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Post by ceebee on Nov 8, 2023 19:00:39 GMT
Sorry for the stupid question, but is this the same production every year (as in the exact same script), just with different actors? As I wasn't that keen on it when I saw it last year! Yes, it's the same production and script but a different cast and also a different MD this year |
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Post by theatrenerd on Nov 8, 2023 21:11:20 GMT
I’m actually surprised that in the 7 years this has been running, they haven’t released a cast album of the carols and music. I reckon it would actually sell pretty well! And it's interesting that this promo is with last year's cast... Somewhere in the depths of the Old Vic, there's a decent recording of this show... I do recall there was a great EPK trailer of the original 2017 cast which the Old Vic used to promote the 2018 revival with for a brief time before they took it down. Shame, as I haven't been able to find that video again since! But I can't imagine a film recording being released while it is still on and returning each year - or at least the closest we'd have is the 2020 In Camera version. But I'd be happy with just a cast album of the carols as Chris Nightingale's work on them is incredible (and Tony-winning let us not forget!), they sound beautiful and joyous. |
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Post by starlight92 on Nov 8, 2023 21:33:25 GMT
Sorry for the stupid question, but is this the same production every year (as in the exact same script), just with different actors? As I wasn't that keen on it when I saw it last year! Yes, it's the same production and script but a different cast and also a different MD this year Ah okay, I might give it a miss then. Thanks! |
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Post by david on Nov 11, 2023 22:57:17 GMT
I signed off my 2023 London theatre season with a trip to the Old Vic tonight. I’ve now seen this production 3 times now and I will say that for me it is still an absolutely beautifully crafted show from director Matthew Warchus and his team that has lost none of its magic since it first graced the OV stage 7 years ago. From walking into that auditorium and seeing all those lanterns and listening to the preshow music whilst enjoying a warm mince pie (I did grab one and very nice it was as well) to thd final bell ringing at the end, after 2 hours it leaves you with a warm heart and a big smile on your face as you walk out into the cold winter evening. With this show, there is something for everybody young or old. The Act 2 dinner scene is still so much fun, no matter how many times you watch it.
In my previous visits I never really focused on the musical score with this show, but with tonight’s viewing, I really loved the score from Chris Nightingale was it played out during the show and the beautiful singing as well. It really does add an extra emotional layer to the story. The lighting and sound design is still haunting and wonderful as ever.
With Chris Eccelston leading this year’s cast, I enjoyed his performance very much with a believable performance as the old miser. Seeing him up close from the side of the thrust stage section was an absolute pleasure and worth the ticket money. With many cast members making a return visit this year, this was a lively cast bringing Jack Thorne’s adaption to the stage.
Personally, I don’t think there is a better theatrical version of this classic Christmas story and is a great way to kick off the festive season.
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Post by ceebee on Nov 12, 2023 0:04:17 GMT
Agree with David's review. I've seen this production over the years perhaps 30-40 times. I'm heavily invested. Chris Eccleston's Scrooge is really well thought through - human, touching, vulnerable, and he's not scared to pause and use silence between sentences. This show is as good as ever, even on first preview, and it is like greeting an old friend walking into that auditorium.
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Post by rumbledoll on Nov 12, 2023 6:04:31 GMT
Was there last night as well. Missed mince pies (sadly) this time but caught a tangerine instead  It’s an absolute joy of the show, all smiles and tears, from the two leads I’ve seen Stephen Tompkinson is still number one, yet Christopher Eccleston looks exactly like a Scrooge I always imagine and he will very soon own this part through and through. He also jumped down the stage and kissed my friend’s hand (she loved it) which gets him some extra points! Good shape for the first preview, dinner scene is a show stopper! This really is the most heart warming show in town, you can’t fault beautifully sung carols and bells, I hope Old Vic will bring it again and again every year. |
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Post by blue48 on Nov 14, 2023 20:51:45 GMT
I'm looking forward to seeing this play very soon. I was just wondering if anybody knew whether the Stage Door was available as I would love to go. I've tried looking online for the answer but it's not quite clear. The Old Vic website says "In order to protect our staff, creative team and performers, we ask that you don’t go to stage door for signings or to meet the team at this time.", but I'm not sure if this is now outdated post-Covid or not. In addition to this, I came across a post from over a year ago on TripAdvisor which stated that Daniel Radcliffe was at the Stage Door with fans "recently", which adds to the confusion for me. So if anybody has already been to the Stage Door this year or recently or knows whether it is open to the public or not please can you let me know, as it would be a great part of my experience?! I really can't wait to watch this play - everything about it sounds so amazing!  |
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Post by darvsplanet on Nov 14, 2023 21:25:03 GMT
