South Pacific - Chichester/ Sadlers Wells/Tour

[Dawnstar]

Thanks. I was going to check West End Understudies. I suppose I can only hope. Tomorrow is about the only day where the temperature is forecast to be low 20s & there's no train strikes!

[TallPaul]

If you do go today, Dawnstar, then be sure to check the trains are running, which I'm sure you do anyway. The radio travel bulletins have been reporting problems all morning.

[Dawnstar]

TallPaul I've had to abandon going today as when I checked the Cambridge-London trains they're screwed & Great Northern is saying disruption expected until 8pm. Luckily I hadn't bought a theatre ticket so at least I'm not out of pocket. Train strikes for the rest of this week so I'll have to hope there'll be a day next week when it's not too hot & the trains are actually running!

[ladidah]

So tempted by the good prices tomorrow but unsure if the tube goes mad.

[thistimetomorrow]

Just got back from the show tonight and they were still quite down on female ensemble - only 5 of them on rather than 8. They were also down 1 man out of the 12. All the leads were still on though.

[fossil]

For the next three evening performances there are some tickets for £15 + £3.50 booking fee. These are the stall back row and side slips, circle slips and most of the upper circle.

Use this link and scroll down to the South Pacific entry.

sobus.org.uk/2022/08/

The stalls side slips look to be a particularly good bargain. I hope so - I have just bought one.

[tmesis]

Aug 18, 2022 8:41:11 GMT fossil said:

For the next three evening performances there are some tickets for £15 + £3.50 booking fee. These are the stall back row and side slips, circle slips and most of the upper circle.

Use this link and scroll down to the South Pacific entry.

sobus.org.uk/2022/08/

The stalls side slips look to be a particularly good bargain. I hope so - I have just bought one.

Also some great TodayTix offers. Got a £90 mid stalls seat for yesterday’s matinee for £25.

[tmesis]

So glad I caught this again after loving it at Chichester last year. I think the production fitted CFTs stage better, and worked more fluidly, than at SW but other than that I think it has improved if anything with the cast deepening their roles. Houchen is very good as Cable; his You’ve got to be Carefully Taught was really good but I was disappointed by Younger Than Springtime - he chops up the legato line of this exquisite song and lacks the breath control to do it justice. The gold standard for this song is Mandy Patinkin from the complete musical recording. But really the reason for seeing this production is Beck and Ovenden. Everything Gina does is wonderful but she really comes into her own in I’m in love with a Wonderful Guy. This really is one of the great music theatre songs. Rodgers almost squanders three cracking themes in the verse before he even gets to his stonking Big Tune (hell ALW would mine this amount of material for a complete musical.) She delivers it with huge panache, alert to all the changing subtleties of tone and mood from the defiant, minor key opening to the exuberant major key conclusion.

And then there’s Julian…

what can I say - the guy’s sensational. I first experienced him live at the John Wilson Prom singing Rodgers and Hammerstein and I was hugely impressed but I just think he’s got better and better. His Some Enchanted Evening sets the bar at the start with a gorgeous falsetto at the end but later in act two he gives it full throated wellie at the conclusion. Julian is described as a tenor (which he is) but hell, he also has a magnificent bottom end* which he shows off at the start of This Nearly Was Mine. Musical theatre singing doesn’t get any better than this. He builds the song wonderfully with a change of mood, and tempo for the minor key section and then a frisson-making sotto voce for the return of the main tune with maximum oompah and breath control for the final note where he went right up to the mediant (which I don’t think he did at Chichester.)

*We fortunate ones who saw him in My Night with Reg may read extra meaning into this.

[scarpia]

Very excited to be seeing this tonight. The cast looks fantastic.

[BurlyBeaR]

When I saw it in Manc I sat next to a young-ish man who was on his own and we got chatting before it started. He’d never been to a musical before but was getting into opera and had seen several. He asked if there was a live orchestra and seemed surprised when I said yes. I thought he seemed a bit sniffy about our beloved genre but happily explained how these things work from an audience perspective. Yes, there’s an interval, yes people clap at the end of songs etc. etc.
At the end during the applause he turned to me and said “is it always this good?” 🙂.

[TallPaul]

His next question was "Why is the actor playing Emile the same age as Nellie?" 

[BurlyBeaR]

Aug 19, 2022 9:12:28 GMT TallPaul said:

His next question was "Why is the actor playing Emile the same age as Nellie?" 

