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Post by jek on Jun 3, 2017 19:50:41 GMT
Just back from seeing this afternoon's matinee performance. An audience member was taken ill during the first number of the show and so the show was stopped and not restarted until 4.30 pm making for a rather long afternoon. My daughter has had the cd for a couple of years and I could see from looking around that she was certainly not the only 16 year old present - it's heaven sent for teenagers who feel that they are somehow different. She was right in warning me that it was 'not your demographic' but she loved it. I would certainly imagine that it would find an audience in London. Very strong young cast and some very nice singing.
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Post by jek on May 31, 2017 7:57:13 GMT
Went last night as a mid revision treat for my 16 year old daughter. Wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. Glad to have seen Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope in the roles and thought Zoe Rainey was terrific. We sat in the bargain £31 front row seats which I'd really recommend. Because the first row is so far back from the pit and so even further from the stage you miss very little and I certainly wouldn't feel justified paying substantially more for being just a few rows further back. Am inevitably left humming Gershwin this morning and looking forward to seeing the Guildhall School of Music production of Crazy for You in July.
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Post by jek on May 17, 2017 6:53:17 GMT
My 17 year old son was among the young audience at Woyzeck last night on a sixth form college trip. They've been studying the play as part of their A Level course and had to spend many an hour devising their own production, writing about its themes etc. He absolutely hated this production. I don't think it was that it was shocking (he's been doing weekly life drawing classes since he was 15 and so naked people at close quarters aren't a novelty for him) he just thought it was terrible, full of padding.
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Post by jek on May 9, 2017 14:41:46 GMT
This is like a blast from the past. Used to watch Come Dancing in its 1990s incarnation when it was presented by Rosemarie Ford (Robert Lindsay's wife). Corky and Shirley Ballas were regulars as were the extraordinarily memorable Donnie Burns OBE and Gaynor Fairweather OBE (they always stressed the OBEs). It was all so gloriously over the top.
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Post by jek on Apr 28, 2017 7:35:43 GMT
With all this talk about Alfie Boe and the ENO I have been revisiting the reviews of the 2007 ENO production of Kismet in which Boe featured alongside the starring Michael Ball. I didn't see it but remember the kerfuffle at the time. Can't believe it was a decade ago.
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Post by jek on Apr 23, 2017 19:08:40 GMT
Saw this this afternoon with my 15 year old daughter. It needed to be good to compensate for the rather arduous journey from Stratford - I hadn't realised that it was Marathon Day when I booked and so the jubilee line was packed. On the other hand as my daughter had one of the £5 under 26s tickets and my ticket was only £20 it was hardly a big financial risk. In the event we both really enjoyed it. It was quite nostalgic for me as I used to frequent the local adventure playground in my part of East London as a kid in the early 70s. I remember lots of fires!
We both thought the performances were great - my daughter was immediately able to pinpoint exactly what role Erin Doherty had played in Call The Midwife while I recognised Kevin McMonagle from the very long ago series Bramwell in which he played a Victorian doctor alongside Jemma Redgrave.
A woman in front of us with primary age kids left about a quarter of an hour in to the play. At the end there certainly seemed to be lots of kids under the advised age of 14 leaving the performance and they all seemed animated rather than shocked. I can't imagine many youngsters being so sheltered that the language would come as a shock.
I had never been to Kingston before - either the place or the theatre. Certainly wouldn't make a special journey to go there again unless it was something I really wanted to see but the seats weren't as bad as I'd feared.
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Post by jek on Apr 18, 2017 12:01:58 GMT
Thanks for the heads up on Crazy For You. Have just booked. A post exam treat for my daughter.
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Post by jek on Mar 27, 2017 21:31:13 GMT
The Royal Academy of Music production of Sweeney Todd at Theatre Royal Stratford East last year was very good. Can imagine that their Threepenny Opera will be well worth seeing. Will have to check my teenagers' exam schedules to see if I can safely leave the house on any of those dates. Might have to be providing a shoulder to cry on!
