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Post by partytentdown on Feb 13, 2020 9:16:44 GMT
I've never seen the movie (and I'm also not that familiar with the source material, apologies for my heathen-ness) so maybe I was more lost than most people? It just seemed like an endless stream of misery.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2020 9:23:53 GMT
No need to apologise everyone's opinion is valid. I'm just surprised as the songs and visuals always seemed go be the stronger elements of the movie. It's quite a simple story so if that isnt clear then sounds like they've really messed up the stage transfer
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Post by viserys on Feb 13, 2020 10:08:26 GMT
I do think you need a bit of background like what were the Hebrews doing in Egypt in the first place, why was Moses abandoned as a child, what's the deal with the burning dornbush and so on.
Come to think of it, "heathens" can do a double bill this summer - first "Joseph and the amazing technicolour dreamcoat" that explains how the Hebrews ended up in Egypt (last chapters of the book Genesis in the bible) and then "Prince of Egypt" how the Children of Israel return to Canaan (book Exodus)
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Post by danb on Feb 13, 2020 10:23:08 GMT
I do think you need a bit of background like what were the Hebrews doing in Egypt in the first place, why was Moses abandoned as a child, what's the deal with the burning dornbush and so on. Come to think of it, "heathens" can do a double bill this summer - first "Joseph and the amazing technicolour dreamcoat" that explains how the Hebrews ended up in Egypt (last chapters of the book Genesis in the bible) and then "Prince of Egypt" how the Children of Israel return to Canaan (book Exodus) Where does ‘Be More Chill’ fit in? |
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Post by MoreLife on Feb 13, 2020 10:53:45 GMT
Afraid I didn't get on with this. Started 20 mins late due to epic box office queue (presumably lots of on the day discounts?) which made the whole thing even longer. A set that was somehow both over technical and too basic, dwarfed by the size of the stage. Costumes that were strange. The ensemble are clearly talented but were given repetitive tasks and made to act out some theatrical clichés that wouldn't look out of place in amdram or college productions. And so many songs yet none that stick in the mind except THAT well known one, which takes well over 2 hours to get to. And yet a standing ovation, so either I'm in the minority or there were lots of friends and fans in. I am very much with you on this one. I found it slow and very samey... none of the tunes - bar that one, which is milked again and again - stood out for me. On top of what you noticed about the very talented ensemble, I found that many of the leads' solo numbers suffered from sloppy direction (or lack thereof?) where the actors stood and made awkward arm gestures and didn't really seem to have connected with the text or the characters' choices behind them. In fairness, I thought you could cut a good few of the numbers, and you wouldn't really be able to tell the difference, from a story-telling viewpoint. And yet... a massive standing ovation. Of course if you're fond of the movie and all, you're probably very excited to see it come to life before your eyes, but personally I was very underwhelmed and generally uninterested in Moses' predicaments, which meant I was never really drawn in emotionally. |
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Post by intoanewlife on Feb 13, 2020 14:54:19 GMT
Holy Moses where to begin…
On the plus side.
I had a great £40 seat dead centre at the front of the circle, so was in prime position to take in the spectacle that never came.
Some of the music is gorgeous, though I couldn’t tell you what was new or from the original film as I only ever saw it once 20 odd years ago. The cast were really on point vocally, apart from one moment when Rameses hit a note so bung it gave half the audience brain freeze. The girl who played Zipporah had a stunning voice and I wished she’d had more moments to shine. Apart from the wtf burning bush moment, I think they actually did a pretty good job taming the story for mass consumption, though as others have said some kind of setup at the start would’ve helped immensly.
The scene I was dreading the most - the first born murders, was probably the only scene that actually worked for me. It was the only point where all the elements came together to create an actual ‘moment’ and the song that followed was haunting and moving. Of course they then ruined it because for some reason we needed a 2nd song about it…
The bad.
Everything else.
