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Post by flouise on Sept 25, 2024 21:56:30 GMT
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Post by keyspi on Sept 26, 2024 23:12:38 GMT
I was also quite intrigued by this when it was first announced and was actually looking forward to seeing it......then I listened to all the songs and was bored beyond belief, so passed on getting tickets
The (supposed) set design is really something else though
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209 posts
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Post by argon on Nov 16, 2024 23:33:41 GMT
Anyone saw this tonight to report how it went
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1,286 posts
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Post by nash16 on Nov 16, 2024 23:44:12 GMT
Anyone saw this tonight to report how it went Lots of papering to fill both shows, so hopefully someone from the Board will have got in on a super cheapie and will report back. |
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Post by gotalotofnerve on Nov 16, 2024 23:50:15 GMT
Anyone saw this tonight to report how it went The usual terrible sound and lighting, great cast but terrible material. Show started 10 minutes late and finished about 10:35. If you’re planning on going tomorrow, don’t. |
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Post by AGlitzyFinale on Nov 16, 2024 23:59:58 GMT
Yea this was definitely a miss. I left at the interval so only saw act 1 but the material did absolutely nothing to grab me in the hour and a half I saw and despite the best efforts of the cast I couldn’t wait to get out of there after the first half hour or so.
Also whoever was in change of the lighting needs to have a long day tomorrow to sort that out, was awful this evening with multiple cues completely out of time, spotlights on the wrong side of the stage, and an entire song where only the characters legs were lit.
Sound wasn’t great but honestly surprised it wasn’t worse.
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Post by badlydrawnhamster on Nov 17, 2024 0:11:30 GMT
Yea this was definitely a miss. I left at the interval so only saw act 1 but the material did absolutely nothing to grab me in the hour and a half I saw and despite the best efforts of the cast I couldn’t wait to get out of there after the first half hour or so. Also whoever was in change of the lighting needs to have a long day tomorrow to sort that out, was awful this evening with multiple cues completely out of time, spotlights on the wrong side of the stage, and an entire song where only the characters legs were lit. Sound wasn’t great but honestly surprised it wasn’t worse. That's pretty much how I felt too, though I almost left at the interval but decided to stay, yet by the end I wished I hadn't. The cast are all pretty fantastic, and there were a couple of songs I liked (mainly when more than one character was singing at the same time) but the book for this was fairly appalling, and it couldn't make up its mind if it wanted to use modern English or something akin to Victorian (though I know it's set before that period) and it was a weird old mix. It's frustrating as the central message is an important one, and there were brief moments of beauty, but also a lot of by the numbers musical theatre blandness. |
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Post by homtoast on Nov 17, 2024 4:00:27 GMT
Wowee, I was thinking about the 20+ musicals I watched within the past 6 months and this easily ranks in the worst 2.
There's a lot of issues with the book here. I counted 5 conflicts that were resolved simply by one party dying - the conflicts set a foundation for the plot to flow but nothing happens. I also quickly realised that many songs follow the pattern of argument - emotional song - scene and everything gets bland and predictable.
There's so much build up regarding the empowerment of women musicians and then it... fizzles out. To my understanding (I got pretty distracted at the end tbh), they're just told "no" and sort of accept the status quo..? I get that it's historical and it probably happened this way, but then why write such a musical? The themes of family and love fizzle out too, again because of someone dying.
Act 1's finale establishes a few conflicts meant to drive act 2, but one of them is done so poorly that it's hard to suspend any disbelief. The father steals her kid in the middle of the song, but naturally there's no resistance put up by anyone, because how else would the plot progress? Everyone knows the obvious repercussion for female empowerment is child kidnapping.
[bt]
The cast are powerhouses and are superb, but when everything is an emotional soli and the writing is so bad, it takes so much out of their performance.
Set design wasn't much, but it shouldn't be, for a 2x performance.
1/5.
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Post by FrontrowverPaul on Nov 17, 2024 9:50:07 GMT
Was there still a standing ovations last night ?
Can't remember the title but there was another new musical in concert not long ago which wasn't well received here, lots of the seat fillers left at the interval and I just about sat it out. Still a huge cheer and most stood to applaud at the end.
Was a good opportunity to stand and put on coat to get out quickly.
