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Post by pomegranate on Sept 25, 2023 6:14:49 GMT
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Post by Mark on Sept 25, 2023 8:12:25 GMT
This did great business in Australia. I listened to the album and it’s fun, can see this doing very well indeed.
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Post by dlevi on Sept 25, 2023 8:12:37 GMT
I'm guessing Sonia Friedmaan is feeling left out of the "Six" phenomenon .
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Post by thistimetomorrow on Sept 25, 2023 8:55:54 GMT
I really like the album so looking forward to seeing this!
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Post by Mark on Sept 25, 2023 11:17:56 GMT
If anyone’s got Seatplan credit they are on sale for minimum uplift. Got two front row seats for the first Saturday night for £12 each.
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Post by Dave B on Sept 25, 2023 11:34:43 GMT
If anyone’s got Seatplan credit they are on sale for minimum uplift. Got two front row seats for the first Saturday night for £12 each. Top tip - booked! Thank you. |
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Post by Dave B on Jun 15, 2024 9:58:50 GMT
From this week's Popbitch in case anyone should be interested.
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Post by andypandy on Jul 17, 2024 20:32:28 GMT
I saw this tonight at the Lyric Hammersmith. Awkwardly sat next to Sonia Freeman the co -producer and a guy making lots of notes.
In short, this was billed as the next new exciting musical from Oz and the Australian version of SIX - an exciting look at the tumultuous world of social media, addiction, celebrity and social pressures.
I absolutely HATED it and left at the interval. The score, book, lyrics and some performances were all bad.
What a shame. 1 star from me.
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Post by Dr Tom on Jul 19, 2024 19:53:20 GMT
“It’s meant to be this bad, right?”
Interval time. Quote from the row behind (not the same person who was saying “During my first protest at the White House…”
I’m rather annoyed with myself for several reasons:
I paid £7.20 for my ticket in Row M through TodayTix. If I’d held out I could have had a Row D ticket for £6.
I had to leave a work event with free beer early.
On the plus side, I’ve seen over 100 shows this year and this is in the top 100%. Only behind White Girl in Danger. What do you mean that was last year? I’ll reconsider.
I applaud the Hammersmith Lyric for taking a chance on this musical. They’ve spent money. There a large cast with terrible Australian accents. Some nice effects. Some cheering at the back of the Stalls.
There’s Thomas Grant, who I’ve seen in plays but never a musical. He’s wonderful and I hope he has more to do in the second half,
Miracle Chance, who is so wonderful and I’ve never seen so restrained.
Max James Hodge makes a perfect lifeguard. He was so good in ArtsEd. He gets to show off his gym work here.
Debbie Kurup should be leading Mamma Mia.
I think maybe Australian audiences need everything spelling out to them.
Let’s see what Act 2 brings. Sometimes these shows are so bad, they’re a cult hit! Apparently I missed the cast running around the bar.
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jul 19, 2024 20:01:03 GMT
Oh wow, this sounds absolutely awful!
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Post by Dr Tom on Jul 19, 2024 21:07:29 GMT
The second half wasn’t quite as strong as the first, but it did have a light twist and it was performed with enthusiasm.
Such a nice venue.
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Post by dlevi on Jul 19, 2024 23:31:52 GMT
I saw this tonight and found the score and lyrics to be fun and theatrical. I also found the scenery/video to be pretty extensive and effective. But the direction is flat, the enthusiastically performed choreography gets monotonous after a couple of numbers and the sound design needs A LOT of work. It's pretty clear Sonia Friedman has spent a fair amount of money on this but it needs serious work before it inevitably leaps into the West End.And I'd even recast a couple of parts.
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Post by Dr Tom on Jul 20, 2024 0:05:56 GMT
I really don't think this has a chance of transferring into the West End. Regardless of the efforts of the cast, it is just not a good musical. There are no likeable characters, even if this is considered as a black comedy, and no resolution. And, I say that as someone who normally enjoys these teen-oriented musicals.
I'm happy to be out of touch and proved wrong. But tonight, the only standing ovation was a few people at the back (and those who stood to see as they were behind them) and the conversations I heard when leaving were far from positive. It will sell in Hammersmith with the current heavy discounts, but I can't see this coming close to covering the costs of running in a West End home.
