3,564 posts
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Post by showgirl on Dec 13, 2016 6:06:06 GMT
Now if the Menier would give a discount for the possible mouse hazard (I don't mind them), I might be able to afford a ticket!
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Post by lolli on Dec 16, 2016 22:57:50 GMT
Delightful. And wonderful performances. Do go!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2016 23:29:35 GMT
I enjoyed this more than i expected. Its a great production of an average musical, sorry I still don't see what people rave about. Very strong cast, and nice to see scarlett strallen give more comedic performance and the wig looks fine to me in reality.
The set has to be one of the menier best and most opulent. Which highlights even more to me how rubbish funny girls was considering they had a transfer earmarked and a bigger budget
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1,502 posts
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Post by foxa on Dec 18, 2016 20:55:11 GMT
You're going to have to indulge me while I write a big sloppy Valentine to this show.
What you need to know: When I was growing up in some godforsaken place, we had about 10 musical albums which I listened to over and over again. 'She Loves Me' was one of those albums. I hadn't seen the show - I don't think anyone in my family had - I have no idea why we had the album. But growing up as an intense, bookish, awkward girl I loved this musical. Songs like 'Will He Like Me' and 'Ice Cream' spoke to my insecure, hopeful soul. I read books, I wrote letters, maybe someone would love me one day.
So, this production: Is superb. I worried that they would treat it as a quaint period piece and be arch and condescending, but it is a full-hearted, sensitive, funny show. You actually care if the main characters get together, you feel their awkwardness and insecurity. I brought my daughter and she felt the same way - she related entirely, emotionally she felt it was very modern. It is beautifully staged, brilliantly cast and for two hours and forty minutes took us absolutely away from all our worries.
Recommendation: If you can get tickets, do. A rare Foxa 5*
Side note: There was some adventurous hat-wearing in the audience.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2016 23:23:13 GMT
I went back to see this again
It is nice
The scene in the restaurant is truly bizarre
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1,819 posts
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Post by stevej678 on Dec 19, 2016 11:17:34 GMT
I adored this. On pretty much every level, it's a triumph. Gorgeous score, exquisite staging, a sublime cast, bags of charm and often laugh-out-loud funny. The whole cast are fantastic but Scarlett Strallen and Mark Umbers in particular give performances that couldn't be bettered. The highlight of the year for me.
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141 posts
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Post by Mr Crummles on Dec 19, 2016 11:39:57 GMT
I really enjoyed this too. A happy, feel-good story, with some rather dark undertones. The result, I think, is a very humane show, where vices and virtues mix vigorously to flesh out its ordinary characters and make them vibrantly real.
The cast was excellent, especially Katherine Kingsley, Dominic Tighe and Callum Howells, but I guess it wouldn't have moved me so much if it didn't have such strong performances from the two leads, who after all, are the true heart of the piece. Mark Umbers and Scarlett Strallen were so tender and affecting that their characters stayed with me long after I left the theatre. I hope they all win awards.
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83 posts
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Post by catqc on Dec 20, 2016 3:32:21 GMT
You're going to have to indulge me while I write a big sloppy Valentine to this show. What you need to know: When I was growing up in some godforsaken place, we had about 10 musical albums which I listened to over and over again. 'She Loves Me' was one of those albums. I hadn't seen the show - I don't think anyone in my family had - I have no idea why we had the album. But growing up as an intense, bookish, awkward girl I loved this musical. Songs like 'Will He Like Me' and 'Ice Cream' spoke to my insecure, hopeful soul. I read books, I wrote letters, maybe someone would love me one day. So, this production: Is superb. I worried that they would treat it as a quaint period piece and be arch and condescending, but it is a full-hearted, sensitive, funny show. You actually care if the main characters get together, you feel their awkwardness and insecurity. I brought my daughter and she felt the same way - she related entirely, emotionally she felt it was very modern. It is beautifully staged, brilliantly cast and for two hours and forty minutes took us absolutely away from all our worries. Recommendation: If you can get tickets, do. A rare Foxa 5* Side note: There was some adventurous hat-wearing in the audience. Couldn't put my finger on it at the time but this sums it up for me too. Loved it |
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1,502 posts
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Post by foxa on Dec 20, 2016 9:16:03 GMT
I'm still thinking about it two days later, so really enjoying reading others' positive responses.
