31 posts
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Post by Maz on Aug 7, 2017 12:43:47 GMT
Have a spare ticket for this for tonight - £5! (Not sure where the seat is yet but looking at a booking site there are so many empty seats that you can probably sit where you want, more or less). Let me know if you're interested. Side note - I feel bad that he/ they are playing to a fairly empty theatre every night  |
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1,245 posts
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Post by joem on Aug 14, 2017 20:42:49 GMT
It's been said by everyone else. Enjoyable but slight. Nice to see F. Murray Abraham who gives a good performance, the first third or so is quite witty and has a fair amount of laughs but when it starts going serious it sags. Picks up towards the end.
I reckon it was over half-full tonight but this does not seem to have been a success.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2017 21:28:14 GMT
I reckon it was over half-full tonight but this does not seem to have been a success. The original run of this production at the Unistov Studio of Theatre Royal Bath broke their box office records. And was so well received that they're opening their autumn season with Christmas Eve, another UK premiere from the same writer-translator-director team of Daniel Kehlmann, Christopher Hampton and Laurence Boswell. Of course, the Ustinov is an intimate theatre with all tickets priced below £25, and the Vaudeville is a West End barn with West End rip-off ticket prices. |
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Post by joem on Aug 14, 2017 21:31:47 GMT
I stand corrected. It was successful in Bath and they misjudged the venue, or the marketing, in London. Top prices at the Vaudeville £52 I think. I wish that was the case for all West End plays!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2017 21:38:57 GMT
Top prices at the Vaudeville £52 I think. I wish that was the case for all West End plays! Premium price £75 at the Vaudeville. |
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1,245 posts
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Post by joem on Aug 14, 2017 21:42:20 GMT
They must have been sold out or assumed my gaunt face was from impoverishment rather than vanity and not offered me Premium then!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2017 21:53:23 GMT
And Trouble in Mind, another Ustinov hit, is £28 top price at Print Room at the Coronet next month.
There must be resistance from many (including me) to West End prices being triple the going rate for equivalent productions in more suitable, intimate theatres.
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Post by Jan on Aug 15, 2017 6:24:14 GMT
And Trouble in Mind, another Ustinov hit, is £28 top price at Print Room at the Coronet next month. There must be resistance from many (including me) to West End prices being triple the going rate for equivalent productions in more suitable, intimate theatres. Is the Print Room more intimate than the Vaudeville ? Not sure. I think it's probably a physically bigger venue. The capacity is less but only due to their useless temporary seating. |
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Post by Snciole on Aug 15, 2017 8:02:38 GMT
I stand corrected. It was successful in Bath and they misjudged the venue, or the marketing, in London. Top prices at the Vaudeville £52 I think. I wish that was the case for all West End plays! I am going to sound like a snob but F Murray Abraham is probably a draw in Bath, which whilst increasingly is now getting big names it may not have always done so. I am not sure the makeup of audiences in London is the same as in other cities. I think London is relatively younger audiences coming to the theatre after work. I am 29 I know who F Murray Abraham is but am I excited about him doing a play? Not really. I don't represent all millennials but I think when there is unfamiliarity with a creative team then you need a big star to come close to selling out these massive theatres. |
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Post by Jan on Aug 15, 2017 8:19:01 GMT
I stand corrected. It was successful in Bath and they misjudged the venue, or the marketing, in London. Top prices at the Vaudeville £52 I think. I wish that was the case for all West End plays! I am going to sound like a snob but F Murray Abraham is probably a draw in Bath, which whilst increasingly is now getting big names it may not have always done so. I am not sure the makeup of audiences in London is the same as in other cities. I think London is relatively younger audiences coming to the theatre after work. I am 29 I know who F Murray Abraham is but am I excited about him doing a play? Not really. I don't represent all millennials but I think when there is unfamiliarity with a creative team then you need a big star to come close to selling out these massive theatres. I think it is also that theatregoers in London have a massive choice but people in Bath don't - if I lived there I'd probably see everything that was put on in Bath irrespective of what it was. The Theatre Royal Bath has a capacity almost 50% bigger than the Vaudeville so it doesn't immediately look like an overambitious choice of venue for the transfer. I agree FMA isn't much of a draw anyway. Got his Oscar by default because Paul Scofield refused to do the Broadway transfer of Amadeus and hence the film. McKellen did the Broadway transfer instead but then was judged too "theatrical" for the film. Anyway, not FMA's fault so well done him. |
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Post by altamont on Aug 15, 2017 9:12:54 GMT
The Mentor wasn't in the main house at Bath, it was in the much smaller Ustinov Studio - it holds around 150 people. To transfer to a much bigger theatre in London does seem a very odd decision