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Post by jek on Mar 25, 2017 11:05:02 GMT
Went to see a production of this Carner and Gregor show performed by Rose Bruford third year actor musician students last night. It is on a very short run (ends this afternoon) at my local venue, Stratford Circus. According to the programme notes what prompted the college to do the show was the number of youngsters choosing songs from it as their audition piece. Carner and Gregor have worked with the college to rework the show for a cast of fifteen. I came to it cold, unlike my 15 yr old daughter who knew some of the songs, and thought it had much to recommend it. There were some fantastic performances. The youngsters are around the appropriate age so there was none of that disjunct you get when a 20 something is playing someone of fifty. We saw students from the same college perform Urinetown last year which was equally impressive. The show has its own twitter handle @rbislandsong where there are photos of the production etc.
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Post by jek on Mar 20, 2017 10:03:08 GMT
Enjoyed playing spot the British character actor in this - bit like old movies like The Amazing Mr Blunden or The Railway Children. Especially pleased to see Hattie Morahan. And like many people have a fondness for the original movie and its songs. But this film was so not for me. It just seemed relentless - incredibly loud and in your face. Emerged at the end feeling like I needed a lie down. Thought it might just be me but my 15 year old daughter felt similarly. Having said that the sold out house at the Stratford Picturehouse appeared to be enjoying it a great deal, so I seem to be in a minority on this one. I only read the 2 star Observer review after seeing it (I'd bought the paper on the way to the cinema) but felt they had it about right.
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Post by jek on Mar 19, 2017 11:13:20 GMT
Looking forward to seeing this this afternoon. Had a nice Disney musical related experience yesterday. A local community event (here in East London, at the Museum of London Docklands branch) had different groups/choirs singing in it. My daughter and her teenage friends represented a local music trust and their performance was sandwiched between a Lithuanian choir and the gloriously named 'Sputnik Association of Russian Women and the Globus Supplementary School'. The latter consisted of two women and assorted children all dressed in national costume (including a very serious young boy in a wonderful pioneer's style outfit). Alongside a funked up version of Kalinka (including a rap middle section) and Borodin's Stranger In Paradise they also sang, in Russian, Once Upon A December from Anastasia. Absolutely charmed the lot of us.
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Post by jek on Mar 6, 2017 10:56:36 GMT
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Post by jek on Mar 5, 2017 18:09:43 GMT
Just listened to an interview on Radio 4 where it was said that the three surviving members of the Gang of Four have been invited to the press night and are believed to be attending. I heard this too and immediately felt for the actors portraying the surviving members. Bet Roger Allam is pleased not to have to worry about Roy Jenkins turning up!
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Post by jek on Mar 5, 2017 10:05:55 GMT
We really enjoyed this. I was 17 and growing up, actively involved in Labour politics, in nearby Stepney at the time of the events and so remember them quite clearly. So many details rung true. I know that locally we were all slightly in awe of the fact that the very glamorous David and Debbie Owen had made their home in our frankly dingy neck of the woods (this was long before gentrification) and that their children went to the local nursery. And Roger Allam's Roy Jenkins is uncanny. We were all also very aware that another early gentrifier Delia Smith was represented by Debbie Owen for her cookbooks.
I was apprehensive about the play since I had real reservations about Steve Waters' earlier piece 'Temple'. I suspect that part of this was due to the fact that with Temple I was expecting greater depth than could be delivered in a 2 hour play. Limehouse isn't deep - though it certainly prompts thought - but it is good fun and well structured with pointers to Labour's current predicament (I speak as someone still hanging on in after over 35 years as a Labour Party member).
The only seats we could get were front row stalls and I was quite apprehensive about sitting so close to the action. But there is a bit of a physical barrier which meant that it didn't feel intimidating in the way I had feared. Would certainly recommend this to others interested in politics.
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Post by jek on Mar 1, 2017 19:06:04 GMT
My 17 year old son went to see this with his sixth form college last week. He really enjoyed it. My partner, who went to pick him up from the Young Vic said that all the students were outside animatedly discussing it when he got there. I guess that for most of them (my son included) it will have been the first production of Midsummer Night's Dream they had seen.
