Side Show in Concert - London Palladium

[theatreian]

Feb 7, 2024 15:03:25 GMT panda said:

There is a video of Louise and Rachel singing I will never leave you on whatsonstage. I wish I could make the concert.

It's a beautiful song. It's on one of Louise's solo albums : For you for me.

[lotster]

Some good discounts for this on Today Tix today.

[bobbievanhusen]

In London Theatre Week, all the tickets have been heavily reduced. Prices are now £15 - £45 top price

[theatrelover123]

Feb 7, 2024 17:28:21 GMT theatreian said:

Feb 7, 2024 15:03:25 GMT panda said:

There is a video of Louise and Rachel singing I will never leave you on whatsonstage. I wish I could make the concert.

It's a beautiful song. It's on one of Louise's solo albums : For you for me.

Does she duet with the Chuckle Brothers on it? 


Oh.......

[kyvai]

Interval report - loving this!!! I don’t know the show at all but would already love to see a fully staged run, there’s so much scope for set and costumes here. Gina Murray’s fortune teller dress is gorgeous. It the show overall seems to suffer a little from telling rather than showing but that’s difficult to judge in a concert version - does Jake always narrate describing what you just saw? Some of the songs are incredible though.

Tucker and Dearman are powerhouses on form. I think Bradley Jaden may have it written into his contracts now that he never has to fully button his shirts up?!? He’s great as Terry, completely inhabits the character. Trevor Nicholas has delivered some stunning vocals too.

Excited for Act 2!

[Steve]

Holy smokes!

Bradley Jaden turned the scoundrel, Terry, into some majestic tortured soul that simply tore the Palladium apart.

Frozen still, facing the audience, unable to even make eye contact with Louise Dearman's Daisy, you could feel the entire Palladium audience hold their breaths, and shrink into themselves as Jaden's "Private Conversation" (the show highlight by a memorable mile) became an impassioned public confession of impassioned self-hatred, that rivalled any passionate Phantom ever, his modulated voice building to towering crescendos of searing passion, before turning to Dearman's Daisy, falling into her duet and her chest like a lost child, only, on her exit, to face the audience again and resume his crestfallen tear-filled tenor crying confession of his emotional inadequacy that must have hit the back of the circle like a delayed thunderbolt. And at last, the audience could breathe again to release the most rousing pent-up ovation of the evening. . .

Earlier, in the first half, before the interval, it had seemed as if the loudest ovation would belong to Trevor Dion-Nicholas's Jake's furious Paul-Robeson-esque trilling trembling commanding bass warning to the twins about sticking to "The Devil You Know."

But they allowed Bradley Jaden's wolf in, to the eternal gratitude of the audience, if not themselves lol.

If I'm honest, I think this piece worked dramatically better as a chamber piece at the Southwark Playhouse, where the differences between the personalities of the twins were under the microscope of the huddled intimate audience. Laura Pitt-Pulford's sensitive Violet could make the smallest wincing reactions to the diva antics of Dearman's brash confident Daisy, her every expression registering as if Bambi's mother was being repeatedly shot.

At the Palladium, the venue is simply too big for that sort of minutiae to even register, so a great deal of the character conflict between the twins is lost. And that drama is the greater part of the drama of the whole show.

Still, having two great theatrical divas belt brilliant songs together is it's own reward, and Dearman's and Tucker's "I Will Never Leave You" brought the house down, so beloved is the song, so beloved are the actors, and so powerfully did they belt. While the intimacy of the characters speaking of their love for each other was lost (they mostly faced the audience) the power of those divas' love for the audience was brilliantly found, and merited the second most powerful ovation of the evening.

Although she never got a dramatic moment, Gina Murray's astounding belt was it's own moment lol.

Anyhow, for two wonderful divas, for Trevor Dion-Nicholas, and most of all, for Bradley Jaden turning Terry into the Phantom, that was a heck of a fun night! 4 stars from me.

[alece10]

That was one heck of a concert.
My thoughts tomorrow when they should make more sense.

[Mark]

It was a really great night. Great vocals all around, and the score truly shone through tonight - wonderful. Not sure the piece worked great as an “in concert” - you could just imagine it with a big set and costumes. Very glad I went though - I Will Never Leave You was perfection.

[normasturban]

I’ve had very few more thrilling single song performances than “I Will Never Leave You” tonight. Chills.

[ruthieh]

Wow…that was something else! One of the best staged concerts I’d seen. Not least as I didn’t know the musical, so such a surprise. But that cast was just exquisite.

[normasturban]

If there was ever an argument for these concerts, last night’s was it.

A show I’d heard precisely one number from, a show that’s had two very short Broadway runs and a tiny London run nearly a decade ago and seeing it last night was a revelation.

