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Post by showtoones on May 11, 2017 21:17:11 GMT
Anyone wanting to see Marisha, Dreamgirls just tweeted her next scheduled shows are: 15th, 29th and 30th May. 
Again, little bit shady they didn't do the same tweet with Karen's date.  Bugger, I booked for the 22nd as she'd mentioned that date previously. Might see if the people I'm going with can switch... I haven't seen Karen but I can vouch for Marisha's fierceness. Is she taking over for Amber when Amber departs the production? |
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Post by LaLuPone on May 11, 2017 21:24:53 GMT
Bugger, I booked for the 22nd as she'd mentioned that date previously. Might see if the people I'm going with can switch... I haven't seen Karen but I can vouch for Marisha's fierceness. Is she taking over for Amber when Amber departs the production? Not announced yet but most of us are praying for that to happen 🙏🏻👑 |
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2017 23:00:23 GMT
NOW ON SPOTIFY PEOPLE, THIS IS NOT A DRILL, MOVE, MOVE, MOVE RIGHT OUT OF MY LIFE!!
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2017 23:03:49 GMT
Amber gets her entrance applause, even on the Recording!
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Post by ctas on May 12, 2017 5:34:46 GMT
I haven't seen Karen but I can vouch for Marisha's fierceness. Is she taking over for Amber when Amber departs the production? [/br] I saw Marisha a few weeks ago myself but was specifically looking to take a friend to see her because she's a huge fan. Luckily Marisha has reconfirmed that 22nd May is an Effie date for her! Phew. |
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2017 5:52:10 GMT
OK... so I spent until about 3am listening to the Cast Recording. A few notes, if I may. It's a great Cast Recording overall. The sound is fantastic, the cast throughout are stellar. You can tell at some points when they are different performances, simply because the quality of the cast changes somewhat throughout. Like, clearly the title song was recorded on a seperate night, as Liisi sounds pretty crap on that one compared to what she does on the rest of her numbers. And I get the sense And I Am Telling You was recorded on a seperate night, but I don't really know why I have that sense. This Cast Recording does feature the audience, and believe me they do featured alot! Obviously at the end of songs, but also throughout some songs (notably the Opener when Amber recieves entrande applause, And I Am Telling You, the I Am Changing "moment" and The Rap). Thankfully, when it is during songs, it is alot more toned down, probably in the studio, with the exception of a couple of songs where clearly whoever produced this wanted the audience to be heard! Amber is obviously the highlight, and steals the show from everyone else as she does in the theatre! This score is pretty inhumane to expect aomeone to sing 7 times a week, let alone 1 performance, but she is not holding back! I'm not surprised at all she has been getting ill in all honesty. Liisi sounds alot better than the title song lead us on to believe. Ibinabo sounds fantastic, and it makes me all the more sad she is gone. And Lily sounds alot better recorded than she does live, but obviously she isn't given much to do here. The men all sound great, god damn Tyrone Huntley's voice is so beautiful! The ensemble aslo sound great. I was surprised the amount of diologue on this Recording! It pretty much has the entire diologue (script and score), which genuinely surprised me but also makes me very happy as you get a real sense of the live experience. And they sound fantastic in their acting choices throughout based on audio alone. Suffice to say, if the Live Kinky Boots Cast Recording got a Grammy nomination this year, this will make the three Dreamgirls Grammy nominees come Winter (in terms of performers, only the leads are considered the recipients of the Grammy, as well as those who produce and make sigificant contributions to it!). But it would totally deserve it. Overall, a fantastic Cast Recording, it makes me really happy to say that because I was hesitant yesterday with the release of the title song. 4* from me, possibly 5* when I give it another listen. |
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Post by ali973 on May 12, 2017 6:26:24 GMT
Downloaded it and will listen to it later today. I need to finish watching Get Out first, and I think DG will be a good welcome following the stress I'm currently experiencing with the film.
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Post by tom on May 12, 2017 19:29:59 GMT
The recording is OK but it has all the same issues I had with the show - Liisi's voice is not one I enjoy listening to apart from in Listen which was also her only amazing vocal when I saw the show live both times and Joe Aaron Reid's voice is generally weak. Amber is obviously the star of the show and she sounds amazing on this as does Tyrone. Never got to see Ibinabo as Lorrell as she was off the first time I went and she sounds decent. I saw Candace (who was good) and Asmeret Ghebremichael (who was superb) and I think Asmeret sounds best of those. Adam J Bernard is excellent on the recording but is better in person.
