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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2016 9:45:19 GMT
Yeah, but with somewhere like the National that's very good about taking tickets back, it's worth booking everything - especially if you can get a nicely-priced ticket - then worrying later about whether you truly want to go or not. After all, our time on this planet is finite, and life's too short to waste on dull plays. I'm still going to see Amadeus so I can make my own mind up, but I'd never sneer at someone who decided to do the opposite (unless they later decided they were perfectly able to cast judgement on the production without having seen it, in which case I'd definitely join you in the sneer fest). Touchy. Its not sneering, its wondering why people would buy a ticket and then return it on the back of one online review of the first preview. If they are that easily influenced into deciding what to do with their time then theatre probably isnt the appropriate medium. Its really not hard to understand. But you probably cant see that from your position of moral superiority. ...and people who book everything at the National and then worry later about truly wanting to go, what a bunch of horrible bastards. I thought all swear was automatically bleeped out on here! sh*t wank tit f*** poo |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2016 9:57:56 GMT
I thought all swear was automatically bleeped out on here! sh*t wank tit f*** poo You can bypass the *** filter by posting from Scotland. |
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Post by lynette on Oct 22, 2016 22:58:39 GMT
We noticed a couple of lines that weren't there so to speak, from the production we saw at the NT years ago, whenever it was.
Good show. Good use of the large stage. Great cast. Wonderful use of the musicians- fab understated bit at the very end when they put on their coats to go. What a play, eh? V 'theatrical', melodramatic at the end but earned, two stonking parts for blokes and a decent one for a gal. I was ever so slightly troubled at the end of the first half that he hadn't nailed it but then in the second half he upped it a gear, internalised it more/better and ran off with the prize at the end. Standing ovation at the end. Not me, bad back at the moment ( thank you for your sympathy) but I very much enjoyed it. Sooooo sad, so sad.
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Post by Phantom of London on Oct 23, 2016 15:22:28 GMT
Was we had the same evening performance last night Lyne?
Anyway I got out at 10:35.
An absorbing enjoyable play, thought the bloke who played Salieri was excellent, the bloke who played Mozart over-hammed it for me.
3 stars
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Post by lynette on Oct 23, 2016 15:33:28 GMT
Was we had the same evening performance last night Lyne? Anyway I got out at 10:35. An absorbing enjoyable play, thought the bloke who played Salieri was excellent, the bloke who played Mozart over-hammed it for me. 3 stars I was wearing the badge! We were in the stalls. I think the Mozart performance is written in as it were. I'd give 4/5 stars. |
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Post by peelee on Oct 23, 2016 15:48:05 GMT
I've been looking forward to this for a while, and will be seeing the play this coming Wednesday.
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Post by Phantom of London on Oct 23, 2016 18:11:09 GMT
I didn't have my badge but was in the circle, came down to the stalls for the interval, you wasn't eating an apple in the interval was you?
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Post by bordeaux on Oct 24, 2016 11:08:15 GMT
Did someone higher up ask whatever happened to F. Murray Abraham? Well, he's appearing at the Ustinov at the back of the Theatre Royal Bath next spring in a new play by Daniel Kehlmann called The Mentor, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Laurence Boswell. I imagine they're hoping for Zeller-like success if they're casting a big name like Abraham.
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Post by martin1965 on Oct 24, 2016 11:58:13 GMT
Did someone higher up ask whatever happened to F. Murray Abraham? Well, he's appearing at the Ustinov at the back of the Theatre Royal Bath next spring in a new play by Daniel Kehlmann called The Mentor, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Laurence Boswell. I imagine they're hoping for Zeller-like success if they're casting a big name like Abraham. Amazing news! Saw him as Shylock in the RSC complete works almost ten years ago now. Will be booking for that😉 |
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Post by couldileaveyou on Oct 24, 2016 13:56:53 GMT
Happy birthday to him, btw!
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Post by stitcher on Oct 25, 2016 12:14:42 GMT
Left at interval I'm afraid. Actor playing Salieri didn't carry it enough for me and made it seem interminable. Wanted to do a Julie Walters Piecrust Players "drop the Italian, it's not coming over"... Didn't mind the annoying Mozart (that's the point, surely?), and the wife's characterisation made sense to me - though all the characterisations seemed pretty one-dimensional...
Lovely playing, though they took the serenade at a lick so the relevant bits referred to in the text had already gone by. And I really enjoyed the club orchestration of the New Year's party. Great staging, particularly at end of Act 1 - I get the whole Amadeus as punk thing (pink DMs, etc), but getting a bit tired of seeing 18th Century on stage as influenced by Westwood and Galliano. If you're going to reinterpret the period, do something new.
