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Post by thistimetomorrow on Mar 22, 2023 8:21:47 GMT
Biggley's relationship with Hedy La Rue. young boy toy instead? |
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Post by bobbievanhusen on Mar 22, 2023 11:49:00 GMT
Tracie Bennet cast in this Thankfully JB Bigley only has 2 small numbers I've booked for this as i'm a big fan of the show, and previews are pretty cheap. How To Succeed rarely gets done as it is and having this interpretation only puts the chance of seeing the show as the writers intended, much further down the line. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 22, 2023 11:56:37 GMT
They’ll be much bigger numbers when La Bennett gets her chops round them!
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Post by zahidf on Apr 11, 2023 8:36:03 GMT
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Post by bobbievanhusen on Apr 11, 2023 9:25:36 GMT
It will be interesting to see how they approach this, given that part of the story is asatire round the old values of Men home being the breadwinners and the women look after the home 'Happy To Keep His Dinner Warm'. Not sure how that will work as the 2 leads are both female. And they are all very young. I'm going to say too young. One of them is meant to have worked in the mailroom for 25 years! As someone who loves the show, it doesn't bode well.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2023 11:36:28 GMT
Keeping an open mind for the time being, but casting has me thinking I might opt to just cherish my warm memory of the Daniel Radcliffe-helmed Broadway revival and save a few quid for something else.
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Post by Being Alive on Apr 11, 2023 11:50:29 GMT
Gabrielle Friedman was fabulous as Mary in Merrily We Roll Along at the Royal Academy last summer, so I'm actually fairly happy they're leading this.
I just...don't know how well this is going to go, but I probably will attend a few weeks in once they've got settled and see what it's like...
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Post by ThereWillBeSun on Apr 11, 2023 22:52:46 GMT
I just can’t get over the prices after previews which I can’t make sadly. Seems an awful lot for fringe theatre. Not sure if I’m being horrible saying that.
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Post by bobbievanhusen on Apr 12, 2023 1:34:45 GMT
I just can’t get over the prices after previews which I can’t make sadly. Seems an awful lot for fringe theatre. Not sure if I’m being horrible saying that. I feel that at least with the Southwark Playhouse you almost always get a decent production and usually with some great talent in it. Though of course, the price of something is all reletive to the individual. |
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Post by showgirl on Apr 12, 2023 4:33:30 GMT
I just can’t get over the prices after previews which I can’t make sadly. Seems an awful lot for fringe theatre. Not sure if I’m being horrible saying that. How about buying the £75 PAYG ticket bundle? Only increased from £60 within the last few months but still great value and very flexible as they never expire. Lost count of how many I've bought. |
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Post by adamkinsey on Apr 12, 2023 18:34:44 GMT
I just can’t get over the prices after previews which I can’t make sadly. Seems an awful lot for fringe theatre. Not sure if I’m being horrible saying the that. There's fringe and there's fringe. I generally don't mind paying £35 somewhere like the Southwark Playhouse as your seat is great and your close to the action and the productions are usually great with good and often very good casting. However, with this, take La Bennett out and it looks like a university/drama school cast as they all seem so young. I was one of those that didn't rave about Georgie Rankcom's Anyone Can Whistle and so I'm wary about this one all told. |
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Post by showgirl on Apr 13, 2023 3:47:31 GMT
Well, I'm thinking of taking a chance on a matinee preview, usng one of my £15 PAYG tix as I've never seen a production of this piece so am interested anyway and have nothing with which to compare it.
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Post by bobbievanhusen on Apr 13, 2023 4:20:09 GMT
I highly recommend the 1995 How To Succeed cast recording. Matthew Broderick, Megan Mullally (pre Will and Grace) Victoria Clark, Lillias White.
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Post by adamkinsey on Apr 13, 2023 9:41:37 GMT
It will be interesting to see how they approach this, given that part of the story is asatire round the old values of Men home being the breadwinners and the women look after the home 'Happy To Keep His Dinner Warm'. Not sure how that will work as the 2 leads are both female. And they are all very young. I'm going to say too young. One of them is meant to have worked in the mailroom for 25 years! As someone who loves the show, it doesn't bode well. I see they've now said they aren't switching genders, so women cast as men are playing the roles as men. The issue for me is the sound of what the composer wrote. Are the women going to be singing the bass lines as written in ensembles? Even if they do, the balance of sound may be off. I do love me a good SATB. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2023 11:49:13 GMT
I highly recommend the 1995 How To Succeed cast recording. Matthew Broderick, Megan Mullally (pre Will and Grace) Victoria Clark, Lillias White.
This was a sublime production and my first introduction to the magnificent Victoria Clark.
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Post by bobbievanhusen on Apr 13, 2023 13:09:00 GMT
It will be interesting to see how they approach this, given that part of the story is asatire round the old values of Men home being the breadwinners and the women look after the home 'Happy To Keep His Dinner Warm'. Not sure how that will work as the 2 leads are both female. And they are all very young. I'm going to say too young. One of them is meant to have worked in the mailroom for 25 years! As someone who loves the show, it doesn't bode well. I see they've now said they aren't switching genders, so women cast as men are playing the roles as men. The issue for me is the sound of what the composer wrote. Are the women going to be singing the bass lines as written in ensembles? Even if they do, the balance of sound may be off. I do love me a good SATB. Interesting. Ive always seen the voice of the book as Finch reading to himself, but now there will be a female playing a male with a female voice of the book? I guess the voice of the book will be the author?? |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 13, 2023 15:27:51 GMT
My view is that the voice of the book is clearly that of the author. That is why it is traditionally a pre record (often with a big name) rather than the lead character reading from the text
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Post by bobbievanhusen on Apr 14, 2023 5:45:23 GMT
In the lib it says 'book voice' so I wouldn't say it was clearly the author. It wouldn't make sense for Finch to be on stage reading 'How To Succeed.. out loud and then responding to himself as he read it.
