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Post by punxsutawney on Sept 21, 2023 11:08:09 GMT
Think about it from the point of view of a tourist, or somebody who likes going to the theatre but doesn't follow it in the same way we do. What does that poster do to interest you in the show? It doesn't detail anything, it doesn't pull in your attention, it gives you no indication of what you are going to be seeing if you go to the show. I don't think it's ugly, but it certainly isn't going to shift many tickets. I’m genuinely interested to know how people would advertise this then? Showing the cast or any symbology relating to the show other than a barely recognisable paint splotch would be a start. I won't brainstorm any further unless I'm getting paid by Nica Burns... |
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Post by Rory on Sept 21, 2023 11:23:22 GMT
I would have a brilliant graphic of that wonderful publicity image of the two Henrys, one flying and a colourful logo like the on the stage wording. The ETAJamie poster was fab, the one for this is nowhere in that league
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Post by intoanewlife on Sept 21, 2023 11:56:39 GMT
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Post by mattnyc on Sept 21, 2023 12:09:27 GMT
I'm personally not seeing much marketing for this show anywhere so maybe their budget doesn't allow for it. But the logo (while good) tells you absolutely nothing. Maybe now that they have some good pull quotes from reviews they can redo their ads and really push to get houses filled. It's a show that deserves to have people sleeping outside waiting for cancelations.
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Post by max on Sept 21, 2023 12:18:42 GMT
But it is at least an accurate description of the 'uplift' many people have felt, and that is literal within the show. They don't seem to have come up with a compelling tagline yet - is there one at all, other than quoting the name of the person whose memoir it is? There are a lot of memoirs - including inspiring ones - all the time. Other than avid fans of the book we could do with a heads up as to content. Where is the line saying 'from the director of '& Juliet''? Marketing team need to shift into gear. Curve shows how tag lines are done on their Facebook posting for the launch of the tour of 'A Chorus Line' : 'One Audition, Seventeen Stories, One Singular Sensation' though elsewhere they're using: 'Seventeen Stories, 8 Chances, One Singular Sensation'. The whittling down of the numbers is better on the second (just like an audition) but losing the specific mention of 'audition' makes it more vague for newcomers. |
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Post by Rory on Sept 21, 2023 13:53:00 GMT
I haven't seen the show so don't know the context of the scene but the image I was referring to has been well publicised and is very striking. It would be eye catching on a poster. |
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Post by mattnyc on Sept 21, 2023 16:21:40 GMT
if I'm being honest, it’s one of the most beautiful and incredible moments and I’d actually hate for it to be spoiled on a poster.
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Post by c4ndyc4ne on Sept 21, 2023 16:30:12 GMT
i expect now reviews/ photos are out, there'll be a big marketing push to capitalise on the (moderate selection of) good reviews
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Post by Being Alive on Sept 21, 2023 16:30:24 GMT
if I'm being honest, it’s one of the most beautiful and incredible moments and I’d actually hate for it to be spoiled on a poster. Well it's been spoilt in a production photo so I struggle to see the difference now... |
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Post by mattnyc on Sept 21, 2023 16:31:50 GMT
Oh it has? I didn’t see that so…nevermind lol.
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Post by intoanewlife on Sept 21, 2023 17:18:27 GMT
if I'm being honest, it’s one of the most beautiful and incredible moments and I’d actually hate for it to be spoiled on a poster. If I'm honest, it was the moment it went from one of the blandest pieces of musical theatre I'd ever seen to one of the Top 5 worst x |
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Post by bonnotonno on Sept 21, 2023 21:57:40 GMT
have they announced if/when a full show cast recording will be released?
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Post by Mark on Sept 21, 2023 21:59:34 GMT
Second visit tonight and enjoyed it just as much. A real breath of fresh air in a West End predominantly aimed at tourists.
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Post by sf on Sept 21, 2023 23:34:31 GMT
Saw it this evening.
Some of it is excellent. Some of it is very moving. The direction is often very clever, the performances are excellent right across the board, and I'd throw every award possible at Amy Trigg for her wonderful, wonderful performance as the physiotherapist...
...and there's a bit too much synthetic uplift, and the score is often very bland. Trigg, the two Henrys, and Linzi Hateley supply some of the emotional heft that the music and lyrics lack, and Trigg gives her scenes a welcome shot of vinegar, but the show as a whole could use more of the sharpness the writers give her character. It is genuinely moving, but it is also a bit syrupy. It's very entertaining, but it could have been *great*, and it never quite gets there.
