Fawlty Towers - Apollo

[Dr Tom]

All these comments I’m reading about missing episodes make me instead think this is very careful forward planning for Fawlty Towers 2!

Glad so many people are enjoying this.

[Rory]

May 24, 2024 22:06:04 GMT Jon said:

Saw this tonight and have to say it exceeded expectations. It's not the most original piece of theatre but it's very funny and the cast are great. Adam Jackson-Smith as Basil is a standout, John Cleese is a hard act to follow but he puts his own spin on the character, Anna-Jane Casey as Sybil is also a highlight.

The merging of three episodes does work to a degree although I think A Touch of Class would have been better suited than Hotel Inspectors, it really ramps up in Act 2 with the conclusion of Communication Problems and The Germans.

Packed tonight, will be interesting to see if it extends.

I'd say this will definitely extend.

[kallyloo]

I hadn’t even considered this, as I suspected it would be too dated, but as everyone thinks it’s such a good transition I’m going to give it a go.

[danielwhit]

My major thought when leaving the theatre was "I need to see this on screen". Nothing done on stage is a patch on the original TV work.

Don't get me wrong - the cast do a strong job at mostly doing impressions with slightly different delivery styles. That's one of the strengths of this production and its biggest fault line, there's no originality and these performances obviously can not possibly exactly match the ones they are trying to imitate.

The problem is this adaptation is, in the most, a direct lift from the TV scripts and direction. Yes, it's moulded into a cohesive relatively well, but it feels like it was designed for TV with all the "scene change music" - which is really bizarre as the original TV series felt like it was at home on stage.

If this was another script entirely, like how Yes Prime Minister did their TV version many years later, it'd probably have greater merit - but here you can't help but long for Cleese, Scales, Booth et al to be on stage..

[artea]

Front row centre: if you're 5'10", your eyes are level with the top of the stage. You're a nice distance away. You only miss row 2 in the hotel restaurant ie one table, and only have to look up for one short scene in upper level of set. 4 stars. Tremendously funny crescendo to final climax. It was worth doing on stage . It builds on tv series in west end farce tradition. 4 stars

[Rory]

Extended until 4th January 2025

[matttom0901]

Saw it yesterday, row F stalls, centered. Great view of the stage but not the room above. Luckily little was happening there. I really enjoyed it!

[producerfacts]

Surprised this is doing good business, but also not surprised - make sense?

[adamkinsey]

Jun 21, 2024 22:24:48 GMT producerfacts said:

Surprised this is doing good business, but also not surprised - make sense?

Not surprised here. Amateurs have been able to do the episodes for years (ditto Blackadder) and regardless of standard it's been full houses all the time. With the popularity of the Only Fools and Horses musical (even though it was an original script) I felt pretty certain this would pack them for probably a year as long as the casting of Basil and Sybil were top notch. There's plenty of people who are happy to fork out their cash for something they already know they're going to laugh like drains at for 90 minutes. It's a safe bet rather than handing over £70 for something unknown.

[Marwood]

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would: the parts of Basil, Sybil and Polly were all played extremely well. Manuel I wasn’t so sure about but he was ok, but Paul Nicholas as the Major is by far the weakest link, they have scrubbed any trace of the political incorrectness from the original series/Ballard Berkeley days but with his scruffy hair they’ve made him into an absolute shower. No old school army officer would be seen dead in public with a sub Steptoe hairstyle like that. But thankfully they resisted the urge to turn it into a musical like OFAH, I’m thinking some of the applause was aimed at episodes of the series that have been watched over and over again (I’m thinking a Python thing was also involved) rather than the performers but I’ve spent evenings in theatres recently watching stuff that was far worse, I was never bored (even though I’m sure I’ve seen the episodes this was based on numerous times)

[marob]

I saw the TV series about 20 years ago and liked it, but (as with Only Fools and Horses) didn’t get why it’s hailed as one of the greatest. I was curious to see this adaptation though, especially with Anna Jane Casey playing Sybil, so found myself booking a last minute ticket for today’s matinee.

It was enjoyable, but most of the audience were in stitches where I was mildly amused. I liked the performances, but wonder what it would be like without trying to stay so close to the originals. It’s almost like they cloned Connie Booth at times.

Should probably be a one-act job, as the lights came up just as it was getting going. Act two was a lot funnier, but also more rushed feeling as the German’s have barely turned up before the goose stepping begins.

I liked it but it feels more like the kind of show that does the rounds of the provincial theatres. That’s not a dig, I just think it is probably where it’ll end up. “Direct from the West End…”

[Rory]

Does anyone know if this is likely to extend again beyond 4th January?

[lotster]

Has anybody done rush for this? Is it easy to get?

[jake]

Feb 2, 2024 16:10:38 GMT alicechallice said:

Feb 2, 2024 15:54:47 GMT sph said:

I mean, entertainment is entertainment I guess.

