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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2017 6:55:06 GMT
I'm hopefully catching this at some point in June/July. It shouldn't be too tough to nab a ticket, and its a show I have wanted to see since it first opened on Broadway. Which is odd, because I have seen shows I haven't even been fussed to see since American in Paris, yet I haven't seen it yet but I have waited this long.
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Post by tmesis on May 14, 2017 7:15:51 GMT
I agree Mr Snow that it's a shame there isn't a proper Gershwin musical that works for today's audience, although in it's present incarnation, I think this is more enjoyable than the rewritten Crazy for You. As you say, at least regarding Kern, there's the magnificent Showboat (the top- notch Crucible production still resonates) but it's frustrating that two of the very greatest songwriters didn't leave more that's stageable today.(I haven't forgotten Porgy and Bess but that's an Opera.)
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2017 7:18:59 GMT
I wonder how this will do in terms of longevity? The Broadway production ran 18 months, and unless something is scouting theatres and wanting a show in there, I can see it sticking around just to have something running there, but I don't know if I can see it running longer than the Broadway production unless it gets a sudden rush of ticket sales.
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Post by Someone in a tree on May 14, 2017 9:27:49 GMT
Anyone know where La Cope is holidaying ?
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2017 16:34:09 GMT
Anyone know where La Cope is holidaying ? I presume this is asked in jest, but do you not realise how inappropriate it is?! |
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Post by daniel on May 14, 2017 17:15:42 GMT
I would presume that Someone in a tree meant when, rather than where...at least I hope so! |
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Post by Someone in a tree on May 14, 2017 18:48:13 GMT
I know last year she had two weeks at a caravan in Prestatyn and I was just wondering if she was doing the same. No harm in asking?
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2017 19:37:46 GMT
I know last year she had two weeks at a caravan in Prestatyn and I was just wondering if she was doing the same. No harm in asking? I think there is harm - do you not see how that comes across as frankly a bit stalker-ish? If she posts something like that on Twitter or Instagram then obviously it's public knowledge and anyone can find out if they wish, but I'm afraid I find that level of questioning in respect of a performer's personal life a bit inappropriate. |
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Post by wickedgrin on May 15, 2017 11:48:13 GMT
Late to the party with this as most of you fellow board members seem to make it to the first few performances, so much of what I have to say has been mentioned already.
I SO wanted to love this as I am a great musical theatre fan but came away a little disappointed.
First the positives -
A bargain central front row seat for £30. Great view as you have the orchestra pit between you and the stage plus lots of leg room to stretch out. When you think the seats a few rows back are £99!!
Wonderful orchestra and Gershwin score - although most of the songs have been heard in Crazy for You. Surely others could have been found? Plus most of them were really "shoe horned" in!
Fabulous design - the show looked amazing - the lighting too was wonderful.
Robert Fairchild - A true triple threat. Good singer, fabulous dancer, and huge stage charisma. I could not take my eyes off him! Worth the price of admission alone.
The negatives -
Much has been said about the seamless nature of the ballet, musical and book. But for me the transitions between the two were clunky. I did not feel the piece was strong at all. Huge sections of dialogue which went nowhere, huge ballet sequences which were fine but added nothing. There were some wonderful moments but huge sections which were frankly boring - especially the dialogue.
Jane Asher - just dreadful. Surely there are plenty of actresses who could have played the part better. How on earth did she get cast? Really embarrassing! She had a larger role than I expected from the remarks on here too.
I should not compare it to 42nd St but it is difficult not to having opened at the same time but this really did look "thin" in comparison. The big number "Stairway to Paradise" looked very underpopulated with just 6 show girls and NO staircase! It made me smile that 42nd St has been criticised on this board for its lack of plot but this made it look like House of Cards. Three men fall in love with one girl ....and the obvious guy gets the girl in the last moments of the show - somewhat inexplicably from what I gathered. That is it! No wonder it did seem like a long evening.
I so wanted to love it .....
I have to report though that the theatre seemed completely full on Friday night. Very well received but no standing ovation.
