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Post by enh2 on Feb 24, 2022 22:26:02 GMT
When do we reckon Oliver will take over the theater? Do we think Mary Poppins will last through the Autumn? I think it will be one of two ways. Either Poppins runs through September with Oliver! moving in time for November previews/Xmas opening, or Poppins runs through early Jan, with Oliver! coming in the Spring. I'd probably lean towards Poppins finishing in September though, it seems to have struggled with sales moreso than a lot of shows. Agreed. I reckon poppins will just about last the summer before closing September/October time and then go on tour which I believe was always the plan once it had finished in the west end. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2022 22:31:18 GMT
Do we have any more info on Oliver! ? - is it the CM touring production? Any casting rumours?
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Post by LaLuPone on Feb 24, 2022 22:56:31 GMT
I wonder if there’ll be a cast change before this closes? I think the cast who’ve been there since 2019 will have done about a year altogether (pre-covid and “post-covid” runs combined) next month. I thought Zizi and Charlie were wonderful both times I saw the show but I’m not sure if I’d go back again soon unless we had some fresh blood as leads.
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Post by sph on Feb 25, 2022 0:01:20 GMT
Emma Williams as Mary Poppins. She'd just be so perfect. Practically perfect. Why hasn't it happened?
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Post by danb on Feb 25, 2022 6:57:40 GMT
They appear to be pricing themselves out of the market, as this Saturday night the upper circle is full (not closed as the odd single is still for sale) whilst there is tons of availability in the stalls and circle. Would they really not rather drop the ridiculous prices to fill the theatre and make it back in ‘candy floss in a tub’ sales? Does it sell on tkts? Will it be full by tomorrow night?
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Post by mrbarnaby on Feb 25, 2022 19:33:54 GMT
Emma Williams as Mary Poppins. She'd just be so perfect. Practically perfect. Why hasn't it happened? Because Cameron wants Mary to look 12 years old |
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Post by inthenose on Feb 26, 2022 14:10:46 GMT
Emma Williams as Mary Poppins. She'd just be so perfect. Practically perfect. Why hasn't it happened? I've followed Emma's career closely since day one (a bit part in "The Parole Officer", a Steve Coogan movie), which led her to getting Chitty in which she was lovely. Then "Playing for Reward" at the fringe, Love Story, Zorro etc etc. She is always great. How she hasn't played Mary Poppins is astonishing, and is probably the only casting that might make me consider the possibility of thinking about seeing it again. |
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Post by princeton on Feb 26, 2022 15:05:26 GMT
I suspect that is largely down to her. I've worked with her and she's delightful, talented and hard-working and really enjoys being part of the creative and development process (it's one reason why she has been involved in many workshops). There's a very good reason why she's been nominated for an Olivier award four times. However, from early on in her career she decided that she wasn't particularly interested in taking over a role and being put in by a resident director to replicate what had gone before. It may have been a bit career limiting but has meant that she's done what she wants to do which.
There's no beef between her and Cameron Mackintosh, in fact she used to work at the CML office during her acting downtime - so she was very much in Cameron's line of sight - literally. And given that both her Truly replacements went on to play Mary I'm sure that she'd been sounded out.
Almost every time a new production is announced I think wouldn't Emma Williams be good in that (Eliza in MFL had they cast at a similar age to the Lincoln Centre production; The Witch or Baker's Wife in Into The Woods; Nellie in South Pacific - a role she was due to play in France immediately pre-pandemic - to name a few).
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2022 15:15:21 GMT
However, from early on in her career she decided that she wasn't particularly interested in taking over a role and being put in by a resident director to replicate what had gone before. It may have been a bit career limiting but has meant that she's done what she wants to do which. I think that comment was once made on a previous discussion, and this was tweeted soon afterwards... |
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Post by princeton on Feb 26, 2022 15:20:29 GMT
oops - my bad.....
Maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part then - given how great she is during the development/rehearsal stages....I'd amend my previous post but then the subsequent one wouldn't make much sense.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2022 17:37:53 GMT
Emma Williams as Mary Poppins. She'd just be so perfect. Practically perfect. Why hasn't it happened? Wasn't she famously up for the role originally in 2004 after she did Chitty? It was between Emma, Ruthie Henshall, and Laura Michelle Kelly, no? |
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Post by Being Alive on Feb 26, 2022 18:00:04 GMT
It came down to Ruthie and Laura at the end, so I don't know about Emma. She'd be a perfect Mrs Banks right about now
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2022 18:27:11 GMT
Maybe I was thinking of something else - I think there was talk at one point of her doing Maria for two shows a week alongside Connie Fisher in 2006 at the Palladium but she eventually backed out.
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Post by inthenose on Feb 26, 2022 18:28:22 GMT
As Princeton says above, the thing about Emma is she is genuinely really lovely. There are plenty of actors who get discussed on this board who aren't always the nicest people - Emma is a gem. Proper Yorkshire lass and a hell of a soprano.
I have to say, I thought more would come of her career but she is very much a jobber and similar (also quality) acts are taking the roles she could play - Laura Pitt-Pulford and particularly the hugely underrated Gina Beck.
Then there's the Strallens, et al. So much competition. And of course what happened with The Sound of Music...
I fear it won't happen as I expected for Emma, which is a shame because she really does have a lot that others don't.
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Post by princeton on Feb 26, 2022 18:52:42 GMT
And of course what happened with The Sound of Music... Indeed - one of the ever increasing examples of Andrew Lloyd Webber treating actors as disposable commodities - to be used or cast off according to his latest whim. |
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Post by partytentdown on Feb 26, 2022 20:30:18 GMT
And of course what happened with The Sound of Music... Indeed - one of the ever increasing examples of Andrew Lloyd Webber treating actors as disposable commodities - to be used or cast off according to his latest whim. What happened? |
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Post by inthenose on Feb 26, 2022 21:06:27 GMT
Indeed - one of the ever increasing examples of Andrew Lloyd Webber treating actors as disposable commodities - to be used or cast off according to his latest whim. What happened? Emma Williams was initially verbally offered Maria in The Sound of Music. In the background, the BBC were interested in a pitch by co-executive producer Gigi Eligoloff for an X-Factor style talent show format, with the winner playing Maria. They picked up the option with ALW also co-producing and appearing, and hired a panel of judges to cast the winner, with ALW guiding things on screen and off. Due to the success of the show and the breakout appeal of the eventual winner Connie Fisher, Emma Williams was instead offered the role of alternate/standby - to give the "newcomer" a rest (Monday night and midweek matinee). She accepted this initially. However, after phenomenal box office in the pre-booking period, RUG were accused of dishonesty by not publicly stating that Connie Fisher (the draw) would not be appearing at certain performances. Emma Williams was unceremoniously sacked (https://bit.ly/3BYCnja) so that Connie Fisher could do all eight shows a week. RUG/ALW offered a settlement, which I understand was accepted by both parties, and Emma was gone without public comment. Subsequently, performing eight shows a week for a nine month contract, with minimum holiday, Connie Fisher had repeated absence and problems with her throat/voice, which have all but ended her professional career (https://bit.ly/3sp1us9). Allegations of pre-recorded vocals (which were true by the way despite denials - bit.ly/3pkv5ko) in some scenes/numbers such as "A Lonely Goatherd" hurt the show's credibility hugely at the time - Connie Fisher ended up with an alternate anyway after the initial box office hype died and her voice was shot. |
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Post by inthenose on Feb 26, 2022 21:17:09 GMT
And of course what happened with The Sound of Music... Indeed - one of the ever increasing examples of Andrew Lloyd Webber treating actors as disposable commodities - to be used or cast off according to his latest whim. So yes, further to my post above, ALW does this constantly with men and women he loves "in the moment". He is like a horny teen in love with the next big crush, until someone else comes along. It would be fascinating to see a list of his "next megastars" (Ramin Karimloo, Carrie Hope Fletcher, et al) until they aren't, but this isn't the thread for it. Back to MP! 👍 |
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Post by princeton on Feb 26, 2022 22:38:24 GMT
Just to add my two penn'orth.
