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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 23, 2018 17:35:51 GMT
I saw it last night, I thought it was a wonderful evening and it has the potential to be absolutely outstanding. It won't actually take much more work as most of it is cutting things away rather than adding or changing.
First thing - make a cast recording in advance of its return and promote it so that people know some of the songs as these songs are some of the best British musical theatre songs I've heard in a decade or more.
Second thing - put more buttons on songs, especially in the early to mid parts of both acts. The audience were desperate to respond and they did when possible but you can use that audience energy and really hype the audience up. Keep the latter ends of each act without them to build up the tension, though. The show is profligate with its songs because of this, one example that I thought was ready to build to a climax and that energy release was 'No Angel in the House', so make the most of these great numbers.
Third thing - I loved the wide net it used for the story but some things, however good, need to go. The way that the poor were sidelined comes across in the second act but using Annie Kenney more in the earlier parts would make this arc more powerful. If anything, I'd cut some of the Sylvia/Hardie romance, it's fine but it could be more secondary.
Fourth thing (and by far the most important and necessary) - get a new technical team. You have cast, staging and numbers that work so, so well yet the lighting adds little and the sound is very poor indeed. You need to hear the words and (on occasion) I had to look at the captioning at the side of the stage to check what I'd heard. Work with the Hamilton people, their sound is pristine, crystal clear, yet this in comparison was more like listening to it on an old mono radio. The sound should envelop the audience and so the action appears to surround them rather than seeming to emanate from behind the prosc. arch. The tech team are the hidden weapon of any modern musical, when they don't deliver then it makes everyone else's job more difficult.
Fifth thing - employ a bigger band, a lot of the music demands a good horn section (and who doesn't like a good horn section?) There are some four-to-the-floor disco stompers, for example, that practically demand some horn interjections and counter-melodies.
The show is brilliant, it can become epic.
(One massive gripe with the Old Vic, whoever decided it was a good idea to not send out physical tickets should be put on toilet cleaning duty, given how much it contributes to a show starting late. After faffing with getting a phone or ipad out, it needing the passcode putting in again and then the email not opening properly there could be many more people not waiting impatiently to do the same)
Cast album, please!
P.S. I wonder if Angela Lansbury ever thought she'd see her Grandfather as a character in a musical!
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 23, 2018 17:10:12 GMT
But if no deal is likely it will be as bad for the EU as it is for us and maybe the UK holding firm would make the EU blink first and get back around the table if there was a stalemate. That isn't true, the only part of the EU that will be similarly affected will be Ireland. The rest can absorb any blow and any problems that they do have can then be blamed on us. In fact this is a perfect opportunity for many European governments as they will have a common enemy that is too weak to fight back in any meaningful manner.
The EU does not need us, when are people finally going to understand this? It's madness to think that they are in as weak as a position as we are, sheer bloody minded insanity.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 23, 2018 14:24:34 GMT
Nobody (well, very few) actively want the chaos option but, given that we are at a complete impasse, it is quite likely going to happen through the failure of anything else.
To me, fudge and delay is the only answer which avoids it. Incremental shifts, just enough to kick the can a bit further ahead without breaking anything. I think (though impossible to tell) that May has been toying with that but her gangster-like demand for respect suggests maybe not.
Sadly there are forces in play that want the chaos, whether that be disaster capitalists like JRM, right wing or left wing agitators looking for a revolution or just plain old anarchists. Amazingly we’ve ended up with a number of them close to the centre of power at just this moment. A perfect confluence of disaster but such is history.
Why might chaos ensue? Because the centre is in trouble and the fringes do not want compromise. Those who do not compromise only ever learn through suffering. Ireland, most recently on these shores, took decades to emerge from that. Again, history teaches us this.
We need, sadly, to be regularly reminded of that history.
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Brexit
Sept 22, 2018 23:28:02 GMT
Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 22, 2018 23:28:02 GMT
Re: Solutions.
Not that the government is interested, but.....
