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Post by David J on Oct 5, 2019 16:31:18 GMT
First time seeing the Hope Mill Theatre and it is certainly a lovely venue
I generally liked this show but it didn’t bowl me over. The strongest parts come from the cast overall giving a classy performance
Tracie Bennett does what Tracie Bennett knows best, giving every ounce of energy into this role. Perhaps the best moment though was her and Harriet Thorpe passing barbs between each other during Bosom Buddies
Otherwise the book itself is cliched and despite brief moments of poignancy and potential drama it skims along on the light hearted side. The story jumps time when it’s convenient and you think the musical is going somewhere with the Bueregard chap played marvellously by Tim Flavin but no soon are we in the second act then he is discarded. And moments like this and the Great Depression barely make an impact on Mame
Lovely direction fitting this musical in the contained set they have but nothing too imaginative
A good show but nothing more to me
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3,332 posts
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Post by Dr Tom on Oct 5, 2019 17:54:55 GMT
My thoughts on this from last night. A well-staged and performed musical with everyone perfectly cast, combined with lots of delightful songs.
The theatre seemed very busy, with tickets collected in the entrance hall and lots of people collecting press packs (although I don't believe it was press night). You no longer need to get there really early as entrance is determined by colour sections (which correspond to colours on the seats) rather than a numbered ticket.
The set up is traditional, with the stage at one side of the room and tiered seating at the other. At first glance, the stage doesn't look all that big, but there is a section behind that opens up, which also houses the small band. The stage area is at ground level, as is the front row.
I managed to get a central front row, which was an excellent view as you'd expect, with almost half of the front row being reserved in advance. The only downside of that seat is the band overpowers the vocals at some points.
I had a very enthusiastic lady sat behind who had travelled from Brighton to see her nephew perform, although she seemed to think the venue a bit of a downgrade from the West End shows he'd been in before. I do know who the nephew was from the previous shows name dropped, but that doesn't really matter. I presume she wasn't a regular theatre goer, as she was quite chatty during parts of the show and keen to point out her nephew to the poor people sat next to her. No idea if she was waving to the nephew as well as she was sat behind me.
Everything about the show was West End standard, including the cast, who were more numerous than you often see in fringe theatre productions. A simple set, but one that looked expensive and worked. Multiple costume changes. So I definitely wouldn't consider having this sort of show on your CV any kind of downgrade.
As for the show, I think it would be described as a series of capers. There's a reason it's never been revived in the UK (and never been revived successfully in the US) and that's the plot isn't that strong, a lot of detail is skipped over that modern audiences would question and some of the themes are more difficult in the modern age. The latter is one that challenges other musicals but doesn't stop them being revived. Where this does hold up is with the score, the entertaining performances and the excellent dance numbers.
A funny moment. The main door into Mame's house was pulled off during one of the early entrances and rested back in place. They managed to fix it back into its frame during the interval, but it still couldn't be opened. The cast used the main theatre entrance instead and strolled onto the stage. They coped admirably, as I don't know how convenient access as to the revised entrance.
I will certainly see this again for the standard of performances if nothing else. Probably not in Manchester, but I think it will transfer to London and, if not, I'll see it in Northampton. I don't know if this is quite suited to the West End, but I'd like to see it given a chance in a smaller theatre. Worth a watch now as well as I doubt this will be revived again without a new book being written to replace the current one.
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1,346 posts
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Post by tmesis on Oct 5, 2019 18:25:13 GMT
Just returning to leafy Surrey after today's matinee. My first visit to Hope Mill - it's a great venue, a little like Southwark Playhouse but with friendlier people.
I'd been looking forward to this for ages since I'm a great Jerry Herman fan and have seen most of his musicals apart from this one. It amazes me why it's taken this long to be revived in Britain. OK, it's very 'feel good' with little angst and some plot points are dispatched in too peremptory a manner but there are some very funny scenes and witty lines and the whole thing doesn't out stay it's welcome like quite a few classic musicals where the music's wonderful but the dialogue is pretty turgid. And speaking of wonderful music, it's just one great tune after another, written in that open-hearted, almost artless manner, that's the epitome of Broadway and is Herman's forte.
