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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2018 14:06:43 GMT
@emicardiff , am I a bad person for laughing at that, or am I a bad person for thinking "actually, they're more likely to get to the ghost stage before me"?  I proper laughed out loud at that. |
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Post by Dawnstar on Jan 19, 2018 19:01:23 GMT
Depends on what happens after we die. If haunting where you died is an option, no reason to miss out on act 2. You'd have to hope it was a theatre with plenty of turnover though, could be a slightly tedious afterlife if you opted to hang around for the second half of Thriller, thinking you had the option to move along Shaftesbury Avenue as the urge took you, only to discover you're stuck in a two metre radius of your place of death. Maybe that's the circle of Hell designed for theatregoers: stuck eternally watching Thriller! (Though at least if I was stuck in the Lyric I would get one performance of Showstopper a month!) |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2018 19:51:36 GMT
Oh that's true, you do get the occasional Tiger Who Came to Tea or Gruffalo's Child too.  |
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Post by loureviews on Apr 6, 2018 17:43:04 GMT
I'm going to see this tomorrow. I've just seen a picture of the Allam wig  |
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Post by joem on Apr 8, 2018 16:03:40 GMT
This was ok in a "small UK film" kind of way, easy to watch if not especially deep or meaningful. David Hare is a "good" rather than "great" playwright. Perhaps "The Absence of War" is the last play he wrote which has claims to greatness.
Did Roger Allam keep the wig from Limehouse on all this time?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2018 17:03:05 GMT
Did Roger Allam keep the wig from Limehouse on all this time? Other way round, he probably took it to Limehouse after the 2015 run of The Moderate Soprano and resolved to wear it more 'cos he knew it would upset his fanbase. |
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Post by lynette on Apr 8, 2018 17:08:39 GMT
I’m surprised this has a second run. It isn’t that good. Maybe Allam has a contract with a second run.
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Post by loureviews on Apr 9, 2018 6:43:55 GMT
My thoughts, ported over from my blog:
There is no singing, operatic or otherwise, in The Moderate Soprano, which returns to the stage following a sell-out run at Hampstead three years ago.
There is Roger Allam in a curiously bad wig (and at one point, lederhosen) as the eccentric John Christie, who made his fortune from building and decided his destiny was to build an opera house in his garden – which became Glyndebourne, England’s answer to Bayreuth.
The soprano of the title (not moderate as in average, but as in gentle of voice) is John’s wife, Audrey, played by Nancy Carroll, and we meet both of them in the first scene after the Second World War, when their enterprise is to be taken under the control of a Trust, ‘for the people’.
We then go back to see how Glyndebourne came to be, by the tenacity and naivete of Christie, and the help of three refugees from the Nazis: Rudolf Bing, Carl Ebert, and Franz Busch. So a truly English institution was modelled on the German model by three specialists in the production of Mozart.
There are hints and glimpses of politics pre-war, and these are done well, but they feel a bit lost in what is essentially a light comedy, and David Hare’s play, now split into two Acts with an interval, could do with an additional trim to stop the action dragging to a stop.
Paul Jesson, a stalwart of the RSC who I last saw playing Henry VIII at Stratford-upon-Avon, is Busch, a conductor who fell foul of promoting Jews above Gentiles for their talent in his opera house in Dresden, who was driven out after his orchestra took to wearing swastikas on their lapels.
Anthony Calf (best known perhaps, as Strickland in New Tricks) is Ebert, engaging with the Christies in characteristic Teutonic arrogance, and his assistant Bing is played by the very mannered Jacob Fortune-Lloyd.
The play is complex, but I felt it did not entirely convince. The performances are broadly good (especially Allam, who gets to the core of the character and Jesson, who convinces as a man displaced and somewhat befuddled by political progress), but there is something missing, and the decline in health of both the Christies is not fully explained, or the fact the private enterprise seems to decline during wartime.
I was also a little disappointed with the frugality of the sets and backdrops, and the dig within the script to people prepared to pay high prices to watch opera (which is also true, these days, of London theatre).
Just a reasonable two hours of theatre, not unmissable by any means, and not an obvious candidate to see out its full run to the end of June; it probably suited the small space of the Hampstead Theatre far better.
----
Incidentally I didn't mention but Jesson required a prompt which could clearly be heard in front stalls - a first for me to see at a professional production.
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Post by tmesis on Apr 9, 2018 6:54:50 GMT
I enjoyed this at Hampstead but then I'm a bit obsessed by opera. I thought then it was a bit niche and most of the average theatre-goer (even at Hampstead) wouldn't give a toss about what is essentially quite a 'rarified' institution. Amazed it got a WE transfer.
