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Post by ladidah on Jan 16, 2024 14:12:41 GMT
Most tickets on theatre direct are half price.
I really don't fancy going to a half empty show though.
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Post by sph on Jan 16, 2024 14:14:20 GMT
Yeah, but the Dominion has nothing else to go in currently until Sister Act so they probably got a good deal on rent and it will likely sell no better or worse than any other tour stop.
I hope they've scaled up the sets a bit though. I doubt they have - probably not worth it for just six weeks.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jan 16, 2024 14:32:41 GMT
They could reinstate the ship from the opening scene of Palladium production. That’s presumably in storage somewhere? Give it a bit of wow factor.
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Post by Dr Tom on Jan 16, 2024 14:33:56 GMT
Looked for tonight, it's easily half empty. I’m probably missing something, but isn’t the first performance on Saturday? |
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Post by Being Alive on Jan 16, 2024 14:36:05 GMT
They could reinstate the ship from the opening scene of Palladium production. That’s presumably in storage somewhere? Give it a bit of wow factor. They could, but they wont! |
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Post by sph on Jan 16, 2024 14:52:20 GMT
They could reinstate the ship from the opening scene of Palladium production. That’s presumably in storage somewhere? Give it a bit of wow factor. Is it in storage in the UK though? Or was it brought over from the US temporarily? The tour sets I saw for this last year were underwhelming. Big gold statues became 2D flats. The ship was... a weird half-boat thing? |
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Post by theatreghost on Jan 16, 2024 16:49:18 GMT
Looked for tonight, it's easily half empty. I’m probably missing something, but isn’t the first performance on Saturday? Yep, and the first performance is looking pretty full |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jan 16, 2024 19:42:43 GMT
They could reinstate the ship from the opening scene of Palladium production. That’s presumably in storage somewhere? Give it a bit of wow factor. They could, but they wont! Boo! 😒 |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jan 16, 2024 19:44:56 GMT
They could reinstate the ship from the opening scene of Palladium production. That’s presumably in storage somewhere? Give it a bit of wow factor. Is it in storage in the UK though? Or was it brought over from the US temporarily? The tour sets I saw for this last year were underwhelming. Big gold statues became 2D flats. The ship was... a weird half-boat thing? Yeah the tour set was underwhelming but maybe not so much if you hadn’t seen the Palladium. |
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Post by mrbarnaby on Jan 16, 2024 20:30:22 GMT
They very well may instate original set pieces that were cut from the tour. Sitting down in the west end is a very different situation to touring to different size venues every week.
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Post by abitoftap on Jan 16, 2024 21:38:30 GMT
(Slighty) off topic. We saw The King and I on Broadway with Faith Prince probably 25 years ago. There was definitely a boat. We saw the same production with Elaine Paige at the Palladium. More a suggestion of a boat. And on tour in Norwich. By this time the boat had more or less disappeared (as had most of the sets to be replaced by an awful lot of red curtains)!
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Post by alece10 on Jan 18, 2024 18:24:25 GMT
Helen George was just on ITV London news and said that the boat that comes on stage at the beginning of the show is huge.
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Post by SuttonPeron on Jan 18, 2024 19:38:03 GMT
Have they mentioned anything about the orchestra? I was told it was going to be the same size as in the Palladium, but who knows?
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Post by Dr Tom on Jan 20, 2024 20:57:15 GMT
I managed to get a rush ticket to the sold out matinee today. Stalls Row Y, which is a lot further back than I'd usually like, but the view was clear enough (and I know this production well anyway). The seats are very badly offset in that row, being lined up with the row in front, so I could tell that was causing other people problems.
Good news for everyone. They've restored most of the missing set, so this is much more like the Palladium production than the tour. I think there's a bigger ensemble again too, and not as many adults pretending to be children, although I was far enough back that I couldn't tell for sure.
The orchestra sounded wonderful. The vocals sound levels were too quiet in comparison, especially for Dean John-Wilson. I was impressed by how clear everyone's diction was. My first time seeing Helen George, and she is good, but there have been some very strong leads in this production, so comparisons are difficult.
