1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 28, 2016 12:27:46 GMT
Yes, I was going to recommend some galleries if you got stuck in London (the Abstract Expressionism exhibition at the Royal Academy is worth seeing and the Picasso Portraits at the NPG) but much better not to be faffing around with trains if you don't have to.
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 28, 2016 11:54:18 GMT
Just saw on twitter that unfortunately both performances today are cancelled due to cast illness. Sorry JohnG - I suspect you are already on a train? - or maybe they got a message to you in time?
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 22, 2016 19:29:58 GMT
Great review, Steve (we expect no less from you.) Absolutely true about the run of great songs - at the interval, I said to my daughter (with a sense of disbelief): 'There are still so many wonderful songs to come.' And adding to my enjoyment I tweeted something positive about the show which Mark Umbers liked and then replied to using my name AND with a smiley face. Heaven.
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 20, 2016 21:10:50 GMT
I've had three children and go before the play starts. Yes, indeed. Perfectly possible to have a couple of kids and function at a high level ;-) But the idea that she shared the issue with the whole row was...interesting (but some people really like to overshare. Out of the blue I had a boss ask another colleague and I how often we got up in the middle of the night to wee. We looked startled and just shook our heads. He said, 'Guess it's just me then' and walked away. Think it was a misplaced attempt at intimacy but ....yeah.)
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 20, 2016 21:06:33 GMT
Oh no! That's where my kids are sitting tomorrow. My son's tall but my daughter is titchy. Oh well.
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 20, 2016 11:56:19 GMT
My spoiler came out the wrong way around, but you get my drift.
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 20, 2016 9:33:16 GMT
At the otherwise sublime 'She Loves Me' one member of the family in front of us got up twice, clomped up the stairs and back again. Then another did the same, but wasn't allowed back in until the interval Heard her say, 'I had to go to the loo. I've had three children. What do they expect?' Just a bit too much info there.
Meanwhile someone else during a very poignant bit got her coat and bag and exited. You could see the actors eyes slightly dart towards her as she crept out. It was so good I can only think she had a train to catch or something.
But I hear there was a mouse at another performance. Ours was entirely mouse-free.
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 20, 2016 9:16:03 GMT
I'm still thinking about it two days later, so really enjoying reading others' positive responses.
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 19, 2016 10:23:51 GMT
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 18, 2016 20:55:11 GMT
You're going to have to indulge me while I write a big sloppy Valentine to this show. What you need to know: When I was growing up in some godforsaken place, we had about 10 musical albums which I listened to over and over again. 'She Loves Me' was one of those albums. I hadn't seen the show - I don't think anyone in my family had - I have no idea why we had the album. But growing up as an intense, bookish, awkward girl I loved this musical. Songs like 'Will He Like Me' and 'Ice Cream' spoke to my insecure, hopeful soul. I read books, I wrote letters, maybe someone would love me one day. So, this production: Is superb. I worried that they would treat it as a quaint period piece and be arch and condescending, but it is a full-hearted, sensitive, funny show. You actually care if the main characters get together, you feel their awkwardness and insecurity. I brought my daughter and she felt the same way - she related entirely, emotionally she felt it was very modern. It is beautifully staged, brilliantly cast and for two hours and forty minutes took us absolutely away from all our worries. Recommendation: If you can get tickets, do. A rare Foxa 5*
Side note: There was some adventurous hat-wearing in the audience.
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 17, 2016 20:58:48 GMT
I enjoyed that. And now my son made us change over to 'Best Tree in the UK' on Channel 4. I think we are officially the nerdiest family in Britain. (Yay us!)
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 17, 2016 19:54:58 GMT
Jo is limping - what happened?
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 17, 2016 19:41:50 GMT
Danny and Ore both had outstanding show dances. Louise - not so much.
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 17, 2016 19:25:14 GMT
Ore's show dance was an absolute winner. Clever, subtle references to their own dances and other famous dances (Nicholas Brothers.) Great.
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 17, 2016 10:12:42 GMT
AH! Damn those cheap seats!
I did wonder. Americans use pants/trousers interchangeably so when there was no underwear on display - sorry- should that be in a spoiler? - I thought you meant trousers. Now it becomes clear. Maybe the wild cackler in the audience was seeing the sliver of colour and that's what set her/him off.