It really was a great production, with lavish costumes, a brilliantly adaptable set, with great depth, enabling them to find room for a staircase and an on-stage band. The latter played very well, some duff trumpet playing excepted.
With one exception the whole cast were really excellent but unfortunately that was Tracie Bennett herself. She gurns and over acts the whole way through. I enjoyed her in End of the Rainbow and Ruthless where a bit of over the top high camp are more or less obligatory but found these traits in her performance of Carlotta in Follies which I did not enjoy at all. OK, the part of Mame is a bit broad brush but it can take a lot more subtly than she gives it. She didn't actually deliver many of the songs very well and wasn't helped by the range being a little too low for her. A number of years ago I was very impressed by Janie Dee in Hello, Dolly! at The Curve and couldn't help thinking how great she would be in the part.
However, despite all my reservations it's a great show and I would still recommend it.
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Post by musicalsfan on Oct 5, 2019 22:53:23 GMT
The latter played very well, some duff trumpet playing excepted. I saw today's matinee too, and I think it was actually the trombone that was dodgy; the trumpet playing was top-notch. |
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Post by tmesis on Oct 6, 2019 6:57:36 GMT
The latter played very well, some duff trumpet playing excepted. I saw today's matinee too, and I think it was actually the trombone that was dodgy; the trumpet playing was top-notch. I disagree - awful intonation at many musically important points. |
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Post by sf on Oct 6, 2019 12:56:03 GMT
I tend to resist the whole Jerry Herman larger-than-life-women-on-larger-than-life-staircases genre of musicals, but I enjoyed this very much last week. The book, yes, is rather slight, but the songs are wonderful, Tracie Bennett is terrific, and Harriet Thorpe steals every scene she's in. Production values excellent for such a tiny venue as well. There are some good reasons why the show doesn't often get revived these days, but this is well worth seeing.
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Post by julian on Oct 7, 2019 13:44:03 GMT
Just returning to leafy Surrey after today's matinee. My first visit to Hope Mill - it's a great venue, a little like Southwark Playhouse but with friendlier people. I'd been looking forward to this for ages since I'm a great Jerry Herman fan and have seen most of his musicals apart from this one. It amazes me why it's taken this long to be revived in Britain. OK, it's very 'feel good' with little angst and some plot points are dispatched in too peremptory a manner but there are some very funny scenes and witty lines and the whole thing doesn't out stay it's welcome like quite a few classic musicals where the music's wonderful but the dialogue is pretty turgid. And speaking of wonderful music, it's just one great tune after another, written in that open-hearted, almost artless manner, that's the epitome of Broadway and is Herman's forte. It really was a great production, with lavish costumes, a brilliantly adaptable set, with great depth, enabling them to find room for a staircase and an on-stage band. The latter played very well, some duff trumpet playing excepted. With one exception the whole cast were really excellent but unfortunately that was Tracie Bennett herself. She gurns and over acts the whole way through. I enjoyed her in End of the Rainbow and Ruthless where a bit of over the top high camp are more or less obligatory but found these traits in her performance of Carlotta in Follies which I did not enjoy at all. OK, the part of Mame is a bit broad brush but it can take a lot more subtly than she gives it. She didn't actually deliver many of the songs very well and wasn't helped by the range being a little too low for her. A number of years ago I was very impressed by Janie Dee in Hello, Dolly! at The Curve and couldn't help thinking how great she would be in the part. However, despite all my reservations it's a great show and I would still recommend it. ......................................................................... That is a dreadful insult to the star Tracie Bennett. She has received rave reviews for her role as Mame. |
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351 posts
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Post by Scswp on Oct 7, 2019 13:52:44 GMT
