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Post by Wilf on Apr 8, 2022 20:21:37 GMT
I think the ticket sales at The Grand may not be quite as good as they look. Due to a hydraulic problem the opening nights performance on Tuesday was cancelled midway through the first act meaning that everybody attending was offered a reseat later in the week or a refund.
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Post by stagebyte on Apr 8, 2022 21:20:52 GMT
Seats at the Wolverhampton Grand are appalling.
Teeny tiny seats all placed one in back of the other with quite a low deep stage. Cramped auditorium. If you have someone tall in front you’re screwed.
I took a group of children to sit in the stalls there once - never again. They weren’t able to see the stage at all once the row in front were seated..
We were offered the circle instead. Moved to the sides of the circle where suspiciously there were quite a few seats left. Soon we understood why
The circle is horseshoe shaped if you sit anywhere on the sides near the stage you just won’t be able to see sections of it.
Must be why they’re sold as ‘listening seats’
Do your research before you book there.
Never.
Again.
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Post by FrontroverPaul on Apr 8, 2022 23:24:27 GMT
Seats at the Wolverhampton Grand are appalling. Teeny tiny seats all placed one in back of the other with quite a low deep stage. Cramped auditorium. If you have someone tall in front you’re screwed. I took a group of children to sit in the stalls there once - never again. They weren’t able to see the stage at all once the row in front were seated.. We were offered the circle instead. Moved to the sides of the circle where suspiciously there were quite a few seats left. Soon we understood why The circle is horseshoe shaped if you sit anywhere on the sides near the stage you just won’t be able to see sections of it. Must be why they’re sold as ‘listening seats’ Do your research before you book there. Never. Again. There's also a £4 booking fee which seemed a big chunk on top on top of one ticket when I saw an amateur musical there. |
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Post by stagebyte on Apr 9, 2022 0:11:16 GMT
Seats at the Wolverhampton Grand are appalling. Teeny tiny seats all placed one in back of the other with quite a low deep stage. Cramped auditorium. If you have someone tall in front you’re screwed. I took a group of children to sit in the stalls there once - never again. They weren’t able to see the stage at all once the row in front were seated.. We were offered the circle instead. Moved to the sides of the circle where suspiciously there were quite a few seats left. Soon we understood why The circle is horseshoe shaped if you sit anywhere on the sides near the stage you just won’t be able to see sections of it. Must be why they’re sold as ‘listening seats’ Do your research before you book there. Never. Again. There's also a £4 booking fee which seemed a big chunk on top on top of one ticket when I saw an amateur musical there. They’re taking the mick there. Don’t want to labour it too much but as a prolific theatre goer over many continents it wins worst auditorium I’ve ever sat in. The fact they’re charging top dollar is outrageous. |
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Post by inthenose on Apr 9, 2022 12:08:52 GMT
Sorry for the pile-on but I once saw Blood Brothers there. Absolutely one of the worst regional houses I've been to - we had terrible acoustics too, but that might have been the production at fault.
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Post by shady23 on Apr 26, 2022 14:15:11 GMT
Sadly Belfast this week is the last stop of the tour. I really hope it finds a London home. Has anyone heard anything? I ended up seeing it four times in Sunderland last week so you could say I quite like it  |
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Post by Being Alive on Apr 26, 2022 15:42:56 GMT
I'd heard it was aiming for the Autumn - waiting for Mary Poppins to vacate as they're essentially the same show.
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Post by Jon on Apr 26, 2022 16:06:36 GMT
I'd heard it was aiming for the Autumn - waiting for Mary Poppins to vacate as they're essentially the same show. I wonder where it could go as most theatres are going to get snapped up very quickly for new plays. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2022 16:32:38 GMT
I really hope we get a cast recording for this at least. A limited London run could work extremely well, though it’s hard to imagine where it could play without it looking dwarfed, the set isn’t exactly huge. Perhaps the Apollo?
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Post by enh2 on Apr 26, 2022 16:39:50 GMT
I really hope we get a cast recording for this at least. A limited London run could work extremely well, though it’s hard to imagine where it could play without it looking dwarfed, the set isn’t exactly huge. Perhaps the Apollo? Would fit nicely in the Apollo but I'm pretty sure Jamie is going back in at some point |
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Post by Jon on Apr 26, 2022 16:40:45 GMT
I really hope we get a cast recording for this at least. A limited London run could work extremely well, though it’s hard to imagine where it could play without it looking dwarfed, the set isn’t exactly huge. Perhaps the Apollo? Maybe Nimax's new theatre? |
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Post by mrbarnaby on Apr 28, 2022 22:49:22 GMT
They’ve been workshopping changes this week on the show, and a London run is planned for autumn/winter.
Luckily it will fit easily in a smaller theatre
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Post by fluxcapacitor on Apr 29, 2022 5:06:44 GMT
They’ve been workshopping changes this week on the show, and a London run is planned for autumn/winter. Luckily it will fit easily in a smaller theatre Hopefully the ending. IMO That was the only weak point in the production. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2022 6:06:02 GMT
They’ve been workshopping changes this week on the show, and a London run is planned for autumn/winter. Luckily it will fit easily in a smaller theatre If the Apollo is earmarked for ALW, maybe the Ambassadors will find itself free for this. It’s a really joyous piece I’d happily see again. |
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Post by Jon on Apr 29, 2022 9:44:24 GMT
They’ve been workshopping changes this week on the show, and a London run is planned for autumn/winter. Luckily it will fit easily in a smaller theatre If the Apollo is earmarked for ALW, maybe the Ambassadors will find itself free for this. It’s a really joyous piece I’d happily see again. The Ambassadors is too small both in terms of capacity and the stage. I would imagine they’d want one of the slightly bigger playhouses like the Pinter, Duke of York’s |
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Post by Phantom of London on Apr 29, 2022 11:19:26 GMT
If rumours of the imminent demise of bad Cinderella are true, I could see it going into the Gilliam Lynne.
