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Post by darreno on Oct 30, 2023 21:03:58 GMT
Last minute swerve to drive to London tomorrow and catch this. Going to see if I can find a decent matinée to pair up with it. Have you got tickets? I have 2 spare. It’s all but sold out apart from a couple of singles now. Also, Tuesday matinee, operation mincemeat is the only one that comes to mind. I have, thanks, managed to grab what appeared to be one of the last handful. Mincemeat and Mousetrap, but I was at Mince just a few days ago and need to be up close in the stalls to enjoy it as much as I do I think. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 31, 2023 13:09:13 GMT
There are two tix on the Noticeboard for tonight’s show.
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Post by partytentdown on Oct 31, 2023 21:01:58 GMT
Here now. The sound is atrocious. More soon.
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Post by robertb213 on Oct 31, 2023 21:02:59 GMT
Agreed. Can barely make out anything in the group numbers. And still waiting for one good song.
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Post by partytentdown on Oct 31, 2023 21:11:10 GMT
It's a real shame because there are some really funny lines but basically every single one is getting drowned out by music or the mics aren't going on in time. It's relying on some very basic gags to win over the crowd. Sorry to say but this standard really doesn't belong in the West End.
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Post by Matt on Oct 31, 2023 21:11:50 GMT
Yep the sound is absolutely awful. Bringing up the mics far too late and can’t hear them over the band most of the time.
It’s more of the Broadway score than London, with a few of the London songs mixed in for a verse. I’m hoping they do mine all mine instead of inside your heart.
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Post by partytentdown on Oct 31, 2023 22:17:32 GMT
How odd that they went with the Broadway version and not the London one.
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Post by Matt on Oct 31, 2023 22:18:41 GMT
How odd that they went with the Broadway version and not the London one. I know, it’s so inferior, and the director said to me it would sound more like the London one. Also very upset that they cut children, children. |
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Post by bobbievanhusen on Oct 31, 2023 22:19:29 GMT
The Production of Bat Boy at the Shaftesbury began somewhere much smaller, I want to say West Yorkshire Playhouse. It was never meant to transfer and the cast were shocked that it was transferring, and even more surprised when they picked the Shaftesbury. That set sat in the middle of the huge Shaftesbury Stage with so much space around it. I saw it twice and both times it was empty. The only thing I've seen with less audience members was Tess of The Durbervilles.
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Post by partytentdown on Oct 31, 2023 22:29:47 GMT
Yes it was West Yorkshire Playhouse... But the general feeling was that the book and score had been improved upon for the UK run and a couple of new songs were added. They seem to have reverted to the old ones tonight. I was also surprised there was nothing new at all, considering they had been workshopping this in NYC just before lockdown. But yes, it was famously empty for most of its original London run.
I agree it was a shame to lose Children Children, it made the relationship between Shelley and Edgar even more inexplicable (not that there was much chemistry tonight).
I think maybe this show just doesn't work in a big space, even with minimal staging. They certainly had to rely on broad humour (funny runs and lots of gurning at the audience) to get the audience laughing, and there wasn't much subtlety. And it's a shame a lot of the plot points were totally lost in the dodgy sound.
Pleased it didn't cost me more than fifteen quid. But there was a standing ovation and multiple curtain calls, so what do I know?
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Post by mrbarnaby on Oct 31, 2023 22:29:55 GMT
The Shaftesbury stage isn’t huge at all.
I don’t remember it looking small there- just remember the show being dreadful.
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Post by robertb213 on Oct 31, 2023 22:34:10 GMT
This was a massive miss for me. I normally love an obscure cult musical but this was a case of excellent leads saving a poor production of a weak musical that couldn't decide what tone it was trying to go for. Some of its charm may have been lost from the dodgy sound and I will give the cast recordings a try, but otherwise I'm very glad I didn't pay for it!
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Post by Matt on Oct 31, 2023 22:40:37 GMT
Here’s my longer review-
Very mixed feelings about Bat Boy tonight. It’s one of my favourite shows of all time so it was great to see it on stage again, but the sound at the palladium was absolutely f***ing awful. The sound person bringing in the mics far too late, the vocals getting drowned out.
But I feel it will suffer the same way the original London run did, people think it’s trying to be serious when it’s supposed to be absolutely bonkers. People were for sure laughing along with it, but there was a lot of laughing at it. I thought Jordan Luke Gage actually did a great job, but I can’t help but compare his characterisation to Deven May, a lot of the quirky bat boy mannerisms weren’t there that makes the character, but props to Jordan for not directly copying Deven. Victoria Hamilton-Barritt was incredible and completely understood the assignment.
But why the hell did they use the broadway score over the London one??! The songs added in London are SO much better, also cutting Children, Children is absolutely criminal. I had lots of issues with this but I was just so so happy to see it on stage again. If it was revived it would need a hell of a lot of changes.
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Post by steve10086 on Oct 31, 2023 23:43:48 GMT
Can only echo the previous comments - sound was awful, lots of the wit and charm lost, missed “Children, Children”, and missed the flash cards section in “Show You A Thing Or Two”.
Also a lot of the original humour was in the casting and which actors played which roles, with plenty of doubling up to comic effect.
Too big a theatre for a lovely little show. Still enjoyed this evening, but not the right setting at all.
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Post by keyspi on Oct 31, 2023 23:50:26 GMT
Glad this only cost me £15.
The sound was poor, the "set"/digital screen were amateurish and the whole thing just seemed rushed and not well put together at all.
JLC, Jodie Steele, Trevor Dion Nicholas and Tosh Wanogho-Maud's performances were the only ones I truly enjoyed
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Post by BVM on Nov 1, 2023 7:17:18 GMT
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Post by Someone in a tree on Nov 1, 2023 7:37:45 GMT
This was so poor.
