4,955 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Nov 11, 2023 22:31:32 GMT
Well it needs tightenting and polishing but i think a great show is in there.
As Malloy scores go this one appears to be quite tame and commerical. Some good stuff in it though but it doesnt have the spikey edge that i was hoping for.
We had a show stop - woo hoo!
Really good performances all round.
I hope it can be whipped into shape and become a success.
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Post by matildaswinton on Nov 11, 2023 22:44:52 GMT
Had a wonderful time tonight. We really want to go back. The benches offered a great closeup but we missed some of the special effects and a few blocking moments at the rear of the stage. It was definitely more comfortable than those row A chairs, which have much lower backs and are tight.
Also, I really enjoyed the music. I was a huge fan of Great Comet, so take that as you will. But we are still singing the Soup song! Loved Bruno’s song (and whole character), Luke’s first song, and the Grand High Witch song was awesome too. Gran songs were wonderfully delivered by SAT. Everyone is doing great work.
There are so many specific little things that go on this show…. I am sure they are working tirelessly to perfect it. And just the wig and costume changes for the ensemble alone… big chunk of money going into it for sure. I hope it becomes a hit. Would love to see this go into the Beaumont in New York. I think licensing alone in the future will make lots of money.
And how nice to add some amazing fresh material to the cannon for talented kids! Great part for an older female actor in the Gran role. Juicy parts for so many types. For me, this is a welcome addition to our beloved genre.
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Post by JustJ on Nov 11, 2023 22:51:28 GMT
I watched this tonight. So many thoughts but there is certainly a good show in there. It does need polishing and tidying - but that’s what previews are for, aye! Way too many backstage staff moving things on stage in the background.
The songs are OK! Some good, some bad. I think what it lacked was the magic of theatrics - really expected some big moments through light, sound and effects and didn’t really get any. No WOW moments! I could talk all day about missed opportunities.
The two young boy leads - absolutely incredible - ones to watch for the future, that’s for sure. Agreed, the cutouts of objects is very cheap.
For me it’s a 3.5*, I don’t give half stars so it’s a solid 3 for me at this stage. I do think with work it’ll be a 4* and critics and families alike will enjoy this.
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Post by JustJ on Nov 11, 2023 22:52:26 GMT
I went this evening. {Spoiler - click to view}Was the phone in the audience part of the show or not? This happened tonight also… |
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124 posts
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Post by terrylondon79 on Nov 11, 2023 23:46:45 GMT
They are selling a new front row, AA, so I went ahead and traded in my row A tickets for January, and I’ll be there tonight…. But the new tickets say “bench restricted view”……. Did they have these the other night? We’ll see how this goes… Sat on the end of the row in AA for £20 not a bad seat. Miss a few bits here and there. Bench seats so slightly more uncomfortable than the other seats in Olivier. Been in worse seats not sold as restricted view. |
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Post by theatre2023 on Nov 11, 2023 23:49:00 GMT
The illusion department lets the production down somewhat. As someone else commented - the show needs a real “gee whizz” spectacular moment - something jaw dropping to talk about … sadly it’s not there.
Even the change into mice isn’t particularly magical.
Missed opportunity unfortunately.
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Post by greatauntedna on Nov 12, 2023 1:00:28 GMT
I went this evening. {Spoiler - click to view}Was the phone in the audience part of the show or not? This happened tonight also… {Spoiler - click to view}
I don’t know if I’m going mad, but I thought she called the person an arsehole or was it arse on Thursday night. She said like “we don’t need this, we’ve just been waiting ages” cos it was after the show stop. I thought it was a bit strong for a family show! |
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Post by MusicalTalk on Nov 12, 2023 10:12:08 GMT
The line is “children are assholes”.
She then sings a very good song, defending her choice of words.
The thing is with family shows is it has to have something for the adults as well.
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Post by erik24601 on Nov 12, 2023 10:36:11 GMT
Can anybody give a full review of the special effects, with a spoiler tag please?
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26 posts
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Post by phantom1986 on Nov 12, 2023 11:16:22 GMT
Can't believe they have been workshopping this for years and this is the best they came up with. As a musicalisation it adds nothing - the score is dull and unmemorable and each song seems to go on forever while adding nothing to the plot. That soup number in Act 2...
It's clearly a cash grab for the NT and has been built to slot easily into the West End but I don't see it having much of a future life.
Shame as there's lots of talented people involved but I'd skip this one.
