736 posts
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Post by dippy on Dec 10, 2017 4:31:01 GMT
I remember Handspring had human sized puppets for Titania and Oberon with in their co-production of A Midsummer's Night Dream and they were worked really well and I think that could have worked for Geppetto. I'm not saying human sized puppets can't work, I'm sure they work well but if Geppetto was human sized it wouldn't work for Pinocchio being adult sized, he'd have to be child sized (or a child sized puppet) along with all the other children and Jiminy would have to be even smaller. As it is children are adult sized, Jiminy is knee high sized and adults are bigger than humans. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2017 9:46:12 GMT
I was also there last night and I really loved everything about it. The show for me was just so magical and entertaining. I height everyone I'm the cast was good and especially liked Audrey Brisson as well as Joe Idris-Roberts. I also liked the use of the puppetry and did not feel the giant puppets were odd and just liked all the quite scary elements esspecilay the masked children. The stage effects were also very nice and even though I could see how some of them were done they wee still quite impressive.
the music was also really good but I still don't know wether to class it as a musical or play with music. Nothing obvious went wrong last night expect for a scene on the cliff were a coconut was meant to appease but that did get one of the biggest laughs. The end was also very moving and I just really loved everything in the show and for me I don't think much to anything needs changing.
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Post by Boob on Dec 10, 2017 11:16:11 GMT
Forgot to add, that by the fox only explaining why he was so horrid to Pinocchio until the very end meant we also couldnt really understand why he was doing this and made his actions seem random. I did enjoy the costume however, especially the moving tail! And his motivation for doing it doesn't make any sense! |
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423 posts
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Post by dlevi on Dec 12, 2017 23:55:51 GMT
I saw this tonight and was completely baffled by what was on stage. It's charmless, joyless and witless. Yes there are a few lovely visuals but seriously, what were supposed to take away from this? That pain makes us human? Merry Christmas kids! The performances while sincere, failed to create any sympathy for any of the characters. Now I haven't seen the film since I was very very young a long time ago, and it wasn't one I remember liking, but it couldn't have been as dull as this ( it was only 88 minutes long and this ( not counting the interval) is a little over two hours. The sheer lack of musical numbers also made the show seem off-kilter. And I know the National has its budget troubles but seriously the black spare stage doesn't look great, it looks as if we're waiting for the set arrive. Bleah.
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170 posts
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Post by paplazaroo on Dec 13, 2017 9:08:15 GMT
Oh dear, this isn’t great. The Tiffany team’s box of tricks that somehow worked for Let The Right One In, Glass Menagerie and even Harry Potter - namely the black backdrop, snow, folksy music and jerky movements just make this show look sparse and dull.
The puppets all seemed a bit grotesque and naff, like something a community centre would throw together for a fish quay Festival. They also set a bunch of rules within the production that they then break, like everyone is a puppet except Pinocchio. Except the kids who are wearing puppetish masks, except when they’re not in act 2.
Overall just a bit under developed in my opionion. Puppetry is alright but Audrey Brisson is so beautiful that I couldn’t take my eyes off her and barely saw Jiminy.
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4,959 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Dec 13, 2017 9:49:36 GMT
This show could really do with an opening number to set the scene. Also more songs are needed to be peppered throughout. Why doesn’t Pinocchio have a solo? Currently, each act could do with 10 minutes of dialogue trimmed.
In Johnathan Dove’s opera we see Pinocchio’s journey but also Gepeto’s anguish and despair, the tension mounts in a wonderful Peter Grimes pastiche complete with mad fisherman and wale-act 1 finale. We then don’t get to the wale till 11 o’clock spot but the tension has mounted fantastically. The opera is too episodic and feels longer than it is. Thankfully the NT production has a ‘good’ number of scenes.
Despite my negativity and thoughts of what we could of had, I throughly enjoyed it and cried at the end. The effects are really magical and I thought the actors playing Pin and Cricket were really brilliant.
Loved the scale the design brought and how this was carried out into the puppets but please less dialogue and more songs.