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 16, 2016 22:53:29 GMT
We liked this. Got £21 tix, slightly restricted (A7, B7) in the Dress Circle which were fine. Rufus Sewell is quite something - he does have that (apparently) effortless star quality and I thought he was particularly good. The others were fine as well though I suspect the show will improve with a little more fermentation - there were a couple of little flubs (Tim Key's long speech, for example) and a pause that didn't feel quite right. There was a wild cackling laugher who might have thrown timing a bit. But, yes, recommend - think most folks will enjoy this.
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 16, 2016 21:55:54 GMT
No Purple Trousers Tonight!! They were black. Should I demand a refund from the box office? ;-)
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 16, 2016 9:38:47 GMT
Caught the matinee of LLL at the Haymarket yesterday.
It was a very pretty production. It's set in Edwardian England, shortly pre-WW1 (as mentioned above). My son said it had the feeling of a ballet production which can be revived anytime over a few decades using the same costumes and sets (and both were very attractive) but different casts. There was a blandness to the performances. Ed Bennett was clearly the best of the men - you felt a bit relieved when he was on. Most of the acting was competent, but nothing particularly exciting or inventive or touching or romantic. I did think the dancing in disguise scene was genuinely funny and there was some charming staging in the rooftop scene. It whiles a way an afternoon and I could imagine it being a pleasant Christmas outing if you wanted something safe.
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 15, 2016 20:15:11 GMT
Saw this last night and would give it 4 stars, although I don't disagree with any of Parsley's comments. Lia was Mary Stuart. In this performance I thought John Light came over quite well as Leicester. Some pruning would indeed help. Like foxa I was struck by the likeness of the French ambassador to Michael Gove. But, foxa, "a younger, better looking Michael Gove"? How is that even possible?! Yeah - I know. I thought about putting something snarky like 'if that isn't an oxymoron' but then I decided I'd just let that image sit there. (A young female European journalist I follow on twitter had someone tell her that she looked like Michael Gove. I shared that over 20 years ago someone in a butcher shop told me I looked like David Mellor. All these years later I haven't forgotten.)
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 13, 2016 17:53:41 GMT
Looking forward to seeing this on Friday!
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 13, 2016 14:33:11 GMT
If Will Young hadn't withdrawn from the show, wouldn't Claudia have been in the final? (It's usually 4 for the last show, isn't it?) Three seems a bit lonely.
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 11, 2016 14:09:42 GMT
I'm on the lowest level of membership and what that means is that initially when they go on sale I am entitled to 1 ticket and you do pay for them, but they are very discounted. I think they range from £5 to £21. They are usually in the amphitheatre but I've got stalls circle/balcony seats a couple of times - and once got moved to the Grand Tier- very nice. After a certain date if there are still tickets available you can buy more up to a total of 4 per booking period - so the last booking period I got 2 single tickets and 1 pair. They are usually during the day and rarely at weekends so if you work conventional 9-5 hours probably not a good bet. But for me, it means I'll try something that I wouldn't willing to fork out a lot of money for - some odd opera; seeing a different cast of a ballet I've seen before - that sort of thing. I also like the more casual atmosphere - people often bring sandwiches to eat on the terraces, no one dresses up.
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 11, 2016 10:37:57 GMT
We were there last night and really liked it. I agree with the comments above that it could have been trimmed a little (15 minutes I would have said.) It was Juliet as Elizabeth and Lia as Mary Stuart and that felt about right. Unlike some posters above, I really liked the supporting performances (with one notable exception) and thought most of the staging effective (again with one notable exception.) An advantage of the modern dress was that you could differentiate more clearly between Elizabeth's advisors and foes: Talbot played as a rumbled Kenneth Clark type; Burleigh, a Machiavellian, polished, besuited career politician; the French ambassador was like a younger, better looking Michael Gove. We enjoyed finding modern relevances - the majority isn't always right line; the expectations of a woman in power. I liked Rudi Dharmalingam as Mortimer - it's a great part and he was energetic and unexpected - a little ludicrous at times but in sort of a pleasing way - with the abandon of someone who would throw himself into such an ill-fated conspiracy. I thought John Light gave a very uncomfortable performance as Leicester - there was anti-chemistry between him and Stevenson and if they gave 'bad sex' awards for stage work, their giggle-inducing encounter would qualify. He acted a lot with his hands in his pockets. Then he would suddenly shout. Didn't get it. But in the relatively small role of Davidson, David Jonsson (a 2016 RADA graduate, I note) was wonderful. Has hardly anything to do for most of the play and then two good scenes - the first of which was one of my favourite in the play. The staging of the ending was very powerful with excellent use of the revolve, costumes and music. 4*
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 9, 2016 20:44:10 GMT
I just have the basic membership and use it primarily for the rehearsal tickets and the occasional ballet. I agree about the semi-restricted stalls circle seats and they do sell out quickly.