Just returning to leafy Surrey after today's matinee. My first visit to Hope Mill - it's a great venue, a little like Southwark Playhouse but with friendlier people. I'd been looking forward to this for ages since I'm a great Jerry Herman fan and have seen most of his musicals apart from this one. It amazes me why it's taken this long to be revived in Britain. OK, it's very 'feel good' with little angst and some plot points are dispatched in too peremptory a manner but there are some very funny scenes and witty lines and the whole thing doesn't out stay it's welcome like quite a few classic musicals where the music's wonderful but the dialogue is pretty turgid. And speaking of wonderful music, it's just one great tune after another, written in that open-hearted, almost artless manner, that's the epitome of Broadway and is Herman's forte. It really was a great production, with lavish costumes, a brilliantly adaptable set, with great depth, enabling them to find room for a staircase and an on-stage band. The latter played very well, some duff trumpet playing excepted. With one exception the whole cast were really excellent but unfortunately that was Tracie Bennett herself. She gurns and over acts the whole way through. I enjoyed her in End of the Rainbow and Ruthless where a bit of over the top high camp are more or less obligatory but found these traits in her performance of Carlotta in Follies which I did not enjoy at all. OK, the part of Mame is a bit broad brush but it can take a lot more subtly than she gives it. She didn't actually deliver many of the songs very well and wasn't helped by the range being a little too low for her. A number of years ago I was very impressed by Janie Dee in Hello, Dolly! at The Curve and couldn't help thinking how great she would be in the part. However, despite all my reservations it's a great show and I would still recommend it. ......................................................................... That is a dreadful insult to the star Tracie Bennett. She has received rave reviews for her role as Mame. Yes, but that doesn’t mean that every audience member will agree with those opinions! I’m seeing this in January in Northampton, so will decide (on purely personal terms) on her performance then. Bennett also received very positive reviews for her roles in Hairspray and Follies, but tbh, I didn’t much care for her in either, particularly the latter. I wasn’t even confident on the day that she’d hit the final notes of ‘I’m Still Here’. So, to each his/her own. I’m looking forward to seeing this show, whether it be with Bennett or her understudy. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 12, 2019 10:09:48 GMT
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Post by frankubelik on Oct 12, 2019 15:03:42 GMT
Horrendous. How anyone can even think the vocals are acceptable must be deaf. The trajectory of Ms Bennett is a mystery to me and (I hope) all musical theatre lovers.
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Post by julian on Oct 12, 2019 21:34:30 GMT
Saw this tonight and it is amazing. All the cast are superb and the dancing is just fabulous. I hope it goes to the west end and even on to Broadway, it is superb enough
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19,670 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 13, 2019 8:49:19 GMT
Horrendous. How anyone can even think the vocals are acceptable must be deaf. The trajectory of Ms Bennett is a mystery to me and (I hope) all musical theatre lovers. I have to say, based on the clip, she’s hitting the notes but not in the most attractive way? I’m going next week. Earplugs at the ready! |
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Post by tmesis on Oct 13, 2019 11:00:52 GMT
Horrendous. How anyone can even think the vocals are acceptable must be deaf. The trajectory of Ms Bennett is a mystery to me and (I hope) all musical theatre lovers. I have to say, based on the clip, she’s hitting the notes but not in the most attractive way? I’m going next week. Earplugs at the ready! There's much to enjoy despite La Bennett's extremely approximate vocals. Maybe also my position in the centre of the front row didn't help me appreciate her 'never-knowingly-underacted' style of performance. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 13, 2019 11:08:02 GMT
When I asked someone what she was like in it, he said “ She’s fantastic. She’s too big for the stage”
I’m sitting at the back!
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 15, 2019 21:35:15 GMT
Well I thought that was fantastic. TB’s voice might be an acquired taste but for sheer bombast and delivery it’s hard to fault her. Production values great (thank god, after Springer), band excellent, and not a single dud in the supporting cast. Agnes had me literally LOL-ing.