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Post by jek on Feb 20, 2017 12:23:52 GMT
I clicked in to the website at 11.59. When the queue started I was allocated number 67. Took 13 minutes for me to get to the front but I got the two seats that I wanted. Looking forward to it since at the time of the Limehouse Declaration I was a political engaged 17 year old living half a mile away in Stepney. I remember we were all very impressed that someone as posh as David Owen was living close by (these were the days before much of the East End was gentrified!)
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Post by jek on Feb 20, 2017 9:00:12 GMT
Saw this in a packed Vue Cinema in Stratford, London this afternoon. Got me thinking about how many Broadway shows have dealt with industrial disputes - Pins and Needles (Harold Rome - Barbra Streisand in the lead), Flora the Red Menace (Kander and Ebb, Liza Minelli starring), the Pajama Game. I'm sure there are probably others that I don't know about. You are kidding tat it was on at Stratford? That's my local cinema. When I did a Google search for London I could only find one showing up in North London. So annoyed now..... My 15 year old daughter found it on the Vue website some time ago - proof perfect that teenagers can deploy techno skills and dedication when completely determined to see something. I was staggered just how full the venue was - while we mainly go to the Picturehouse we did go and see Sing Street twice at Stratford Vue and both times it was practically empty!
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Post by jek on Feb 19, 2017 21:14:15 GMT
Saw this in a packed Vue Cinema in Stratford, London this afternoon. Got me thinking about how many Broadway shows have dealt with industrial disputes - Pins and Needles (Harold Rome - Barbra Streisand in the lead), Flora the Red Menace (Kander and Ebb, Liza Minelli starring), the Pajama Game. I'm sure there are probably others that I don't know about.
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Post by jek on Feb 16, 2017 8:29:18 GMT
Took my teenage daughter to see this last night (we live so nearby that we can hear the end of the Archers and be in the Theatre Royal for curtain up at 7.30pm). I have to say that it was going down really well with the audience. It's very Stratford East in that it is loud and not at all subtle and certainly striking a chord with the people watching it (lots of shouted agreement with the experience of the characters). Some amazingly high energy performances and, with all the doubling up that is going on, the cast must be exhausted by the end of the show. We'd seen Karis Jack, who plays the young Viveca, in both Urinetown and Baddies at the Unicorn so knew she had proper charisma. I would love to see lots of local youngsters seeing the show - the civil rights theme and the relatable young cast - would make for both enjoyment and some no doubt heated discussions on the way home.
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Post by jek on Feb 12, 2017 22:10:51 GMT
Went to this at the Barbican this afternoon. The decision to purchase tickets was prompted by having really rated The Forbidden Zone. I was, however, a bit wary of this outing because I am scarred by the experience of the Complicite Master and The Margarita in the same venue. But then again I really enjoyed A Disappearing Number. So I went to this with a mixture of expectations/ apprehensions. I found it to be much less involving than The Forbidden Zone but I didn't hate it. One of the real problems with it was it was just too wordy for something where the majority of the audience were dependent on subtitles. Despite being well practiced in reading Scandi crime subtitles I found I just couldn't keep up at some points. And while nearly three hours of the German Toni Erdmann flew by in the cinema, two hours and ten minutes in the Barbican theatre today felt pretty long. Glad I saw it but wouldn't be rushing to recommend it.
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Post by jek on Nov 27, 2016 14:21:51 GMT
Just been to a free preview of the Disney movie Moana which features the music of Lin Manuel Miranda. Went with my Hamilton obsessed 15 year old daughter who couldn't stop raving about how good the music was. My 17 year old son (a big Dwayne the Rock Johnson fan - he was one of the lead voice actors) and I also really enjoyed the film. Having seen In The Heights I thought I could hear that some of the music originated from the same pen - but I'm no expert. We were trying to work out on the way back what the merchandise for the movie would look like. Wouldn't be surprised if it was of Frozen proportions.
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Post by jek on Oct 30, 2016 9:01:17 GMT
Accompanied my daughter to see this yesterday as she is still a bit young (15) for solo theatre trips but she really wanted to see it. I hadn't liked the film and so I knew it wasn't my kind of thing. She absolutely loved it and I was able to appreciate the talent on show - particularly in the band. If, like me, you have children in mid to late teens Jonathan Bailey will forever be Leonardo, the eponymous hero of the CBBC series in which he and a group of fellow teens worked hard to thwart the evil Machiavelli in the court of the Medicis. The sort of hokum that kids of around the age of ten can endlessly enjoy on repeat.
