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Post by mkb on Aug 30, 2023 8:45:01 GMT
I don’t know that I like hearing about people seeing this multiple times when some haven’t managed to get In only once 🤷🏼♂️ I’ve waited for over a decade for this show to be here, spent thousands before then going to see it on trips to New York to see it on Broadway. I absolutely will be seeing it as many times as I can and hope others who love it do the same. You can hope all you want, but the truth is that each return visit deprives another person of the chance of seeing this at the Donmar. Why would you not want as many other people as possible to share in the joy you experienced when you saw it? I really don't understand this. |
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Post by mrbarnaby on Aug 30, 2023 8:58:38 GMT
I don’t know that I like hearing about people seeing this multiple times when some haven’t managed to get In only once 🤷🏼♂️ Everyone had access to the same booking period and the same amount of shows that were on sale. If some people only booked once and it was cancelled, that's unfortunate.
Don't try and make others feel bad about it. Maybe don't read the thread again.
I've got 2 more performances booked  Just seems selfish to me, but I’m not going to lose sleep over it. Also contrary to what other have said here- there is currently no transfer plans. |
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Post by mrbarnaby on Aug 30, 2023 8:59:32 GMT
Is Next to Normal really a must-see? Read the room |
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Post by doornumberthree on Aug 30, 2023 11:07:14 GMT
It's great for those who did manage to get a ticket originally or have since secured a return, but I genuinely don't know how, as I've absolutely haunted the website for weeks, checking multiple times per day (and night, given that I get up earlier than most), yet I've only ever seen 2 tix returned and they were both unaffordable (£60 each) and unavailable to me as they were for a companion and a person with impairments. It probably doesn't help that I'm looking for a matinee on certain dates but that still leaves 4 - 6 performances I can check but no sign of a return so far. Donmar Daily Release is no use as at 10 am I'm either working or out. Still, if it transfers... I’ve managed to get 6/7 returns for friends (all on separate days) simply by keeping the day they want open and going backwards and forwards to that day for a few days - has worked every time. If you keep the dates you want open in separate tabs, that might do the trick. There’s so rhyme or reason to it, the box office simply put returns back up as soon as they get them. Managed to get a friend coming from Italy a ticket for Saturday today, don’t give up hope! |
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Post by max on Aug 30, 2023 12:09:03 GMT
For once I booked way ahead, when booking first opened. But for info:
I did a test of the Day Release tickets this morning. Blink and you'll miss it, but it looked like 4 sets of two seats next to each other came up. I think they were £60. If I'd wanted to I think my fingers might just have been fast enough to get two. I wonder what happens if you click on one of the two, but (though speedy as possible) someone else already clicked the one next to it. I guess like deers with locked antlers you have to wait til the other person submits and gives up. But I expect you have to refresh to see that, and may loose your own. It's like a game of chess mixed with the speed of table tennis, lol.
Luckily I often go to the theatre on my own, so avoid these extreme sports.
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Post by Alejo on Aug 30, 2023 12:23:50 GMT
One thing I noticed on Monday evening was the number of people coming to see this show on their own (myself included). I went in to the auditorium about 19:10 and saw a lot of people coming in and sitting down themselves, as well as individual people already seated. I wonder if it's due to availability, where people could only get single tickets, or is there a niche appeal to this show?
But I loved the atmosphere in the auditorium - everyone really wanted to be there; a lot of people probably knew something about the show already; and I suspect most people knew they were seeing something special. Certainly no chattering or rustling during the performance. Also recognised a few West End performers in the audience.
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Post by intoanewlife on Aug 30, 2023 12:44:14 GMT
It's no one else's business how many times someone goes to see a show.
They got their tickets the same way everyone else got theirs, through perseverance.
This is the Donmars problem/fault for not having a system in place to help those whose show was cancelled, not the people who are trawling their terrible website daily trying to get tickets.
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Post by intoanewlife on Aug 30, 2023 12:44:37 GMT
Certainly no chattering or rustling during the performance. They were all asleep x |
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Post by sam22 on Aug 30, 2023 16:57:22 GMT
Is Next to Normal really a must-see? YES |
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Post by bobbievanhusen on Aug 31, 2023 3:55:53 GMT
You can hope all you want, but the truth is that each return visit deprives another person of the chance of seeing this at the Donmar. The booking opened in October last year and it didn't sell out for a very long time. There was plenty of opportunity to book. Thankfully for those looking for tickets, they don't do dynamic pricing. |
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Post by mkb on Aug 31, 2023 11:09:19 GMT
You can hope all you want, but the truth is that each return visit deprives another person of the chance of seeing this at the Donmar. The booking opened in October last year and it didn't sell out for a very long time. There was plenty of opportunity to book. Thankfully for those looking for tickets, they don't do dynamic pricing. I expect many who had their show cancelled did book early. And there will be others who don't have the means to book speculatively for future shows and have to book nearer the time. While I don't condone those who believe their multiple visits are more important than allowing others a single trip, I do think it's on the Donmar to regulate this. With such a limited capacity for a hot ticket, I can think of a few ways they could have managed this better, but they don't have any financial incentive to make the system fairer for all. |
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Post by Jon on Aug 31, 2023 11:23:06 GMT
People do realise the Donmar no longer has ACE funding so they need to find ways to make money.
