1,866 posts
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Post by Dave B on Apr 29, 2023 8:42:42 GMT
Matt Smith back in 2007, Swimming With Sharks in the... Vaudeville maybe it was.
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Post by clarefh on Apr 29, 2023 10:52:02 GMT
James Norton and Kit Harrington in the original staging of Posh I guess ( I didn’t particularly like the play, did recall JN when I saw him years later in Bugs but can’t remember Kit Harrington at all!).
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Post by Jon on Apr 29, 2023 11:12:30 GMT
James Norton and Kit Harrington in the original staging of Posh I guess ( I didn’t particularly like the play, did recall JN when I saw him years later in Bugs but can’t remember Kit Harrington at all!). Didn't realise that James Norton was in Posh. Kit Harrington I have seen pictures from that original production. It is fun seeing actors go onto bigger things not just from watching theatre but also TV shows. I remember when Chris Hemsworth did the 2009 Star Trek film, I was the only person in my group who recognised him because he was in Home and Away a few years prior and likewise Margot Robbie when she did The Wolf of Wall Street. |
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Post by profquatermass on Apr 29, 2023 11:52:45 GMT
Tom Holland in Billy Elliot Luke Evans in Rent Remixed Cynthia Erivo in Umbrellas of Cherbourg Jeremy Jordan as Drew in Rock or Ages (he was the understudy!) Eddie Redmayne in Red (I guess this was before most of his film work) Benedict Cumberbatch in After the Dance (similar to Eddie I guess, he wasn’t really well known at the time I don’t believe) After the Dance sold out because of Cumberbatch - Sherlock had just started. He'd done a load of stage by then. I remember him in Rhinoceros at the Royal Court and Love's Labours Lost a the Open Air Tracie Bennett was Mary in the first Merrily We Roll Along I saw in Manchester c1985 (think it was the first British production). And Sarah Lancashire in Pacific Overtures David Tennant and Desmond Barrit (at that point the more famous of the two) in The Real Inspector Hound and Black Comedy at, I think, the then Comedy Theatre Matt Smith in an absolutely dreadful play by Polly Stenham where he was in a lady's nightdress the whole time. And in Chatroom with Andrew Garfield at the National around the same time |
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Post by emsworthian on Apr 29, 2023 11:55:07 GMT
I am old enough to have seen the late great Barry Humphries as the undertaker Mr Sowerbury in the original production of Oliver! Snap! I was taken by my parents as a child with a couple of school friends as a birthday treat. With one of the friends we've been trying to work out which year it was. If it was 1962 then the Artful Dodger would have been Davey Jones (of Monkees fame). If 1963 then it would have been Leonard Whiting (of Zefferelli's Romeo and Juliet). |
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Post by crowblack on Apr 29, 2023 11:59:39 GMT
James Norton and Kit Harrington in the original staging of Posh I guess ( I didn’t particularly like the play, did recall JN when I saw him years later in Bugs but can’t remember Kit Harrington at all!). Didn't realise that James Norton was in Posh. Kit Harrington I have seen pictures from that original production. It is fun seeing actors go onto bigger things not just from watching theatre but also TV shows. I remember when Chris Hemsworth did the 2009 Star Trek film, I was the only person in my group who recognised him because he was in Home and Away a few years prior and likewise Margot Robbie when she did The Wolf of Wall Street. Yes, and anticipating the reaction when you hear they've been cast in something big and global because you know how brilliant they are from theatre or earlier work - with Erin Doherty and Joseph Quinn the TV show makers were clearly kicking themselves they hadn't given them more screen time / hadn't had them torn apart by bats . Just before The Crown came out I went to see Erin Doherty again (twice!) in Wolfie in a small pub theatre because I thought well, this is never going to happen again! |
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Post by mkb on Apr 29, 2023 12:08:32 GMT
Am I the only one recognising the names mentioned from the world of theatre, but, in a few cases, not realising that they had become famous elsewhere?
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Post by Mark on Apr 29, 2023 12:29:32 GMT
Tom Holland in Billy Elliot Luke Evans in Rent Remixed Cynthia Erivo in Umbrellas of Cherbourg Jeremy Jordan as Drew in Rock or Ages (he was the understudy!) Eddie Redmayne in Red (I guess this was before most of his film work) Benedict Cumberbatch in After the Dance (similar to Eddie I guess, he wasn’t really well known at the time I don’t believe) After the Dance sold out because of Cumberbatch - Sherlock had just started. He'd done a load of stage by then. I remember him in Rhinoceros at the Royal Court and Love's Labours Lost a the Open Air Tracie Bennett was Mary in the first Merrily We Roll Along I saw in Manchester c1985 (think it was the first British production). And Sarah Lancashire in Pacific Overtures David Tennant and Desmond Barrit (at that point the more famous of the two) in The Real Inspector Hound and Black Comedy at, I think, the then Comedy Theatre Matt Smith in an absolutely dreadful play by Polly Stenham where he was in a lady's nightdress the whole time. And in Chatroom with Andrew Garfield at the National around the same time Had to check dates, but After the Dance started 1st June 2010 (I saw it 5th June - far from sold out when I went). Sherlock began 25th July, arguably his big break. |
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Post by profquatermass on Apr 29, 2023 12:58:46 GMT
Cumberbatch wasn't exactly unknown before Sherlock though. He'd been in loads of films and tv like Atonement and Starter for 10. He was the lead in To the Ends of the Earth on tv several years before Sherlock
Janet McTeer did a load of stuff at the Royal Exchange almost straight out drama school. I remember noticing how tall she was in an As You Like it
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Post by Mark on Apr 29, 2023 13:51:16 GMT
Well I hadn’t heard of him by that point 😂.
