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Post by distantcousin on Apr 19, 2024 11:26:57 GMT
I think what's happened here is exactly how I feel about the state of London theatre in general. New work like Opening Night that is (in my eyes) bold and fresh can't succeed and we have to endure rubbish like 2:22 and Heathers until the end of time. Sidenote: I read an article the other day complaining about how millennial tastes/nostalgia has a chokehold over the TV/theatre getting produced and prominence right now. Heathers, Mean Girls etc etc. |
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Post by Being Alive on Apr 19, 2024 11:35:48 GMT
Sounds like I could have written that article 😂
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Post by Rory on Apr 19, 2024 11:40:16 GMT
I think what's happened here is exactly how I feel about the state of London theatre in general. New work like Opening Night that is (in my eyes) bold and fresh can't succeed and we have to endure rubbish like 2:22 and Heathers until the end of time. Totally this. I agree wholeheartedly. Opening Night closing early to be replaced by 2:22 really saddens me. |
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Post by theatrefan62 on Apr 19, 2024 11:41:50 GMT
And before that it was the generations before. It's nothing new. In a decade it will have moved on to the next generation
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Post by distantcousin on Apr 19, 2024 11:44:13 GMT
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Post by theatrefan62 on Apr 19, 2024 11:54:26 GMT
I don't get this thinking as you've had all your nostalgia too? Mamma mia, jersey boys, wwry, tonight's the night, Saturday night fever etc etc. The 00s were all about gen x nostalgia. Now we are on the elder millennial/millennial era. |
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Post by sph on Apr 19, 2024 11:56:01 GMT
I mean yes, you could say that Opening Night being replaced by 2:22 is a blow to creativity and originality, but really is it? I mean 2:22 has been around the block a few times in its relatively young life, but it's still a new-ish original play that does well commercially, neither of which can be said about Opening Night.
It's just a filler anyway.
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Post by distantcousin on Apr 19, 2024 12:42:09 GMT
I don't get this thinking as you've had all your nostalgia too? Mamma mia, jersey boys, wwry, tonight's the night, Saturday night fever etc etc. The 00s were all about gen x nostalgia. Now we are on the elder millennial/millennial era. I think all that passed me by. I see all those as PEAK Gen X, which I came along a bit after! |
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Post by danb on Apr 19, 2024 13:02:39 GMT
I think what's happened here is exactly how I feel about the state of London theatre in general. New work like Opening Night that is (in my eyes) bold and fresh can't succeed and we have to endure rubbish like 2:22 and Heathers until the end of time. Sidenote: I read an article the other day complaining about how millennial tastes/nostalgia has a chokehold over the TV/theatre getting produced and prominence right now. Heathers, Mean Girls etc etc. It’s down to who is buying theatre tickets at the moment though surely? Heathers & Mean Girls are not new properties by any means, but obviously key into a cash rich theatregoing generation. As theatrefan62 said the previous generation were all about the jukebox musicals. At least the current crop are keen to grab hold of the new like ‘Hadestown’ & ‘The Little Big Things’ showing that they aren’t completely governed by ‘teen girl theatre’. ‘Bold & Fresh’ is another mans bete noir. 2:22 is just another ‘bought & paid for’ production that can be thrown up at a moments notice, just like ‘Heathers’ at very minimal expense & technical demand, to fill a gap. |
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Post by mrbarnaby on Apr 19, 2024 15:23:53 GMT
I think what's happened here is exactly how I feel about the state of London theatre in general. New work like Opening Night that is (in my eyes) bold and fresh can't succeed and we have to endure rubbish like 2:22 and Heathers until the end of time. Opening Night IS rubbish though. And it tortures its audience. I hated 2:22, but clearly some people like it- so would rather that does 2 months at this theatre than letting the misery of ON carry on. I would bet the cast feel the same, they must be desperate for the exit |
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Post by Being Alive on Apr 19, 2024 15:35:38 GMT
I think what's happened here is exactly how I feel about the state of London theatre in general. New work like Opening Night that is (in my eyes) bold and fresh can't succeed and we have to endure rubbish like 2:22 and Heathers until the end of time. Opening Night IS rubbish though. And it tortures its audience. I hated 2:22, but clearly some people like it- so would rather that does 2 months at this theatre than letting the misery of ON carry on. I would bet the cast feel the same, they must be desperate for the exit If you swapped the positioning of Opening Night and 2:22 over in your reply, youd have my exact feelings (although i didn't hate Opening Night!) |
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Post by Rory on Apr 19, 2024 15:39:24 GMT
Opening Night is miles better than 2:22, far superior. And I will die on that hill!