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Post by Alejo on Aug 31, 2023 12:28:18 GMT
The booking opened in October last year and it didn't sell out for a very long time. There was plenty of opportunity to book. Thankfully for those looking for tickets, they don't do dynamic pricing. I expect many who had their show cancelled did book early. And there will be others who don't have the means to book speculatively for future shows and have to book nearer the time. While I don't condone those who believe their multiple visits are more important than allowing others a single trip, I do think it's on the Donmar to regulate this. With such a limited capacity for a hot ticket, I can think of a few ways they could have managed this better, but they don't have any financial incentive to make the system fairer for all. Why on earth would the Donmar (or any theatre) want to restrict fans from multiple visits? I am content with seeing this production once, but I have seen a couple of Next to Normal productions in the past - should I be on the Donmar's "blacklist", as my ticket this week stopped someone completely new experience the piece for the first time? Tickets weren't snapped up by touts making a fortune on resale sites; they have been bought fairly by fans through the same means that everyone has. I get the frustration when a performance for a sold-out run is cancelled, but unfortunately there's always a risk of cancellation with anything you book. |
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Post by Alejo on Aug 31, 2023 12:34:29 GMT
And just to add, I have seen tickets appear for three different performances this week in the last couple of days alone - front facing stalls (£65), front facing circle (£60), and side facing circle (£45). Each time just checking out of curiosity. As bobbievanhusen has said, people should be grateful the Donmar doesn't do dynamic pricing, like most other venues. |
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Post by n1david on Aug 31, 2023 12:38:42 GMT
Why on earth would the Donmar (or any theatre) want to restrict fans from multiple visits? The Almeida has done this several times, for shows which were guaranteed to sell out, in order to let more people see the show. And the Donmar has done it for Macbeth with David Tennant, limiting purchases to four per person. Obviously there are ways around this, but it has been done. |
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Post by Alejo on Aug 31, 2023 13:00:28 GMT
Why on earth would the Donmar (or any theatre) want to restrict fans from multiple visits? The Almeida has done this several times, for shows which were guaranteed to sell out, in order to let more people see the show. And the Donmar has done it for Macbeth with David Tennant, limiting purchases to four per person. Obviously there are ways around this, but it has been done. I agree there should be a restriction on the number of tickets that someone can purchase in one transaction. If there is a queue on the first day of sale, and the run is guaranteed to sell out that day, that makes sense to me. The queue allocation is usually random, so it's only fair that everyone has an opportunity to get tickets. But that wasn't the case with Next to Normal. I can't remember when I bought my central row A stalls ticket, but it wasn't on the first day of sale. I didn't pay to be a member of the Donmar to get it, and I didn't have to queue to buy it. So I don't see why the Donmar would stop people buying a ticket now, after the run has started, if someone wants to come back and see it again. |
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Post by helso1 on Aug 31, 2023 13:27:08 GMT
I checked an hour ago for tickets for tomorrow evening and there was 7 seats available to book in the stalls area.
Helen x
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Post by n1david on Aug 31, 2023 13:30:11 GMT
The Almeida has done this several times, for shows which were guaranteed to sell out, in order to let more people see the show. And the Donmar has done it for Macbeth with David Tennant, limiting purchases to four per person. Obviously there are ways around this, but it has been done. I agree there should be a restriction on the number of tickets that someone can purchase in one transaction. If there is a queue on the first day of sale, and the run is guaranteed to sell out that day, that makes sense to me. The queue allocation is usually random, so it's only fair that everyone has an opportunity to get tickets. But that wasn't the case with Next to Normal. I can't remember when I bought my central row A stalls ticket, but it wasn't on the first day of sale. I didn't pay to be a member of the Donmar to get it, and I didn't have to queue to buy it. So I don't see why the Donmar would stop people buying a ticket now, after the run has started, if someone wants to come back and see it again. These restrictions are across the run, so if tickets subsequently become available due to returns, house seats, etc., the restrictions still apply. |
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Post by Alejo on Aug 31, 2023 13:45:52 GMT
I checked an hour for tickets for tomorrow evening and there was 7 seats available to book in the stalls area. Helen x And currently two in the front facing stalls for tonight. |
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Post by Alejo on Aug 31, 2023 13:59:01 GMT
I agree there should be a restriction on the number of tickets that someone can purchase in one transaction. If there is a queue on the first day of sale, and the run is guaranteed to sell out that day, that makes sense to me. The queue allocation is usually random, so it's only fair that everyone has an opportunity to get tickets. But that wasn't the case with Next to Normal. I can't remember when I bought my central row A stalls ticket, but it wasn't on the first day of sale. I didn't pay to be a member of the Donmar to get it, and I didn't have to queue to buy it. So I don't see why the Donmar would stop people buying a ticket now, after the run has started, if someone wants to come back and see it again. These restrictions are across the run, so if tickets subsequently become available due to returns, house seats, etc., the restrictions still apply. I'm not familiar with the Donmar's policy on David Tennant's Macbeth, but it sounds like it's more to combat touts buying and selling on the resale market. Four visits per person is still quite generous - people here are complaining about one repeat visit. |
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Post by zinone on Aug 31, 2023 15:42:17 GMT
Currently one seat available for Saturday evening on the Donmar's site.
