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Post by anthony40 on Aug 27, 2020 11:41:36 GMT
Lots of press coverage for this.
I have seen it both on ITV and BBC1
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Post by Dr Tom on Aug 27, 2020 18:13:27 GMT
Booked for tomorrow night, but only for the cheap seats. This is selling well, I think I got the only remaining single seat left in the building.
Has anyone been yet? Looking forward to seeing some indoor theatre again!
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Post by Phantom of London on Aug 28, 2020 15:37:23 GMT
Anyone know the running time please?
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Post by stevejohnson678 on Aug 28, 2020 16:07:40 GMT
Anyone know the running time please? Two hours 15 mins including interval apparently.
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Post by Dr Tom on Aug 28, 2020 22:17:55 GMT
Enjoyed this tonight. It’s light and won’t challenge anyone, but so good to see live indoor theatre with a cast of 13.
I’ve only ever sat in the front row before so it seemed strange being in the cheap section. But rake is excellent with a clear view (and no one in front).
I was surprised they had people to the front and rear of me only one seat over. Seemed a lot less than a metre.
Masks were enforced although I saw a few people remove them during the interval and they weren’t challenged by the ushers.
Good performances by the leads and some nice vocals. The child actor (names weren’t obvious) stole the show.
The book has a few jokes but they don’t really hit. Pulled directly from the film I suspect (which I barely remember). The second half is better than the first. This would probably work better without an interval. Ran a few minutes longer than advertised.
Staging is clever with a house that turns around used in different orientations for most scenes. The stage extends further than usual. There are also tables on the floor used for one scene.
Pretty full tonight (even with social distancing) and doing well considering how early in the run this is. Don’t know if I’ll get back but I’d certainly watch this again in a future incarnation.
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Post by fiyero on Aug 30, 2020 11:59:28 GMT
I am looking forward to this on Saturday but again am struggling with the transport arrangements, my last train home is 22:35 from Waterloo (I was planning to comfortably make the 23:05). Has anyone noticed what time the show finishes recently? It is looking a bit tight for comfort!
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Post by Dr Tom on Aug 30, 2020 12:17:40 GMT
I am looking forward to this on Saturday but again am struggling with the transport arrangements, my last train home is 22:35 from Waterloo (I was planning to comfortably make the 23:05). Has anyone noticed what time the show finishes recently? It is looking a bit tight for comfort! 19:45 start, finished about 22:10. I would say the 22:35 was impossible and I wouldn't even have risked a 23:05 as you're completely the wrong side of London for Waterloo. Any chance of changing to the matinee? Only other option I can think of (perhaps) would be the overground to Clapham Junction and connect there, but that all depends where you're heading from Waterloo. There are some very cheap hotels in Wembley right now too (Travelodge, Ibis etc).
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Post by fiyero on Aug 30, 2020 12:32:43 GMT
I am looking forward to this on Saturday but again am struggling with the transport arrangements, my last train home is 22:35 from Waterloo (I was planning to comfortably make the 23:05). Has anyone noticed what time the show finishes recently? It is looking a bit tight for comfort! 19:45 start, finished about 22:10. I would say the 22:35 was impossible and I wouldn't even have risked a 23:05 as you're completely the wrong side of London for Waterloo. Any chance of changing to the matinee? Only other option I can think of (perhaps) would be the overground to Clapham Junction and connect there, but that all depends where you're heading from Waterloo. There are some very cheap hotels in Wembley right now too (Travelodge, Ibis etc). Thanks. I think there was a later train than the 23:05, that was just the one I was aiming for. As you say 22:35 is looking impossible. I have found some good hotel deals so looks like it might be a weekend out rather than a day out!
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Post by drowseychap on Aug 30, 2020 16:06:59 GMT
Booked for Sunday matinee next week looking forward to live theatre again .... any good and it’s a bonus lol ... weren’t many 2s to choose from sadly .... but did notice some 3s and 4 s with one ticket sold ? But when I tried to book 2 in a 3 wouldn’t allow it .... wonder if it would work better like showcase cinemas do it u just book your seats then it automatically blanks out the seats around you ? Theatre says use public transport we’ve got no chance doing that what’s parking like ?
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Post by Dr Tom on Aug 30, 2020 17:07:55 GMT
Theatre says use public transport we’ve got no chance doing that what’s parking like ? Definitely none in the theatre complex itself. There's a car park next door with a Lidl, McDonalds etc, but I expect they have a maximum time you can stay. Otherwise, there are lots of venues in Wembley with little going on, so I presume there must be parking spaces about, but I always take public transport so I haven't paid that much attention.
