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Post by mrkringas on Jun 28, 2019 10:16:54 GMT
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Post by edi on Jun 29, 2019 15:16:23 GMT
I just booked the show on the strength of the initial reviews just to come back here and see the latest bad ones.
Never mind
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Post by sophizoey on Jun 29, 2019 18:07:16 GMT
What is the running time of this?
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Post by theatre241 on Jun 29, 2019 20:44:13 GMT
I would take care in the seat you chose in Zone 2 on house stage left. Note there is a fair bit of action that happens up by the orchestra and if you are in the back row facing the stage you end up watching a fair bit of action through a tree. Also, if you try to nudge your seat back at all in the back row, beware you will likely end up getting hit by a cast member. Hope they have improve the sound mix for house left as it was slightly disorienting. You probably have better sound house right than house left but that could have changed since I saw it. So do you think the side where there isn't that tired seating is a better place for sound? Do you think the production is worth seeing? |
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Post by edi on Jun 30, 2019 6:27:20 GMT
Is there nudity in this one? Some reviewers were mentioning some overt sexual action on stage.
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Post by austink on Jun 30, 2019 6:43:50 GMT
I would take care in the seat you chose in Zone 2 on house stage left. Note there is a fair bit of action that happens up by the orchestra and if you are in the back row facing the stage you end up watching a fair bit of action through a tree. Also, if you try to nudge your seat back at all in the back row, beware you will likely end up getting hit by a cast member. Hope they have improve the sound mix for house left as it was slightly disorienting. You probably have better sound house right than house left but that could have changed since I saw it. So do you think the side where there isn't that tired seating is a better place for sound? Do you think the production is worth seeing? Well there isn't really tiered seating. I would caution against sitting too close to the stage as well as the stage is about 10cm too high and you are going to be looking up the whole time. Note the seats at the far extreme house left you are rather far away from the action and my sense is the sound mix probably gets worse the further house left you get. I would think the "best" seats are house right toward the back but pay attention to the sight line from the tree. On it being worth seeing, I was at an early preview so I try not to be harsh, but what I saw was not good and from what I am seeing from the reviews of the show from opening, it really hasn't got much better. The fundamental design issues can't be fixed and they very much get in the way of what might be the best performance (Stacy Francis' production numbers being the best thing in it). Note The Guardian review of yesterday. www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/jun/28/bare-a-pop-opera-review-teenage-musical-vaults Unless they are going to redesign the sound (which isn't an option at this stage), no matter how much you might love the underlying show, you are not seeing a good production. Some of the reviews that are glowing (Boyz and LondonTheatre1) seem to have an extreme love of the underlying material that allows them to ignore the mess. If you love the show, go ahead but find cheap seats (it isn't worth anything close to £42) bring a cushion and maybe plan a trip to the osteopath the next day. |
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Post by theatre241 on Jun 30, 2019 8:35:45 GMT
So do you think the side where there isn't that tired seating is a better place for sound? Do you think the production is worth seeing? Well there isn't really tiered seating. I would caution against sitting too close to the stage as well as the stage is about 10cm too high and you are going to be looking up the whole time. Note the seats at the far extreme house left you are rather far away from the action and my sense is the sound mix probably gets worse the further house left you get. I would think the "best" seats are house right toward the back but pay attention to the sight line from the tree. On it being worth seeing, I was at an early preview so I try not to be harsh, but what I saw was not good and from what I am seeing from the reviews of the show from opening, it really hasn't got much better. The fundamental design issues can't be fixed and they very much get in the way of what might be the best performance (Stacy Francis' production numbers being the best thing in it). Note The Guardian review of yesterday. www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/jun/28/bare-a-pop-opera-review-teenage-musical-vaults Unless they are going to redesign the sound (which isn't an option at this stage), no matter how much you might love the underlying show, you are not seeing a good production. Some of the reviews that are glowing (Boyz and LondonTheatre1) seem to have an extreme love of the underlying material that allows them to ignore the mess. If you love the show, go ahead but find cheap seats (it isn't worth anything close to £42) bring a cushion and maybe plan a trip to the osteopath the next day. Thank you for this info! Do you mean the seating nearest to the band would be the best? |
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Post by austink on Jun 30, 2019 10:34:39 GMT
Well there isn't really tiered seating. I would caution against sitting too close to the stage as well as the stage is about 10cm too high and you are going to be looking up the whole time. Note the seats at the far extreme house left you are rather far away from the action and my sense is the sound mix probably gets worse the further house left you get. I would think the "best" seats are house right toward the back but pay attention to the sight line from the tree. On it being worth seeing, I was at an early preview so I try not to be harsh, but what I saw was not good and from what I am seeing from the reviews of the show from opening, it really hasn't got much better. The fundamental design issues can't be fixed and they very much get in the way of what might be the best performance (Stacy Francis' production numbers being the best thing in it). Note The Guardian review of yesterday. www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/jun/28/bare-a-pop-opera-review-teenage-musical-vaults Unless they are going to redesign the sound (which isn't an option at this stage), no matter how much you might love the underlying show, you are not seeing a good production. Some of the reviews that are glowing (Boyz and LondonTheatre1) seem to have an extreme love of the underlying material that allows them to ignore the mess. If you love the show, go ahead but find cheap seats (it isn't worth anything close to £42) bring a cushion and maybe plan a trip to the osteopath the next day. Thank you for this info! Do you mean the seating nearest to the band would be the best? I would think so but I don't know if the vocals will be overpowered by the band. However, "best seat" is a relative term in that space. |
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Post by Dr Tom on Jul 3, 2019 7:48:57 GMT
This is better than the reviews suggest, hurt by the venue and some poor staging decisions.