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Post by colelarson on Aug 31, 2023 17:12:08 GMT
Second time lucky finally saw the show this afternoon after Saturday's aborted mission!
What can I say...it was worth the wait! I was blown away by the show and found it a real emotional roller coaster ride. I have only heard the music before but seeing it incorporated into the story is heart wrenching, touching and raw.
The vocals are stunning, the set is clever and love how the band are incorporated into the piece.
Bringing this rock musical to life is a cast that absolutely makes it a must see. There are touches of humour and and at times I did shed a tear. If I could I would go again! This better transfer and we need a recording as "I'm alive", "Perfect for you" "Superboy and the Invisible Girl" and "I miss the mountains" were stunning....in fact it all was!
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Post by frankubelik on Aug 31, 2023 17:42:25 GMT
Well, here I am in the minority yet again. The musical is inherently interesting and the production is fine with the three young performers really excellent but......I found Ms Levy one note. Yes, she can sing extremely well, but without an ounce of emotion (in my opinion). I also thought she never displayed any of the manic tendencies associated with this disease and hence always found her to be in control which is at odds with the piece. Jamie Parker was better than expected but could not really deliver his big act 2 song. I was drawn back to Alice Ripley from the OBC and maintain her interpretation cannot be bettered - so much emotion in a single line. Please don't shoot me down fellow theatre-lovers. This is my opinion which I feel entitled to share! And by the way, about five single empty stalls seats on Tuesday night.
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Post by intoanewlife on Aug 31, 2023 18:07:27 GMT
Well, here I am in the minority yet again. The musical is inherently interesting and the production is fine with the three young performers really excellent but......I found Ms Levy one note. Yes, she can sing extremely well, but without an ounce of emotion (in my opinion). I also thought she never displayed any of the manic tendencies associated with this disease and hence always found her to be in control which is at odds with the piece. Jamie Parker was better than expected but could not really deliver his big act 2 song. I was drawn back to Alice Ripley from the OBC and maintain her interpretation cannot be bettered - so much emotion in a single line. Please don't shoot me down fellow theatre-lovers. This is my opinion which I feel entitled to share! And by the way, about five single empty stalls seats on Tuesday night. {Spoiler - click to view}
I too thought Cassie gave me nothing of well...anything and she is obviously being directed that way.
I don't know the show very well or if the emphasis is different in this production. But as bipolar is hereditary, I assumed that Natalie may have been covering that aspect of things in this particular production and that Diana was mostly working through depression with the odd 'bout' of bipolar, just to let the audience know she had it. Natalie seems far more bipolar throughout this production that Diana does.
This tended to make the whole thing even more depressing for me as Natalie's newfound relationship that we are all meant to be so chipper about, is probably going to mirror her parents relationship in the future. I thought their story actually felt like a glimpse into what Dan and Diana's early relationship was probably like pre Gabe.
There does seem to be some rather depressing foreshadowing to the fact that Henry and Natalie's relationship starts to bloom the moment Dan and Diana's relationship is over.
But as I don't the show or the writers intentions very well, I am not sure if this is the general consensus or not.
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Post by apubleed on Aug 31, 2023 18:37:43 GMT
Alice Ripley's voice is so unusual, I don't know how else to describe the timbre except for pure emotion and pain - which seemed to get even more emotional and painful as time went on and she started to experience a bit of vocal damage. It would never have worked for many other roles, but for this one it was perfect. I agree that Levy does not have the same quality in her voice because it's very clean and pop sounding. However, I think she more than makes up for this with incredible acting. And I find it thrilling to hear the score sound wonderfully and on pitch, as much as I loved Alice Ripley of course. Even as soon as the recent Barcelona production she was thrilling - but overall this Donmar production is a thousand times better than the recent Barcelona production in my opinion (even though it was quirky and weird and I LOVED how they staged 'Light').
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