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Post by dippy on Aug 30, 2020 19:45:21 GMT
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Post by alison on Aug 30, 2020 22:56:13 GMT
Booked for Sunday matinee next week looking forward to live theatre again .... any good and it’s a bonus lol ... weren’t many 2s to choose from sadly .... but did notice some 3s and 4 s with one ticket sold ? But when I tried to book 2 in a 3 wouldn’t allow it .... wonder if it would work better like showcase cinemas do it u just book your seats then it automatically blanks out the seats around you ? Theatre says use public transport we’ve got no chance doing that what’s parking like ? I've definitely seen emails from the theatre saying they've got a deal on with one of the Wembley car parks at £1 for an hour or something. I've just done a quick search on their Twitter and found this:
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Post by drowseychap on Aug 31, 2020 0:44:16 GMT
Thanks everyone .... from looking further looks like theatre recommend Wembley red or yellow car parks on non event days ... may call the theatre and just check before ... as I’ve got a 220 mile round trip .... and don’t know the area
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Post by daniel on Aug 31, 2020 23:50:27 GMT
Thanks everyone .... from looking further looks like theatre recommend Wembley red or yellow car parks on non event days ... may call the theatre and just check before ... as I’ve got a 220 mile round trip .... and don’t know the area Wembley Park Yellow Car Park is five minutes walk from the theatre, Red car park is about 10 minutes walk. Both are currently open and £1 per hour for your first 6 hours
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Post by TallPaul on Sept 2, 2020 9:10:42 GMT
4⭐s from Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph. I think they'll take that!
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Post by anthony40 on Sept 2, 2020 17:55:05 GMT
I'm going tomorrow night
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Post by danb on Sept 2, 2020 20:59:33 GMT
Do report back A! Desperate for something to see and none of the available Pippin dates work for me. 🤔
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Post by Seriously on Sept 3, 2020 10:52:25 GMT
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Post by anthony40 on Sept 3, 2020 22:20:16 GMT
Lord Lloyd-Webber in the house tonight, the first block of seats in front of me.
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Post by ruggerlad on Sept 5, 2020 18:49:05 GMT
The Red car park at Wembley is now free for the first three hours, ten minute walk to the theatre so I didn’t pay a penny for parking this afternoon
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Post by drowseychap on Sept 6, 2020 17:27:43 GMT
Well I made it just !! Due to road works 0.5 miles away it took 45 mins for the last part of my 240 mile round trip ... it as I arrived with 5 mins to spare I did get free parking in yellow car park . First 3 hours are free bonus ... Nice theatre 🎭 space very clean nice staff ... mind you £2.50 for half a cup of filter coffee was a bit steep asked for it be filled up and got a right glare off the barman .... didn’t see any prices on Merch which was off putting too ...
We enjoyed the show it was just nice to be back at live theatre to be honest , great set and lighting , the show itself we gave 6.5/10 I was just wishing for at least one big belter song . Enjoyed the songs while I was watching the show but can’t recall any of them now an hour later .... with one or two new memorable songs it would be a 7/8
Kimberly im not a fan but she pleasantly surprised me thought she was good in this and liked her song before interval
The young lad and guy who played sams friend stole the show for us and the audience I think 🤔 biggest applause of the afternoon
Iireally liked jay great voice and acting all supporting cast very good accents didn’t grate either . The Empire State set was great and the last 5 mins envelopes you with a big cosy cuddle just what we all need right now .... a partial standing ovation probably 3/4 of audience which must have been great for the cast to see
For the price we paid we had an enjoyable afternoon at the theatre seeing a pleasant musical with great production values and hard working talented cast ... if I had paid more it may have been a different view . If your thinking about it I’d say buy a £15 ticket and give it a go and make up your own mind you may be pleasantly surprised 👍
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Post by robertb213 on Sept 8, 2020 15:48:18 GMT
TodayTix now doing stalls seats from £20 (front for £30). Tuesday to Friday evenings only though.
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Post by Dr Tom on Sept 8, 2020 22:48:41 GMT
Nipped back tonight for a second viewing thanks to a late bargain ticket deal. Sat close to the front and so got a much better view than last time.
This isn't selling so well on weekdays, hence the various ticket deals that have appeared today through different ticket sites. Unfortunately that may not be a good sign for the return of larger productions if audiences are still staying away.
Enjoyed this again. A different child actor to last time, but he also did a good job. As a show, this all holds together well.
If indoor theatres are allowed to continue to operate after the end of the week, I might slip back again. But otherwise, happy to have seen this again.
