751 posts
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Post by horton on Apr 7, 2019 7:18:41 GMT
Did anyone here see the London production of The Bakers Wife? I'd love to hear what you thought of it. I adored it. I felt like the troubled show finally worked. And it just suited the Phoenix. But oof that artwork!!! The design was beautiful. The cast (with one quibble- but not really a quibble) was perfect. I hate the bread song but the rest of the score is stellar. 'Where is the Warmth' was truly a torch song, and 'If I Have to Live Alone' was heart-breaking. Stunning lighting and though not dance-heavy, it moved beautifully. I must have seen it 4 times in its very short run. With a great leading lady, I'd love to see this in an intimate West End setting. |
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1,578 posts
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Post by anita on Apr 7, 2019 9:31:04 GMT
I vaguely remember hearing 'Lord of the Rings' was the biggest financial loss but that may have been surpassed by now! I absolutely loved it.- Saw it 3 times. |
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910 posts
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Post by karloscar on Apr 7, 2019 11:13:54 GMT
At least with Lord of the Rings you could see where all the money went. It looked spectacular, and the music was all quite listenable. But fitting that amount of plot into a three hour show and then having songs on top was just nuts.
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Post by sparky5000 on Apr 7, 2019 13:27:16 GMT
I miss the days of the spectacular Shaftesbury flops.. whee you can see the ton of money being thrown down the drain. Napoleon The Far Pavillions lautrec Peggy’ Sue (which I quite liked) Daddy Cool... Apparently the Shaftesbury Theatre was built on a graveyard! In fairness the Shaftesbury Theatre did put on Hairspray one of the best shows ever to play the West End. Hairspray was great. We had a class trip there and I remember the audience pretty much dancing in the aisles at the end. Can’t remeber if that was encouraged or not! |
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4,984 posts
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Post by Phantom of London on Apr 7, 2019 19:08:28 GMT
At least with Lord of the Rings you could see where all the money went. Down the Drain? |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2019 21:31:05 GMT
Did anyone here see the London production of The Bakers Wife? I'd love to hear what you thought of it. I adored it. I felt like the troubled show finally worked. And it just suited the Phoenix. But oof that artwork!!! The design was beautiful. The cast (with one quibble- but not really a quibble) was perfect. I hate the bread song but the rest of the score is stellar. 'Where is the Warmth' was truly a torch song, and 'If I Have to Live Alone' was heart-breaking. Stunning lighting and though not dance-heavy, it moved beautifully. I must have seen it 4 times in its very short run. With a great leading lady, I'd love to see this in an intimate West End setting. Was Sharon Lee-Hill the quibble?? For me she's the only one that doesn't really work on the OLBC, but we all know how she got the job... Though i must admit, i love her version of Gifts Of Love.
I missed the London production and have only seen a drama school production, many years ago. For some reason Endless Delights was cut, which meant that the title character, was barely in Act 2. It seemed an odd decision.
The score is one of Shwartz's best, but the book lets it down IMO. And that ending with the cat? It doesn't work for me.
Maybe one the Southwark Playhouse could do?
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Post by danb on Apr 8, 2019 6:59:47 GMT
I miss the days of the spectacular Shaftesbury flops.. whee you can see the ton of money being thrown down the drain. Napoleon The Far Pavillions lautrec Peggy’ Sue (which I quite liked) Daddy Cool... & Juliet... I have a good feeling about ...& Juliet. Think it’ll attract the ‘Six’ crowd and give the crazy fangirls someone to stalk in JLG. Don’t write it off just yet. |
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751 posts
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Post by horton on Apr 8, 2019 12:17:37 GMT
I adored it. I felt like the troubled show finally worked. And it just suited the Phoenix. But oof that artwork!!! The design was beautiful. The cast (with one quibble- but not really a quibble) was perfect. I hate the bread song but the rest of the score is stellar. 'Where is the Warmth' was truly a torch song, and 'If I Have to Live Alone' was heart-breaking. Stunning lighting and though not dance-heavy, it moved beautifully. I must have seen it 4 times in its very short run. With a great leading lady, I'd love to see this in an intimate West End setting. Was Sharon Lee-Hill the quibble?? For me she's the only one that doesn't really work on the OLBC, but we all know how she got the job... Though i must admit, i love her version of Gifts Of Love.
I missed the London production and have only seen a drama school production, many years ago. For some reason Endless Delights was cut, which meant that the title character, was barely in Act 2. It seemed an odd decision.
The score is one of Shwartz's best, but the book lets it down IMO. And that ending with the cat? It doesn't work for me.
