134 posts
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Post by Joseph Buquet on Dec 4, 2023 20:41:30 GMT
Interval. An absolute car crash. Sound could just be bad, but the entire cast sound vocally horrendous. They should have just shipped over the broadway cast. The new dual narrative between the two Dianas doesn’t work. Abysmal. The lack of dialogue destroys the story - audience can’t keep up, laughing throughout. ALSO WHY IS THE QUEEN THE ONLY ONE IN COSTUME?!? They’re all in costume? No wigs for the others, I agree. But costumes, yes. The sheep jumper! |
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Post by anthony on Dec 4, 2023 21:33:53 GMT
So they cut the death dialogue at the end - DIANA LIVES!
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101 posts
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Post by filendile on Dec 4, 2023 21:54:38 GMT
Campest show on earth, unintentionally (?) hilarious but everyone seemed to be loving it, myself included. So bad it was good and one of the rowdiest audiences I’ve seen in a theatre. The music and melodies were actually strong, but the lyrics can’t be taken seriously. The AIDS patient scene was particularly painful, I was hiding behind my hands.
The staging was better than I expected, I was expecting them to be standing behind music stands to be honest, but everyone was prepared and they made the best of a clearly low budget. Kerry was great, incredible voice as always. She came alive after they got her out of the oversized jumper and she seemed to be having a lot fun. Audience went crazy for her after ‘pretty girl’ and ‘light the world’. Denise Welch was pitchy but it only added to the ridiculousness of it all. Never saw the Broadway version but I noticed some changes from the cast recording, including them skipping over her death at the end and finishing with a more positive spin.
They were let down by the terrible venue (queueing through puddles), poor sound and lighting. Multiple missed cues including the very first line of the show, which set the laughter off for the evening. There seemed to be no spotlights and actors left in the shadows when they were speaking. At least it ended relatively early.
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Post by partytentdown on Dec 4, 2023 22:12:04 GMT
Why am I constantly surprised by how terrible these things are. At least this one was funny, basically an enormous accidental panto. If the royal family want to do some more research on public opinion about them, hopefully someone will send them a bootleg of the audience reaction every time one of their fictional counterparts walked on stage!
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631 posts
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Post by ncbears on Dec 4, 2023 22:17:17 GMT
Seeing Twitter/X comments that this was the best panto of the year.
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Post by toomasj on Dec 4, 2023 22:20:20 GMT
Sounds like they’ve placed this production perfectly - plenty of laughter, ridiculousness and being “in on the joke”. My comments on the previous page based on the Broadway proshot version seem to line up with the consensus here. I sort of wish I had gone tonight - I love a good, crap night out at the theatre.
I bet this was glorious in its terribleness.
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631 posts
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Post by ncbears on Dec 4, 2023 22:22:50 GMT
I wonder if MickeyJo can keep their video commentary to under an hour.
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Post by partytentdown on Dec 4, 2023 22:25:19 GMT
Sounds like they’ve placed this production perfectly - plenty of laughter, ridiculousness and being “in on the joke”. My comments on the previous page based on the Broadway proshot version seem to line up with the consensus here. I sort of wish I had gone tonight - I love a good, crap night out at the theatre. I bet this was glorious in its terribleness. If they nailed the tone, the sh*t tech ruined it. The theatre gods giveth and they taketh away. |
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134 posts
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Post by Joseph Buquet on Dec 4, 2023 22:32:46 GMT
Sounds like they’ve placed this production perfectly - plenty of laughter, ridiculousness and being “in on the joke”. My comments on the previous page based on the Broadway proshot version seem to line up with the consensus here. I sort of wish I had gone tonight - I love a good, crap night out at the theatre. I bet this was glorious in its terribleness. If they nailed the tone, the sh*t tech ruined it. The theatre gods giveth and they taketh away. I felt that the terrible tech only added to the ridiculousness of the whole thing… It was 2 hours of camp fabulousness! |
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Post by toomasj on Dec 4, 2023 22:34:11 GMT