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5,812 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Dec 21, 2016 23:00:38 GMT
Saw it tonight- dreadful.
Ugly cheap set. Scarlett Strallen is utterly wrong. Playing it like Mary Poppins.
All of the accents are problematic, worst one- Katherine Kingsley mangling every joke.
And to think Jane Krakowski was so sexy and effortless in the role in NYC.
One of my worst shows of the year.
Utterly charmless and a huge disappointment.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2016 0:21:24 GMT
Well I can controdict what mrbarnaby has said as I was there tonight at thought it was great!! It is a great feel good classic briwadway show that has made me feel very Christmassy. I went in knowing the rough plot and a few of the songs but nothing else but not really anything else. This show has definitely become one of the best this year for me. All the cast had great voices esspecilay Scarlett and Mark. I wasn't pleasantly surprised by Les Dennis as I did not think he would be that good but was actually great. Katherine was fun and loverble and in the scene where her and scarlet are packing up perfume she dropped some boxes that I do not know if it was ment to happen but she recovered it well. There were a few little mistakes which is the joy of live theatre as Domonic was ment to slam the door but it did not work and he played it off well and a few things fell of the stage. I think I also loved it more as I was front row so the cast were only feet away and in the 12 days of Christmas they were literally in front of me and things were thrown.
i also liked the shabby chic style set with the four revolves .
all in all this is a great show that you should check out with good songs, ,great set and costumes and a super cast .
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Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2016 0:29:00 GMT
Saw it tonight- dreadful. Ugly cheap set. Scarlett Strallen is utterly wrong. Playing it like Mary Poppins. All of the accents are problematic, worst one- Katherine Kingsley mangling every joke. And to think Jane Krakowski was so sexy and effortless in the role in NYC. One of my worst shows of the year. Utterly charmless and a huge disappointment. The way you type and the way you write your posts, are you sure you are not Parsley? |
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364 posts
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Post by dazzerlump on Dec 22, 2016 0:51:17 GMT
Well I for one am really looking forward to seeing this on stage having never got round to seeing when Ruthie did it a few years back. I've always really liked the score but having never seen the show Im unsure what the book will be like, however I do know roughly what the plot will be
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Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2016 1:00:17 GMT
When you hear the new Broadway recording
The Menier version does seem rather pallid
Poorly sung
And badly orchestrated
I have been listening to the new recording
It's quite good
I don't think the Menier version does justice to the songs
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8,103 posts
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Post by alece10 on Dec 22, 2016 7:14:35 GMT
Saw it tonight- dreadful. Ugly cheap set. Scarlett Strallen is utterly wrong. Playing it like Mary Poppins. All of the accents are problematic, worst one- Katherine Kingsley mangling every joke. And to think Jane Krakowski was so sexy and effortless in the role in NYC. One of my worst shows of the year. Utterly charmless and a huge disappointment. Although I disagree with your comments about the show I realise we can't all like the same things. However I have to take issue with your comment that the set is "ugly and cheap". The set is glorious and has 4 revolves. What is ugly and cheap about it? This is a small fringe theatre not The Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Most critics and forum members who have seen the show have commented on it have praised the sets. Best set I've seen at the Menier. |
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5,812 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Dec 22, 2016 9:20:30 GMT
No- I'm sorry but it's not. It's badly built and doesn't fit together properly. The idea of the 4 revolves is neat and works well, but it's not attractive at all. They have tiny budgets though so I'm not surprised and they certainly try their best, but after seeing the admittedly much bigger Broadway budget version, this just feels all a bit sad. I wouldn't mind the physical production if the performances were better. Umbers is good (as always).. but after feeling Strallen was brilliant, I left feeling that actually she's very limited as an actress. After she's played the Barbara Cook roles , what will she do? Her whole performance was so Sylvia Young/musical theatre in the worst possible way. And Les Dennis was spectacularly awful. I won't go all 'Half a Sixpence' on it, and