A marvellous score and it’s always a joy to see performers taken aback by a response. Ovations are the norm these days as we all know but there’s nothing more fun than seeing a theatre jump to their feet mid show.

[Being Alive]

As ever with these Lambert Jackson things, there were a LOT of missed cues on mics (particularly for ensemble) and the lighting was frequently off so people sang sections in darkness - I get that you have one day in the Palladium but top price is £120 so...being able to see and hear them is not too much to ask.

That said, voices were phenomenal.
Tosh and Bradley really worked well and Gina Murray is always great.

Seeing Tuckman back together was so special - the fact we've had to wait as long as we have is so silly...why aren't they doing Crazy Coqs together every six months? We'd sell it out easy every time!
Rachel was fab and it's always great to see her get to sing her face off.

The whole evening belonged to Louise Dearman though.
She was a marvel as Daisy at Southwark Playhouse, and she was even more so here. That voice is so utterly perfect for this material, and she just SOARS her way through the material.
Obviously the two end of act numbers went off like gangbusters (particularly I Will Never Leave You) but the wall of sound was pretty impressive all the way through.

Very much enjoyed, got emotional seeing the two women together again after all this time, but can we pull the tech up a notch please for the love of god.

[alece10]

That's how to do a concert!
The sound was amazing and I could hear every single word crystal clear. Fantastic orchestra, choir and ensemble but the leads blew the whole thing out of the park.
I knew Bradley, Trevor, Louise and Rachel were going to be superb but this was something else.
Louise and Rachel were absolutely perfect together and their duets gave me goosebumps. Especially I Will Never Leave You which got a mid show standing ovation that went on for a few minutes.
I thought it was really well put together and small amount of dialogue helped to explain the story really well. You could see that this concert was really well rehearsed.
Its always been one of my favourite musicals even though I have only seen it once at Southwark Playhouse years ago but I love the score and there are so many really powerful songs in it.
Lambert Jackson have really upped their game with the quality of their concerts and I am looking forward to their other ones in the next couple of months that I have already booked.
And lastly please can Bradley Jaden do a concert as we so need this.

[thedriftersgirl]

Not seen enough people talk about Tosh so I feel I must - he played such a charismatic Buddy, was able to start off as an awkward character somewhat hiding behind Terry and then blossomed as he was given the chance to be more involved with the women.

Showed the real breadth of his voice with both low tones as performed in Showboat and Joseph in Toronto then switching with ease to some higher notes in the very same song plus using an American accent akin to his turn as Rudy in The Drifters Girl, the show wouldn’t have been the same without him and he was a joy to watch, particularly in the small amounts of choreography also as he is a strong dancer.

Thought Louise and Rachel were fabulous, Bradley was great also but I found Trevor, while great, seemed to try his very hardest to make the show entirely about him. He is great but I just wish he was more humble, I just get the impression he very much felt the pleasure was all ours rather than his.

[max]

So this has been brilliantly received. What do people who went think it should mean? Future production? On what scale for the potential audience?

Bonnie & Clyde was an interesting case: Big concert >> small scale but 'West End' venue >> up to larger scale venues for Tour.

[alece10]

Mar 4, 2024 14:08:51 GMT max said:

So this has been brilliantly received. What do people who went think it should mean? Future production? On what scale for the potential audience?

Bonnie & Clyde was an interesting case: Big concert >> small scale but 'West End' venue >> up to larger scale venues for Tour.

I doubt it means anything. It's one of those shows that's perfect for a concert as it gives people a chance to hear the music. It had a well received shortish run at Southwark some years ago but its quite "niche" so don't see it having a revival or a London run.

[Being Alive]

I mean the only people on that stage I'd actually want to watch in a full production of this as Tuckman and Gina Murray - I could do without both of the boys (as good as they were - Bradley sang his face off in Private Conversation but I don't think Tosh was anything to write home about personally in Contrast to the poster above)

It's financial suicide to stage a full scale production of Side Show though as has been proven in the past.

Bonnie and Clyde sold out at Drury Lane in 7 minutes and they were able to retain a lot of the cast from the concert for the production.
Side Show was not sold out, almost everyone I know was there via some form of offer (TodayTix London theatre week or similar) and you aren't gonna get Rachel and Louise to agree to do it (as we've said before with these concerts - these producers simply haven't got the money to mount full productions...)

Nice to have had it happen, but you're looking at a remount of the Southwark Playhouse production if anything if this was to have any sort of life - it ain't going to the West End.

[normasturban]

Yeah I don’t think Side Show has a future which is a shame because the score is wonderful.

Last night was a very special one-off led by two West End greats and I’m very grateful to have witnessed it.

I also hope a dutiful fan did their job and captured those songs and they pop up online.