It is probably the worst directed show I have ever seen anywhere in my life. It seemed like each department worked as completely separate entities and once all the pieces were put together and didn’t work, they just shrugged and went ‘oh well the budgets gone’.
They really shot themselves in the foot visually by making 2 large blobs the centre of attention. Blob 1 hangs over the centre of the stage and served absolutely no purpose other than to block the projection on the back screen. It literally did nothing all night before suddenly disappearing 3 songs before the end. Blob 2 sits in the middle of the stage and they perform on it most of the night, before it is used for 10 seconds at the end for the shows biggest ‘meh’ moment. The rest of the time it’s only purpose is to block the few actual sets from being used properly and it’s existence means that the poor ensemble ends up doing very little other than carting props on and off it for 3 hours, instead of them being brought on by other means.
They seemed to not bother doing any lighting because they thought the projections would do all the work for them, but there were a number of scenes that would’ve benefitted greatly from some dramatic lighting. The projections were used well sometimes, the temple being the standout. But if they’d have used them properly instead of the 2 blobs they could’ve produced something much more impressive visually, especially when the plagues hit. A few more actual sets and some well thought out stage projection - other than filling blobs 1 & 2 with some completely random visual, would’ve helped things immensely.
The dancers are completely under used and the choreography is terrible. They spend more time entering and exiting the stage carrying/moving/building sets, holding up bricks centre stage or just standing there to make up numbers - ala Les Mis, in supposedly dramatic moments, than they do actually dancing.
In fact it should be renamed The Prince of Standing, because apart from a few dance numbers that is literally all that happens for the entire show. No one moves and there is no drama what so ever even in dramatic scenes. Everything that happens happens with no reaction at all from anyone, they all just stand there apart from the person who caused the drama running off stage to pick up a prop and bring it on a few minutes later. It is just a completely flat 3 hours of back to back ballads sung beautifully by people who look like they are nailed to a blob. Except of course for when they are rolling...oh dear God the endless rolling...
We had a few people stand upstairs, but it sounded like downstairs got a rowdier reception and in fairness the performers probably deserved it. But lets be honest here, it doesn’t take much to bring a religious person to their feet at a show based on a Bible story.
1.5/5
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Post by latefortheoverture on Feb 13, 2020 15:15:02 GMT
Afraid I didn't get on with this. Started 20 mins late due to epic box office queue (presumably lots of on the day discounts?) which made the whole thing even longer. A set that was somehow both over technical and too basic, dwarfed by the size of the stage. Costumes that were strange. The ensemble are clearly talented but were given repetitive tasks and made to act out some theatrical clichés that wouldn't look out of place in amdram or college productions. And so many songs yet none that stick in the mind except THAT well known one, which takes well over 2 hours to get to. And yet a standing ovation, so either I'm in the minority or there were lots of friends and fans in. I am very much with you on this one. I found it slow and very samey... none of the tunes - bar that one, which is milked again and again - stood out for me. On top of what you noticed about the very talented ensemble, I found that many of the leads' solo numbers suffered from sloppy direction (or lack thereof?) where the actors stood and made awkward arm gestures and didn't really seem to have connected with the text or the characters' choices behind them. In fairness, I thought you could cut a good few of the numbers, and you wouldn't really be able to tell the difference, from a story-telling viewpoint. And yet... a massive standing ovation. Of course if you're fond of the movie and all, you're probably very excited to see it come to life before your eyes, but personally I was very underwhelmed and generally uninterested in Moses' predicaments, which meant I was never really drawn in emotionally. In 10000% agreement with both of you here. Don't need to add anything more! |
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Post by partytentdown on Feb 13, 2020 15:27:28 GMT
Oh the blocks... If I'd seen one more poor ensemble member forced to pull an 'I'm lifting a heavy block' face while casually tossing about a clearly painted polystyrene block I think I would have had a cry.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2020 16:15:50 GMT
So everything I am hearing about this on here is a shame I must say. I was expecting expensive spectacle and fully automated sets with the #wow factor. I'll still go and see for myself at some point but with lower expectations.