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Post by Mr Snow on May 16, 2017 6:03:20 GMT
Late to the party with this as most of you fellow board members seem to make it to the first few performances, so much of what I have to say has been mentioned already. I SO wanted to love this as I am a great musical theatre fan but came away a little disappointed. No wonder it did seem like a long evening. I so wanted to love it ..... I have to report though that the theatre seemed completely full on Friday night. Very well received but no standing ovation. Great review even if I found more positives than you did. However you should have turned round at the end, on Friday night they were on their feet. |
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Post by theatregeek on May 17, 2017 13:38:21 GMT
So I saw (most) of this. It has so much going for it - such a wonderful score, an amazing cast and one of the most gorgeous sets I've ever seen. It has so much going for it, until you quickly realise there's hardly any story. It's a bit like an art installation - everything about it is brilliant but you wonder what the point of it all is. It's dated, but funnily enough I think La La Land might have come along at the right time for a new audience to appreciate what there is to hear here. My sister was very surprised to discover most of the score was written almost 100 years ago and sat during act 1 impressed with what she thought was a new musical. I think as time goes by it might do well dropping a weekday performance in favour of a Sunday matinee - if the show has a life on the west end, it'll be perhaps from the upper half of the country's age bracket: in the save vein as the film, its very much a quiet Sunday afternoon sort of show, which would be nicely coupled with a Sunday roast I feel. I don't regret seeing it (though don't see a matinee if you've been drinking the night before), but I wouldn't want to see it again. This is almost exactly what I said after I saw the matinee last Saturday. I felt like I was sitting at home on a Sunday afternoon watching a lovely old movie. The audience were pretty elderly on Saturday afternoon - that's not meant to be offensive, just what I saw - and they (and I) were just loving it. It really is beautiful to watch, great style and grace about it. I almost felt that there wasn't any need for the songs, I was just getting swept away by the dancing and scene changes. I must have been in a really mellow mood because Jane Asher's accent didn't particularly bother me after the first few minutes - maybe it was the stop at the champagne bar before curtain up that mellowed me. Beautiful, but I don't think it will last too long - it was perhaps 3/4 full in the stalls.
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Post by vabbian on May 17, 2017 15:02:57 GMT
Robert Fairchild - A true triple threat. Good singer, fabulous dancer, and huge stage charisma. I could not take my eyes off him! Worth the price of admission alone. The negatives - I should not compare it to 42nd St but it is difficult not to having opened at the same time but this really did look "thin" in comparison. The big number "Stairway to Paradise" looked very underpopulated with just 6 show girls and NO staircase! It made me smile that 42nd St has been criticised on this board for its lack of plot but this made it look like House of Cards. Three men fall in love with one girl ....and the obvious guy gets the girl in the last moments of the show - somewhat inexplicably from what I gathered. That is it! No wonder it did seem like a long evening. AGREE and AGREE Robert Fairchild is the star in this, I think they should swap his role and Leanne Cope's. Then have the other two guys and her fall in love with him and and that is a better and much more likely story.... yeah... I really don't like the marketing for this, 999 5-star reviews blah blah like come on! the show is really going to fall flat on its face with the audience because its hard to live up to that kind of marketing. I think An American in Paris would be nice in a small intimate theatre, with more fleshed out characters, more camp and better romance. Having it on such a big stage like the Dominion isn't great cause the set pieces are a bit sh*t. The big show tune in the second half with the top hats and dancing girls is total FAIL. Tries to be epic but Haydn Oakley cant sing it. |
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Post by jgblunners on May 25, 2017 10:43:27 GMT
According to Zoe Rainey's instagram, they filmed the show last night. Looks quite professional - is this the usual setup for archive recordings, or could this be commercial? http://instagram.com/p/BUgcl9olefA |
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Post by ctas on May 25, 2017 10:54:00 GMT
Wheeldon's Instagram post seemed to imply it's for archives.
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Post by geeky101 on May 25, 2017 21:03:55 GMT
According to notices in the foyer, it was also being filmed last Thursday when I went.
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Post by lonlad on May 25, 2017 22:28:10 GMT
I thought it was for PBS in the States.
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Post by daniel on May 26, 2017 4:01:56 GMT
On first glance that does look a lot more substantial than just an archive recording. Usually you only get one or two fixed cameras in the stalls and none of that level of zoom and detail. Could just be a high quality archive recording though for all I know!
