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Post by BVM on Oct 12, 2024 10:42:58 GMT
I have not seen this show so speaking in general terms.
- There is an appalling lack of queer representation generally in musical theatre which I constantly mourn. I do wonder if when we finally see some that isn't the usual cliche you are then so happy and grateful to see it that you give the show itself a much easier ride and gloss over any faults. Deeply unpopular opinion - but I think this is the case with Next to Normal. There is literally no other musical portraying bipolar disorder so people are so happy (rightly) to see this representation that they forgive what is, IMHO a pretty bad and unrealistic depiction of bipolar. Diana and the Doctor were so badly written (rest of roles were so much better). I fully appreciate most people disagree with this.
-Stiles and Drewe are good musical theatre writers but are they great? It is perhaps telling that their best (IMHO again) work was adding songs to existing classics in Poppins and Sixpence.
- Loads of music for loads of new musicals sounds like AI (Little Big Things anyone) so that's not unusual alas.
Having said all that I have listened to the EP and I like it. I think The Risk is fantastic. As it moves through keys getting higher and higher and I love that sort of thing. The bigger the range the better. The other five songs are pleasant enough. I would like to give this a go if it comes to London.
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Post by Mark on Oct 12, 2024 11:25:22 GMT
Trailers out!
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8,208 posts
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Post by alece10 on Oct 12, 2024 11:47:26 GMT
I was just listening to the recording of this and didn't know anything about the musical or who wrote it. Then I read on here it was Stiles and Drewe and it is so very much their style. A couple of the songs even sound similar to the songs from Soho Cinders.
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2,421 posts
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Post by theatreian on Oct 12, 2024 12:21:40 GMT
I think the danger in over analysing things is that you can lose the pure enjoyment of seeing a show for the first time. Admittedly we can all find faults in things but I really enjoyed Becoming Nancy especially as it was of new material.
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5,248 posts
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Post by Being Alive on Oct 12, 2024 12:32:02 GMT
I really wasn't trying to overanalyze it - it just had too many problems for me that stopped me from being able to enjoy it.
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Post by max on Oct 12, 2024 12:36:56 GMT
So they've gone for the two leading guys having the same hair as the 'Heartstopper' duo. Can't blame them I guess.
The drama teacher looks a bit like Mr G - now that's more interesting to me, haha.
Can anyone explain why in a co-educational school a boy would be cast as Nancy, particularly without his prior agreement? Is the teacher trying to make a point with it? As it's one of the few female roles in 'Oliver!' it seems very unlikely. I guess it's only froth, but you've got to have a foundation of reality if set in 'ordinary world' - or have you?
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Post by Afriley on Oct 12, 2024 13:07:17 GMT
I think the rationale was that he’s by far the best singer of everyone in the school.
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Post by james1969 on Oct 12, 2024 13:50:33 GMT
Can anyone explain why in a co-educational school a boy would be cast as Nancy, particularly without his prior agreement? Is the teacher trying to make a point with it? As it's one of the few female roles in 'Oliver!' it seems very unlikely. I guess it's only froth, but you've got to have a foundation of reality if set in 'ordinary world' - or have you? In my Co Ed prep school I remember boys being cast as Miss Skillon in Pools Paradise and Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors. in both cases they were the best to audition and played the parts fabulously |
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Post by fiyerorocher on Oct 12, 2024 22:52:39 GMT
The only thing a lot of these have in common is queer themes? I'd never compare The Prom and A Strange Loop for anything else, for example. And despite its reputation, musical theatre is still lacking in queer shows (look at the current line up on Broadway and the West End), so I'd say yes, we absolutely need more of them. There are an awful lot of variations on 'guy in a dress' in there though. There is much more diversity in the gay community than that, never mind the wide community. It's about time that there was better representation so people know there are other ways to be gay and more to life. Also let's not forget musical theatre is still one of the worst for using gay as a cheap laugh. I'd love to see shows that are less individualist and about identity, and more about the story and about people who just happen to be gay, bi etc. We are finally starting to see it in TV and film with things like All of us strangers, red white royal blue, Heartstopper, lost boys and fairies. I don't at all deny that it's a common trope and that we can do better across all medias, but I still don't agree with lumping all those shows together. We should absolutely call out overtired tropes but it's not beneficial to suggest that all queer musicals are a take on the same theme. There's no other reason to compare The Prom and Rent than the presence of queer people in each one. That's how 'queer' becomes a genre, when we really need queer representation across all genres of all media. |
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Post by fiyerorocher on Oct 12, 2024 22:57:38 GMT
I haven't actually seen this show so can't compare the material, but the set definitely screams ETAJ! The bedroom, the brick wall, the bus stop... |
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Post by Afriley on Oct 13, 2024 10:25:42 GMT
Saw this a second time with a friend and I adored it even more - and my friend fell in love too.
Don’t sleep on this (tickets are very very affordable). It’s hilarious and genuinely very feel-good and warm. The music is across the broad stellar too, as are all the performances (the lead oozes charisma and the double-casted trio of adults are camp as anything). Also Rebecca Trehearn!