Maybe one the Southwark Playhouse could do?
Yes. She wasn't awful but there were better people around. Personally, I like the cat ending. Guess I'm just sentimental. |
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243 posts
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Post by musicallady on Apr 8, 2019 18:21:54 GMT
I don’t know if it reached the West End but can anyone remember a musical version of Robin Hood? Bill Kenwright was involved and the cast were some of his version of Joseph.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2019 18:55:58 GMT
I don’t know if it reached the West End but can anyone remember a musical version of Robin Hood? Bill Kenwright was involved and the cast were some of his version of Joseph. I don't know if I'm making this up or confusing myself, but wasn't Mike Holloway or Michael Praed attached at some point? |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2019 23:25:02 GMT
I don’t know if it reached the West End but can anyone remember a musical version of Robin Hood? Bill Kenwright was involved and the cast were some of his version of Joseph. I don't know if I'm making this up or confusing myself, but wasn't Mike Holloway or Michael Praed attached at some point? 1993 - Mike Holloway was Robin Hood (Praed did the same part in the eighties TV show).
The score was by Rick Fenn (10cc) and session musician Peter Howarth, supposedly Mike Oldfield had a hand in the final number.
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751 posts
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Post by horton on Apr 9, 2019 14:11:09 GMT
I don’t know if it reached the West End but can anyone remember a musical version of Robin Hood? Bill Kenwright was involved and the cast were some of his version of Joseph. I don't know if I'm making this up or confusing myself, but wasn't Mike Holloway or Michael Praed attached at some point? And tbfl surely we must talk about Time? |
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1,245 posts
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Post by joem on Apr 9, 2019 14:22:58 GMT
I went to "On The Twentieth Century" decades ago. Keith Michell was still fresh in my mind from his portrayal of Henry VIII. It was a nothing musical - the music and book mostly sounded like fillers from thirties films. Totally dated. I vaguely remember the theme song and a rather silly song called "Mrs Primrose Is A Nut". Nice staging, the train looked and sounded good but...
I can understand why this was an expensive flop.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2019 15:14:28 GMT
I don't know if I'm making this up or confusing myself, but wasn't Mike Holloway or Michael Praed attached at some point? And tbfl surely we must talk about Time? Time has a special place in my heart, as it was my very first West End show! We had come down to London for the day (we were living in the Midlands back then) and my folks decided to see something. We got last minute tickets from the box office and were sat front row.
I had never seen and doubt i will ever see, anything like it again. Actually, my avatar is a picture from Time lol. The set made Starlight Express look basic!
we saw it with David Cassidy and Stephanie Lawrence and it assulted the senses. The visuals, the volume of the music and on the way out i bought a tshirt and the vinyl album. I got it put onto CD a few years back. It hasnt aged well.... but some of the music is ok, i'm just not really a fan of musicals being done by pop stars and other musicans.
The floating chairs, the talking head, the stage tilting 180 degrees, the hydraulic legs coming down, the ridiculous storyline. It was definitely a show of the 80's. I loved it.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2019 16:58:59 GMT
Saw Mike Holloway on stage in ‘Godspell’ eons ago.He dried and was desperately trying to find the line.Nobody prompted and as I had just directed an am-dram of the show,I fed the line from the front stalls.He heard me and carried on and delivered a great performance.Sorry if this deserves to be in the Bad Behaviour At A Show thread..,
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73 posts
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Post by digipal on Apr 9, 2019 20:22:01 GMT
I went to see Mutiny with David Essex, Frank Finlay and Sinitta. All I can remember was at some point, the ship started misbehaving, randomly spinning and then small pieces of decking splintered off, all to the audiences great amusement. Of course in the 80's, this was before health and safety and being in the front row, we simply dusted ourselves off, literally and took the announcement "due to a technical issue, there will be a short intermisson" as a great excuse to run to the bar for a glass of something cold and delicious. Those were the days :-)
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751 posts
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Post by horton on Apr 9, 2019 22:07:22 GMT
And tbfl surely we must talk about Time? Time has a special place in my heart, as it was my very first West End show! We had come down to London for the day (we were living in the Midlands back then) and my folks decided to see something. We got last minute tickets from the box office and were sat front row.
I had never seen and doubt i will ever see, anything like it again. Actually, my avatar is a picture from Time lol. The set made Starlight Express look basic!
we saw it with David Cassidy and Stephanie Lawrence and it assulted the senses. The visuals, the volume of the music and on the way out i bought a tshirt and the vinyl album. I got it put onto CD a few years back. It hasnt aged well.... but some of the music is ok, i'm just not really a fan of musicals being done by pop stars and other musicans.