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4,959 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Dec 13, 2017 9:51:11 GMT
Oh dear, this isn’t great. The Tiffany team’s box of tricks that somehow worked for Let The Right One In, Glass Menagerie and even Harry Potter - namely the black backdrop, snow, folksy music and jerky movements just make this show look sparse and dull. The puppets all seemed a bit grotesque and naff, like something a community centre would throw together for a fish quay Festival. They also set a bunch of rules within the production that they then break, like everyone is a puppet except Pinocchio. Except the kids who are wearing puppetish masks, except when they’re not in act 2. Overall just a bit under developed in my opionion. Puppetry is alright but Audrey Brisson is so beautiful that I couldn’t take my eyes off her and barely saw Jiminy. Totally agree on the occasional puppet masks for the kids |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2017 10:03:07 GMT
The only sequence I didn't unfpderstand at all was when there was four triangle ladders that were slid around the stage by Ensemble with Pinocchio and Jiminy on. There was no real context as to what it was supposed to represent, or at least I didn't gage it. It was a nice song and looked good, but I just didn't get the reasoning for it.
Ooo and there was another part where six random ladders appeared at the back. Never used. I thought it was to represent trees, but to make that clearer, just bring the tree from the start back. That looked odd.
But other than those, I really enjoyed it haha.
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4,959 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Dec 13, 2017 10:32:43 GMT
Yes. The random ladders - emergency set?! Director too scared to have an empty stage
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5,799 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Dec 13, 2017 14:07:02 GMT
Really worried about this now. Was so looking forward to it.
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2,677 posts
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Post by viserys on Dec 13, 2017 14:29:04 GMT
Same here. Am considering tearing up my £15 front row ticket and go and see Woman in White after all.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2017 14:34:58 GMT
I'm dissapointed that some are considering not bothering to go or are dreading to go to what I found a charming and enjoyable evening, just go and see for yourself. Some have enjoyed it, some haven't, you never know.  |
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Post by profquatermass on Dec 13, 2017 15:22:42 GMT
Same here. Am considering tearing up my £15 front row ticket and go and see Woman in White after all. This is why I never collect NT tickets in advance. It's very easy to return them online if you fear a turkey |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2017 15:23:05 GMT
I might be being biased but I don't really get why everyone is dislike it this show so much . We are all allowed different opinions but when I saw it I really loved it but I think it depends on your expectations as I was not really expecting anything and maybe just letting your inner child out whilst watching it. I really enjoyed it a lot and would recommend it,
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2,677 posts
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Post by viserys on Dec 13, 2017 15:34:45 GMT
Same here. Am considering tearing up my £15 front row ticket and go and see Woman in White after all. This is why I never collect NT tickets in advance. It's very easy to return them online if you fear a turkey Ironically this is the first time ever I collected a NT ticket in advance as I had paid this with my mother's credit card after something went wrong with mine and I wasn't sure if they would give me the ticket without the right credit card. So when I went to see Follies and picked up that ticket, I decided to ask for the Pinocchio ticket as well and see if there would be trouble (there wasn't). I had planned another quick London trip in late January primarily for Woman in White as I wanted to give the show another chance after the deadly dull original. But then so many new shows were announced - Pinocchio, the Grinning Man and Jamie - that I rather want to see these fresh productions (and support new original work). However, now people here write mainly good things about WiW whereas Pinocchio (which a few pages earlier in this thread was praised as the best new thing since sliced bread) is getting fairly negative comments. |
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4,153 posts
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Post by kathryn on Dec 13, 2017 16:15:34 GMT
With mixed reviews the only way to find out how you'll feel about it is to see it yourself.
You may agree with the people who loved it - especially if you go in with lowered expectations. Plus, it is still in previews, so they may be trying different stuff out.
