Standing At The Sky’s Edge - Crucible/NT/Gillian Lynne

[mattnyc]

Jun 3, 2024 18:48:06 GMT 141920grm said:

doesn’t it close 3rd august?

Sadly, yes.

[lizabella]

Jun 3, 2024 18:59:34 GMT mattnyc said:

Jun 3, 2024 18:48:06 GMT 141920grm said:

doesn’t it close 3rd august?

Sadly, yes.

Sorry my mistake 3rd August, not long though

[galinda]

Cancelled tonight due to cast illness.
Shows seem to cancel a lot more than they used to?

[ceebee]

Really enjoyed the Saturday matinee. What a great band! Moving at times though vocals often drowned out by music. Simple but effective lighting and set.

[flouise]

Jun 8, 2024 18:47:48 GMT galinda said:

Cancelled tonight due to cast illness.
Shows seem to cancel a lot more than they used to?

I've just seen the Sunday matinee, there were 7 cast members off which might normally be fairly manageable but I'm guessing that they must have been pretty much at the limit as it included most of lead roles- Poppy, Joy and Rose were all covers, as well as Marcus and Connie. A couple of the female swings were off too, so I can understand why last night's performance couldn't go ahead assuming that there was even more sickness then.

They all did a fantastic job, it was 2nd cover Karen Wilkinson's debut as Poppy, I was very impressed!

[Rory]

I finally saw this for the first time tonight, in lieu of the cancelled Alma Mater, and it absolutely blew me away. One of the most stunning and moving pieces of theatre I've ever seen. If I could go back again before the 3rd August, when it very sadly closes, I would. Stunning in every respect. Extremely moving and beautifully staged and performed. Richard Hawley's music was sublime.

[flouise]

I'm not entirely sure what's going on with the pricing at the show, despite tickets sales being fairly poor, the minimum price ticket now seems to be £39.50 when bought directly from the theatre's website, and I'm currently trying to get a rush ticket for this afternoon's performance and there appears to be very few (if any!) available despite half of the seats being unsold for the performance.

I can't quite understand the logic!

[viscountviktor]

Loved it so much. So political and powerful.

[showtoones]

question - is this show worth a visit? I wanted to see it before it closed but the two songs they did at West End Live were terrible and sounded like songs that would sung in a pub. Thoughts?

[Being Alive]

It's great - the cast are wonderful - I'm going again before it ends.

[Rory]

Jun 26, 2024 15:20:42 GMT showtoones said:

question - is this show worth a visit? I wanted to see it before it closed but the two songs they did at West End Live were terrible and sounded like songs that would sung in a pub. Thoughts?

YES, it's fabulous. I saw it last week and adored it, and the singing was beautiful. Go!

[flouise]

Jun 26, 2024 15:20:42 GMT showtoones said:

question - is this show worth a visit? I wanted to see it before it closed but the two songs they did at West End Live were terrible and sounded like songs that would sung in a pub. Thoughts?

I'd definitely recommend it, I don't think the WEL performance was a great representation of the show-they work much better in context, and I saw the matinee the afternoon of WEL and felt that Lauryn performed the song much better then, and Tonight The Streets Are Ours is a great song where all of the main cast come together

[theatremiss]

I’ve seen it and have 2 more trips before it closes. This is a wonderful show

[A.Ham]

Jun 26, 2024 15:20:42 GMT showtoones said:

question - is this show worth a visit? I wanted to see it before it closed but the two songs they did at West End Live were terrible and sounded like songs that would sung in a pub. Thoughts?

Yes, no question, go! It’s wonderful!

[jaybird89]

Hey all,

I'm finally getting around to seeing this tomorrow evening, question though I'm usually a front row lover but is this better a bit further back to take it all in just looking for some advice as will likely only get round to seeing it the once.

Thanks :-)

[david]

Jun 26, 2024 22:40:08 GMT jaybird89 said:

Hey all,

I'm finally getting around to seeing this tomorrow evening, question though I'm usually a front row lover but is this better a bit further back to take it all in just looking for some advice as will likely only get round to seeing it the once.

Thanks :-)

I watched it from stalls R55 and had a great view and missed nothing (I specifically wanted further back for the entire view - cast. Lighting etc ) as the viewing would be a 1 hit thing for me.

[141920grm]

Jun 26, 2024 22:40:08 GMT jaybird89 said:

better a bit further back to take it all in

yep, stalls E and back are great, front row is too close imo and I was constantly swivelling my head to follow the actors traversing the stage

[jaybird89]

Thank you both I was thinking that would be the case I'm going to go with further back :-) very excited to finally getting around to seeing this.

[theatrefan77]

I got the £10 Friday Rush tickets in row E and the view was great

[A.Ham]

The stage is very wide and runs across almost the full width of the auditorium, so would agree a few rows back at least (and ideally fairly central) would give the best views.

[oedipus]

Caught this last night on a rush ticket (row G is awesome, btw: far enough back to see the whole stage). As an American, I struggled with a few of the more specific references, but I got the gist of whole social critique, particularly of Thatcherism.