I think as a stand alone cast recording it is not solid (and consistent) enough compared to the other Dreamgirls recordings out there. It is a shame there are weak links in an otherwise amazing cast.
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Post by Paul on May 12, 2017 21:05:47 GMT
I thought some of the editing was a bit sloppy but the overall recording is certainly better than a few other recordings. Lily sounds just as horrible on this recording as she did live. I do agree that Liisi doesn't sound her best on this recording - she was amazing live.
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2017 21:09:59 GMT
So, I got to see this last night. My only interaction with Dreamgirls to date had been seeing Amber Riley's AIATY on the Oliviers broadcast. As such I had little preconception or expectations for the show.
I was blown away. The cast really put everything into it and the show appeared very tight. There were a few songs that I felt were basically padding to make up the time and didnt give anything to the story but by and large the book was great, appropriately funny accompanied by some great music.
I thought the combined contribution of Lighting and Set Design was genius and really made the show. So simple but wonderfully complicated technically. Massive respect to the lighting designer for fighting the likely urge to go wild with mirror balls for any number of songs. I think it would have been a really easy, obvious route to take, but by excluding them maintained class.
The audience were really lapping up the show, although at times I did feel like I was in the audience for Britains got Talent with the whooping and cheering, but actually think it made the show even more exciting.
Having seen Tyler Huntley in JCS last year at Open Air I thought his voice has developed somewhat over the last year with more power. Really great performance.
Amber, as expected, gave it her all and seemed to enjoy the performance, but during the curtain call looking like she was just going through the motions, not even smiling at times. I wonder if she was concerned about the amount of vocal fans in the audience who were blatantly about to all descend on the stage door.
Also got to mention the theatre. Comfortable and a great view from Mid Stalls. The rows are really well staggered to give a great view throughout.
Overall a really enjoyable show and I think I'll be back soon.
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Post by music0fthenight on May 12, 2017 22:16:41 GMT
I saw the show again on tuesday night and had a full cast with the exception of Asmeret not being on, though she's had quite a good track record since her debut in march. As much as I adore Marisha and Karen, Amber's voice in places is worth the ticket price alone, and she's started to experiment more and change it up certain songs (AIATY in particular which was the best I've heard it) and she naturally plays the character so well and doesn't force anything. I don't understand people that say Liisi is the weak link in the cast because she was simply fantastic, her voice is so effortless (my jaw dropped in 'Listen' when she sang), and I really do feel like I'm on a journey with her character. Carly Mercedes-Dyer was on for Lorrell, and I definitely think she should have been given the role when Ibinabo left, she was ridiculously good and her 'Ain't No Party' was up there with all the big numbers in the show, I'd love to see her again (am I right in thinking she wasn't initially an understudy for this role?). Lily Frazer's voice doesn't bother me as much as it should, and I lowkey enjoy her performance. Joe was fine as Curtis, could be more convincing, and Adam has definitely toned down his performance, especially vocally since the last time I saw him. Tyrone was good as always, and I enjoy Nicholas Bailey as Marty. Ensemble was great, I noticed due to shortage of girls, Lily stepped in as 'Joanne' for the opening then immediately went off and came back on as her other ensemble character. All in all, a brilliant show, with strong performance from all the dreams.
