5,030 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Oct 28, 2024 11:17:42 GMT
Isnt the furniture a nod to Beauty and beast and in the final moments a metaphor for maturity?
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Post by mattnyc on Oct 28, 2024 11:46:02 GMT
Isnt the furniture a nod to Beauty and beast and in the final moments a metaphor for maturity? No clue, that never occurred to me watching it. And since they reference other musicals in one way or another throughout the show, if that was the case wouldn’t it have made sense for them make some joke about the furniture at some point? |
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Post by ladidah on Oct 28, 2024 11:53:03 GMT
I saw it as more of a joke about having a low budget.
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Post by danb on Oct 28, 2024 12:13:09 GMT
All of their ‘long game’ jokes and references just bit them on their arses though, like the whole ‘big fancy musical’ turning out to not be one. It just wasn’t anywhere near ready for anything other than a fringe crowd, and should have been priced accordingly from the outset.
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Post by ladidah on Oct 28, 2024 12:33:49 GMT
A short season in the Other Palace would have been good
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Post by wefox on Oct 28, 2024 15:37:58 GMT
I thought the human furniture was a way to have the ensemble on stage for some of the dance numbers. Instead of dancers appearing from no where and for no logical reason, this way they were already there (not that dancing furniture makes sense, but that was the only reason I could find for it while watching the show)
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Post by usbuzzer on Nov 3, 2024 12:41:39 GMT
I loved this show! Funny, original, talented cast, GREAT music, cute enough story. It’s a little bit about nothing, but also it’s kinda cool to dive into such silly topic from different perspectives and let it breathe.
Does anybody know if the cast recording (or rest of the demos, I don’t know why they call them that) will come despite its closing? It’s one of the most exciting scores I’ve heard for quite some time.
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277 posts
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Post by gmoneyoutlaw on Nov 3, 2024 13:56:57 GMT
A short season in the Other Palace would have been good I enjoyed the show twice and hope there is a future. Ad it is now, there’s room for improvement that they can do right now at the Garrick instead of waiting. |
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Post by pineapple4you on Nov 3, 2024 14:44:18 GMT
Does anybody know if the cast recording (or rest of the demos, I don’t know why they call them that) will come despite its closing? It’s one of the most exciting scores I’ve heard for quite some time. I believe they are releasing more. The next track "C U Never" is coming out on the 8th November. |
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278 posts
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Post by unseaworthy on Nov 3, 2024 23:47:00 GMT
Oh wow... This was a mess... Who is it for? People who like tap dancing and also understand Tinder?
There is no doubt Marlow & Moss can write a good tune but this was badly written, badly directed and doesn't deserve it's place in the west end.
In other news... the cast recording is being done as we speak from a side room in the Garrick (I was given a look at the recording equipment!)
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Post by asps2017 on Nov 9, 2024 19:03:14 GMT
Anyone know when the soundtrack is out? Ashamed to say want to listen to the bee song!
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dot
Auditioning
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Post by dot on Nov 24, 2024 18:21:12 GMT
Saw this the other day. Very funny moments, thought Jo Foster was tremendous, but mostly thought the piece was obnoxious. The second act especially needed a huge amount of work, for me. It felt like a sanitised, queer version of Dolly Alderton’s Everything I Know About Love, but its message of platonic love at the ends feels rather stale.
I wish the ballad Leesa Tulley sang in act one had been directed to someone rather than just the audience, it actually made it feel a bit cold and even more superficial than it needed to be.
Cast were terrific, just a shame about the material.
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Post by ladidah on Nov 25, 2024 9:54:41 GMT
Did it sell well?
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278 posts
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Post by unseaworthy on Nov 28, 2024 19:17:32 GMT
From the Stage...
"Why Am I So Single? producer Kenny Wax has attributed the show’s early closure to its niche appeal and younger audiences being unwilling to splash out on tickets.
Penned by Six writers Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, the production announced last month that it would be closing earlier than intended, citing a difficult commercial landscape for new musicals.
It will now end its run at London’s Garrick Theatre on January 19, having initially been booking until February 13.
Reflecting on the closure in an interview with the Telegraph, Wax said that if he was given the opportunity again, he would give the show – which follows two musical theatre writers and best friends (loosely based on Marlow and Moss) navigating the frustrations of perpetual singledom – “a slightly broader appeal”.