And the poster is awful.
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Post by strawberrypie on Sept 22, 2023 8:21:46 GMT
Also saw it last night and I did really enjoy it - the Act 1 finale got me good and teary, and I was genuinely moved at times. I sat in the 1. Balcony and I think seeing it from up top definitely adds to the experience - the lighting design and projections really worked for me, so gorgeous and I got goose bumps throughout when the colours amplified what was happening on stage.
The score is pretty forgettable, I couldn't tell you the name of a single song this morning but the performances overall were great. LOVED the addition of BSL in the choreography, reminded me quite a bit of Deaf West 's Spring Awakening at times. It was also a lot funnier than I expected, lots of laugh out loud moments (over half of them belonging to Amy Trigg for sure) and it's wonderful to see such an inclusive production. 4* from me.
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Post by mattnyc on Sept 22, 2023 10:26:07 GMT
have they announced if/when a full show cast recording will be released? Not yet. |
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Post by cheri78 on Sept 22, 2023 17:28:03 GMT
Definitely worth seeing and I'd recommend the 1st circle, 2nd row is very good. From there the whole LED floor design and excellent lighting design really pop and the use of colour which starts from the centre and opens up and engulfs the audience is stunning. The accident scene is stunningly staged. Yes, the score is a little forgettable but that could be said for many shows that don't relentlessly repeat themes or even full songs, aka most of ALW shows but even then, this only follows what opera composers have always done. But I really wish they'd written a good song for Linzi Hately in Act 2 which would have fitted in perfectly after her outburst after the club scene. Something that gave us more insight into how she'd kept the family together. Such a shame that such a WE alumi only got 1 number which was not a very well written tune, it felt to jump around a lot. But that's a minor quibble. Loved the experience and the new theatre for London. A thoroughly deserved standing ovation.
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Post by andrew on Sept 23, 2023 8:32:46 GMT
I rushed to book a (discounted) ticket on account of the glowing reviews that erupted here at the start of the run, I moan a lot about the lack of new British musicals and here's apparently a good one right there in London's glitzy West End! Also a chance to see @sohoplace which I'd ended up not seeing anything in up until now. A bit cramped, it's hard not to think the developer (who needed to build a theatre as part of the development) tried to squeeze it into as small a space as possible. Took forever to exit to the building, even Victorian theatres have ingress/egress than this, although I'm pleased to see comments about how accessible the place is.
I didn't like The Little Big Things all that much. Spoilers follow.
I thought the subject matter was a bold and interesting choice for a musical, taking serious topics has led to far more of my favourite theatre experiences than lighter fare ever has. I appreciate this is a true story (or an adaptation of one) so it feels wrong to criticise it, but the first issue that stood out for me is how utterly lacking in dramatic tension the show is, especially when it's about something so inherently dramatic. The framing device of it being a story told by the older Henry with a lot of interaction with the Henry from before the accident is a great idea, why are all their interactions so devoid of emotion? Why is it not heartbreaking seeing them go through this trauma? The only moment I thought that relationship really sparked was the act one finale. From the first few minutes when the setup becomes clear I thought we'd get this big tear-jerking moment when the two Henry's make peace with each other and older Henry let's him go, which did sort of happen, just without any of the tears. That's a book problem, it's a score problem, it's a directing problem. Maybe it's an acting problem, although in general I liked the two leads. This sort of issue permeates the whole show.
I found it interesting to read some posts here about how the creatives really wanted to focus on the family unit, about the stress they're put under and how they ultimately hold it together. I did think that was an interesting turn and an extremely realistic one. One of the most beautiful moments in the show for me was the youngest brother holding Henry's hand. Another was when the father breaks down. I've got a professional connection to the subject matter and it's such a common and emotive experience for young siblings to suddenly be in this extremely grown-up situation, for the guilt of parents to be overwhelming and destructive. I did not think I got anywhere near enough of this. There were some flatly delivered scenes about some of the stresses of this situation, but as an audience member I never felt like I was invited to care all that much.