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Post by gotalotofnerve on Nov 17, 2024 10:43:11 GMT
A few people stood for I assume their favourites, friends or family.
There was then the forced “I can’t see I’ll stand ovation” from the people behind. But in the dress circle maybe 10%?
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Post by lotster on Nov 17, 2024 10:52:41 GMT
Glad I gave this one a miss. When something is as bad as this sounds, but obviously has a talented cast they must surely be aware how poor it is, or do you think sometimes when you're very much involved in something you loose perspective or maybe convince yourself otherwise?
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Post by gotalotofnerve on Nov 17, 2024 11:10:55 GMT
Honestly not sure. The direction was VERY poor. Lots of moments you wonder why something was done in that way.
It’s a shame as the director has a great performative credits, but this isn’t their calling. If the piece was perhaps one act it may have been 3*. However as it stands it paints most characters as extremely unlikeable.
Spoiler - They also end with a song “composed” by the protagonist after the curtain call (Ignatius heart - though I’m struggling to find anything that backs this truth up online) either way it regretfully highlighted how bad the rest of the material was 😂
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Post by partytentdown on Nov 17, 2024 11:29:12 GMT
Seriously though, where is the quality control? Who signs off putting this rubbish in our finest theatres and charging people money to see it?
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Post by max on Nov 17, 2024 11:51:00 GMT
There was a well-reviewed play at the Watermill Theatre in May/June, billed as "the overdue story of the other Mendelssohn". FANNY, about the overlooked composer sister of Felix, was written by Calum Finlay.
Women shoved aside, even banned from expressing their art, is good material - but this 'other Mozart' musical doesn't sound like it's got there.
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Post by juliad on Nov 17, 2024 13:05:10 GMT
A really interesting story which was, unfortunately, badly told. It was way too long. The book was clunky and struggled to decide which timezone to occupy. There were far too many songs. Whilst the performers did the best that they could with the material they were given, the songs were predictable and cliched.
There were many lighting errors, with faces being plunged into darkness in favour of highly lit feet! The balance of sound wasn’t quite right with some distortion making it occasionally difficult to hear the lyrics. Since this was a lyric led production (surprisingly for a show about a composer), not being able to hear the lyrics properly was frustrating to say the least.
I debated whether to leave after the 90 minute long first act and decided to stay to find out what happened to Nan. For a production that billed itself as a feminist view of herstory rather than the usual view of history, the feminism was hard to find. Most of the story centred on Nan’s father, her husband, her brother, or the man who stole her material. Perhaps the male writers/composers were unable to help themselves.
All in all, if this musical is hoping for a future, it needs a lot of work. Make it shorter, strive for some originality, and find authentic female voices to tell the story.
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Post by flouise on Nov 17, 2024 15:18:44 GMT
I think I enjoyed it more than most (possibly after seeing the Little Piece of You concert, which was worse by comparison), but not on the strength of the material- as previously said, the final (non-original) song was easily the best.
I agree that it wasn't a strong feminist retelling of anything, the book was laboured, and the songs were unmemorable.
Anthony Rapp definitely still has it, and it was a pleasure to see him live for the first time, but I'm not sure why his character was given so many songs.
Laura Pitt-Pulford was a delight as ever. Criminal that she spent half of her big solo unlit! I'd happily see Gabrielle Brooks in whatever she's in next.
This would need a lot of reworking to have any future life, I would think. After this and the dreadful Little Pieces of You a few weeks ago, perhaps putting new material which clearly hasn't been workshopped enough on in a venue this size is a mistake.
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Post by matthew90 on Nov 17, 2024 21:24:01 GMT
Gave this a go this eve as had a free seat filler ticket. Left at the interval. Exactly what people have said above. Messaging and plot all over the place, book had zero consistency and laboured along, some of the score was actually really nice but the lyrics then ruined them. Most of the audience around me was equally underwhelmed and left.
