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Post by Oleanna on May 31, 2016 12:07:21 GMT
Anybody think that this is due a big London revival?
Apart from Chichester (2008), we've had no big revival since the original production at the Adelphi in 1961.
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Post by Oleanna on May 19, 2016 8:45:52 GMT
Saw the time-lapse video of the set build of this show yesterday, and can't help but feel that the set looks ever so slightly...cheap.
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Post by Oleanna on May 16, 2016 9:24:03 GMT
Imagine if Laurie Beechman had had her chance to play this role!
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Post by Oleanna on May 16, 2016 9:20:32 GMT
Alex Brightman in Wicked: (http://65.media.tumblr.com/6e801abee49a1684ad14b7c8434f8d68/tumblr_nc436bSrFN1tl5umxo1_1280.jpg) Alex Brightman in School of Rock: (http://cache4.asset-cache.net/gc/476778776-alex-brightman-during-a-press-preview-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7QfWrZxUiKCgdC2U%2F4%2FZATJl%2FK2MggA2xVX2CencOWdn4pf%2BdS7urIsM52zaK2GUGOw%3D%3D)
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Post by Oleanna on May 13, 2016 8:32:59 GMT
Victoria becoming the place for Broadway juggernauts!
In all seriousness, isn't it funny how an area with only two theatres, away from the rest of the West End can be populated mostly by long running shows?
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Post by Oleanna on May 13, 2016 8:30:20 GMT
Great review for Natasha!
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Post by Oleanna on May 13, 2016 8:28:56 GMT
Far fewer seats at the New London, but hardly any of the mid-size theatres are available (also, ALW doesn't own as many mid-size houses!)
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Post by Oleanna on May 12, 2016 12:42:46 GMT
Is Ria Jones free...?
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 28, 2016 14:20:45 GMT
I vote Chess for the next ENO musical! Get Ria Jones to do it again!
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Chess
Apr 28, 2016 14:20:24 GMT
Post by Oleanna on Apr 28, 2016 14:20:24 GMT
By John Doyle do you mean the actors playing their own instruments? If so, that's already been done with the Craig Revel Horwood version. That's not a device he always uses.
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 28, 2016 8:27:53 GMT
Thanks for the info guys. I am behind the times, still thinking they had a wire down their back attached to a transmitter/battery pack around their waist. Maybe thats still the case in the smaller theatres which cannot afford the latest technology. That's still the case in most shows, just not in this particular instance.
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 17, 2016 17:49:30 GMT
First time we've seen the theatre dark in 11 years! All change around it! imgur.com/Cok6w33
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 16, 2016 16:06:15 GMT
Absolutely hated this. The theatre is too big for such an intimate play. The production was good if a bit overblown (set moving etc.) music completely inappropriate.
Spall is giving one hell of an over-the-top;, hammy, performance. Not genuine at all.
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 12, 2016 21:37:41 GMT
Shame we don't have longer to enjoy Matthew Malthouse's...*talent*
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 12, 2016 21:34:06 GMT
This should be in the Plays section.
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 12, 2016 6:49:24 GMT
2:30 for me. 3pm is fine if the show is no longer than 90-100 minutes.
I can't comment on Sunday, because I never go to the theatre on a Sunday. Never. Well, hardly ever...
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 11, 2016 22:12:35 GMT
For me, NO show is worth £90. Oh I don't know. Angela Lansbury and Julia McKenzie as Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart in a revival of 'Chicago' with Tommy Steele as Billy Flynn and Shirley Bassey as Mama Morton would be worth at least £90. Okay. Maybe that. Except Ann Reinking as Billy Flynn.
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 11, 2016 6:41:44 GMT
For a long time in "As If We Never Said Goodbye" from Sunset Boulevard, I heard:
"Yes, a world to rediscover But I'm not in any hurry And I need the money"
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 10, 2016 20:21:47 GMT
That goes for the whole show too. Get it over as quickly, and with as much heightened emotion, as you can! They seem to forget that certain (softly) sung notes works as actors themselves too. They are losing the whole essence of this artform. Emotion comes from notes too, instead of just, crying, screaming or speaking them. That does not make it more realistic because they are still singing. If anything, it separates the acting from the singing. "raw emotion" lies in other things with sung through material. Agree entirely, dave25. The composer took the effort to write all of the notes on the page - why not sing them? You don't find opera singers usurping the notes in favour of shouting, and thus, finding more emotion...! (Well not normally intentionally, anyway!)
