A Face in the Crowd - Young Vic

Totally agree - I decided that the "Applaud" and "Laughter" signs were trying to be ironic, particularly the way one of the cast pointed at the Applaud sign as if to say "come on, this is your bit".  I came away last night quite angry that such a talented cast, rich storyline and high quality music composition was wasted so badly - I concluded half way through the second half and walking down The Cut that it was just the really p***-poor direction that spoiled it for me.  It took a perfectly good potential four star show into 2.5/3 star territory for me, with credit given to the cast and Costello's music.  The flat alignment of actors across the very shallow underused stage and the use of extreme edges totally destroying the "widescreen" feel of the set by knocking out the peripheral vision element that could have made the show far more expansive.  This show is a criminal waste of a talented cast - I can't believe Costello waited so long to stage this just to have it ruined by the direction, which was weak, basic and unambitious.

Given the mixed reviews, for at least the 3rd time recently at the Young Vic, I have a ticket I don't plan to use but no obvious way of not wasting it. It's "only" a Lucky Dip one as it was the most affordable for a matinee, which I booked to play safe in case the running time was too long for an evening visit. I'd rather use the time to see something else I'm more likely to enjoy, especially as I'm having an op soon which is going to impact existing bookings, quite apart from making it hard to book anything new - and as most people here would, I always have a list of productions to fit in. My ex would gladly use my ticket for the music alone as he's an Elvis Costello fan, but the date clashes with a match & football comes first. I begin to wish that the Young Vic would offer a PAYG scheme like the Southwark Playhouse one as that would have saved me nearly £40 this year - though arguably taking a chance on the cheapest tickets is an unintended form of insurance.

I returned a ticket from earlier in the run and have a 6 month credit to use, in case that helps. Although I can't see anything I fancy ... helpful Box Office man did say book something and then do another return later on ...

Yes 100% to this one. Felt like a big plot point that never ended up going anywhere.

So .. it was what it was.

I went on Saturday night, stayed away from storyline spoilers but had caught some of the bad reviews along the way. My favourite show of two years ago got one star reviews across the board (Yeast Nation) so I like to see things for myself rather than believe the reviews.

However, pretty much everything I've since read, including in this thread, is fair. It's a bit of a mess.

There are positives! Some good songs, some great lighting, some Ramin Karimloo. He absolutely drags this up to being something I don't regret seeing. He really is that good.

We had a good few walkouts at the interval, including the couple sat next to me. Must be disheartening for the players to come back and see some empty seats staring back at them, when it's not their fault.

The negatives have been covered already, it has no single vision. It's three or four shows smashed together. Characters do things completely out of character. The show absolutely DOES have something to say, it just doesn't have the words,sentences or even speak the right language to do so.

Personally, I think it's worth saving. There's enough good there that someone with a large black Sharpie and a script could improve the show in a single sitting.

A talented cast, in a great building, who deserved to work with something better.

Saw this last night and have to say I was disappointed. Thought the cast did a good job. We had the understudy for Marcia and my friends had no idea she was the cover. Seemed like it was probably her first time in the role as the cast seemed to be giving her hugs and stuff at curtain call and she even fell down on the stage on her back! lol Can't say I would recommend the show. It was hard to really care about any of these characters. I do love Ramin so always great to see him! 2.5 stars for me.

Went to the matinee today and mostly I thought it was charming.
I kept waiting for some big reveal from the past like a wife or that he was on the run or awol, but that didn’t happen. And so the plot was thin to non existent.
But I still enjoyed it, I liked the songs and the costumes and the cast were fabulous.