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Post by Someone in a tree on Dec 17, 2020 9:09:07 GMT
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Post by danb on Dec 17, 2020 14:58:15 GMT
Damn you! Thought it said ‘Tommy’. 😂
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Post by westendboy on Dec 17, 2020 15:41:49 GMT
Very interesting choice for a musical. I personally really enjoyed Hill's work on 'I Cant Sing!' and I'm happy to see him and Steve Brown collaborating again.
Also looks like this show will probably be on a smaller scale compared to 'I Can't Sing!', as that show's biggest issue, and one of the potential factors for it's early closure, was that it was too large in scale. It really should have started off smaller and it looks like Hill and Brown will be going down that route with this.
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Post by justsaying113 on Dec 17, 2020 17:42:04 GMT
Christ, as if theatre wasn't already suffering enough!
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Post by djdan14 on Apr 7, 2022 19:44:55 GMT
Now announced for Park theatre this summer!
Anyone any tips/advice on this theatre? Might make my first visit for this.
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Post by n1david on Apr 7, 2022 21:59:54 GMT
I saw the workshop of this at the Park last October. (It was on sale to the public so I'm not breaking any confidentiality agreements) I hope they've done a lot of work on it. Part of me is curious to see what's become of it, part of me is not willing to give up a second night to this. Oh and djdan14 it's a great little theatre - layout like the Donmar if you've been there - everywhere in the stalls has a great view although depending on how things are staged you might want to steer clear of the very ends of the wings (very high and low seat numbers). I've never sat in the balcony, |
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Post by Dr Tom on Jun 2, 2022 15:18:01 GMT
Made a last minute decision and am at the interval of the first preview. Very funny so far. If you’re a member of the Labour Party you might have a different view, but it makes the current Government look like saints in comparison. I don’t think the under 30s in the audience know who all the politicians are. The writers are in the audience too and gave a speech at the start. Looking forward to the second half.
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Post by Dr Tom on Jun 2, 2022 18:29:39 GMT
Second half was good too, much more focused on international matters. Thought they did a great job with the characterisations of Tony, Gordon and Cherie. Not all the jokes hit, but plenty of people taking notes. I had Harry Hill sat neatly behind me and could hear him commenting on parts that worked and didn’t work. The strength is in the book rather than the songs, but some are good, especially the closing number.
This was fairly full and seems to be selling well. Avoid the extreme side seats though as they stage to the front. I might go back after previews.
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287 posts
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Post by singingbird on Jun 2, 2022 22:05:10 GMT
I'm curious. Is this an actual 'rock opera' - i.e. through sung?
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Post by intoanewlife on Jun 2, 2022 22:49:14 GMT
but it makes the current Government look like saints in comparison. Mhmmm... Just keep telling yourself that... |
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Post by Dr Tom on Jun 3, 2022 6:59:44 GMT
Just keep telling yourself that... I'm not giving my personal view here, just the impression you get from the portrayal. It was interesting that no one in the audience would admit to having voted for Tony Blair when asked. I'm curious. Is this an actual 'rock opera' - i.e. through sung? It is just a traditional musical. Acted scenes and songs. I wouldn't even say the songs were particularly operatic. A two piece band on an upper level. The cast don't have microphones, so most project well, but I don't know how clear the sound will be on the upper level (which I wouldn't recommend having sat there in the past, as the viewing angle is difficult). |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2022 7:19:50 GMT
Pleased to hear it's not a Blair love fest which was my fear. Sounds like it could be worth a visit.
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Post by singingbird on Jun 3, 2022 9:44:10 GMT
I'm curious. Is this an actual 'rock opera' - i.e. through sung? It is just a traditional musical. Acted scenes and songs. I wouldn't even say the songs were particularly operatic. A two piece band on an upper level. The cast don't have microphones, so most project well, but I don't know how clear the sound will be on the upper level (which I wouldn't recommend having sat there in the past, as the viewing angle is difficult). Oh, that's a shame! I'm glad to know in advance, though. Thank you! |
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Post by shady23 on Jun 3, 2022 14:04:59 GMT
Well, no, I can't imagine there were many people from his Sedgefield constituency in the audience.
Do I want to see a musical about UK politics? Probably not though inevitable there will be one about Boris at some point. I certainly don't want to see any about the pandemic either.
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Post by Dr Tom on Jun 3, 2022 18:06:42 GMT
Well, no, I can't imagine there were many people from his Sedgefield constituency in the audience. Do I want to see a musical about UK politics? Probably not though inevitable there will be one about Boris at some point. I certainly don't want to see any about the pandemic either. Haha, I knew as soon as I’d posted that someone would comment about that. The original line was about voting Labour (or New Labour). Politics is perfect material for comedy (or a mega hit musical which is almost exclusively about politics, war and the founding fathers). This is very Spitting Image in style, with zany Harry Hill. But yes, there’s no shortage of funny material available for Boris and I’m sure we’ll be mining that for years to come! |
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Post by joem on Jun 5, 2022 23:39:17 GMT
Saw this yesterday. Very funny in parts, but some of the jokes/gags are puerile and/or close to the bone so persons of a sensitive disposition may wish to give this a miss.
I see this more as a revue than a rock opera but I suppose the temptation of Tommy/Tony was too great to resist. It does what the Brits do best - laugh at themselves even when the subject matter is deathly serious - and manages to entertain and critique at the same time. Just don't expect this criticism to be of the kind of analytical level you'd expect in a broadsheet and beyond. In fact whilst Tony Blair is the main target, the aim is beyond that at politics and politicians in general and the unsavoury lot who end up running the world in particular.