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Post by QueerTheatre on Dec 13, 2017 16:29:31 GMT
I saw this on Monday & needed a few days to get my thoughts together. It's a noble failure with lots of nice things going for it (mostly Audrey Brisson's Jiminy) and a sensationally attractive chorus twink - but as a whole thing it just doesn't work. The concept of Pinocchio as the only human and everyone else as puppets sounds nice and clever - but in reality it just doesn't work & so is dropped halfway through. If it wasn't using the Disney songs i think we'd all be being even harsher - the nostalgia they invoke along with a few cute magic tricks are the only thing that kept this from being a total write off.
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1,561 posts
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Post by showtoones on Dec 13, 2017 16:47:45 GMT
I happened to love this show...clever, creative and wonderful performances. The storytelling is a bit on the nose and some of the backstory with the Fox doesn't work, but no one ever promised Disney here - it is a Tiffany/NT production. OIs it dark, yes - but i was crying toward the end.
Do we think it will get a transfer?
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1,217 posts
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Post by nash16 on Dec 13, 2017 18:21:21 GMT
I happened to love this show...clever, creative and wonderful performances. The storytelling is a bit on the nose and some of the backstory with the Fox doesn't work, but no one ever promised Disney here - it is a Tiffany/NT production. OIs it dark, yes - but i was crying toward the end. Do we think it will get a transfer? Definitely no transfer for this. It's got to survive it's reviews as well... Press Night tonight. |
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Post by crabtree on Dec 13, 2017 18:55:17 GMT
Do we think everyone has been jumping on the bandwagon with puppets, after war Horse, and they certainly have, but perhaps there's not always the understand of what a puppet is, or perhaps we are getting puppet fatigue. They sometimes seem a lay answer to many staging problems, but every so often they work brilliantly. Some of this team were involved with the gloriously reinvented Little Shop of Horrors at the royal Exchange, with a radically different Audrey II.
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378 posts
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Post by Ade on Dec 13, 2017 19:09:34 GMT
I’m very surprised by the negativity too. It’s very inconsistent and doesn’t know what it is, but it still flew by and does have some poignant moments that make the trip worthwhile. In regards the music, I actually think that a large part of it is that people are going in expecting a full musical and it’s very clearly not that. They may have set the scene better had they not bothered with the Disney music and just done original music to fit the tone (instead the music is a bit wedged in).
The stage does look bare but then I think that’s a combination of Crowley (he often seems to put a lot of effort into one or two scenes and leave the rest simpler) and Tiffany’s usual style not quite working on the expanse that is the Lyttelton stage (I feel like the staging would have felt a little less cold if they’d narrowed the proscenium a touch).
If I was to score it myself it would get a 3 stars, and I’ve definitely seen far more uneven productions get 3 stars from critics and comparative praise on here.
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587 posts
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Post by Polly1 on Dec 14, 2017 10:33:16 GMT
Nothing at all from press night yet? Seems very odd.
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1,210 posts
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Post by musicalmarge on Dec 14, 2017 11:38:46 GMT
I happened to love this show...clever, creative and wonderful performances. The storytelling is a bit on the nose and some of the backstory with the Fox doesn't work, but no one ever promised Disney here - it is a Tiffany/NT production. OIs it dark, yes - but i was crying toward the end. Do we think it will get a transfer? Definitely no transfer for this. It's got to survive it's reviews as well... Press Night tonight. The show isn’t transferring. My mole inside the NT said the internal response to the show is not good. They basically admit the show doesn’t go anywhere, no big numbers, doesn’t know if it’s a play or a musical, the creatives have issues with the book and direction and hasn’t been the creative success they wanted it to be. Such a shame. Still, I look forward to seeing it in January, and hope they continue to work on it. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2017 11:52:23 GMT
The show isn’t transferring. My mole inside the NT said the internal response to the show is not good. They basically admit the show doesn’t go anywhere, no big numbers, doesn’t know if it’s a play or a musical, the creatives have issues with the book and direction and hasn’t been the creative success they wanted it to be. This reads exactly like the press reviews of Les Miserables at the Barbican! |
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4,959 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Dec 14, 2017 12:16:31 GMT
I really hope further work is carried out because I really enjoyed it and I believe it could be great - no word of a lie!
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