I'm glad if others enjoyed it, but I expected so much more. Saw it tonight- dreadful. Ugly cheap set. Scarlett Strallen is utterly wrong. Playing it like Mary Poppins. All of the accents are problematic, worst one- Katherine Kingsley mangling every joke. And to think Jane Krakowski was so sexy and effortless in the role in NYC. One of my worst shows of the year. Utterly charmless and a huge disappointment. Although I disagree with your comments about the show I realise we can't all like the same things. However I have to take issue with your comment that the set is "ugly and cheap". The set is glorious and has 4 revolves. What is ugly and cheap about it? This is a small fringe theatre not The Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Most critics and forum members who have seen the show have commented on it have praised the sets. Best set I've seen at the Menier. |
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1,485 posts
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Post by Steve on Dec 22, 2016 14:17:15 GMT
Loved Foxa's review!!! This show is less vanilla ice cream, and more chocolate pralines and cream with caramel, a guilty moreish pleasure that had me rushing to buy tickets to see it again and as gifts! Guilty, because I see where Parsley's coming from when he says this show is "dated." The they-hate-each-other-because-they-love-each-other romantic comedy formula has been frozen in aspic since at least 1934, when Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert wittily hated on each other in the movie "It Happened One Night." Miklos Laszlo created his spin on the formula, three years later, Parfumerie, on which this musical was based. This is the sort of wish-fulfillment you'd find on a perfume box, and the show is as trivial and seductive as sweet smelling perfume, which is probably why Laszlo set it in a perfume shop. But life would be distressing (Trump, Brexit and Leonard Cohen's exit feel particularly upsetting) without trivial beautiful distractions. And for me, this show is a perfect thing. At it's core is Scarlett Strallen's Amalia, who embodies Foxa's lovely description of herself as an "intense, bookish, awkward girl." The keyword is "intense." Strallen's roiling emotions explode her eyes out of her head as if on stalks. Lost in fiction, Strallen's Amalia is so angry at an imperfect real world, especially condescending men like Mark Umber's Georg, that she simmers, a head of steam surrounding her at all times, boiling over into brilliant eruptions of emotion, like "Where's my shoe?" This is an actress who is an expert at effortless intensity! Romantic comedy movies have been dead for at least 15 years, since the heady heyday of Four Weddings/Pretty Woman/Bridget Jones ended. Musicals fill this void, and this is the best of the genre, with Strallen's Amalia Balash the most endearing romantic comedy character I've seen in ages, a stage character who really really seems to need a hug. If the focus of Strallen is the "romantic" aspect of romantic comedy, the focus of Katherine Kingsley's Ilona is the "comedy." All coiled fury, like Strallen, but with added knowingness, Kingsley is like a spiteful shark, trawling for victims. Her abrupt cockney mannerisms, and impeccable comic timing, ground Kingsley's Ilona in a cynical wisdom of the commons, yet Kingsley simultaneously suggests with micro expressions of hurt, that tenderness lies beneath her scarlet-clad powerful predatory physicality. For that reason, she is as loveable a character as Strallen's. Her songs "I Resolve" and "At Trip to the Library" are laugh riots. Mark Umbers' gentlemanly demeanour and delivery seem to emanate from another time, and coupled with Georg's chippiness, his Georg feels appropriately Cary Grant, the ideal romantic comedy protagonist. Slightly too much the gentleman, Umbers' Georg's passions need a tad more stirring, but Umber's winsome charm is a magic ingredient, for me, that lifts this show out of our gaudy present into a genuinely sparkling world of fantasy. Cory English is hysterical as the Waiter, his precise pernickety pickiness in complete contrast to the chaos of the choreography around him. I had belly laughs for his scenes, and will be interested to see how Norman Pace essays the role when he takes over later in the run. Alastair Brookshaw is youthful joy incarnate, a toothy grinning lump of geniality that supplies the sugar in his depressed boss, Maraczek's bitter crunchy pralines. Les Dennis is elemental casting as Maraczek, but if playing a depressed cuckold is a bit on-the-knuckle and Dennis' range never seems to stretch far beyond, his presence gives the show that bitter undertone that deepens the formulaic plot machinations, a tether of dark reality for this kite of a show, that poignantly we must return to when it finally stops flying. Dominic Tighe sings wonderfully as Ilona's partner and nemesis, Kodaly, but he is better at performing the caddishness she now resents than the seductive surface that must have enticed her in the first place. He needs