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Post by Deleted on Aug 26, 2016 9:12:40 GMT
It's great that he's getting the attention, he's a genuinely marvellous leading man. The show wouldn't even be half as good as it is without him.
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Post by Nelly on Aug 26, 2016 9:23:31 GMT
It's great that he's getting the attention, he's a genuinely marvellous leading man. The show wouldn't even be half as good as it is without him. Agreed, he was the difference between 'yeah I might book for this' to 'Ahh yes I want to see him on stage again!'. I'd love for Andy and Orfeh (his wife) to do some sort of gig over here before he leaves. She's got a cracking voice and is generally hilarious too. |
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Post by charliec on Aug 27, 2016 18:31:42 GMT
Just seen this again, I love this show so much and will be very sad to see it go in a few weeks time.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2016 22:10:04 GMT
I was at the matinee as well today. What an amazing show. I'm very tempted to call it my NEW favourite musical! It would be awful if this didn't transfer to Broadway or the West End or both and release a cast recording. Andy Karl deserves all the praise he is getting, as does the rest of the company.
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Post by cmcphail on Aug 28, 2016 0:33:56 GMT
I was also at the matinee today. I wasn't a fan of Matilda at all, but I really loved this one. Andy Karl was brilliant, and I really enjoyed being able to see something brand new.
I really hope that we get a recording of this one.
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Post by andrew on Aug 28, 2016 13:09:13 GMT
Are there still day seats being sold for this? I've not seen anything go up online before the shows, has anyone had any luck at the box office?
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Post by cmcphail on Aug 28, 2016 14:11:23 GMT
Are there still day seats being sold for this? I've not seen anything go up online before the shows, has anyone had any luck at the box office? I asked about day seats at the box office yesterday and the woman I spoke to told me that they do day seats for every show. They have some set aside, and will also sell any returns at day seat price, which I think is £30. |
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 28, 2016 19:25:09 GMT
I'm another one who was at yesterday's matinee. I thought the book & production were excellent but I wasn't so sure about the music. It wasn't that I didn't like it but I didn't find any of it memorable - despite some of it re-occurring quite a lot! I can understand all the praise for Andy Karl & I do not envy his understudy; it's a huge role & he's hardly ever off-stage. Apart from Phil & Rita no-one else gets much of a look-in. I spent quite a lot of the show peering at the stage trying to identify various ensemble members who I've seen in other shows & mostly failed to do so. Is Matthew Malthouse still with the show? I couldn't see anyone that looked like him onstage.
Oh and Q34 was fine (apart from being a bit far from the stage for ensemble recognition!). The pillar rarely got in the way.
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Post by jampot on Aug 28, 2016 20:41:04 GMT
^ Hot dog seller...
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Post by supongo on Aug 28, 2016 22:57:33 GMT
Are there still day seats being sold for this? I've not seen anything go up online before the shows, has anyone had any luck at the box office? Last Friday around 10.45am at the box office they had a back row stalls ticket on offer at £30 which they said was normally £70 and a similar one in the circle. They said queue for the day seats usually starts about 9.30am. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2016 10:55:48 GMT
Add me to the utterly smitten with this musical pile! I actually can't remember the last new musical I loved this much. I'd happily move in and let it be a literal Groundhog Day every day for a while!
I don't really know Minchen's other work, having never watched his own stuff or seen Matlida, but I thought the writing was witty, interesting and the music while not 'sing along' style was still beautifully written. The staging also I thought was beautifully done, with some really clever set pieces and some amazingly choreographed scenes.
Andy Karl is rightly getting a lot of praise for his role, and he really pulls it all together, I'd been aware of him for a while but wasn't aware of just how good he is.
And my Mother, who has spent the last however many years telling me how much she hates the film utterly LOVED the musical, and now won't shut up about how much she loved it...Groundhog Day of a different sort...
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 29, 2016 19:14:16 GMT
I know from this thread that that's the role he was covering but I was wondering if he was still doing so as I wasn't sure if it was him on stage. Admittedly I was sitting well back & I'm short sighted so it may just be me! |
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Post by dippy on Aug 29, 2016 19:52:28 GMT
I know from this thread that that's the role he was covering but I was wondering if he was still doing so as I wasn't sure if it was him on stage. Admittedly I was sitting well back & I'm short sighted so it may just be me! When I saw it a couple of weeks ago I think he did pop up as the hot dog seller a couple of times but he wasn't the main one. He seemed to be sharing the role with someone else. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2016 7:41:47 GMT
Catching up on this thread now I've seen it, I also loved the illusions/clever staging that you're talking about. Most of them I worked out but still incredibly clever/thrilling staging.
