The Last Ship - Tour

[talkstageytome]

True. Critics and audiences reactions were definitely mixed.

[westendcub]

Adore the score, it's so beautiful and epic..I hope it gets a life on the fringe scene, would love to see it.

[Michael]

Sept 20, 2016 21:12:23 GMT @pointone said:

This is just one person's opinion.

Who, opposed to you, has actually seen the show.

Sept 20, 2016 21:12:23 GMT @pointone said:

I've read lots of opinions from people who absolutely loved it. 

And that's why it had such a long and successful run on Broadway. If Sting's name hadn't been attached to this show, it'd have never seen the light of day.

[Michael]

Sept 20, 2016 21:12:23 GMT @pointone said:

This is just one person's opinion. I've read lots of opinions from people who absolutely loved it. 

Sure. It was just me. Just a few quotes from the show's review thread on BWW.

I think dreary is an excellent word for it. The first act is quite dull, but act two improves with the actual advancement of the plot. The songs sound similar and often have a monotonous quality to them, although there a few numbers that rise about the rest.

The plot (what there is of it) and milieu is extremely derivative of several shows we've just seen, including Kinky Boots and especially Billy Elliot and Fanny.

Plotholes abound with how exactly they're going to build this ship, but just like Noah's ark it will find a way to be built I guess.

I wish I had liked it more, but I just couldn't warm to the characters and care about their plight. I was a big fan of Billy Elliot and shed many a tear at the Imperial, but these people left me cold.

I was there tonight, and while I can find a few things to praise, I think dreary is again a great word. At intermission, dull, and pointless were the words that came to mind.

We have a central story line that makes little sense. There is no real reason for them to be building that ship, and even less of a reason to then sail said ship around the world.

Couple that with Michael Esper's character who is extremely unlikable (despite a committed and very strong performance from Michael) and also has no reason for hanging around.

That said, this play left me empty. With no real justification for building the ship, I simply couldn't care whether they built it or not, and a relationship that could never work, I couldn't deal with the constant will they won't they of the central couple.

It is a great looking show (the set is gorgeous, and the final scene of the show is quite thrilling), but I wish there was a heart and a brain to back it up.

I completely agree that nothing about the ship building makes sense.

The plot, stock and clichéd, travels an unhurried road to nowhere, all the while turning around in circles. The music is endurable though unmemorable. The lyrics were flat and obvious.

it dragged, and Gideon was a completely unlikable character who joined the workers for incredibly selfish reasons.

How it can be classed as a masterpiece is laughable.

As others have mentioned, the weak book is disappointing, considering how top-shelf (imho) everything else is, but not disastrous. (Weaknesses being: Thinly drawn individual characters with little emotional pull. Dubious/confusing nature of the "last ship" enterprise. Slight "been here/done this" plot elements.)

From the start, I had no sympathy for Gideon and the plot rarely had any moments to lift it out of the pit of depressing cynicism. To me, building the ship and the finale just didn't add up to a real payoff. It all just felt cliched and contrived.

I really wanted to like this show. Sting is one of my favorite musicians. But, apart from the set, I didn't enjoy the book or music. The ensemble felt like they were frequently screaming and stomping or told to sing like they are drunk.

It's the book that is severely lacking. At the end of act 1 I couldn't help but say, "Wow....not much happening in the story huh?

I have mixed feelings. I can't imagine this will catch on. I saw quite a few people looking around the theater or gazing off, etc. The score has some nice moments and some rather dull moments.

The book as mentioned is pretty terrible. How these two talented men wrote such a dull, uninteresting story is beyond me. If this were having an out of town tryout or a workshop, I'd say they should just reverse the story and give more attention to Meg. Her story is more interesting. All we know of Gideon is that he hated his father, and he traveled a lot. That's about it. Surely there are more layers to him than that?

The show's plot is so nonsensical it's not even given on it's Wikipedia page, which may be a first for a major Broadway musical. I suspect Sting is surrounded with only yes people.

[talkstageytome]

I don't think offense was meant by 'that's just one person's opinion'. But yes, what you wrote and collected from elsewhere does echo what a lot of my friends who saw the show also said. Sure lots of people liked it too, but it was clearly a flawed show and a lot of people picked up in that, or else it would've managed a bit more than 3 months on Broadway, I imagine. Especially with Sting's name attatched. Still its a shame you didn't enjoy it Michael.

[Mr Snow]

Sept 19, 2016 17:44:00 GMT @pointone said:

Sept 19, 2016 17:32:22 GMT talkstageytome said:

I love the cast album too! I actually played one of the songs on the ipad in the theatre cafe today, funnily enough. I do agree it probably would be done a bit better in England, but I never saw it and do recall people saying that the story itself was flawed. Gorgeous songs though. I'd love to see a production over here!

