594 posts
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Post by og on Nov 21, 2022 20:34:43 GMT
Whilst there’s time til act2 curtain up.
Girl playing Charlie tonight. All references to Charlie are as “he/him” so it’s a girl playing a boy, not a change of characters sex.
If you were annoyed that a girl would be playing Charlie, wait til you find out she’s wearing a rainbow cardigan! 🤣
She’s doing a great job!
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3,426 posts
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Post by ceebee on Nov 21, 2022 21:56:01 GMT
Whilst there’s time til act2 curtain up. Girl playing Charlie tonight. All references to Charlie are as “he/him” so it’s a girl playing a boy, not a change of characters sex. If you were annoyed that a girl would be playing Charlie, wait til you find out she’s wearing a rainbow cardigan! 🤣 She’s doing a great job! Charlie and the Technicolor Dreamcardi. Surely nobody would be daft enough to write such a random musical... |
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594 posts
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Post by og on Nov 21, 2022 21:58:27 GMT
Act 2 1hr10min.
Clearly the more rehearsed half.
Some outstanding moments of visual theatre, including some real wow moments. Money has been spent here. I won’t spoil themed by giving them away, feel they work best when you don’t know what’s coming.
Truer to the original in form, the changes here work for the most part too.
The Great Glass elevator scene was almost wonderful.
It’s workings on show from its appearance but becomes seamless by the end of the scene (bizarrely) it feels like this scene would play out better if staged inversely.
Snook makes for a great Willy Wonka.
Charlie is adorable, the other ‘kids’ work well (and so thankful the Russian Salts are English again).
Plenty of fat to trim and screws to tighten but there’s a really wonderful show in the making here.
What lets it down (in my humble opinion) is the overly electronic orchestration, thin programmed drums and a lot of track with a weird mix of heavy live keys overlayed. This could even out in the mix as the days pass.
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3,426 posts
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Post by ceebee on Nov 21, 2022 22:01:46 GMT
Act 2 1hr10min. Clearly the more rehearsed half. Some outstanding moments of visual theatre, including some real wow moments. Money has been spent here. I won’t spoil themed by giving them away, feel they work best when you don’t know what’s coming. Truer to the original in form, the changes here work for the most part too. The Great Glass elevator scene was almost wonderful. It’s workings on show from its appearance but becomes seamless by the end of the scene (bizarrely) it feels like this scene would play out better if staged inversely. Snook makes for a great Willy Wonka. Charlie is adorable, the other ‘kids’ work well (and so thankful the Russian Salts are English again). Plenty of fat to trim and screws to tighten but there’s a really wonderful show in the making here. What lets it down (in my humble opinion) is the overly electronic orchestration, thin programmed drums and a lot of track with a weird mix of heavy live keys overlayed. This could even out in the mix as the days pass. Thank you so much og for this detailed review. I'm so excited to see this show again and it's good to hear that it's closer to the original London version! |
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7,052 posts
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Post by Jon on Nov 21, 2022 22:05:32 GMT
It sounds like an amalgamation of both the West End and Broadway production.
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5,795 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Nov 21, 2022 22:10:36 GMT
The fact it’s a girl.. playing a boy and they refer to her as he/him.. that’s just weird. Would have been better to just say Charlie is a girl.
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594 posts
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Post by og on Nov 21, 2022 23:17:26 GMT
The fact it’s a girl.. playing a boy and they refer to her as he/him.. that’s just weird. Would have been better to just say Charlie is a girl. I mean we buy into two people getting into a flying glass box, so some suspension of disbelief is allowed. |
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594 posts
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Post by og on Nov 21, 2022 23:39:16 GMT
More thoughts, in spoiler form. {Spoiler}
It feels like the revisions to the score are to make the show more standalone from the original movie again.
Willy Wonka/Willy Wonka and Golden Ticket bloated and unnecessary have gone.
Almost Nearly Perfect is back
Candy Man - Not Wonka's song anymore; works.
If Your Mother/Father Was Here - gone
Doncha Pinch me Charlie - back
It Must Be Believed to be Seen - has been butchered and mashed up into some weird new hodge-podge of two very different songs.