Extend and fudge. The likelihood of civil unrest through either a hard brexit or a cancellation leaves little option than to kick it down the road six months, then whilst claiming progress, for another year, then implementation of part of something that makes no real difference but can claim to be a staging post. Then, when enough people have died, got fed up or can no longer be bothered, say we’ll stick with where we are.
The other, more catastrophic in the short term, solution.
Make people suffer.
It’s the only thing that changes minds in most cases. So let it happen, endure chaos and rancour, then pick up the pieces and it won’t happen again for at least a few decades.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 22, 2018 12:57:28 GMT
Satire is pretty much redundant at the moment, what else can you say when the actuality is so shocking?
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Brexit
Sept 21, 2018 17:57:20 GMT
sf likes this
Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 21, 2018 17:57:20 GMT
It will be DINO, a deal in name only. Europe cannot do a deal that Britain wants without breaking Europe, so they won’t. What will transpire is a country at war with itself and eventually, hopefully, a reckoning, Europe is broken, hence the inexorable rise of the far-right parties. Reference was to the EU. As for the rise of the right, the blame for that goes partly on the reaction to the banking crisis and the way it rewarded the guilty and hurt the innocent and, secondly, the way that certain media entities, amplified by both supra-national political agitators and the black ops of certain countries, have used the ignorance and fear of those affected by the first factor. As I say, a reckoning is coming for those who created this, and it will not just be this country where that happens.
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Brexit
Sept 21, 2018 16:29:19 GMT
Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 21, 2018 16:29:19 GMT
It will be DINO, a deal in name only. Europe cannot do a deal that Britain wants without breaking Europe, so they won’t. What will transpire is a country at war with itself and eventually, hopefully, a reckoning,
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 20, 2018 10:43:37 GMT
Shipwrecked performances start at 1:30 and 7:00, so probably going to be a long one.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 20, 2018 8:18:42 GMT
Richard II dir. Joe Hill-Gibbins, Macbeth dir. Robert Icke, both Almeida. Are these fantasies, or have they been rumoured? Well the first has now been announced so, presumably, the second is in the pipeline. Better to wait a bit, though, given the number of productions it's having at the moment.
rosmersholm - thanks for the advance information, please contribute more if, and when, you can!
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 19, 2018 16:14:44 GMT
It's also probably helpful that Paul Ready is in one of the biggest and most talked about TV shows of the year. He's everywhere at the moment. He was great in Motherland, showing his comic skills off, and I also just finished watching the excellent 'The Terror' about the failed expedition to find the North West Passage.
Appointing Sean Holmes isn't a surprise either, or at least getting a director with wider experience on board. Hopefully it will help to give more consideration to that area for the next season.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 19, 2018 0:47:36 GMT
The late Malcolm Hardee was the first alternative comedian in the UK, in the sense of its common usage. Dodd was really pretty mainstream. If you are looking at an earlier era then Peter Cook was the scourge of the establishment of his own time (hence the name of his own club).
Going further back it has to be Frank Randle who was the more cutting, frequently in trouble, alternative to George Formby. Well worth checking out.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 19, 2018 0:27:30 GMT
Everything is pure guesswork unless anyone goes on the record here, with attributable comments.
Anyone prepared to put up?
What role have 14-18 played, for example? How much support or otherwise came from the Old Vic? If a company with a strong track record of delivering productions then the logical question is why now? All questions going begging as far as I can see.
Enough axe grinding and ill informed speculation, anyone actually ‘know’ anything?