to borrow a whisker of Umbers' charm to thoroughly convince. The songs in this show are wall to wall winners from Scene Four's "Tonight at Eight" through to "Grand Knowing You" towards the end of Act 2. That is about 15 brilliant songs in row, the best run of great songs I can think of anywhere. They are smart, witty and offbeat, spanning the grandeur of illuminating the smallness of the Earth compared to a vast Universe to the specific smallness of hunting down the location of a shoe. These are timeless lyrics, even if the romanticism of the core story is dated by it's fantasy. But this is a fantasy I have already booked to return to, and apart from "Funny Girl," I haven't done that for any show (I can think of) this year. I look forward to experiencing again Scarlet Strallen's intensity, Mark Umber's charm, Katherine Kingsley's comic timing, Sheldon Harnick's lyrics, and Jerry Bock's 15-in-a-row peerless melodies. With this moreish show, one more trip still may not be enough. 5 stars.  |
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1,502 posts
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Post by foxa on Dec 22, 2016 19:29:58 GMT
Great review, Steve (we expect no less from you.) Absolutely true about the run of great songs - at the interval, I said to my daughter (with a sense of disbelief): 'There are still so many wonderful songs to come.'
And adding to my enjoyment I tweeted something positive about the show which Mark Umbers liked and then replied to using my name AND with a smiley face. Heaven.
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1,485 posts
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Post by Steve on Dec 23, 2016 10:20:09 GMT
Oops, sorry. I meant Callum Howells above, when I referred to Alastair Brookshaw. (It's too late to edit the post above). Alastair Brookshaw came across as sly and furtive, half weasel, half squirrel, but managed to come across as a likeable human regardless, perhaps because he gave himself so totally to his "Perspective" number. Foxa, Mark Umbers' smiley face is the best smiley face. |
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581 posts
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Post by princeton on Dec 23, 2016 22:13:53 GMT
I'm afraid I'm in the disappointed camp. It's a show I know and love - but I agree with Mr Barnaby this really did lack charm. It all felt rather over earnest yet at the same rather course. Most of the performances were fine - with particularly strong ones from Callum Howells and Mark Umbers. I felt both of the women were badly directed and came across as harsh rather than sympathetic - which is a shame as I've liked them both in many other roles. Scarlett Strallen can sing very well - but she's not a natural at comedy and it felt rather rather effortful, and while Katherine Kingsley is a gifted comedienne this performances felt quite broad for such a delicate piece. It may be because I loved Laura Benanti and Jane Krakowski in the recent New York revival who fully mined both the comedy and the pathos in what I thought were pitch- perfect performances - and maybe I'm unfairly comparing two different productions.
However I'm glad that it's being revived - and I'm glad the many people are enjoying it - as it's a show which deserves to be seen by a new audience.
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217 posts
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Post by zsazsa on Jan 4, 2017 23:24:53 GMT
Saw this tonight and loved it. I have owned and loved the Ruthie Henshall recording for many years but this was the first opportunity I have had to see it.
A charming show and I enjoyed all the performances.
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4,021 posts
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Post by Dawnstar on Jan 7, 2017 15:38:36 GMT
Cancelled this afternoon due to "technical difficulties". Apparently the revolve rather than the Funny Girl sort! I now have 4 hours in London with nothing to do as the Menier's 3.30pm start time makes it far too late to get to any other matinee. Jolly hacked off.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2017 15:42:11 GMT
Cancelled this afternoon due to "technical difficulties". Apparently the revolve rather than the Funny Girl sort! I now have 4 hours in London with nothing to do as the Menier's 3.30pm start time makes it far too late to get to any other matinee. Jolly hacked off. As would I be!! Hoping its sorted for the coming weeks when I see the show!
Did you get a refund or exchange?
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4,021 posts
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Post by Dawnstar on Jan 7, 2017 16:48:31 GMT
Exchanged for near the end of February. Not as good a seat but I guess I should be glad it isn't sold out, unlike many Menier musicals.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2017 21:11:01 GMT
Show went ahead tonight but it was a concert version of the show instead of full show
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