Juicy is gone - replaced by 'Dont Want What You Got Now' as heard in the promo vid. I preferred Juicy. Sharper song and more memorable.
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We don't see Wonka at all until the end of Act One. He is however brought into the show in a scene strangely reminiscent of The Phantom of the Opera (ironically - with Wonka played by Gareth Snook). It's a shame that the sub-plot of Wonka having a little influence in Charlie's journey prior to coming into the factory is gone; granted it didn't need to be as literal as him running a candy shop ala Broadway but some little hint of it may have been nice.
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Cut the cabbage soup! We don't need a 60 second segment of 6 people (Grandparents, Charlie and mum) miming eating soup. The show completely stalled because of this.
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The Glass Elevator flies, but its flown in whilst the stage is brightly lit so all the mechanics are visible and clear. Strangely by the end of the scene the stage is dark except starlight and the elevator, which appears to fly unaided. A real shame they staged the scene this way, as they missed the opportunity for a very big magical moment, flying the elevator up in darkness.
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If Sam Mendes sees this, he will be kicking himself about the way some the scenes work visually. With the technology accessible now it's a different playing field to what he wanted vs what he achieved. |
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Post by samjwallop on Nov 22, 2022 14:47:20 GMT
More thoughts, in spoiler form. {Spoiler}
It feels like the revisions to the score are to make the show more standalone from the original movie again.
Willy Wonka/Willy Wonka and Golden Ticket bloated and unnecessary have gone.
Almost Nearly Perfect is back
Candy Man - Not Wonka's song anymore; works.
If Your Mother/Father Was Here - gone
Doncha Pinch me Charlie - back
It Must Be Believed to be Seen - has been butchered and mashed up into some weird new hodge-podge of two very different songs.
Juicy is gone - replaced by 'Dont Want What You Got Now' as heard in the promo vid. I preferred Juicy. Sharper song and more memorable.
-
We don't see Wonka at all until the end of Act One. He is however brought into the show in a scene strangely reminiscent of The Phantom of the Opera (ironically - with Wonka played by Gareth Snook). It's a shame that the sub-plot of Wonka having a little influence in Charlie's journey prior to coming into the factory is gone; granted it didn't need to be as literal as him running a candy shop ala Broadway but some little hint of it may have been nice.
-
Cut the cabbage soup! We don't need a 60 second segment of 6 people (Grandparents, Charlie and mum) miming eating soup. The show completely stalled because of this.
-
The Glass Elevator flies, but its flown in whilst the stage is brightly lit so all the mechanics are visible and clear. Strangely by the end of the scene the stage is dark except starlight and the elevator, which appears to fly unaided. A real shame they staged the scene this way, as they missed the opportunity for a very big magical moment, flying the elevator up in darkness.
-
If Sam Mendes sees this, he will be kicking himself about the way some the scenes work visually. With the technology accessible now it's a different playing field to what he wanted vs what he achieved. Man it really sounds like the show's making a turn for the better in balancing the film and making its own thing. {Spoiler - click to view}If there's no "If Your Mother/Father Were Here" then what's in place of that? (1) Also it's a real shame knowing they messed up It Must Be Believed to Be Seen. That was one of, if not THE strongest standalone song.(2)
Candyman also being sung by someone who's not Wonka really sounds like a turn for the better though. I ideally imagined this to be THE Wonka exposition song if there was dialogue sprinkled between.
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594 posts
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Post by og on Nov 22, 2022 14:55:39 GMT
More thoughts, in spoiler form. {Spoiler}It feels like the revisions to the score are to make the show more standalone from the original movie again.
Willy Wonka/Willy Wonka and Golden Ticket bloated and unnecessary have gone.
Almost Nearly Perfect is back
Candy Man - Not Wonka's song anymore; works.
If Your Mother/Father Was Here - gone
Doncha Pinch me Charlie - back
It Must Be Believed to be Seen - has been butchered and mashed up into some weird new hodge-podge of two very different songs.
Juicy is gone - replaced by 'Dont Want What You Got Now' as heard in the promo vid. I preferred Juicy. Sharper song and more memorable.