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Post by jennapatchell on Sept 9, 2020 23:24:13 GMT
Saw this tonight. Sadly, this really isn't it - how this became the only show in London is a bit of a tragedy.
It's extremely weak in almost every aspect.
Surely they had the largest talent pool in history for this production - the entire industry is out of work. How they ended up with this cast and creative team is beyond me.
Full review tomorrow.
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Post by jennapatchell on Sept 9, 2020 23:25:57 GMT
Heavy reliance on a great child actor who can do a convincing American accent. Well, more than one presumably. Could be a car crash. Nailed it more than 4 years ago in a single comment, but clearly no one on the production saw it. I wish I could understand what the kid was saying, but the god awful American accent gobbled up every word into a painful monsoon of random vowels.
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Post by fiyero on Sept 10, 2020 8:34:22 GMT
Saw this tonight. Sadly, this really isn't it - how this became the only show in London is a bit of a tragedy. It's extremely weak in almost every aspect. Surely they had the largest talent pool in history for this production - the entire industry is out of work. How they ended up with this cast and creative team is beyond me. Full review tomorrow. It was cast before lockdown and got as far as dress rehearsal. I’m not sure if it reopened with the exact same cast but they were hardly going to sack them and recast (not at all saying I agree with the poor review by the way)
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Post by Seriously on Sept 10, 2020 17:34:33 GMT
Well when the EPK had none of the songs, dancing or music in it, the signs were all there.
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Post by david on Sept 16, 2020 22:21:23 GMT
Had a pleasant evening watching this tonight. My first time at the theatre and was very impressed with the set up. After sitting on a grassy bank last night at the OAT, I was very grateful for the far more comfortable seating in the theatre (you even get one of those cup holders for your drinks as well). Being sat in row Q (a £25 ticket) was fine to see all the set detail. The use of video screens to provide a bit more setting to each scene was a nice touch and you get a revolve as well. Cast wise the two leads of Jay and Kimberley were fine. This was my first time seeing both performers on stage but have no complaints in their acting or singing from what I saw. The standouts for me were the young lad (Mikey Colville) and Cory English. A great double act and their Act 2 song “Now or Never” was the standout song of the night for me. It was nice to see Harriet Thorpe back on stage after a fantastic performance in MAME last year. I’ve no issues with any of the other cast and the accents didn’t slip or cause any issues for me. As a musical score it was fine with some nice numbers (but not strong enough that would make me buy a OCR.) but like drowseychap I would of liked a belter of a song somewhere in there. From listening to other patrons tonight on the way out, everyone seemed to have a good night and had very positive comments on the production.
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Post by edi on Sept 17, 2020 13:16:17 GMT
I've seen it last night and it was so great to be back to the theatre. To be honest I didn't think it was that great but the fact that I saw a life performance was so overwhelmingly joyous that I just enjoyed it for what it was.
I felt that the supporting cast did a better job acting and singing than the main characters. Especially Jay's acting I found very wooden and his singing was just fine for me. Kimberly did an all around better job than what I expected from her, but not fully convincing. On the other hand the small boy, the friend (of both main characters) and the rest of the cast were a delight to listen to. The songs are very very forgettable and a bit dull, the best 2 were sang by the supporting cast. Maybe it was unfortunate that the supporting cast got the only 2 dynamic and funny songs.
I liked the set to start with, with a simple solution they took us to all settings (NYC, Seattle, office in Baltimore) however the sameness of keeping the same set for the whole production became a bit boring after a while.
What I didn't like is that the story was a sort of ping-pong between the 2 main characters. Kimberly sang a song in Baltimore, set rotates and Jay sings a song in Seattle, set rotates and Kimberly sings a song in Baltimore, etc... It lacked variety and needed a bit of jazzing up. The glamorous dance sequence at the end came a bit belated.
OK, this now sounds as if I didn't enjoy it at all which is not true. I was delighted to be in the theatre. We were sitting in row G, so very close to action. The sound system was fine, could understand the worlds and the diction was fine of all actors, child actor included.
This was my first time in the Troubadure, usually I wound't venture out of Central London, and again I was very pleased with it. Cup holders on the seats, plenty of toilets, I wish other venues were similar.
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Post by Being Alive on Sept 21, 2020 21:11:43 GMT
This was horrendously awful in every single way but I can't really criticise as they are trying to put on a musical in these times.
Liked the set though - big fan of a two story revolving house and actual water. If they could keep that all and do Next To Normal that'd be great.
But yeah, if this was any other time the critics would have torn this to shreds. Both leads were terrible. I couldn't remember a single song as soon as I'd walked into the foyer.
Fair play to the producers for putting this on - they must have lost thousands.
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