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Post by showgirl on May 25, 2018 16:21:32 GMT
Oh help - first preview is tonight so they've now published the approximate running time and it's 2 h 20. Why did I book an evening performance?!
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2018 16:23:37 GMT
That's pretty standard for a musical though, no?
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Post by Dr Tom on May 25, 2018 16:32:43 GMT
Oh help - first preview is tonight so they've now published the approximate running time and it's 2 h 20. Why did I book an evening performance?! That’s on the low side for running times. For safety, if you can, allow extra time as first previews can run long for many reasons. |
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2018 16:34:53 GMT
For safety, if you can, allow extra time as first previews can run long for many reasons. Especially if tonight is the first night Caroline O'Connor has popped on a pair of roller boots. |
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Post by TallPaul on May 25, 2018 16:38:51 GMT
If it starts to overrun, the cast will just have to get their skates on.
(Somebody was going to, so I thought I'd get in early.)
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Post by anthony40 on May 25, 2018 17:18:40 GMT
Am booked for the evening performance on 9th June 2018
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Post by sf on May 25, 2018 17:57:03 GMT
If they stick to 2h20 I'll be fine (I admit I was hoping they'd be doing the one-act version) - I chose my seat strategically so that I could make a quick exit after the show, but if they manage to finish evening performances before 10pm it should be easy enough to get to Euston for an 11pm train.
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Post by showgirl on May 25, 2018 18:12:08 GMT
I also booked a seat suitable for a quick exit and have my eye on trains home. Yes, 2 h 20 is pretty standard but still makes a long evening for a lark and Govia Thameslink Rail have been even more diabolical than usual since the new timetable started this week. Fortunately I am not seeing this until next week so hope the running time and the rail chaos both reduce in the interim.
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Post by musicalmarge on May 25, 2018 22:15:48 GMT
Well I loved it tonight. Caroline is outstanding in this, Gemma too and the male actors and ensemble - everyone amazing. The sound isn’t great, lighting a bit off, it’s all one level and directed to be very real and raw.
I just wanted it to be a little more belty, MT and showbiz - is that bad? It’s not the best musical - but a wonderful production and superb cast (some eye candy too). Not to mention it’s in great great shape for a first preview!
A delightful 8/10. Just needs a bit more razzle dazzle
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Post by wickedgrin on May 25, 2018 23:36:25 GMT
LOVED this tonight at the first preview - it was in fine shape!
Set on a thrust stage with the audience on three sides, very clever use of the space.
A hard working cast of eight very talented performers, although this is basically a two handed piece between Mother (Anna) a superb (as always) Caroline O'Connor and Daughter (Angel) Gemma Sutton - excellent.
Some very nice eye candy in the company namely Stewart Clarke and Jason Winter.
An absolutely knockout, inventive and superbly danced roller skating number - The Rink - in the second act. Some big laughs in the book and fabulously sung throughout.
A few lighting issues - rather under lit especially in Act One and a few minor sound issues - the vocals could have done with a little more help from the sound desk - but I am sure these very minor issues will be sorted.
A great seven piece band above the stage giving this Kander and Ebb score its signature sound.
A full house gave the show a standing ovation. It gets the wickedgrin recommend!
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Post by drowseychap on May 26, 2018 0:14:32 GMT
Can’t wait to see this I love the rink ever since seeing the Coventry Belgrade production a few years back with the original London Angel Diane Langton playing Anna .... glad it’s in good shape already ... can’t wait
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Post by mallardo on May 26, 2018 8:32:06 GMT
It's a good production of a very mediocre show. The premise is useful - the roller rink, home of the Antonelli family for generations, is being torn down on the same day that the prodigal daughter (Angel) returns to confront her mother (Anna) and reprise their lives via flashbacks - but book writer Terrence McNally makes shockingly little of it. There is nothing insightful or original. The whole thing hangs heavy with sentimentality. It's no surprise that this Kander and Ebb show is so rarely done.
Of course a great score can overcome a slender storyline but that's not the case here. Although there are some clever numbers, well staged by director Adam Lenson, there are no great songs. The showstopper of the evening came not from the two leading ladies but from the six chorus guys rollerskating.
As for those leading ladies, they have to shoulder a huge burden - the material calls for heavy lifting. On Broadway two larger than life personalities, Chita Rivera (Anna) and Liza Minelli (Angel), were apparently able to make that happen. It doesn't quite happen here. They have found a perfect Anna in the wonderful Caroline O'Connor but Gemma Sutton, talented as she is, is just not right for Angel. She simply doesn't have the quirkiness or the charisma to fill out what is not so much a character as a sketch for a character. So O'Connor dominates far more than she should.
