128 posts
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Post by emeraldbaudelaire on Nov 5, 2018 18:35:52 GMT
Micha is promising, I've booked for Carole hoping she's good always like catching an alternate.  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2018 19:03:39 GMT
Well Benoît Maréchal, I'm your baby tonight.
Any night really.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2018 19:14:31 GMT
Well Benoît Maréchal, I'm your baby tonight. Any night really. This is your moment, you've never seen the show! |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2018 19:18:44 GMT
Well Benoît Maréchal, I'm your baby tonight. Any night really. This is your moment, you've never seen the show! I know but I mean ... Burke.... |
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Post by anthem on Nov 5, 2018 19:54:16 GMT
This is your moment, you've never seen the show! I know but I mean ... Burke.... At least you’re consistent, Ryan! |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2018 8:14:40 GMT
Phil Atkinson can stalk me all he wants.
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538 posts
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Post by WireHangers on Nov 28, 2018 19:02:04 GMT
So all four Rachel Marrons are schedule to perform while in Glasgow! Alexandra Burke (obviously), Carole Stennett (again, obviously) and the two cover Rachels, Micha Richardson and I forget the other girl’s name, have been given specific days as well. Micha is performing on the matinee of the 20th, with the 2nd cover Rachel playing Nikki, and then 2nd cover Rachel will be playing the role in the evening.
I’m going to try and see both covers on the 20th so I can compare all four.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2018 19:22:53 GMT
They should let them all perform a bit of the show on the same night. They could call it a Marron Déclassé.
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538 posts
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Post by WireHangers on Dec 4, 2018 13:40:49 GMT
Saw the first preview last night. What a show! It's big, it's loud, it's camp, it's melodramatic! I haven't seen any other productions so can't compare it but it looks like nothing has been scaled down. The cast are fine. Alexandra Burke is doing her best Whitney impression but Beniot is by far the weakest link in the cast. He tried to play subdued too much and it comes across as disconnected - like he sleepwalking through the role and not even trying. Nikki Aaron can SING and was easily the best performer in the show so I'll definitely try to see her playing Rachel because she'll definitely kill it.
The male dancers, the stalker and Frank Farmer are all far too good looking... which is hard for me to say as a thirsty gay man. Frank Farmer is obviously a high fashion model and just looks odd when he's around normal looking people. The Stalker was absolutely ripped and walked around half naked most of the night. I'm no casting agent but I don't think it's a good idea to cast a man who everyone in the audience would happily stalk as the stalker!
The show is in fine form and it's an absolutely riot. While the book is eye-rollingly bad the musical numbers more than make up for it. I would have liked to see another star in the show other than Alexandra Burke but she does an okay job.
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1,995 posts
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Post by distantcousin on Dec 4, 2018 15:22:49 GMT
Saw the first preview last night. What a show! It's big, it's loud, it's camp, it's melodramatic! I haven't seen any other productions so can't compare it but it looks like nothing has been scaled down. The cast are fine. Alexandra Burke is doing her best Whitney impression but Beniot is by far the weakest link in the cast. He tried to play subdued too much and it comes across as disconnected - like he sleepwalking through the role and not even trying. Nikki Aaron can SING and was easily the best performer in the show so I'll definitely try to see her playing Rachel because she'll definitely kill it. The male dancers, the stalker and Frank Farmer are all far too good looking... which is hard for me to say as a thirsty gay man. Frank Farmer is obviously a high fashion model and just looks odd when he's around normal looking people. The Stalker was absolutely ripped and walked around half naked most of the night. I'm no casting agent but I don't think it's a good idea to cast a man who everyone in the audience would happily stalk as the stalker! The show is in fine form and it's an absolutely riot. While the book is eye-rollingly bad the musical numbers more than make up for it. I would have liked to see another star in the show other than Alexandra Burke but she does an okay job. The direction and design production design choices for much of the show are utterly ridiculous.
As was updating it to present day - it doesn't work on so many levels.
Ben Richards played the role 2 years ago as subdued and disconnected. It's probably how they're being directed...
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3,057 posts
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Post by ali973 on Dec 4, 2018 18:27:25 GMT
So all four Rachel Marrons are schedule to perform while in Glasgow! Alexandra Burke (obviously), Carole Stennett (again, obviously) and the two cover Rachels, Micha Richardson and I forget the other girl’s name, have been given specific days as well. Micha is performing on the matinee of the 20th, with the 2nd cover Rachel playing Nikki, and then 2nd cover Rachel will be playing the role in the evening. I’m going to try and see both covers on the 20th so I can compare all four. I feel like I'm talking to myself from four years ago. Good luck and you go and you overdose on all the Rachels out there young man! |
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700 posts
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Post by cheesy116 on Dec 4, 2018 21:11:09 GMT
I agree about the guy playing the Bodyguard, I wasn't keen at all but the rest of the cast were great, especially the lady playing Nicki.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2018 21:27:48 GMT
I'm a fan of this show, having seen it 9 times now. Yet I've never seen the previous touring production, which, from what I've heard, is the same as the Dominion production. So I intend to see this production too. |
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Post by anthem on Dec 9, 2018 11:50:03 GMT
Good reviews after press night; 4 stars from the Stage and Broadway World and 5 stars from the Evening Times.