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Post by Fleance on Nov 13, 2023 23:52:45 GMT
I went this evening. {Spoiler - click to view}Was the phone in the audience part of the show or not? This happened tonight also… And tonight. It's part of the show. |
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Post by greatauntedna on Nov 14, 2023 0:29:31 GMT
This happened tonight also… And tonight. It's part of the show. I think we’ve gathered that now but good to know 😝 |
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Post by Fleance on Nov 14, 2023 8:05:38 GMT
And tonight. It's part of the show. I think we’ve gathered that now but good to know 😝 There were few glitches/malfunctions which I assume are not part of the show but which were fun nevertheless. |
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362 posts
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Post by JJShaw on Nov 14, 2023 11:13:15 GMT
Saw this last night, I'll put under a spoiler just in case as it is still previews and some might want to go in completely fresh. But if you are going I think you're going to have a good time! {Spoiler - click to view}Clearly they have put some money into the set and I thought it looked great! We have one extremely brief show stop where the revolve just hadn't revolved enough, it was really brief, maybe 2 minutes with the stage manager coming out being very nice and the audience were supportive. However after it was fixed I couldn't help but think why they didn't just switch the two set pieces so the revolve wouldn't have to do as much, but anyway..!
We also had another mishap which took me ages to notice but I think everyone else clocked on earlier, Bruno's mouse didn't appear for the end of act 2 where his parents take him home but his pre recorded lines still came out so his ghostly voice was expertly turned into a voice from the heavens from Gran.
Speaking of, Gran was fantastic, as was the rest of the cast, and her chemistry with Luke was very sweet, actually at it sweetest during the bows when they were able to have fun and be silly, shame some more of that wasnt incorporated into the show!! The kids were very sweet and I'll give them passes as its previews with what looks like lots going on plus they're kids, but it was a lot of 'stand centre and look up to the circle and deliver your lines' so perhaps a resident director could work with them while the rest of the creatives work on the show. But Bruno's number was very fun and silly. Melody (Melanie?!) the grand high witches assistant was fun, as were most of the ensemble women who all got their moments to shine. Didn't quite connect with the hotel manager who has lots of material but just didn't seem to shine, but again its previews and maybe as lots of his scenes it stitching other together perhaps he's had lots of material changes.
Can Katherine Kingsley please have her Hannah Waddingham moment? I've seen her in so much and every time she is the best thing about a show. So funny, so gorgeous, elevated the material even when it wasnt great.
Which leads me on to the book which was fairly solid however we would get the really out of place 2020 references to tik-tok, selfies, and the baby shark song (EYE ROLL!!!) which were completely at odds with the set and costume design of the grand-budapest-hotel vintage kitsch (which I loved it all looked beautiful!) you could - and should - take out those few references and you'd be left with a nice solid non-specific-time book which was serviceable and did actually have a few of its own very funny jokes. (Particularly when Bruno asks Luke what his dad does for a job, Luke says his dad is dead and Bruno deadpan goes 'oh mine isn't.')
Music wise, I'm not a huge fan of Dave Malloy but the first few numbers were really fun and had great ideas, it sort of trickled out after a while but very reminiscent of Matilda meets Beetlejuice (with hints of Urinetown), but it was good none the less.
End of act one, while the accapella singing is impressive, really really failed to land a punch and if you're going to focus on moments THIS is one you need to nail and they absolutely did not. The act 2 11 o'clock number sung by the little girl as gnome was really sweet (and impressive the pipes on this girl!) but the sentiment of the song was a little clunky.
If it stays like this come opening night, it's fine and enjoyable, if they are looking to make some final tweaks and refinement, it could be really really good. But either way well worth your time to go see, always exciting for London to get actual premieres of new musicals, and this one felt like the kind of musical that would pad out a Broadway season (weather it would close before the Tony's I don't know but we rarely get new productions like this on this scale so that's nice!)
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Post by Fleance on Nov 14, 2023 11:27:46 GMT
Saw this last night, I'll put under a spoiler just in case as it is still previews and some might want to go in completely fresh. But if you are going I think you're going to have a good time! {Spoiler - click to view}Clearly they have put some money into the set and I thought it looked great! We have one extremely brief show stop where the revolve just hadn't revolved enough, it was really brief, maybe 2 minutes with the stage manager coming out being very nice and the audience were supportive. However after it was fixed I couldn't help but think why they didn't just switch the two set pieces so the revolve wouldn't have to do as much, but anyway..!