Because the voice has traditionally been a serious newsreader, why not have a famous business person read it, which would make more sense if it was the author, rather than a voice that is well known for its gravitas in other areas.
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Post by david on May 12, 2023 17:00:02 GMT
I’m hoping for a better night tonight at the SWP. Looking forward to seeing Tracie B back on the stage. Anyone else going?
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Post by david on May 12, 2023 22:52:25 GMT
First preview and I really enjoyed it. Plenty of humour and some nice vocals on show made for an entertaining evening at the SWP. Set wise it is very basic - the main feature is a very tall ladder with neon lighting. There is a back wall with a few drawers in it. The office furniture must have been borrowed from IKEA I think.
There currently are no programmes, but I could count around 5-6 musicians sat on top of the wall set. There appeared to be keyboards, drums, a few string and wind instruments. Considering it was the first preview the sound mixing was fine for me and I didn’t have any issues hearing the cast. Some nice fun songs in that score was well.
With respect to the casting if this show, whilst I enjoyed their performances, i did wonder if gender swapping the roles was the best creative decision. Having a female Finch and Biggley for me didn’t really work within the context of those characters story arcs and the relationship developing between Finch and Rosemary didn’t feel real as well as “Brotherhood of Man” I think lost something in its meaning with the gender swap. I was looking forward to seeing Tracie back on the stage who was good fun, for me it was Allie Daniel as Rosemary who had great comic delivery and was the vocal standout.
The running time tonight was around 140 minutes.
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Post by Steve on May 14, 2023 23:29:44 GMT
Saw the Saturday matinee, and was thoroughly entertained, though never dramatically. Some spoilers follow. . . The flaw is the book, which allows the main character (if the role can even be called a character, it is so thinly defined) to coast along so easily (that's the intentional running joke) that there are no dramatic stakes for the first two hours. The music and performances are a joy, however, with Gabrielle Friedman's likeability, as corporate ladder climber, J Pierrepoint Finch, off the charts. That's a boon, as the character's likeability makes us root for him to have an easy time of it, and the dramatic flaw of the book ensures that that is exactly what happens. If there are few thrills, there are many good laughs, and Annie Aitken's ditzy seductress is particularly on point in milking every line for maximum mirth. Allie Daniel, as Pierrepoint's affable and endearing love interest, displays charm and vulnerability in the role, which affords the audience a much needed dose of sentiment. I was bowled over by how much cheery charisma Taylor Bradshaw brings to the small role of Mr Bert Bratt. If you just watch this one actor's performance, you learn more about corporate survival than from anything written in the play text, with the character's instinctive fear of failure and gleeful opportunism, go-getting glad-handing and toeing the line, a constant rollercoaster of a joy to behold. All the characters make a good fist of the singing, with Friedman a highlight. I particularly enjoyed hearing "Rosemary (Superstar)" and reminding myself that this is a rare instance where ALW isn't borrowing from ALW, though the evident similarity may all be a mahoosive coincidence lol. The choreography of all the characters moving constantly around the tiny stage is a delight. 3 and a half stars of musically and comedically great, undramatic fun, for me.  |
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Post by apubleed on May 15, 2023 11:25:13 GMT
Sorry if I'm confused but why is ALW being mentioned in the context of this show?
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Post by Steve on May 15, 2023 12:22:52 GMT
Sorry if I'm confused but why is ALW being mentioned in the context of this show? ALW has nothing to do with the show, of course, which is why he definitely isn't borrowing from himself here.
And the song is called "Rosemary," not "Rosemary (Superstar)," which I cheekily called it.
But if you can listen to Frank Loesser's principle "Rosemary" motif WITHOUT thinking about ALW's later "Jesus Christ Superstar" motif, you have a sharper, more malleable, more brilliant and more focused mind than I do lol.
Here's a permitted clip of Daniel Radcliffe singing "Rosemary" on Youtube:
Listen to it and try NOT to compare the songs, and try NOT to sing along to the fake lyric, "Rosemary Superstar," in your head.
I'm not saying one song influenced the other, of course. I'm just saying there's a recognisable similarity there.
For the record, I think ALW's "JCS" is an improvement on "Rosemary," whether or not one song influenced the other. |
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Post by bobbievanhusen on May 15, 2023 13:45:43 GMT
Not once in the 35 years of knowing How to Succeed, did I ever think it sounded like Superstar. Even listening to it above, I still don't hear it, probably because the time signatures are different.
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Post by mrbarnaby on May 16, 2023 6:41:16 GMT
Sorry if I'm confused but why is ALW being mentioned in the context of this show? ALW has nothing to do with the show, of course, which is why he definitely isn't borrowing from himself here.
And the song is called "Rosemary," not "Rosemary (Superstar)," which I cheekily called it.
But if you can listen to Frank Loesser's principle "Rosemary" motif WITHOUT thinking about ALW's later "Jesus Christ Superstar" motif, you have a sharper, more malleable, more brilliant and more focused mind than I do lol.
Here's a permitted clip of Daniel Radcliffe singing "Rosemary" on Youtube:
Listen to it and try NOT to compare the songs, and try NOT to sing along to the fake lyric, "Rosemary Superstar," in your head.
I'm not saying one song influenced the other, of course. I'm just saying there's a recognisable similarity there.
For the record, I think ALW's "JCS" is an improvement on "Rosemary," whether or not one song influenced the other. This is ridiculous. They sound nothing alike |
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