First, the venue. It's the first time I've been here since Hair and it is a different entrance (and a different section of tunnels forming the "theatre"). There's no real reason to get here early. You just join a queue until about 7:10pm (for a 7:30pm start yesterday) and then collect tickets.
Ignore the seating plan on The Vaults site. I don't know if the seats have been moved, but the pricing bands and seat positions don't reflect that diagram.
The main seating is in two blocks either side of the extended stage (and central ramp). The ramp has a tree at the back, but it is so far back very few seats would be affected. The seats are at 45 degrees angled to the stage. They are folding chairs, hard, no armrests, no rake.
There is also a further section to house left which does have some leveling to it, but must be a horrible place to sit, 90 degrees to the stage and a long way even from the nearest section. It was closed to everyone but crew last night.
Most of the action is audience left, so that has to be the best side to sit on. Sit as far back as possible. Almost everyone went for the front, which meant they had awkward angles to see a lot of the action. The only bits that seem further away are short scenes on the balcony to audience right, where the band are.
I managed to get the entire back row (there are only about seven rows) with a clear view in front. It would be very uncomfortable with people sat next to you.
Quite coincidentally, this is also the general area you're directed to if you took advantage of the same heavily discounted seating offer I did (and, based on the list of names at the ticket office, it seemed many others did also). But most people ignored the seating areas and sat where they wanted as it wasn't terribly full. There were some small children in the audience too, which surprised me.
The sound mix in the area I chose is decent too and you're not drowned out by being close to the orchestra. The orchestra was too loud in the first song, but calmed down afterwards. The microphone levels on the cast are set differently and singing quality is quite variable, but I'll have to single out Stacy Francis as being heads and tails above the rest in terms of vocal quality and ability to work in that space. Pity she's only got a small role.
The staging is simple, mostly with lockers which can be turned in reverse to signify walls, and beds that are carried on and off the stage as normal.
As for the show itself. It hasn't dated all that well and this particular production just doesn't have the same quality as the LAMDA version I saw earlier this year. But I guess budgets for theatre school productions are a lot higher. But taking out the uncomfortable seats and difficult venue space, it is watchable and the cast do what they can. It also runs 2 hours 30 minutes.
They also fiddled with the ending. It worked to drive an emotional point home, but was then left with a sour taste in my mouth with aggressive collecting for LGBTQ charities right in the exit doorway from the venue, left feeling very guilty when I didn't have any change to put in. Many of the audience here were gay men (and couples), already very aware of the wider political issues.
On a lighter note, audience left is also the best place to sit during the short scenes where the defined Darragh Cowley takes his top off. I remember him from Spring Awakening at Hope Mill and he was equally effective there.
Someone asked about nudity, there is no nudity, but there is one scene where two of the cast (one male, one female) strip down to their underwear. You are required to read the themes warning before you go in. The opera includes sensitive areas such as drug use, swearing, partial nudity, gay interest, depression etc.
In theory, this runs for another month. I don't know if ticket sales will pick up. Pricing was wrong for the venue from the start and I don't know if the offers that are out there now will be enough. But, as I said at the start, choose your seat carefully and it's not as bad as the reviews make out.
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Post by xanady on Jul 3, 2019 20:47:49 GMT
Thanx,Dr Tom for another wide-ranging,detailed and thoughtful review on the site.Love comprehensive and in-depth analysis like this👍
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Post by edi on Jul 4, 2019 7:27:53 GMT
I wasn't too keen on this one yesterday. It started really bad, sound so bad I couldn't make out what was going on at all and after 15 mins I was contemplating my escape. Good I didn't as it picked up and the second half was considerably better. Some of it was actually really good!
