5,794 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Sept 26, 2024 21:49:39 GMT
I can't fathom what went wrong with the projections of viabiltiy and producing of this show - it seems to have all the popular ingredients, just the absence of a star name. Imagine Anne-Marie or similar in it. After Scarlett Strallen's bad experience with the contract for 'ALW's Cinderella' and then the show pulled before the new cast got to perform, there was a feeling that the old producers were getting it all wrong and younger performers were turning to the new generation of producers with much more trust. Now Zizi Strallen gets to perform - but briefly. That's not to say Paul Taylor Mills has necessarily handled this badly. Behind the scenes it may be regret and understanding of the vagaries of commercial theatre amongst all involved. Though when a producing partner owns the venue you might hope for a bit more bias and largesse towards an in-house show. If only for the sake of appearances ALW/Really Useful kept their 'Cinderella' production going, with the benefit of 'my house, my rules'. Their mistake was in not pulling the plug earlier, creating ridiculous hope in another incoming cast. Controversial revisionist take: Too generous? [Okay - maybe it was just 'protecting own ego']. *Summer Strallen |
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Post by max on Sept 27, 2024 21:54:02 GMT
I enjoyed this tonight.
Zizi Strallen is marvellous, and Renée Lamb terrific too.
There's zero reason for it to have the subtitle 'the Marie Antoinette Playlist' - Marie isn't the storyteller constructing the evening for us. If she was waiting on death row and reliving what happened via club hits it would make sense.
I liked Jean softening towards the real(ish) woman she discovers beneath the wig and make-up, and the dilemmas that created. Also private revenge/reparations vs a bigger schemed revoluation was an interesting awakening. It gave some deeper story energy to what otherwise is a frothy Eurotrash-styled romp. I didn't quite follow why the conclusion of her story was a call to action for us - was Jean really the spark? That all got a bit woolly.
'Champagne Dreams' was the stand out song; they could do with reprising that and one or two others to really make them stick when you go home. Unfortunately I found that even if I'd enjoyed a song, the next one wiped it out immediately. This style of show is a natural for a megamix at the end to do that job.
It's so hard to do 'Club' on stage - they invested a fair bit in lighting, and video projection screens, and a cast of 10, but there's something inert about all that activity and an audience sitting safely in the dark. I think it could work better as an immersive club experience, where you could do it with a cast of 5. There are so many clubs that are dead before 10 or 11am, and have all the lighting rig, platforms and podiums you could want - and a dancing audience become their own crowd and dancers. Many would hate that, but now a sit-down version's been done I hope it will have a different life. Invite the audience to stay after the Musical to dance the night away to....the Marie Antoinette Playlist (of themed existing club classics).
Nobody commissions and invests in a show with even the vague thought they'll pull the plug so soon into its run. It's such a shame if it was misconceived in the way/scale/style it was produced and budgeted. To deny your own production the chance of publicity that a Press Night and Reviews bring is bizarre.
For the writers, I hope 'Cake' gets another bite of the cherry at some point.
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Post by max on Sept 27, 2024 23:06:45 GMT
..."Jeanne" not 'Jean' as I had it above. Still, I could have called her Julie, Jan, Joanne etc. A nice running joke in the piece.
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Post by darreno on Sept 28, 2024 20:36:07 GMT
How on EARTH has this not hit harder? Just out of tonight's performance and it was excellent.
Anything with Renée Lamb, Millie O'Connell or Zara MacIntosh is a guaranteed ticket buy for me so this was absolutely guaranteed to do it for me. That's without mentioning Zizi Strallen who is just about the best in the world at what she does here. Perfect comedy timing on top of everything else she has is like someone made a musical theatre performer in a lab.
Travis Ross absolutely stars in this too, he's so funny, but when called upon to sing, he's absolutely perfect. The entire cast work HARD, act, react, sing, move and look like they are having FUN.
We had a particularly good audience as everything was received with great appreciation and love, clearly the beginning of what would have been the 'regulars'.
