Theatre 2023

Christian said:
There's always Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily James in Lyonesse. Or Lily Allen in The Pillowman, but I've heard cruel things about that performance.
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Oh The Pillowman looks compelling. Perhaps not my mum's thing but she'll have to lump it.

Frankly, just as long as it isn't anything that likes to 'get them dancin' in the aisles' :zombie:
 
I thought A Strange Loop was a fucking chore. The lead was fab though.

Also I LOVE how the marketing does not match the show. From this poster I would absolutely book to take my mum, thinking it was about the wholesome madcap adventures of a hotel porter.


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Finn said:
I thought A Strange Loop was a fucking chore.
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Why?

And I think taking a parent to the show would lead to some really interesting and open conversations about the queer experience
 
Yeah but it's not gonna offer them the night out of non-stop fun and entertainment the poster suggests, is it. It's being marketed like it's CRAZY FOR YOU

And I found it a chore because I was bored? SORRY IF THAT OFFENDS. I found the book and the songs pretty weak, the odd moments aside, and often more silly and puerile than genuinely profound or remarkable.

I spent the last 10 minutes mostly wondering how Tyler Perry would have played it. I think he probably sent flowers to the creatives to show what a good sport he is, but was fuming.
 
Did anyone see A Little Life? It's finished its London run, but they've released a trailer for its cinema broadcast next month:



I thought it was near unremittingly bleak torture porn BUT at the same time I was very glad I saw it, and I found it really moving. Really well performed too.

(And so much nudity from James Norton I was BORED OF SEEING IT by the end.)
 
Got some £15 seats for SpongeBob The Musical and was quite shocked to see a lot of other adults there without kids.

All good fun, but I recommend getting a few cocktails first. I waited until the interval.
 
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Finn said:
Did anyone see A Little Life? It's finished its London run, but they've released a trailer for its cinema broadcast next month:



I thought it was near unremittingly bleak torture porn BUT at the same time I was very glad I saw it, and I found it really moving. Really well performed too.

(And so much nudity from James Norton I was BORED OF SEEING IT by the end.)
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So it's just like the novel! I'd like to see this when it's coming to cinemas, it's very long though, isn't it?
 
Got some cheap tickets to the final week of Spitting Image the Musical. MUCH funnier than I was expecting and they really must update it by the week as Trump was in an orange jumpsuit.

Absolutely everything they did with Suella Braverman was hysterical :D
 
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Next to Normal ended up getting some MIDDLING reviews! I don't think the transfer is too likely at this stage

I would give it (3.5 to) FOUR STARS. It didn't quite live up to the 15 years of anticipation for me for various reasons but some amazing moments and hearing Caissie Levy live is always an absolute privilege. :love:
 
Also I saw the Dublin production of Fun Home the other night and it was absolutely brilliant :disco:
 
Saw La Cage Aux Folles at the Regent's Park Open Air theatre and it was just fantastic. A sunny evening out in the park is always hard to beat anyway, but this worked especially well at that venue. The production itself was much better than that creaky effort from a few years back, though they'd tried to relocate it to Blackpool which made no sense as the script hadn't been changed, so still referenced San Tropez and all manner of French things. Weird, but easy to ignore.

It's old school Broadway, with Jerry Herman showtunes, and a perfectly crafted book that doesn't waste a line. The message is still very relevant today, perhaps even more so, but this still must have been quite the eye opener back in 1983.

It was the 40th anniversary of the Broadway opening on the night I saw it, and they did a little a speech at the end and brought a cake out.
 
dUb said:
Next to Normal ended up getting some MIDDLING reviews! I don't think the transfer is too likely at this stage

I would give it (3.5 to) FOUR STARS. It didn't quite live up to the 15 years of anticipation for me for various reasons but some amazing moments and hearing Caissie Levy live is always an absolute privilege. :love:
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Oh no :(

What didn't you like?
 
