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Post by viserys on Apr 26, 2018 12:58:58 GMT
Good news for all (the few) lovers of the French spectacles: The current tour of Notre Dame de Paris will be moving into the Coliseum briefly from Wed 23 to Sun 27 January 2019. It will be performed in French with English surtitles. It's not clear apparently if the current cast will still be around then - personally I hope so, as they were incredible, especially Hiba Tawaji as Esmeralda. notredamedeparislespectacle.com/notre-dame-de-paris-the-international-musical-phenomenon/ |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2018 13:05:27 GMT
We have everything crossed that a genuine hunchback will be found for the casting of Quasimodo otherwise I fear there could be a right old Ding Dong...
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Post by danb on Apr 26, 2018 13:22:58 GMT
We have everything crossed that a genuine hunchback will be found for the casting of Quasimodo otherwise I fear there could be a right old Ding Dong... If ‘Hunchback’ is even the correct terminology these days...what have you said!!!??’ 😂🙄😩 |
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Post by anita on Apr 26, 2018 13:46:26 GMT
Saw this many times at the Dominion.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2018 13:53:02 GMT
^ Well I hope you're ashamed of yourself... Because I dare say that Tina Arena was NEVER part of our thespian traveller community...  |
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Post by anita on Apr 26, 2018 14:01:25 GMT
^ Well I hope you're ashamed of yourself... Because I dare say that Tina Arena was NEVER part of our thespian traveller community... She wasn't the best by far. The best Esmerelda was the understudy later in the run. I can't remember her name but seem to remember she was possibly Swedish. Ian Pirie was the best Quasimodo, Bruno Pelletier & Luck Mervil were excellent. Dean Collinson was terrific. Fred Johansan was best Frollo. I saw lots of different cast members. - Also saw John Partridge standing just inside the stage door wearing nothing but a very very small towel! |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2018 14:07:31 GMT
The best Esmerelda was the understudy later in the run. I can't remember her name but seem to remember she was possibly Swedish. Camilla Bard! I loved Tina Arena. She wasn't so hot on the acting front but she looked like she should have been captured in a painting and that voice of hers was (still is) a thing of absolute wonder! |
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Post by anita on Apr 26, 2018 14:13:29 GMT
The best Esmerelda was the understudy later in the run. I can't remember her name but seem to remember she was possibly Swedish. Camilla Bard! I loved Tina Arena. She wasn't so hot on the acting front but she looked like she should have been captured in a painting and that voice of hers was (still is) a thing of absolute wonder! Yes Ryan it was Camilla Bard. |
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Post by distantcousin on Apr 26, 2018 14:13:33 GMT
You lost me at "French with English surtitles"
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Post by danb on Apr 26, 2018 14:59:16 GMT
Who did I see then? I want to say Fernandes something? Anyone? It was a Sat matinee in the Arena years (I’d just got over Martinegate so found Tina Arena’s alternate less devastating). It was a right old mess wasn’t it? Great tunes but not a clue what was going on...bells...monks...I remember getting the coach from Bristol. That is all.
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Post by wickedgrin on Apr 26, 2018 15:01:41 GMT
LOVED this at the Dominion - a real guilty pleasure. Will have to book for this - very excited!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2018 15:02:07 GMT
Who did I see then? I want to say Fernandes something? Anyone? It was a Sat matinee in the Arena years (I’d just got over Martinegate so found Tina Arena’s alternate less devastating). It was a right old mess wasn’t it? Great tunes but not a clue what was going on...bells...monks...I remember getting the coach from Bristol. That is all. Hazel Fernandes? |
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Post by ctas on Apr 26, 2018 15:40:49 GMT
Absolutely thrilled that this is in French! I never saw it at the Dominion (too young) and it’s been on my wish list for a while now!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2018 15:57:14 GMT
One of the weaker French spectacles I thought. Many of them end up on DVD and Le Roi Soleil was particularly bonkers and looked lovely. The Presgurvic Romeo & Juliet actually had one of the better scores but its sad, puny London production managed to reduce the orchestrations so much you couldn’t tell. Add to that a weak translation and Jane Macdonald wandering aimlessly in and out as though she was passing a couple of hours onshore before getting back to the real job and it was pretty depressing to watch.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2018 16:11:06 GMT
Add to that a weak translation and Jane Macdonald wandering aimlessly in and out as though she was passing a couple of hours onshore before getting back to the real job and it was pretty depressing to watch. Oh no you didn't. Oooh it's a long way from Wakefield 'ere in Verona!  |
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Post by alece10 on Apr 26, 2018 16:31:52 GMT
This is a musical I'd like to see. I lived overseas when it was at the Dominion so never got to see it but I did have the French recording on minidisc and really liked the music.