The music is serviceable (Lloyd Webber it ain't) and meant to carry the story really, which is fairly straightforward and follows the youth (some of the funniest bits are near the beginning), political rise and semi-fall of our hero. Or perhaps I should say the protagonist. It really is the energy and vim of the performers, the tongue-in-cheek approach with some (scripted I'd say) asides which make this into a funny and entertaining production.
While Charlie Baker is physically more Ed Balls than Blair he does catch and caricature the latter's traits and mannerisms well and delivers a good performance. It really is an ensemble piece and all cast members get the opportunity to lampoon political/historical figures, they all have their season in the sun, but I would highlight Howards Samuels' suggestive and maliciously funny Peter Mandelson, the versatile Martin Johnston as Kinnock/Bush senior and others and with a fine singing voice too and Madison Brown's brilliant Princess Diana as high points.
If you do want to enjoy this though honestly turn your political switches off. This is meant to make you laugh a lot and think a little, not think a lot and laugh a little. Don't knock it for what it doesn't aspire to be.
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Post by Steve on Jun 9, 2022 17:53:24 GMT
Lots of laughs in a hit and miss musical that is well worth seeing, though it does reduce Tony Blair, for the most part, into an amusing nice-but-dim sidekick to the "real" drivers in his life, Peter Mandelson, Cherie Blair and Princess Diana. . . Some spoilers follow. . . In the last song only does Tony Blair get a real solo number, in which he displays genuine agency: "The Whole Wide World is run by A--holes." For this song only does Charlie Baker get to imbue Tony Blair with charisma, force and agency, even if it is only to make excuses for his failings. Otherwise, Harry Hill's conception of Blair's life is one in which he is the junior partner in multiple double acts, driven either by the little "stick" between his legs, in the case of his wife, Cherie, or a literal big stick that his political adviser master, Peter Mandelson, beats him with, to ever amusing effect. Charlie Baker's affable goofy beta grin makes him an excellent comic foil, in these multiple double acts of his life, and it his double act partners that do all the heavy comic lifting. By far the funniest performance is given by Howard Samuels, as Mandelson, but also as Dick Cheney, and also as Alastair Campbell, diabolically and camply carrot-and-sticking Blair again and again and again. Samuels so ebulliently and conspiratorially commands the plot that I was ever amused by his Machiavellian bullying antics. Although she gets less stage time, as Cherie Blair, Mischief Theatre alumnus, Holly Sumpton, is a laugh riot as a seductive, dominating Cherie Blair, effusing political machinations in Blair's ear even during the coital act. And although she gets even less stage time, and has to rely on batting eyelids more than actual dialogue, Madison Swan's flirtatious and flighty and conniving Princess Diana had me laughing out loud. As you would expect from Hill, there are more laughs than insights in this musical (unlike the Boris Johnson play, earlier in this same space) but by God, it is enjoyable to see Blair (and us, his voters) get beaten down again and again and again. 3 and a half stars from me.  |
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Post by Mark on Jun 14, 2022 21:16:35 GMT
A rock opera? I’d not even say it was a pop opera. It’s a musical, and not a very good one at that. It did have some funny moments but overall it just didn’t work for me. It was a bit too much in a “look at how hilarious we are being” kind of way which I didn’t like. That said, I thought the closing number was the best part.
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Post by squidward on Jun 16, 2022 1:45:16 GMT
This is just a big case of ‘Why?’. I get why a Harry Hill project would have been tempting for The Park Theatre, but how this script and the risible music ever got past the workshop stage, I don’t understand.
The time for a pastiche/panto about Blair is well and truly past, unless a writer has something to say that hasn’t already been observed a million times before in a variety of satirical ways.
I would have thought after that musical debacle at The Palladium, Harry Hill and Steve Brown may not have been all that keen to repeat the experience, even at a fringe theatre without Simon Cowell and his hubris.
A musical comedy is a such a hard thing to get right and after the try-outs for this show earlier in the year, I would have thought that The Park Theatre Artistic Director would have had a good long mull over whether it was ever going to of a high enough quality to do a run there.
I hope at the very least Hill’s name is putting lots of bums on seats for the theatre if that was the motivator for giving house room to such an embarrassingly sub-par production, but the night I was there it most certainly wasn’t sold out.
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Post by alicechallice on Dec 1, 2022 11:45:16 GMT
Can see this is going on tour in 2023. Playing Theatre Royal Brighton last week of June/first week of July.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Dec 1, 2022 12:18:26 GMT
As a name it sounds like a fun night out but I remember the reviews. Is it getting a rewrite ?
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Post by Mark on Dec 1, 2022 12:42:06 GMT
This was pretty awful, amazed it’s having a future life.
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Post by n1david on Dec 1, 2022 12:47:31 GMT
I've seen it twice, once at the original workshop and then again as the "finished" version this year. It hadn't improved and I'm staggered they're trying to tour it.
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Post by showgirl on Dec 1, 2022 15:53:30 GMT
Yes, it's going to Guildford, but I didn't bother booking for this when the latest 3 shows went live, not even at the "best seat for £15" rate on which I usually pounce.
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Post by stevej678 on Dec 2, 2022 10:40:33 GMT
15 April - 21 May at Leicester Square Theatre.
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