I can’t give it five big ones because the bar has been raised in Manchester lately due to *youknowwhat* but it’s deffo 🧸🧸🧸🧸. Sorry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
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Post by hulmeman on Oct 16, 2019 20:23:35 GMT
Well I thought that was fantastic. TB’s voice might be an acquired taste but for sheer bombast and delivery it’s hard to fault her. Production values great (thank god, after Springer), band excellent, and not a single dud in the supporting cast. Agnes had me literally LOL-ing. I agree Burly. There's lots of tremolo in Miss Bennett, but she delivers in every department as do the rest of the cast and musicians. Brilliant! |
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Post by crabtree on Nov 2, 2019 19:18:52 GMT
An agile production of a frankly clumsy piece. Major characters disappear for much of it, but they worked miracles in that small space. There's probably a reason why it has not been seen for so long. It is honestly, little more than a star turn. And the Mame number, catchy, but dear lord what the hell is it talking about and why does Mame not contribute to it vocally? Odd piece indeed.
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Post by singularsensation10 on Nov 4, 2019 2:35:03 GMT
An agile production of a frankly clumsy piece. Major characters disappear for much of it, but they worked miracles in that small space. There's probably a reason why it has not been seen for so long. It is honestly, little more than a star turn. And the Mame number, catchy, but dear lord what the hell is it talking about and why does Mame not contribute to it vocally? Odd piece indeed. Mame was just a carbon copy of Hello Dolly (including the title song) commissioned by producers to cash in on the success with Dolly. Jerry Herman was simply filling a brief he was given - to put a fabulous Hello Dolly-esque score on a story which was already a successful play (called Aunty Mame I believe) and to stick Lansbury in the lead. So the piece literally is little more than a star turn. It’s interesting that this is apparent even when staged professionally a considerable amount of years later. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Nov 4, 2019 18:03:12 GMT
Lots of sold out perfs over the last couple of weeks, word got around. Tix available midweek this week, that’s all.
So pleased that this has been a big hit for Aria/Hope Mill. The investment in costumes, sets, design etc paid off. This could easily fit into the SWP or similar and would be a huge hit in London I reckon.
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Dec 6, 2019 21:03:58 GMT
Can anyone who saw Mame in Manchester recall the approx running time ?
About to book my travel on advance tickets to see it in Northampton. Starts 14.30, need to choose a train to Euston from 17.24, 17.39 or 17.54 to get back in time to see another show at 19.30.
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Post by david on Dec 6, 2019 21:09:53 GMT
It was around 2hrs 40 min when I saw it in preview.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2019 21:20:40 GMT
Lots of sold out perfs over the last couple of weeks, word got around. Tix available midweek this week, that’s all. So pleased that this has been a big hit for Aria/Hope Mill. The investment in costumes, sets, design etc paid off. This could easily fit into the SWP or similar and would be a huge hit in London I reckon. Do you not think it might go to the Park Theatre, considering that the Hope Mill's production of Rags is headed there? |
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Post by showgirl on Dec 7, 2019 5:00:03 GMT
Can anyone who saw Mame in Manchester recall the approx running time ? About to book my travel on advance tickets to see it in Northampton. Starts 14.30, need to choose a train to Euston from 17.24, 17.39 or 17.54 to get back in time to see another show at 19.30. Gosh, thanks for pointing this out as I also booked for a matinee but never having been to this venue before, I didn't realise it was possible to book advance fares. I haven't yet risked booking anything in London for the evening but was planning to idc. |
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Post by Mark on Dec 7, 2019 9:44:32 GMT
I guess any chance of this having a London transfer is on hold with Bennett off to do Hangmen on Broadway.
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Post by stevej678 on Dec 17, 2019 11:12:45 GMT
Darren Day joins the cast for Northampton and Salisbury.
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