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Post by theatrefan62 on Feb 28, 2023 8:35:44 GMT
Starring Kym Marsh...with further casting to be announced. And her daughter
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Post by TallPaul on Feb 28, 2023 12:42:21 GMT
I didn't realise she was in 'the biz'...though I'm not sure she is yet. Still, we all have to start somewhere. I wonder if it was part of the deal to secure Ms Marsh's services?
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18,811 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Feb 28, 2023 12:45:00 GMT
Fed up of seeing Kym Marsh. She’s already allover the telly.
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1,098 posts
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Post by theatrefan62 on Feb 28, 2023 13:13:26 GMT
Fed up of seeing Kym Marsh. She’s already allover the telly. Another Amanda holden. Not quite sure why she's so popular with such little talent. When acting she is basically playing herself
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Post by westendcub on Apr 20, 2023 11:37:27 GMT
Really looks like it’s captured the stage production, looking forward to it!
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Post by FrontroverPaul on May 9, 2023 23:13:31 GMT
Saw this tonight at Bromley and found it rather disappointing.
Staging extremely low budget, sound iffy in the first act, the "boys" wouldn't past muster as a Take That tribute band, and the new title feels wrong given what happens on the two days featured. The story is quite downbeat with very few laughs.
Running time just over 2 hours 10 minutes including the interval and a megamix of sorts at the end. When I saw The Band, as it was then called, in Manchester back in 2017 and I rated it four stars in my diary but only two tonight.
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Post by drowseychap on May 10, 2023 0:46:53 GMT
I saw the band in London and really enjoyed it more than I thought I would I also have it 4 stars ⭐️…. Wonder why so many changes ? Sounds like make it easier and cheaper to tour …. Name change automatically resonates with take that fans ( cue the drunk and disorderly hen parties sing along watch out Manchester ) and a well known name to put bums on seats 🤔
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7,509 posts
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Post by alece10 on May 10, 2023 7:58:56 GMT
Is it the same shownas The Band? I remember seeing it at the Savoy and thought it was fun. They did a clever thing with a curtain of rain.
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Post by Figaro on May 10, 2023 8:27:57 GMT
Is it the same shownas The Band? I remember seeing it at the Savoy and thought it was fun. They did a clever thing with a curtain of rain. Wasn’t that ‘Never Forget’, the other Take That musical?
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7,509 posts
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Post by alece10 on May 10, 2023 8:39:21 GMT
Is it the same shownas The Band? I remember seeing it at the Savoy and thought it was fun. They did a clever thing with a curtain of rain. Wasn’t that ‘Never Forget’, the other Take That musical? Ah yes. I think you are right.
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Post by FrontroverPaul on May 10, 2023 8:46:04 GMT
Is it the same shownas The Band? I remember seeing it at the Savoy and thought it was fun. They did a clever thing with a curtain of rain. The curtain of rain was a blanket, or maybe a sheet or ... a curtain but nothing wet... that was flapped around last night.
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7,509 posts
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Post by alece10 on May 10, 2023 9:32:13 GMT
Is it the same shownas The Band? I remember seeing it at the Savoy and thought it was fun. They did a clever thing with a curtain of rain. The curtain of rain was a blanket, or maybe a sheet or ... a curtain but nothing wet... that was flapped around last night. Just been pointed out that the show I had seen was Never Forget, different show, same band. The rain curtain was very clever as it could spell out words in the rain shower.
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6,338 posts
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Post by danb on May 10, 2023 12:09:24 GMT
The curtain of rain was a blanket, or maybe a sheet or ... a curtain but nothing wet... that was flapped around last night. Just been pointed out that the show I had seen was Never Forget, different show, same band. The rain curtain was very clever as it could spell out words in the rain shower. It was quite cutting edge at the time, and one of the most interesting things about ‘Never Forget’.
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Post by justfran on May 10, 2023 13:51:51 GMT
I loved the musical Never Forget. Saw it in the West End and on tour. A really good show and some great performances from people who have gone on to many other shows e.g. Dean Chisnall. The rain effect was great!
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18,811 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on May 10, 2023 15:26:11 GMT
I saw TT on tour once and they used a curtain of rain to “invoke” a hologram of absent Robbie. Seems to be a recurring theme!
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Post by partytentdown on May 10, 2023 16:56:35 GMT
The name change is surely to tie it in with the upcoming film?
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2023 18:44:29 GMT
The name change is surely to tie it in with the upcoming film? That and the new single. The name change doesn't make sense, but I expect The Band wouldn't resonate with people as much as Greatest Days
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6,338 posts
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Post by danb on May 10, 2023 20:02:05 GMT
The re-recorded version of GD is a bit odd isn’t it? I saw them doing it on the Coronation concert and it just seemed to have some other fella honking over it. It used to be uplifting at least.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2023 5:03:24 GMT
Saw the show in Manchester last night, and overall it wasn't bad. I prefer the staging from when the show was The Band, the one set that the boy band moves around the stage didn't quite work for me. The cast were great, a special shout out to the member of the cast who for some reason was sat behind me in the audience who really helped create an immersive experience.
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Post by TallPaul on Jun 13, 2023 12:27:41 GMT
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1,098 posts
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Post by theatrefan62 on Jun 29, 2023 9:02:40 GMT
Jennifer Elison taking over from Kym Marsh
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Post by david on Jul 11, 2023 19:44:15 GMT
Saw this in Liverpool last night and really enjoyed it. Writer Tim Firth has written a decent engaging book that has a nice balance of love, loss and laughs played out against the songs of Take That. As jukebox musicals go, I thought this book was certainly better than some others that have done the rounds in recent years (WWRY / Tonight's The Night I am looking at you here). Tim has written characters here that you could care about as their individual story arcs played out.