Re the sell outs and standing ovations I think February has been massively papered. You only need to fast fwd a few weeks and look at the online seating plans and this show has not sold many tickets at all.
Unlike my Pirate Queen mistake, I'll be waiting for a decent deal!
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Post by intoanewlife on Feb 13, 2020 16:40:20 GMT
Oh the blocks... If I'd seen one more poor ensemble member forced to pull an 'I'm lifting a heavy block' face while casually tossing about a clearly painted polystyrene block I think I would have had a cry. I felt so sorry for those poor people who had to hold up the blocks over their heads for minutes at a time in the temple. It felt like some form of medievil punishment! |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Feb 13, 2020 16:58:23 GMT
Oh god. Anyone want to buy a ticket? 😖
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2020 17:44:10 GMT
I'm going tonight. Thankfully its a cheap ticket from the GILT sale.
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Post by londonmzfitz on Feb 13, 2020 18:05:03 GMT
Saw this Friday evening, Stalls D31 (hello to D30 who I’m sure is on this site but I was too shy to strike up conversation). I found the production as a whole to be very busy. Lots going on, interpretative choreography; I liked the projections, thought they worked well. Great cast as a whole, special mention to Alexia Khadime as Miriam. The staging of the disappearing babies - I thought was beautifully done. The Dominion is like a barn and being front stalls probably isn’t the right place to sit – trying to take in the whole stage when there was so much visually to see, stuff going on centre stage, to the left, to the right, the dancers, etc. I don’t know if this is why I didn’t feel particularly engaged by it (although I had a couple in front of me who whispered to each other for the entire first act driving me nuts, didn’t help matters). And I haven’t seen the film – maybe I needed to beforehand. Those blooming blocks - on stage, off stage, hold them up, put them down ... As I said, just BUSY!
I know there’s a post earlier on in this thread about the staging of the collapse of the Red Sea where the stage tilts so steeply the actors slide into the orchestra pit. I hadn’t read that before seeing the show on Friday and I actually guffawed. No, that didn’t work for me, felt too comedic.
Again, started late as I'm convinced there's a lot of late papering going on. Couple in front of me that sat practically mouth to ear (goddamit) arrived 10 minutes late, and 3 minutes before the show started.
Bought tickets for friends in the SOLT and they LOVED it.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Feb 13, 2020 18:23:05 GMT
who I’m sure is on this site but I was too shy to strike up conversation It's either the fur or pointed head that gives them away... often both... I haven’t been yet... |
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Post by intoanewlife on Feb 13, 2020 19:04:50 GMT
I know there’s a post earlier on in this thread about the staging of the collapse of the Red Sea where the stage tilts so steeply the actors slide into the orchestra pit. I hadn’t read that before seeing the show on Friday and I actually guffawed. No, that didn’t work for me, felt too comedic. That isn't even what happened. There were 6 of them...4 crawled/rolled 'badly' off either side of the blob and only 2 rolled 'badly' into the orchestra pit. A bit of an anti-climax considering the havoc said 'blob' plays on the rest of the production. |
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Post by robertb213 on Feb 13, 2020 19:26:59 GMT
Just weighing in with my two pennies - I saw it last night and really enjoyed it!
I do agree with some of the negatives in the above posts - it is too long, it has a tendency to drag, and there is a certain amount of actors standing awkwardly and flailing their arms about, which I actually didn't register at the time. Musically as well it isn't amazing, a lot of the new stuff is unmemorable (although Deliver Us and When You Believe are fantastic).
There are times where there is wasted space to the sides of the stage, which does sometimes make you wish for a more substantial set, but I actually liked the main performance 'blob' area (which I had assumed was meant to represent Egypt but looking at Google maps tells me I may be wrong!). For me, the lack of set was compensated by the projections and lighting, which I thought were stunning. For me, seen from the Circle, they gave me the 'vast, epic' feeling I was hoping I'd get, which the orchestra then helped to enrich even further. In particular I thought the Dead Sea sequence was terrific.