Sounds like they’ve placed this production perfectly - plenty of laughter, ridiculousness and being “in on the joke”. My comments on the previous page based on the Broadway proshot version seem to line up with the consensus here. I sort of wish I had gone tonight - I love a good, crap night out at the theatre. I bet this was glorious in its terribleness. If they nailed the tone, the sh*t tech ruined it. The theatre gods giveth and they taketh away. Which, along with the high prices, is the reason I didn’t go. I’ve been burned so many times before with these concerts, the sound/tech/under-rehearsal issues ruin my enjoyment. Did they do the ****ity ****ity **** song? |
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1,477 posts
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Post by Steve on Dec 4, 2023 22:38:13 GMT
This was a flawed but entertaining evening of joyful camp fun. Some spoilers follow. . . I had seen 4 other works by Joe DiPietro, though not this one, so I thought I'd give this a go in concert form, in case its my only chance. What worked best tonight were the things that played to the grandness of the Hammersmith Apollo space, namely things that were clear, loud, spirited and camp: (1) Kerry Ellis as Princess Diana, having the rockiest voice, sometimes sounding like Sandy from Grease, with the ensemble dancing around her, sometimes sounding like Sheena Easton belting out a Bond Theme. Obviously, the whole point of the show is to root for the underdog, Diana, so the more Ellis's rock voice could powerfully cut through everything else, the more fun the 3500 odd people could share in her triumphs lol; (2) Denise Welch, as the Queen, is not the most obvious choice to play the Queen, not known for the Queen's tight-lipped decorum, nor her cut glass received pronunciation, but what they do have in common is a reputation for persevering through hardship, and that's really all the connection you need, because once you connect with her, all the differences - the impressively calm posturing of Welch in her pristine wig for decorum and dignity, her effortfully feigned accent, the pursed lips, the elongated vowels, the slightly pitchy vocal, its all just wonderfully camply amusing and celebratory; (3) The ensemble singing together chorally made the most splendidly sonorous, full, and uplifting sounds, bringing a lot of joy to me. There were things that didn't work too well, because the space was too big (this would all work much better in the Southwark Playhouse lol), the sound was too poor (80 percent audible from the middle of the Stalls), the mics weren't always on, the spotlights sometimes weren't lit. Anything subtle in the book was undoubtedly lost in the cavernous space. For example, since the doubling of Diana is in essence a play for subtlety, an attempt at Follies style resonance, whereby the older Diana witnesses and empathises with her younger self, this was all lost and diluted rather than strengthened Ellis's rock dominance. Quansah Breed did well with what she had to do, but for me, the whole concept was way too subtle for such a giant venue, which really just needed Ellis to belt and belt and belt some more in the face of the villains. Coxon and Fearns were good as the villains, but the space demanded they be bigger and louder and meaner than they were directed. All in all, I had a great camp time. I wished it was even bigger and camper than it was. 3 and a half stars from me.  |
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Post by Oobi on Dec 4, 2023 22:51:12 GMT
This was bonkers.
The best moments were when they leant into the campy sh*ttiness of the material. There was a wink-wink nudge-nudge energy to how the cast delivered certain lines (“How I wish that he were Elton John”/“Serves me right for marrying a Scorpio”/“Riding lessons”) and the audience responded raucously. I adored Charles’s angry rant song - “How ‘bout for a start, don’t act like a tart, Diana!” is a spectacular line in all the best ways.
Thee actress playing Diana’s sister was so appalling I almost thought she was doing it on purpose. When Diana was about to walk down the aisle she asked “Am I doing the right thing?” or something to that effect, and the sister replied “Well, it’s too late now” with the blasé frankness one might use when informing a colleague they’d missed a train. In any other show I’d complain, but here, I honestly just enjoyed the laugh.
Alas, the actress playing the queen seemed to be under the mistaken impression that this role demanded dignity. “An Officer’s Wife” was excruciating - was she trying to do an impression? The song’s always been poor but her performance was abysmal! A stilted, plodding, rambly bore.
They cut “Happiness”, which was no loss (other than the “Harry my ginger-haired son” line, of course). They also cut “Him and Her”, which I found less justifiable; it’s a nice melody and hits an important story beat. They split up the final chorus of “If” in a way I didn’t like. The idea of two actresses for Diana is interesting in theory but it’s impossible for me to critique it when they cut most of the show’s dialogue.
As a concert, it sucked. Missed audio cues left and right. Lack of connective tissue between scenes. Atrocious lighting. No choreography.
Oh, and they cut the queen’s verse of the “f*** you” dress song. Cowards!
