171 posts
|
Post by moelhywel on Nov 10, 2016 23:48:43 GMT
Just back from seeing this at the B'ham Hippodrome and really enjoyed it. Very traditional production but really well performed. Claire Wild, who had to step into the role of Lilli Vanessa/Katherine last week in Southampton, was excellent but thought Quirijn de Lang as Fred Graham/Petruchio a little under powered at times, although still good.Thoroughly recommended for anyone who can get to the remaining performances in B'ham this week or Llandudno or Cardiff the end of the month or in December. Be warned, however, that it's a long evening as it ran over by 20 minutes tonight and didn't finish until 10.40.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2016 0:35:32 GMT
I did kind of fancy seeing this considering the cheap tickets they do for under 30s as I've never seen Kiss Me Kate before (maybe it was a little be of me getting wrapped up with the whole Shakespeare400 thing and watching Rufus Hound and Henry Goodman do "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" on the RSC broadcast). But I was a bit disappointed with the WNO's Sweeney Todd last year as I thought it felt a bit slow and the evening had dragged, which sort of put me off, although Kiss Me Kate looks like a completely different style of musical than Sweeney which is almost operatic.
I wonder if the WNO are planning to do a musical every year now and what else they'll do. I may return to seeing one if they do (as I'm very unlikely to go to an actual opera! - as long as it's Jerry Springer or Threepenny), but also the amplification seemed to be a bit of a problem at the performance last year, which is understandable as they're an opera company, so I hope it has/will improve with every musical they do.
|
|
2,775 posts
|
Post by daniel on Nov 11, 2016 0:49:18 GMT
I did kind of fancy seeing this considering the cheap tickets they do for under 30s as I've never seen Kiss Me Kate before (maybe it was a little be of me getting wrapped up with the whole Shakespeare400 thing and watching Rufus Hound and Henry Goodman do "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" on the RSC broadcast). But I was a bit disappointed with the WNO's Sweeney Todd last year as I thought it felt a bit slow and the evening had dragged, which sort of put me off, although Kiss Me Kate looks like a completely different style of musical than Sweeney which is almost operatic. I wonder if the WNO are planning to do a musical every year now and what else they'll do. I may return to seeing one if they do (as I'm very unlikely to go to an actual opera! - as long as it's Jerry Springer or Threepenny), but also the amplification seemed to be a bit of a problem at the performance last year, which is understandable as they're an opera company, so I hope it has/will improve with every musical they do. I know that their plan was to do a musical every Autumn season, however Sweeney Todd and Kiss Me Kate haven't done as well as they'd hoped/thought they would, so KMK will be the last one, for now at least. |
|
4,020 posts
|
Post by Dawnstar on Nov 11, 2016 22:00:08 GMT
Be warned, however, that it's a long evening as it ran over by 20 minutes tonight and didn't finish until 10.40. So it ran 3h10? Oh dear, maybe I'd better re-think the train I intended to get back from Cardiff in December. When I saw Opera North do it in Nottingham last year I think it ran a bit under 3 hours so WNO seem to have managed to make the same production longer! |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2016 23:10:20 GMT
Surely the Rodgers and Hammerstein catalogue would fit in nicely with an opera company's resources and budget (not to mention legit trained voices) as Chicago Lyric Opera has proved. Wouldn't mind seeing a new Oklahoma! or indeed maybe a Fiddler (know it's not R&H) with Bryn once again?
|
|
312 posts
|
Post by macksennett on Nov 12, 2016 9:44:38 GMT
Am seeing it in a few weeks, but can't believe the running time is 3 hours or more! It's surely not that long!! Worried it's going to drag now...
|
|