There were many aspects I enjoyed in terms of staging and the music, but I'm sorry to say I was bored at points, and not interested enough to return. Half a review!
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Post by wickedgrin on Oct 25, 2016 14:24:06 GMT
A very "mixed bag" of a production for me. Clearly a packed house had come to see a great play and it is. This is not a "great" production though although it did have some stunning moments.
It was wonderful to hear the music played live by an orchestra who were used very cleverly throughout with some stunning tableau sequences especially at the end of Act 1 but also there were some really clumsy shuffling on and off with chairs and music stands which was really messy - which sums up the "mixed bag" description of the production. They clearly had tidied these up though as the show came down at 10.25 even after a slightly late start - so clearly things have been tightened up since first previews.
I was unsure of the modern dress elements, mainly at the start and end of the show. The entire cast at the end dressed in modern dress for the curtain call (almost ready to walk straight out of the stage door) with the exception of Salieri and Mozart. The orchestra dressed in black modern dress throughout. Some stunning staging and then less successful scenes.
Performance wise I thought Mozart (Adam Gillen) and Constanze (his wife - Karl Crome currently seen in ITV's The Level) were superb. Less taken with Lucian Msamati as Salieri - small in stature and for me he did not have the vocal power to thrill in the role. So again a "mixed bag". The rest of the cast unfortunately have little to do.
Needless to say it was a very "NT" production with a massive cast and orchestra with gorgeous period costumes and shoes etc. which a commercial management can only dream of. Every resource thrown at it.
So a very "different" production - not without it's merits and I enjoyed most of it, but not without flaws for me. It will be interesting to see what the critics make of it.
A packed house gave it a warm reception with a few people standing but I got the impression that most people struggled with the length and were anxious to get home.
On an aside note I loathe the National Theatre itself - it takes AGES to get out of the Olivier theatre!
3.5 stars for me.
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Post by lynette on Oct 25, 2016 19:30:43 GMT
I didn't have my badge but was in the circle, came down to the stalls for the interval, you wasn't eating an apple in the interval was you? Nah, no apple. I was standing up,trying to stretch legs. Sorry we missed each other |
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Post by lynette on Oct 25, 2016 19:32:40 GMT
Left at interval I'm afraid. Actor playing Salieri didn't carry it enough for me and made it seem interminable. Wanted to do a Julie Walters Piecrust Players "drop the Italian, it's not coming over"... Didn't mind the annoying Mozart (that's the point, surely?), and the wife's characterisation made sense to me - though all the characterisations seemed pretty one-dimensional... Lovely playing, though they took the serenade at a lick so the relevant bits referred to in the text had already gone by. And I really enjoyed the club orchestration of the New Year's party. Great staging, particularly at end of Act 1 - I get the whole Amadeus as punk thing (pink DMs, etc), but getting a bit tired of seeing 18th Century on stage as influenced by Westwood and Galliano. If you're going to reinterpret the period, do something new. There were many aspects I enjoyed in terms of staging and the music, but I'm sorry to say I was bored at points, and not interested enough to return. Half a review! Pity, it actually got better after the interval I thought. The Italian accent thing, yes, hmm, maybe problematic but it made him an outsider in the Viennese court. |
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Post by willonthebill on Oct 26, 2016 8:36:20 GMT
I'm due to see the show tomorrow night but I'm currently struck down with a terrible cough. This sounds like an odd question, but is there a lot of music/noise underscoring the show generally? Or any applause breaks in Act 1? If it's very quiet dialogue scenes and I need to cough, I don't want to be a distraction. I was at Ragtime last night, which meant I could have a little cough now and then in applause breaks and not disturb anyone. (weird question I know!)
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Post by wickedgrin on Oct 26, 2016 8:59:51 GMT
No applause breaks and a very quiet attentive audience on Monday evening. Lots of dialogue and the orchestra is not over amplified. Sorry, so you might struggle.
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Post by popcultureboy on Oct 26, 2016 9:25:58 GMT
So I saw this last night. Missing the Sheen & Suchet revival at the Old Vic years back is one of my big theatre regrets and so I was hopeful this revival would do something to ease my regret. But nope. It was....a disappointing evening. I lay the majority of the blame on Michael Longhurst, whose direction manages to be fussy, elaborate, clumsy, uncertain and intrusive all at the same time.
