A Face in the Crowd - Young Vic

[max]

Oct 20, 2024 9:15:59 GMT unseaworthy said:

Oct 20, 2024 8:24:01 GMT ThereWillBeSun said:

The cast were great but direction and book mediocre. Did enjoy it despite all that - could have been shaved down even more in my opinion.

There were so many opportunities to elevate it.

The no programmes is the AD decision; apparently a lot of audience members have been asking. An A4 sheet / QR code doesn’t cut it for me. The Young Vic programmes were always beautifully designed so hope this changes.

What is the reason for them not doing programmes? It seems like easy money...

Plenty of Ramin Karimloo fans in when I saw it.  You're right - they definitely missed out on some programme sales and/or digital 'fans area'.

[andrew]

Very meh for me, won't write a long spiel as others like max have covered it, but it's a failure of book and director and to a lesser extent music, lyrics and design. Ramin Karimloo is the best bit of it, Anoushka Lucas didn't really shine for me in this but her role was pretty underwhelming despite the amount of stage time awarded. Probably veers into 2 stars. I wish we could have something really good to put Ramin into. Don't bother seeing it if you haven't already booked.

[ceebee]

Oct 20, 2024 11:00:12 GMT max said:

Oct 19, 2024 21:27:05 GMT ceebee said:

Great songs and music, great cast, some of the worst direction I've seen in a long time. What a waste of cast and source material.

The direction was timid; there were so many opportunities to involve the audience, and, with so many Ramin Karimloo fans in, the ice hardly needed breaking. Instead...an 'Applaud' sign pointed at us (in the TV Studio scenes) but no attempt to make us do it.  By the time of the American flags in Act 2 it was too late and a bit feeble. Not everyone's comfortable with tricking the audience into collusion and then slapping them after (A Strange Loop) but in a piece about crowd manipulation....

Totally agree - I decided that the "Applaud" and "Laughter" signs were trying to be ironic, particularly the way one of the cast pointed at the Applaud sign as if to say "come on, this is your bit".  I came away last night quite angry that such a talented cast, rich storyline and high quality music composition was wasted so badly - I concluded half way through the second half and walking down The Cut that it was just the really p***-poor direction that spoiled it for me.  It took a perfectly good potential four star show into 2.5/3 star territory for me, with credit given to the cast and Costello's music.  The flat alignment of actors across the very shallow underused stage and the use of extreme edges totally destroying the "widescreen" feel of the set by knocking out the peripheral vision element that could have made the show far more expansive.  This show is a criminal waste of a talented cast - I can't believe Costello waited so long to stage this just to have it ruined by the direction, which was weak, basic and unambitious.

[ThereWillBeSun]

unseaworthy I was told a decision by the AD (Kwame) that’s all. Seems daft.

[showgirl]

Given the mixed reviews, for at least the 3rd time recently at the Young Vic, I have a ticket I don't plan to use but no obvious way of not wasting it. It's "only" a Lucky Dip one as it was the most affordable for a matinee, which I booked to play safe in case the running time was too long for an evening visit. I'd rather use the time to see something else I'm more likely to enjoy, especially as I'm having an op soon which is going to impact existing bookings, quite apart from making it hard to book anything new - and as most people here would, I always have a list of productions to fit in. My ex would gladly use my ticket for the music alone as he's an Elvis Costello fan, but the date clashes with a match & football comes first. I begin to wish that the Young Vic would offer a PAYG scheme like the Southwark Playhouse one as that would have saved me nearly £40 this year - though arguably taking a chance on the cheapest tickets is an unintended form of insurance.

[londonmzfitz]

Oct 21, 2024 2:34:23 GMT showgirl said:

Given the mixed reviews, for at least the 3rd time recently at the Young Vic, I have a ticket I don't plan to use but no obvious way of not wasting it. It's "only" a Lucky Dip one as it was the most affordable for a matinee, which I booked to play safe in case the running time was too long for an evening visit. I'd rather use the time to see something else I'm more likely to enjoy, especially as I'm having an op soon which is going to impact existing bookings, quite apart from making it hard to book anything new - and as most people here would, I always have a list of productions to fit in. My ex would gladly use my ticket for the music alone as he's an Elvis Costello fan, but the date clashes with a match & football comes first. I begin to wish that the Young Vic would offer a PAYG scheme like the Southwark Playhouse one as that would have saved me nearly £40 this year - though arguably taking a chance on the cheapest tickets is an unintended form of insurance.

[londonmzfitz]

I returned a ticket from earlier in the run and have a 6 month credit to use, in case that helps. Although I can't see anything I fancy ... helpful Box Office man did say book something and then do another return later on ...

