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Post by wickedgrin on Mar 20, 2017 23:31:39 GMT
Came down at 10.10 but started 5 mins late and 25 min interval. Should be 2.30 Inc interval. Act One 1.10 Act 2 1 hour.
It flew by!!!
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Post by nash16 on Mar 20, 2017 23:35:09 GMT
Don't you think the competition with American In Paris will sink both shows, both being dance orientated and in big theatres? This is gonna trounce AAIP. Big time! |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2017 23:39:52 GMT
Yes
It will sh*t on AAIP
A shame they are opening at the same time really
For that show
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2017 23:40:27 GMT
And let's face it
Drury Lane
Is by far the more prestigious and well located and well appointed venue
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Post by wickedgrin on Mar 21, 2017 0:15:54 GMT
The ensemble is the star of this too - it does not rely on particular performers as AAIP appears to do.
One does not necessarily exclude the other though, it will be shows such as The Girls which will suffer. This is just such a good night out for the same money - it's what musical theatre is all about and nobody dies!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2017 0:24:22 GMT
Oooo its so exciting! I'm glad everyone enjoyed it, I can't wait to see it Wednesday now!
Hopefully it will garner the reviews it deserves and packs 'em in! We lost a good ole fashion musical in Show Boat last year when it shouldn't of closed because people didn't go, we don't need that here either. I can't even begin to imsgine how much this show costs to run with the design, let alone going into cast salary!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2017 0:36:14 GMT
The ensemble is the star of this too - it does not rely on particular performers as AAIP appears to do. One does not necessarily exclude the other though, it will be shows such as The Girls which will suffer. This is just such a good night out for the same money - it's what musical theatre is all about and nobody dies! 👯👯👯👯👯👯👯👯👯👯👯👯👯👯👯👯👯👯👯👯 |
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Post by Phantom of London on Mar 21, 2017 1:03:04 GMT
Yes It will sh*t on AAIP A shame they are opening at the same time really For that show That's what I am saying, they are going to take each other's market share, so could kill each other off. If if theatre history tells us something there is no proven recipe for success and the past is littered with great shows, that flopped. Saying that reading these reports has certainly wetted my appetite and need to book. |
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Post by Phantom of London on Mar 21, 2017 1:19:37 GMT
Just had a look at the website and landed a ticket on 1st April for £15', maybe April Fools Day, though so the box office could say Ap............
Now got a feeling I am going to dig this show.
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Post by madsonmelo on Mar 21, 2017 5:20:25 GMT
Got A15, hope there won't be a big head in front of me. (is this the only problem, I guess?)
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Post by mrbarnaby on Mar 21, 2017 7:10:29 GMT
Wow I was not expecting to hear all of these raves .. first preview-itis or is it genuinely that wonderful? I was going to go in a few weeks but I'm going to have to go this week now!
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Post by daniel on Mar 21, 2017 8:16:17 GMT
Wow I was not expecting to hear all of these raves .. first preview-itis or is it genuinely that wonderful? I was going to go in a few weeks but I'm going to have to go this week now! It really is that wonderful! I knew nothing of the show before going in, genuinely didn't expect to love it as much as I did. One of my favourite things about it, it was the best audience reaction I've ever heard at the end of the band playoff - everyone's normally buggered off by that point, but a good 75% stayed to listen & watch the conductor...and the applause just went on and on! |
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Post by crabtree on Mar 21, 2017 8:33:39 GMT
But have they reconceived this show, or is it a bigger, shinier version of the original Broadway production. One of the best productions I have seen of this was up in Manchester not so long ago, with little set, and with the band on stage, but masses of invention and theatricality, and energy, and glorious dancing.
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Post by daniel on Mar 21, 2017 9:37:53 GMT
But have they reconceived this show, or is it a bigger, shinier version of the original Broadway production. One of the best productions I have seen of this was up in Manchester not so long ago, with little set, and with the band on stage, but masses of invention and theatricality, and energy, and glorious dancing. This is the first iteration of 42nd Street I've seen, so for me at least it was all new  |
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Post by wickedgrin on Mar 21, 2017 9:38:13 GMT
No they have not reconceived the show and it is all the better for that. Mark Bramble who co-wrote the book of the show and worked with Gower Champion the original choreographer directs the production and shows how it should be done. I suppose it is bigger and shinier. The cloths are simply superb - apparently painted in the workshop behind Drury Lane using the old paint frames used for painting large scenic back drops. Some of them are lit from behind and are completely stunning.