I am however bemused by the suggestions on social media of casting Sheridan and Hadley in the new iteration of 2:22 (obviously he's done it previously).
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2024 16:56:41 GMT
Ironically Sheridan would be perfect casting for 2:22. Does anyone think this could happen?
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Post by Jon on Apr 19, 2024 16:59:37 GMT
Would we rather than empty dark theatres rather than have shows that can fill in at short notice? For all other things to transfer, they need time both in terms of having a chance to recoup and also marketing. Something like Just For One Day is not going to be able to come in for eight weeks because it is financially unviable in the timeframe of making the show suitable for the Gielgud and getting a cast ready by the end of May, start of June.
Opening Night is closing because audiences aren't interested and the ones who did go for the most part didn't like it. It's show business at the end of the day and Delfont Mackintosh can't be choosy at the end of the day since they had it booked out until the end of July. In terms of Heathers @sohoplace, it's on Nica Burns for having to scramble to find a show to replace Red Pitch not the producers of Heathers.
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Post by danb on Apr 19, 2024 17:42:58 GMT
Exactly. We can bemoan things that we like not finding an audience, or compare them to their replacements, but the numbers don’t lie. Our critical minds mean nothing if nobody is interested in the product. Big names guarantee nothing; Michaels Ball & Crawford have both had Shaftesbury Avenue flops recently and now Sheridan.
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Post by thistimetomorrow on Apr 23, 2024 13:42:02 GMT
I didn't massively enjoy this, but I am glad I saw it. I liked the Act 1 closer and the Next to Normal ghost hand held microphone number Nancy does in Act 2.
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Post by Steve on Apr 27, 2024 17:17:06 GMT
The critic, Lizzie Loveridge posted the full song-list on her blog: theatrevibe.co.uk/2024/03/27/review-opening-night-gielgud-theatre-2024/I think it helps to know it. . . Spoilers follow. . . Act One:- Overture One Shot Magic One Shot (Reprise) Talk to Me Humming Chorus One Trojan women Humming Chorus Two A Change of Life I Forgive you Meet Me at the Start Life is Thin Act Two:- Trying To Makes One Wonder Moths to a Flame Married Humming Chorus Three This Isn’t A Game Anymore The Pantomime The Second Woman There Is Something to Be Said For Being Young Ready For Battle Magic (Reprise) Finales |
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Post by Steve on Apr 27, 2024 17:52:56 GMT
I just love the songs for this show. I think Rufus Wainwright is the star of this production, along with the cast who sing these songs. I saw the show again on Thursday night, and the songs are just magnificent, in my opinion. Some spoilers follow. . . Van Hove's direction is still tilted toward intellectualism over emotionalism, brilliantly Brechtian in the way he stages life as a boring sh*t show. Like looking at the Earth as a blue dot from outer space, it all looks like nothing much is happening, characters milling around with their back to you much of the time, in the wings or back stage. So if you paid the big bucks to see the stage up close, of course you're saying "WTF!" But like on the blue dot, if you look closer, there are big emotional moments happening everywhere, and that's what the big screen predominantly does, it shows you that other perspective where all the dots on the dot are involved in what they consider big moments, noone more so than Sheridan Smith's Myrtle. Of course, the Documentary Crew is just an excuse to set this up, because in fact the screen documents the big moments and revelations whether the Documentary Crew are present or not. Maybe it would have been better to scrap the Documentary altogether, and just acknowledge that the stage/screen contrast is to represent the dichotomy of the way we look from space versus how we seem to ourselves. It's a brilliant idea, but for audiences who come in knowing nothing about Cassavetes' difficult-but-rewarding navel-gazing art film, about creativity and the aging process, it's a bit rich to make the theatre show even more alienating than it needs to be. I think it's an idea that