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 7, 2016 16:56:53 GMT
You know that scene in 'She Loves Me' when she's waiting for her unknown correspondent to meet her in the cafe and she has the red rose...and then she thinks she's been stood up? That's how I feel when I wear my 'theatre badge' button and no one says 'hi.'
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 7, 2016 15:45:29 GMT
I'm not always crazy about the National Theatre's programming but, like a number of the posters above I am fond of it. When I was teaching in an inner-city London comprehensive the National Theatre really, really worked at their outreach. They had discounted teacher's previews (£5 a ticket plus a glass of wine - though they had to stop giving the wine due to some edict); a teacher's forum where they would invite teachers to discuss how they could do better outreach; the New Connections season of plays for young people performed by young people; New Views playwriting (a superb opportunity for schools to get students writing plays - I had three students over the years who were finalists); lots of helpful online videos; education packs. My impression is that they began cutting back a little on the outreach stuff in the last couple of years, but I know when I brought students to the National they loved the public areas. There was always an exhibition to see, the views from the terraces were great. Hardly anyone seems to use the walkway near the Dorfmann (I've been three times and it's pretty lonely there) but it's a good idea. The students loved visiting The Shed/Temporary Space, so shame that had to come down.
In terms of the foyer space I think they should restrict the area where laptops can be used (I know the South Bank Centre members room has one half laptop free and certain hours when there are no laptops.) And that blooming' Skype call sounds terrible. At the South Bank I've noticed that a lot of language teachers meet their students there and conduct lessons at the tables which, on one hand, shows some initiative I suppose on their part, but makes it seem more like you are at a place of work than relaxation when you are there.
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 6, 2016 9:45:47 GMT
I got tickets for all three shows - cheap ones - but then there was a problem at the paying section - wouldn't recognise my email address, so lost them all. Also really wanted to see Committee, so may try again later and only book for that.
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 4, 2016 22:25:26 GMT
Then the Im a Celeb final!! Ah, we've discussed this previously george22 Enjoy! I'm not watching it either (I've seen some baffling headlines in tabloids I don't read - has Larry Lamb been mean to someone?), but I love George's enthusiasm. Double-enjoy! I was a bit 'meh' about this week's Strictly show, but rewatched a couple of numbers and liked it more. After her Argentinian Tango, I think this Calamity Jane number was Louise's best dance and really suited her personality. Quite liked everyone, but Danny and Ore weren't as absolutely accurate as they've been other times, but still great.Think the right person left. Last night's opening number was insane (my daughter said Craig looked like he was in a hostage situation at times - I think it was the 'help me' look in his eyes) and Anton's patter bit was hard to understand, but if you went with the nutsiness of it, it was quite winning. Karen was great as Anita in the West Side Story number. The All That Jazz number tonight was enjoyable and Elaine was interesting. (My husband kept saying, 'What a busy day she's had, first she did her radio show and then rushed over to do this...' We tried to explain they filmed the results show on Saturday, but then, thought 'nah' let him imagine her wildly chortling in a cab whizzing around London.) The second her tv appearance ended she tweeted (someone tweeted) her upcoming concert dates. Maybe I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm not sure all those trips they make to zoos, theatres, Wild West Saloons, etc. really help their performances....;-)
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 1, 2016 19:41:17 GMT
Oh no! I booked a couple of those back tickets for my son.... At least it ain't for u!!!! No I got a single front row seat ages ago and then he said he wanted to come but isn't around when I'm going. I wasn't sure how good it would be, so didn't know how much of a splurge I should go for. There seemed to be lots of expensive tickets left but few cheap ones....
|
|
1,465 posts
|
Post by foxa on Dec 1, 2016 19:25:23 GMT
Cheers. I'm literally gonna spend the next 3 weeks worrying about this. Interestingly the box office chap pretty much said don't bother with the £15 tickets at the back Oh no! I booked a couple of those back tickets for my son....
|
|