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Post by wickedgrin on Mar 21, 2017 9:42:11 GMT
The tapping sounds fabulous. I thought for one awful moment they were dancing to a pre-recorded track but being at the front I think I spotted all the feet were miked up at their ankles!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2017 9:47:58 GMT
Where are the £15 tickets available?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2017 9:56:21 GMT
Most important question - do they open the show with how people have said they opened it before - curtain raised to knee and a load of tapping?
Thursday can't come quick enough if only 10% of the hyperbole is true!!!
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Post by infofreako on Mar 21, 2017 9:56:30 GMT
reallyusefultheatres.co.uk. Also you can check seetickets.com and the other ticket agencies, but those add a booking fee. Seetickets didn't when we booked. Though that was linked through the shows site. |
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Post by alece10 on Mar 21, 2017 9:58:50 GMT
I've got 16 sleeps until I go. Wish I'd chosen an earlier date now.
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Post by mallardo on Mar 21, 2017 10:05:07 GMT
As Wickedgrin says, the show has not been reconceived - it's a revival of the 2001 Broadway revival, staged by the same people, director Mark Bramble and choreographer Randy Skinner. And why would they change what works so amazingly well? Certainly from the very first moments of the overture when the conductor's podium elevated and conductor Jae Alexander turned to the house, arms outstretched, the wildly enthusiastic audience was revelling in the recognition factor. And when the final chords of Lullaby of Broadway segued into the sudden rhythms of 42nd Street and the curtain edged up to reveal those countless dancing feet, a roar went up that could only be interpreted as welcome back to tap dance heaven! It's the show we were hoping to see.
For a musical this big - a 36 member ensemble (24 ladies, 12 men) accompanied by a 19 piece orchestra - and this complex it was an astonishing first preview, flawless. Everything worked, the excitement never let up from those opening tapping feet right through to the huge post-bows production number (shades of recent discussions here) which brought down the house.
The cast is terrific. Clare Halse is an archetypal Peggy Sawyer, pretty and petite, full of energy, a fabulous dancer, well matched by Stuart Neal's Billy Lawlor. Christopher Howell and Jasna Ivir are funny and effective as the comedy duo, Maggie and Bert, and, if there were any doubts about Sheena Easton's Dorothy Brock, put them to rest - she's excellent, loudly tempermental but retaining sympathy and, with her appealing smoky voice, really selling her songs. A new song has been added for her in the first act, the only change in the show I could detect. It's the torchy "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", a solo number, and she sings it gorgeously.
But the standout for me is Tom Lister's Julian Marsh, by far the best I've seen in the role. He not only commands the stage and delivers his iconic lines - which, at this point, border on parody - with passion and conviction but he can sing! Thanks mainly to him the "Lullaby of Broadway" number in the second act totally stops the show, as it should. For once we have a Julian Marsh who deserves his final bow.
I just kept thinking how amazing it has been to have taken in, within a few days of each other, two such fabulous and exemplary dance shows - each the best of its kind - as An American in Paris and now 42nd Street. From the sublime to the sublime. Lucky London.
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Post by daniel on Mar 21, 2017 16:17:10 GMT
^ what he said.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2017 17:12:31 GMT
Oooo all these reviews have made me so excited about tomorrow night! Am I the only one it seems from the board going to see the show tomorrow night?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2017 18:38:04 GMT
Anyone who saw the show last night, I see the programmes are very much the Cinderella/School of Rock book style rather than the usual Drury Lane programmes. Do they contain production photos?
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Post by couldileaveyou on Mar 21, 2017 19:29:48 GMT
I am sitting right now in AA13 and it's indeed a dream of a bargain, I can't imagine a better view than this
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