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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 16, 2023 22:24:33 GMT
Thanks to the railway unions announcing a strike on 18th March it looks like I won't be seeing this show after all. I've looked at every other date I could conveniently do & all of them are sold out of front row tickets so I can't do an exchange. That's over £30 down the drain then. I feel like sending a bill to the RMT!
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Post by fiyero on Feb 17, 2023 9:31:49 GMT
Thanks to the railway unions announcing a strike on 18th March it looks like I won't be seeing this show after all. I've looked at every other date I could conveniently do & all of them are sold out of front row tickets so I can't do an exchange. That's over £30 down the drain then. I feel like sending a bill to the RMT! Send it to the government, it is them playing (overly) hard ball |
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Post by n1david on Feb 24, 2023 12:37:13 GMT
The cast recording of this is being released on 28 April. Four of the songs have already been released on streaming platforms. (Well, Apple Music for certain, I assume the others...)
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Post by Mark on Feb 24, 2023 12:42:38 GMT
£25 rush tickets will be available via TodayTix.
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Post by enh2 on Feb 24, 2023 18:25:00 GMT
Any plans for this to go off on tour after London? I reckon it would do good on the road!
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Post by littlefan on Feb 24, 2023 18:55:13 GMT
I saw this several times in Cheltenham, it's a show with so much heart and would absolutely work really well as a tour. It so deserves to have a life after the Noel Coward run. Jake's lyrics broke my heart on two occasions, and the score is beautiful.
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Post by AddisonMizner on Feb 24, 2023 19:06:09 GMT
I really do love the songs from this that have been released so far. The casting is also a massive plus - I just hope there is an opportunity for Damian Humbley and John Owen Jones to show off their amazing voices! Very tempted to book!
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Post by Raven on Feb 25, 2023 14:21:41 GMT
I came across this video of the song "My Dad" yesterday and really enjoyed it. The young child actress is brilliant - I reckon she could easily be a Matilda after this performance.
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Post by TallPaul on Feb 25, 2023 14:39:34 GMT
Two tickets for tonight (Saturday) available on the Noticeboard.
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Post by AddisonMizner on Feb 25, 2023 15:31:16 GMT
I came across this video of the song "My Dad" yesterday and really enjoyed it. The young child actress is brilliant - I reckon she could easily be a Matilda after this performance.
This song made me well up! |
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Post by blobble84 on Feb 25, 2023 17:15:41 GMT
Two tickets for tonight (Saturday) available on the Noticeboard. I posted this on behalf of a friend who can’t use his tickets. They’ve not sold and are now free to a good home if anyone wants them for tonight! |
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Post by FJ on Feb 25, 2023 23:52:47 GMT
Absolutely adored this tonight.
I’m a big bake off fan anyway, but didn’t know very much about the musical other than listening to a couple of the songs they’d released on Spotify this past week. I didn’t read much about the Cheltenham run and to be honest went in with quite low expectations this evening.
It was an absolute joy from start to finish, and my cheeks were hurting from smiling and laughing.
It doesn’t take itself too seriously, is the perfect mix of poking fun at the bake off and also celebrating it. It’s very tongue in cheek, camp, innuendo heavy, but also has a really nice heart to it, too.
The songs were great, with lots sticking in my head, and the cast were superb. Really hope it gets an extended run beyond the 12 weeks somewhere. I know a lot of people that will want to see this.
Yes, it doesn’t have the spectacle of some shows on the west end like Moulin Rouge, but top price tickets are also about a third of the price. And the intimacy of the show feels really nice.
Such a nice, fun, joyous, new show.
I will say, If you’re not a bake off fan, quite a few bits might be lost on you, and you might not be able to appreciate some of the humour as much, but an easy 5 stars from me.
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Post by Steve on Feb 26, 2023 0:05:03 GMT
Saw this tonight and it's delightful: the Sondheimesque old-people-still-have-fun songs are of a higher calibre than the functional Waitress-style baking-metaphors-for-rediscovering-love-and-life songs. Claire Moore, John-Owen-Jones and Haydn Gwynne make showstopping hay out of the former songs, with Claire Moore's second half song justifying the cost of the ticket. Some spoilers follow. . . What the X Factor musical got wrong, this gets right. Whereas both shows are multiple character revues held together by dual central narratives of a competition and a love story, this competition isn't a foregone conclusion, and this love story has a tender pulse. Also, this show's worshipped egotist of a show runner (not Paul Hollywood) is actually an empathetic human being rather than a God-Alien hybrid (not Simon Cowell). Neither the competition (too gentle) nor the love story (derivative) are particularly powerful, but they are useful threads on which to hang some excellent entertainment. The competition element utilises Graceful Mouat's on-point comic timing and superb singing skills to create a very modern villain out to steal the competition in a bid for social media glory. Though I rated her singing higher than her song, she's very funny and I loved the caustic comedy and devilish drama she brought to this otherwise gentle show. The love story element is vastly lifted by Charlotte Wakefield's and Damian Humbley's sweet Waitress-reminiscent chemistry. Unfortunately, Waitress the Musical hangs over this element of the story like an albatross, as songs like "What Baking Can do" and especially "She Used to be Mine" find only pale but perfectly functional imitations in "Somewhere in the Dough" and "Rise." By taking baking metaphors into the emotional stratosphere, Sara Bareilles has doomed this show to seem merely sweet, lacking the salt. I cried helpless tears in Waitress, whereas here I was like "awww" lol. The grown-up Sondheimesque stuff zings here, though: John Owen-Jones "Slap it like that" is genuinely funny, the Randy Newman-Sondheim-hybrid song, "I'd Never be Me without You" is absolutely brilliant, performed with mischievous gusto by Owen-Jones and Gwynne, and Claire Moore's Seaside-postcard-Sondheim stalker song (she's stalking Owen-Jones lol) in the second half blows Waitress's stalking song, "Never ever getting rid of me" out of the water, it's so appropriately unthreatening, but more than anything, outrageously and ebulliently funny! It is magnificent and it made me realise why someone as amazing as Claire Moore is in this thing: she's in it to steal it lol. In the ensemble, Jay Saighal and Catrina Sandison make some magic in minor roles, and Zoe Birkett's singing is probably the best in the show, even if she doesn't have a character. All in all, this is thoroughly entertaining, with at least two major highlights (Moore and the Owen-Jones-Haydn-Gwynne double act): a very happy 4 stars from me.  |
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Post by properjob on Feb 26, 2023 0:12:42 GMT
I saw this tonight and enjoyed it a lot. Feels very much in the spirit of the TV inspiration in being huge fun with lots of innuendos but with a warm heart beneath.