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Post by ruggerlad on Oct 13, 2024 18:24:23 GMT
I haven't actually seen this show so can't compare the material, but the set definitely screams ETAJ! The bedroom, the brick wall, the bus stop... Got to say for me there's nothing in terms of stage design that resonated ETAJ to me when I saw it |
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Post by mrbarnaby on Oct 13, 2024 21:52:59 GMT
I haven't actually seen this show so can't compare the material, but the set definitely screams ETAJ! The bedroom, the brick wall, the bus stop... Nothing about that is like Jamie. At all. |
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Post by fiyerorocher on Oct 13, 2024 22:23:01 GMT
I haven't actually seen this show so can't compare the material, but the set definitely screams ETAJ! The bedroom, the brick wall, the bus stop... Nothing about that is like Jamie. At all. It's many of the same locations as scenes in Jamie, and my first thought on watching the trailer was that they're visually similar. So they are at least something like Jamie. |
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5,996 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Oct 13, 2024 22:51:38 GMT
Get thee to Specsavers!
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Post by max on Oct 13, 2024 23:12:34 GMT
I haven't actually seen this show so can't compare the material, but the set definitely screams ETAJ! The bedroom, the brick wall, the bus stop... Perhaps it's the blue school uniforms, with the same blue/yellow striped tie and blazer badge that rings familiar. |
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Post by Joseph Buquet on Oct 13, 2024 23:51:37 GMT
Get thee to the show, so you can see how many parallels there are between this and ETAJ (as listed in my previous post) |
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Post by drowseychap on Oct 15, 2024 1:59:23 GMT
Arghhhhhggg 4 th time trying to post lost them all at the end with these stupid adverts
Go see it really fun night out last preview tonight my third time a couple more changes since last week some of the lines mentioned earlier in here have been cut , a new song , more lighting and projections was really tight tonight it flew by
Yes some of the locations uniform colour and yes there’s a red dress a wall blah blah but Jamie was taken almost line for line from a bbc true life documentary
Nancy is from a novel and was previously performed a few years ago in USA with lizzie Bea and Stephen Ashfield who has reprised his role
If you’re thinking of seeing this just go you won’t regret it. Only a couple of weeks left don’t let it pass u by it really is a wonderful. Show worth every penny gave it 4 stars last week tonight a 5 🎶🌈⭐️
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Post by bobbievanhusen on Oct 15, 2024 2:48:16 GMT
I saw this last week and whilst i enjoyed it, It did seem a bit cheap and the themes of it were nothing new. But thats not to say that it's not needed. Shows about acceptance and visibility will always be needed. What shows don't need is a force you to get up on your feet finale... What with Prada about to open, you wonder how much Jerry Mitchell put into it, because it wasn't his best work. Since the Atlanta production they have cut a few Stiles and Drewe numbers. Interestingly, the writer of the original book Terry Ronald, is now on the creative team and written some new songs for the production. I bet Stiles and Drewe loved that. Yes some of the songs are very S&D, On The Nightbus sounds very similar to Wishing For The Normal from Soho Cinder, but they do write good tunes. It seems Terry Ronald does have alot of experience in the music industry, though after what he did with Rent Remixed he should never have been let near a show again. In his bio he talks about his hit records and albumn, but i've never heard of any of them. www.terryronald.com/classes |
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Post by thedrowsychaperone on Oct 15, 2024 9:42:58 GMT
What with Prada about to open, you wonder how much Jerry Mitchell put into it, because it wasn't his best work This show has actually been Jerry's "baby" for years, he's very much the driving force behind it being produced. So, if anything, I imagine he's probably been phoning in Prada to work on this (as Prada looks identical to all his other movie to musical adaptations) |
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Post by thatsshowbizkids on Oct 15, 2024 14:10:14 GMT
How do we feel about 2 straight actors playing the 2 gay leads?
Doesn't sit massively well with me - all the gay boys in this industry and they couldn't find even one who could play one of the leads?
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278 posts
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Post by unseaworthy on Oct 15, 2024 14:14:23 GMT
How do we feel about 2 straight actors playing the 2 gay leads? Doesn't sit massively well with me - all the gay boys in this industry and they couldn't find even one who could play one of the leads? I don't really have a problem with it. We have been having gender swapped roles for years and people playing roles that wouldn't traditionally match their racial background. If gay people play straight characters or straight people play gay characters, what does it matter? |
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Post by thatsshowbizkids on Oct 15, 2024 14:18:09 GMT
How do we feel about 2 straight actors playing the 2 gay leads? Doesn't sit massively well with me - all the gay boys in this industry and they couldn't find even one who could play one of the leads? I don't really have a problem with it. We have been having gender swapped roles for years and people playing roles that wouldn't traditionally match their racial background. If gay people play straight characters or straight people play gay characters, what does it matter? I think it does matter to have gay representation in the leads when it's such a gay story |
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Post by thedrowsychaperone on Oct 15, 2024 14:18:25 GMT
How do we feel about 2 straight actors playing the 2 gay leads? Doesn't sit massively well with me - all the gay boys in this industry and they couldn't find even one who could play one of the leads? "All the gay boys" probably comes across worse than 2 straight actors playing the leads in this show! |
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Post by thatsshowbizkids on Oct 15, 2024 14:20:05 GMT
How do we feel about 2 straight actors playing the 2 gay leads? Doesn't sit massively well with me - all the gay boys in this industry and they couldn't find even one who could play one of the leads? "All the gay boys" probably comes across worse than 2 straight actors playing the leads in this show! Does it? They are gay and male? |
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