I'm just a fan, no involvement in MT, so I couldn't begin to understand why this hasn't hit but I'm so glad I caught it before it bows out. Hopefully to return and be loved. That cast deserves it all.
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Post by aloysius on Sept 28, 2024 22:26:11 GMT
I saw the matinee today and was impressed. I don't know Paul Taylor-Mills at all but it does seem a very perverse decision to bring this back for a full run and then cut it so quick, especially given the quality of the leads.
I was left wondering if this is all just a bit of a publicity stunt - to drum up outrage and therefore press and then bring it back (by popular demand) a few months down the line in a smaller venue perhaps with a slightly smaller supporting cast... Isn't it lucky that PTM also runs a much smaller theatre along the river which specialises in small cast and small band musicals? The musical that saved itself from the chop...
If it does come back they need to work on the marketing. I only went out of curiosity because of the imminent closure. The publicity shots look cheap, calling it a playlist makes it sound like an insubstantial jukebox musical, the Cake name itself isn't great - am I getting a Hamilton wannabe or a second attempt at a Great British Bake Off musical?
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7,050 posts
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Post by Jon on Sept 28, 2024 22:36:40 GMT
I saw the matinee today and was impressed. I don't know Paul Taylor-Mills at all but it does seem a very perverse decision to bring this back for a full run and then cut it so quick, especially given the quality of the leads. I was left wondering if this is all just a bit of a publicity stunt - to drum up outrage and therefore press and then bring it back (by popular demand) a few months down the line in a smaller venue perhaps with a slightly smaller supporting cast... Isn't it lucky that PTM also runs a much smaller theatre along the river which specialises in small cast and small band musicals? The musical that saved itself from the chop... If it does come back they need to work on the marketing. I only went out of curiosity because of the imminent closure. The publicity shots look cheap, calling it a playlist makes it sound like an insubstantial jukebox musical, the Cake name itself isn't great - am I getting a Hamilton wannabe or a second attempt at a Great British Bake Off musical? You wouldn't close a show early as a publicity stunt especially since the cast and crew would have been contracted for 8 weeks and would not agree to such a thing. |
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Post by flouise on Sept 29, 2024 6:51:50 GMT
I overheard a conversation the other day that PMT is known in the industry for flying by the seat of his pants with funding. This person wasn't associated with the production, but they weren't at all surprised. They simply ran out of money due to poor ticket sales from the sound of it.
I hope that the show does have further life, but I can imagine that the leads would want to move on from it now given this experience, and I'm sure that investors would have been turned off by what's happened with this run.
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3,528 posts
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Post by Rory on Sept 29, 2024 9:19:52 GMT
I overheard a conversation the other day that PMT is known in the industry for flying by the seat of his pants with funding. This person wasn't associated with the production, but they weren't at all surprised. They simply ran out of money due to poor ticket sales from the sound of it. I hope that the show does have further life, but I can imagine that the leads would want to move on from it now given this experience, and I'm sure that investors would have been turned off by what's happened with this run. Bill Kenwright Ltd co-produced this and say what you like about them, but I've never seen a London production of theirs close after a few weeks because they ran out of money. The whole thing with Cake is very odd. |
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Post by Seriously on Sept 29, 2024 9:40:19 GMT
I overheard a conversation the other day... This person wasn't associated with the production... |
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Post by max on Sept 29, 2024 9:49:13 GMT
I overheard a conversation the other day that PMT is known in the industry for flying by the seat of his pants with funding. This person wasn't associated with the production, but they weren't at all surprised. They simply ran out of money due to poor ticket sales from the sound of it. I hope that the show does have further life, but I can imagine that the leads would want to move on from it now given this experience, and I'm sure that investors would have been turned off by what's happened with this run. Bill Kenwright Ltd co-produced this and say what you like about them, but I've never seen a London production of theirs close after a few weeks because they ran out of money. The whole thing with Cake is very odd. Very odd indeed. I wish there was some reason other than finance that they closed it early - though I can't think of anything credible. This sends a really worrying message re. new writing in Musicals (and potentially plays). As you say, Bill Kenwright Ltd co-produced, and it should be the dream for any writers to have the security that a large organisation will cross-subsidise within their financial columns to give the new show the chance to become the next earner. Then again I suppose Bill Kenwright Ltd has an expectation of profit, where many smaller producers calling on their 'little black book' of smaller investors know that break-even or loss are the expected outcome, from the off, with no shock there. When something's really rather good, backed by a major producer, in the home of new musical theatre development (owned by their producer), and can't get to Press night/reviews it sets a tone for even-more-extreme caution in producing than we already have. |