I'm looking forward to seeing this play very soon. I was just wondering if anybody knew whether the Stage Door was available as I would love to go. I've tried looking online for the answer but it's not quite clear. The Old Vic website says "In order to protect our staff, creative team and performers, we ask that you don’t go to stage door for signings or to meet the team at this time.", but I'm not sure if this is now outdated post-Covid or not. In addition to this, I came across a post from over a year ago on TripAdvisor which stated that Daniel Radcliffe was at the Stage Door with fans "recently", which adds to the confusion for me. So if anybody has already been to the Stage Door this year or recently or knows whether it is open to the public or not please can you let me know, as it would be a great part of my experience?! I really can't wait to watch this play - everything about it sounds so amazing! There were quite a few people at the stage door yesterday night, Christopher Eccleston stayed for everyone that queued up and was fine with pictures and signing programmes but was definitely trying to get through everyone quickly (don’t blame him it was freezing) he was the only cast member that stopped. |
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Post by blue48 on Nov 14, 2023 21:56:17 GMT
There were quite a few people at the stage door yesterday night, Christopher Eccleston stayed for everyone that queued up and was fine with pictures and signing programmes but was definitely trying to get through everyone quickly (don’t blame him it was freezing) he was the only cast member that stopped. Wow thank you so much for getting back to me! Do you know how long it took for him to arrive and is there a policy for what can and can't be signed? Is it strictly for programmes only? I'm thinking of getting a signed version of the A Christmas Carol book. |
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Post by darvsplanet on Nov 14, 2023 23:50:13 GMT
There were quite a few people at the stage door yesterday night, Christopher Eccleston stayed for everyone that queued up and was fine with pictures and signing programmes but was definitely trying to get through everyone quickly (don’t blame him it was freezing) he was the only cast member that stopped. Wow thank you so much for getting back to me! Do you know how long it took for him to arrive and is there a policy for what can and can't be signed? Is it strictly for programmes only? I'm thinking of getting a signed version of the A Christmas Carol book. I don’t know exact timings but looking at the timestamps of my photos he was out about 10-15 minutes after the show finished, I don’t recall any specific rules regarding what can and can’t be signed, I imagine it’s up to him but I expect anything Christmas Carol related should be ok. |
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Post by jek on Nov 15, 2023 8:37:48 GMT
Went last night and felt the production was in very safe hands with Christopher Eccleston at the helm. It felt just as warm and special as it has in previous years. Given Christopher Eccleston's politics and his personal history his closing, fund raising, speech had real fire. It really is a timeless production. Our £10 seats were in Row S of the stalls which meant that we even got snowed on! We very much enjoyed watching a couple of teenage lads sat in front of us making repeated visits to the mince pie stall - all that growing takes a lot of fuel! So pleased to have seen this this year after not having seen it since before Covid.
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Post by theatrefan62 on Nov 16, 2023 8:20:44 GMT
Does anyone know if this plans to return next year?
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Post by ceebee on Nov 16, 2023 13:06:22 GMT
Does anyone know if this plans to return next year? I'd imagine it is too early to say - there were people on this group this time last year who were sure it wouldn't return again, yet it did. I think this show will last as long as Matthew Warchus remains at the helm. |
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Post by Steve on Nov 16, 2023 22:55:46 GMT
Loved this tonight! Eccleston is softer and more vulnerable than you might imagine. The show still works it's magic. Some spoilers follow. . . I love extremes, and contrasting extremes, so Rhys Ifans, the most jubilantly joyous effusive Scrooge, and Owen Teale, the most frightening, powerful and violently malevolent Scrooge, are my two favourites from the run so far. Nonetheless, Eccleston is a memorable and distinctive Scrooge. He probably does himself a disservice by doing proper acting, as he abandons his brittle, cutting, colder Lancashire brogue (which might have served the setup of the character better) for a warmer, huskier, London received pronunciation type accent. The effect is to blunt the character's apparent meanness at the beginning, but at the same time, this sense of softness fits perfectly with his greyed, dessicated, shock-haired zombie appearance to create the sense of Scrooge as the walking dead, a man from whom life has drained away, a ghost of a man. This then allows life to be breathed into his hollow husk over the course of the show, until at the end, life courses through him as he does a jaunty jig. For me, he is less transformed, as Ifans and Teale were, as resurrected over the course of the play, which is in its own less dramatic way, equally moving. There is a kind of familial and familiar warmth about this year's revival, with returning players among the cast including Frances McNamee's Belle, Rose Shalloo's Little Fan, Alastair Parker's Fezziwig, Andrew Langtree's Marley, Geraint Downing's Young Scrooge and Julie Jupp's Ghost of Christmas Past; and of course, Shalloo is the sister of Jack Shalloo, who previously played Bob Cratchit, and Cratchit himself this year, Rob Compton, has graduated (triumphantly) from making the set in a previous year. This all makes for an easy Christmassy warmth. One wonders if the success of this production is in part as an antidote to our modern reality whereby our Scroogelike politicians strive to mollify our Scroogelike souls by "decreasing the surplus population" of "small boats" (aka an "invasion") and threaten to withdraw from any human rights convention that might show such people a measure of consideration. Scrooge's transformation, coupled by those wondrous tinkling bells, seems such a soothing dream tonic before we wake once again to Scrooge's real world dominant reality. Anyhow, I loved this production all over again today, and happily give it 4 and a half stars, just slightly behind my two aforementioned favourite versions of the project, and slightly ahead of some others. |
