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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2018 22:09:51 GMT
Just travelling home now from seeing this tonight. I was really pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this. I’m firmly in the loved it camp, the puppets worked fantastically for me, and as a result the final scene held more weight.
Audrey was fantastic as Jiminy, as was her co-puppeteer. I fell in love with that little quirky insect! I was in row A, and my goodness are those seats hard-going on the bum and legs. Suffice to say I was grateful to stand on the train after that experience, just to give my bum a break.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2018 22:34:51 GMT
Just travelling home now from seeing this tonight. I was really pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this. I’m firmly in the loved it camp, the puppets worked fantastically for me, and as a result the final scene held more weight. Audrey was fantastic as Jiminy, as was her co-puppeteer. I fell in love with that little quirky insect! I was in row A, and my goodness are those seats hard-going on the bum and legs. Suffice to say I was grateful to stand on the train after that experience, just to give my bum a break. I agree about the seats in this theatre. I was sat in Row B and along with the Balcony benches at the Haymarket, it is probably the most uncomfortable seat I have ever sat. Horrendous in that sense. A shame as the view is great. If the whole theatre was like that, I'd go as far as to not recommend this specific theatre all together. Was this theatre where Angels in America was? I sadly missed it but caught the NT Live Broadcast (which was incredible!). But I couldn't of sat through it in those seats. |
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Post by sf on Jan 26, 2018 22:47:04 GMT
Just travelling home now from seeing this tonight. I was really pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this. I’m firmly in the loved it camp, the puppets worked fantastically for me, and as a result the final scene held more weight. Audrey was fantastic as Jiminy, as was her co-puppeteer. I fell in love with that little quirky insect! I was in row A, and my goodness are those seats hard-going on the bum and legs. Suffice to say I was grateful to stand on the train after that experience, just to give my bum a break. Glad you enjoyed it - and since I'm seeing it (for the first and only time) from row A myself in a couple of weeks, I consider myself duly warned. (It's a very long time - as in, a good two decades - since I sat in that row in the Lyttelton.) |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2018 23:08:42 GMT
Just travelling home now from seeing this tonight. I was really pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this. I’m firmly in the loved it camp, the puppets worked fantastically for me, and as a result the final scene held more weight. Audrey was fantastic as Jiminy, as was her co-puppeteer. I fell in love with that little quirky insect! I was in row A, and my goodness are those seats hard-going on the bum and legs. Suffice to say I was grateful to stand on the train after that experience, just to give my bum a break. I agree about the seats in this theatre. I was sat in Row B and along with the Balcony benches at the Haymarket, it is probably the most uncomfortable seat I have ever sat. Horrendous in that sense. A shame as the view is great. If the whole theatre was like that, I'd go as far as to not recommend this specific theatre all together. Was this theatre where Angels in America was? I sadly missed it but caught the NT Live Broadcast (which was incredible!). But I couldn't of sat through it in those seats. Thankfully most of the rest of the seats in the Lyttelton are considerably more comfortable that the first three rows of the stalls. I was in row E of the circle for Angels and they were noticeably rather comfy. It’s worth the extra payout for sure if you know the show is good.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2018 23:16:50 GMT
Out of the £15 seat rows, row A is definitely preferable to the rest. I sat in B for Ugly Lies the Bone and I experienced the same discomfort as A, except B has severely restricted legroom too. Fortunately for Pinocchio the stage doesn’t come out too far that row A suffers in this regard too.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jan 27, 2018 10:04:37 GMT
The other seats are better but far from wonderful. Shame as I really like the design of this theatre
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Post by andrew on Jan 27, 2018 13:45:52 GMT
I have to say that I find the front seats in the Lyttleton a bit of a blessing, up close and person with great bits of theatre for £15. Row A is vastly preferable for the legroom reasons, but I saw Pinocchio from B and had no issues at all. Different sizes and shapes will have different experiences clearly, but I think if people take the £15 seats at the front, which I believe do pop up with some kind of warning, then it's a bit of a "get what you pay for" scenario. You're welcome to dish out more and let people like me nip into the front rows instead!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2018 17:49:05 GMT
I have to say that I find the front seats in the Lyttleton a bit of a blessing, up close and person with great bits of theatre for £15. Row A is vastly preferable for the legroom reasons, but I saw Pinocchio from B and had no issues at all. Different sizes and shapes will have different experiences clearly, but I think if people take the £15 seats at the front, which I believe do pop up with some kind of warning, then it's a bit of a "get what you pay for" scenario. You're welcome to dish out more and let people like me nip into the front rows instead! Oh for the view and a short show I'd sit there again. It should be noted, I just did a little search the message says "seats are slightly narrower and may offer a slightly restricted view". So they fail to mention the discomfort of the actual chair even though that is the main issue haha. |
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Post by Being Alive on Jan 27, 2018 22:08:29 GMT
Saw this tonight from the furthest seat in the circle slips (left) and at £15 that’s a good deal. Missed a very small portion of left hand side where barely anything happened.
