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Post by showgirl on Apr 26, 2018 4:51:49 GMT
The furthest south it currently goes is Coventry in June, if you could manage a day trip, Phantom Of London? Should be combinable with something else in the area.
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Post by showgirl on Apr 27, 2018 5:16:59 GMT
I'm going anyway but was happy to see, this morning, a rave review by Ian Foster (ThereOughtToBeClowns), who sees more theatre than anyone I've ever heard of but says this is the best thing he's seen so far this year.
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Post by anniel on Apr 29, 2018 6:59:44 GMT
Went to see this on Friday and can agree with the great reviews.
It's a fantastic night out wth some absolutely cracking performances - especially the two main blokes, who are both excellent.
The staging is really good ( possibly a bit busy) but it is fluid and they use the big space of the Playhouse stage really well. You're really drawn in in to the production. The second half is really affecting and there were lots of sniffles as the mum sang Sunshine on Leith.
The singing and dancing are spot on: it's not jazz hands and shiny teeth - but it genuine, sincere and the harmonies gave me goose bumps. I don't even think you have to like The Proclaimers!!!
The standing ovation and cheers at the end were really heartfelt.
It was great!
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Post by richey on Apr 29, 2018 11:12:03 GMT
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Post by showgirl on May 5, 2018 4:02:02 GMT
My sister and I enjoyed this at the matinee on Thursday 3, which happened to be a relaxed performance but which we attended because it was the only date/time combo we could do.
Having loved the film I wondered whether the theatrical revival would match up and it was a slow burn but really got to me by the end - and I don't usually say that. The performers are indeed great, as is the music, but the really strong book underpins it effectively, which isn't always the case.
On the "relaxed performance" note, I think it's brilliant that so many theatres now offer these and similar performances, eg with captions, etc. I, probably along with many others here, almost take going to the theatre for granted and I moan about online booking issues, prices, seats, etc, yet I am so lucky to be able to attend as frequently and readily as I do and it's performances like this which remind me of that and make me appreciate my circumstances.
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Post by sf on May 5, 2018 22:15:54 GMT
Saw it this afternoon. It's wonderful - great songs, excellent book, superb production with a wonderful ensemble cast, and the curtain call more or less blew the roof off the theatre.
Someone is missing a trick, though. There's a long-out-of-print cast album from the original Dundee Rep production; this afternoon's audience loved the show, and if the CD had been on sale in the theatre afterwards there'd have been a line of takers, me included.
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Post by showgirl on May 6, 2018 4:48:35 GMT
Another aspect of this production which surprised and impressed me was that at the end, the actor playing Davy stepped forward to invite the audience to meet the cast a few minutes later. I've never known this to happen before though obviously some theatres do Q & A sessions before or after certain performances and at smaller venues you might see cast members in the bar afterwards. In this case, however, the company seemed positively to encourage and welcome audience involvement - though this may have been just for the relaxed performance. I'd have loved to stay but my sister clearly wasn't expecting to linger once the show was over so that was that. I hope a reasonable number did stay as many stood up to leave when we did. Those who have seen this show, is this a regular feature, please?
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Post by sf on May 6, 2018 13:45:10 GMT
Another aspect of this production which surprised and impressed me was that at the end, the actor playing Davy stepped forward to invite the audience to meet the cast a few minutes later. I've never known this to happen before though obviously some theatres do Q & A sessions before or after certain performances and at smaller venues you might see cast members in the bar afterwards. In this case, however, the company seemed positively to encourage and welcome audience involvement - though this may have been just for the relaxed performance. I'd have loved to stay but my sister clearly wasn't expecting to linger once the show was over so that was that. I hope a reasonable number did stay as many stood up to leave when we did. Those who have seen this show, is this a regular feature, please? That might just be for the relaxed performances. It didn't happen at yesterday's matinee. |
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Post by TallPaul on May 8, 2018 13:07:50 GMT
Having changed my original booking, I too was there on Saturday afternoon. And I too was sitting on row C.
Apart from the excellence of the singing and musicianship, I think what struck me most was how the ensemble has already become a really tight company, no doubt helped by one or two nights out around Leeds on the pish. I know they are actors (and/or musicians) but I don't think you can fake that kind of chemistry.
It wasn't the reason I booked, but the Saturday matinee was a signed performance. Watching the interpreter, who was standing just to my left, under her very own spotlight, was absolutely fascinating. She was arguably the hardest working member of the cast. Not only did she sign all the dialogue, and the words to the songs, but she also signed the musical instrument(s) being played, the tempo and the applause. On one or two occasions, she also nearly went flying!
And there was a really sweet moment during 500 Miles (at least I thought so). The teenage girl sitting directly in front of me started doing something 'unusual' with her arms, which must have caught the eye of one of the cast, cos he looked straight at her and started doing exactly the same.
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Post by lichtie on May 15, 2018 8:51:53 GMT
Don't normally go to musicals much as I tend to find them irritating, but decided to give this a bash last week as it's got songs by the Proclaimers, it's my local theatre and the last major production in the Quarry before the refurbishment kicks in over the summer. So with low expectations I have to say it was great. One or two wandering accents, and a plot so skimpy it almost vanished, but simple good fun.
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Post by n1david on May 19, 2018 22:10:34 GMT
Loved, loved, loved this tonight. Understudy Euan Bennett on for Ally but you’d never have guessed. Not the most profound piece of theatre I’ve seen this year but definitely one of the most enjoyable.
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Post by duncan on May 23, 2018 21:07:14 GMT
18 - Sunshine on Leith - Kings Edinburgh
Returning from war overseas, servicemen Davy and Ally return home to Edinburgh. Ally wants to settle down and marry Davys sister Liz whilst Davy becomes involved with an English nurse called Yvonne. With their prospects not looking much further than a call centre position can they find love, a future and will we discover exactly how far would they walk….
This is amiable enough old toot but it could be so much better than this production allows. Based around the songs of The Proclaimers with a book written by Stephen "River City" Greenhorn this show never catches fire until the last track. That's when the show really gets going but by then as its the last song its far too late to save this from the general air of ennui that covers the show.
The staging is banal - continual sightings of backstage members coming on stage in the middle of numbers to turn the set, a door that wouldn't shut for the first act to the hilarity of the audience and a fight at the end of the first act that has all of the passion and emotion of Noddy.
Some of the more famous songs are thrown away on poor orchestrations or given to characters who don't have the voice to carry off the tune.
The book strikes me as unbalanced - the first half is mainly the Ally and Davy show but after the break one of them is relegated to about 10th banana whilst we have to sit through the turgid aftermath of an adultery from 28 years previously. This leads to the character having to exposition away his final decision in a serious case of where we desperately needed some "show don't tell" in the script.
On the positive side some of the ensemble, especially Tyler Collins, are magnetic and much more interesting than the main characters and as a Jukebox musical its one of the better ones I've seen as it manages to integrate most of the songs seamlessly into the plot but overall I cant help but think that this production is a misfire that needs more work on it to bring it to live.
A sold out but wouldn't really recommend 7/10
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Post by ceebee on Apr 4, 2023 9:45:23 GMT
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Post by ceebee on May 21, 2023 10:29:34 GMT
Saw this yesterday - excellent cast with some really impressive performances. Well done to everybody involved.
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