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Post by alece10 on Mar 3, 2023 18:31:33 GMT
I think listening to the OCR and finding it disappointing is exactly the sort of thing that would prompt me to post! alece10 had you got tickets for the show? I think if you haven’t I wouldn’t let it put you off seeing without splashing out in an expensive seat. For me it was one of those where the music was pleasant abd worked great within the context of the story but not anything I would seek outside of the performance. No I hadn't booked for the show, but in my defence I am not booked for anything for a while due to recovering from an operation making it impossible to see any theatre. |
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Post by xanady on Mar 3, 2023 18:47:56 GMT
Thoughts are with you on your recovery alece10…always enjoy your posts 👍
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2023 18:54:17 GMT
I think the real question we've discovered here is this: what is the ideal cast recording to listen to while ironing?
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8,095 posts
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Post by alece10 on Mar 3, 2023 19:00:23 GMT
I think the real question we've discovered here is this: what is the ideal cast recording to listen to while ironing? That's easy. It's the Imelda Staunton recording of Gypsy. And ideally singing along loudly as you are doing the ironing, which is a task I dislike. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 3, 2023 19:55:03 GMT
I think the real question we've discovered here is this: what is the ideal cast recording to listen to while ironing? I think that’s a whole new thread on its own @stevea! Go for it! |
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Post by andrew on Mar 3, 2023 20:56:01 GMT
Just been listening to the cast recording whilst doing the ironing and I'm afraid the ironing beat the music for interest. Yeah, this is a good show which is hampered by poor music. Almost every song stops it in it's tracks, and doesn't move the story along nor shine light on a characters thoughts nor entertain in some other way. It's such a good story that it over-shines the mediocre soundtrack, with a better songwriter behind this it could've been a spectacular piece of work. I love a play that weaves different timelines together, I loved the scope of this, I loved the subject matter, I just completely meh'd out on 80% of the songs which for a musical is unacceptable. |
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Post by edi on Mar 3, 2023 21:12:06 GMT
Just been listening to the cast recording whilst doing the ironing and I'm afraid the ironing beat the music for interest. Yeah, this is a good show which is hampered by poor music. Almost every song stops it in it's tracks, and doesn't move the story along nor shine light on a characters thoughts nor entertain in some other way. It's such a good story that it over-shines the mediocre soundtrack, with a better songwriter behind this it could've been a spectacular piece of work. I love a play that weaves different timelines together, I loved the scope of this, I loved the subject matter, I just completely meh'd out on 80% of the songs which for a musical is unacceptable. Interesting, it all depends on our style, isn't it. I am not a musical theatre fan, prefer plays any time, and this was one of those very rare musicals that I was actually looking forward to the 'music' part. To the point that I googled the music when I got home, and I discovered that I actually prefer them being sung by Richard Hawley himself than the cast. I hate ironing !!! I prefer almost everything vs ironing. Even 'End Game' which is a torture to me... |
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Post by zahidf on Mar 4, 2023 16:59:33 GMT
This was great! Really enjoyed the songs and the acting. Moving in places
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Post by lichtie on Mar 4, 2023 17:25:34 GMT
Saw this on the matinee on Wednesday. Enjoyed it but would agree with those noting how the songs kill the pacing. I think I'm on record previously as saying I'm not a fan of musicals but this is closer to a play with songs than a full blown musical anyway. Some of the songs are just too long, and don't contribute to the story-telling in a direct enough fashion. Some simply feel wildly misplaced (the miners' strike one probably being the worst in this sense, since it seemed a way to shoehorn in a dispute about a different industry when the actual story was about someone who had been working for British Steel). Also agree about the ending. Psychotic stalker gaslights former partner back into a relationship is not exactly a very positive ending (despite those cheering in the audience when it happened...)