Seats
I sat on one of the "best" seats, house left middle row angled 45 degrees to stage. View was fine except the lack of rake so tall person in front of me blocked view. The last 10 mins is played close to stage floor and I could hardly see anything. Seat comfort ok but felt sandwiched, so narrow.
Staging
This wasn't good at all. I understand the stage is long and awkward but in an effort to make use of it the musical was played out all over the stage, even up by the orchestra and behind the seating area. It was hard to follow sometimes what went on and it felt distractively busy. Often a character was singing a solo and not only it was hard to hear him but it was also distracted by noises from the rest of the cast moving around. This constant moving around by the rest of the cast was unnecessary. Also there was lots of blocking. Entire row of cast members showing their back to the audience whilst something was happening on stage behind them.
Sound
Really bad especially at ensemble bits. It often overpowered the singing. Bad diction made it even worst. Unfortunately the songs carry the story so often I had no clue what was going on. It would be easy to blame it on the venue but certain cast members, notably all the adult characters, were extremely clear. During the phone call to mother scene it was very clear what the mother sang, she was powerful and good diction, but had to concentrate hard to make out Peter's words.
I don't regret seeing it as the story is good and songs are really good. There were nuggets of brilliance here like the sister and Nadia. Also this musical wasn't known to me and I am glad to have experienced it but I want to see it again in a different production.
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Post by JJShaw on Jul 4, 2019 23:13:16 GMT
Saw it last night, it was nicely filled (the furthest side back was not touched but the two central ones were pretty full, papered but full)
I knew very little about the show before going in, just some space details and a handful of melodies. Its not done super often here so I was looking forward to seeing it, and having read reports so far my expectations were low, which is why I think I enjoyed it much more!
Sounds issues, sometimes the mics on some actors were a bit quiet but on the whole I could still hear and follow most of what was said (id say about 85%) so that was quite good.
I actually really enjoyed how it was staged, loved the choreography, costumes were nice, I thought the set was minimalistic but functional, loved the direction on so many of the numbers, there was background action in most of act one which made it so nice and interesting to watch rather than 'oh its a solo so bare stage nothing else going on the world isn't real'.
Performances were pretty solid across the board, the ending was very touching and caught me off guard.
If they had priced it better and get the seating sorted out (they have changed it so the house left centre back are on a 45 degree) I think it would have been a hit off the bat but its had some rocky previews and reviews I think.
I sat on the first orange row behind the red rows, on house left, and I would say thats the golden row. not too close so you can see everything widescreen haha but close to see everyones facial expressions nicely. I was on the isle furthest away from the stage and thought that was a great view!
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Post by robertb213 on Jul 10, 2019 21:54:54 GMT
I agree with others that the seating arrangements haven't done this show any favours, but as a musical I enjoyed it. A few sound issues and flat notes, and the girls are much much stronger than the boys, but it conveyed an important message especially during Pride season, and there were several teary eyes by the end. Not mine. I'm made of stone apparently! But yes, it's a decent production, don't let the bad reviews put you off. It was only about half full tonight, maybe less. There are currently offers from £19 on TodayTix which is what I went for (although like others I don't understand the price tiers, as I opted for the cheapest level and yet could sit in the first two rows. I opted for the end so the body/neck-craning was kept to a minimum!).
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Post by esteveyb on Jul 10, 2019 23:32:30 GMT
They're using seat fillers for this apparently, literally only making people pay a small admin fee.
I was excited about this having heard a lot about it, and I still think the material is a) incredibly strong and b) incredibly relevant, even after all this time. The poignant new ending really reinforces just how relevant this show is, as does the board of homophobic hate crimes that you see opposite the bar before you can go in.
The acting was passable - everyone is at least 'good' and Stacy Francis is, of course, exceptional. The guy who played Jason, Darragh Cowley, is a highlight I think - first proper lead role and he's in his CK boxers on stage at one point, still holding his own vocally.
The staging is odd, and the seating arrangements even odder. There is no need for a catwalk, a 'straight' stage would have worked just as well, if not better. And the choice to arrange the hideous plastic chairs at diagonals, and then cable tie them together SO closely meaning any room between them and in front for legroom is non-existent, was ridiculous. Sound-wise, the mix was all off, I couldn't hear the vocals clearly at the start, and the trains going overhead really do distract from this. However, they are clearly on-stage trying their best and recognising the importance of this piece. I'd love to see it done with more budget somewhere else.