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Post by flouise on Sept 29, 2024 9:51:44 GMT
I overheard a conversation the other day... This person wasn't associated with the production... Yes I know, it is no more than gossip but it was interesting to hear the perspectives of people in the industry and the general feeling towards PTM |
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Post by westendgirls on Sept 29, 2024 10:48:29 GMT
Going tonight for the final show after seeing it on its opening weekend. I do hope it will come back some time but as above I doubt it will be this cast as they will likely wash their hands at being involved again after the way they have been treated
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165 posts
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Post by Paulw on Sept 29, 2024 11:15:23 GMT
Going tonight for the final show after seeing it on its opening weekend. I do hope it will come back some time but as above I doubt it will be this cast as they will likely wash their hands at being involved again after the way they have been treated I’m in for both shows today but can’t help feeling that will be the case with the cast (maybe not the ensemble but definitely the leads) |
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Post by greatauntedna on Sept 29, 2024 18:27:25 GMT
Just saw the last performance. I think it’s lost something since the concerts, it felt less coherent. Jeanne controlling Marie with an Xbox controller stuck out as naff!
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Post by doornumberthree on Sept 29, 2024 19:17:22 GMT
Just saw the last performance. I think it’s lost something since the concerts, it felt less coherent. Jeanne controlling Marie with an Xbox controller stuck out as naff! Oh I think it improved drastically since the concerts, I loathed the concert and whilst I still think it needed more work, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching it over the last few weeks, so sad to see it close so soon. |
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Post by westendgirl on Sept 29, 2024 19:31:17 GMT
I caught the last show today and enjoyed it overall. A very enthusiastic audience which the cast clearly appreciated. Entrance applause etc for Renee and Zizi. As new musicals go, it wasn’t entirely my cup of tea (I would rate something like Babies a lot higher) but I’m glad I managed to see it. Given it has a Six-ish vibe and even two original cast members of Six, I’m surprised it didn’t sell better.
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Post by westendgirl on Sept 29, 2024 19:52:05 GMT
Also someone further back mentioned a projection of Marie’s Z List including Paul Taylor Mills’ name. I didn’t see any sort of Z List projection on the screens at all today, unless I missed it!
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Post by doornumberthree on Sept 29, 2024 20:03:02 GMT
Also someone further back mentioned a projection of Marie’s Z List including Paul Taylor Mills’ name. I didn’t see any sort of Z List projection on the screens at all today, unless I missed it! It’s on the scroll that they use as a prop - you can only really catch it from a few seats because of lighting/it being in red pen |
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Post by flouise on Sept 29, 2024 20:06:56 GMT
Also someone further back mentioned a projection of Marie’s Z List including Paul Taylor Mills’ name. I didn’t see any sort of Z List projection on the screens at all today, unless I missed it! It's on the actual list that Marie holds, it was definitely on there very prominently tonight! I managed to catch tonight's show too, the cast and audience were on fire. Zizi somehow gave an even better performance than the previous two shows that I've caught. Strong example of a triple threat! Clearly an emotional night for the cast, as last shows often are but for additional reasons of course here. I can't wait to see what they do next. |
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Post by greatauntedna on Sept 29, 2024 21:04:17 GMT
Just saw the last performance. I think it’s lost something since the concerts, it felt less coherent. Jeanne controlling Marie with an Xbox controller stuck out as naff! Oh I think it improved drastically since the concerts, I loathed the concert and whilst I still think it needed more work, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching it over the last few weeks, so sad to see it close so soon. I saw the first concert last year and it was dripping with atmosphere and quite intense. It felt neutered today. |
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