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Post by profquatermass on Apr 9, 2018 9:12:54 GMT
My thoughts, ported over from my blog: The soprano of the title (not moderate as in average, but as in gentle of voice) is John’s wife, Audrey, played by Nancy Carroll, and we meet both of them in the first scene after the Second World War, when their enterprise is to be taken under the control of a Trust, ‘for the people’. ---- I thought she was moderate as in average - there was a lot about how she wasn't quite good enough to be an opera star. |
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Post by tonyloco on Apr 9, 2018 11:01:49 GMT
I thought she was moderate as in average - there was a lot about how she wasn't quite good enough to be an opera star. This is probably true overall, but people can make their own judgement about her ability purely as a singer by listening to the famous HMV Glyndebourne recordings from the 1930s of 'Le nozze di Figaro', 'Don Giovanni' and 'The Beggars Opera' in which Audrey Mildmay sings Susanna, Zerlina and Polly Peachum respectively. |
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Post by loureviews on Apr 9, 2018 12:36:02 GMT
My thoughts, ported over from my blog: The soprano of the title (not moderate as in average, but as in gentle of voice) is John’s wife, Audrey, played by Nancy Carroll, and we meet both of them in the first scene after the Second World War, when their enterprise is to be taken under the control of a Trust, ‘for the people’. ---- I thought she was moderate as in average - there was a lot about how she wasn't quite good enough to be an opera star. Quote directly from the play! |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2018 12:48:53 GMT
(Has it occurred to you that maybe you're both right, and possibly that's part of the reason why it's the title? ) |
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Post by loureviews on Apr 9, 2018 13:01:05 GMT
(Has it occurred to you that maybe you're both right, and possibly that's part of the reason why it's the title? ) Absolutely! |
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Post by dani on Apr 13, 2018 7:40:21 GMT
Ann Treneman in today's Times makes the obvious joke and says it is "a moderate success".
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Post by bellboard27 on Apr 13, 2018 23:06:01 GMT
Got a front row seat for £15. These are day seats, but ones not sold at the theatre go online. Today this was most of them and they went online before 10.30.
The stage is high and built out a bit further than some productions, so it was a bit of a neck ache!
The play is enjoyable enough, but I felt it never really dug into anything particularly deep either on the individual characters or the nature of opera.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2018 13:21:15 GMT
Well. First of all, I'd like to take a moment to thank Costume Designer Bob Crowley for putting Jacob Fortune-Lloyd in that tight blue short sleeved shirt. You are officially on my Christmas card list.  As for the rest, it's all a bit cosy Sunday tea time with some nice performances and a few giggles. Gentle ones, not huge guffaws. And I don't think any of the audience was under 75 so that made me feel terrific. I left with a spring in my step. And for those Roger Allam fans who'd love to see his huge organ you are in for a real treat. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2018 16:04:08 GMT
Well. First of all, I'd like to take a moment to thank Costume Designer Bob Crowley for putting Jacob Fortune-Lloyd in that tight blue short sleeved shirt. You are officially on my Christmas card list. As for the rest, it's all a bit cosy Sunday tea time with some nice performances and a few giggles. Gentle ones, not huge guffaws. And I don't think any of the audience was under 75 so that made me feel terrific. I left with a spring in my step. And for those Roger Allam fans who'd love to see his huge organ you are in for a real treat. oof I saw something on the construction of his organ, and behind the scenes. Its a sight to see. Also I still want words with whoever is responsible for the bald cap. |
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Post by talkingheads on Jun 9, 2018 9:35:00 GMT
Well I'd planned to get a ticket to Pressure from the TKTS booth but there was no discount offered, so went for a half price to this. I can't say I'm an opera lover, but then I'm not an art lover and I thought The Habit of Art was brilliant. Plus I've long wanted to see Roger Allam onstage and David Hare just seals the deal. Looking forward to it!
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Post by talkingheads on Jun 9, 2018 14:30:07 GMT
Well end of part one and my feelings are mixed. I can't say it's the best or most memorable piece, but the main thing is watching Roger Allam, he's as good as I thought he'd be if not better.
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Post by talkingheads on Jun 9, 2018 16:11:40 GMT
Second half was much better than the first. It didn't much help me apperciate opera but it did help me to appreciate those who do. But again, Allam stole it. He brought the house down with a well timed turn of the head and Hare's dialogue was peppered with some nice comic touches.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2018 18:04:47 GMT
I’m taking my A-level English teacher (from over 20 years ago!) to see this. I don’t know if it’s my usually thing but based on the comments, I am hopeful. She didn’t fancy “Pressure” and I wasn’t sure what else could have worked.
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Post by wickedgrin on Jun 11, 2018 11:24:46 GMT
£15 tickets from Today Tix for the rest of the run if booked today. I have just booked front stalls for the last week.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2018 13:59:09 GMT
£15 tickets from Today Tix for the rest of the run if booked today. I have just booked front stalls for the last week. I am gnashing about this. I booked front row stalls two days ago and was pleased to get £30 off. Now this... |
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Post by Rory on Jun 16, 2018 18:27:51 GMT
Thanks for this @theatremonkey. I won't get to see this unfortunately but I would have liked to. It may be slightly traditional in style but I think there is definitely still a place for a well crafted old school play.
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