Ellie said:
That has Killian Donnelly in it, doesn’t it? I saw the one at the Young Vic a few years ago.
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Yep, he's in it. REALLY good. The whole cast was, including the children. :o

Christian said:
Oh no :(

What didn't you like?
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I think Caissie is giving an intentionally muted take on Diana but I wanted a bit more manic energy. I didn't think Henry was very strong. I had a post from theatreboard criticising how simplistic and predictable the rhyming is ringing in my ears (and it is). I found it pretty overwrought as well, but I suppose that's the nature of it. Didn't love the doctor(s).

On the plus side Gabe, Natalie and Dan were all great and Caissie is a phenomenal singer. There are some brilliant touches staging-wise but I won't say too much about THAT. And the handful of songs I love were all brilliant.
 
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Seeing A Witness For The Prosecution at the weekend and have HIGH HOPES. Although I am suspicious this is a set up to get me sent down.
 
I went to Next To Normal. Mixed feelings. I liked the free drink, but wasn't so keen on standing outside for half an hour before being told they were unable to fix the technical problem and we should all go home. Overall I think I would give it two stars.

(Luckily on the way to the theatre I'd read the reviews and realised it sounded quite dreadful, so the cancellation came as quite the relief. FULL REFUND PLEASE, NO NEED TO TRY AND FIT US IN FOR ANOTHER SHOW)
 
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Never heard of the writers.

I've seen very few of these adaptations of films to musicals, they don't hold much appeal.
 
Christian said:
Never heard of the writers.

I've seen very few of these adaptations of films to musicals, they don't hold much appeal.
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Honestly some are very good, but it’s usually the “lesser known” films that are most successful on stage (Waitress, Kinky Boots, Newsies). But then Back To The Future breaks that rule as it’s excellent, and I take it Mary Poppins falls under the same umbrella just with pre-existing songs. I enjoyed Pretty Woman, but the songs weren’t memorable, and Mrs Doubtfire should have just been a play.
 
I went to a free showing of a new musical last night called For Tonight (which just meant I had Don’t Be A Stranger in my head for ages and that was better than anything on offer here). A one night only event testing it out at the Adelphi (on BTTF’s dark day).

Pretty big theatre considering the vast majority of the audience seemed to be friends/family of the cast and creatives, bloggers being gifted seats in exchange for reviews, and probably the rest of us through papering. I can’t imagine many people paid to be there.

It wasn’t very good :( I also hate it when the audience is rammed full of friends of the people involved. Random whooping and cheering for nothing always feels like false encouragement.
 
The Little Big Things appears to be getting some major positive audience buzz ahead of press night later this week.

Much like Come From Away, I didn’t quite get on with it in the same way. There were loads of people weeping and sniffling in the audience by the end, but all I’d heard was “the less you know the better”… but the basic blurb of the plot really is the entire plot. I liked the very British dialogue and characters, and the songs were pleasant, but the plot was so thin, no song moved it forward in any way whatsoever. 3 stars.
 
Pre-sale for Plaza Suite with SJP and Matthew Broderick

12000 ahead of me in the queue and a wait of 1 hour+

:goodgrief:
 
I am thinking of Sunset Boulevard in December or January with Nicole Sherz. But some of the posters say 'concert' - Do we know if this is the actual musical as we know it or her just belting out the songs?!
 
jyxz said:
Pre-sale for Plaza Suite with SJP and Matthew Broderick

12000 ahead of me in the queue and a wait of 1 hour+

:goodgrief:
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I was in queues for 2 hours. Got the the front and it said I had to be an ATG member despite the presale link. I HATE ATG Tickets.
 
OK, I’ve seen Sunset Blvd and I could swear I don’t remember there being a cannibalism plotline…

 
VoR said:
OK, I’ve seen Sunset Blvd and I could swear I don’t remember there being a cannibalism plotline…

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WHERE IS HER TURBAN?

I’m sure this production is different and will probably win awards for being a complete overhaul of what we know. It’s giving me vibes of the new acclaimed version of Oklahoma! which wasn’t my cup of tea at all.
 