We also had another mishap which took me ages to notice but I think everyone else clocked on earlier, Bruno's mouse didn't appear for the end of act 2 where his parents take him home but his pre recorded lines still came out so his ghostly voice was expertly turned into a voice from the heavens from Gran.
Speaking of, Gran was fantastic, as was the rest of the cast, and her chemistry with Luke was very sweet, actually at it sweetest during the bows when they were able to have fun and be silly, shame some more of that wasnt incorporated into the show!! The kids were very sweet and I'll give them passes as its previews with what looks like lots going on plus they're kids, but it was a lot of 'stand centre and look up to the circle and deliver your lines' so perhaps a resident director could work with them while the rest of the creatives work on the show. But Bruno's number was very fun and silly. Melody (Melanie?!) the grand high witches assistant was fun, as were most of the ensemble women who all got their moments to shine. Didn't quite connect with the hotel manager who has lots of material but just didn't seem to shine, but again its previews and maybe as lots of his scenes it stitching other together perhaps he's had lots of material changes.
Can Katherine Kingsley please have her Hannah Waddingham moment? I've seen her in so much and every time she is the best thing about a show. So funny, so gorgeous, elevated the material even when it wasnt great.
Which leads me on to the book which was fairly solid however we would get the really out of place 2020 references to tik-tok, selfies, and the baby shark song (EYE ROLL!!!) which were completely at odds with the set and costume design of the grand-budapest-hotel vintage kitsch (which I loved it all looked beautiful!) you could - and should - take out those few references and you'd be left with a nice solid non-specific-time book which was serviceable and did actually have a few of its own very funny jokes. (Particularly when Bruno asks Luke what his dad does for a job, Luke says his dad is dead and Bruno deadpan goes 'oh mine isn't.')
Music wise, I'm not a huge fan of Dave Malloy but the first few numbers were really fun and had great ideas, it sort of trickled out after a while but very reminiscent of Matilda meets Beetlejuice (with hints of Urinetown), but it was good none the less.
End of act one, while the accapella singing is impressive, really really failed to land a punch and if you're going to focus on moments THIS is one you need to nail and they absolutely did not. The act 2 11 o'clock number sung by the little girl as gnome was really sweet (and impressive the pipes on this girl!) but the sentiment of the song was a little clunky.
If it stays like this come opening night, it's fine and enjoyable, if they are looking to make some final tweaks and refinement, it could be really really good. But either way well worth your time to go see, always exciting for London to get actual premieres of new musicals, and this one felt like the kind of musical that would pad out a Broadway season (weather it would close before the Tony's I don't know but we rarely get new productions like this on this scale so that's nice!)
Which kid leads did we see last night? I think it was Keita and Cutts, but I'm not sure. They were great. |
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362 posts
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Post by JJShaw on Nov 14, 2023 12:18:38 GMT
Saw this last night, I'll put under a spoiler just in case as it is still previews and some might want to go in completely fresh. But if you are going I think you're going to have a good time! {Spoiler - click to view}Clearly they have put some money into the set and I thought it looked great! We have one extremely brief show stop where the revolve just hadn't revolved enough, it was really brief, maybe 2 minutes with the stage manager coming out being very nice and the audience were supportive. However after it was fixed I couldn't help but think why they didn't just switch the two set pieces so the revolve wouldn't have to do as much, but anyway..!
We also had another mishap which took me ages to notice but I think everyone else clocked on earlier, Bruno's mouse didn't appear for the end of act 2 where his parents take him home but his pre recorded lines still came out so his ghostly voice was expertly turned into a voice from the heavens from Gran.
Speaking of, Gran was fantastic, as was the rest of the cast, and her chemistry with Luke was very sweet, actually at it sweetest during the bows when they were able to have fun and be silly, shame some more of that wasnt incorporated into the show!! The kids were very sweet and I'll give them passes as its previews with what looks like lots going on plus they're kids, but it was a lot of 'stand centre and look up to the circle and deliver your lines' so perhaps a resident director could work with them while the rest of the creatives work on the show. But Bruno's number was very fun and silly. Melody (Melanie?!) the grand high witches assistant was fun, as were most of the ensemble women who all got their moments to shine. Didn't quite connect with the hotel manager who has lots of material but just didn't seem to shine, but again its previews and maybe as lots of his scenes it stitching other together perhaps he's had lots of material changes.