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 10, 2016 16:35:54 GMT
Company at Her Majesty's in 1972 with most of the American cast including Elaine Stritch, Larry Kert and Donna McKechnie. Kert took over from Dean Jones on Broadway. I saw it 9 times during its run thanks to the 50p balcony seats and got to see the wonderful Julia McKenzie for the first of many times. She replaced the original April early in the run and then continued with the British cast. Before that my theatre going was very much am dram trips, end of the pier summer seasons (I worked as a stage hand for a few years in Great Yarmouth) and the odd visit to the RSC in Stratford upon Avon. I moved to London in '71 but didn't really get caught up in the excitement of London theatre until Company which of course opened up the curtains for a whole wealth of theatre going. I think buddyvlc just won the thread!
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 9, 2016 10:26:50 GMT
Has anyone seen Eva yet? I'm going down next week, looking forward to it. Will put her Oliviers performance down to nerves. On My Own used to be slow and beautiful but current directors obsessed with forcing the actresses into an angrily spitting every other word at 100mph while running around the stage and gesturing with the hat. That goes for the whole show too. Get it over as quickly, and with as much heightened emotion, as you can!
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 9, 2016 10:24:56 GMT
I think a tour of this show could do well. West End success and Tour success are often very different things, and you can certainly have one without the other (look at The Full Monty - about to begin its third tour).
"There's a lot of little old ladies out there!"
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 9, 2016 10:21:13 GMT
Anyway, it actually is IMHO worth the cash. For me, NO show is worth £90.
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 9, 2016 10:18:33 GMT
Earlier than some: I much prefer the 3 pm or even 3.30 pm starts, such as you find, for instance, at the Park, Southwark Playhouse, etc. Early matinees just make timing really tight if you are whizzing between venues, especially, say, if one is not in central London but Kingston, Richmond, Wimbledon and so on. I assure you that 3 and 3:30pm matinees are the exception, rather than the rule (which is, generally, 2:30, of course).
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 8, 2016 23:42:25 GMT
As with most things, too expensive.
And the amount of premium seats too...£90 for a play!?
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 8, 2016 23:14:00 GMT
Isn't the main issue with items stored under the seats at the National is that it interferes with the ventilation system?
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 8, 2016 10:23:12 GMT
Also impressed by Olivier cloakroom staff - I find this new NT policy about not being able to take in a bag bigger than an envelope really annoying, but they were very efficient about returning things. When I went, I didn't realise that you queue from the left hand side of the cloakroom after the show to get your coat/bags returned. I marched straight into the right hand side and got my possessions back straight away. As I said, I had no idea until I came back out and saw the amount of (now angry) people queueing on the left hand side. Also of note: this is a rare example for me of a long play where, by the end, I would have quite happily sat there and watched another hour or two. So engrossed was I in the characters. The same thing happened the night before at Long Day's Journey Into Night in Bristol. (I thought doing a marathon of Long Day's, Ma Rainey and Les Blancs in 24 hours would have been mad - but I recommend it!)
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 8, 2016 10:09:16 GMT
I hope that those of you who are wishing for a Sarah Lancashire return saw her in Betty Blue Eyes!
I'd love Geoffrey Rush to do something in London.
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 6, 2016 10:32:21 GMT
They'd have to take the first couple of rows off sale in order to position a camera in the pit aisle (stage right), then they'd have to be positioned in the boxes/sides of the circle.
The problem with the BOV is that every last inch is filled with seats.
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Post by Oleanna on Apr 6, 2016 0:12:45 GMT
I think Lin is a genious, with his music and as an actor... but I just can't with his voice haha! It's a good voice but the tone just grinds on me haha. The downside of him originating most of his leading roles, he is always on the Cast Recording! You "just can't"...?
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