I'm only a very occasional bake-off fan so there were probably references I missed but I didn't notice them if that makes sense.
However I don't expect to have a 10 year run and a limited engagement seems sensible to me.
An important note on running times. I think the website was saying 2hr10 running time. It now says 2hr25 but I think it is longer even than that although of course that might change during previews.
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Post by 141920grm on Feb 26, 2023 11:47:57 GMT
Did anyone spot the real Paul Hollywood in Royal Circle 😂 Wonder if he went backstage after to say hi to the cast
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Post by david on Feb 26, 2023 18:23:09 GMT
Did anyone spot the real Paul Hollywood in Royal Circle 😂 Wonder if he went backstage after to say hi to the cast I wonder if they got his famous Hollywood handshake? |
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Post by mkb on Feb 27, 2023 1:06:38 GMT
This has not been on my radar. I've never watched Bake Off, and know from clips on Gogglebox that I'd hate it.
Would that mean I probably wouldn't like the musical, or not?
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Post by Steve on Feb 27, 2023 8:38:07 GMT
This has not been on my radar. I've never watched Bake Off, and know from clips on Gogglebox that I'd hate it. Would that mean I probably wouldn't like the musical, or not? You don't have to know anything about the TV show to enjoy the musical. The competition elements are self-explanatory and the love story element is an original invention. There are Easter Eggs that TV fans may appreciate more (how desirable a handshake from Paul Hollywood is; how much Prue Leith is into merchandise; which episode inspired certain plot points) but on the other hand, TV fans may be disappointed that the presenting duo of Birkett and and Paige neither specifically ape the BBC duo of Mel and Sue, nor the C4 duo of Lucas and Fielding, being more generic. This is a traditional love story/ finding yourself musical, much more than a homage/satire of a TV show, that you inside knowledge of, to appreciate it. Anyone can enjoy it (or hate it) lol. |
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Post by Dr Tom on Feb 27, 2023 13:30:07 GMT
It's a 10 from me (oops - wrong reality show - but let's have a poll).
I saw the matinee yesterday from the centre of the front row (also known as the flour zone) and this is a winner. Some great music, a fun plot, and all the baker types you'd expect to see. Each baker has their own theme at the start (and recurring occasionally during the show), which is a take off of another popular musical theatre song. A really engaging production. The Channel 4 TV programme this is based on is just a backdrop for an otherwise traditionally structured and presented musical.
The humour is rather broad. It didn't all hit for me, but I heard plenty of people laughing, and I laughed at other bits no one else reacted to (or got), so this should work for the demographic. The whole show is rather quaint and traditionally British. I don't think this would work outside the UK. There are lots of references to other Channel 4 programmes, for example. The only bit I think felt rather forced was a section on immigration, which I can see why it was there in a show about being British, but a worrying number of audience members treated this as an extended comedy section.
The whole show runs about 2 hours 30 minutes and I got the impression that this has been changed a bit since the earlier incarnation. I also had Pippa Cleary sat behind me, who proved she had the patience of a saint, having adopted one of the more senior members of the audience for the afternoon, answering his questions throughout. Still a few teething problems, like a piece of the automatically moving set getting stuck, but this was only the second preview. Plus, the two judges get entrance applause from the audience. What more could you want?
Looking forward to seeing this again in a few weeks. I would have said this was ripe for extension already at the Noel Coward, but there's already a show booked to go in there. It will either transfer or have a full life on tour.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Feb 27, 2023 16:37:47 GMT
Poll added
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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 27, 2023 18:36:13 GMT
I saw the matinee yesterday from the centre of the front row (also known as the flour zone) Flour zone? Yikes. Maybe it's not such a bad thing the train strikes are stopping me getting there next month after all! |
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Post by anita on Feb 28, 2023 10:34:08 GMT
I've never seen the program on Tv. Going on Thursday because of JOJ.- Seen him in POTO & Les Mis.
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Post by Wilf on Mar 1, 2023 20:55:39 GMT
I’ll also be there on Thursday at the matinee for the same JOJ reasons. Saw it in Cheltenham and really enjoyed it so am having a day trip to London to see how it’s developed.
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Post by matty on Mar 1, 2023 22:40:58 GMT
Really enjoyed this this evening. Soooo many sexual innuendos! Definitely felt like the audience, at least in the Royal Circle, took a while to warm up as I felt like I was laughing solo at a lot of the jokes in the first act.
Whole cast was great and overall just a good night out at the theatre.
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Post by Mark on Mar 2, 2023 23:14:59 GMT
Really enjoyed this again today, the material is very strong and made even better by a very strong cast. A few changes from Cheltenham, notably the new number at the top of act two. Claire Moore completely steals the show with her act two number, which for me is the definite highlight.
Highly recommend.
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