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Post by Snciole on Jul 12, 2019 9:20:41 GMT
They also fiddled with the ending. It worked to drive an emotional point home, but was then left with a sour taste in my mouth with aggressive collecting for LGBTQ charities right in the exit doorway from the venue, left feeling very guilty when I didn't have any change to put in. Many of the audience here were gay men (and couples), already very aware of the wider political issues. The bar is card only which caused havoc on press night because there is one card machine, I now wonder if it is to get change for the buckets. |
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Post by QueerTheatre on Jul 12, 2019 21:46:58 GMT
I shan't bother seeing this as i don't have time, but can someone tell me what they've done to the ending?
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Post by sophie92 on Jul 12, 2019 21:51:42 GMT
I shan't bother seeing this as i don't have time, but can someone tell me what they've done to the ending? {Spoiler - click to view}
The actual ending of the show has not changed. After the ending but before the bows, the cast members read out the names (and ages and where from) of young people who have taken their lives due to their sexuality and hang their pictures on the tree that is part of the set |
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Post by Mark on Jul 14, 2019 20:17:26 GMT
Thoroughly enjoyed this tonight. Not one I’ve ever listened to the music of before but I found it to be very good and a good story.
I was sat in the last of the “red” rows on “audience left” and it was a great mostly unobstructed view and the sound was good too. Only missed a tiny bit when the tree blocked the view on the upper balcony but.
Definitely worth a watch!
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Post by clive on Jul 15, 2019 14:09:06 GMT
For me this does stand up and is still a great show today. But this version while definitely better than the very poor one at last year's Edinburgh Festival is unfortunately not as good as the recent LAMDA one, particularly in the area of the staging. The sound is really poor and the seating far from ideal. And also disappointing was Julie Atherton's direction which was very busy. There was a lot going on around the stage which was in itself ok, but unfortunately sometimes distracted from the main performers. That probably wouldn't have been an issue if it wasn't a show where the story development is in the songs (as well as where the sound is not great). However the cast's voices were in the main very good and there is a lot to be enjoyed, but probably isn't the best production for someone who isn't familiar with the story. If there was a charity collection when I saw it then I completely missed it. As far as the changes mentioned they have been done before: {Spoiler - click to view}
The names read out and placed on the tree at the end. {Spoiler - click to view}
And the "star impersonation" originally Diana Ross. I have seen it done as Beyonce before and also as Cher.
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Post by theatre241 on Jul 18, 2019 17:09:36 GMT
TodayTix are doing further discounts on this! £15 for tier 3. Does anyone know where and what the cheapest tier is ?
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Post by Dr Tom on Jul 18, 2019 17:15:43 GMT
TodayTix are doing further discounts on this! £15 for tier 3. Does anyone know where and what the cheapest tier is ? I get the impression they change the tiers each night based on the number of tickets sold. They’re just marked on the floor. If you’re lucky, it will be the back rows of one of the two sections by the stage. If you’re unlucky, it will be the tier to audience left, which seems a long way away. |
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Post by musicalmarge on Jul 18, 2019 23:08:45 GMT
Saw this tonight in the grubby Vaults.
We were all very surprised - the sound is bad and the stage/audience layout slightly odd but there are some wonderful performances in this really worth seeing, some beautiful music, direction and staging and we were all in tears many times. Darragh Cowley is one to watch (and sexy!) Really enjoyed it... Go see it guys.
Some great new talent and you should all see it. 8/10 from me.
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Post by theatre241 on Jul 19, 2019 11:24:32 GMT
Saw this tonight in the grubby Vaults. We were all very surprised - the sound is bad and the stage/audience layout slightly odd but there are some wonderful performances in this really worth seeing, some beautiful music, direction and staging and we were all in tears many times. Darragh Cowley is one to watch (and sexy!) Really enjoyed it... Go see it guys. Some great new talent and you should all see it. 8/10 from me. I’m gonna book for this on TodayTix for £15 tier 3 what tier where you in? |
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Post by xanady on Jul 20, 2019 13:31:54 GMT
My 14 year old desperately wants to see this next week,guys.Is it suitable,please?To compare,she has seen musicals such as Heathers,Avenue Q,Billy Elliot,Jamie,Hair and Blood Brothers which have age restrictions on them She is seeing JCS next week as well.
Also to save this lazy so and so scrolling back,where are the seats to avoid,please?Will send a virtual box of chocs via cyber-space for any info.Thanks.
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Post by Mark on Jul 20, 2019 14:03:35 GMT
My 14 year old desperately wants to see this next week,guys.Is it suitable,please?To compare,she has seen musicals such as Heathers,Avenue Q,Billy Elliot,Jamie,Hair and Blood Brothers which have age restrictions on them She is seeing JCS next week as well. Also to save this lazy so and so scrolling back,where are the seats to avoid,please?Will send a virtual box of chocs via cyber-space for any info.Thanks. There is drug use, self harm and suicide in this so it’s got a lot happening but if she has seen those other shows she should be fine. |
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