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Post by theatrelover123 on Mar 4, 2023 17:51:04 GMT
Saw this on the matinee on Wednesday. Enjoyed it but would agree with those noting how the songs kill the pacing. I think I'm on record previously as saying I'm not a fan of musicals but this is closer to a play with songs than a full blown musical anyway. Some of the songs are just too long, and don't contribute to the story-telling in a direct enough fashion. Some simply feel wildly misplaced (the miners' strike one probably being the worst in this sense, since it seemed a way to shoehorn in a dispute about a different industry when the actual story was about someone who had been working for British Steel). Also agree about the ending. Psychotic stalker gaslights former partner back into a relationship is not exactly a very positive ending (despite those cheering in the audience when it happened...) Which record are you on? Do you have any solo bits? |
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Post by theatrelover123 on Mar 4, 2023 17:52:19 GMT
Saw this on the matinee on Wednesday. Enjoyed it but would agree with those noting how the songs kill the pacing. I think I'm on record previously as saying I'm not a fan of musicals but this is closer to a play with songs than a full blown musical anyway. Some of the songs are just too long, and don't contribute to the story-telling in a direct enough fashion. Some simply feel wildly misplaced (the miners' strike one probably being the worst in this sense, since it seemed a way to shoehorn in a dispute about a different industry when the actual story was about someone who had been working for British Steel). Also agree about the ending. Psychotic stalker gaslights former partner back into a relationship is not exactly a very positive ending (despite those cheering in the audience when it happened...) Which record are you on? Do you sing any solo bits? |
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Post by mattnyc on Mar 4, 2023 17:54:21 GMT
Out of today's matinee and I was beyond impressed with this one. I've only skimmed this thread because I didn't want to know too much before going in so didn't know anything about the score. Reading some comments here about how it stops the show dead and doesn't move the plot forward, I will agree with to a point. It's absolutely not a conventional musical theatre score and the songs, while maybe not moving characters along in words, does it in tone. It's almost like a film score with words (if that makes any sense at all) and it's something I'd never seen done before and man, was I a fan. That last scene was like a heavy punch to my gut and I was still crying a bit walking outside. The entire production from set design to cast to orchestrations is one of the best I've seen in a while. "Guys & Dolls" last night and this today (with "Shirley Valentine" in an hour), I feel very lucky this weekend.  |
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Post by mrnutz on Mar 4, 2023 20:31:25 GMT
The Olivier noms have really shifted some tickets for this one. I looked a few days ago and there was great availability for the rest of the run. Now there's not a lot left!
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Post by juicy_but_terribly_drab on Mar 4, 2023 20:57:30 GMT
The Olivier noms have really shifted some tickets for this one. I looked a few days ago and there was great availability for the rest of the run. Now there's not a lot left! Yup and I tried for the Friday Rush and there were 1500+ people ahead of me and it took me over an hour to get through (needless to say, there were no rush tickets left by then). I haven't tried the rush very often at the NT but I've never experienced numbers like those, unless I was just a lot more lucky those other few times than I realised? |
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Post by tal on Mar 4, 2023 22:53:14 GMT
The Olivier noms have really shifted some tickets for this one. I looked a few days ago and there was great availability for the rest of the run. Now there's not a lot left! Yup and I tried for the Friday Rush and there were 1500+ people ahead of me and it took me I've an hour to get through (needless to say, there were no rush tickets left by then). I haven't tried the rush very often at the NT but I've never experienced numbers like those, unless I was just a lot more lucky those other few times than I realised? I also did the rush yesterday and indeed the numbers were very high. I managed to go in almost straight away and get tickets, but my partner who tried as well had hundreds in front of him. |
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Post by apubleed on Mar 5, 2023 10:29:52 GMT
I am absolutely floored. Watching the ending ‘dawn breaks’, I felt like I was watching Sunday in the Park with George, RENT or next to normal for the first time. If there was a UK Pulitzer Prize for drama this show would win. The show is not really a musical in the traditional NYC/UK sense of the word. It’s a play with music - the music is used much more to create atmosphere and emotion than to forward a story or even explore a character. And the novelty of the songs and composer is it is meant to authentically convey what the ‘world’ of Sheffield feels like.
Some of those performances my god - the ‘Joy’ actor has such a rich, deep instrument she sounds like a rising star. And the person who sings ‘open up your door’ sounds like a modern day Judy garland.
I am rooting for best musical Olivier and some other wins - and it’s the kind of thing I would love to see packaged up and taken to NYC for a limited short run with the entire cast and marketed as an prestigious innovative British new show…kind of the way August: Osage County toured with some of the original principles overseas.
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Post by scrane1 on Mar 5, 2023 17:46:16 GMT
Saw this last week. I thought it was sensational! Had the potential to come across a bit w**ky and preachy. Swerved at every turn. Loved it! 5 stars.