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128 posts
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Post by emeraldbaudelaire on Jan 7, 2019 23:17:25 GMT
How's the souvenir brouchure this time around?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2019 18:09:52 GMT
When did this turn into a world tour? I've just seen on the website it is booking into February 2020, but is doing a September/October run in Asia also starting Alexandra!
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128 posts
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Post by emeraldbaudelaire on Jan 17, 2019 18:14:06 GMT
As far as I'm aware they did one before similarly only with Carole as lead.
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781 posts
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Post by latefortheoverture on Jan 24, 2019 0:53:53 GMT
Saw this tonight in Southend- all round a nice evening.
I hate to put any performer but oh my lord, the man playing Frank, the bodyguard, has to be one of the worst performances I've ever seen on stage. At the start he was American, and by the end, he was eastern European! I didn't care about him leaving in the end, he was like a walking brick tbh! I think the stalker did a better job tbf.
Say what you like about Alexandra Burke but she can sing, yes she doesn't stop giving us runs, but she has got a voice. Acted the part well, I believed her! I thought Micha Richardson was great as Nikki- a beautiful voice. The run to you duet gave me goosebumps.
I found the book a bit basic in some parts, but it is to be expected I imagine! I imagine this show was in it's prime in the Adelphi, especially with Heather Hadley (!!!!) and Debbie Krups!
Did particularly enjoy some elements to it; the smoke part where the bodyguard picks her up and the silhouette is shone onto the smoke. And I also enjoyed the dramatic background music, which made it a bit more intense and likened it to a film or play.
All in all a nice production that I imagine will continue to tour for years to come; sold out two week run at Southend is quite a good sign. Couldn't help but think it was feeling a little tired in a couple of areas, which isn't an amazing sign as it's only the tours 3rd stop!
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14 posts
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Post by onair on Jan 24, 2019 20:30:13 GMT
Just seen this production too. I totally loved the last tour and had to see it again.
Agree with the comments on the guy playing Frank it was the only weakness of the show. Stuart Reid on the last tour was so so much better.
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376 posts
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Post by hitmewithurbethshot on Feb 1, 2019 17:37:21 GMT
Saw this in Southend and wow, never seen a leading man so devoid of charisma. The stalker was far more appealing. Plus I appreciate that English is probably his second language but there was no effort to mask his accent. Maybe just call him Francois Farmer.
Have the projections always been there? SO cheesy, and sometimes were out of time with what the actors onstage were doing, mostly where the stalker was concerned. Are they filmed with every Rachel/Frank combo in case understudies go on?
Alexandra’s acting leaves something to be desired, but she has a hell of a voice and is a true performer. The same cannot be said for the audience who decided to sing along to IWALY. I suggest the theatre invest in cattle prods for each usher to use in these situations.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2019 17:44:23 GMT
Have the projections always been there? SO cheesy, and sometimes were out of time with what the actors onstage were doing, mostly where the stalker was concerned. Are they filmed with every Rachel/Frank combo in case understudies go on? Yeah the projections have always been there. In my experience, they have changed it for whomever is on. Even when I saw Rachel John, she wasn't an official understudy for Beverley, but she still had video of her and Ben in the projections. Is it just me though, I love this show, I've seen it nine times since 2012 over the two West End productions, so I've seen both incarnations of the show. I miss the Adelphi production so much. I still enjoy it, but the original looked so much better and the show worked alot better, it felt very cinematic, whereas this production is just so bare bones. |
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Post by stagey on Feb 1, 2019 17:45:07 GMT
When I first saw this show in the original production at the Adelphi, I fell in love. I thought it was amazing! However, since then, the recent version (same as the tour and Dominion version) didn’t have the same spark. Still great though. Wish they would produce a biographical musical about Whitney using her hits, like Tina!, instead.
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Post by anthem on Feb 4, 2019 20:31:23 GMT
Is Carole’s performance worth seeing? I’ve booked for an evening show but may also check out a matinée.
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128 posts
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Post by emeraldbaudelaire on Feb 12, 2019 13:30:12 GMT
Seeing Carole tomorrow looking forward to it. I hear middling reports I suppose it really depends on what people expect. I've seen a lot of performers in the past who divided opinions on here who I quite enjoyed and others that were loved that I disliked.
Either way from the sounds and looks of things it's still got great choreography and Whitney's best hits just don't go in expecting Sondheim or Phantom.
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3,057 posts
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Post by ali973 on Feb 12, 2019 17:41:08 GMT
Is Carole’s performance worth seeing? I’ve booked for an evening show but may also check out a matinée. I only saw her when she understudied the part in London back in (yikes? 2013?!). She struggled in some singing parts, but that was one of her early shows. By now she's played the part as understudy and alternate on and off for many years. On top of her vocal limitations (at times), what Rachel needs is to be believable as a megasuperstar, and I don't think she pulled this off. The only understudy/alternate who really got this and managed to pull it off was Gloria Onitiri, who at one point was as good as Heather Headley. |
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