“I’d probably do that in marketing and messaging,” he added. “I think the show is more about friendship between the two central characters than about the woke world in 2024 to 2025.”
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5,248 posts
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Post by Being Alive on Nov 28, 2024 19:24:46 GMT
Is the problem not just that it's...not very good?
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Post by max on Nov 28, 2024 21:36:55 GMT
From the Stage... "Why Am I So Single? producer Kenny Wax has attributed the show’s early closure to its niche appeal and younger audiences being unwilling to splash out on tickets. Penned by Six writers Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, the production announced last month that it would be closing earlier than intended, citing a difficult commercial landscape for new musicals. It will now end its run at London’s Garrick Theatre on January 19, having initially been booking until February 13. Reflecting on the closure in an interview with the Telegraph, Wax said that if he was given the opportunity again, he would give the show – which follows two musical theatre writers and best friends (loosely based on Marlow and Moss) navigating the frustrations of perpetual singledom – “a slightly broader appeal”. “I’d probably do that in marketing and messaging,” he added. “I think the show is more about friendship between the two central characters than about the woke world in 2024 to 2025.” Even before Press Night Wax was indicating that it may have been wiser to start it smaller and let it grow to whatever scale it should be. Now he's saying it should have been broader in appeal (perhaps suggesting that the larger scale could have worked, if so). More than all of that.... ...what a cheap comment that the marketing and messaging should have been about friendship rather than "the woke world". I don't remember 'the woke' being anywhere in the marketing - unless you consider that the very existence of some identities in a cast projected 'woke'. Well, yes it did - to those who declare themselves anti-woke, if you must use that ill-defined 'w' word. How offensive to any members of the cast who might be wondering: 'does he mean me?'. |
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Post by greatauntedna on Nov 28, 2024 23:54:21 GMT
Is the problem not just that it's...not very good? It is a 4 star show! Marketed badly! What a dumb thing for Kenny to say. They really relied on “From the writers of Six” to do all the heavy lifting. |
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7,251 posts
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Post by Jon on Nov 29, 2024 0:14:29 GMT
I think the issue was the producers including Kenny Wax should have insisted on having a director to look at the material as they were developing it. Moss and Marlow doing the music, lyric and book as well as director meant they had no one to suggest changes aside from the producers who I suspect just left Marlow and Moss to their own devices.
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Post by mattnyc on Nov 29, 2024 1:30:40 GMT
I’d be interested to see what a good show doctor could do for this one. I think it unfortunately needs a significant amount of work so hopefully one day they’ll let someone take a crack at fixing it.
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Post by ladidah on Nov 29, 2024 8:31:49 GMT
It needs a lot of work
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Post by matthew90 on Nov 29, 2024 9:24:11 GMT
The way they have expressed it is poor, but I do agree the marketing was bad. It came across like it was going to be a self indulgent moan about modern dating, when in fact what it's a very self aware reflection on attachment theory, lgbt shame, grief, anxiety etc. and how those all can impact your relationships. I went from someone who didn't want to go based on the marketing, to someone who's been 3 times now and I actually love it and the two friends I've taken it to have also loved it and gone again. I am aware though that material itself does have niche appeal given the amount of references...my partner a theatre lover did not have a clue with most of the references as he's never seen Friends or Oliver! (culturally they are just not a big thing in Hungary)
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Post by max on Nov 29, 2024 9:48:44 GMT
The way they have expressed it is poor, but I do agree the marketing was bad. It came across like it was going to be a self indulgent moan about modern dating, when in fact what it's a very self aware reflection on attachment theory, lgbt shame, grief, anxiety etc. and how those all can impact your relationships. I went from someone who didn't want to go based on the marketing, to someone who's been 3 times now and I actually love it and the two friends I've taken it to have also loved it and gone again. I am aware though that material itself does have niche appeal given the amount of references...my partner a theatre lover did not have a clue with most of the references as he's never seen Friends or Oliver! (culturally they are just not a big thing in Hungary) Your description of it certainly sounds like it's got more angles and depth than the way it was sold - but you also make it sound far more 'woke' (only in the eyes of bores and Kenny Wax who trot out that buzzword as a kneejerk reaction to modern life today): "a very self aware reflection on attachment theory, lgbt shame, grief, anxiety etc. and how those all can impact your relationships". Ahead of opening (so drawn from press releases) londontheatre.co.uk had exactly the more general 'appeal' Kenny Wax is now talking about: "Why Am I So Single? is an original musical in which “the lonely little lives of two BFFs are transformed into an all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza about dates, mates, and celebrating love in all its forms.”