[craigbowker]

Weirdly enough I can't stop thinking about this production and how strange it was. Wondering if anyone has the same thoughts:

- It was foreshadowed that the singer couldn't read or write pretty heavily, with him refusing to read cue cards and then having the reporter step in to write things down for him, with her seeming to think he can't do either. Then... he just like... can read and write.

- There was such a fuss about his hometown being fake as if he was hiding a dark past and then... nothing.

- Why did they pass out American flags without a specific point to wave them? Like I know it was probably the political rally but like... when?

- Did they plant people in the back of the house? Because multiple moments with the twirly stick lady there was a group that was gasping and 'oooo'-ing like a 1995 American soap opera. Like all in unison.

- Is the final message of the musical really 'you, the audience, is at fault for making men like this famous, you the audience enable racism... but also don't forget that you're unique and special '

[Dave B]

Oct 22, 2024 8:54:52 GMT craigbowker said:

There was such a fuss about his hometown being fake as if he was hiding a dark past and then... nothing.

Yes 100% to this one. Felt like a big plot point that never ended up going anywhere.

[annette]

What a hot mess this was.

Being a huge fan of Elvis Costello ,having enjoyed Sarah Ruhl’s past work and really seeing the potential of adapting the film into a musical,I had such high hopes for this show.
I won’t repeat all the earlier criticism of the show in this topic strand as I agree with everything that has been said about why the show didn’t work.

The one thing I was sceptical about when it was first announced was the casting of Ramin Karimloo. Fine performer that he is,he really wasn’t suited to this part and had zero chemistry with the female lead (who did nothing for me either). However even if the leads has been better suited to their roles,there was so much else that didn’t work that I don’t think anyone could have saved it.

I’m not sure if it was performed out of town in America,but it certainly would have benefitted from that here in the UK,plus a decent budget and a director with his eye on the ball.

I was absolutely shocked at how something so utterly amateurish could have ended up on the stage of The Young Vic. Did no-one working on the show realise that? Such a waste of potential and surely not something that anyone involved could have been proud of.

What on earth happened for it to be so ill-conceived and poorly realised by the creatives I wonder?

[darreno]

So .. it was what it was.

I went on Saturday night, stayed away from storyline spoilers but had caught some of the bad reviews along the way. My favourite show of two years ago got one star reviews across the board (Yeast Nation) so I like to see things for myself rather than believe the reviews.

However, pretty much everything I've since read, including in this thread, is fair. It's a bit of a mess.

There are positives! Some good songs, some great lighting, some Ramin Karimloo. He absolutely drags this up to being something I don't regret seeing. He really is that good.

We had a good few walkouts at the interval, including the couple sat next to me. Must be disheartening for the players to come back and see some empty seats staring back at them, when it's not their fault.

The negatives have been covered already, it has no single vision. It's three or four shows smashed together. Characters do things completely out of character. The show absolutely DOES have something to say, it just doesn't have the words,sentences or even speak the right language to do so.

Personally, I think it's worth saving. There's enough good there that someone with a large black Sharpie and a script could improve the show in a single sitting.

A talented cast, in a great building, who deserved to work with something better.

[unseaworthy]

I liked this more than most people here. I enjoyed the music and the performances were great. However, I do agree that the political rally is odd and Marcia is underwritten.

It was telling how quiet it was. It was a Saturday night, the balcony was closed and the stalls were only about 60% which is so rare for the Young Vic

[bwayboy22]

Saw this last night and have to say I was disappointed. Thought the cast did a good job. We had the understudy for Marcia and my friends had no idea she was the cover. Seemed like it was probably her first time in the role as the cast seemed to be giving her hugs and stuff at curtain call and she even fell down on the stage on her back! lol Can't say I would recommend the show. It was hard to really care about any of these characters. I do love Ramin so always great to see him! 2.5 stars for me.

[ThereWillBeSun]

bwayboy22 Anoushka was at an awards ceremony last night!

[jaqs]

Went to the matinee today and mostly I thought it was charming.
I kept waiting for some big reveal from the past like a wife or that he was on the run or awol, but that didn’t happen. And so the plot was thin to non existent.
But I still enjoyed it, I liked the songs and the costumes and the cast were fabulous.

[londonmzfitz]

Also at the matinee today. Majority of the songs were forgettable for me. I'd have given it 2.5 stars (one full star for Ramin who performed well with the material he had to work with, and the musicians). But that last 15 minutes was - my opinion - dire. We understand about the mike being on, the betrayal, etc - over egged to the fullest. Irritated me.

Just OK, felt a bit like a good Student production in truth. Going to read through the reviews on here now to see if there's something I missed as it all seemed a bit ... pointless.