Ellie said:
www.whatsonstage.com

Choir Boy at Bristol Old Vic announces casting

The production is Bristol Old Vic’s new artistic director Nancy Medina’s first since taking up the position
www.whatsonstage.com www.whatsonstage.com

@lolly Maybe one for you? I saw Michael Ahomka-Lindsay in Newsies and his voice was just incredible. Like BUTTA.

mike myers snl GIF
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We saw this on Friday, and it was sensational. Ahomka-Lindsay was great, but so were all the young cast, particularly the lead Terique Jarrett.

And last night we saw Healing King Herod, a drag king comedy from Bristol based Riss Obolensky. I think it started here, did the Vault festival in London and the Edinburgh Fringe, and returned for 5 days. Not sure if it's going anywhere else, but it's worth seeking out if it is.

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That's the second drag king show I've seen this year, both incredibly funny yet really quite provocative. I need to seek more out, because they are definitely pushing the boundaries a lot more than the queens I've seen recently.
 
And I also saw Charlie And The Chocolate Factory last week. The children loved it, but I certainly had issues. The original songs are just on the whole pretty unmemorable (and I'd streamed the soundtrack a couple of times before), but I had two greater concerns.

Firstly there were so few actual props or sets on stage - so much of it was done on video screens at the back and on the floor of the stage. Perhaps it's partly an age thing but I want proper props and sets. The boat scene in the tunnel particularly just felt really off to me - the actors just held a simple boat frame, wiggled around a bit and then the screen behind did all the work. Perhaps to young eyes it worked, but not mine.

Secondly, the Oompa Loompas weren't even small, and were entirely silver. Fuck off.
 
Re: the issue with props. Has anyone noticed a new trend of giving revivals a “stripped down” and “raw” version in the productions? I saw Pygmalion at The Old Vic this week and it reminded me a bit of what they recently did with Oklahoma. I haven’t seen the new Sunset Boulevard but I understand that’s similar too.

They’re getting rave reviews and being reported as original and different… but I just keep thinking they’re making things cheap to stage and still charging a bomb for the tickets. I LIKE THE SETS AND PROPS THANK YOU.
 
OK, due to a weird impromptu weekend work schedule, I’ve now been given Thursday off instead. Managed to get a matinee ticket to Sunset Boulevard at the front of the Grand Circle for £24 (actually £44 but SeatPlan gave me a £20 voucher).
 
I went to Sunset Boulevard yesterday evening. Enjoyed the second half more than the first. Nicole was very good vocally and had a few funny/knowing lines. Was my first experience of the Savoy, the Grand Circle is very far up (maybe it is everywhere, it's not a section I tend to go for when buying tickets myself) and there was an annoying railing that was getting in the way whenever they were at the front of the stage and obscuring my view of the male lead in his underwear (:horny:)

The talk amongst my group afterwards was all about

the start of the second half being out on the Strand - is it done live each performance, or are there two or three pre-recorded versions that are made to look live by matching the time of day and weather? Considering turning up outside at 9pm one day to find out
 
Jacques said:
I went to Sunset Boulevard yesterday evening. Enjoyed the second half more than the first. Nicole was very good vocally and had a few funny/knowing lines. Was my first experience of the Savoy, the Grand Circle is very far up (maybe it is everywhere, it's not a section I tend to go for when buying tickets myself) and there was an annoying railing that was getting in the way whenever they were at the front of the stage and obscuring my view of the male lead in his underwear (:horny:)

The talk amongst my group afterwards was all about

the start of the second half being out on the Strand - is it done live each performance, or are there two or three pre-recorded versions that are made to look live by matching the time of day and weather? Considering turning up outside at 9pm one day to find out
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I’ll report back since it’s a rainy afternoon for my perf. today.

I’ve only sat in the Grand Circle once for Gypsy and it was still fine. I like the raked seating. I understand since there’s a lot of filmed sequences on a screen, it doesn’t really matter where you sit. If I do love it I might come back with some pricier seats.
 
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