improves every time you rewatch the show, but with 80 percent (a guess based on the poll above) of audiences getting alienated, it's unlikely they'll be back for that. But getting to hear the songs again, they just get better and better and better, and I thought they were great to begin with lol. They are songs of survival: how to deal with lost youth, how to face death, what role art plays in life, how to be vulnerable, how to communicate, how to face loneliness, how to psyche yourself up. I really love them. If I can't bring myself to give the show 5 stars, I can certainly say Wainwright's songs are in the 5 star category for me, because the music and the lyrics are in such symbiosis, and the meaning is so vastly more useful to me than in so many other musicals I've seen.  |
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Post by bigredapple on Apr 27, 2024 18:06:27 GMT
The critic, Lizzie Loveridge posted the full song-list on her blog: theatrevibe.co.uk/2024/03/27/review-opening-night-gielgud-theatre-2024/I think it helps to know it. . . Spoilers follow. . . Act One:- Overture One Shot Magic One Shot (Reprise) Talk to Me Humming Chorus One Trojan women Humming Chorus Two A Change of Life I Forgive you Meet Me at the Start Life is Thin Act Two:- Trying To Makes One Wonder Moths to a Flame Married Humming Chorus Three This Isn’t A Game Anymore The Pantomime The Second Woman There Is Something to Be Said For Being Young Ready For Battle Magic (Reprise) Finales Humming Chorus One, Two, and Three. Christ. |
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Post by Steve on Apr 27, 2024 18:47:48 GMT
Here's my Numbers 6-10 of my Top 10 songs in this show, in case anyone wanted to know lol:- 8 - 10: Shira Haas's Nancy's songs:- She sings "I Forgive You," "This isn't a Game Anymore" and "There Is Something to Be Said For Being Young." 10. "This isn't a Game Anymore:-" Since Nancy only exists in Myrtle's head, this song is about Myrtle grasping for her youthful confidence in the midst of middle-aged paralysis. The key line I remember is "I'm a train you either ride Or get out of the way of" lol. 9. "I Forgive You:-" Myrtle has her psychotic break during this song (Nancy actually sings "Myrtle, you deserve a break"), in which, like a child with an imaginary friend, she imagines Nancy comforting and protecting her, and generally making like a haunting imaginary Bob Marley, as the key line I remember is "Don't you worry about a thing." 8. "There Is Something to Be Said For Being Young:-" In this song, as Myrtle finally decides to grow up, the Peter Pan side of herself decides to play her fiercest cards, summoning up all the best things about youthful bravado ("There is something to be said for being wrong") and experimentation ("trying to figure out Where you belong"). It's a fiercely heavy reverb-heavy rock song, which involves screens within screens that replay and replay the motions of Myrtle's mind. Haas is so impish and ferocious, representing the youth we want to hang on to! 7. "Moths to a Flame:-" John Marquez's compassionate Producer character muses with Myrtle on what it is about creativity that draws them both to being artists, despite getting burned again and again and again. He suggests that:- "Underneath the fires of hell Is a little heaven Underneath the pit of despair Is a little haven" Marquez really nails a compassionate human being who doesn't have all the answers. The beauty of the song is that he doesn't know what or where that "heaven" is, leaving his "moths to a flame" metaphor lingering mysteriously and magically in the air. 6. "Ready for Battle:-" "The World is Broken, My heart is open" sings Myrtle, as she tries to summon up the energy it takes to battle her demons. She finds strength ultimately in other people, especially her ex-husband who she loved and lost. She kisses him on the cheek as a mark of letting byegones by byegones, and releasing negative energy. A key line I remember is "It's only together That we can save each other" And only after reconnecting with other people is she "Ready for Battle." Gotta watch a show. Back later for my Top 5 lol.  |
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Post by Steve on Apr 28, 2024 6:07:36 GMT