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 18, 2018 23:15:59 GMT
My favourite thing about the word "snowflake" when not being applied to a piece of wintertime precipitation is that the people who use it as a pejorative are often revealing themselves to be even more easily offended than the people they're trying to disparage for being easily offended. Also, just because "making fun of someone's appearance" used to be a much more popular type of humour doesn't mean it was ever really *acceptable*, and there's nothing wrong with people saying "actually, that's not really funny, I'm going to stick with other jokes thanks". People think millennials are humourless; we're not, we're just WAY more into Dadaism than mocking people. Our jokes are HILARIOUS, they're just not the same as other generations' jokes. On each occasion, there are good manners and ill. Behaving badly and selfishly or making uncalled for jokes about someone's appearance? Both ill mannered and both worthy of being treated with disdain. Sadly society is becoming more ill mannered and anyone who tries to halt it is either called an interfering busybody, a social justice warrior, a killjoy or politically correct, all terms meant to justify bad manners from whatever position the perpetrator has taken.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 18, 2018 14:40:56 GMT
"Vibrant" = Noisy
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 18, 2018 14:34:14 GMT
It is indeed. Sounds wonderful. And Tunick’s orchestrations sound like they’re in safe hands with David Cullen. I'm praying that they've brought back the guitar accompaniment for 'Another Hundred People' - the sound on the OBCR is so iconic and in my opinion having it played on piano just doesn't compare. I thought it was a 1970's type electric keyboard, it's there in the opening number too. Can anyone check the original score/parts?
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 18, 2018 14:29:05 GMT
What I don't really understand, given that the press night last night was only a concert performance, as cast illness prevented a full staging, is how there are reviews of the full version in today's Times, Telegraph and Guardian, as well as Time Out. They went to see it over the weekend? I thought the whole point was that the first time it would be ready for critical scrutiny was yesterday. Yeah, it's not really a secret that reviewers will often visit a show a little earlier than press night, and press night is more of a review embargo than a deadline for the finished product these days. I think some reviewers go earlier in previews *and* to press night, for whatever reason, but if you're lucky enough to be making a living out of your writing, there's a good chance you don't really have the time to do that. Yes, long gone are the days when critics would be sat on the aisle and would be rushing out during the curtain call. Probably a good thing as it spreads out the pressure with them attending on different performances.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 16, 2018 14:03:09 GMT
It’s called marketing.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 14, 2018 16:19:44 GMT
Been mulling on this for a while. I'm intrigued by it but some slight trepidation having never seen/studied Othello and being not too Shakespeare literate. I feel like you'd really get it if you knew both pieces well, but not sure how it would translate to people like me. Likely to give it a go though. Sort of a Shakespearean Upstairs Downstairs, the king losing the plot whilst there is murderous intrigue amongst the staff.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 14, 2018 16:15:27 GMT
Nothing professional as far as I can see - her CV at her agent's website only lists "The Actor" directed by Colin Snell at the National - he was her school drama teacher and this seems to have been part of NT Connections in 2002. I must admit that is not encouraging. The transition from screen to stage is not always a smooth one for some actors. She may be great. But I fear that is not a given particularly when I can't find any reference to any drama school type training. I know she did stuff when she was younger. But can't see reference to any formal training which would help prepare for the rigours of a run at the Old Vic. That other Who companion Billie Piper seemed to manage it perfectly. Often works, though sometimes doesn’t.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 14, 2018 11:29:41 GMT
Jesus, you can really tell the fanbase. Just looked at Thursday matinees and its embarassing how badly it is selling. Clearly the fangirls are all in school. Its a shame as I loved the show, but wow, some dates it is barely a third full. Its sad to see. Saw a couple of not so flattering reviews from TimeOut and The Times. Both had valid points but I’ve seen some fans dismissing reviewers on Twitter as “boring”, “middle aged”, “you only like King Lear”, “don’t understand the young dialogue” The last one made me laugh as these middle aged reviewers were teenagers when the film was released. Treneman in The Times is eminently ignorable, she's sour on over 90% of anything she is sent to watch. Lukowski in Time Out is a good reviewer but he's better with more challenging theatre in my experience. Looks like most reviews are four with the odd three and a five.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 14, 2018 8:38:35 GMT
I imagine the Robert Icke “Oedipus” from Amsterdam will make it to the Barbican at some point. The Toneelgroep Medea directed by Simon Stone is at the Barbican in March, so possible for later next year maybe?
The production of theirs that I really hope come over here is Ibsen House (again directed by Stone).
