3,057 posts
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Post by ali973 on Feb 11, 2017 13:00:12 GMT
James Corden. is. adorable.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2017 22:03:26 GMT
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2,242 posts
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Post by richey on Feb 18, 2017 15:56:04 GMT
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1,481 posts
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Post by steve10086 on Feb 19, 2017 0:52:26 GMT
 Another two weeks before I see the show myself, but I can't wait! "What Part Of My Body Hurts The Most" is one of my favourite songs. A couple of numbers from the scrapped "Batman" musical have made it into this show I see! |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2017 1:03:59 GMT
Don't judge, I know its iconic but I am not of that generation... am I the only person who has never listened to the Bat Out Of Hell album (other than the title song)? I know it's a big deal and all that. The upside, if I see the show, it will seem like a completely new musical rather than a jukebox haha.  |
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2,051 posts
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Post by infofreako on Feb 19, 2017 1:09:43 GMT
Don't judge, I know its iconic but I am not of that generation... am I the only person who has never listened to the Bat Out Of Hell album (other than the title song)? I know it's a big deal and all that. The upside, if I see the show, it will seem like a completely new musical rather than a jukebox haha. Not at all I have seen Meat Loaf live numerous times in the late 80s early 90s but have never listened to that album. Ive never been particularly fussed with his recorded output. I am despite reservations going to give this a go in London purely because its what the album was written for. |
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Post by d'James on Feb 19, 2017 1:16:04 GMT
I saw Meat Loaf live once at Party in the Park. They had to switch his mic off because he went on and on.
I'm getting more and more intrigued about this show. Maybe if I can get a cheap ticket I'll give it a go.
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2,242 posts
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Post by richey on Feb 19, 2017 9:48:48 GMT
That's a lot of songs! When you consider a lot of these run at nearly 6-10 mins on the albums they must be heavily cut to fit them in. There are quite a few I've not heard of there too (some I recognise off Steinmans' album)
I'm see it on Tuesday night so quite looking forward to it now
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836 posts
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Post by duncan on Feb 19, 2017 19:44:58 GMT
It'll be like WWRY, there will be some songs that only get 30 seconds or so just so they can say that the musical contains 1,000,000 Queen/Meat Loaf songs despite the fact only 15 of them are actually full versions. I saw Meat Loaf live about 20 years ago and his encore was Bat out of Hell and I would do anything... and he made them last 40 minutes - 2 songs, better hope this is a cut down version of some of the numbers....or maybe it finishes at 3am  |
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2,051 posts
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Post by infofreako on Feb 20, 2017 19:32:45 GMT
It'll be like WWRY, there will be some songs that only get 30 seconds or so just so they can say that the musical contains 1,000,000 Queen/Meat Loaf songs despite the fact only 15 of them are actually full versions. I saw Meat Loaf live about 20 years ago and his encore was Bat out of Hell and I would do anything... and he made them last 40 minutes - 2 songs, better hope this is a cut down version of some of the numbers....or maybe it finishes at 3am He didn't add too much then. The full recorded versions reach 10 and 12 minutes respectively |
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Post by danb on Feb 20, 2017 20:34:19 GMT
I went with my best boozy friends to see Meatloaf a couple of years ago and it was a total car crash. Only when the female backing singer joined in was it vocally proficient, and only when spirits were added to the lager did it hurt less. That said 'Paradise by the Dashboard Light' was and is one of my favourite ever songs and hearing an approximation of it live was still a thrill!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2017 11:51:10 GMT
I have a friend in Manchester who saw this on Saturday night. She said it's very long (nearly three hours) and the book needs some major rewrites, but that it is thoroughly entertaining and that the set is something to behold!. She tried to explain the story and it did sound very We Will Rock You, but she enjoyed this a lot more.
Apparently the audience went crazy for it. Cheering throughout and multiple standing ovations.
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2,242 posts
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Post by richey on Feb 21, 2017 19:18:23 GMT
Just in my seat for tonight's performance. They've certainly pulled out all the stops on the set, it comes right out into the auditorium
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2,242 posts
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Post by richey on Feb 21, 2017 23:02:26 GMT
Well where to start? Visually it is amazing. There is one trick halfway through act one that I'd never thought I'd see in a theatre. The set is enormous and looks stunning with lots of bits that slide on and off and light up etc. There are live camera feeds for some scenes which are projected around the theatre.