Fawlty Towers is an odd one though, isn't it? Revered as one of the greatest ever sitcoms and yet they only made 12 episodes, which would in many other cases be considered a flop. Is it shown on TV often?

They only made 12 because that's all John & Connie wanted to do, they'd divorced between the first & second series and I think writing together was a difficult procedure for them.  

The BBC would have happily run it throughout the 80's and into the 90's if possible, no doubt.  

I think the networks would, as you suggest, run a success for ever if they could.  At one time they almost seemed to devote BBC3 to Two Pints.... (80 episodes) which, while it had its moments, was running embarrassingly out of steam (and stars!) long before it was discontinued.  

When it comes to series apparently finishing while there is plenty of juice in the fruit, sometimes the reasons appear obvious.  The clearest example is probably Father Ted (25) where it was thought impossible to replace the late Dermot Morgan.  Coupling (28) never survived the defection of Richard Coyle and most people I know think the Jeffless series 4 was a mistake.   But there must be cases where the creators decide to stop while they're still riding high.  I'm not an insider or any kind of expert but I note that, like Fawlty Towers, I'm Alan Partridge had a mere 12 episodes.  Off the top of my head I thought of the following (trying to exclude the ones already cited here) that I thought very good but which stopped below 30 episodes:


Black Books (18)
The League of Gentlemen (22)
The IT Crowd (25)
The Royle Family (25)

I'm sure there were lots more where unpopularity seems an unlikely reason for stopping.

I'm coming late to this thread and I have to say that, while it's great so many people enjoyed this show, I've read nothing to alter the decision I made when I first read of the project.  Which is that if I had hours to kill and no other show was available I'd probably go to the betting shop and watch the racing before going to this stage version of Fawlty Towers.  For one thing - and as several people have already said - screen to stage adaptations are even less likely to be convincing than stage to screen.   An exception was Kneehigh's Steptoe and Son but that was very different as, while they used the original script, they changed all the visuals making the stage version a surreal re-imagining.  Which, surprisingly as I'm not a Kneehigh fan, I found very convincing.

I've had the dvds of Fawlty Towers for years and know it almost by heart.  One consequence of that will be that the censorship of certain lines would be jarring for me.  I've also found that, having watched the episodes so many times, the comedy impact has really faded.  So going to see a stage show which, apart from censoring it, doesn't really depart from the original is of very limited appeal.  At least in the betting shop I won't know what's going to happen before it occurs!  I suppose comparing the acting performances with the originals might be interesting - but not interesting enough to make me buy a ticket.

[Someone in a tree]

Terrible

The script is balderised and therefore dull

Dont wast your money and time on this

[Rory]

Final extension until 1st March 2025.

UK and Ireland tour coming soon, according to the show's website.

[enh2]

Oct 25, 2024 9:28:46 GMT Rory said:

Final extension until 1st March 2025.

UK and Ireland tour coming soon, according to the show's website.

ATG Tour venues on their website: www.atgtickets.com/shows/fawlty-towers-the-play/

[Phantom of London]

How the British love their nostalgia. I saw this and it was just the TV series put on stage, which was amusing in the day, especially if you forget the horrendous racism. What people laughed at back then. Are we going to now get a slew of tv comedies put on stage?

However despite my reservations, it was well acted.

[Jon]

Seems a bit of a risk to have Fawlty Towers tour the huge venues like the Edinburgh Playhouse, Manchester Opera House and New Wimbledon. I would have thought it be better to do the smaller venues like Richmond Theatre.

[Someone in a tree]

John Cleese likes to talk about his dire financial situation and therefore needs lots of ticket sales from a bigger venue.

This show is not about art its about dosh.

Perhaps we'll get an arena tour in 2026

[catcat100]

In an interview on BBC yesterday, John Cleese said its looking to return to the west end once the tour has finished.

Also said he's working on Life of Brian for the stage which will be different from the film but didn't say in what way.

[ceebee]

Am off to see this tonight thanks to a nice little Today Tix rush ticket - a bargain at £25.

[appoul]

Oct 26, 2024 9:09:04 GMT ceebee said:

Am off to see this tonight thanks to a nice little Today Tix rush ticket - a bargain at £25.

Did you enjoy it? What seat did you get? 

[ceebee]

Oct 26, 2024 22:42:38 GMT appoul said:

Oct 26, 2024 9:09:04 GMT ceebee said:

Am off to see this tonight thanks to a nice little Today Tix rush ticket - a bargain at £25.

Did you enjoy it? What seat did you get? 

I got J7 stalls which was a great seat. I did enjoy it, yes, though it felt dated. Three understudies on - it found its gear in the second half. Definitely worth the money but I wouldn't see it again.

[mrbarnaby]

Why is it closing? I thought it was selling out?