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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2017 22:43:47 GMT
Oh how I love the Menier! Saw this today and thought it was wonderful - great cast and it just put a smile on my face.
Scarlett Strallen and Katherine Kingsley were outstanding, and I even thought Les Dennis wasn't half bad! The only thing that bothered me was the dodgy range of English accents - completely unnecessary in my opinion, and made the whole show being set in Budapest just seem strange!
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Post by popcultureboy on Jan 28, 2017 22:47:03 GMT
I'd much prefer people using their own accent than attempting something Eastern European and ending up in 'Allo 'Allo territory, personally.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2017 23:02:36 GMT
I'd much prefer people using their own accent than attempting something Eastern European and ending up in 'Allo 'Allo territory, personally. Why set it in Budapest then? I'm not familiar with the show but I presume the original was written that way for a reason? |
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Post by popcultureboy on Jan 28, 2017 23:12:11 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2017 1:17:20 GMT
Thank you.
To me that makes using a range of random English accents which don't appear to be half the performers' actual accents make even less sense! I get that the range of accents portrays a class divide, but it just seemed to me unnecessarily jarring given all the names of the characters are Hungarian! I did love the production, it was just that one element that bemused me (perhaps more so because Katherine Kingsley's accent was slightly irritating and so took away a little from her performance for me).
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Post by mallardo on Jan 29, 2017 13:17:36 GMT
Re the accents, the show is usually played with American accents, hence everyone the same. A point is made in the programme that using British accents (as they are) raises the class issue and they have to now deal with that. Like others here, I found it a distraction.
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Post by longinthetooth on Feb 5, 2017 0:43:56 GMT
I loved this! The attention to detail, the costumes, the sets, the glorious cast, everything. Well, OK, maybe the score wasn't that memorable, but it made up with shed loads of charm for what Death Takes A Holiday was lacking. I know, that doesn't sound right, but you get the gist. The accents didn't worry me in the slightest. I loved Scarlett Strallen (but that wig did make her look the spitting image of a young Auntie Bonnie!) and Katherine Kingsley - in fact, Katherine's applause was far louder than Scarlett's when they took their bows.
I hadn't realised until tonight that Callum Howells was taking part in Let It Shine, but then left the programme as he'd been offered the part of Arpad in She Loves Me.
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Post by ali973 on Feb 5, 2017 5:43:27 GMT
I actually liked the use of English accents in this version. Normally I find them cringeworthy in say Wicked and Lion King, they even get a tad annoying in Les Miz. So when I saw She Loves Me at the Menier (on its first preview!) I remember going, "oh, dear they're going all British with this" (especially since the Savoy version was based on the Roundabout production from the US). But TBH I thought it worked very well, or at Katherine Kingsley made it work very well for her and milked it to get more humor.
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Post by ukpuppetboy on Feb 7, 2017 23:20:40 GMT
I saw it last week and found the accents to be ridiculous. And there's a dialect coach credited in the programme! I spent much of the evening remembering the brilliant delivery of Tracie Bennett and Barry James from The Savoy as lines were being said and wishing I was watching that production instead. And the less said about Les Dennis the better - who keeps giving him acting roles?
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Post by Tibidabo on Feb 17, 2017 10:52:26 GMT
Saw this yesterday and thought it was absolutely fantastic! Negative bits first. I'd never been to the Menier before and hated it. I nearly went down the stairs far quicker than I'd intended  and why oh why had they saved all the lightbulbs for the restaurant bit? Seriously, not the place to go if you wear reactolight lenses! I was going to say I'd never go again but have just seen what's coming so I'm going to have to have a re-think! Due to the crowded darkness of it all we'd not found anywhere to buy a programme until the interval. I'm donning my tin hat now as I've read the thread and realise I'm out on my own with this and may well be carted off to the tower, but here goes......Scarlett Strallen. Seriously? As I didn't know what she looked like (never seen her before - I'd seen Summer in Top Hat and she was, ahem, perfectly adequate) I honestly thought we had an understudy. I can't remember seeing such a wooden, hammy, am-dram acting performance - even up against Les Dennis, who wasn't as bad as some have made out in my opinion. I hated her singing voice. Piercing, out of place with the piece and really just not a pleasant thing to listen to. I would not go again to see anything she is in. Enough. The rest of it was amazing. Stand-outs for me were The Set, Katherine Kingsley, The Girls' Shoes, Norman Pace and Alastair Brookshaw. I'd never heard of KK or Norman Pace (or, indeed, AB) so wasn't expecting anything. These three had their comic timing down to perfection. I was close to the stage and, for me, comic timing is such a wonder to behold when given such a masterclass. They all had this ability to let the audience know, a split second before, that they were about to give us a gem and had our full attention for its delivery. I just loved them. The set was stunning. Clever, effective and enough has been said up-thread. If you saw it when it was broken I seriously suggest a re-visit. One thing about the script that got me a bit - in spoilers and don't click if you don't know the story and are going as it gives away the ending for one of the characters. {Spoiler - click to view} As this was a feel-good piece, I was a bit disappointed that we never really got an ending for Kodaly who was just sent off into the mist having not done anything wrong. {Spoiler - click to view}
But a great show. We really enjoyed it. A great show - and maybe I'll work out how to get out of spoiler mode before my editing time is up!  |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2017 11:06:45 GMT
^ I agree on most accounts, with you, except perhaps for SS. It was my first time seeing her, and I thought her marvellous, particularly during "Vanilla Ice Cream".
As for that spoiler, he was a very naughty boy indeed.