No, he said “isn’t this just a play with songs?” so I punched him 👊😬

[interval99]

Seeing the matinee of this today and will be interesting to see just how full the theatre ends up being.
Having watched the seat availability for the last month for this performance it's been a surprise how slow sales have been, pretty much have the same available now as in July. The special offers which pop up have not seemed to work and have only been flash or running for a couple of days and as 11am today the theatre is maybe 50% full but apart from a few seats on TKTS there is no reduction on any sites.
Today tix said they had a rush but must have been very few as available seats looks the same as last night.
With the rave reviews it's a surprise it's not more heavily booked. But also that they have been more active with discount to try and get people in.
If it's fuller than current bookings at 4pm presumably mean people are making very last minute decision on what they will see.

[n1david]

Friday night was about 50%, but I wondered if that was lowered due to the transport strikes. Very disappointing to see given the quality of the show. Those that were there loved it, almost complete standing ovation.

[danb]

At the end during the applause he turned to me and said “is it always this good?” 🙂.


Ahhh if only. Can’t wait to see this again in Cardiff in October. Gold standard MT.

[anthony40]

I am seeing this tomorrow night.

If anyone else is there, feel free to say hello

[mrnutz]

Some £32.50 front stalls seats have popped up on TodayTix for a few nights this week. I just picked up a couple.

[Dr Tom]

Aug 22, 2022 19:22:24 GMT mrnutz said:

Some £32.50 front stalls seats have popped up on TodayTix for a few nights this week. I just picked up a couple.

Thanks, just grabbed row F for Friday. A bargain!

[longinthetooth]

Aug 22, 2022 19:51:44 GMT Dr Tom said:

Aug 22, 2022 19:22:24 GMT mrnutz said:

Some £32.50 front stalls seats have popped up on TodayTix for a few nights this week. I just picked up a couple.

Thanks, just grabbed row F for Friday. A bargain!

I'm trying to get £40.00 front stalls for the Saturday matinee, but it's not working. I wonder if they're on there in error.

[A.Ham]

Aug 22, 2022 21:02:10 GMT longinthetooth said:

Aug 22, 2022 19:51:44 GMT Dr Tom said:

Thanks, just grabbed row F for Friday. A bargain!

I'm trying to get £40.00 front stalls for the Saturday matinee, but it's not working. I wonder if they're on there in error.

Lots there at the mo - those seats were (and probably still are) mostly £100 on the Sadler’s Wells website. Coming up for me on TodayTix and could add to basket - is it not letting you check out?

[Dr Tom]

Aug 22, 2022 21:02:10 GMT longinthetooth said:

Aug 22, 2022 19:51:44 GMT Dr Tom said:

Thanks, just grabbed row F for Friday. A bargain!

I'm trying to get £40.00 front stalls for the Saturday matinee, but it's not working. I wonder if they're on there in error.

Looks okay to me on TodayTix and is going through to the checkout page.

I doubt it’s an error as they’ve been selectively discounting throughout the run. Likely just making sure the final performances are full.

[longinthetooth]

Aug 22, 2022 21:10:09 GMT A.Ham said:

Aug 22, 2022 21:02:10 GMT longinthetooth said:

I'm trying to get £40.00 front stalls for the Saturday matinee, but it's not working. I wonder if they're on there in error.

Lots there at the mo - those seats were (and probably still are) mostly £100 on the Sadler’s Wells website. Coming up for me on TodayTix and could add to basket - is it not letting you check out?

I had them in the basket, then they said there was a problem, and to try a different method of payment. I tried Mastercard and Visa (don't have Google Pay), but the same message came up each time. I know there is no problem with my cards, so have emailed them, and am awaiting a reply.

[A.Ham]

That’s really frustrating! Fingers crossed they’ll get it sorted quickly - there were quite a few good centre stalls seats showing so hopefully they’ll still be there when they’ve got it fixed for you 🤞🏻

[longinthetooth]

Well, whatever the issue was last night, everything is fine now. Two tickets duly purchased for Saturday afternoon.

[Dr Tom]

Those payment issues with TodayTix happen every so often, unfortunately. Sometimes I can only use Apple Pay, sometimes I can only use a certain card (even when they're being accepted everywhere else). IT's most of a pain with rush tickets when you only have five minutes to get the purchase through.