529 posts
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Post by jampot on Aug 8, 2021 9:11:36 GMT
Phenomenal return to the Prince Edward last night..Having seen the show many times ..This was the best yet..Zizi was a tour de force throughout and the electric audience went mad for it..Charlie was spot on too with a couple of nice ad libs thrown in..Kids were top notch..Will be returning to cherry tree Lane very soon at this rate...
As a side note ..no covid checks of any kind on entry....
10/10
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Post by mjh on Aug 8, 2021 9:54:07 GMT
Phenomenal return to the Prince Edward last night..Having seen the show many times ..This was the best yet..Zizi was a tour de force throughout and the electric audience went mad for it..Charlie was spot on too with a couple of nice ad libs thrown in..Kids were top notch..Will be returning to cherry tree Lane very soon at this rate... As a side note ..no covid checks of any kind on entry.... 10/10 Cam Mackintosh was also walking around the place mask-less...not setting a great example. |
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Post by scarpia on Aug 8, 2021 10:24:06 GMT
Phenomenal return to the Prince Edward last night..Having seen the show many times ..This was the best yet..Zizi was a tour de force throughout and the electric audience went mad for it..Charlie was spot on too with a couple of nice ad libs thrown in..Kids were top notch..Will be returning to cherry tree Lane very soon at this rate... As a side note ..no covid checks of any kind on entry.... 10/10 Cam Mackintosh was also walking around the place mask-less...not setting a great example. Well, nothing that he's done in the last year has been exemplary. Last summer he said he was "totally opposed" to social distancing, which tells you everything you need to know. |
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Post by mrbarnaby on Aug 8, 2021 13:53:43 GMT
I hope it closes down again if CM is going to behave like that.
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Post by Dr Tom on Aug 8, 2021 15:40:33 GMT
I was hoping that this would appear on the Disney Day Seats site, but nothing so far.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2021 18:02:10 GMT
I was hoping that this would appear on the Disney Day Seats site, but nothing so far. Same Dr Tom. I’m intending on checking frequently in the hope. I’ll post on here if I notice its addition. |
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Post by Jon on Aug 8, 2021 18:07:05 GMT
I hope it closes down again if CM is going to behave like that. I know it's terrible to think this but Cameron come across as a bit of a hypocrite with his talk about commercial theatre not being supported by the Government which is a valid point but if he's not following guidelines or making sure that the cast, crew and audience are feeling safe then he got nobody but himself to blame. |
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Post by Being Alive on Aug 8, 2021 19:08:38 GMT
First things first- CamMack hanging about in the auditorium pre-show with no mask on was hugely infuriating but hugely expected. Complaining about the government and then not following theatre safety measures?... dick move.
So I enjoyed the show, but for me there is something missing in this production, and I think it ultimately comes down to whats happening in all CamMack productions, and that's the fact that it's a touring show in a big West End house. Not saying its not a good production, but when you compare it to the original, it just felt a little...cheap? On top of that there's still some massively dodgy performances in this show. Petula Clark has somehow gotten worse than she was before, and I honestly didn't know that could happen but here we are. I do not understand how people can watch her and think she's good, it absolutely baffles me.
Liz Robertson is an improvement on the wildly miscast Claire Moore, but still not terrifying enough as Miss Andrew (I unfavourably compare everyone to Rosie Ashe but she truly was brilliant.)
That said, I had a really lovely evening. Zizi and Charlie are still giving brilliant performances (Zizi just gets better and more comfortable each time I see her, and Charlie really was letting it rip during the big dance numbers. Clare Machin virtually steals the show as Mrs Brill, and Amy Griffiths is a real delight as Mrs Banks.
Four stars from me, but I think the production itself does stop it from being able to be 5 stars for me...
