Spend, Spend, Spend - Royal Exchange

[richey]

New season announced at Manchester's Royal Exchange includes Spend Spend Spend
www.royalexchange.co.uk/event/spend-spend-spend/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Spend_season_announcement&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3lUAX41HghAhRRCUVC7_DkjzGJIpnFDqTYSNcamlwsP-a02T9phJgBvh0_aem_yr-lDZiPFPx1xXjvuuDkBQ

[BurlyBeaR]

Wow that’s weird. I was only talking to a friend about seeing this in London in 2000 and we discussed whether it would be of any interest to today’s audiences. We concluded that it probably wouldn’t because I imagine she’s largely unknown to anyone under fifty. It’s a good show though, I’ll be booking!





On the night we went ALW was in but he bailed at the interval 😆

[david]

Definitely booking for this along with the Carol Churchill double header. The rave based stuff I’m giving a miss.

[Someone in a tree]

Viv is maybe not known much today but i think the themes of the story are really appealing.

I enjoyed it many moons ago and its had a few outings since its west end debut

[BurlyBeaR]

Craig Revel Horwood’s Watermill’s production was enjoyable.

Do people still do the pools??

[benny20]

Sadly an underwhelming choice of show for me..seen a production YEARS ago..
Could the REX not do any better? Especially for Christmas!!

[thedrowsychaperone]

A real soft spot for this show, I saw a production at the New Wolsey in Ipswich around 2008 and enjoyed it immensely.

[Sven]

Barbara Dickson was fantastic. "Who's gonna love me" still my favourite tearjerker of all time. Great combo with Rachel Leskovac.
Excited to find it on YouTube 

[marob]

The name Viv Nicholson was familiar, but couldn’t think why until I read the description. Wouldn’t know her if I fell over her though, so this might be a tough sell. Makes me long for the days when they’d do stuff like Gypsy, West Side Story and The Producers.

Only ever seen a couple of Caryl Churchill’s plays, and wasn’t really fussed on them, and I don’t particularly need to see another production of AMND either. Depending on casting, I might be saving some money.

[jaggy]

Oooo! I’ve always wanted to see this. Wish I could have seen it with Dickson.

I’m assuming Maxine Peake will be in the Churchill play.

[midge]

Rachel Leskovav returning as old Viv is quite the swing. Fair play to the Exchange. I always think Who’s Gonna Love Me should be given its spot in the MT canon.

[alece10]

Its a great musical. Saw it at the Piccadilly Theatre with Barbara Dixon a d still have the CD which, at the time, was only available to purchase at the theatre and, until they re-released it was worth a lot of money.

[jaybird89]

I'm very excited to see this! I first saw the original tour when I was about 12 and convinced my mum to get the cd for me which I still listen to regularly. Great to have Rachel back as well very much looking forward to seeing this.

[n1david]

Jun 18, 2024 11:54:24 GMT BurlyBeaR said:

Do people still do the pools??

They still exist but the National Lottery more or less killed them off as a vehicle for mass-market gambling. I used to be a collector for Littlewoods Pools and go round a neighbourhood collecting completed coupons and money. Would hate to be doing that now - collecting hundreds of pounds and doing exactly the same route at the same time every week, what a target! My parents were Main Collectors which means that they gathered all the the coupons and fees from our town and nearby and delivered the money to the bank night safe and the coupons into the process every Friday night.

[sf]

This might get me back up to Manchester for the first time since I moved away. Wonderful show, wonderful score, and Rachel Leskovac is obvious but inspired casting.

[david]

Booked in for the first preview.

[richey]

Booked.
I do like the pay what you can option for certain seats as each performance

[david]

I’ll be at tonight’s first preview so I’ll report back later with thoughts.

[cornish]

This must be so horribly dated by now?

[max]

Sold on their website as:

"The perfect heartfelt musical this Christmas" (above the title)
"The big-hearted experience everyone needs this festive season"

I think this is what you call 'reaching'.
Of course, not everything has to be panto or children's stories over the festive season, but using the C-word is a bit much.

Having just withdrawn an entire production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' because they felt the director's additions meant they'd mis-sold it to the public....

What could possibly go wrong - again?

[BurlyBeaR]

Nov 23, 2024 18:03:18 GMT cornish said:

This must be so horribly dated by now?

I asked my friends if they wanted to see it. No interest whatsoever. We’re all the similar age but I was aware of who she was having read her autobiography (which is a fantastic read if you can find a copy) decades ago, as well as seeing the show in 2000 with Barbara Dickson and the actor/musician Watermill production when it toured. Dated? People may not be doing the pools anymore but they’re still playing the lottery and Euromillions. It’s about working class people who are living hand to mouth suddenly getting wealth beyond their wildest dreams. That’s still happening today. 

Nov 23, 2024 19:11:13 GMT max said:

Sold on their website as:

"The perfect heartfelt musical this Christmas" (above the title)
"The big-hearted experience everyone needs this festive season"

I think this is what you call 'reaching'.
Of course, not everything has to be panto or children's stories over the festive season, but using the C-word is a bit much.

Having just withdrawn an entire production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' because they felt the director's additions meant they'd mis-sold it to the public....

What could possibly go wrong - again?

Well, if the audience leave thinking it wasn’t very Christmassy that’s not quite the same as leaving thinking you’ve been battered over the head with politics and gender politics that you hadn’t signed up for.

[max]

Nov 23, 2024 19:27:17 GMT BurlyBeaR said:

Nov 23, 2024 18:03:18 GMT cornish said:

This must be so horribly dated by now?