I went in not knowing anything about the musical (I usually prefer it that way), and at first was totally baffled by the format. At intermission, I googled to discover that it was a jukebox, and I was like aha! that's why the songs are at times so obliquely related to the stage action. That's not a criticism, per se, but it helps to know what to expect (or would have helped me, at any rate).

As for the book, well, I thought 2/3 of it was effective. The thing is, it's hard to interweave three complex stories together without flattening the characters, even within the rather leisurely running time of three hours. So the through-line has to be social commentary, which made sense for the first two time periods, but was something of a struggle for the third (which seemed to be aimed at gentrification, but ended up as a weird dissection of toxic relationships, familial and romantic).

So: I liked it--sometimes a great deal--but between the jukebox structure and the crisscrossing timelines, it could seem a bit unfocused. Some terrific design work, and I even sort of dug the out-there choreography (with all of its Pina Bausch-like repetitions).

[somnorific]

Jun 29, 2024 11:37:34 GMT oedipus said:

So: I liked it--sometimes a great deal--but between the jukebox structure and the crisscrossing timelines, it could seem a bit unfocused. .

... But -- it's *not* a jukebox musical!

[max]

Jun 29, 2024 21:25:07 GMT somnorific said:

Jun 29, 2024 11:37:34 GMT oedipus said:

So: I liked it--sometimes a great deal--but between the jukebox structure and the crisscrossing timelines, it could seem a bit unfocused. .

... But -- it's *not* a jukebox musical!

Features 'new and existing songs' says Wikipedia.  I saw the show last week and recognised one song from somewhere - realised afterwards it was the stand out song from Shirley Bassey's 2009 album 'Performance' where a number of writers were commissioned to write songs for her (her first album of original songs for 30 years).  Richard Hawley's song for her was 'After The Rain' with the hook line 'this girl just can't take it anymore'.  A beautiful song, and amongst those that worked best in the show I thought.

[oedipus]

Jun 29, 2024 21:37:30 GMT max said:

Jun 29, 2024 21:25:07 GMT somnorific said:

... But -- it's *not* a jukebox musical!

Features 'new and existing songs' says Wikipedia.  I saw the show last week and recognised one song from somewhere - realised afterwards it was the stand out song from Shirley Bassey's 2009 album 'Performance' where a number of writers were commissioned to write songs for her (her first album of original songs for 30 years).  Richard Hawley's song for her was 'After The Rain' with the hook line 'this girl just can't take it anymore'.  A beautiful song, and amongst those that worked best in the show I thought.

Thanks for this. The learning resource pack on the show's own website even says it's a jukebox musical (pg. 10). Perhaps RH also added additional material in its development? The interview with the book writer gives a bit of insight into how the creative team approached pre-existing material. 

[max]

Jun 29, 2024 22:33:19 GMT oedipus said:

Jun 29, 2024 21:37:30 GMT max said:

Features 'new and existing songs' says Wikipedia.  I saw the show last week and recognised one song from somewhere - realised afterwards it was the stand out song from Shirley Bassey's 2009 album 'Performance' where a number of writers were commissioned to write songs for her (her first album of original songs for 30 years).  Richard Hawley's song for her was 'After The Rain' with the hook line 'this girl just can't take it anymore'.  A beautiful song, and amongst those that worked best in the show I thought.

Thanks for this. The learning resource pack on the show's own website even says it's a jukebox musical (pg. 10). Perhaps RH also added additional material in its development? The interview with the book writer gives a bit of insight into how the creative team approached pre-existing material. 

I downloaded that too but haven't had a chance to look at it yet - interesting they use the 'jukebox' term. I guess it's as if 'Mamma Mia' had been mainly back catalogue, but Benny/Bjorn had written some new songs too (surprised they didn't actually, to try to bag an Oscar). This was the case with Boy George's 'Taboo' though the majority of the songs there were new; I'm sure there are other examples of a mix of existing plus new/bespoke.

I'm still thinking about the way 'Standing At The Sky's Edge' used songs.  Some were very fitting for a character in a location in a specific moment (as we expect in a Musical).  Other songs were mood pieces supporting emotion but not the exact detail of a drama moment or character (as in 'Girl From The North Country).  

There's a scene where Jimmy talks about possibly going to work on an oil rig, how it'll be like going into space (harking back to his childhood imagining of his dad's steelworks job), and they'll build the new Jerusalem. It feels perfect for being sung, as if the dialogue is going to slip into song at any moment, and be strong in Richard Hawley's songwriting style. Instead, it stays as dialogue. That's okay, because we weren't promised a Musical as such, and songs are being used in a different way.  Except... immediately the next scene features a character we've never met who's introduced via a full song with a 'let me in' narrative. It's in the very real setting of the landing of the flats, at the front door of her ex - a specific time place and need, like we'd expect in a Musical. Then they do that same action, but in dialogue  - just like you shouldn't really do in a musical.

For me, mixing the two approaches in the same piece didn't work that well. Too many cases of being able to see 'what you could have won', and feeling disappointed when they went the other route. 

It's not straight-out 'jukebox' but knowing the songwriter was instead on-hand to make things bespoke when needed.... I thought that need was underestimated, and it could have been better.