[bobbievanhusen]

This was probably the best 'in concert' show i've been to in a long time. I disagree about there being lots of missed mic cues, there was 1 full line missed in Say Goodbye to the Side Show' and really nothing else quite so obvious.

I have seen a few productions of Side Show and i'm not the biggest fan of all the changes made for the 2014 revival, which they used in this concert. The backstory in Brighton would be better as dialogue, though i do love the Houdini material, it just seems to slow everything down.

Some of the Vaudeville numbers we better in the 1997 OBCR, Songbirds on Display, We Share Everything. I'm not a big fan of Typical Girls Next Door or Ready to Play and this version also makes big changes to one of my favourite bits from the original - Tunnel of Love, now repackaged as the Great Wedding Show.

Not all of the dialogue cuts worked, I'm surprised they didn't include the details about Buddy being gay and only marrying her to fit in, or the details about Violet not wanting to marry Jake because he was black - difficult to include when you cast a black guy as Buddy.

The whole cast, chorus and orchestra were excellent and the sound levels were great throughout.

The production at the Southwark was not good at all. The wigs and costumes were beyond cheap, some were not even finished, and the staging was terrible, because unless you sat in the centre block, you couldnt see both of the girls. Also, the writers of the show disliked the first preview so much, that they almost pulled the show unless changes were made and promptly cancelled the rights to another of their shows, which was due later that year. I did notice that no mention of that first London premier was included in the progrmme notes.

1 niggle i did have about the concert, was that if you are going to signify the girls being conjoined by them holding hands, at least stick to that and not have them break it 2 mins later.

[Steve]

Mar 7, 2024 3:53:15 GMT bobbievanhusen said:

This was probably the best 'in concert' show i've been to in a long time. I disagree about there being lots of missed mic cues. . .

The production at the Southwark was not good at all. The wigs and costumes were beyond cheap, some were not even finished, and the staging was terrible, because unless you sat in the centre block, you couldnt see both of the girls. Also, the writers of the show disliked the first preview so much, that they almost pulled the show unless changes were made and promptly cancelled the rights to another of their shows, which was due later that year. I did notice that no mention of that first London premier was included in the progrmme notes.

1 niggle i did have about the concert, was that if you are going to signify the girls being conjoined by them holding hands, at least stick to that and not have them break it 2 mins later.

Yes, I wasn't bothered by the mics. In fact, one massive explosion of static at the very beginning allowed the conductor to engage in a funny comedy bit where he converted his shock to a pretense that he had been conducting it all all along, which made me laugh. And I also was amused by the rehearsed bit where the conductor played tennis with the twins with his baton (complete with return-serve sound effects). And he also "conducted" the curtain going up and down. A funny man.

Vis a Vis the Southwark show, I can't speak to the view from the sides, as I was central both times I saw it.

However, my view that in that intimate space, the difference between the characters of Daisy and Violet came across infinitely more than in the concert.

No wigs and costumes faux pas could diminish the excellent work of Louise Dearman swelling grandly over a shrinking Laura Pitt-Pulford.

If the creators don't understand that the drama of the competition between the twins played uniquely and brilliantly in that space, and would rather be dismayed over wigs, that's their prerogative.

[Being Alive]

I do wonder if we watched different concerts because there was an array of missed sound cues (predominantly from the ensemble) and the lighting was very much an afterthought...

[mrbarnaby]

Damn I’m really sad I missed this now.

Love this score and

I

Love

Bradley

Jaden

[bobbievanhusen]

Mar 7, 2024 7:43:59 GMT Steve said:

If the creators don't understand that the drama of the competition between the twins played uniquely and brilliantly in that space, and would rather be dismayed over wigs, that's their prerogative.

The wigs were my observation, not the creators.
Bill Russell who wrote the book and lyrics was actually at the show on Sunday.

Louise Dearman was also the clear standout for me in the concert. I's a shame she isn't doing more in the West End and creating roles in new shows

[lotster]

Mar 7, 2024 17:00:11 GMT bobbievanhusen said:

Mar 7, 2024 7:43:59 GMT Steve said:

If the creators don't understand that the drama of the competition between the twins played uniquely and brilliantly in that space, and would rather be dismayed over wigs, that's their prerogative.

The wigs were my observation, not the creators.
Bill Russell who wrote the book and lyrics was actually at the show on Sunday.

Louise Dearman was also the clear standout for me in the concert. I's a shame she isn't doing more in the West End and creating roles in new shows

I agree. Louise is fantastic and I've seen her in so many concerts (including Side Show on Sunday) and I'd really like to see her go back in to a West End show. She seems to do a lot of concert work.

[alece10]

She does a lot of concerts especially with the BBC concert orchestra and Friday Night Is Music Night (is that still running?)
One thing I noticed is that she always seems to look a lot older in those concerts than she did in Side Show. I was really surprised how young she looked on Sunday.