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Post by scarpia on Aug 9, 2021 9:05:37 GMT
So I enjoyed the show, but for me there is something missing in this production, and I think it ultimately comes down to whats happening in all CamMack productions, and that's the fact that it's a touring show in a big West End house. Not saying its not a good production, but when you compare it to the original, it just felt a little...cheap? I felt the same when I saw it last year. I did enjoy myself but the tour set seemed to be dwarfed by the proportions of the Prince Edward; the house looked very bare. The original production only ended a dozen or so years ago, and yet the prices for this are significantly higher in just that space of time. Weirdly in the marketing Mackintosh advertises this as the "supercalifragilisticexpiladicious original", which makes me wonder what on earth Mackintosh thinks that (latter) word means. This is not the film, nor is it the 2004 production that went to Broadway. |
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Post by danb on Aug 9, 2021 9:56:28 GMT
Whilst being critical of the government, it seems that CM has taken to their habit of brazenly lying, even when he knows that we know. Sure before POTO reopened there was a sliver of hope that he might have just tarted up the set but remained the same, but we already know that this is the third generation tour version & set. We’ve seen it. Is anyone rich enough to launch a trade descriptions suit?
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Post by forevercolours on Aug 9, 2021 10:20:02 GMT
I guess people were just feigning outrage surrounding the casting situation? When the cast was announced, people were up in arms about the lack of diversity and the fact that they were being investigated for racially discriminating against children but as soon as that teaser dropped, all of that anger had gone away. I’m sure the cast are all extremely talented but it is so so so white which is exactly what we don’t need on stage at the moment.
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Post by Being Alive on Aug 9, 2021 10:47:06 GMT
We knew he wasn't going to upgrade the show - it's not what he does. We were getting the tour set. I just can't help but feel a little uncomfortable at paying even more for a show in 2021 than I did in 2007 and the production is...not as good or as extravagant.
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Post by Jon on Aug 9, 2021 15:02:06 GMT
Although the current set could never match the one that was in the original London and Broadway productions, it's still a decent set in its own right.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2021 16:10:18 GMT
Although the current set could never match the one that was in the original London and Broadway productions, it's still a decent set in its own right. 100%! Not sure why people can't see this! OK, it's not the original version, but it's a top notch production. And it's really not a Cam Mac specific thing so no idea why people seem to think that. Has a single long running production ever returned a decade+ later with the same or more extravagance? I can't think of an example. I mean am sure there might be some but it's vanishingly rare! Cats at Palladium was hardly the New London version. Joseph now, nowhere near the decadence of 1991. And the gulf between every Sunset production since the Adelphi with the epic original is stark. Dislike CM for his actions pertaining to the pandemic, fair enough. But not for what he puts on stage. There is more lavish spectacle at the Prince Edward than most other West End theatres right now. The prices are West End standard so that is also a wider conversation, not a CM specific thing. And in my experience, DMT dynamic price downwards better than most if you hold your nerve! |
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Post by danb on Aug 9, 2021 16:23:04 GMT
My only criticism is of calling it ‘the original’, when it isn’t. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and was suitably impressed by the production values. I found the original house to be quite cumbersome, and whilst visually impressive it took forever to move. CM needs to realise that we are grown ups and don’t need hyperbole to motivate us to spend money.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2021 16:32:46 GMT
My only criticism is of calling it ‘the original’, when it isn’t. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and was suitably impressed by the production values. I found the original house to be quite cumbersome, and whilst visually impressive it took forever to move. CM needs to realise that we are grown ups and don’t need hyperbole to motivate us to spend money. Are they though? I've not seen that in any of the advertising, though confess I have not been looking! Certainly in the pre covid brochure/programme and on the tours, the blurb written was always very honest about the production's history and the different versions. If they have though, it's advertising spiel, aimed at the masses. Again not a CM thing. All marketing departments for all producers will chuck anything on if they think they'll make more money! And I know people posting here don't need the hyperbole to make them spend money - but a vast chunk of a Disney musical's potential audience might! |
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Post by danb on Aug 9, 2021 16:46:56 GMT
