4,020 posts
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Post by Dawnstar on Aug 7, 2016 20:31:20 GMT
I haven't seen this but I saw Fra Fee in Candide and A Little Night Music and found him vocally disappointing in both. He didn't seem to have a good enough upper register for either Candide or Henrik.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2016 8:19:10 GMT
I thought the majority of them suffered at times. They weren't miked so they were fighting with the band and were drowned out quite a bit. The only one that didn't really seem to struggle was Ken Christiansen (who also gave the best performance IMO).
It was a little like an episode of 'Dynasty' set to music. Only it was the one episode in the series that didn't feature Joan Collins.
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1,936 posts
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Post by wickedgrin on Aug 8, 2016 12:03:49 GMT
I do think that when a show is on in a small fringe theatre for a limited time, the audience can be mainly friends and family of the cast or at least industry insiders who are obviously supportive. Hence the positive buzz in the audience. For a paying, none partisan theatre goer like me, who loves theatre but isn't part of it, however, it is no wonder I feel out of step with the majority. Actors love to be praised in the bar afterwards by their friends answering the question "Well what did you think?". They really don't want to hear that the costumes were pretty.
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4,968 posts
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Post by Phantom of London on Aug 8, 2016 12:34:55 GMT
Agree with everything said, in the last 5 posts, a bad choice of show, to start a new theatre with. I was underwhelmed also.
Hopefully Children of Eden and Moby Dick will raise the bar.
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6 posts
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Post by Scripps on Aug 8, 2016 21:33:25 GMT
I was glad to have the opportunity to see this show as I had missed the original and have enjoyed the recording. I do think the show has problems with its book - plot loopholes and a superficial treatment of its political machinations. The driving rock score managed to cover these quite well and gave the show a pace that it may not otherwise have had. I wonder if the original had the same ending or whether it's been changed for relevance this year (highly ambitious wife decides to stand for office herself after the men around her either fail or die). The cast were great and the only performance I had a problem with was Fra Free playing the son who is reluctantly groomed for political office and fails. I agree with the previous posters - this was effectively the lead role but his voice seemed to disappear at times and there wasn't much depth to his acting; this was surprising as I too had heard good things about him so, since I saw him at the evening performance the same day that Jelly Bean was at the matinee, perhaps it was an off-day.
This was apparently the last night and the composer had flown in from NY to be there and took a bow at the end.
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20 posts
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Post by juliem on Aug 9, 2016 8:00:23 GMT
No they used that same ending in the first run at the Union, but the Donmar version had Cal's son Cal Jr as the 'other Chandler waiting in the wings.' I didn't have problems with Fra Fee's voice (only when he has his back to the audience but that was similar with all the cast) but he didn't have the likeability that both John Barrowman and Louis Maskell possessed. He's just got one of those resting b*tch face faces! However I love this show and any production is warmly received.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2016 8:11:09 GMT
I thought Fra Fee was rather good myself and thought he played the character arc really well. He got caught out a bit when he had to reach some of the higher notes (mainly because of the band I think because others struggled too) but I do think his voice has rather a lovely tone to it. Plus he has a set of pecs you could sleep for weeks on!
Strangely (as it's normally the kind of OTT, scenery chewing performance I like) I thought Lucy Williamson was the odd one out. It was like she was in a completely different show altogether. I wouldn't be surprised if she saw the show as her audition piece for 'Mommy Dearest: The Musical'.
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