A very nerdy thing I enjoyed also were all of the quick changes for the 'reset' back to the start of the day-working out the number of spare suits/ties etc and being amused at there being at least two overcoats-one with the scarf sewn on one without for the different 'days' in the show, for some reason really appealed to my nerdy sensabilities.
And for some reason I keep laughing to myself at the lyric sequence that said (paraphrased) "I once masturbated 7 times in one night in the bath, not bad for a man of my age (nice to know that I still can)"
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2016 8:57:57 GMT
Standing outside the Old Vic last night, I watched the hordes funnel their way into the theatre, and secretly tried to spot any Theatreboard members from their newly revealed profile pics: d’James in his leopard skin boots. Check. Took me a while to find our daniel - slim build and big bottom. (Got quite a few unwanted stares searching for him...) Check. And Monkey- donkey jacket, grey tufts of hair. (I was pretty sure that was Glenn Close in Burly’s picture but I am not going to argue with her Biggest Fan.) Check. A pretty high success rate for my first spot of spotting. I couldn’t remember for the life of me who I wasn’t to speak to under any circumstances, so I played safe and spoke to no-one, keeping myself to myself…
Wasn’t sure what to expect from Groundhog Day (I’ve never seen the film- just not my kind of thing. A bit zany. Is that word still used?) but I’d booked when it first came on sale, the initial draw being a new musical, at the Old Vic, rather than the creators of Matilda, a show I’d enjoyed but seen through as really a kids’ show in adult clothing. But I knew this would be a new show everyone would be talking about, and I didn’t want to miss out. I did, however, miss all the recent reviews, as I’d been away, so I went along with few expectations and nothing to lose…
I just LOVED it!
Set in Punxatawney, Pennsylvania (a quick look at the Wikipedia page reveals why weatherman Phil hates it so much…) on a set of differently decorated isobar backdrops, a B&B, a diner… and played on a series of revolves, this hugely talented and versatile cast play the same scene time and time again. A series of forever changing versions of the same scene, one after the other. A repeated day, and a kind of torment for smarmy, sarcastic anti-hero, Phil Connors, who must try and break the spell. Somehow. Without Dickens' ghosts to help him, he gradually realizes that there are things we have to change, change is good. Change can bring happiness. Look at the alternative…
Andy Karl is a gift to this piece. He is completely mesmerising. He also wears a very nice tight white vest, and has a good pair of legs so all was good on that front. The object of his affection, Associate Producer Rita, is played superbly by Carlysss Peer. Both are new to me… There’s an Another Suitcase moment at the start of Act Two, when Georgina Hagen delivers Being Nancy, a beautiful little ditty, not sung in the City. And the music too just keeps on delivering… some of it reminding us we are in the back end of the US of A, some of it teasing us into a tune before it disappears again to return later. There are touching ballads with clever, witty, poignant lyrics, and good old up-tempo numbers to hoof to. We even have a new take on Some Day My Prince Will Come, a nod to Disney’s Snow White, while the characters are snowed up. I hadn’t enjoyed the promotional song, released a while back, but it turns out it’s the last song we hear in the show, and it works. Perfectly.
Add to this some ingenious illusions, some wonderful staging and set pieces, and bucket-loads of snow, and I’d say this is a hit. Congratulations, Matthew Warchus, and to the whole of your team! It surely can’t disappear after a ten week season after all this time, effort and money has been spent on it. Can it?
To Tim Minchin, I’d say, I didn’t much care for your Judas a few years back, and it really is about time you got yourself a decent haircut, but I salute your musical writing talents. You have created something different and wonderfully refreshing. You made me laugh out loud and you made me cry. All within the space of one evening. And I will happily book for your next show, on the strength of your name alone.
One last word. A theatre first for me last night: not in forty years have I seen anyone bring their own ice-creams to the theatre. In individual cooler-bags. Family of four, mother, father, two twenty-something year old sons. (Yes, of course they had melted…)
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2016 9:06:36 GMT
Caiaphas firstly PLEASE meet Tim Minchin one day soon and say that to him haha (for the record I agree on both counts!) Secondly, agree with your review! Love the staging and can't stop thinking about it actually! Also loved Minchin's writing and am tempted to check out his own stuff now.