-
We don't see Wonka at all until the end of Act One. He is however brought into the show in a scene strangely reminiscent of The Phantom of the Opera (ironically - with Wonka played by Gareth Snook). It's a shame that the sub-plot of Wonka having a little influence in Charlie's journey prior to coming into the factory is gone; granted it didn't need to be as literal as him running a candy shop ala Broadway but some little hint of it may have been nice.
-
Cut the cabbage soup! We don't need a 60 second segment of 6 people (Grandparents, Charlie and mum) miming eating soup. The show completely stalled because of this.
-
The Glass Elevator flies, but its flown in whilst the stage is brightly lit so all the mechanics are visible and clear. Strangely by the end of the scene the stage is dark except starlight and the elevator, which appears to fly unaided. A real shame they staged the scene this way, as they missed the opportunity for a very big magical moment, flying the elevator up in darkness.
-
If Sam Mendes sees this, he will be kicking himself about the way some the scenes work visually. With the technology accessible now it's a different playing field to what he wanted vs what he achieved. Man it really sounds like the show's making a turn for the better in balancing the film and making its own thing. {Spoiler - click to view}
If there's no "If Your Mother/Father Were Here" then what's in place of that? (1) Also it's a real shame knowing they messed up It Must Be Believed to Be Seen. That was one of, if not THE strongest standalone song.(2)
Candyman also being sung by someone who's not Wonka really sounds like a turn for the better though. I ideally imagined this to be THE Wonka exposition song if there was dialogue sprinkled between. 1. Candy Man {Spoiler - click to view}
After Charlie leaves the house a little dejected and down, Charlies Mum, whilst flicking through his notebook of inventions, sings 'Candy Man' in place of 'If your Father Was Here'. It really works the way they develop it from a small intricate moment of reflection into something bigger.
Candy Man also has a reprise in Act 2. 2. If Must Be Believed to be Seen {Spoiler - click to view}I suspect they might rework this. The staging was a little underwhelming (with some really obvious bad rolling out of a red carpet etc) Wonka basically wandering round in circles up and down the red carpet.
I suspect it's been overlooked whilst other parts are ironed out for opening night.
Granted, where the original song did come it seemed to punch bigger than London, which was good. |
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Post by samjwallop on Nov 24, 2022 14:28:33 GMT
Man it really sounds like the show's making a turn for the better in balancing the film and making its own thing. {Spoiler - click to view}
If there's no "If Your Mother/Father Were Here" then what's in place of that? (1) Also it's a real shame knowing they messed up It Must Be Believed to Be Seen. That was one of, if not THE strongest standalone song.(2)
Candyman also being sung by someone who's not Wonka really sounds like a turn for the better though. I ideally imagined this to be THE Wonka exposition song if there was dialogue sprinkled between. 1. Candy Man {Spoiler - click to view}
After Charlie leaves the house a little dejected and down, Charlies Mum, whilst flicking through his notebook of inventions, sings 'Candy Man' in place of 'If your Father Was Here'. It really works the way they develop it from a small intricate moment of reflection into something bigger.
Candy Man also has a reprise in Act 2. 2. If Must Be Believed to be Seen {Spoiler - click to view}I suspect they might rework this. The staging was a little underwhelming (with some really obvious bad rolling out of a red carpet etc) Wonka basically wandering round in circles up and down the red carpet.
I suspect it's been overlooked whilst other parts are ironed out for opening night.
Granted, where the original song did come it seemed to punch bigger than London, which was good. That sounds super interesting! I hope at least the full version of Believed to Be Seen is intact though despite the hodgepodge, much like how Grandpa Joe was put in between Pure Imagination in the Broadway version. Speaking of which, is that song still in the Chocolate Room scene? |
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594 posts
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Post by og on Nov 24, 2022 19:17:17 GMT
1. Candy Man {Spoiler - click to view}
After Charlie leaves the house a little dejected and down, Charlies Mum, whilst flicking through his notebook of inventions, sings 'Candy Man' in place of 'If your Father Was Here'. It really works the way they develop it from a small intricate moment of reflection into something bigger.