I asked my friends if they wanted to see it. No interest whatsoever. We’re all the similar age but I was aware of who she was having read her autobiography (which is a fantastic read if you can find a copy) decades ago, as well as seeing the show in 2000 with Barbara Dickson and the actor/musician Watermill production when it toured. Dated? People may not be doing the pools anymore but they’re still playing the lottery and Euromillions. It’s about working class people who are living hand to mouth suddenly getting wealth beyond their wildest dreams. That’s still happening today. 

Nov 23, 2024 19:11:13 GMT max said:

Sold on their website as:

"The perfect heartfelt musical this Christmas" (above the title)
"The big-hearted experience everyone needs this festive season"

I think this is what you call 'reaching'.
Of course, not everything has to be panto or children's stories over the festive season, but using the C-word is a bit much.

Having just withdrawn an entire production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' because they felt the director's additions meant they'd mis-sold it to the public....

What could possibly go wrong - again?

Well, if the audience leave thinking it wasn’t very Christmassy that’s not quite the same as leaving thinking you’ve been battered over the head with politics and gender politics that you hadn’t signed up for.

"blends Shakespeare’s classic play with contemporary elements of Manchester’s dance, music, and rave culture" didn't reference specific politics, but the content may not have been a complete shock - we'll never know because it wasn't seen.  
Anyway - we did all that on that thread, and I've searched and re-read your viewpoint.

On this musical - I enjoyed it in the West End back in 1999.  Nice to see that production's Olivier-nominated Rachel Leskovac is back but now playing the older version of the same split-character role. The ghosting of young Viv by older Viv was one of the strongest aspects of the show. 

[david]

A few thoughts from tonight’s viewing. I really enjoyed this one. Having seen the SSS tour after its WE run, I really couldn’t remember much about it so it was a great opportunity to revisit it at the REX. The running time was around the 2hr 45 minute mark with interval (the clock at the ticket office said a 10.15pm finish and I was out around that time). With only a few mic issues, we got through the run without any stops and as a first preview was in pretty good shape and well paced from director Josh Seymour. 

For casting, Rachel Leskovac as Viv nails it. Great vocals with good comic timing. Her Act 2 duet with Rose Galbraith as Young Vic with “Who’s Gonna Love Me”was definitely the highlight for me with some real emotional punch against the comedic moments of the show. As the younger Viv, Rose managed to strike the right balance between the comedy and the more tragic moments in Act 2 as Viv’s life unravels after spending all the money and the abusive relationships she went through. I certainly didn’t have any issues with her vocals which I felt were both strong and clear from my seat in the stage level seats. Thankfully, the West Yorkshire accents held throughout the show. As the rest of the cast, all perfectly watchable with no weak links. Surprisingly, Rory Bremner lends his vocal talents to this production. 

The score by Steve Brown and Justin Greene was really enjoyable to listen to with some witty lyrics. The score was brought to life thanks to 7 piece band (2 x reeds, trumpet, keys, guitars, bass and drums) under the directorship of Livi van Warmelo. This year all the band are housed outside of the auditorium in 2 boxes. As the first run the sound mixing was fine with no lyrics being lost to the band

With respect to the set design from Grace Smart there really wasn’t any fixed sets with bits and pieces brought in when required (the cars are just neon lighting strips bent into shape to resemble a car frame held up by cast members). Whilst this was helpful in the fact that no audience member is stuck behind any big bits of set, there was a lot of time where the stage did look pretty bare at times with only a few actors on stage. It was only really during the title song and John Collier numbers did I feel the stage was fully utilised. As usual with the Rex, being a in the round stage, meant that I did have a few moments where I saw a lot of people’s heads rather than faces. Though from my G53 seat, in all I really didn’t miss that much and I don’t think being sat anywhere else would have afforded a better view. The one benefit of having a stage level seat was that I was able to pick up some of the paper money that fell from the roof at the end of Act 1 which was a nice souvenir from my visit. The lighting design from Jack Knowles was nice with some lovely purple and pinks on show.

The only criticism I did have was with some of the costume designs. For some reason, during the calling out of the pools results, 2 cast members who are meant to represent football teams are dressed in silver outfits rather than sports gear. Ok, I wouldn’t expect full football kits, but at least something resembling them. 

As a story of rags to riches and then back to rags, I certainly thought it was still relevant to today’s society and even if people hadn’t heard of Viv Nicholson prior to tonight, her story about winning big money can be easily compared to those people who have won the lottery and then blown it all.

So how does this one compare to previous REX shows? Whilst I wouldn’t bracket it in the same league as The Producers or Gypsy (top tier shows), it was certainly a much better watch than Betty! The Musical. Given time to bed in, there was enough with SSS for me to book for it again in the New Year. Tonight’s audience seemed to enjoy it but no SO at the end. 

Rating - 4⭐️

[dot]

Saw this last night.. absolutely riotous! Terrific cast, expertly led by Rachel Leskovac and shining star Rose Galbraith. Design was fantastic and fun, staging in the round was solid, and I loved the Act One closing number. Really really good fun, but also really endears you to Viv. The music needs a special mention too, Steve Brown’s score is sublime!

[karloscar]

Not so surprising that Rory Bremner is involved. He worked with composer Steve Brown (who died earlier this year) from the eighties Spitting Image days through the nineties.(Steve was married to Jan Ravens at the time.) Great that his score for Spend Spend Spend is getting revived, Scars of Love and Who's Gonna Love Me? deserve to be better known.