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2017 9:23:16 GMT
The Mentor wasn't in the main house at Bath, it was in the much smaller Ustinov Studio - it holds around 150 people. To transfer to a much bigger theatre in London does seem a very odd decision The Father successfully transferred from the Ustinov to the West End - another UK premiere of a Christopher Hampton translation of a popular European new play. The difference is that The Father first transferred to the Tricycle to earn recognition in London before its West End run. I guess that the producers hoped that they could skip the Tricycle stage of the transfer process this time, with the reputation of The Father and F Murray Abraham. |
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Post by joem on Aug 15, 2017 10:35:39 GMT
I stand corrected. It was successful in Bath and they misjudged the venue, or the marketing, in London. Top prices at the Vaudeville £52 I think. I wish that was the case for all West End plays! I am going to sound like a snob but F Murray Abraham is probably a draw in Bath, which whilst increasingly is now getting big names it may not have always done so. I am not sure the makeup of audiences in London is the same as in other cities. I think London is relatively younger audiences coming to the theatre after work. I am 29 I know who F Murray Abraham is but am I excited about him doing a play? Not really. I don't represent all millennials but I think when there is unfamiliarity with a creative team then you need a big star to come close to selling out these massive theatres. I know what you're saying in economic terms but if, when I was young, I'd had the chance to see someone like Lilian Gish or Theda Bara on stage (if they ever did any, which I doubt) I'd have jumped at it. I think if you are into theatre big time you also, inevitably, end up being interested in theatre history and its characters. Although in this case people will know this guy, like me, from film rather than theatre, he is still an actor with a long track record and therefore interesting. |
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Post by Jan on Aug 15, 2017 14:45:07 GMT
The Mentor wasn't in the main house at Bath, it was in the much smaller Ustinov Studio - it holds around 150 people. To transfer to a much bigger theatre in London does seem a very odd decision Oh was it ? Odd transfer then. |
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Post by Snciole on Aug 16, 2017 10:55:46 GMT
I am going to sound like a snob but F Murray Abraham is probably a draw in Bath, which whilst increasingly is now getting big names it may not have always done so. I am not sure the makeup of audiences in London is the same as in other cities. I think London is relatively younger audiences coming to the theatre after work. I am 29 I know who F Murray Abraham is but am I excited about him doing a play? Not really. I don't represent all millennials but I think when there is unfamiliarity with a creative team then you need a big star to come close to selling out these massive theatres. I know what you're saying in economic terms but if, when I was young, I'd had the chance to see someone like Lilian Gish or Theda Bara on stage (if they ever did any, which I doubt) I'd have jumped at it. I think if you are into theatre big time you also, inevitably, end up being interested in theatre history and its characters. Although in this case people will know this guy, like me, from film rather than theatre, he is still an actor with a long track record and therefore interesting. I can totally see that but I can also see why it isn't selling. There may not be that crossover of young people who have seen Amadeus (on film) who also care about the stage. FMA isn't the first successful actor to find a lukewarm West End greets him and he won't be the last. |
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Post by joem on Aug 16, 2017 11:30:21 GMT
I know what you're saying in economic terms but if, when I was young, I'd had the chance to see someone like Lilian Gish or Theda Bara on stage (if they ever did any, which I doubt) I'd have jumped at it. I think if you are into theatre big time you also, inevitably, end up being interested in theatre history and its characters. Although in this case people will know this guy, like me, from film rather than theatre, he is still an actor with a long track record and therefore interesting. I can totally see that but I can also see why it isn't selling. There may not be that crossover of young people who have seen Amadeus (on film) who also care about the stage. FMA isn't the first successful actor to find a lukewarm West End greets him and he won't be the last. End of the day it's his fault - he shouldn't have killed Mozart. |
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Post by wiggymess on Aug 21, 2017 13:54:16 GMT
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Post by orchidman on Aug 22, 2017 0:01:59 GMT
Unfortunately looks like that only works if they sent you an email invitation. |
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31 posts
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Post by Maz on Aug 22, 2017 10:35:47 GMT
Unfortunately looks like that only works if they sent you an email invitation. They also say not to post it anywhere... |
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Post by wiggymess on Aug 22, 2017 10:39:41 GMT
Unfortunately looks like that only works if they sent you an email invitation. They also say not to post it anywhere... *Sigh* Why does anyone bother?  |
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Post by loureviews on Aug 26, 2017 15:46:41 GMT
I liked this, although the young writer was a it of a buffoon. Suzy Bloom was on as the wife. Worth it to see F Murray Abraham. I wonder if he's been going into Salieri's restaurant along the road  |
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