The cast look and sound fantastic and there is an awful of male flesh on display! Top marks to Rob Fowler as Falco who shows off his tattoos on several occasions.
The plot is virtually non-existent however. I may have missed the finer points thanks to the heavy nasal breathing of the guy next to me but it makes WWRY look like Heddla Gabla. People do one thing then in the next scene decide to do the total opposite. I gave up on trying to think about it and just enjoyed the singing in the end. It is very long, particularly act two and one or two songs could be cut as they serve no purpose. We got out at 10.35 tonight.
As for the songs we do get full length versions of four or five, the rest are shortened versions or just a verse/ chorus. The most bizarre has to be the full twelve minutes or so of Paradise by the Dashboard Light which is physically reenacted word for word.
Overall a brilliant night out, as long as you don't think too much. How on earth they are going to get the full set in the Coliseum for the London run I dont know!
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170 posts
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Post by paplazaroo on Mar 1, 2017 9:43:24 GMT
Saw this last night! Still high on the Meatloaf endorphins! Before I go any further this is gonna be a pretty in depth spoilerific post so please skip to the bottom if you want to go in fresh. It’s still really early in the run and I know they’re making changes during the four week preview period. Also I saw an understudy for Strat as the main guy has given himself Laryngitis which isn’t surprising considering the amount of belting. So overall it’s a hot mess, not a good musical but still very enjoyable if you like the music as it’s infectious. The set is pretty darn cool, {Spoiler - click to view}
it’s a pyramid stage left and a two tier tunnel type thing stage right. The overall look is post apocalyptic but I’d say this is more Repo/Urinetown than WWRY. You can tell Schreib directs a lot of opera as theres some experimental stuff in there like the fact that the middle layer on the pyramid becomes Raven’s bedroom and we see all the action inside it projected by an onstage camera woman on to the rest of the set. For those of you sitting more than the first 12 rows of the stalls back who can’t see the upper part of the stage they have hung TV’s from the underside of the dress circle and show the camera work on them. This is an interesting technique but because the book is so bad, which I’ll get on to in a bit, it looks less like Ostermier and more like badly shot soap. Other things in the set, there’s a cool car at one point that gets pushed off the edge of the stage, there’s a nice little pond which is used to great effect and there’s even a couple of bats that fly. And then there’s the bikes. Ugh, this is one of my big hang ups, the bikes look like chairs disguised as bikes that move on and off on tracks, the wheels don’t even spin. In such a biker centric universe of Steinman you’d think they’d focus on getting the sound and smell of an engine even if they can’t get a real bike, they could try to make the wheels spin or something. Anyway at the end of ‘Bat Out Of Hell’, also the act1 break, when Strat crashes his bike the front wheel splits in half and opens out pneumatically, I laughed at that effect. Not sure if it was supposed to be symbolic or something but it was just weird. The cast are spectacular, there isn’t a week link, particularly Raven who is sexy as hell and has an effortless incredible rock belt. The ensemble are tight and strong and the parents of Raven very sexy and excellent singers though the dad (Falco) doesn’t have the acting chops to sell it just yet, he’ll get there I think. Ok so the major problem is the book/plot - {Spoiler - click to view}
it’s the future, we don’t know why but it’s typical post apocalypse, there’s this group called The Lost, who are all stuck at a certain age, they don’t get old. This is led by Strat, the sexy and maybe bi-sexual leader. He has a friend/lover/brother couldn’t figure out which, called Tink, who is stuck as a young teen even though the actor looked early 30’s. His other best friends are a black couple who don’t really have distinguished characters other than the lady works as a nurse for Falco (traitor? but issue not explored) I think she was in love with Strat once but he didn’t love her back (2 out of 3 aint bad).