I didn’t enjoy this. At no point did the show engage me in any way. I just found it difficult to understand what it was they were trying to achieve and who they were aiming it at? Is this an adult show? Or is it aimed at children/families with younger kids? I’m leaning towards the first option, because some of the puppetry (especially Stromboli) were pretty scary and at least four children were taken out when he came on.
I quite liked the way they did the whale, but apart from that I didn’t feel any connection to any of the characters. Pinocchio was annoying and and I was rooting for him at all.
It’s a shame. The last two things I saw at the National (Follies and Angels in America) are some of the best theatre I’ve ever seen, but this wasn’t anywhere near that standard.
2.5 stars from me
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Post by jasper on Jan 28, 2018 8:40:01 GMT
I have to say that I find the front seats in the Lyttleton a bit of a blessing, up close and person with great bits of theatre for £15. Row A is vastly preferable for the legroom reasons, but I saw Pinocchio from B and had no issues at all. Different sizes and shapes will have different experiences clearly, but I think if people take the £15 seats at the front, which I believe do pop up with some kind of warning, then it's a bit of a "get what you pay for" scenario. You're welcome to dish out more and let people like me nip into the front rows instead! Oh for the view and a short show I'd sit there again. It should be noted, I just did a little search the message says "seats are slightly narrower and may offer a slightly restricted view". So they fail to mention the discomfort of the actual chair even though that is the main issue haha. I usually sit in the front row seats because I cannot afford the prices of the other seats. They are uncomfortable, but at the price the best in the house. The thing I find with them is not the comfort of the seat, but who you are sitting next to. If the person is of a larger size they tend to overflow onto my seat as there are no armrests to hold them in, so I sometimes end up sharing my seat with them. Fine if it is a cold night, otherwise not so good. I did read somewhere that the average size of the modern bottom has meant theatres have had to increase the width of seats and so there are less seats in the theatres now than in Victorian times. Maybe there were smaller bottoms to fit on the seats when the national was built a couple of generations ago. |
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Post by viserys on Jan 29, 2018 8:22:46 GMT
So I've been last Friday in one of the £15 front stalls seats and I thought it was decent enough. Of course it's no big bright glitzy Disney spectacle and fairly dark in places. My three issues with this production:
a) It takes WAY too long until the first really good song arrives. They should have added at least two songs to the first boring half hour, maybe something that sets the atmosphere in the village and the workshop and some classic "I want" song for Pinocchio early on.
b) Those godawful huge puppets - I can see how they might frighten little children. They also didn't convey any emotion. It's one thing to use puppets to animate animals like the horses in War Horse or the wolf in Grinning Man, but these puppets didn't really work for me. Could simply have put the actors on stilts if they wanted to convey the difference in height between the "adult humans" and "Pinocchio the puppet".
c) The story itself. Pinocchio is just an unlikeable brat and what worked in 19th century as a reminder to children to always be nice and treat your parents with reverence just seems weird today. Maybe it's one of these stories that just need to be let go.
This said, since my expectations had been seriously lowered after following this thread, I still had a good evening. There were some great numbers, some intrigueing stage wizardry that reminded me of Harry Potter and a great cast to watch.
Additional bonus of Row A: A few times Jiminy Cricket was puppeteered right in front of me and I loved watching the fine details of that.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2018 14:22:19 GMT
I didn't hate this. I went in having read the reviews and expected the worst, but was wonderfully surprised. It does suffer from not really knowing what it is...is it a musical...is it a play...will we ever find out? The musical numbers, though short and disjointed were wonderfully done - especially Give A Little Whistle in Act 2 with the ladders. John Tiffany and Steven Hoggett reminded us exactly why Harry Potter was so magical.
I was also drawn to the large puppets, thought they were expertly done.
The children around me adored it...as it started snowing before the show, there were audible gasps!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2018 19:03:33 GMT
I'vd just had a look on wikipedia and someone has posted the full synopsis of this version if anyone is interested. Also, the full list of songs is on there, which are correct from my memory of it: Act 1 1. "Little Wooden Head" 2. "Little Wooden Head (Reprise)" 3. "Hi Diddle-Dee-Dee" 4. "I've Got No Strings" Act 2 5. "Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee" (Reprise) 6. "Fun and Fancy Free" 7. "Give A Little Whistle" 8. "When You Wish Upon A Star" Yup just 8 songs in the whole show... two of which are reprises.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2018 19:09:33 GMT
There was also a give a little whistle in act one. Don't know if these count as sounds but there were ones like when he hadn't the nightmare with strings, the aryan children's name songs and a song when they are going to pleasure island aswell but don't think there were many more, eventhough there were few songs some of them where quite long aswel.
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Post by musicalmarge on Jan 30, 2018 19:38:56 GMT
If only Stiles and Drew had been given a chance....