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Post by ladidah on Jul 20, 2024 8:45:25 GMT
What is the plot?
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Post by Dr Tom on Jul 20, 2024 9:33:56 GMT
Three school age teenagers want to get tickets to see “Harry” - a pop star they all fancy of ambiguous sexuality. Second half, the teen who didn’t get to go see Harry takes matters into their own hands. It all ends happily (somehow). |
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Post by ladidah on Jul 20, 2024 11:04:40 GMT
See, that sounds fun!
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Post by Steve on Jul 20, 2024 14:55:59 GMT
Give it a go. I'm in the interval right now, and I'm finding it very funny. Some spoilers follow. . . This is about the kind of fan "girls" who write a lot of fan fiction where they have relationships, and elaborate adventures, with popstars, and where they are the "wife" of said popstar. This is raucous and it rings as if it's based in truth to me, but also it's got the sick sensibility of "Heathers" or "Diva," where you just know the protagonists will take the logic and 'authenticity" of their feelings WAY too far into unhinged territory. I once queued up with a girl who'd seen a popstar 200 times, and befriended the popstar's Mum, and was heartbroken because the popstar was avoiding her, even while his mother was still coddling her. This struck me as mentally unhealthy, but it certainly lets me know that what is being raucously parodied onstage is a real thing. There are some performers doing massively and magnificently (comically exaggerated) funny work here, with Terique Jarrett's Salty, the fanfiction master, hilarious; Miracle Chance as a "seizure-y" sidekick, a kind of spacey teen female Keanu Reeves, an absolute hoot, and Gracie McGonigal's maniacal Lily having me in stitches, and the best thing about McGonigal's thrilling and mellifluous singing skills is that she comically aggressively flaunts them in character. . . Edited to include thoughts on the second half: The second half is at war with itself. This undoubtedly wants to be a no holds barred, unashamedly sick John Waters irreverent comedy (and it's very good at being that, with a feminist edge) grabbing the unhinged and saying yes to it. But suddenly, there is a tonal shift where the show pretends to get angry about fangirls being patronised, even while depicting fangirls as wielding chainsaws and baseball bats. At this point, the show plaintively wails about the plight of women, and I feared it had flopped the landing, as you can't do IDGAF comedy if you're sincere. Thankfully, the show course corrects just in time, as Mary Malone's Jules character brings back the outrageous comic psychopathy (think Regina George channeling JD from "Heathers") that embodies the plot and comic trajectory, and the show does in fact stick the landing. But that tonal wobble, the attempt to have its cake and eat it, definitely weakened the show. Fortunately, there are a couple of elements in the second half that are absolutely brilliant:- (1) The best is when the Harry (not Styles lol) character, Thomas Grant magnificently vacuous in floppy white astronaut trousers, and his "One Direction" parody band, perform a set that is so authentically cynical ("Nobody Loves You Like Me", Our Generation will save the world, etc) that I bust up laughing as Debbie Kurrup's character's parental assertion that the band is just the creation of "middle aged men" was proved unassailably true in the sheer mindwarping manipulation of it! So funny! (2) The other great second half moment involved genuine poignancy as the biggest fangirls sing of how "Disgusting" they are. In this moment, all the horrific expectations heaped on teen girls in the social media age were heartbreakingly dissected. As Edna, the lead character fangirl, Jasmine Elcock nails both her vocals and the character's most bonkers moments, and she even makes a case for forgiving the tonal mishaps (though I don't forgive them). All in all though, this show works best as John Waters does Heathers to the tune of 4 delightful stars from me.  |
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Post by Talisman on Jul 20, 2024 15:30:26 GMT
I really don't think this has a chance of transferring into the West End. Regardless of the efforts of the cast, it is just not a good musical. There are no likeable characters, even if this is considered as a black comedy, and no resolution. And, I say that as someone who normally enjoys these teen-oriented musicals. I'm happy to be out of touch and proved wrong. But tonight, the only standing ovation was a few people at the back (and those who stood to see as they were behind them) and the conversations I heard when leaving were far from positive. It will sell in Hammersmith with the current heavy discounts, but I can't see this coming close to covering the costs of running in a West End home. I wonder what that the definition of standing ovation is as it is used here. This could explain why so many are reported. |
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Post by nash16 on Jul 20, 2024 20:42:13 GMT
I really don't think this has a chance of transferring into the West End. Regardless of the efforts of the cast, it is just not a good musical. There are no likeable characters, even if this is considered as a black comedy, and no resolution. And, I say that as someone who normally enjoys these teen-oriented musicals. I'm happy to be out of touch and proved wrong. But tonight, the only standing ovation was a few people at the back (and those who stood to see as they were behind them) and the conversations I heard when leaving were far from positive. It will sell in Hammersmith with the current heavy discounts, but I can't see this coming close to covering the costs of running in a West End home. I wonder what that the definition of standing ovation is as it is used here. This could explain why so many are reported. A "Creatives Team" Ovation? |
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Post by Mark on Jul 20, 2024 21:53:19 GMT
This was absolutely bat s**t crazy and nuts the whole way through, dialled up to eleven and never slowing down. And I say that in the best possible way - my friend and I laughed our way through and had an utterly wonderful evening.