Can Katherine Kingsley please have her Hannah Waddingham moment? I've seen her in so much and every time she is the best thing about a show. So funny, so gorgeous, elevated the material even when it wasnt great.
Which leads me on to the book which was fairly solid however we would get the really out of place 2020 references to tik-tok, selfies, and the baby shark song (EYE ROLL!!!) which were completely at odds with the set and costume design of the grand-budapest-hotel vintage kitsch (which I loved it all looked beautiful!) you could - and should - take out those few references and you'd be left with a nice solid non-specific-time book which was serviceable and did actually have a few of its own very funny jokes. (Particularly when Bruno asks Luke what his dad does for a job, Luke says his dad is dead and Bruno deadpan goes 'oh mine isn't.')
Music wise, I'm not a huge fan of Dave Malloy but the first few numbers were really fun and had great ideas, it sort of trickled out after a while but very reminiscent of Matilda meets Beetlejuice (with hints of Urinetown), but it was good none the less.
End of act one, while the accapella singing is impressive, really really failed to land a punch and if you're going to focus on moments THIS is one you need to nail and they absolutely did not. The act 2 11 o'clock number sung by the little girl as gnome was really sweet (and impressive the pipes on this girl!) but the sentiment of the song was a little clunky.
If it stays like this come opening night, it's fine and enjoyable, if they are looking to make some final tweaks and refinement, it could be really really good. But either way well worth your time to go see, always exciting for London to get actual premieres of new musicals, and this one felt like the kind of musical that would pad out a Broadway season (weather it would close before the Tony's I don't know but we rarely get new productions like this on this scale so that's nice!)
Which kid leads did we see last night? I think it was Keita and Cutts, but I'm not sure. They were great. I think you're right? Very sweet and lovely singing voices |
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Post by Boob on Nov 15, 2023 7:13:52 GMT
Another shout out for Sally Ann Triplett who, for me, is giving one of her best ever performances in this. Really nails the character, the comedy and the pathos of Grandma. Loved her Act 2 solo, which finally brought some much needed emotion to the show.
As for the musical and the production… it’s just not ready.
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197 posts
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Post by dan on Nov 15, 2023 7:48:17 GMT
Still selling a £20 ticket (or decent offer) for this for 30 December (see notice board).
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4,171 posts
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Post by anthony40 on Nov 15, 2023 10:55:04 GMT
I am there tonight
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Post by jb656637 on Nov 15, 2023 19:07:50 GMT
A vile show.
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5,795 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Nov 15, 2023 21:25:09 GMT
Your first post. Hmmmm. Disgruntled actor who wasn’t cast in it? |
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Post by lilgirlbigcity on Nov 15, 2023 21:53:39 GMT
For those interested in timings, tonight's show ran 1h12m for act 1 and 1hr9m for act 2 (the backstage tannoy has just very handily announced it)
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5,795 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Nov 15, 2023 22:02:50 GMT
For those interested in timings, tonight's show ran 1h12m for act 1 and 1hr9m for act 2 (the backstage tannoy has just very handily announced it) Haha that must be a mistake, stage management announcement meant for backstage broadcast FOH |
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Post by lilgirlbigcity on Nov 15, 2023 22:09:57 GMT
For those interested in timings, tonight's show ran 1h12m for act 1 and 1hr9m for act 2 (the backstage tannoy has just very handily announced it) Haha that must be a mistake, stage management announcement meant for backstage broadcast FOH I was backstage 😉 |
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76 posts
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Post by sophia on Nov 16, 2023 9:54:20 GMT
I saw this last night and would probably give it 3 stars in its current state.
Positives:
- Lucy Kirkwood’s book is very funny. I laughed a lot throughout the show.
- The cast are excellent, including the children. Standouts were Daniel Rigby as Mr Stringer, Sally Ann Triplett as Gran and whoever was playing Bruno last night.
Negatives:
- I thought the music was pretty bland. I didn’t love many of the songs while they were happening and now that it’s the next day I can’t remember any of them. It’s hard not to compare it to Matilda.
- At nearly three hours last night, the whole thing felt too long. Both acts need trimming but particularly act 2 where quite a few people around me (not just children) were getting restless towards the end.
- There weren’t any impressive effects or moments that made me think ‘wow, how did they do that?’ I don’t want this from every show I see, but with something like The Witches I expected a bit more.
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