Having said all that it must also be said - as reported above - that the audience loved every bit of it. Huge applause and standing O at the end. So, for all its flaws, something was working - just not for me.
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Post by alece10 on May 26, 2018 10:24:07 GMT
I really enjoyed the first preview last night and for a first preview its in pretty good shape. No stops and no hiccups that I could see apart from Anna calling Angel by the wrong name at one point which was actually quite funny.
I have never seen The Rink before but the score has been one of my favourites for a long time and I often play the OBC recording with Chita and Liza so I only had that to compare last night with. Yes they are both "belters" so I was kind of expecting the leads to be the same although Caroline O'Connor is certainly capable of doing that.
Simple story, simple set and lovely songs. 6 male actors who perform various roles and this works well.
I love Caroline O'Conner so she didn't disappoint and enjoyed Gemma Sutton as well.
One of the stand out moments and one that the audience loved was The Rink when the male cast members don roller skates and at one point are tap skating (if there is such a thing) which was brilliant.
I usually take issue with the sound at Southwark especially during previews but thought it was pretty good last night, maybe notch it up a bit for Caroline and Gemma and one or two moments could do with better lighting. Loved the band as well, even though there were only 7 they did justice to the score.
Will try and go towards the end of the run to see it again as I really did enjoy myself.
Great first preview audience as well and an almost full standing ovation at the end.
On the negative side the place was hot as hell and some audience members don't seem to be a friend of deoderent.....
Also this is the third time I have booked as soon as tickets go on sale and purchased an end of row seat only to find when I get there on the night that the seat is not at the end of a row. And for this show I bought an end of row seat in the block facing the stage only to get there and find that the seat is neither end of row or in the centre block but on the side. I know the theatre is very small so you get a good view from wherever you sit but its frustrating to find that they alter the seating plan after its been published and you get something totally different from what you booked. Saying that I would hate them to go back to the "free for all" days which were a nightmare.
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Post by ensembleswings on May 26, 2018 14:19:06 GMT
Question for those of you who went last night was the running time 2 hours 20? Or at least close to, or was it a lot longer? Obviously it's previews and it could change night by night but just so I've got a rough idea, need to figure out whether I'll be okay getting home after an evening performance or if I need to get a day off work to see a matinee.
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Post by alece10 on May 26, 2018 14:47:05 GMT
Question for those of you who went last night was the running time 2 hours 20? Or at least close to, or was it a lot longer? Obviously it's previews and it could change night by night but just so I've got a rough idea, need to figure out whether I'll be okay getting home after an evening performance or if I need to get a day off work to see a matinee. Yes. Started pretty much on time and we were walking out at 9.50pm |
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Post by gra on May 26, 2018 15:46:00 GMT
According to the Theatre this production is meant to run 2 hrs 10 including interval
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Post by ensembleswings on May 26, 2018 16:33:53 GMT
alece10 Thanks, looks like I should be able to see an evening performance and still make my coach home.
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2018 17:52:58 GMT
Well. For those who love a soapy mother/daughter tale, some tight t-shirt action and a hankering for the return of Xanadu, you'll be in heaven.
The story is about as slight as Donald Trump's grip on reality but its all about the score which has some stonking tunes, including the magnificent 'Chief Cook and Bottle Washer'. Scrap that. It's all about Miss Caroline O'Connor who is just all shades of gloriousness. I'm willing to bet that none of the actresses who end up on next year's awards list will be anywhere near as good as her. Granted, it's an old fashioned style of performance but she does it so brilliantly - funny, touching, sassy and show stopping. She's just a sensation and to see her do it up close is just a joy.
Gemma Sutton sings beautifully but she's a bit miscast. She's just a bit too perky and pretty for Angel. Vocally she's wonderful though and I'd love to see her career get bigger and better.
The male chorus is quite brilliant and quite rightly stop the show with their roller boot routine to 'The Rink' although some of them clearly have better balance than others, however I wouldn't have it any other way. Ben Redfern is a lovely Lenny and Stewart Clarke as Dino is delicious and sings like a dream. He's like a hairy little tiramisu.
They could beef up the vocals a bit and switch on the lights in the first act although there is a little pleasure in seeing the spotlight chase Caroline around during one of her numbers.
Pretty much full and a bit of a standing ovation from the audience. Those who could stand at least. And to the hottie on the back row with his legs out looking like a young moustachioed Studley Fraser. Hello.
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Post by freckles on May 26, 2018 18:25:02 GMT
Was at today’s matinee too and had a thoroughly good time. It was uncomfortably hot though.