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3,040 posts
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Post by crowblack on Apr 29, 2023 14:47:02 GMT
Cumberbatch wasn't exactly unknown before Sherlock though. He'd been in loads of films and tv like Atonement and Starter for 10. He was the lead in To the Ends of the Earth on tv several years before Sherlock I think it depends on your definition of 'Big Time'. Britain is fantastic at producing period dramas and intelligent adult (in the non-x rated sense) drama with some great actors, but it often takes something that attracts the teenage or genre audience - Sherlock, Killing Eve, Stranger Things, Marvel/DC, Star Wars, or the heft of Netflix or HBO to crossover to that next level. I think of it as 'Funko Pop famous'. |
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Post by d'James on Apr 29, 2023 16:01:18 GMT
I've probably seen a few over the years, but the first that springs to mind is Cynthia Erivo in the Sister Act tour. That was my first thought, too. I’ve also seen Hannah Waddingham. Good topic. It makes me wonder who else I’ve seen. |
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Post by theatreian on Apr 29, 2023 16:26:42 GMT
Looking through old programmes can be quite enlightening.
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8,162 posts
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Post by alece10 on Apr 29, 2023 17:02:01 GMT
Looking through old programmes can be quite enlightening. Every now and again I go through my old programmes and they make a facinating read. I especially like old Charity/tribute concert programmes and it's amazing who has appeared in these concerts. The other day I noticed that Loretta Swit (MASH) was in one. And I'm pretty sure she sang. |
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Post by harrietcraig on Apr 29, 2023 17:19:59 GMT
Meryl Streep in a college production of Miss Julie in 1969 (when she was a 20-year-old undergraduate).
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2023 17:57:59 GMT
In regards to Patsy Ferran, I've not seen her do much screen work aside from a small role in the recent Tom & Jerry film. My first experience of her on stage was Treasure Island at the National which I only booked at the time because Arthur Darvill was in it. Patsy Ferran was named along with Erin Doherty and Joseph Quinn in the Screen International Stars of Tomorrow list a few years ago (2018) so she's on that radar - she said in a recent interview that she'd been filming something she wasn't allowed to talk about when she got the call for Streetcar, which sounded possibly US franchise-y? Fernan had a very small role in Blithe Spirit when Angela Lansbury had the main role and her stage presence in those couple of scenes was incredible for such a small role. |
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Post by profquatermass on Apr 29, 2023 18:22:28 GMT
Meryl Streep in a college production of Miss Julie in 1969 (when she was a 20-year-old undergraduate). You win! |
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Post by alece10 on Apr 29, 2023 18:49:50 GMT
Meryl Streep in a college production of Miss Julie in 1969 (when she was a 20-year-old undergraduate). You must have been really young when you saw that. |
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Post by richey on Apr 29, 2023 19:08:08 GMT
I love going back through old programmes for this reason too. One of the earliest I have is from an RSC production of Midsummer Night's Dream which we were taken to see whilst studying for 'O' Levels and featured a very young Pete Postlethwaite, David Haig and Sean Bean.
My very first programme is a production of Joseph that featured an incredibly young Ria Jones fresh in her first role out of acting school
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Post by harrietcraig on Apr 29, 2023 19:38:13 GMT
Meryl Streep in a college production of Miss Julie in 1969 (when she was a 20-year-old undergraduate). You must have been really young when you saw that. I was 19 (a year behind Meryl in college). Don’t do the math to figure out how old that makes me now. |
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Post by profquatermass on Apr 29, 2023 21:35:30 GMT
You must have been really young when you saw that. I was 19 (a year behind Meryl in college). Don’t do the math to figure out how old that makes me now. Haha! Your username confirms a person of maturity and refinement I think probably quite a few of us saw both Ralph Fiennes and Simon Russell Beale at the RSC before they did any tv or films. Fiennes was an excellent Henry VI in The Plantagenets and SRB did The Man of Mode |
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Post by theatrenerd on Apr 29, 2023 23:34:09 GMT
Here are some that come to mind;
Lee Mead in Joseph (as the Pharaoh, prior to Any Dream Will Do)
Samantha Barks in Oliver! (just before she began filming the Les Misérables movie)
Hannah Waddingham in The Wizard of Oz
Pearl Mackie in Curious Incident (about a week before she was announced as the new Doctor Who companion)
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Post by joem on Apr 30, 2023 1:05:30 GMT
Benedict Cumberbatch in Rhinoceros at the Royal Court (well before seeing him in After the Dance at the NT!)
Michelle Dockery in Pygmalion
Eddie Marsan at the Savoy Theatre in some play about polar exploration - Antarctica?
Bill Nighy in King Lear at the NT
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Post by alece10 on Apr 30, 2023 3:47:03 GMT
Here are some that come to mind; Lee Mead in Joseph (as the Pharaoh, prior to Any Dream Will Do) Samantha Barks in Oliver! (just before she began filming the Les Misérables movie) Hannah Waddingham in The Wizard of Oz Pearl Mackie in Curious Incident (about a week before she was announced as the new Doctor Who companion) I would argue that Hannah Waddingham was pretty well known before she did Wizard of Oz, certainly as far as musical theatre goes. |
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Post by sukhavati on Apr 30, 2023 7:30:17 GMT
Within the past four years, it would have to be a pre-Bridgerton Jonathan Bailey in "Company," although I had seen him in the first series of "Broadchurch." It just feels as if "Bridgerton" put a number of careers in hyperdrive. I haven't gone to theatre much post-pandemic. Feels like a busman's holiday with my current employer.
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