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Post by jek on Oct 11, 2016 7:50:17 GMT
Thank you for the reports on this. My younger son is off to see it with his sixth form college next week and it is always nice to be able to say to him 'it's meant to be really good' as he reluctantly shuffles out of the door!
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Post by jek on Oct 8, 2016 7:54:04 GMT
We went to see Ballet Black at our local theatre, Stratford East, last night. It's a triple bill and a short evening - about an hour and a half including an interval. The works are choreographed by Christopher Marney, Arthur Pita and Christopher Hampson. The dancers (8 in total) are full of joy and really communicate this to the audience. Final performance at Stratford tonight and then touring across the country. Really worth a look.
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Post by jek on Oct 2, 2016 9:42:44 GMT
Really glad we went to see this. My secondary school was a stone's throw away from the venue - so I don't find it difficult to find or get to - but a previous theatrical expedition to Wilton's had left me fuming, making me hesitate slightly before booking this. But I love listening to The Light In the Piazza (and re-reading the novella it is based on) so felt this was an opportunity too good to miss. I thought it was musically really interesting and, being in the balcony, we had a very good view of the band and its pleasingly lively conductor/musical director. A number of the performances were outstanding and the story is an interesting one (I'm going to try to see Billy Wilder's Ace In The Hole, based on the same source material). My only problem with it - as others have mentioned - was that it really did feel long, not helped I guess by the hardness of the church style bench which we were sitting on. I wouldn't want that to put people off though. And it does seem to be a bit churlish to be complaining of discomfort while watching someone trapped in a cave! Would certainly recommend the balcony seats for the view.
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Post by jek on Sept 25, 2016 21:20:01 GMT
Didn't work for me when I tried it earlier. I booked anyway - based on the things people were saying about it on here.
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Post by jek on Sept 25, 2016 7:28:21 GMT
Would say to anyone who enjoyed the high energy performances in this one (as my daughter and I did) to take a trip over to the Theatre Royal Stratford East this week to catch up with The Glasgow Girls. My 17 year old son (not easy to please and certainly not a musicals person) enjoyed it so much that he has been wishing there was a soundtrack recording. Only on this week before the tour continues in Dundee.
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Post by jek on Sept 4, 2016 15:25:08 GMT
We saw this last week at the Unicorn. While there were some interesting ideas in it we found it neither as funny or clever as lots of people sitting around us did. A bit too exclusive, with too many in jokes. I got the impression that lots of people there were theatre professionals - in fact a number of the cast of a hugely enjoyable musical were in the audience (we weren't sitting near them though and so I don't know how much they enjoyed it). My teen daughter and I discussed it quite a bit on the tube home and came to the conclusion that it wasn't something we'd go to again - or seek out work by the same team. Not a waste of time seeing it but given the cost of the tickets (I booked before there were cheap offers) we felt a bit cheated.
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Post by jek on Aug 28, 2016 18:15:22 GMT
I took my 15 year old daughter to this - and also to Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour - and she was fine with both. You just have to be prepared to have possibly embarrassing conversations/ answer difficult questions on the tube home. But that can be quite useful and necessary if you're preparing young people for adult life.
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Post by jek on Aug 11, 2016 12:15:20 GMT
Did this earlier in the year - combined it with a matinee performance of The Threepenny Opera. In a way the wig bit was the most interesting because the actual practitioners were present to demonstrate their craft. Unsurprisingly there were no costume people on duty on a Saturday morning and so it was left to the very enthusiastic guide to explain what we were looking at. There were a couple of questions asked which he found difficult to answer because he clearly had less experience of sewing anything than some of the people on the tour (there was a costume student who had just done a placement at the Royal Opera House, for example). Plenty of opportunity to handle costumes and to look at source books and the like. You also get to go in to the fitting room. It's a long time since I did a general tour but this specialised tour certainly was different from what I remember seeing in those.
I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
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