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Post by ceebee on Nov 19, 2023 7:29:17 GMT
Loved this tonight! Eccleston is softer and more vulnerable than you might imagine. The show still works it's magic. Some spoilers follow. . . I love extremes, and contrasting extremes, so Rhys Ifans, the most jubilantly joyous effusive Scrooge, and Owen Teale, the most frightening, powerful and violently malevolent Scrooge, are my two favourites from the run so far. Nonetheless, Eccleston is a memorable and distinctive Scrooge. He probably does himself a disservice by doing proper acting, as he abandons his brittle, cutting, colder Lancashire brogue (which might have served the setup of the character better) for a warmer, huskier, London received pronunciation type accent. The effect is to blunt the character's apparent meanness at the beginning, but at the same time, this sense of softness fits perfectly with his greyed, dessicated, shock-haired zombie appearance to create the sense of Scrooge as the walking dead, a man from whom life has drained away, a ghost of a man. This then allows life to be breathed into his hollow husk over the course of the show, until at the end, life courses through him as he does a jaunty jig. For me, he is less transformed, as Ifans and Teale were, as resurrected over the course of the play, which is in its own less dramatic way, equally moving. There is a kind of familial and familiar warmth about this year's revival, with returning players among the cast including Frances McNamee's Belle, Rose Shalloo's Little Fan, Alastair Parker's Fezziwig, Andrew Langtree's Marley, Geraint Downing's Young Scrooge and Julie Jupp's Ghost of Christmas Past; and of course, Shalloo is the sister of Jack Shalloo, who previously played Bob Cratchit, and Cratchit himself this year, Rob Compton, has graduated (triumphantly) from making the set in a previous year. This all makes for an easy Christmassy warmth. One wonders if the success of this production is in part as an antidote to our modern reality whereby our Scroogelike politicians strive to mollify our Scroogelike souls by "decreasing the surplus population" of "small boats" (aka an "invasion") and threaten to withdraw from any human rights convention that might show such people a measure of consideration. Scrooge's transformation, coupled by those wondrous tinkling bells, seems such a soothing dream tonic before we wake once again to Scrooge's real world dominant reality. Anyhow, I loved this production all over again today, and happily give it 4 and a half stars, just slightly behind my two aforementioned favourite versions of the project, and slightly ahead of some others. Geraint Downing plays Ferdy/George not Young Scrooge. |
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Post by blue48 on Nov 20, 2023 20:38:43 GMT
Does anybody know if Christopher Eccleston shows up at the stage door after matinee performances? |
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Post by happysooz2 on Nov 20, 2023 22:27:43 GMT
Does anyone know if this plans to return next year? One of the marketing emails from the Old Vic used the tagline ‘make it your Christmas tradition’ which made me hopeful that it would return next year (and for many more.) (I’d add a screenshot but I have no idea how to do that on this forum from a mobile.) |
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Post by Being Alive on Nov 21, 2023 11:37:00 GMT
Oh it's back next year
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Post by theatrefan62 on Nov 21, 2023 11:39:11 GMT
That's good, we had to return tickets to box office due to family member in ICU so hoped it would be back next year. When I returned tickets and asked the person on the phone if it was back next year, I did get impression she may have been hinting yes, but we can't say. |
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Post by Jon on Nov 21, 2023 15:38:57 GMT
I'm sure there are plenty of actors who want to play Scrooge. My suggestion a while back was Shaun Evans although he'd be a lot younger than previous Scrooges. Peter Capaldi is another that comes to mind.
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Post by ceebee on Nov 21, 2023 22:01:35 GMT
I'm sure there are plenty of actors who want to play Scrooge. My suggestion a while back was Shaun Evans although he'd be a lot younger than previous Scrooges. Peter Capaldi is another that comes to mind. I would love to see Peter Capaldi play Scrooge - would be amazing. I'd also love to see Rhys Ifans return to the role. |
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Post by rumbledoll on Nov 22, 2023 19:59:58 GMT
Peter Capaldi gets my vote!
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Post by Being Alive on Nov 22, 2023 23:36:45 GMT
Eccleston felt like an entirely different character to the usual Scrooge, but it felt weirdly the most Dickensian of any of them that I've seen.
Really moving again, lovely to see such a great audience reaction still to it.
Bring on next year.
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Post by ceebee on Nov 23, 2023 20:21:46 GMT
Excellent reviews for this year's cast - four and five star.
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Post by justfran on Nov 23, 2023 20:41:22 GMT
I'm sure there are plenty of actors who want to play Scrooge. My suggestion a while back was Shaun Evans although he'd be a lot younger than previous Scrooges. Peter Capaldi is another that comes to mind. Shaun Evans is a great suggestion 😊 |
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