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Post by jek on May 31, 2017 7:57:13 GMT
Went last night as a mid revision treat for my 16 year old daughter. Wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. Glad to have seen Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope in the roles and thought Zoe Rainey was terrific. We sat in the bargain £31 front row seats which I'd really recommend. Because the first row is so far back from the pit and so even further from the stage you miss very little and I certainly wouldn't feel justified paying substantially more for being just a few rows further back. Am inevitably left humming Gershwin this morning and looking forward to seeing the Guildhall School of Music production of Crazy for You in July.
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2017 14:22:16 GMT
At the interval now for today's matinee. Someone in the stalls absolutely reaks of stale sweat close by.... thoughts on the show coming later.
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Post by lonlad on May 31, 2017 15:47:41 GMT
Thanks for that. We'll make sure and steer clear :-)
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2017 19:02:31 GMT
At the interval now for today's matinee. Someone in the stalls absolutely reaks of stale sweat close by.... thoughts on the show coming later. So my thoughts... First time at the Dominion. Im guessing the theatres Architect was the same as the Liverpool Empire as the auditorium felt very similar to that of the Empire. It also seemed to suffer from the same underground rail vibrations and noise, which I found slightly off putting throughout, but theres not much that can be done about that given location. I do hope the Crossrail doesn't make it worse. Show wise, all credit to the orchestra. Wonderful orchestrations and a well led band. So good to see an actual Grand Piano in the pit! The story was forgettable and the script a bit too 'Allo Allo' in the first act but the score throughout was beautiful and that was what really kept me interested in the show. I forgot to grab a photo of actual cast members, but suffice to say they were all ok. I didn't particularly love or dislike anyone but I think they were all limited by what the book provided. Set-wise there were some nice ideas, but I really wasn't sold on such a heavy reliance on the projections. There were quite a few occasions where the set didn't line up with the projections and as a result images overshot and bled, more times than I could count. I found this completely distracting. At times the projections and scenic movement were out of sync so again projection over or undershot. Halfway through the second act there was a street scene with clouds projecting over the sky and houses. It looks completely out of place and like a technical error, like the houses hadn't been image masked, this was very distracting. I also disliked the hard edges of the projection on the rear backdrop. For such a romantic show, the projection felt a bit rigid and uncomplimentary. I also really disliked the colour palette of the show. I really think the show would have worked with a strict pastel colour palette instead of the very mixed colours, sometimes pastel, sometimes out of place vivid primary colours. Where the colours should have been vivid, such as in the cutaway dance sequences like the scene in the second act with the modern art set coming to life we were presented with some really washout out blues and reds, these should have been alot more vibrant and vivid to show contrast to the neutral wartime colours of reality. For a show to be successful reliant on such crucial technical elements, they really need to get them right. There were a number of missed lighting cues and at the end of act one two false blackouts where it looked like the LX op had cued the blackout before it had been called, then gone back a step lighting the stage, then blackout, then lit, then blackout. Odd. I've seen the show once and that was enough for me, however if a soundtrack is released I will probably look into getting it. Edit: Same Architecture firm for Dominion and Liverpool Empire, W & TR Milburn. |
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Post by aine on Jun 1, 2017 20:12:21 GMT
Jane Asher - just dreadful. Surely there are plenty of actresses who could have played the part better. How on earth did she get cast? Really embarrassing! She had a larger role than I expected from the remarks on here too. I have to agree with this, her accent was horrible. When I was at the bar in the interval, the older couple behind me started talking about her and asking if she was going to make a "little cameo" in Act 2 because they were sure they hadn't seen her yet, and I had it on the tip of my tongue to turn around and say she was "the one with the accent issue" but I didn't. I still love this show though overall. |
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Post by stageyninja83 on Jun 7, 2017 16:30:13 GMT
I have a friend who just saw the show and thought Jane Asher was the best thing about it........I have to cut her out of my life right? How can anyone think that was a great performance!?!?
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Post by TallPaul on Jun 8, 2017 12:34:53 GMT
I have a friend who just saw the show and thought Jane Asher was the best thing about it........I have to cut her out of my life right? How can anyone think that was a great performance!?!? Whatever Ms Asher is being paid, and I imagine it's more than almost everyone else in the company, it's money for old rope. |
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Post by zak97 on Jun 8, 2017 19:14:43 GMT
Guess this is why they had the cameras in:
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