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Post by mattnyc on Mar 6, 2023 1:48:05 GMT
I am absolutely floored. Watching the ending ‘dawn breaks’, I felt like I was watching Sunday in the Park with George, RENT or next to normal for the first time. If there was a UK Pulitzer Prize for drama this show would win. The show is not really a musical in the traditional NYC/UK sense of the word. It’s a play with music - the music is used much more to create atmosphere and emotion than to forward a story or even explore a character. And the novelty of the songs and composer is it is meant to authentically convey what the ‘world’ of Sheffield feels like. Some of those performances my god - the ‘Joy’ actor has such a rich, deep instrument she sounds like a rising star. And the person who sings ‘open up your door’ sounds like a modern day Judy garland. I am rooting for best musical Olivier and some other wins - and it’s the kind of thing I would love to see packaged up and taken to NYC for a limited short run with the entire cast and marketed as an prestigious innovative British new show…kind of the way August: Osage County toured with some of the original principles overseas. Now, two years from now you might be able to quote me and call me an idiot but I don’t think there’s any reality this could be successful in NYC. The financials of a show this massive would mean they would need Lady Gaga and Beyoncé to star in it to make money and interest people. As a New Yorker who spends a significant amount of time in the UK, I think this is such a uniquely British show (again, from my American perspective) that I just don’t see it translating to enough of an audience in America that would make a run worth it, financially. Plus to keep the show this large, there’s only a few theatres that could handle it and they’d need to sell out every show to at least 500+ more people than the Olivier can handle. So there’s no reality where a “short run” would ever work for this. Sadly. |
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Post by shownut on Mar 6, 2023 10:21:20 GMT
Now, two years from now you might be able to quote me and call me an idiot but I don’t think there’s any reality this could be successful in NYC. The financials of a show this massive would mean they would need Lady Gaga and Beyoncé to star in it to make money and interest people. As a New Yorker who spends a significant amount of time in the UK, I think this is such a uniquely British show (again, from my American perspective) that I just don’t see it translating to enough of an audience in America that would make a run worth it, financially. Plus to keep the show this large, there’s only a few theatres that could handle it and they’d need to sell out every show to at least 500+ more people than the Olivier can handle. So there’s no reality where a “short run” would ever work for this. Sadly. I couldn't agree more. It is great that The National has a hit and I would imagine they will keep it in-house and bring it back next season for an extended run as they did with LONDON ROAD and FOLLIES. Both could have transferred, but why pay all the additional costs (especially for a show this large in size) when you can run it in-house and make quite a profit? Unless, of course, you have another WAR-HORSE on your hands that has wide commercial potential (which I don't think this show does).
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Post by nomoretalkofdarkness on Mar 6, 2023 14:10:25 GMT
This Show Already has Active Plans for a future London Run next year and they are very optimistic considering how Well received the current run has been with a strong Word of mouth.
I don't think Scalling down the show would be to much of a problem. They could cut down the number of Supernumerarys and the Set in The Olivier Has Large spaces to the sides that are not really needed.
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Post by londonpostie on Mar 6, 2023 14:28:54 GMT
I would imagine it's getting really outstanding word-of-mouth, and that's driving ticket demand more than anything.
Fwiw, I didn't find the central staging prohibitively large; use was made of what there was but the living room and surround, plus the band area and walkways above might be a limiting factor for some theatres but many could surely handle this production.
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Post by shownut on Mar 6, 2023 15:10:38 GMT
I would imagine it's getting really outstanding word-of-mouth, and that's driving ticket demand more than anything. Depends on who you ask. A West End transfer of a show this size will need broad appeal (and more than a handful of tourists) to see a profit. I can't see that happening but if they try, good luck to them. |
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Post by bram on Mar 7, 2023 14:48:21 GMT
something quite special about this production. Very enjoyable.
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Post by bobbievanhusen on Mar 7, 2023 19:45:05 GMT
Am at the National and because of technical issues across all 3 theatres, none of the theatres have yet to let people in. Everyone still in the bars/foyer areas. I wonder if they'll cancel the performance??
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Post by foxa on Mar 7, 2023 20:45:39 GMT
Oh no! Hope you got in.
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