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2017 22:42:49 GMT
Interview with Asmeret in Broadway.com's Live at Five today, as she is on holiday back in New York where she discusses Dreamgirls, her two award nominations for Sweet Charity and show mishaps in Dreamgirls:
... sidenote: was anyone at the performance she mentioned, where Joe Aaron Reid making popcorn in the microwave lead to the whole theatre being evacuated?! |
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Post by LaLuPone on May 13, 2017 7:21:24 GMT
Interview with Asmeret in Broadway.com's Live at Five today, as she is on holiday back in New York where she discusses Dreamgirls, her two award nominations for Sweet Charity and show mishaps in Dreamgirls:
... sidenote: was anyone at the performance she mentioned, where Joe Aaron Reid making popcorn in the microwave lead to the whole theatre being evacuated?! Did Asmeret just say that there were 4 American cast members in Dreamgirls? Think she's forgotten a frizzy-haired Queen whose name begins with M 🤔 |
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2017 7:34:04 GMT
Interview with Asmeret in Broadway.com's Live at Five today, as she is on holiday back in New York where she discusses Dreamgirls, her two award nominations for Sweet Charity and show mishaps in Dreamgirls:
... sidenote: was anyone at the performance she mentioned, where Joe Aaron Reid making popcorn in the microwave lead to the whole theatre being evacuated?! Did Asmeret just say that there were 4 American cast members in Dreamgirls? Think she's forgotten a frizzy-haired Queen whose name begins with M 🤔 Oooo true, I didn't realise that! Shes forgotten one of them, and I'm assuming its not the three she is on stage with every night.  |
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2017 19:13:53 GMT
Turns out Marisha is giving inspirational sermons over the intercom on her shows off. 😂😂
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Post by LaLuPone on May 13, 2017 19:17:37 GMT
Turns out Marisha is giving inspirational sermons over the intercom on her shows off. 😂😂 If you're reading this Marisha I adore you 😂 |
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Post by ali973 on May 13, 2017 19:39:30 GMT
You've got four African American girls in a hit West End show..that must be my heaven and the funnest back stage in London.
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2017 10:14:55 GMT
Been trying to get in to the recording, but just can't. Why not put them in a studio? Why is that an outdated thing to do now? Live recordings always sound so thin.
By comparison, Hello Dolly! sounds glorious. You can really hear each orchestration, which I adore. Dreamgirls, I feel like I'm missing a lot.
Maybe that's just me!
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Post by ali973 on May 14, 2017 11:17:34 GMT
I don't think it's the perfect recording-- I think it does well on certain tracks, while others are a bit weaker in terms of the mixing and engineering. I think Daniel mentioned it earlier where you can tell they're from different performances. I can't tell if they are from different performances, but I do agree that there is a quality discrepancy from one track to another.
Re: Hello, Dolly, I have to disagree because I find it a bit flat, generic and lacking something. It's growing on me, but not an instantly gratifying.
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2017 13:18:53 GMT
These are the clips of Marisha at the magic of the musicals show. She sounds amazing! I think she will certainly take over from Amber when Amber leaves as they keep getting her to do outings/performances in place of Amber. I think it'd be lovely for her to take over and become very well known in the West End and stay here for years. It's so nice that not many people knew of her before she came over now she is a star!! |
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Post by theatre on May 14, 2017 16:52:17 GMT
These are the clips of Marisha at the magic of the musicals show. She sounds amazing! I think she will certainly take over from Amber when Amber leaves as they keep getting her to do outings/performances in place of Amber. I think it'd be lovely for her to take over and become very well known in the West End and stay here for years. It's so nice that not many people knew of her before she came over now she is a star!! I totally forgot to post on here that I'd uploaded these to YouTube! Thanks for doing it for me 😂 And I totally agree about Marisha, I'm actually a little bit obsessed having seen her live 3 times now! Dare I say I prefer her version of I Am Changing here to Amber's on the CD 😬😂 |
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2017 23:13:25 GMT
I'll be finally seeing this in 10 days! So freaking excited!
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2017 16:14:16 GMT
Looks as though Lily has been ditched as 1st Cover Deena, Jocasta is on for Deena tonight, and is on for Deena for a week beginning Thursday even though Lily is in the show.
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Post by LaLuPone on May 15, 2017 16:16:19 GMT
Looks as though Lily has been ditched as 1st Cover Deena, Jocasta is on for Deena tonight, and is on for Deena for a week beginning Thursday even though Lily is in the show. Shaaaadeeee... What is it with this show? 😂😂 |
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Post by music0fthenight on May 15, 2017 17:02:35 GMT
The understudy situation with this show is so weird, the "1st cover/2nd cover" system is non-existent, and it can be confusing. Jocasta getting a week of Deena shows when Lily is perfectly capable of doing at least 1 or 2, and not to forgot Kimmy, who's only been on 2 shows back in Christmas! I suppose it's nice to see at least all the covers getting chances to go on, I'd still love to see Candace Furbert if she ever goes on for Effie!
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