Having the story use both firstly the younger and then older versions of the girls worked well for me, though I felt the older group was the stronger and more fun to watch on stage with plenty of humour and emotional turmoil to have a go at. The transition of the younger 1990's group into the older group at the end of Act 1 was a particularly good and got plenty of laughs from the audience.
As for the lads, they certainly didn't disappoint. They brought plenty of energy in their choreography and vocals during the musical numbers backed by a 4-piece band and a nice lighting design from Rob Casey to bring the TT songs to the stage. They really got the audience going and clapping along with the high tempo numbers. With the score, there was a nice blend of both some of the classic songs like Pray and Never Forget and some of the more recent stuff.
One criticism I would make of this production is the set design from Lucy Osborne. It was a drab grey thing with a few bits that lit up occasionally. When not singing, the lads moved different bits of it around to create different configurations. One minute it is an airport, then its a police station, then some hills. Personally, a few more bits of set would of been nice and some video screens at the back of the stage just to bring a bit more colour to the stage and help set the different scenes and during the songs would of been welcomed.
I have to say, with these sorts of shows, I now expect to have the hen party crowds take over and have a sing along and ruin the show for everyone else, but to my amazement, last night's audience was good as gold and only joining in the songs when invited to by the cast and saving their vocal talents for the mega-mix at the end. I could actually sit back and joy the show in peace. For many, like me as a teenager when TT burst onto the scene in the 1990s, it was a great trip down memory lane to hear those songs and talking to folk during the interval and at the end, they all gave rave reviews to this show.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2023 20:26:14 GMT
Great review, I agree with the staging, it was far better in the original tour when it was called The Band (the costumes where far better too!) Check out the trailer for the original stage version, you can see how much they have scaled down the set.
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1,098 posts
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Post by theatrefan62 on Aug 25, 2023 13:48:03 GMT
The movie version of this is now on Prime video free for members
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Post by newda on Sept 29, 2023 9:28:28 GMT
Oh god, I enjoyed this in it's previous life. This new version really doesn't work for me.
The boyband look too old, their singing doesn't sound great - is someone off? Are the harmonies working? I'm not quite sure.
The set looks like it's been designed to fit in a school hall and subsequently looks completely lost on the stage of the Mayflower. It's not even like they can expand it to fill the space of different theatres. So the whole show, singing, dancing, stage entries and exits, all take place in an area the size of a double garage. That's before we get to the grey drabness and audible clunkiness while it's pushed around by the band.
Dialogue between the younger version of the girls just ends up in high pitched accented screeching.
I remember being up in the balcony for the last version. The place was sold out on a weeknight. This time it was perhaps half full.
2 Stars.
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Post by BVM on Sept 29, 2023 9:47:47 GMT
Oh god, I enjoyed this in it's previous life. This new version really doesn't work for me. The boyband look too old, their singing doesn't sound great - is someone off? Are the harmonies working? I'm not quite sure. The set looks like it's been designed to fit in a school hall and subsequently looks completely lost on the stage of the Mayflower. It's not even like they can expand it to fill the space of different theatres. So the whole show, singing, dancing, stage entries and exits, all take place in an area the size of a double garage. That's before we get to the grey drabness and audible clunkiness while it's pushed around by the band. Dialogue between the younger version of the girls just ends up in high pitched accented screeching. I remember being up in the balcony for the last version. The place was sold out on a weeknight. This time it was perhaps half full. 2 Stars. Sad really. So many productions just get cheaper and cheaper with each new version (cf. Calendar Girls musical). I quite enjoyed the first tour of this but that wasn't exactly lavish and do recall thinking if it got any cheaper it would tip over the edge of not being enjoyable...
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2023 21:54:48 GMT
Oh god, I enjoyed this in it's previous life. This new version really doesn't work for me. The boyband look too old, their singing doesn't sound great - is someone off? Are the harmonies working? I'm not quite sure. The set looks like it's been designed to fit in a school hall and subsequently looks completely lost on the stage of the Mayflower. It's not even like they can expand it to fill the space of different theatres. So the whole show, singing, dancing, stage entries and exits, all take place in an area the size of a double garage. That's before we get to the grey drabness and audible clunkiness while it's pushed around by the band. Dialogue between the younger version of the girls just ends up in high pitched accented screeching. I remember being up in the balcony for the last version. The place was sold out on a weeknight. This time it was perhaps half full. 2 Stars. It does suffer from changing producers who clearly went down the budget route. I don't mind the age of the boyband, especially since it is set over 30 years, as long as they look like they could be the same age as each other. Couldn't agree more on the set, it is by far the weakest part of the tour, much prefer the polaroid photo set from the original staging of 'The Band'. I find it interesting that even Take That seem to have really distanced themselves from this tour, they where all over it when it was The Band, I think they have barely acknowledged this tour.
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Post by Rozzi Rainbow on Nov 26, 2023 17:59:21 GMT
I saw this as The Band and seem to remember really enjoying it. I also loved the film version earlier this year.
I saw this last week in Sunderland, and whilst I did enjoy it, for me it didn't work as well as the film version. I preferred the overlap of the timelines, and being able to have more scenery made it work better in my opinion.
I still enjoyed it, especially the 90s throwbacks, and Back For Good may have brought a tear or two to my eye, I just didn't enjoy it quite as much as I'd thought I would. At one point I'd thought I might have gone again this week to Leeds, but I decided I'd rather just watch the film version instead.
Saying that, if it were on again next year or later, I'd consider going again, depending on what other options I had.
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