So, Salieri. Was it an Italian accent? He went super Italian whenever he said the name Mozart or was actually speaking Italian, but the rest of the time, no. His performance was mostly very one note, there was no charm, charisma, slyness, nothing. He got a little grief stricken in two overlong scenes at the end of each act, but other than that, his performance was the same flat line throughout. Unlike Gillen's take on the title character. Here, I can only imagine Longhurst's direction was "imagine you're Su Pollard dressed by Vivienne Westwood". I know he's meant to be childish and annoying, but ONLY to the people ON the stage, not the 1000 or so people sitting looking AT the stage. Tellingly, when he's conducting the orchestra, I really enjoyed watching him, he has a great physicality in those scenes. But every time he opened his mouth, I pretty much wanted to stab myself in the ear. In a surprise to nobody who's seen him in anything before ever, Tom Edden quietly steals every scene he is in.
And then there's the play. Criminally, I am going to say I don't think it has aged well. There are whole chunks of poorly shoehorned in exposition (and those two narrators were both VERY bad at delivering it) at the expense of any depth of character. A few times I thought "I'd rather read a book about Mozart than sit through this". And to give a play which clunks as often as this a staging which, well, clunks quite often, it doesn't make for the most enjoyable of times. The odd opening, with the pointed use of iPhones and half hearted modern touches like Krispy Kremes, and the seemingly endless repeating of "Salieri, Salieri", the bizarre dance versions of Mozart's music, the orchestra constantly milling about the place, wandering off and on, sometimes laying down for no reason at all, it made for a confusing, incoherent evening that was mostly dull.
Undoubtedly, it'll get 5 star raves tomorrow.
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Post by barelyathletic on Oct 26, 2016 10:17:25 GMT
Quite looking forward to seeing this next week. Amadeus was one of the first plays I saw in London as a student, with the late great Frank Finlay and Richard O'Callaghan as Salieri and Mozart. It made a vast impression on a 17 year-old, lapsed catholic gay boy. The problem with Shaffer's plays though is that their original productions were so iconic it's very difficult for any revival to get away from them. It looks (and sounds on here) as if the NT is at least trying to not replicate that great original, but in doing so they run the risk of it just not being very good. Worried that this might be the case, but, as it's now such a very long time since I saw that production, I'm hoping it might have something of the same effect if done with a fresh approach. Probably it will just be a glimmer of the original, but then the other half has never seen it on stage. It will be interesting to see what he thinks.
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Post by theatremadness on Oct 26, 2016 15:25:46 GMT
At Press Night tonight. I'm not special, was just at the right place & right time when Entry Pass tickets went on sale. Front row, too! Will keep an eye out for famous folk. Still excited to see it after some not-so-promising reviews on here, as it's still a play I'm really interested in seeing and I wasn't around when the original production was. Also doubly excited as I've been hooked on The Level on ITV, too!
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Post by theatremadness on Oct 26, 2016 19:32:48 GMT
Interval. I really am enjoying it immensely, but I've no other production to compare it too. The language of the play is so beautiful, so delicious. And it's being performed superbly, in my novice opinion. Orchestra are GLORIOUS.
Rufus Norris & Nicholas Hytner appeared on stage before the play began to speak about Peter Shaffer not being alive to see this production, and to both pay their respects to Howard Davies, who received a prolonged applause, and standing ovation from a few.
Can't wait to Act 2 now.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2016 23:58:24 GMT
They should have invited Peter Hall to shout in his dementia that tonight's production was dreadful and that his own was better.
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Post by showgirl on Oct 27, 2016 4:12:34 GMT
Undoubtedly, it'll get 5 star raves tomorrow. Perceptive prediction: Libby Purves (Theatrecat) has indeed rated it 5 and Ian Foster (Thereoughttobeclowns) has raved about it. Has it been transformed during previews or is it just a matter of taste? Having seen the Chichester production only late last year, I really wasn't anticipating the need to see another but am now wondering... |
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Post by Jan on Oct 27, 2016 6:27:02 GMT
They should have invited Peter Hall to shout in his dementia that tonight's production was dreadful and that his own was better. Cemented your place as the Frankie Boyle of the board with that one, but without the sense of humour or (I assume) the beard. |
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Post by stefy69 on Oct 27, 2016 6:29:18 GMT
Was looking forward to seeing this but now not so sure.
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Post by theatremad on Oct 27, 2016 10:28:24 GMT
OK so I saw this last night on Press Night (owing to a stroke of luck where two Friday Rush came back in the morning).
I'm going to go against the wind and say I loved this to bits, thought both Salieri and Mozart were superb and was transfixed by the staging. The moments of choral singing (especially the Requiem) left me a sobbing wreck combined with the words especially the Lacrimosa. This by no means is detrimental to the Opera sections which sent shivers up my spine.
The Ventecilli were believable, the court was excellent and the orchestra were fab.
My only small quip are the 'dance' versions of two pieces.
Yes, listen to all views, but go and make your own opinion as this is a marmite show.
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