MT Fest

[ensembleswings]

Saw both AA and First Date this week, both enjoyable shows.
The 40 mins of AA flew by, felt like it was over before it even began, think that was down to it mainly presenting act 1 material though. Be interested to see the production in full to see how everything fits together and concludes.
First Date I absolutely loved, left the studio wishing I was free the next evening to see the reading again. It's definitely a show that I'll be booking for (be it a workshop or a fully staged version) if it ever makes it far enough over here.

[robertb213]

Completely agree on First Date, I really hope that comes back again in a fuller form soon 😀

[robertb213]

Victoria Hamilton-Barritt's nightcap is cancelled tonight. Now need to find something else on about 9ish!

[jgblunners]

I was at Louise Dearman’s Night Cap on Friday and then saw Porn and First Date on Saturday evening.

Louise was an absolute delight - down-to-earth and funny. It was interesting hearing her talk about her experience with Les Mis auditions, and made me a little sad as it sounds like she thinks her window of opportunity for Fantine is closing. A nice set list, my highlights being Unexpected Song and Bring Him Home which were utterly gorgeous.

Porn was terrible. I’m sorry for being so blunt, but it was. The book wasn’t clever enough for an effective spoof comedy but also wasn’t interesting enough for a show trying to twist the cliches around and have some kind of message. The music was uninspired and lacked solid melodic structure. Perhaps most shockingly, barely any of the humour landed. Needs a radical re-think in my opinion.

First Date, on the other hand, was brilliant. The best yet of the taster menu shows, it was intelligent, well-structured, musically interesting, had well-defined characters that you cared about, and was rather funny too. So far it’s the only show for which I have immediately thought ‘I’d pay good money to see a full production of this.’

[westendcub]

Well that was an hoot tonight I thought!!

I was a little worried when I had to queue outside for ‘But I’m a Cheerleader’ that it was going to be a bad scam downstairs but it was grand (I opted for the bar stalls - will try for them on Thursday!).

There’s loads of potential with BIAC, it had a good cast & was enjoyable!!

‘Bloody, Bloody Jessica Fletcher’ is a fun spoof show, it wouldn’t work as standalone but would work an comedy double bill & yes it’s one us gays would lap up!! I laughed a lot!

It was nice to see some cast stay & watch the 2nd show, saw some familiar faces in the audience too!!

Looking forward to returning on Thursday!!

[theatrelover123]

Does anybody happen to know the full casts for Cheerleader and Bloody Bloody tonight? I recognised loads but couldn’t place them all.

[sophie92]

Feb 19, 2019 23:41:38 GMT theatrelover123 said:

Does anybody happen to know the full casts for Cheerleader and Bloody Bloody tonight? I recognised loads but couldn’t place them all.

BIAC:
Bronte Barbe, Carrie Hope Fletcher, Jamie Muscato, Jodie Jacobs, Matt Henry, Ben Forster, Stephen Hogan, Luke Bayer, Connor Lewis, Tom Dickerson, Jonathan Hermosa-Lopez, Jessie Angell, Emily Hammond

BBJF:
Harriet Thorpe, Steven Serlin, Russell Walker, Connor Byrne, Mark Anderson, Verity Rushworth, Jemma Alexander

[jgblunners]

Saw Bloody Bloody Jessica Fletcher and But I'm A Cheerleader yesterday - both really good but not quite as polished as First Date.

Jessica Fletcher was absolutely hilarious - I was particularly impressed by the variety of humour, there's a little bit of everything in there. The whole thing is a big spoof of Murder, She Wrote and it works brilliantly. There's plenty of fourth wall breaking, they handle the inherent sexism and racism of the period well, and references to Lansbury are woven in pretty smoothly. Harriet Thorpe was great but Mark Anderson stole the show for me, his comedic timing is perfect. I'm not even that big a fan of Murder, She Wrote, but I'd love to see more of this.

But I'm A Cheerleader had definite Heathers vibes to it (and not just because of the cast), but the music didn't feel quite as polished. There were some brilliant musical moments but it wasn't consistent - there was also stuff that really didn't work for me. The book has 'disneyfied' the film a bit - it feels much less surreal and psychedelic, much more like a teen drama. Some of the humour was also a bit cliche. I think they know their target audience and they know how to appeal to them, so in its current form it probably has the potential to go far, but I'd personally like to see a bit more grit. Bronté Barbé was sensational though.

[sophie92]

I haven’t laughed as much as I did at Bloody Bloody Jessica Fletcher in ages. Just fantastic stuff and as jgblunners said, Mark Anderson completely stole the show (Jemma Alexander utterly unable to keep a straight face whilst sitting at the back of the stage came close though). I’ve had ‘Angela Lansbury Will Never Win an Emmy’ in my head since Tuesday!

[Deleted]

Out of the few I saw I think First Date has the most potential. They also seemed the most polished and most rehearsed cast which was surprising as the same cast performed Porn and you would have to question was that even rehearsed cause that was a car crash. Massive thumbs up for First Date though.

[HereForTheatre]

I'm not surprised First Date was seen as the most polished and ready to go seeing as it was an actual Broadway show already...

[freckles]

Feb 22, 2019 0:20:21 GMT @allthingsstagey said:

Out of the few I saw I think First Date has the most potential. They also seemed the most polished and most rehearsed cast which was surprising as the same cast performed Porn and you would have to question was that even rehearsed cause that was a car crash. Massive thumbs up for First Date though.