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Post by couldileaveyou on Feb 17, 2017 11:13:15 GMT
{Spoiler - click to view} As this was a feel-good piece, I was a bit disappointed that we never really got an ending for Kodaly who was just sent off into the mist having not done anything wrong. {Spoiler - click to view} {Spoiler - click to view}
He slept with his boss' wife?? and kept stealing for the the shop?? |
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Post by Tibidabo on Feb 17, 2017 11:14:28 GMT
Was he really @tom89 ? {Spoiler - click to view}
And I thought they'd made up the bit about the boss's wife! |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2017 14:41:59 GMT
I can't seem to work the spoiler tags so avoid reading the following if you want to remain spoiler free... Tibidabo I'm sure it did happen. He stood up Ilona on the night they were staying late to decorate the shop, for a cancelled "appointment". Maraczek then phoned his wife who said she had to go somewhere that evening without him. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2017 14:47:41 GMT
Thank you. It seems so obvious now you explain it. The button wouldn't work for me.  |
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Post by Tibidabo on Feb 17, 2017 15:09:50 GMT
@tom89 I remember him standing Ilona up, but have no memory of the Maraczek phone call! Completely passed me by that he was up to no good with the boss's wife - just thought he was playing around a bit. As for the stealing - I only really cottoned onto that quite late in the proceedings! I would have liked him and Ilona to have ended up together though, soppy ha'peth that I am!! I'm sure she'd have tamed him! Anyway. Thanks for putting me straight. There was so much to enjoy it was obviously too much for me to catch everything when I didn't already know the story. ETA: LOL! I still can't do the spoiler thing, despite @theatremonkey 's best efforts! It is there under one of those tags! Honest! |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2017 17:01:21 GMT
Odd, Tom89. If you can type in the "Quick Reply" or "Reply" box, it really is just the same. You just type [ then the word spoiler then ] then your message then [ then /spoiler then ] and that is all! Apologies, I was using the button with the "shh" face (finger on lips) which had no effect  |
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Post by JJShaw on Feb 19, 2017 19:57:20 GMT
saw this today, its very hard to not enjoy this show!
clearly the director has seen the recent broadway revival, lots of similarities. i must also commend them on the revolving set, and how beautiful it looked! some very cinematic moments it was lovely. As were the new orchestrations, it was like listening to it for the first time!
I enjoyed Scarlett Strallens performance, and the ensemble, particularly the female shop customers, did some lovely dancing and framed the show wonderfully. Katherine Kingsley, who I have been a fan of for a while, I had to warm too. I understand why the cockney accent was chosen but I'm not quite sure if the artistic intention outweighed the jarringness of it. She was a much more brash Ilona, but by her Trip To The Library she'd won me over once again! Similarly with the gentleman who plays Arpad and his Welsh accent. I didn't find an issue with the british accents but these two accents stuck out. Mark Umbers as George gave a rather odd performance for me, his complete change in character at the end of act one all of a sudden being incredibly hostile to Ms. Amalia was not in keeping with his almost cringe bumbling nature for the first act (even when he didn't like Amalia he still wasn't being incredibly rude to her) his Tonight at Eight lacked but his version of the title song was very nice. (Also you can't have a character wear glasses for just two scenes the continuity doesn't make sense ! As a fellow glasses wearer haha!)
Very enjoyable, I would love for it to transfer. I also found Amalia's 'Dear Friend' letter from Vanilla Ice Cream land around my feet, a lovely little souvenir!
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Post by Tibidabo on Feb 23, 2017 11:31:21 GMT
Love this tweet from Les Dennis.
Les DennisVerified account
@lesdennis
Follow
More
As the music struck up in She Loves Me @menchocfactory I heard a woman on the front row say "Oh God. He's not going to sing again is he?"
You weren't THAT bad Les!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2017 12:40:23 GMT
I hope you're not on twitter in the middle of your lessons, miss!  |
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Post by Tibidabo on Feb 23, 2017 12:42:12 GMT
^LOL! I'm currently 'resting.'
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2017 12:52:30 GMT
I'd have thought you'd have been busy running yourself up a costume for World Book Day next Thursday!
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Post by Tibidabo on Feb 23, 2017 13:01:13 GMT
Not much you can run up with this year's sponsored nonsense, Where's Wally! Glad I'm missing it, along with all the sword-wielding 10 year olds! (And I so don't sew!)
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 25, 2017 18:17:07 GMT
I've just seen today's matinee & really enjoyed it. It was so romantic at the end that I started crying! I was impressed by the production, a very good set by fringe standards. I can understand why they cancelled it when I was supposed to see it back in January as the set is used a lot. I thought all the performances were very good, even Les Dennis who I was dubious about beforehand. I liked it being done in a variety of British accents & was impressed that Katherine Kingsley managed to maintain hers when singing.
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Post by westendwendy on Mar 1, 2017 23:06:24 GMT
A bit late to see this one and saw it tonight. A mixed bag really Les Dennis was truly AWFUL. Who ever thought of casting him? One of the main faults I suppose was the idea to move the show into English accents, it made the show full of class issues and social division (Umbers with his hugh grant type posh RP and Les Dennis as his Coronation Street Northern boss) not to mention the change of characters for other roles (same with Wicked in my opinion). What on earth happened to Budapest?! Huh? It didn't work.
Scarlett although a wonderful MT performer was annoyingly eeeeeeeeenglish in eeeeeeeeeveryyy waaaaayyy. (Think Mary Poppins on crack). There was no light and shade, far too harsh and it made me not care for her character. Same for most of the others in stage, brash stereo typical roles mostly over acted. Shame.
The set however and orchestra were both stunning. Katherine Kingsley although I didn't agree with the use of a cockney accent was glorious in her role. Incredible what you can produce in such a small space. 6/10
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and why oh why had they saved all the lightbulbs for the restaurant bit? Seriously, not the place to go if you wear reactolight lenses! I was going to say I'd never go again but have just seen what's coming so I'm going to have to have a re-think!