I read somewhere that they were planning on doing rewrites anyway to tackle the flawed story problem. But apparently the biggest problem was simply getting people into the theatre. From what I've heard and read, most people who actually saw the show loved it so much and said it was one of the most beautiful things they'd ever seen. But of course it's no Wicked or The Lion King with big sparkly ensemble songs that draw huge crowds. But if you have a cast with Rachel Tucker and possibly Sting (or alternatively Jimmy Nail) in London, I think they should be able to have a good run at the very least. 

Mention of Jimmy Nail should shurely be reserved for this thread?
theatreboard.co.uk/thread/1598/musical-stars-who-whisper-sing

[Deleted]

Sept 21, 2016 4:08:12 GMT Michael said:

Sept 20, 2016 21:12:23 GMT @pointone said:

This is just one person's opinion.

Who, opposed to you, has actually seen the show.

Sept 20, 2016 21:12:23 GMT @pointone said:

I've read lots of opinions from people who absolutely loved it. 

And that's why it had such a long and successful run on Broadway. If Sting's name hadn't been attached to this show, it'd have never seen the light of day.

I never said it was perfect. Of course there's probably still work to be done, but I think the score has potential.

[Michael]

Sept 22, 2016 7:31:44 GMT @pointone said:

Of course there's probably still work to be done, but I think the score has potential.

Admittedly, one can argue about the score. If you like a ballad-heavy score, you might actually enjoy it, but I didnt't and found it awful. Most of the songs are slow-tempo ballads that all sound same-y and are repeated and reprised way too often. There are a few okay-ish tunes, but most of them aren't theatre material. The only good-ish number is the women's act 2 opening number (but the entire number was completely out of place).

The book, however, is a mess and needs a complete rewrite. As someone on BWW has suggested, have the story focus on Meg instead of Gideon as she's a much better and more interesting character. Better carve out the motivations of everyone to build the ship. Make Gideon more likeable. And lastly, and most importantly, close all the huge plot holes. And by huge I mean Donald Trump's wall huge.

Again, taken from BWW:

How exactly were they sneaking into the shipyard to build this ship all the time? After they were arrested at the end of act one, don't you think the new owners would hire a few security guards to watch the yard? And even if they were slipping in with the cover of darkness don't you think they would notice some big ship suddenly assembled during the daylight hours? I mean this wasn't The Last Rowboat- they were building a huge ship! Maybe some dialogue needs to be added that Lazar was in charge of the security and he was allowing them to build it and not reporting back to the new owners. Makes his character more interesting too.

How were they financing all this? I know Fred Applegate was dipping into some of the church funds, but surely that wasn't going to be enough to build (and design) this whole ship, not to mention all the food and supplies they would need to stock the ship for the duration of the journey. Perhaps it could be suggested that Esper's father had set aside a stash of money and he had requested they use it to build a boat.

Speaking of design- who designed the thing? These men, as far as we were told, were laborers and builders. There's a big difference between building the physical pieces of the ship and actually being the architect of the vessel.

The motivation to build the ship in the first place just felt very weak. Applegate suggests it and everyone's just like, ok, well I guess we don't have anything else to do. I know this would greatly cut down on Applegate's role, but what if he died at the end of the first act instead of during the second, and it was his dying wish that they build one last ship. That would certainly give the town a more emotional and personal reason to do this for him.

[Deleted]

Sept 22, 2016 15:20:02 GMT Michael said:

Sept 22, 2016 7:31:44 GMT @pointone said:

Of course there's probably still work to be done, but I think the score has potential.

Admittedly, one can argue about the score. If you like a ballad-heavy score, you might actually enjoy it, but I didnt't and found it awful. Most of the songs are slow-tempo ballads that all sound same-y and are repeated and reprised way too often. There are a few okay-ish tunes, but most of them aren't theatre material. The only good-ish number is the women's act 2 opening number (but the entire number was completely out of place).

The book, however, is a mess and needs a complete rewrite. As someone on BWW has suggested, have the story focus on Meg instead of Gideon as she's a much better and more interesting character. Better carve out the motivations of everyone to build the ship. Make Gideon more likeable. And lastly, and most importantly, close all the huge plot holes. And by huge I mean Donald Trump's wall huge.

Again, taken from BWW:

How exactly were they sneaking into the shipyard to build this ship all the time? After they were arrested at the end of act one, don't you think the new owners would hire a few security guards to watch the yard? And even if they were slipping in with the cover of darkness don't you think they would notice some big ship suddenly assembled during the daylight hours? I mean this wasn't The Last Rowboat- they were building a huge ship! Maybe some dialogue needs to be added that Lazar was in charge of the security and he was allowing them to build it and not reporting back to the new owners. Makes his character more interesting too.