Henry spent months in ICU, attached to a ventilator, sedated, unable to move or speak. His family would have seen him in a coma on life support. He had to learn to breathe again, initially through a tube surgically inserted into his neck. He would have had to relearn how to move all the muscles in his body bit by bit. His family sound like they were nearly driven to financial ruin, his father was struggling to work, his siblings blamed themselves for their brother suffering a life changing injury. Henry had to come to terms with all the things that were different in his life, all the things he would now never be able to do, all the things that are now 1000 times harder to do. We never felt any of that. Even the bits we did see like the father and his boat just sort of passed by in a very pedestrian way. Maybe in Henry's true life account these things were not issues, and part of the point of the show is his relentless optimism, but in glossing over these things in favour of showing that optimism you don't even get to really understand how incredible that perspective on life is.
Instead we spend so much time stuck in cliché driven songs. So much talk of Dear Evan Hansen on here, and sure the score shares a pop-rock driven style, loud drum-heavy songs with tight vocal harmonies from a smallish but well-amplified cast. What separates it from DEH is that in the Pasek & Paul show the songs were actually pretty good. You may have felt the subject matter was difficult to relate to and the show lacked much of a point, but Waving Through A Window, For Forever, You Will Be Found etc are all extremely catchy, well structured, and even when they're lyrically weaker still stand head and shoulders above the ChatGPT level writing this gave us. I don't mind when the story halts for a good song that explores and deepens our understanding of the characters, or is fun and enjoyable and uplifting, but instead we just kept stopping for something much more generic. Making it loud and with lots of lighting doesn't hide the lack of substance. I don't have a song list in front of me but I'd say the act 1 closer was OK and the song in act 2 led by the father I enjoyed, the doctors song from Act 1 was very fun too, I think mainly because it was delivered with such ferocious energy. None of these really stand up against other musicals in the same style, none of them comes close to it's West End rivals.
There are lots of good things about the show, the physiotherapist is a great character, the love story is sweet, and I didn't think Henry's (re)discovery of art and colour was done too badly. It's technically proficient, I don't think any of the acting talent was bad, I just thought that they took an extremely engaging subject and somehow made me not care about it. They missed so many opportunities to really explore the tragedies and triumphs in this story, both in the book and in the score, which is criminal. It got rapturous applause and a standing ovation so the rest of the audience clearly got something much better from this than I did. I was so excited to hear a new British musical might be making waves, I am so crushed that it was actually extremely average.
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Post by BVM on Sept 23, 2023 12:02:02 GMT
Really well written and interesting review andrew thanks. I similarly have a professional connection with the subject matter and although it didn't affect my enjoyment of the show as much as it did you, everything you describe about long ICU stays is 100% true. And yes, the emotional places they could have gone with this were no doubt missing. This was very much my one reservation about the show (though despite this it did induce an emotional response in me!) I did prefer the score to Evan Hansen but agree it certainly isn't groundbreaking! |
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Post by mattnyc on Sept 23, 2023 12:08:23 GMT
If this were a film, I 1000000% would agree with what you said about them “glossing over” the hardships of the ICU but for a musical wanting to cover a lot of ground and also not be 3 hours long, I understand that choice. There would have been some fantastic dramatic moments with the family in those scenes and when looking back I do wish we had a few more “heartbreaking” scenes with them but again for the structure and medium here, I understand it.
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Post by BVM on Sept 23, 2023 12:23:07 GMT
If this were a film, I 1000000% would agree with what you said about them “glossing over” the hardships of the ICU but for a musical wanting to cover a lot of ground and also not be 3 hours long, I understand that choice. There would have been some fantastic dramatic moments with the family in those scenes and when looking back I do wish we had a few more “heartbreaking” scenes with them but again for the structure and medium here, I understand it. That's kinda where I am. As although I was acutely aware of these missing elements - as a whole it still worked for me as a 2.5 hour musical! |
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Post by Rory on Sept 23, 2023 12:42:15 GMT
New ads in the press today have the image we were talking about above.
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Post by luvvie23 on Sept 23, 2023 21:31:44 GMT
Just seen it. It grew on me. Then by the end of the second act, I was in floods of tears. It was very moving. A wonderful story. Luke Sheppard is on fire.
Linzi Hately is- in my eyes- theatrical royalty. Loved her in the show. But I thought her number was overly choreographed. Congratulations to all involved. 🤩
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Post by mrbarnaby on Sept 24, 2023 11:52:46 GMT
New ads in the press today have the image we were talking about above. Are they reading this thread? 👀 Will that new ad keep everyone happy now?! |
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Post by jamb0r on Sept 24, 2023 12:20:17 GMT
Looks like there’s a new Facebook advert featuring some clips from the show going around since yesterday, now includes ‘strictly limited season’ underneath it, so presume that confirms no extension which is a big shame.
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