The floating chairs, the talking head, the stage tilting 180 degrees, the hydraulic legs coming down, the ridiculous storyline. It was definitely a show of the 80's. I loved it.
As a student I worked FOH on Time. Crazy show that virtually broke the theatre with all the vibration. The cast was great fun but also quite "fierce"! BTW whatever happened to Jeff Shankley? |
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Post by highonahill on Apr 9, 2019 22:17:55 GMT
And tbfl surely we must talk about Time? Time has a special place in my heart, as it was my very first West End show! We had come down to London for the day (we were living in the Midlands back then) and my folks decided to see something. We got last minute tickets from the box office and were sat front row.
I had never seen and doubt i will ever see, anything like it again. Actually, my avatar is a picture from Time lol. The set made Starlight Express look basic!
we saw it with David Cassidy and Stephanie Lawrence and it assulted the senses. The visuals, the volume of the music and on the way out i bought a tshirt and the vinyl album. I got it put onto CD a few years back. It hasnt aged well.... but some of the music is ok, i'm just not really a fan of musicals being done by pop stars and other musicans.
The floating chairs, the talking head, the stage tilting 180 degrees, the hydraulic legs coming down, the ridiculous storyline. It was definitely a show of the 80's. I loved it.
I saw Time! Even have the cassette tape recording somewhere! |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Apr 9, 2019 22:39:48 GMT
Does anyone still play a tape?
I'll drink to that...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2019 23:20:41 GMT
Yes! The vibrations shook the front row like a ride at a theme park. The towers of speakers were from stage to ceiling.
Have you seen this video? it's 30 mins of footage of the show, recorded from the first few rows - and video recorders were not small back in 1986! Some of it seems very cheesy now, but for sheer size and scale, it cant be beat.
Everyone should watch the last 5 mins of the video (where its set to start) to see the floating chairs, the tilting stage floor, and the talking head, which looks
pretty good! Unlike the choreography which is very of its TIME 
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2019 4:57:41 GMT
There was a hilarious documentary about Dave Clark a few years ago - www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b053d7jl. I think it's probably fair to say the director (a Mr Dave Clark) was a bit too close to the subject. As Stuart Maconie put it on twitter Anyway at one point it started randomly dropping in bits of a promotional video for "Time": not just clips from the show, you'd also get out-of-context clips of Laurence Olivier singing the praises of Dave Clark at great length. |
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Post by learfan on Apr 10, 2019 6:16:05 GMT
There was a hilarious documentary about Dave Clark a few years ago - www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b053d7jl. I think it's probably fair to say the director (a Mr Dave Clark) was a bit too close to the subject. As Stuart Maconie put it on twitter Anyway at one point it started randomly dropping in bits of a promotional video for "Time": not just clips from the show, you'd also get out-of-context clips of Laurence Olivier singing the praises of Dave Clark at great length. It was hilarious, the man himself looked ahem, somewhat changed from his heyday. No work done no siree! The scenes of Tom Hanks inducting the DC5 onto the rock n roll hall of fame have to seen to be believed. |
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751 posts
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Post by horton on Apr 10, 2019 6:28:20 GMT
Yes! The vibrations shook the front row like a ride at a theme park. The towers of speakers were from stage to ceiling.
Have you seen this video? it's 30 mins of footage of the show, recorded from the first few rows - and video recorders were not small back in 1986! Some of it seems very cheesy now, but for sheer size and scale, it cant be beat.
Everyone should watch the last 5 mins of the video (where its set to start) to see the floating chairs, the tilting stage floor, and the talking head, which looks
pretty good! Unlike the choreography which is very of its TIME
I've never seen that video- talk about a time-slip! How fantastic. Such memories. But that script!!!! I think the choreography was strange/ dated even then. John Napier is an utter genius. I wish people could still afford his work and would beg him to design on the scale of TIME, LES MIS, CATS and STARLIGHT EXPRESS again for the West End (what a CV!)- though I know he still designs, nothing has matched the scale of those landmark shows. Only Lord of the Rings has come close to the spectacle of these shows. PS The TIME set was hugely reliable (unlike, say, Spiderman) and hardly ever malfunctioned. |
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Post by learfan on Apr 10, 2019 10:48:50 GMT
Put 'em away love!
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751 posts
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Post by horton on Apr 10, 2019 11:31:55 GMT
The "Time" cast LP sleeve has an actual hologram on it - imagine! The "Mutiny" cast LP sleeve has a photo of Sinitta with one breast out - don't imagine... These were different times. As I recall, it looked quite real... |
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