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Post by Jon on Jul 20, 2024 22:50:49 GMT
I'm going to write a more detailed review tomorrow but I'm in agreement, Fangirls is batsh*t insane and I had such a blast watching it.
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Post by Jon on Jul 21, 2024 8:10:56 GMT
Obsession makes great fiction, we've seen in films like Misery and songs like Stan by Eminem but with Fangirls, Yve Blake takes the idea of fandom and makes a show which accepts that the premise is batsh*t crazy and plays along with it but within the craziness is a streak of realism about being a teenage girl.
The story of Fangirls is simple but effective, I wont spoil what happens but needless to say the insanity which starts as slightly weird becomes full on as the show progresses. As someone who loves black comedy, this was right up my street. The songs are great, it's a pastiche of manufactured pop in places, the set is fairly simple with the LED screens doing the bulk of the work.
Cast wise, Jasmine Elcock as Edna shines. In the wrong hands, the character could come across badly to the audience but I think while I can't say I agreed with her actions in the show, she's weirdly relatable. Debbie Kurup as Caroline, Edna's Mum is the only other sane character in the show aside from Harry played by Thomas Grant who's take on a rip off of the real Harry Styles is very funny, the opening of Act 2 is honestly hilarious if you've ever seen any pop concert by a boyband or solo artist. Other shout outs include Miracle Chance as Brianna and Mary Malone as Jools, they're really good as Edna's friends with Jools being the mean girl of the two, the song Disgusting is where the insanity takes a pause and we see the inner thoughts of the three friends. There is a very funny cameo which I won't spoil but it comes out of nowhere.
I think if you're a fan of shows like The Book of Mormon as well as things like Heathers and Mean Girls, you'll love this, the show I saw it with was quite diverse although I do think some were a tad too young for it. I'm tempted to see it again.
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Post by l0islane on Jul 22, 2024 16:13:05 GMT
I enjoyed this, I went with a friend who I met in my youth when we were both fangirls of the same person and this brought back a lot of shared memories and feelings! I think it's conflicted, it feels like it is both trying to challenge the view of fangirls as crazy, screaming and unbalanced and reinforcing that view. It also has quite a narrow view of fandom, that it's all about being in love with someone, when that is quite a specific type of fandom/fangirl. I would have preferred to see more about how being a fan can create friendships and community and less about the extreme antics that take place in the second half of the show, but all the same it was great to see a show about this subject and if it had been around when I was a little 14 year old fangirl I'm sure I would have been obsessed with it!  |
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Post by ThereWillBeSun on Jul 22, 2024 17:25:06 GMT
I’m seeing this later this week and have to say I am really looking forward to Fangirls 😝
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Post by Dave B on Jul 22, 2024 19:47:11 GMT
Interval. A very full Lyric with a really enthusiastic audience.
My partner has just left (along with a fair few others) but I am *actually* dead and I cannot wait to see what the second act brings -it Is so terrible, but I can’t look away.
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