The leads are all strong, with the men having far much more to do the women. This is a shame when you've got talent like Khadime, Allado and Kurup on stage, but then it is Ramses' and Moses' story. I also thought the ensemble worked hard and found the choreography interesting and impressive. The blocks and rolling didnt bother me!
I went in with no expectations, having only seen the film once before. I'm watching it again now, and it's dull, so the story definitely engaged me more on stage!
Just wanted to put a bit of positivity out there for anyone seeing it soon!
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Feb 13, 2020 19:40:03 GMT
Just weighing in with my two pennies - I saw it last night and really enjoyed it! I do agree with some of the negatives in the above posts - it is too long, it has a tendency to drag, and there is a certain amount of actors standing awkwardly and flailing their arms about, which I actually didn't register at the time. Musically as well it isn't amazing, a lot of the new stuff is unmemorable (although Deliver Us and When You Believe are fantastic). There are times where there is wasted space to the sides of the stage, which does sometimes make you wish for a more substantial set, but I actually liked the main performance 'blob' area (which I had assumed was meant to represent Egypt but looking at Google maps tells me I may be wrong!). For me, the lack of set was compensated by the projections and lighting, which I thought were stunning. For me, seen from the Circle, they gave me the 'vast, epic' feeling I was hoping I'd get, which the orchestra then helped to enrich even further. In particular I thought the Dead Sea sequence was terrific. The leads are all strong, with the men having far much more to do the women. This is a shame when you've got talent like Khadime, Allado and Kurup on stage, but then it is Ramses' and Moses' story. I also thought the ensemble worked hard and found the choreography interesting and impressive. The blocks and rolling didnt bother me! I went in with no expectations, having only seen the film once before. I'm watching it again now, and it's dull, so the story definitely engaged me more on stage! Just wanted to put a bit of positivity out there for anyone seeing it soon! I 💓 you. My ticket is back off sale 👍 |
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Post by intoanewlife on Feb 13, 2020 19:50:40 GMT
Just weighing in with my two pennies - I saw it last night and really enjoyed it! I do agree with some of the negatives in the above posts - it is too long, it has a tendency to drag, and there is a certain amount of actors standing awkwardly and flailing their arms about, which I actually didn't register at the time. Musically as well it isn't amazing, a lot of the new stuff is unmemorable (although Deliver Us and When You Believe are fantastic). There are times where there is wasted space to the sides of the stage, which does sometimes make you wish for a more substantial set, but I actually liked the main performance 'blob' area (which I had assumed was meant to represent Egypt but looking at Google maps tells me I may be wrong!). For me, the lack of set was compensated by the projections and lighting, which I thought were stunning. For me, seen from the Circle, they gave me the 'vast, epic' feeling I was hoping I'd get, which the orchestra then helped to enrich even further. In particular I thought the Dead Sea sequence was terrific. The leads are all strong, with the men having far much more to do the women. This is a shame when you've got talent like Khadime, Allado and Kurup on stage, but then it is Ramses' and Moses' story. I also thought the ensemble worked hard and found the choreography interesting and impressive. The blocks and rolling didnt bother me! I went in with no expectations, having only seen the film once before. I'm watching it again now, and it's dull, so the story definitely engaged me more on stage! Just wanted to put a bit of positivity out there for anyone seeing it soon! Though my review was negative, I can't say I actually hated it. I was more frustrated than anything else as I thought it could've been really special. I certainly didn't loathe it as much as Cats, Falsettos or We Will Rock You, I was just disappointed that they had all those tools at their disposal and didn't really take advantage of them. The parting of the sea was quite impressive from the Circle, but it also wasn't polished and looked like it still needed another pass. I did think the sliding fringe things worked well though and were probably about the only clever idea on display. The temple projection also looked great as did the dead babies' scene. There is no excusing that hanging blob though, the minute it was gone everything looked so much better. The fact the set looked empty actually didn't worry me, the standing about doing nothing was the bit I that did my head in. |
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Post by robertb213 on Feb 13, 2020 19:50:42 GMT
@burlybear Aw, well that's my Valentine's Day made! 😍
I hope you enjoy it. It's not perfect but there's a lot to recommend about it. I've seen much, much worse! 😂
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2020 0:37:30 GMT
Firstly, this isn't the disaster that early reports suggested, on the other hand, it's far from perfect.