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Post by mrbarnaby on Nov 1, 2023 9:43:19 GMT
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Post by BVM on Nov 1, 2023 9:57:12 GMT
They really are. I know stagedoor is on another thread but the Jordan fangirls are next level. Had 2 (two) Bonnie and Clyde performances borderline ruined by them. In fact the second one I had to move from front stalls to somewhere safer at the interval. It’s a real shame as I think Jordan has a stunning pitch perfect and pure musical theatre voice but increasingly he’s known for the fan girl circus. |
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Post by BVM on Nov 1, 2023 10:04:41 GMT
Make no mistake though casting directors watch this nonsense and these stars are hot property due to the $$$ they bring with them. Even if it is only day seats and discounts it gets word across social media like wildfire.
But as I say JLG is genuinely very talented so do hope he finds a role befitting of that next.
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Post by capybara on Nov 1, 2023 11:37:44 GMT
This is an utterly bonkers show ripe for a London revival - in the right hands. The book is crazy but also funny and deliciously camp in its enactment.
Nobody understood the assignment quite as well as Victoria Hamilton-Barritt. Hilarious. Jordan Luke Gage hit all the right notes (literally) as Edgar, complete with his wonderful BBC accent.
Meanwhile, Trevor Dion Nicholas really grew into the piece and, by the end, was getting most laughs as the villainous veterinarian. And Jodie Steele was excellent as Shelley. The cast gelled together well.
It’s just… it is *so* bonkers. It needs ironing out because Larry O’Keefe’s score is impressive, if more experimental than what he went on to produce with Legally Blonde and Heathers.
It’s a weird thing to say about a show that’s been around decades but it has potential. I’d like to see it revived in a more intimate setting than the barn that is the Palladium. Hopefully a smaller space would resolve some of the sound issues that also plagued Death Note in the same venue earlier this year.
Three stars.
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Nov 1, 2023 12:02:49 GMT
For me this was great fun and a hugely enjoyable evening. Yes the sound was a bit naff and the lyrics on group numbers hard to follow but I was expecting that from previous concerts.
I envisaged something much darker whereas it was played strictly for laughs. Bat Boy looked more like Spock Boy but Jordan and the whole cast were great, it didn't feel like a concert and the enthusiastic mainly young audience around where I was sitting meant a great atmosphere and a well deserved standing ovation.
From hardly sold on 1 October to full house (almost) on 31 October albeit with discounting and seat filling was quite an achievement.
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Post by toomasj on Nov 1, 2023 12:44:43 GMT
For me this was great fun and a hugely enjoyable evening. Yes the sound was a bit naff and the lyrics on group numbers hard to follow but I was expecting that from previous concerts.Firstly, I am really glad you enjoyed your evening. I enjoyed the show at the time with Emma Williams way back when, and found it a charming, off-beat couple of hours of escapism. However, I really must say that the highlighted part above really sums up why I won’t pay for these anymore, short of a bargain/comp. Poor sound/under-rehearsal is such a consistent problem, and at ostensibly a £100+ experience for some, I think it’s a real piss-take at this stage. I know as well as anyone the difficulties in staging these productions, the extremely limited time in the venue, a handful of rehearsals (the first full run a few hours before the house opens) and you’re on - this is the reality of things. I also understand this is commercial for-profit theatre. But I simply can’t support the practice. I don’t want to have an evening where 9 times out 10 (my personal anecdotal experience), pick-up cues for mics are missed, the band is out of time with the singers/one another, the actors are on-book/flub lines consistently, or even fail to be on stage on time. This shouldn’t be “expected”, it’s just very poor standards. And it’s absolutely the norm. The irritating thing is if they booked just one extra day for tech, the quality and fluidity of the performance would rise exponentially. But they don’t (money) or can’t (venue is booked), so we get the afternoon dress/evening you’re on fiascos like this and Evita. |
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Post by partytentdown on Nov 1, 2023 13:28:04 GMT
Thinking about this overnight, I think what has made me cross about this is that there just didn't seem to be any love or care involved - I don't mean that the cast and band etc weren't giving it their all, but what was the point of this? It looked cheaply thrown together, it was badly staged in terms of the sound and lighting, it was clearly under rehearsed, and yet they were trying to charge £100+ for some tickets. There were no programmes or cast lists. The whole thing had an air of laziness.
Artistically, there didn't seem to be any purpose in terms of developing the piece from the writers' perspective - it wasn't some kind of workshop for a future production, in fact they reverted most of the changes made in the last major staging. It didn't seem to be some kind of passion piece for anyone involved. It's not a particularly rare piece that people have been desperate to see reimagined for years. It just happened to be Halloween and the Palladium was available.
Why? Why would a producer care about doing this show, now, in this format?
I guess it can only come down to one thing - they did the sums and realised they could make a quick £.
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Post by Matt on Nov 1, 2023 13:58:15 GMT
Thinking about this overnight, I think what has made me cross about this is that there just didn't seem to be any love or care involved - I don't mean that the cast and band etc weren't giving it their all, but what was the point of this? It looked cheaply thrown together, it was badly staged in terms of the sound and lighting, it was clearly under rehearsed, and yet they were trying to charge £100+ for some tickets. There were no programmes or cast lists. The whole thing had an air of laziness. Artistically, there didn't seem to be any purpose in terms of developing the piece from the writers' perspective - it wasn't some kind of workshop for a future production, in fact they reverted most of the changes made in the last major staging. It didn't seem to be some kind of passion piece for anyone involved. It's not a particularly rare piece that people have been desperate to see reimagined for years. It just happened to be Halloween and the Palladium was available. Why? Why would a producer care about doing this show, now, in this format? I guess it can only come down to one thing - they did the sums and realised they could make a quick £. Passion project. |
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