Candy Man also has a reprise in Act 2. 2. If Must Be Believed to be Seen {Spoiler - click to view}I suspect they might rework this. The staging was a little underwhelming (with some really obvious bad rolling out of a red carpet etc) Wonka basically wandering round in circles up and down the red carpet.
I suspect it's been overlooked whilst other parts are ironed out for opening night.
Granted, where the original song did come it seemed to punch bigger than London, which was good. That sounds super interesting! I hope at least {Spoiler - click to view}
the full version of Believed to Be Seen is intact though despite the hodgepodge, much like how Grandpa Joe was put in between Pure Imagination in the Broadway version. Speaking of which, is that song still in the Chocolate Room scene? Believed to Be Seen {Spoiler - click to view}
It's almost full. Goes New intro, into "Beyond this door's a factory, begat from just a bean..." into new verse thing, into the rest of IMBBTBS. It felt like two separate songs squeezed together and wasn't particularly cohesive, so maybe they'll change it. Pure Imagination {Spoiler - click to view}
Pure Imagine is in the transition into the chocolate room. It's quite a spectacular scene and got a great reaction from the audience. |
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374 posts
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Post by theatrenerd on Nov 25, 2022 14:28:45 GMT
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Post by theatrelegofan87 on Nov 25, 2022 14:37:28 GMT
From my POv this is a woke production. They even have a slim augustus gloop as to not offend anybody. So now we are marginalising children actors 🤣.
This world! Ughh its bonkers
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Post by hadeswasking on Nov 25, 2022 14:48:36 GMT
From my POv this is a woke production. They even have a slim augustus gloop as to not offend anybody. So now we are marginalising children actors 🤣. This world! Ughh its bonkers Lol who hurt you? |
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1,442 posts
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Post by theatrefan62 on Nov 25, 2022 14:50:15 GMT
Production pics don't inspire me to book, especially as it's the same price as The Lion King at my local theatre
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Post by theatrelegofan87 on Nov 25, 2022 14:55:24 GMT
Nobody but come on… this is now discrimination against plus size child actors lol.
Everything is soo da*n complicated in the industry now
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Post by cezbear on Nov 25, 2022 15:24:46 GMT
Could they not just... pad the actor out a bit?
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Post by hades on Nov 25, 2022 15:36:07 GMT
Agreed they should've cast a plus size actor for Augustus, but would hardly call this a 'woke' production...
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5,138 posts
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Post by TallPaul on Nov 25, 2022 15:41:26 GMT
Isn't it only the Charlies who are real children, and the other 'children' are actually adults?
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7,052 posts
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Post by Jon on Nov 25, 2022 15:48:47 GMT
Isn't it only the Charlies who are real children, and the other 'children' are actually adults? Well young adults, I assume it's done partly for cost reasons. |
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Post by samjwallop on Nov 25, 2022 16:30:02 GMT
From my POv this is a woke production. They even have a slim augustus gloop as to not offend anybody. So now we are marginalising children actors 🤣. This world! Ughh its bonkers Cry harder |
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Post by samjwallop on Nov 25, 2022 17:40:53 GMT
This really looks spectacular! It seems like that abstract look they were trying to go for on Broadway is fully realized here. While I still do prefer Wonka's more traditional look in West End and Broadway I respect that it's very much trying to do its own take separate from any depictions we've seen before. It looks truly bombastic |
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594 posts
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Post by og on Nov 25, 2022 19:42:07 GMT
From my POv this is a woke production. They even have a slim augustus gloop as to not offend anybody. So now we are marginalising children actors 🤣. This world! Ughh its bonkers Hey troll, heres some food... Utter nonsense. Do you know what woke even means? Here's a definition "alert to injustice in society". To be actively woke they'd have had to cast a heavy-set child as August so not to exclude overweight kids. No need to get triggered here, have a day off and lighten up. |
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594 posts
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Post by og on Nov 25, 2022 19:43:59 GMT
Isn't it only the Charlies who are real children, and the other 'children' are actually adults? Yeah, just like Broadway. Remember this thing has to tour for a year. Touring kids means schooling them on the road, this isnt RSC funded like Matilda etc. |
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