My only criticism is of calling it ‘the original’, when it isn’t. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and was suitably impressed by the production values. I found the original house to be quite cumbersome, and whilst visually impressive it took forever to move. CM needs to realise that we are grown ups and don’t need hyperbole to motivate us to spend money. Are they though? I've not seen that in any of the advertising, though confess I have not been looking! Certainly in the pre covid brochure/programme and on the tours, the blurb written was always very honest about the production's history and the different versions. If they have though, it's advertising spiel, aimed at the masses. Again not a CM thing. All marketing departments for all producers will chuck anything on if they think they'll make more money! And I know people posting here don't need the hyperbole to make them spend money - but a vast chunk of a Disney musical's potential audience might! ok. |
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Post by scarpia on Aug 9, 2021 17:51:45 GMT
My only criticism is of calling it ‘the original’, when it isn’t. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and was suitably impressed by the production values. I found the original house to be quite cumbersome, and whilst visually impressive it took forever to move. CM needs to realise that we are grown ups and don’t need hyperbole to motivate us to spend money. Are they though? I've not seen that in any of the advertising, though confess I have not been looking! Certainly in the pre covid brochure/programme and on the tours, the blurb written was always very honest about the production's history and the different versions. |
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Post by danb on Aug 9, 2021 18:01:57 GMT
I knew I hadn’t imagined it. Thanks Scarpia.
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Post by steve10086 on Aug 9, 2021 18:03:33 GMT
Are they though? I've not seen that in any of the advertising, though confess I have not been looking! Certainly in the pre covid brochure/programme and on the tours, the blurb written was always very honest about the production's history and the different versions. Could the “original” mean the original Mary Poppins story (as per the movie/musical) as opposed to the recent Mary Poppins sequel? I don’t think it refers to the original stage production in the way Phantom had a “brilliant original” production. |
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Post by Being Alive on Aug 9, 2021 18:43:58 GMT
Maybe it could, but I think it's a little misleading at best.
Not trying to start the whole 'Phantom' thing again on this thread but it's quite disingenuous - especially given the house is entirely different to the original and there is a brand new song the West End didn't have in its original run...
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Post by max on Aug 9, 2021 22:36:21 GMT
It's the brilliant 'Original'. Meaning Mary arrives via bungee rope rather than umbrella, and it will now only be Califragilisticexpialidocious.
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5,150 posts
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Post by Being Alive on Aug 9, 2021 22:40:55 GMT
It's the brilliant 'Original'. Meaning Mary arrives via bungee rope rather than umbrella, and it will now only be Califragilisticexpialidocious. Lovely of you to pop in CamMack |
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Post by princeton on Aug 9, 2021 23:30:34 GMT
They clearly petitioned SOLT that it was sufficiently different for Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear to win the Best Choreography award a second time!
On the set - the current one is actually Bob Crowley's initial idea for the show. He always wanted to have something which was more abstract like a picture book opening up - based on the Mary Shepard illustrations. However CML and Disney wanted something more literal and spectacular for the premiere production (as they misguidedly expected it to run for at least a decade). So, for once, it was actually the original designer who wanted to reimagine the production for the tour (and indeed all subsequent productions) and return to his original idea rather than the producer wanting to cut corners (though I'm sure CamMac was more than happy to save the pennies).
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Post by mrbarnaby on Aug 10, 2021 6:47:45 GMT
They clearly petitioned SOLT that it was sufficiently different for Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear to win the Best Choreography award a second time! On the set - the current one is actually Bob Crowley's initial idea for the show. He always wanted to have something which was more abstract like a picture book opening up - based on the Mary Shepard illustrations. However CML and Disney wanted something more literal and spectacular for the premiere production (as they misguidedly expected it to run for at least a decade). So, for once, it was actually the original designer who wanted to reimagine the production for the tour (and indeed all subsequent productions) and return to his original idea rather than the producer wanting to cut corners (though I'm sure CamMac was more than happy to save the pennies). Yeah that Oliver award was a joke. Should never have been awarded to them second time round. |
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