So Raven is the daughter of Falco, another badly drawn character, who is a tyrannical father and dictator who tortures the lost when he catches them but equally is just very in love with his wife who he is stuck with at middle age which he’s not happy about. That said they’re both pretty hot so if I got stuck looking like them I’d be happy. Essentially he finds out Raven’s been sneaking out and tries to find Strat and his mates, assumes strat is dead then arrests Strats mates and tortures them. Then his wife sets them free. Then Tink betrays Strat to lead Falco to Strat and ends up dying in the process, Strat immediately forgives dying Tink and lashes out at Raven who runs away. He then goes back for Raven and beats her dad up but for some reason she stays. Then suddenly some text that says 6 months laters and he’s back again for Raven and takes her away. The whole plot is messy and structured poorly. The characters aren’t introduced in any meaningful way that makes us root for them and Falco’s journey from tyrant to good husband really doesn’t make any sense. It could use a major re-write! The other thing about the book is it’s written in Steinman esque poetry, particularly when raven and Strat and Tink speak. It could be a cool device if they made a thing of it, like made it clear that that’s the language of the lovers or something but as it is it just seems pretentious. There is also a lot of contemporary dance, in act 1 when Raven and Strat have songs there is one dancer dressed similarly to the pair dancing behind them and I assumed this would come together in a big dance number or something like the ballet in West Side Story, but it really doesn’t, they just fade away. The ensemble do lots of these kind of moves throughout the show and it just looks quite out of place. The sound design and lighting is great, you can hear every word and as I said earlier it was fantastic to hear the songs played and sung so amazingly. It’s way better than WWRY, it may be immature and written like something scrawled in the back of an emo’s geography book but at least it’s earnest and ambitious. I hope it get’s there! |
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1,481 posts
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Post by steve10086 on Mar 4, 2017 18:11:49 GMT
Have to say, I didn't really enjoy the first act at all - in any way 😕 The second act was better - better songs, better paced, better lead actor! First show I've ever been to where someone comes on stage in the interval to announce the alternate (who had been playing the lead) cannot continue and for the second act the part will be played by the actual main lead guy. Generally that works the other way around!
I don't like the set at all. Staging sections in parts of the set that the audience cannot see, and then filming them to project on a screen, is not innovative - it's poor set design. You don't go to the theatre to watch something on a screen.
And if you're sitting at the front almost everything is blocked by the set and the stupid boulders strategically placed to obstruct most of the action. I think the set design is a shambles.
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19,652 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 4, 2017 18:55:01 GMT
Staging sections in parts of the set that the audience cannot see, and then filming them to project on a screen, is not innovative - it's poor set design. You don't go to the theatre to watch something on a screen. I could swear I once saw a production of Rocky Horror where the bedroom scenes were filmed and projected onto tv screens just like in the film. But the more I think about it the more I wonder if I'm thinking of how I'd stage that bit, like wishful thinking? Ive seen too many Rocky's. It's a bit of a blur. |
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Post by richey on Mar 5, 2017 18:27:46 GMT
Staging sections in parts of the set that the audience cannot see, and then filming them to project on a screen, is not innovative - it's poor set design. Have to say I agree with you on this. It's definitely the weakest part of the show. I could see no reason for it other than showing off. |
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Post by groupbooker on Mar 8, 2017 23:55:41 GMT
steve10086 - how far back must you be to see the stage correctly. Not booked yet and the set sounds a bit of a blocker??
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2,242 posts
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Post by richey on Mar 9, 2017 10:25:59 GMT
steve10086 - how far back must you be to see the stage correctly. Not booked yet and the set sounds a bit of a blocker?? Most of the action is stage level. The only bits which are raised are filmed anyway to view on tv screens around the theatre. |
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Post by steve10086 on Mar 9, 2017 13:18:48 GMT
steve10086 - how far back must you be to see the stage correctly. Not booked yet and the set sounds a bit of a blocker?? Most of the action is stage level. The only bits which are raised are filmed anyway to view on tv screens around the theatre. It's not the stuff that happens high up that is an issue, it's what happens at stage level. We were moved to the house seats in row G where the view was perfect. I wouldn't advise sitting much closer than that really, and definitely not the first few rows. |
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Post by groupbooker on Mar 9, 2017 23:18:46 GMT
Thanks very much for the information, just wonder how it will be viewable at ENO now.
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1,481 posts
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Post by steve10086 on Mar 10, 2017 8:08:56 GMT
Thanks very much for the information, just wonder how it will be viewable at ENO now. I'm hoping it will be better there. In fact, I think it has been designed for the Coliseum, and has been shoehorned into the Manchester Opera House, which is the cause of the problems. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2017 10:29:14 GMT
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185 posts
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Post by boybooshka on Mar 15, 2017 13:16:01 GMT
To be fair, it was pretty much a shoo-in for 5 stars from the MEN, i'm not sure they always bother even going to watch the new shows at the Palace and Opera House. If it originates in Manchester it must be AMAZING!!  Personally I'd say it is a strong 4 star show. Staging, direction and performances all turned up to 11, book erm well.... but it serves as enough of a hook for the spectacle. |
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