Back to my (hopefully helpful) spoilery countdown of my favourite songs in "Opening Night:-" Number 5: "The Pantomime:-" The Pantomime is definitely one of my favourite songs in this show. Sung by Hadley Fraser's Director character, Manny, he agrees with John Marquez's Producer that artistic creation is a "heaven" and a "haven." But being a bossy know-it-all, he goes MUCH further in his diagnosis of art as the solution to life's ills. This song is the equivalent of Henry V rallying his troops on St Crispin's Day: "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here." (Shakespeare, Henry V). "We are the lucky people," says Manny, referring to the rehearsal room, which for him, is the "haven" that the Producer talked about. "Here we are shaking hands Breaking hearts and making friends Not alone in the world today" Manny sings, drawing a contrast between those lucky people inside the artistic process and those lonely, long suffering folks outside the rehearsal room: "And outside is a mean time People die over painted lines There ain't much Going on out there Compared to all the love in here." The principal play on words of the song is that all of us outside the rehearsal room are suffering a "mean time," while in the "meantime" its all "band of brothers" in the rehearsal room: "But in here in the meantime All is well if you know your lines." The more that Manny stirs up his troops, the more the music builds to a Henry V style crescendo. "Out there its just a puppet show" he tells his troops, as the audience arriving at the Gielgud is broadcast arriving at the theatre on the screen behind him, and he cheekily gestures to us in the audience: "Look outside, its just a Pantomime." His arrogant conclusion that WE, the audience, are the pantomime, and that only those on the inside of the artistic process are REAL, is ironically the financial downfall of this show, as art demands customers, and customers have opinions lol. But overall, this song is a beautiful ode to the community of art-making, with its metaphor that absolutely nothing else matters because it's all just "a pantomime." |
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Post by Steve on Apr 28, 2024 10:48:48 GMT
My (hopefully helpful) spoilery countdown of my favourite songs in "Opening Night" continues. . . Number 4: "Trying To:-" In the early previews, this song ended the first half, deflating the tension of "Life is Thin." It's much better as the second half opener, a tender affirmation of the value of the individual, a way for Sheridan Smith's Myrtle to explain herself and to rebuild herself. It's called "Trying to" because it's more about struggle than success. It's about the difficulty of knowing who we are, who we want to be, and "trying to" be better versions of both. Functionally, Myrtle is "trying to" get to grips with her part in the play within the play, but Wainwright goes much deeper: "I'm just trying to break free Into some reality." It's like an existential version of Queen's "I want to break free." The music, however, is the opposite of Queen's shoutiness, but rather is a lullaby, whereby it gently rocks the listener from side to side, as if in a cradle. It is saying it's ok to not be ok, to be "trying," even if you don't know how. Ostensibly, Myrtle's tenderness is toward the character she is playing when she sings "Yes though she may Not be me She is still A somebody." But in reality, she is singing about getting older, no longer recognising either the younger, or posited older version of herself, as herself. She is singing about the constant morphing of identity. She knows she is worthwhile, "a somebody," but doesn't know who that is. The song soars in it's repetition, when the ensemble join, like in "Frere Jacques" in a round of it. This unleashes the true power of the song: it's not just Myrtle who has difficulty of knowing who they are and who they are supposed to be, at any given moment, but everybody. So simple, so touching, so profound. |
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Post by mrbarnaby on Apr 28, 2024 18:04:27 GMT
Steve.
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Post by sph on Apr 28, 2024 20:30:52 GMT
We're going to have to remove Steve's mask scooby doo-style here to find out he's Rufus Wainright aren't we?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2024 20:59:42 GMT
We're going to have to remove Steve's mask scooby doo-style here to find out he's Rufus Wainright aren't we? He'd have got away with it if it wasn't for those meddling theatre fans. |
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