Rambling thoughts:
At 3 hours, its far too long. At the moment, there are pacing problems and some of it felt sluggish. Can it be fixed by this director? I'm not convinced. There's no real build up to anything, there are no big moments created, even during what should be big numbers. A good example of this was Heartless, in Act 2. It was one of the better numbers in the show, sung amazingly well, and it just fell away to nothing. It needed a big finish and a button for applause. She deserves it.
For me the choreography was a big miss, people rolling around being a river or writhing around pretending to be a bush was amateur/school performance at best.
The costumes. I was shocked to see the costumes were designed by Ann Hould-Ward, famous for shows like Beauty and The Beast, winner of so many awards, and this is what she comes up with??
I felt some of the story telling was lost or wasn't entirely clear in some parts.
I thought some of the staging was great. I was sat in the circle and from up there, you get a great overall view of the stage and because of the 'fringing' around the stage, got great views of the projections. The was cleverly used in the parting of the sea, when the fringing actually came into the circle more, making you feel much more surrounded by the water and I liked the shout out to Time-The Musical, by having a tilting stage back in the Dominion! There were some neat tricks going on too, the babies, Pharaoh's body disappearing, and some nice stagecraft, BUT, what someone like Bob Crowley could have designed for this show... thats really what this show is crying out for. Oh, and a different director, who knows more about big scale muscals.
Yes i realise that makes it sound like i didn't like anything, but overall, i enjoyed it. Maybe i just went in with really low expectations.
There were lots of people cheering even after the first number and it always started from the last few rows the circle, which seemed very suspicious...
oh and if ever Stephen Schwartz does Hunchback in London, Christine Allado has to be Esmerelda.
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Post by Mark on Feb 14, 2020 7:51:50 GMT
oh and if ever Stephen Schwartz does Hunchback in London, Christine Allado has to be Esmerelda. Yes! Her number really reminded me of Rhythm of the Tambourine |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2020 8:29:23 GMT
This is sounding more and more like Hunchback, another show he ruined and was a completely missed opportunity. The nepotism needs to stop
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Post by MrBraithwaite on Feb 14, 2020 8:41:06 GMT
The more I read about it, the more I am interested to see it for myself. This seems to be very divisive with most people disliking it for the missed opportunities.
This will be my first visit to the Dominion (one of the few theatres still on my list) and everyone says it's a barn. Will be sitting front or second row stalls (as I'm visually impaired) and it will be interesting to see, how this 'spectacle' will unfold if the stage is so huge. I love sitting front of stalls, but maybe this would be better from further back...looking forward to it in any case.
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Post by mattm on Feb 14, 2020 16:19:44 GMT
I'm going to see the matinee tomorrow with my family and we're all huge fans of musicals and theatre in general, having enjoyed thoroughly every musical I've ever seen from Les Mis to &Juliet, how low should I set mine and my family's expectations??
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Feb 14, 2020 17:43:05 GMT
I'm going to see the matinee tomorrow with my family and we're all huge fans of musicals and theatre in general, having enjoyed thoroughly every musical I've ever seen from Les Mis to &Juliet, how low should I set mine and my family's expectations?? Welcome to the forum mattm if you’ve enjoyed every musical you’ve seen then I’d say there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy this. I’d say nothing and see how the fambo react. Then come back and tell us 🙂 |
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