Started slightly late as there were massive queues to get in. Finished about 5:30pm. I'll certainly be back while the full production is in London.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jan 20, 2024 21:07:46 GMT
They could reinstate the ship from the opening scene of Palladium production. That’s presumably in storage somewhere? Give it a bit of wow factor. They could, but they wont! But they did. |
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Post by Being Alive on Jan 20, 2024 22:08:05 GMT
They could, but they wont! But they did. SHOCKED I TELL YOU |
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Post by Mr Snow on Jan 21, 2024 11:03:51 GMT
Memory is a funny thing (and mine is hilarious) but I don't think its the same boat. It is a boat and it moves but its more of a Tugboat than the Ship (front only?) I recall from the Paladium?
Which sort of sums up the whole experience for me.
Everything is in place and it IS a great show with some of my favourite melodies, but can I be fair in comparing anyone to Kelli O'Hara who I saw twice that summer? The governess isn't particularly prim and starchy and the King is often a loveable rogue rather than an menacing figure. The whole thing seems played more for broad laughs than I recall. So once we get to Shall we Dance there's about as much personal electricity as I expect we'll get in a debate between Starmer and Sunak. What should be a glorious release is a but a rather pleasant experience.
I also thought the sound was better at the Paladium.
So if you've never seen the show or are a fan of Ms George, go, you'll have a really nice time. But if you saw the version I did, you might think twice...
At the matinee yesterday the place was packed and the audience seemed to love it, standing ovation etc - so what do I know?
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Post by Dr Tom on Jan 21, 2024 11:40:59 GMT
I think it’s the ship from the first tour (pre-Covid), but not the Palladium one, but please no one take that as fact. I was a long way back, but the ship was much more impressive from there than the second tour version.
The large statues etc are back too (not cardboard). It isn’t the full Palladium version though, which you see with things like Shall We Dance, where there just isn’t as much space on the stage.
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Post by ladidah on Jan 22, 2024 9:11:19 GMT
How is Helen's singing?
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Post by sph on Jan 25, 2024 22:20:59 GMT
I saw it and have to say - I was really impressed! She was very strong vocally, particularly at points like the final lines of Hello Young Lovers. I wasn't expecting her to be as strong a singer as she was, but she was great. In terms of acting, yes her performance was a lot more broad than Kelli O'Hara's more restrained, dignified Anna, where everything bubbled underneath and occasionally broke to the surface, but she was still good. It seemed to me that a few cast members had returned from the palladium too, but I didn't get a programme and the full cast list isn't on the website yet. The sets and production values have indeed been drastically scaled up from the tour. It looked like the same ship from the Palladium to me - very impressive and took up most of the stage. I did hate the sign above the theatre though - "From BBC's Call the Midwife - HELEN GEORGE" right above the title on the main sign. A bit tacky for the West End, this isn't panto. |
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Post by damaskanddark on Jan 25, 2024 22:42:01 GMT
The website is absolutely appalling. For a West End residency, there are no bios, no further cast listings etc. Unbelievably sloppy. I saw Helen George last week and she was truly awful. This production has become so cheap. I saw it in previews in New York in 2015 and loved it. It is now so bus-and-truck. Evil.
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Post by ThereWillBeSun on Jan 26, 2024 0:19:49 GMT
The website is absolutely appalling. For a West End residency, there are no bios, no further cast listings etc. Unbelievably sloppy. I saw Helen George last week and she was truly awful. This production has become so cheap. I saw it in previews in New York in 2015 and loved it. It is now so bus-and-truck. Evil. I was shocked by this too... find it disrespectful to cast and crew. They've been on tour, right? Baffling. |
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Post by ladidah on Jan 31, 2024 10:07:08 GMT
Got a good rush ticket for tonight, I love the show but wary about the casting.
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Post by ladidah on Jan 31, 2024 10:11:25 GMT
Does anyone know the typical running time please?
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Post by Being Alive on Jan 31, 2024 10:16:07 GMT
Does anyone know the typical running time please? At the palladium it was about 2hrs 55 |
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