicals again. Here’s to hoping. Big Hollywood films were in a huge rutt around 10 years ago as it seemed to me that they thought the majority of film audiences had the taste of teenage boys. On that note, whatever happened to a good Romantic Comedy? I love that escapist nonsense. They’re no more nonsensical than Fast & Furious 17 or whatever number they’re on now. There hasn’t been a really great one since Nora Ephron died. I feel all Field of Dreams right now - if you make them, they will come.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 18, 2018 18:13:24 GMT
I definitely think ticket limits make sense when it comes to the first week of ticket sales. It makes sure the organised theatre fans who are eagerly awaiting a new production can get their seats and should put off any touts. But then if a production has plenty of seats available after that, just lift the limit. It makes no sense.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 17, 2018 19:29:35 GMT
Rush seats on TodayTix for 42nd Street is a great bet. Just a fantastic night out for everyone.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 16, 2018 20:54:40 GMT
Any idea when those of us who booked through todaytix last July, will get to see their seat allocation? I did it through there too. Looks pretty safe as generic ‘Zone A’ seating seems to be mid centre rows.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 16, 2018 13:16:31 GMT
If seen it four times now and Jamael only got the applause for the two preview performances from those.
So far the only alternates I’ve seen were Waylon Jacobs for King George, Ash Hunter for Laurens/Philip Hamilton and Sifiso Mazibuko as Burr.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 15, 2018 21:37:15 GMT
Agreed there. This is the first show since Wicked that has dragged me back time and time again. Both are huge international phenomenons so maybe it’s just my taste being decidedly mainstream. That however is not the case outside of theatre - never seen a Harry Potter film, never been into football, never watched Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings etc.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 15, 2018 20:41:43 GMT
This isn’t much, but it ruined my experience last week at Lady Windermere’s Fan.
I was with two friends in the second row Dress Circle. Directly behind us was the most obnoxious man who just would not stop belly laughing. OK, fine it’s a comedy, but he found absolutely everything hysterical in the loudest possible way, even repeating lines back to himself at top volume. It was like having Brian Blessed with a megaphone sitting on your shoulder. Strangely in the parts of the play where the entire audience was laughing along, his reaction to those lines were significantly delayed. We were expecting an older gentleman of at least mid 50s, but he looked barely 40.
At the start of the second act, my friend politely asked him if he could tone it down. Instead of being surprised, he immediately quipped back “NO! IF TOU DONT LIKE IT YOU CAN SIT SOMEWHERE ELSE”. Never mind we had paid a lot for our seats and the only free ones in the section were right at the back (worth significantly less). It was like he was actively trying to annoy other people and wasn’t in the least bit surprised when he was approached.
Anyway, my mate who is significantly more assertive than I am just got up to tell and usher. As soon as the usher stood monitoring the row, he toned it down, indicating that the noise was not his natural reaction to the play.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 12, 2018 14:20:57 GMT
Oh definitely keep them if you have room, or if you have a young family member or friend who would appreciate them, you could donate. I recently inherited a box of Wimbledon Championships programmes dating back to the 1960s until the mid 90s. They’re fascinating to read.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 11, 2018 17:01:50 GMT
When people talk about colourblind casting, I wish for once to see a South Asian actor in a role. We have a huge population of South Asians in the country and I just don’t see enough in musical theatre. Only Meera Syal and at a stretch some of the cast of Aladdin have been really prominent anywhere.
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Post by ellie1981 on Mar 8, 2018 16:25:33 GMT
Two lottery wins? That’s just not fair - hmph. Although if it was me I’d certainly be smiling. Congratulations!
I managed to book Box D for the end of September for me and my housemate. She’s having a knee replacement operation this month so I wanted the best legroom possible for her. It will be the first time I’ve actually sat in a box since Alfie at Richmond Theatre in the early 90s.
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