If I had time and money I'd be snapping up any ticket I could get to see it again, but instead I'm just crossing everything for the Broadway or London transfer.
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 30, 2016 18:48:28 GMT
When I saw it a couple of weeks ago I think he did pop up as the hot dog seller a couple of times but he wasn't the main one. He seemed to be sharing the role with someone else. No wonder I was confused! I'm still trying to make up my mind about "Playing Nancy". On the one hand it was perhaps my favourite song from a melody point of view while on the other hand it seemed least relevant song in the show. Maybe it would connect more if Nancy was given a bit more to do in Act 1? The show is very focused on the 2 leads at the expense of anyone else having anything more than a cameo. |
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Post by andrew on Aug 31, 2016 2:13:20 GMT
When I saw it a couple of weeks ago I think he did pop up as the hot dog seller a couple of times but he wasn't the main one. He seemed to be sharing the role with someone else. No wonder I was confused! I'm still trying to make up my mind about "Playing Nancy". On the one hand it was perhaps my favourite song from a melody point of view while on the other hand it seemed least relevant song in the show. Maybe it would connect more if Nancy was given a bit more to do in Act 1? The show is very focused on the 2 leads at the expense of anyone else having anything more than a cameo. But it probably wouldn't make as much sense if she was treated like a complete human being. Part of it revolves around there being this archetypal sexy female character who comes in to entice a main male character and then disappears off when the joke or moral is made. Even in something like this where they poke fun at it, they also poke fun of the fact that they also used on in the story, and thus also had to cast someone to play a very outdated stereotype. I'm still not sure whether or not it actually works in the context of the show, it's the sort of thing that most writers would surely feel compelled to cut as it does nothing to propel the plot, advance the themes of the show etc. It's an indulgence. But it's an indulgence that sticks with people, and like you say is a really lovely song. I think it's one of the quirks of a slightly quirky show, and it's nicer having it than not. |
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Post by kathryn on Aug 31, 2016 7:59:32 GMT
The gag doesn't work if Nancy is a lead. She needs to be a minor character for her solo to be a surprise to the audience.
Of course the surprise doesn't work for anyone who has read this thread or many of the reviews!
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Post by mallardo on Aug 31, 2016 17:04:50 GMT
I know from this thread that that's the role he was covering but I was wondering if he was still doing so as I wasn't sure if it was him on stage. Admittedly I was sitting well back & I'm short sighted so it may just be me!
Matthew Malthouse was not the hot dog seller today. He was Jeff, the café counter boy, the bartender, the religious fanatic in the quack cure number, and one of the lead dancers in the tap number in act two.
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 31, 2016 19:25:53 GMT
I know from this thread that that's the role he was covering but I was wondering if he was still doing so as I wasn't sure if it was him on stage. Admittedly I was sitting well back & I'm short sighted so it may just be me!
Matthew Malthouse was not the hot dog seller today. He was Jeff, the café counter boy, the bartender, the religious fanatic in the quack cure number, and one of the lead dancers in the tap number in act two.
At this rate I'll be wanting to see the show again just to try to spot Matthew Malthouse! It was much easier in Mrs Henderson but then there was, er, more of him visible so to speak ;-) |
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Post by andrew on Sept 2, 2016 1:44:48 GMT
Interestingly today my video of Playing Nancy was taken down due to a copyright claim from some random guy called "Tim Minchin". Not sure what right he has to the song, if any. A shame, but I'll live.
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Post by westendcub on Sept 2, 2016 9:02:06 GMT
Interestingly today my video of Playing Nancy was taken down due to a copyright claim from some random guy called "Tim Minchin". Not sure what right he has to the song, if any. A shame, but I'll live. Oh no I really enjoyed it too and listened on the daily but if it's a step closer to a cast album then I'm happy!! |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2016 12:43:13 GMT
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Post by theatremadness on Sept 2, 2016 13:22:12 GMT
Tickets are really like gold-dust on the website, most dates (including that extra Monday matinee) you can't even buy tickets for. Unless they're holding some back in a plan to release them soon due to "more phenomenal demand". Dunno. Either way, glad I got my 2nd visit in before the reviews made such an impact!
On another note, I watched the film for the very first time last night with my parents. It was just absolutely fantastic and Bill Murray is such a genius....but I think I prefer the musical!!
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