Dating in the modern age isn’t easy and this life-affirming show is the perfect reminder that you’re not alone if you’re in that particular boat. At its heart, however, is the platonic love story between two best friends and their unconditional love and support for one another. Can they be each other’s soulmates?"
Nothing 'woke' in any of that. Kenny Wax is rewriting history, spraying blame around. Maybe there should just be a pause on producers doing a public post mortem on their shows before they've closed - and at the very least wait until they've opened! Lloyd Webber upset the young cast of 'Cinderalla' (perhaps they were flakey, I'll never know); Paul Taylor Mills felt like the 'younger producer' alternative but soon left the 'Cake!' out in the rain in a way that tarnishes trust in him around new writing, and now Kenny Wax throws nonsense around to cover his unwise haste in propelling the new MT dreamteam's latest project. Only Cameron Mackintosh has the wisdom to stay out of 'the new' and keep repackaging his old hits - like they're the umpteenth Fleetwood Mac compilation. |
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Post by matthew90 on Nov 29, 2024 10:10:17 GMT
The way they have expressed it is poor, but I do agree the marketing was bad. It came across like it was going to be a self indulgent moan about modern dating, when in fact what it's a very self aware reflection on attachment theory, lgbt shame, grief, anxiety etc. and how those all can impact your relationships. I went from someone who didn't want to go based on the marketing, to someone who's been 3 times now and I actually love it and the two friends I've taken it to have also loved it and gone again. I am aware though that material itself does have niche appeal given the amount of references...my partner a theatre lover did not have a clue with most of the references as he's never seen Friends or Oliver! (culturally they are just not a big thing in Hungary) Your description of it certainly sounds like it's got more angles and depth than the way it was sold - but you also make it sound far more 'woke' (only in the eyes of bores and Kenny Wax who trot out that buzzword as a kneejerk reaction to modern life today): "a very self aware reflection on attachment theory, lgbt shame, grief, anxiety etc. and how those all can impact your relationships". Ahead of opening (so drawn from press releases) londontheatre.co.uk had exactly the more general 'appeal' Kenny Wax is now talking about: "Why Am I So Single? is an original musical in which “the lonely little lives of two BFFs are transformed into an all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza about dates, mates, and celebrating love in all its forms.”
Dating in the modern age isn’t easy and this life-affirming show is the perfect reminder that you’re not alone if you’re in that particular boat. At its heart, however, is the platonic love story between two best friends and their unconditional love and support for one another. Can they be each other’s soulmates?"
Nothing 'woke' in any of that. Kenny Wax is rewriting history, spraying blame around. Maybe there should just be a pause on producers doing a public post mortem on their shows before they've closed - and at the very least wait until they've opened! Lloyd Webber upset the young cast of 'Cinderalla' (perhaps they were flakey, I'll never know); Paul Taylor Mills felt like the 'younger producer' alternative but soon left the 'Cake!' out in the rain in a way that tarnishes trust in him around new writing, and now Kenny Wax throws nonsense around to cover his unwise haste in propelling the new MT dreamteam's latest project. Only Cameron Mackintosh has the wisdom to stay out of 'the new' and keep repackaging his old hits - like they're the umpteenth Fleetwood Mac compilation. Totally comes down to the definition of woke which can mean so many different things now. For me it means being aware of social and political injustices. Whereas this musical is about exploring more internal issues that the protagonists have rather than just blaming all their issues on injustices in society. Point aside I think this musical is really great. Not many new musicals are going to have a chorus tap number! Sad that it's closing and how the producers are now trying to frame it. |
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Post by fiyerorocher on Nov 29, 2024 10:18:33 GMT
Ultimately it is just not a show that's in good enough shape to run at in a West End venue. Had they started small or at the very least listened to the feedback they asked for at the public workshops, they could have presented something far stronger. Six was always going to be a tough act to follow but this doesn't even come close and the comparison only damages it further. It is always incredibly sad when a show closes as so many people lose their jobs, but this was an inevitable case of flying too close to the sun. One international hit does not guarantee another and diving in assuming it would was a big mistake.
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Post by thedrowsychaperone on Nov 29, 2024 10:18:51 GMT
I think there's a good concept for a show in here... it was just done better by [title of show] 20 years ago.
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