Minidiscs, strange little things weren't they.
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Post by sf on Apr 26, 2018 17:07:14 GMT
Il est venu le temps des cathédrales, le monde est entré dans un nouveau millénaire...
Omigod. I saw this in French years ago and I think I'm going to have to see it again... which means months and months of earworms. It's a terrible show - but it's a terrible show with some really memorable music in it.
Of course, what I REALLY want is for someone to bring in a production of STARMANIA...
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Post by richey on Apr 26, 2018 17:18:42 GMT
Who did I see then? I want to say Fernandes something? Anyone? It was a Sat matinee in the Arena years (I’d just got over Martinegate so found Tina Arena’s alternate less devastating). It was a right old mess wasn’t it? Great tunes but not a clue what was going on...bells...monks...I remember getting the coach from Bristol. That is all. Hazel Fernandes? Yes it was Hazel. I had to dig out my old programmes to look this up. Strange show. Remember treking up from Cardiff as the ex wife wanted to see it. It was big on spectacle I'll give it that |
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Post by couldileaveyou on Apr 26, 2018 17:36:52 GMT
Oooh I love this show so much, it's a guilty pleasure of mine. Saw it twice in Italian, in curious to see it in French now.
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Post by Boob on Apr 26, 2018 17:57:11 GMT
Add to that a weak translation and Jane Macdonald wandering aimlessly in and out as though she was passing a couple of hours onshore before getting back to the real job and it was pretty depressing to watch. Oh no you didn't. Oooh it's a long way from Wakefield 'ere in Verona! Everything has changed. Her feelings and her hair Have all been rearranged. I was bitterly disappointed by the indisposition of Tina Arena, and didn’t think much of Hazel F I’m afraid. |
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Post by Seriously on Apr 26, 2018 18:07:38 GMT
A "live" orchestra? Well I never.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2018 18:38:14 GMT
Yes it was Hazel. I had to dig out my old programmes to look this up. Strange show. Remember treking up from Cardiff as the ex wife wanted to see it. It was big on spectacle I'll give it that It certainly was. Wasn't there a bit where Quasimodo was strapped to a big fetish wheel? And Tina Arena did a song in a cage that looked like a block of flats? And don't get me started when Dannii Minogue took over. Fabulous! |
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Post by Stasia on Apr 26, 2018 19:19:53 GMT
They were in Moscow last week. Sold out the 6000-seat Kremlin Palace theatre for a week of shows. This was one of the most popular shows here back in 2002. And the one that started my musical theatre odissey for me when I was a schoolkid...
Also: tix are waay cheaper in london then they were here, and our average salary is about £400-500 per month!
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Post by viserys on Apr 26, 2018 19:23:38 GMT
I absolutely love this show, it's so much better than the blandified Disney version and the music is terrific. I think it suffered from a bad-to-mediocre translation in London since the French spectacles absolutely rely on the songs to transport everything. And of course it's a different kind of storytelling. I've seen this show in English, French and Flemish (and Italian on DVD), most recently the Paris revival, which went on tour in France, will be in Quebec in autumn and then in London as well. I can't make the short run in London, but I'm pleased to see it's coming to London - which might encourage other French tours to do the same.
The spectacles are always a bit hit and miss. Some are naff and bonkers, others simply terrific. Among those I really enjoyed were "1789 - Les Amants de la Bastille" set during the French revolution, "Robin des Bois" with the most terrific sets/projections I've ever seen and most recently "Le Rouge et le Noir".
But there seems to be a lull right now - they used to churn out one every year, but Obispo's last about Jesus flopped and a workshop production of Guillaume Tell went nowhere. A 30th anniversary of Starmania had been discussed for 2018 for a long time, but apparently that's not happening. Would love to see it done in French with some new young discovery belting out "S.O.S. d'un terrien en detresse".
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2018 20:18:30 GMT
They were in Moscow last week. Sold out the 6000-seat Kremlin Palace theatre for a week of shows. This was one of the most popular shows here back in 2002. And the one that started my musical theatre odissey for me when I was a schoolkid... Also: tix are waay cheaper in london then they were here, and our average salary is about £400-500 per month! Oh I see! I always wondered why Smash!! covered 'Belle'. In French. Back when Sergey Lazarev had really bad hair of course. Before he got sexy. |
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