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Post by Boob on Apr 29, 2022 12:47:29 GMT
I couldn’t! It’s way too big. For me, the ideal theatre is the Gielgud or Lyric.
I really hope they spend a bit more time and money on this if/when it comes into London. Yes, the ending needs work - narratively rather than emotionally - but most of the design elements in the second half aren’t good enough.
I loved so much about this show, though, and it’s really stuck with me (I was moved to tears at the end) - so I just hope they can give it the support it needs to make it fly as high as the bed.
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Post by anthony40 on Apr 29, 2022 13:05:37 GMT
When I saw it in Manchester during the whole Portabello Road sequence with the market stall carts, it looked very cramped.
I loved the Under the Brimey Sea and Rob Madge with the florescent puffer fish and all the flying- the bed and the broomstick.
I too was hoping for a cast recording.
It's great how Disney have trolled through their back catalogue and found an (almost) near-forgotten classic and with some clever direction and stage trickery have turned it into a bloody good stage show.
What next? Herbie the Love Bug?
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Post by mrbarnaby on Apr 30, 2022 11:38:51 GMT
When I saw it in Manchester during the whole Portabello Road sequence with the market stall carts, it looked very cramped. I loved the Under the Brimey Sea and Rob Madge with the florescent puffer fish and all the flying- the bed and the broomstick. I too was hoping for a cast recording. It's great how Disney have trolled through their back catalogue and found an (almost) near-forgotten classic and with some clever direction and stage trickery have turned it into a bloody good stage show. What next? Herbie the Love Bug? I would love a Herbie musical 🤣 |
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Post by Figaro on Apr 30, 2022 12:06:36 GMT
When I saw it in Manchester during the whole Portabello Road sequence with the market stall carts, it looked very cramped. I loved the Under the Brimey Sea and Rob Madge with the florescent puffer fish and all the flying- the bed and the broomstick. I too was hoping for a cast recording. It's great how Disney have trolled through their back catalogue and found an (almost) near-forgotten classic and with some clever direction and stage trickery have turned it into a bloody good stage show. What next? Herbie the Love Bug? Disney decided not to pursue this, hence why it’s produced by Michael Harrison. I’d also say this is the opposite of a near forgotten classic! |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2022 15:18:03 GMT
Yeah I wouldn't class this as near forgotten.
Thanks to vhs and dvd I'd say anyone 40 and under (maybe older) grew up with this movie. There's a lot of love for it out there. The quality of the cast is up there with Poppins, you even have Bruce Forsythe pop up.
TV networks and disney itself always push mary poppins in terms of prime tv repeats and merchandise/prominence in parks etc. But as is often the case, the movies that maybe didn't score amazing box office at the cinema have grown a fan base over time.
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Post by sph on Apr 30, 2022 22:22:52 GMT
I think Mary Poppins is the better movie overall. It is, to me, a perfect movie musical. But I've always LOVED Bedknobs and Broomsticks, which shares many of the same traits - they were basically using the same formula to make it as Mary Poppins, in the difficult years after Walt Disney's death. It's worth noting though that I don't believe this is a Disney production strictly speaking. Isn't it produced by another company who leased the rights from Disney?
Had Disney done it themselves I think the production would have been very different.
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Post by anxiousoctopus on May 1, 2022 13:09:58 GMT
I saw this back in January at the Mayflower and I was in love with the entire show up until the ending, which genuinely left me feeling crushed and with a bitter taste in my mouth. I've genuinely never left a theatre feeling disappointed before, but this one did.
For a show that markets itself with 'its time to start believing' and has so many amazing stage tricks, it feels so cynical to have the characters lecture you at length that not only is magic not real but the characters you've come to care for over the last 2 and a bit hours aren't real either, before replacing them with new versions you don't know or care about.
It's like if Jane and Michael Banks told Mary Poppins 'you're just a figment of our imagination to help us deal with our father being emotionally distant' - it feels like one of those 'dead all along' / 'dying dream' fan theories about popular shows and movies.
Those kind of twists have been done before in different shows, but it doesn't work here. Also it could be so easily fixed - just have the nazis/shadows be created from the children's trauma, and have the new family unit defeat them (which lives up to the original message). But to undo literally all of the show left me feeling like I'd been robbed emotionally. Loads of reviews say "this gives us the feel-good magic we all need right now" which is extra bizarre because it takes it all away at the end and leaves you feeling bad.
However, I only feel so strongly about it because I loved the rest of the show so much (the puppets are amazing, the songs are fun, and I love Dianne Pilkington's and Charles Brunton's performances as Emelius and Eglantine). I would not complain at there being a cast album!
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Post by anthony40 on May 1, 2022 17:23:24 GMT
Welcome to the board anxiousoctopus
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Post by Jon on May 1, 2022 18:15:17 GMT
I wonder if the Gillian Lynne now being free from June might be a potential home for Bedknobs? At 1100 seats, it's not too big capacity wise but not too small either.
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