From what I remember Emma was offered the role for four performances a week ie it would be shared equally - on the assumption that the winner of the TV show would be an untrained newcomer who and would probably leave after a few months (the gossip in the west end at the time was that Emma would be top billed with the programme winner being billed as - Special Guest Appearance at certain performances to allow some wiggle room should Emma be required to do more than four shows a week - though that may have been an urban myth)
However as inthenose says the TV show became popular and ticket buyers only wanted to see the people from the television, added to this was that Connie Fisher was actually a Mountview musical theatre graduate, so Andrew decided to make a 6/2 split. He positioned this as protecting Fisher's voice (rather unfortunately, given what was to come, saying "we certainly do not want her ending up like Julie Andrews who strained her voice when young and who can no longer sing") and in some interviews even said that Emma Williams would play two performances and understudy Fisher. Connie Fisher rather called ALW's bluff by saying, in her post-win interviews, that she had trained for three years and had the passion and stamina to perform eight shows a week.
There was only about a week between the TV programme ending and rehearsals starting - by which time Emma had gone - hopefully clutching a very large cheque. It was all so badly handled - with, as usual, ALW speaking first and thinking later (if at all).
The drama didn't end there - Simon Shepherd who was cast as Captain Von Trapp was sacked, to his surprise, after two previews - to be replaced by Alex Hanson who was apparently hired before Shepherd was fired!
And never forget the Hollyoaks/Sound of Music crossover with Summer Strallen playing Summer Shaw, the unknown actress who won the part of Maria at the Palladium. Oh what ALW will do for publicity.
But indeed - back to Mary Poppins.
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Post by sph on Feb 26, 2022 23:13:28 GMT
After seeing her perfectly crisp performance in Half a Sixpence I just thought she'd be perfect for Mary. Not too sweet or "stagey". Perfect poise, never a caricature.
Ah well! As for age, she certainly still passes as an ingenue, not that there's anything wrong with a slightly more mature Mary anyway.
I just feel she'd bring it back to the show's roots, I find Zizi Strallen's performance far too cartoonish.
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Feb 26, 2022 23:13:32 GMT
Were both leads understudied tonight, given their appearance on apparently live Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway ?
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Post by appoul on Feb 26, 2022 23:56:03 GMT
I just feel she'd bring it back to the show's roots, I find Zizi Strallen's performance far too cartoonish. I think Zizi is hardly to blame. This is the new direction the show has taken in productions all over the world. Someone has been uploading --unofficial of course-- videos from various cities --and... eras!-- recently and I think one can notice the evolution. I'm afraid they've decided to make everything a little more mechanical (hence, the faster tempo of the music, the change in the finale of act one etc.). The show used to "breathe" more deeply and gently in the past. |
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Post by dm913 on Feb 27, 2022 0:01:52 GMT
Were both leads understudied tonight, given their appearance on apparently live Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway ? Indeed. Lucie-Mae Sumner was on for Mary and Jason Kajdi was on for Bert. |
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Post by inthenose on Feb 27, 2022 4:02:04 GMT
I just feel she'd bring it back to the show's roots, I find Zizi Strallen's performance far too cartoonish. I think Zizi is hardly to blame. This is the new direction the show has taken in productions all over the world. Someone has been uploading --unofficial of course-- videos from various cities --and... eras!-- recently and I think one can notice the evolution. I'm afraid they've decided to make everything a little more mechanical (hence, the faster tempo of the music, the change in the finale of act one etc.). The show used to "breathe" more deeply and gently in the past. Look at the state of Les Mis. Cameron has lost it big time. |
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Post by ladidah on Mar 1, 2022 9:39:55 GMT
I liked Zizi's take on Mary Poppins, she flies, has magical friends and can temper bratty kids - I don't mind her being cartoonish!  |
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