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Post by partytentdown on Dec 4, 2023 22:51:29 GMT
If they nailed the tone, the sh*t tech ruined it. The theatre gods giveth and they taketh away. Which, along with the high prices, is the reason I didn’t go. I’ve been burned so many times before with these concerts, the sound/tech/under-rehearsal issues ruin my enjoyment. Did they do the ****ity ****ity **** song? Yes!! No Barbra Cartland though. Or the immortal line 'Harry, my ginger haired son' (unless it was one of the 3000 times the mic wasn't turned up) |
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Post by filendile on Dec 4, 2023 22:51:30 GMT
Jeanna de Waal (Broadway Diana) was in the audience tonight.
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Post by partytentdown on Dec 4, 2023 23:00:13 GMT
Jeanna de Waal (Broadway Diana) was in the audience tonight. What must she think |
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Post by mattnyc on Dec 4, 2023 23:03:14 GMT
I had a great time tonight, despite the technical problems that should have been figured out before a paying audience was let inside. I'm glad I know this score so well so I knew everything that was dropped. Let me start with just saying after seeing so many of these concert type performances lately, I'm let down that they omitted most of the book. Thoughts on it being good or not aside, this was mainly just the score with a few light book scenes added to guide the story along and I think people paid enough to see the whole show. Even things like the last song where we hear the news reporters announcing the accident and her death which add a lot of emotion to the song were left out for some odd reason, especially since they added the dialogue at the beginning of the song. And then killing the spotlight on Kerry before she finished the song was a big OOF moment.
I saw Maiya Quansah-Breed in "Lizzie" the other day and had never heard of her before and now having seen her in two shows in a couple days, I can say I'm a big fan and very much look forward to whatever she does next. Ellis was just fabulous and I do hope at some point she can record a few of these songs because they suit her voice so so well. Sadly, Denise Welch was all but wasted since they cut her role here down by half. In all, the show is total camp and I'm thrilled I got to experience it again - I saw it on Broadway a few days before Covid shutdown - and with an audience who was really into it. Four stars just because we'll probably never see it done on such a large scale again.
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Post by Being Alive on Dec 4, 2023 23:16:31 GMT
Technical issues aside (which were diabolical and everyone should write and complain - people sang basically whole songs in the dark) - this was one of the most fun nights I've ever had in a theatre.
Diana is a camp classic, and god was it fun to get to see it performed live in a room full of people who agreed!!
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Post by mattnyc on Dec 4, 2023 23:24:09 GMT
Technical issues aside (which were diabolical and everyone should write and complain - people sang basically whole songs in the dark) - this was one of the most fun nights I've ever had in a theatre. Diana is a camp classic, and god was it fun to get to see it performed live in a room full of people who agreed!! Exactly. Definitely one of those that we can brag that we were actually there for it. |
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Post by ncbears on Dec 5, 2023 2:04:39 GMT
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Post by theatrefan62 on Dec 5, 2023 7:34:08 GMT
]Thee actress playing Diana’s sister was so appalling I almost thought she was doing it on purpose. When Diana was about to walk down the aisle she asked “Am I doing the right thing?” or something to that effect, and the sister replied “Well, it’s too late now” with the blasé frankness one might use when informing a colleague they’d missed a train. That sounds like one of the more historically accurate parts tbh. They basically did say that too her, 'too late, your face is on the teatowels now' or something like that. |
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Post by mattnyc on Dec 5, 2023 11:17:31 GMT
I forgot something last night but I'm very curious about a cut made to the final song. She sang
"I'll have another child
An answer to my prayer
Perhaps a baby girl
Or, better yet, a pair"
But then they cut the rest of it -
"If Charles steps aside
And lets my William reign
Then all this suffering
Will not have been in vain
My future's my design
My story finally mine
As I light the world
I'll light the world"
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Post by mrbarnaby on Dec 5, 2023 12:27:11 GMT
Was it full?
Sounds absolutely ghastly and fabulous
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Post by distantcousin on Dec 5, 2023 13:30:20 GMT
I think I would have enjoyed it, but also been pissed off at the cuts to the libretto and the poor tech standard.
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Post by ncbears on Dec 6, 2023 4:07:05 GMT
I wonder if MickeyJo can keep their video commentary to under an hour. That was quick - MickeyJo is up with video on 5 December and comes in at - drum roll, please - 37:18 - I don't know if that is a failure or a success. |
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