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Post by sf on Dec 13, 2018 1:36:32 GMT
This may be common knowledge, but they've released two additional rows of seats at the front of the stage. There's a link from the main Kiss Me Kate page on the Crucible website to book them (if you use the main link to book seats, the extra rows don't show). Look to all be priced at £15. Managed to grab a front row seat over the Christmas period. Just raising this in case anyone has booked the "old" front row and will now find they're in the third row. I know how annoying it is when that happens to me. Also, there's very good availability for those seats, which makes me think that most people haven't cottoned on yet.
Thank you! Just booked one.
There appears to still be at least a few of these seats available for all but two performances. The route to them is fairly easy to find if you know what you're looking for, but not necessarily obvious if you don't. Follow the instructions above and you'll get there - and it's worth the effort, the seats directly behind these rows are three times the price at the performance I booked.
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Post by sf on Dec 13, 2018 1:38:26 GMT
I can’t STAND THIS SHOW!!! Anyone else?
I really didn't like the story at all. And was it meant to be funny that the woman got spanked for arguing with her ex?
It was meant to be funny... in 1948.
Today, the material presents some difficulties - but so does The Taming of the Shrew.
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Post by Dr Tom on Dec 29, 2018 10:06:15 GMT
Kiss Me Kate is one of those musicals I've never seen, mainly because I've never been sold on the subject matter.
I saw it last night at the Crucible and I'm glad I gave it a chance. It's enjoyable.
It really isn't particularly memorable and it's long (2 hours 55 minutes) but the cast gave it their all and the Crucible was full.
I can tell people weren't enjoying it. I had an excellent bargain front row centre seat, but had people next to me who didn't applaud at all, and kept seeing a family on the front row at the side whose two jogging suit clad sons were so bored they were barely looking at the stage. But at least they were well behaved.
The two leads, Edward Baker-Duly and Rebecca Lock were excellent. Great to see Edward in a meaty role and showing off his fine voice compared to his small role in The King and I (to be reprised on tour next year). Most of the other roles are quite small.
Also good to see Simon Oskarsson in the ensemble and showing his trumpet playing skills during his solos in Too Darn Hot. But not on roller skates like the last time I saw him.
Another good Crucible winter musical. It's not a show I'll rush back to, but that's just because there are so many better classic musicals out there. But it's performed as well as it can be without going through one of those of trendy rewrites of the book.
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Post by sf on Dec 29, 2018 16:04:08 GMT
But it's performed as well as it can be without going through one of those of trendy rewrites of the book. Well, actually... I don't see it myself until Wednesday, but I believe this version uses the script from the 1999 Broadway revival, which included significant (uncredited) rewrites by John Guare and Michael Blakemore. "From This Moment On" is in this version of the show, right? It's not in the original script or score. |
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Post by Dr Tom on Dec 29, 2018 18:15:36 GMT
Well, actually... I don't see it myself until Wednesday, but I believe this version uses the script from the 1999 Broadway revival, which included significant (uncredited) rewrites by John Guare and Michael Blakemore. "From This Moment On" is in this version of the show, right? It's not in the original script or score. Yes, it is included. I remember thinking about the Carpenters version when it was being performed. So I presume this is the 1999 Broadway version. |
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Post by TallPaul on Jan 2, 2019 18:14:51 GMT
Well, I thought this was an excellent production of a less than perfect musical, with an anti-climatic ending.
I could have done without all the Shakespeare nonsense, and would the General's song really be missed, along with one or two others, but the three hours genuinely only felt like 2. Perhaps being so close to the action helped?
I loved the drawn-out opening numbers of both acts. Can someone more learned than I please tell me if that is usual, or is it a directorial decision for this production? And Amy Ellen Richardson is now my second most favourite actress, after Natalie Dew, obvs.
If only my good friend Caiaphas was still a board member. He would have loved the young actor blowing his trumpet on stage!!!
And as I went to the very last performance in 2018, the cast wished us all a happy new year, which I thought was a lovely touch.
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Post by ptwest on Jan 2, 2019 18:41:55 GMT
Thoroughly enjoyed this today, superbly performed by a very talented cast.
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Post by ptwest on Jan 2, 2019 20:10:16 GMT
Will add a bit more detail now: Crucible was almost full, but a very old audience who were appreciative without going overboard, although every comment I heard on the way out was positive particularly when discussing Rebecca Lock; quite rightly as she is excellent. The subject matter is a little problematic in this day and age but taken as a period piece it works well. In my head it felt more like a musical farce (as in genre, not a bad production). Overall, the energy and talent of the cast won out resulting in a very entertaining afternoon. The Crucible is a wonderful space for shows like this, every seat is close to the action giving a really intimate feel to the performance.
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Post by sf on Jan 3, 2019 0:11:47 GMT
I was also there this afternoon. Rebecca Lock is absolutely wonderful, it's a very strong production, there are elements of the plot that - what's a delicate way to put this? - show us loudly and clearly how much the world has changed since 1948, and I really don't love this version of the book or the shoehorned-in From This Moment On. Or rather, I love the song and it doesn't belong in Kiss Me, Kate - and yes I know it was in the film. I do understand why people choose this version - the original book is overlong and slow-paced and REALLY needs trimming (the Opera North production, which presented the original book without any cuts and used David Charles Abell and Seann Alderking's critical edition of the score, ran 15 minutes longer than this one does, and this one has an extra song thrown in) - but it just needs trimming. It didn't need a wholesale rewrite, which is what it gets here, and the rewrites aren't improvements.
And having said that, most people aren't as geeky about this stuff as I am, and this IS a very good production indeed. I don't want to give the impression I didn't enjoy it, because I absolutely did - I just have (big) reservations about this version of the book.
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