It really wasn't the night I saw it!

Sounded a good show though.

[westendcub]

‘Killer Queen’ has lots of potential- they said it’s the least developed of all the musicals & they have a good story outline already & some cracking rap, rhymes & stagey tunes already - it’s the one I hope they work on & develop further!

I think ‘But I’m a Cheerleader’ is a shoe in!!

‘The Protagonists’ was great fun, it’s a developed &?ready to go superhero musical - it was a shame to not see the whole thing!

There’s a beautiful father & daughter number that brought a tear to the eye & wow Rob Fowler is so beautiful!!

[l0islane]

Feb 22, 2019 12:37:03 GMT westendcub said:

‘Killer Queen’ has lots of potential- they said it’s the least developed of all the musicals & they have a good story outline already & some cracking rap, rhymes & stagey tunes already - it’s the one I hope they work on & develop further!

I think ‘But I’m a Cheerleader’ is a shoe in!!

‘The Protagonists’ was great fun, it’s a developed &?ready to go superhero musical - it was a shame to not see the whole thing!

There’s a beautiful father & daughter number that brought a tear to the eye & wow Rob Fowler is so beautiful!!

I also really enjoyed 'The Protagonists', it was just a really fun watch, the time sped by.  I really hope it gets picked up because I want to know what happens in the second half!

I was less keen on 'But I'm a Cheerleader', it was entertaining enough but I didn't find the songs very memorable and a lot of the humour was quite cliched.  I haven't seen the movie so that probably didn't help.

[winonaforever]

Feb 21, 2019 23:43:53 GMT sophie92 said:

I haven’t laughed as much as I did at Bloody Bloody Jessica Fletcher in ages. Just fantastic stuff and as jgblunners said, Mark Anderson completely stole the show (Jemma Alexander utterly unable to keep a straight face whilst sitting at the back of the stage came close though). I’ve had ‘Angela Lansbury Will Never Win an Emmy’ in my head since Tuesday!

Yes, Jessica Fletcher was actually my favourite (I've never seen Murder She Wrote, but I'm going to have to watch an episode or two now!) The musical was SO funny and the cast were all amazing; they were all having such a great time too!

I was pretty disappointed in the music of But I'm a Cheerleader (much preferred the songs in Nerds) and if I hadn't liked so many people in the cast I think I'd have been quite bored with it. As it was, I enjoyed it; but not nearly as much as I was expecting to.

[andrew]

First Date was my least favorite. I didn't like any of the songs and I don't think the cut version they performed worked at all, as it was random bits from various parts of the show. I enjoyed a lot more Porn and But I'm a Cheerleader (both were only Act 1 and that worked better), Porn was hilarious with interesting music and BIAC had a great cast. I'm seeing Protagonists and Killer Queen tonight. Overall I think that MT fest was a great initiative and I would like to see it happening again next year but I really want them to actually fully develop some of the shows to see the point of it all.

[Dawnstar]

I was very confused to see first Christina Bennington & then Bronte Barbe (complete with a small dog) in the lobby of The Other Palace just now, as I'm here to see Showstopper. I then remembered this is also on so presumably they were both in tonight's show.

[andrew]

Killer Queen was my favorite out of them all, although it was the least developed I have a feeling that it will be the first one to happen. The songs were extremely catchy and all of it was really solid and has incredible potential.

[jgblunners]

Saw the last two today - Killer Queen not as much to my taste with all the rap, but good nonetheless. Can definitely see it gaining ground if it can be tightened up a bit - there's too much faffing around at the moment. Christina Bennington's big number as Antoinette was fabulous. The Protagonists was more my style - cheesy comedy moments, but it had heart, and a nice solid score with some really inventive and clever music disguised as a cliche superhero soundtrack. I'd love to see more of it.

So, having seen all 8 of the Taster Menu shows, I think First Date and Bloody Bloody Jessica Fletcher were my favourites, with The Protagonists and Nerds as valiant runners-up. I think First Dates is pretty much ready to go for a full production (hardly surprising given its history) and the other three only need minor tweaks to be ready. Of the others, I think But I'm A Cheerleader will surface sooner or later as it was pretty solid and is aimed at the Heathers era of theatregoers. Killer Queen is definitely one to keep an eye out for - it's still fairly young but with work I could see it building a life for itself. Porn and AA really didn't do it for me.

I really enjoyed having the chance to see such a variety of works in progress and I'm looking forward to following these shows as they go forward. I hope MT Fest UK becomes a regular occurrence!

[Deleted]

Back for 2020, but at Paul Taylor-Mills' new venture the Turbine Theatre rather than The Other Palace

mtfestuk.co.uk/

[robertb213]

Lineup being announced at 10am tomorrow...

[theatrelover123]

8 productions announced:


www.facebook.com/TurbineTheatre/photos/a.729586980839739/817768678688235/?type=3&theater


turbinetheatre.londontheatrebookings.com/WEBPAGES/EntaWebShow/ShowListAlpha.aspx?start=*

[westendcub]

Ohh ‘Soapdish’ has my attention!

[Deleted]

I've booked for Soapdish. I'm hoping its the long awaited Stiles and Drewe version.

[Dawnstar]

Jan 16, 2020 12:32:59 GMT @tbfl said:

I've booked for Soapdish. I'm hoping its the long awaited Stiles and Drewe version.

This article specifies that it is by Stiles & Drewe www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/mtfest-2020-line-up_50714.html