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Post by popcultureboy on Apr 7, 2017 22:08:43 GMT
"but it could be good as it is directed by ivo van hove."
Funnily enough, that's exactly why I think it won't be good and am giving it the widest of wide berths.
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Post by popcultureboy on Apr 2, 2017 16:24:09 GMT
Still no email as promised from SFP. ATG Tickets over the phone also have no matinee showing up for Sat 24th June even though it's showing up on their website, but you can't use theatre tokens on the website. Very frustrating! 24th June matinee also doesn't show if you follow the Almeida priority link, so assume it's being held off sale for some reason?
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Post by popcultureboy on Mar 10, 2017 10:50:36 GMT
Well, I did sign the petition about Trump, so my opinion has been debated at least once in Parliament.
At least my opinion of shows I see varies and isn't expressed in such an unpleasant and reductive way though, eh?
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Post by popcultureboy on Mar 10, 2017 10:23:41 GMT
Whilst the Imelda arse lickers Are out in force From the reviews in I think the 3 star WOS posting Is a reflection of what I thought A very good play somewhat amiss in acting terms Tempted to go again though Just to eat a curry in the front row And I agree Imogen Poots was the best of the 4 The 3* WOS posting reads like a 5* review and misses the point of how the show and Imelda has been directed (and indeed of the play they claim to love). And Parsley, since you only seem to be arguing this just to be obtuse (and harping tiresomely on about being asked not to eat), your opinion is once again worth absolutely zero.
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Post by popcultureboy on Mar 6, 2017 23:12:04 GMT
I imagine the two alternates was a decision based on Amber's unproven ability to do the 8 shows. Ive said all along she wouldn't be able to do it. That's not a criticism of her but a simple recognition of the fact that she's never done it before so why would she be able to? I still maintain she won't stay for the entire run. Or the holidays will get longer and longer. Shout me down if you like I imagine the alternates was a decision based on the proven ability of the role of Effie White to murder the vocal chords of anyone who plays it. Amber was really ill over Christmas, as were a lot of performers in both this and other shows across the West End. She probably came back before she was fully ready, and that will mean she's more susceptible to getting sick again. Which is what seems to have happened. I still maintain you're looking for a scandal where there isn't one, so pipe down.
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Post by popcultureboy on Mar 6, 2017 23:05:41 GMT
Yep, 100% sold out, nothing held back for public booking. "Watch the website for returns" they say, like a trip to Chichester can be easily slotted in on a whim with only a few days notice for the majority of people in the UK. BOOOOOOOOO. There is a ticket on there now for May 13th evening, if you want to bag it? I'm going to check daily for matinee returns, since getting back from Chichester in the evening is not an option.
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Post by popcultureboy on Mar 6, 2017 23:03:32 GMT
John Tiffany also used the movement elements beautifully in his production of Let The Right One In, so when you watched the Harry Potter play, did you think everyone was going to turn into a vampire?
Really pleased with the big showing this got in the Olivier nominations today.
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Post by popcultureboy on Mar 4, 2017 9:26:54 GMT
F1-2 are always sold as restricted view at the Duke of York's, as they are outside the proscenium.
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Post by popcultureboy on Mar 3, 2017 23:24:31 GMT
Trouble is if a show is only achieving a certain attendance percentage per week,the theatre owners can give notice to the Producers to quit. This only comes into effect when there are other shows hovering to come into that particular theatre. Two shows which appeal to The Girls' demographic, American in Paris and 42nd St are about to start performances so it will be interesting to see how it does. That's not quite accurate about attendance there. It's if a show loses money for 3 consecutive weeks, the theatre owners have the right to serve notice to the show's producers. Or at least that's how it used to be. You aren't wrong about the notice being served only when there's a better option knocking on the door though :-)
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Post by popcultureboy on Mar 2, 2017 23:39:44 GMT
Agree with not eating and drinking during a performance (except water) and preferably not eating in the auditorium at all, but it's hypocritical for theatres to say, as do cinemas, that it's OK to eat food purchased there. Obviously they want the extra income - though most sell only over-priced, unhealthy and usually noisy, messy, pungent items - but it undermines their assumed argument about showing respect for the cast and ones fell audience members. Turns out, surprise surprise, that respect for theatres' bank balances trumps any other consideration. The pre-show email being so heavily quoted in the news about it states that you can enjoy any food sold in the venue before the show starts and during the interval, but you're asked not to eat in the auditorium during the show. So it's showing respect to bank balances, audience members and cast, all at the same time, surely?
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Post by popcultureboy on Feb 24, 2017 23:00:49 GMT
It's horribly underpowered Staunton behaves like she did in Gypsy Not a patch on the Kathleen Turner one She has way more stage presence and power than Staunton In my mind, Parsley, you're buried in cement right up to your neck.
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Post by popcultureboy on Feb 24, 2017 22:57:59 GMT
From a time perspective, they don't need that second interval. A 90 minute second half is totally viable, and having another 15 minute break just half an hour after an almost 2 hour first act is really odd. It's a shame it has to be there for set reasons and can't be shortened or got rid of.
I enjoyed it hugely up to the play within a play. It then started to go a little wonky, and the final hour devolved into an absolute garbage fire. A lot of that was down to pacing, but some of the directorial choices were, well, not great. I'm going again in April, so will be interested to see how it evolves. I DID have massive audibility issues from six rows back in the stalls though. If this is transferring to a West End house, they will really need to speak up.
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Post by popcultureboy on Feb 19, 2017 9:28:10 GMT
That's why F1 is sold as restricted view and £20.