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2018 19:55:13 GMT
If only Stiles and Drew had been given a chance.... Oh god no that would have been a terrible decision. I enjoy some of the songs but am not a lover of them and it just would have given at lest the production of pinocchio a horrible tone and it wouldjjst not be right for this version. I would rather have fewer songs than it be Stiles and Drewes Pinocchio IMHO. |
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Post by musicalmarge on Jan 31, 2018 9:39:59 GMT
If only Stiles and Drew had been given a chance.... Oh god no that would have been a terrible decision. I enjoy some of the songs but am not a lover of them and it just would have given at lest the production of pinocchio a horrible tone and it wouldjjst not be right for this version. I would rather have fewer songs than it be Stiles and Drewes Pinocchio IMHO. What did you think of Mary Poppins? Anyway any composer to write 8 new songs in my opinion would have made it work more. Either that or remove them all and just have underscoring and the odd song to make it more of a play with music. |
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Post by andrew on Jan 31, 2018 11:49:39 GMT
I still think this has life. It packs up in the national and goes back into development for a year.
1) A composer comes on and writes at least 3 more songs for each act. They don't have to be masterpieces.
2) Have another go at the large puppets, try and instill facial expressions
3) Bit of character redevelopment with Pinocchio
4) Another pass at the script to remove one or two of the scarier moments, but it should retain some of the darker bits as those are what fairytales are all about
Gather investors, go for a West End run.
It could work, dammit!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2018 13:21:24 GMT
Oh god no that would have been a terrible decision. I enjoy some of the songs but am not a lover of them and it just would have given at lest the production of pinocchio a horrible tone and it wouldjjst not be right for this version. I would rather have fewer songs than it be Stiles and Drewes Pinocchio IMHO. What did you think of Mary Poppins? Anyway any composer to write 8 new songs in my opinion would have made it work more. Either that or remove them all and just have underscoring and the odd song to make it more of a play with music. Haven't seen sandy Stiles and Drewe which may make my points seems invalid but hearing the songs , they don't really appeal to be. Just the oldy British cor blimey of it isn't my taste and that style of somgs would have felt very jarring. Yes I can see if they add more songs from other composer that would work. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2018 15:59:21 GMT
I still think this has life. It packs up in the national and goes back into development for a year. 1) A composer comes on and writes at least 3 more songs for each act. They don't have to be masterpieces. 2) Have another go at the large puppets, try and instill facial expressions 3) Bit of character redevelopment with Pinocchio 4) Another pass at the script to remove one or two of the scarier moments, but it should retain some of the darker bits as those are what fairytales are all about Gather investors, go for a West End run. It could work, dammit! Yes to everything you’ve said. I agree on every point here. I genuinely enjoyed this production but with tweaks it had the makings of a future hit. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2018 22:53:26 GMT
Saw it this afternoon, will put an opinion online next week, but overall not half as bad as I was expecting. Main problem was that it was all just so joyless. Only one good laugh in it, and all the big songs that should have been spectacularly staged... weren't. Yet they spent ages getting minor stuff perfect. Sort of liked the puppets in the end - and the girl playing Jiminy was sweet, I thought. Oh, and the magic was excellent throughout. Haven’t seen this yet but really looking forward to seeing Audrey Brisson, who was also in La Strada fairly recently. She was superb in that. (I missed her in The Grinning Man.) She is the daughter of Cirque du Soleil composer Benoit Jutras and was in Quidam some years back.
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Post by ensembleswings on Feb 12, 2018 22:24:58 GMT
Saw this tonight, have to say I went in with very low expectations but I did enjoy it. There weren’t any standout moments, no big songs but it was still enjoyable enough I do wish the puppets mouths opened/moved though. It did very much feel like they were operating puppets rather than the puppets being ‘alive’
Glad I went to see the show though, but equally as glad that I had an entry pass ticket therefore didn’t spend large amounts of money on it.
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Post by JJShaw on Feb 14, 2018 0:12:43 GMT
I agree that some work could have been done on the puppets to really make then engaging, i thought it was a nice concept, felt very NT.
I enjoyed the show and I think so did the many, many MANY children there at tuesdays matinee (forgot it was half term! won't make that mistake again!) I really liked the music, particularly the Fancy Free song sung by the kids on their way to the island. I certainly wouldn't mind a little cast recording of the show. It certainly feels like a refreshing production and it's nice that, while a Disney property, that Disney has had no say in the show at all. I thought it struck the balance of family and serious rather well too.
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Post by Being Alive on Feb 14, 2018 0:31:21 GMT
I’m so fascinated that so many people managed to enjoy this! I went in not knowing what to expect and didn’t enjoy it at all - and a lot of what people are saying were factors they liked are things that irritated me no end!
Difference of opinions eh!
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Post by sf on Feb 14, 2018 0:41:18 GMT
I saw it this afternoon, liked a lot of it - the Blue Fairy is wonderful, the illusions are excellent, and I actually didn't have a problem with the (relative) lack of facial expressions from the larger puppets (but I was sitting in the cheap seats right at the front and I could see the actors' facial expressions very clearly) - and yes, it does need a bit of work.
I suspect the rave New York Times review will be a strong incentive to keep working on it. It is very, very nearly a wonderful show, and it's a pity it all isn't as good as the last ten minutes.
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