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202 posts
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Post by Paulw on Nov 17, 2024 21:40:53 GMT
Gave this a go this eve as had a free seat filler ticket. Left at the interval. Exactly what people have said above. Messaging and plot all over the place, book had zero consistency and laboured along, some of the score was actually really nice but the lyrics then ruined them. Most of the audience around me was equally underwhelmed and left. I’m so pleased you have picked up on the score and the lyrics as I had exactly the same thought! This for me was just not ready (there tonight and also went at the interval) some of the songs the count was singing should have been her with a few lines reworded to apply to her part, they introduced characters that hadn’t been introduced who then went into big solo songs which made no sense without their backgrounds. And my biggest annoyance with this was the actors pretending to play the MD’s piano while he was playing! From the Royal Circle you could see their hands about 20/30 cms above they keys! Not impressed something of that quality being allowed to perform that in such a prestigious theatre and charging a fair amount for tge privilege! (Yes I was on a comp so didn’t pay) but feel sorry for those who did |
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Post by matthew90 on Nov 17, 2024 21:48:51 GMT
Gave this a go this eve as had a free seat filler ticket. Left at the interval. Exactly what people have said above. Messaging and plot all over the place, book had zero consistency and laboured along, some of the score was actually really nice but the lyrics then ruined them. Most of the audience around me was equally underwhelmed and left. I’m so pleased you have picked up on the score and the lyrics as I had exactly the same thought! This for me was just not ready (there tonight and also went at the interval) some of the songs the count was singing should have been her with a few lines reworded to apply to her part, they introduced characters that hadn’t been introduced who then went into big solo songs which made no sense without their backgrounds. And my biggest annoyance with this was the actors pretending to play the MD’s piano while he was playing! From the Royal Circle you could see their hands about 20/30 cms above they keys! Not impressed something of that quality being allowed to perform that in such a prestigious theatre and charging a fair amount for tge privilege! (Yes I was on a comp so didn’t pay) but feel sorry for those who did Agree, we were so baffled why the Count seemed to be the lead and getting a lot of the songs, when this is meant to be her story. Never a good sign when the director comes out at the start and apologises for potential lighting and sound issues due to lack of rehearsal time. Not at all okay when you charged some people upwards of £100. |
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Post by unseaworthy on Nov 17, 2024 21:54:45 GMT
Perhaps this is a daft question but why wasn't there enough time for rehearsals? Hasn't the theatre been dark since Frozen closed?
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202 posts
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Post by Paulw on Nov 17, 2024 22:38:04 GMT
I’m so pleased you have picked up on the score and the lyrics as I had exactly the same thought! This for me was just not ready (there tonight and also went at the interval) some of the songs the count was singing should have been her with a few lines reworded to apply to her part, they introduced characters that hadn’t been introduced who then went into big solo songs which made no sense without their backgrounds. And my biggest annoyance with this was the actors pretending to play the MD’s piano while he was playing! From the Royal Circle you could see their hands about 20/30 cms above they keys! Not impressed something of that quality being allowed to perform that in such a prestigious theatre and charging a fair amount for tge privilege! (Yes I was on a comp so didn’t pay) but feel sorry for those who did Agree, we were so baffled why the Count seemed to be the lead and getting a lot of the songs, when this is meant to be her story. Never a good sign when the director comes out at the start and apologises for potential lighting and sound issues due to lack of rehearsal time. Not at all okay when you charged some people upwards of £100. I know when she walked out and said what she said I couldn’t help feeling that they have seen the comments and are trying to justify it and the cost to get on the right side of people! I can’t help feeling it was a waste of my time and energy (after a busy weekend at work!) |
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Post by Paulw on Nov 17, 2024 22:39:02 GMT
Perhaps this is a daft question but why wasn't there enough time for rehearsals? Hasn't the theatre been dark since Frozen closed? Not a clue just going off what the director said beforehand that they didn’t get into the theatre until 8am yesterday (Saturday) morning |
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Post by daniel on Nov 17, 2024 22:50:34 GMT
Perhaps this is a daft question but why wasn't there enough time for rehearsals? Hasn't the theatre been dark since Frozen closed? Generally speaking, one-off concerts (or two in this case) only have access to their venue on the day of the first performance. Unless of course they hire the theatre for longer, which is expensive. They will rehearse in a studio of some kind off-site, but the amount of time they have hinges on availability of the performers, and available budget. |
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Post by lotster on Nov 17, 2024 22:53:47 GMT
Going to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels concert next Sunday and really hope after hearing about this one it's much, much better. There are some good ones. Pippin for example this year and Something Rotten.
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5,996 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Nov 18, 2024 8:11:42 GMT
Just the title alone makes me never want to see this.
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