How were they financing all this? I know Fred Applegate was dipping into some of the church funds, but surely that wasn't going to be enough to build (and design) this whole ship, not to mention all the food and supplies they would need to stock the ship for the duration of the journey. Perhaps it could be suggested that Esper's father had set aside a stash of money and he had requested they use it to build a boat.

Speaking of design- who designed the thing? These men, as far as we were told, were laborers and builders. There's a big difference between building the physical pieces of the ship and actually being the architect of the vessel.

The motivation to build the ship in the first place just felt very weak. Applegate suggests it and everyone's just like, ok, well I guess we don't have anything else to do. I know this would greatly cut down on Applegate's role, but what if he died at the end of the first act instead of during the second, and it was his dying wish that they build one last ship. That would certainly give the town a more emotional and personal reason to do this for him.

Yeah, I never saw it so I can't comment on the book. But I did hear they were planning on rewriting it. I can only say that based on that score I thought it could turn out to be a pretty good musical.

[paplazaroo]

Sting is announcing the new season at Northern stage soon featuring big news from sting, I wonder what that could be...

[sf]

Oct 16, 2017 14:48:00 GMT paplazaroo said:

Sting is announcing the new season at Northern stage soon featuring big news from sting, I wonder what that could be...

"Dune: The Musical" or a return to the role of Macheath?

(Sometimes I'm serious. Judge for yourself whether this is one of those times.)

[Deleted]

Oct 16, 2017 16:15:21 GMT sf said:

Oct 16, 2017 14:48:00 GMT paplazaroo said:

"Dune: The Musical" or a return to the role of Macheath?

(Sometimes I'm serious. Judge for yourself whether this is one of those times.)

Dune: The Musical would be f***ing awesome.

[Deleted]

Just ran Muad'Dib through the rhyming dictionary.

If anything, it highlights the weaknesses of the rhyming dictionary.

[martin1965]

Oct 16, 2017 16:18:12 GMT @cmonfeet said:

Oct 16, 2017 16:15:21 GMT sf said:

"Dune: The Musical" or a return to the role of Macheath?

(Sometimes I'm serious. Judge for yourself whether this is one of those times.)

Dune: The Musical would be f***ing awesome.

Wouldnt it just? That film is def one of all time guilty pleasures!

[firefingers]

There is Sting musical being workshopped in a West End house this week... It's not The Last Ship. Or at least isn't named as such.

[martin1965]

I know noone else on here would have seen it but noticed on Match of the Day that both Sting and Jimmy Nail were at Newcastle's game. Might mean something...

[theatremadness]

This UK tour seems to have come out of nowhere....or did I miss something?? thelastshipmusical.co.uk/holding.html

[Deleted]

Oct 29, 2017 20:25:31 GMT theatremadness said:

This UK tour seems to have come out of nowhere....or did I miss something?? thelastshipmusical.co.uk/holding.html

There'll be a press release tomorrow probably, when it goes on sale.

[Being Alive]

First I’ve heard of it too, but brilliant! I always wanted to see it!

[Deleted]

Oct 29, 2017 20:25:31 GMT theatremadness said:

This UK tour seems to have come out of nowhere....or did I miss something?? thelastshipmusical.co.uk/holding.html

Great news!

[theatremadness]

I think someone might have scheduled that tweet a day early. That website says tickets on sale 30th Oct, but Northern Stage says tickets don't go on sale until 9th Nov and most of the 'Book Tickets' links don't work or redirect to an error page!

[sf]

This is what is known as a dilemma. On the one hand, I am sincerely curious about this show. On the other, I am deeply, deeply reluctant to allow any of my money to end up in Sting's pocket, and not just because of that concert he played in Uzbekistan a few years ago.

Interesting, though, that it's kicking off at Northern Stage. That's what they should have done in the first place.

[shady23]

Oct 29, 2017 20:33:39 GMT theatremadness said:

I think someone might have scheduled that tweet a day early. That website says tickets on sale 30th Oct, but Northern Stage says tickets don't go on sale until 9th Nov and most of the 'Book Tickets' links don't work or redirect to an error page!

The Northern Stage have been desperately trying to flog their memberships over the last few weeks, this is why. They will get some kind of pre sale for the tickets this week.

[Deleted]

Guess they will be trying to bring this to the west end as no dates near London. Looking forward to seeing it if this is the Vaseline.

[Deleted]

Very happy that this show is finally getting another chance. I love the music. Sadly enough I probably won't be able to see the tour, but I'm hoping it will turn into a London run.