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 13, 2018 10:29:45 GMT
Worth mentioning that Berberian Sound Studio is directed by Tom Scutt, hitherto a designer, in a not particularly common career move (in theatre at least, I know of a number in film).
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 12, 2018 11:14:25 GMT
"Hector in a Half Shell"?
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 11, 2018 16:08:07 GMT
Were the lives of the Brontes really interesting then? I thought it was a case of born, moved t’Parsonage in t’Howarth, wrote a book, got consumption, died. The End. Do you remember that scene in the Rita, Sue and Bob Too film where they go on a school trip to Haworth and they girlsend up having a fight in the street 😆 Watch Sally Wainwright’s ‘To Walk Invisible’, a really good couple of hours or so TV version that fills in a lot of detail. Branwell is the catalyst, the favoured son who squandered everything whilst the daughters cleared up his mess (sometimes quite literally).
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Serena
Sept 11, 2018 11:29:51 GMT
Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 11, 2018 11:29:51 GMT
There were two players on that court but everything became all about her, Williams should be fined heavily and I wouldn't be unhappy with a ban of a few weeks as well. Such a display of entitlement was against the spirit of the game and either conscious or unconscious gamesmanship, Osaka should be applauded for not getting drawn in and she deserves an official apology. The crowd made Williams, and the situation, worse, if they can't keep a crowd controlled then the USTA need to be sanctioned and warned against any future similar happenings. American crowds have a habit of this, you don't get the same at Wimbledon; even with Murray there has always been an appreciation of the other player. Golf crowds are similar and the Ryder cup has, at times, gone the same way too. I distinctly remember some appalling crowds at Wimbledon in the days of Tim Henman. Some extremely disrespectful OTT cheering at every unforced error from his opponents. Even that was of a different order (the cries of 'Come on Tim' still being inserted by some wag at inopportune moments). This crowd response was just feral.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 11, 2018 8:35:41 GMT
This is really embarrassing Given that the theatre is known for its work with people of Afro-Caribbean and Asian heritage, it looks really, really embarrassing.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 11, 2018 7:39:23 GMT
So is the question really “is British theatre guilty of failing the poor?”. Because that’s different. No, because it's more complicated than that, as Nicholas' mammoth post attests to and as my caveats make clear. It's partly economic (and I made clear that this is my personal benchmark but it isn't one shared by most who are involved in the area) but upbringing, culture and other factors also have their place.
To take my own case, my own income and education puts me definitely outside of the working class on those scores but my identity was forged in my formative years and you don't necessarily lose that. As my family history of being working class goes way back and my parents are still in that socioeconomic grouping then I retain that working class identity. I am a visitor to the middle class (and to be honest, I still feel like an outsider). On the other hand, a person who has a middle class background but who has fallen on hard economic times may come under the definition of poverty but their prior education and upbringing lives with them and this affects their attitudes and things such as theatregoing. If you were brought up to do so, or told that it was within your sphere, then you don't lose that.
Some may say that they've 'escaped' their upbringing but that's up to them and requires a good degree of self examination.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 10, 2018 21:01:25 GMT
I don’t even know what working class is any more. Does it mean you have to work to live? That would be 90% of us. Is it an income level? Is it social mobility? What exactly IS working class? I tend to think of it as a subsistence level of income or below. This is complicated, however, by heritage and your formative years create an identity that people can carry with them through their lives. So, in that case, working class identity is retained long after, especially if other family members retain their previous economic status. It used to be based on the nature of jobs but the modern economy has changed markedly so a non manual job is quite often going to pay less than a manual one.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 10, 2018 20:37:27 GMT
If it is the play by Lynn Nottage that’s yet another American play being scheduled. Only the fifth American play the Donmar has done since 2013 as far as I can see? (others being Belleville, City of Angels, One Night In Miami, Teddy Ferrera) Across London there has been a seeming rise in them, though.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Sept 10, 2018 17:44:47 GMT
If it is the play by Lynn Nottage that’s yet another American play being scheduled.
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