I’ll post my thoughts later but doubt I can better “hairy little tiramisu”!
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2018 18:30:38 GMT
Was at today’s matinee too and had a thoroughly good time. It was uncomfortably hot though. I’ll post my thoughts later but doubt I can better “hairy little tiramisu”! Oh freckles we could have said hello! Thank God you were hot too. I thought it was the manopause. |
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Post by theatrefan77 on May 26, 2018 18:57:32 GMT
Loved it this afternoon and thought Gemma Sutton was excellent as Angel. Of course I enjoyed Caroline O'Connors' performance a lot but Anna is a very meaty part and has all the best lines so it's easy for the audience to be on her side. I think out of the two leading ladies Sutton has to work harder to make Angel believable and sympathetic, and for me she did a great job. She sang really well too. Her outfit looks as if it had been borrowed from Rajesh Koothrappali's wardrobe though. I know they were going for the hippy look but somehow they didn't get it quite right.
The male chorus were all quite good. A few small bits will need to be ironed before opening night but nothing major.
They've changed the beginning and I'm not sure it works. Normally the opening number is Coloured Lights which introduces beautifully the mood of melancholy in the story of a daughter going back to her roots. The show now begins much more in your face, not subtlety whatsoever, with the workmen clearing up clutter from the rink and then straight to Anna's first number Chief Cook and Bottle Washer. Coloured Lights is now the closing number for Act 1. It's beautifully sung but it's too late for that song. Personally I'd put it back at the beginning of the show which is where it really belongs.
Angel"s Rink and Social Centre has been cut and I'm not sure why, I quite like that song and it show's Angel's determination to keep the rink open for business.
Apart from these quibbles I really enjoyed the show and hope to see it again later in the run. Highly recommended.
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Post by sf on May 26, 2018 19:16:39 GMT
They've changed the beginning and I'm not sure it works. Normally the opening number is Coloured Lights which introduces beautifully the mood of melancholy in the story of a daughter going back to her roots. The show now begins much more in your face, not subtlety whatsoever, with the workmen clearing up clutter from the rink and then straight to Anna's first number Chief Cook and Bottle Washer. Coloured Lights is now the closing number for Act 1. It's beautifully sung but it's too late for that song. Personally I'd put it back at the beginning of the show which is where it really belongs. That change has been around for a while, and didn't originate in this production (not that I've seen this production yet - I'm going on Wednesday). 'Colored Lights' is the opening number on both cast recordings, but the acting edition available from Samuel French opens with 'Chief Cook and Bottle Washer', and I think it's been that way for quite a while now. I think, though I'm not certain, that the current acting edition presents the show as a one-act. (I saw the last London revival at the Orange Tree in Richmond, but I have no memory at all of which number opened the show there.) |
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Post by westendcub on May 26, 2018 20:16:12 GMT
Wow..I was at the matinee today & this a brilliant piece...I cried pretty much throughout Act 2...planning on going again..a Southwark triumph!!
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Post by theatrefan77 on May 26, 2018 20:21:50 GMT
(I saw the last London revival at the Orange Tree in Richmond, but I have no memory at all of which number opened the show there.) I also saw the Orange Tree production and it begun with Angel sitting in her suitcase singing Coloured Lights. In spite of its flows I quite liked that production too. |
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Post by freckles on May 26, 2018 21:11:31 GMT
Firstly, it’s like a sauna in the auditorium, so be prepared.
Not having seen The Rink before, I wasn’t familiar with the plot and the song order worked fine for me. I thought it was an engaging tale, if a little predictable, but it was the detail of the mother/daughter relationship that was interesting, rather than the overall story arc. Loved the cast, but agree that Gemma Sutton is a bit too attractive (even in dowdy wig and dodgy clothes) to be repeatedly told she needs to lose a few pounds or that she’s not pretty. Caroline O’Connor was perfect as the embittered, wisecracking mother, her comic timing is impeccable and it was a treat to see her up close. The songs are very wordy though, and I didn’t catch everything. She really knows how to deliver a song and is also an amazing dancer. The ensemble works very hard and provides a great backdrop of characters. The roller-skating demonstrates varying degrees of ability; poor Caroline failed to show much flair although she gave it a good go, and there were a couple of dicey stumbles from some of the ensemble, but it was all quite fun, with the audience seeming to appreciate and enjoy the obvious potential peril. Others seemed a bit more practised and even tap danced on skates, which was pretty impressive.
The show is both funny and poignant, (I cried a little bit too) and I really enjoyed it. And hairy little tiramisu was but one of the dishes to enjoy...
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