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Post by popcultureboy on Feb 19, 2017 0:45:34 GMT
If that long, then self indulgent. Not really. The pretty much flawless Rory Kinnear one ran at 3 hours 35 minutes, with only 1 interval. So if this is aiming for 3 hours 50 with 2 intervals, then it isn't that much different.
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Post by popcultureboy on Feb 17, 2017 0:27:49 GMT
It didn't happen on Mary Stuart....
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Post by popcultureboy on Feb 8, 2017 9:53:45 GMT
HG: The NT Medea with Helen McCrory. Also outrageously modern with supposedly unmodern material. Which also didn't really work.
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Post by popcultureboy on Feb 8, 2017 9:38:32 GMT
To bring this back on topic, I don't know why they're doing the intervals like that. Every other production I've seen of it (only 4, admittedly, but still), has had 2 x 15 minute intervals, one after each act. Act Two is the longest, so if the full 20 minute break comes after it, you're asking people to sit still for a LONG time.
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Post by popcultureboy on Feb 7, 2017 10:37:16 GMT
Mansfield is listed on the Nimax site as being in the show.
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Post by popcultureboy on Feb 7, 2017 10:19:38 GMT
Not looking good. The producer looks 90 years old, and they only ever show one song in promos. Nothing about plot. WWRY had 40 great queen songs to choose from this has four or five. WWRY also had the worst reviews (think Viva Forever) when it opened and was in danger of closing due to poor ticket sales, until the cast performed on the Queen's Jubilee concert. And to ding this show for revealing nothing of its plot while comparing it to WWRY is amazing. WWRY had one of the worst books ever. Ben Elton didn't have the first clue how to write a musical. I saw it in previews and then again a few months before it closed. If anything, the relentless tinkering and updating of certain parts, while leaving other references untouched, just made the show infinitely more horrible to endure. There is a synopsis of the plot on the show's official website, just FYI. But I think it's fair to say that people won't be booking this for its plot, they'll be going to hear the songs (17 of his back catalogue and 2 new songs written for the show, a fact also on the official site). Also, there are 4 producers. Are they all 90 years old?
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Post by popcultureboy on Feb 1, 2017 23:01:06 GMT
The young vic booking system is the pits, I remember Streetcar was the worst experience I've ever had. I really feel for the (seemingly numerous) people who had seats selected and then the site crashed during the payment stage. I'd be in a rage! Let's hope it transfers here before the NYC run so more people get to see it. I had it crash on me at payment, then say I'd taken over 30 minutes and empty my basket. I was booking for 3 different friends on 3 different dates for Yerma as none of them had either the funds or the access to book it themselves so it was a bit of a stress. But I managed to reinstate everything and successfully got them all, so phew. As for Yerma transferring, I don't think it can due to the set and the staging. I don't think there is a traditional West End house that could accommodate it. That is presumably one of the reasons they're not targeting a traditional space when they go to NYC with it too.
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Post by popcultureboy on Feb 1, 2017 22:52:16 GMT
Whatever they add, however they revamp it, wouldn't it always be a "play with songs", like Over The Rainbow and Piaf, in that the songs don't move the story forward, they're just sort of there?
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Post by popcultureboy on Jan 30, 2017 23:18:15 GMT
I believe the show is being re-worked a little for the West End sit down run. Material is being added and an interval as well, so maybe the additional material is more ELO and it tips it over into being, if not a full blown musical, then at least a play with songs?
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Post by popcultureboy on Jan 28, 2017 23:12:11 GMT
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Post by popcultureboy on Jan 28, 2017 22:47:03 GMT
I'd much prefer people using their own accent than attempting something Eastern European and ending up in 'Allo 'Allo territory, personally.
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Post by popcultureboy on Jan 25, 2017 9:26:00 GMT
So is School of Rock and Dreamgirls the last of the musicals to open expected to be big contenders at this years Oliviers? If so, it gives us an indication of what could be the frontrunners at lezst in the musical catagories. The last musical to open for the 2017 Oliviers is, I believe, The Girls, which opens on the last day before cut off. And that, I think, is the strongest competition. It's homegrown, it's based on a true and heartwarming story and it has some great performers in the cast.
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Post by popcultureboy on Jan 25, 2017 9:12:02 GMT
As stated on the Neverland thread, it's delayed by around six months as Harvey Weinstein's mother died and he could not focus on producing the show in London while grieving for her. As also stated on that thread, it's unlikely he's taking six months off work entirely, but FN isn't his only project.
It may still go into the Piccadilly. The two shows going in immediately after Jersey Boys are both limited run fillers (the second is not that much more permanent than the first from what I gather), so it may be they are in a holding pattern until a new timetable for FN can be locked down.
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Post by popcultureboy on Jan 25, 2017 9:08:07 GMT
Also, he probably isn't taking six months off. It's not like Finding Neverland is his only project. It's probably the only one that was rescheduled and everything else between that and the new timeframe for it stayed in place.
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Post by popcultureboy on Jan 25, 2017 9:04:56 GMT
I've seen the show 3 times, I've never not once heard the set make a single squeaking sound. Not once.
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Post by popcultureboy on Jan 24, 2017 23:53:00 GMT
Harvey Weinstein's mother died and he has said he lacks the focus to mount the show in London while he is dealing with his grief, so it's been delayed by around six months.
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Post by popcultureboy on Jan 22, 2017 1:04:03 GMT
For me, it's pretty clear that all the poor choices can be laid at the feet of Ivo van Hove. Having seen the main trio give superior performances elsewhere to the work they're doing here, I lay 100% of the blame on the director. Nobody is in the same play as anybody else, and not a single person on that stage seemed confident of the choices van Hove was asking them to make. Hedda was my 4th time seeing a production directed by Ivo van Hove. There will not be a 5th. He is the emperor's new clothes in the extreme.
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