Theatre 2024

Loved seeing Vanya on the big screen, funny and heartbreaking in equal measure. For Scott to portray 8 different characters over the space of 100 minutes without any breaks or intervals was astonishing.
 
:bad: Hmmm.

West End? Really? Seriously where would that be successful?

That just says it’s being written, so a bit of a premature report. I predict a 6 month national tour.
 
I can't imagine it being successful as a local tour, unless it's hyper local and places like town halls. Or very small, a couple of hundred capacity venues in bigger places. But would they generate enough money to make it viable?

The I Should Be So Lucky musical is here in around 5 weeks and is struggling to sell tickets - of the 7 shows, ATG shows good availability for 5, and medium for the other two. For the Saturday evening show we're seeing, the stalls are about half sold, but the Grand and Upper circles are about 15% sold I'd say, looking the booking page.

There will be some deep discounting closer to the dates, I imagine - they are still trying to charge £111 for some tickets, and that's only seats, not the 'VIP Experience' or whatever they call it. Who do they think is going to pay that for an SAW musical? I paid £60 seven months ago and thought that was pushing it. And those tickets have now increased to £72, despite there being loads left. I bet they will be going for less than what I paid in the next few weeks.

But my point is, if people aren't interested in that, who do they think is going to be interested in a BUCKS FIZZ musical?
 
lolly said:
There will be some deep discounting closer to the dates, I imagine - they are still trying to charge £111 for some tickets, and that's only seats, not the 'VIP Experience' or whatever they call it. Who do they think is going to pay that for an SAW musical? I paid £60 seven months ago and thought that was pushing it. And those tickets have now increased to £72, despite there being loads left. I bet they will be going for less than what I paid in the next few weeks.
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That is absolutely ridiculous. I don’t really understand this business model. It’s not even dynamic pricing!

I’m going to see MJ The Musical on Friday and that has practically sold out for the first month at least. Checking new availability in the current run, they’ve increased the prices and added on VIP packages to any vaguely decent stalls seat, doubling the price of what I originally paid.

I mean that I get, as it seems like it’s going to be popular. I also get it when they do it with touring productions of Wicked/Les Mis etc. that are bonafide hits with limited runs in the regional venues. But I Should Be So Lucky? Really?
 
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MJ The Musical last night!

I know hardly anyone here is interested, but it really was excellent. First time I think I’ve seen a mid-show standing ovation. Probably the most diverse audience I’ve ever experienced, so surely signs of a hit.

The way they did Thriller was insane! This definitely needs to win awards for lighting design (and more). Don’t think I’ve seen a jukebox musical quite like this before.
 
Back from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie which was a Mother’s Day gift. I was so certain she’d love it, but she didn’t.

I think the West End version was wonderful, but this touring production was a bit of a letdown, and strangely it’s got 4-5 star reviews. Giovanna Fletcher can’t really sing, dance or act, so NO idea why she was cast. John Partridge seemingly has a seasoned stage career but by jove he cannot sing at ALL :o It properly ruined the whole show.

The rest of the cast were good, but I’d never been to the Peacock Theatre before, and the sound was just a bit shite which really affected the enjoyment :(
 
Sister Act 2 booked for good Friday. I don't think much is going to live up to Sunset Boulevard though this year :o
 
Ellie said:
Back from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie which was a Mother’s Day gift. I was so certain she’d love it, but she didn’t.

I think the West End version was wonderful, but this touring production was a bit of a letdown, and strangely it’s got 4-5 star reviews. Giovanna Fletcher can’t really sing, dance or act, so NO idea why she was cast. John Partridge seemingly has a seasoned stage career but by jove he cannot sing at ALL :o It properly ruined the whole show.

The rest of the cast were good, but I’d never been to the Peacock Theatre before, and the sound was just a bit shite which really affected the enjoyment :(
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Jamie never appealed to me enough to want to see it in London. I thought I'd see it when it toured here, but then I decided against it when Shane Richie was in that cast. The touring production is here in a few weeks, and John Partridge put me off again. Perhaps it'll never happen.
 
Very excited to learn that there's a new production of Mary Poppins coming later this year, and it's opening here in November :disco:
 


Saw The Mind Mangler for a second time last week - anyone with a sense of humour please see it!

I’m about to see Wild About You concert version now - don’t want to be here but it was a seat filler option and I couldn’t not turn up :(

Got MJ The Musical press night on Wednesday (somehow they clocked my frequent booking as being a fan and offered me last minute tickets in the Grand Circle, so couldn’t say no). Standing At The Sky’s Edge on Thursday.

Also bagged a third showing of the finale performance of Bronco Billy. That show was just TOO good. Critics be damned.
 
Interval for Wild About You:

I forget what a beautiful voice Oliver Tompsett has every time. Shame he always looks awkward on stage being about a foot and a half taller than everyone else. Eric McCormack is… competent. Rachel Tucker only really shines when she belts, but boy can she belt!

Todrick Hall seems to be the absolute highlight of this production, and so far he’s the only non-singing role.

I think this would be better as a play rather than a musical.
 
Well, Act 1 was kinda some bisexual melodrama, and Act 2 was a bit of a rip-off of Ghost. Wasn’t expecting that! Still it was rather enjoyable and I’m glad I saw it.

Not hearing great things about Opening Night with Sheridan Smith. There’s an embargo until later in the week, but reading between the lines, the reactions have been interesting.


 
I quite liked Opening Night, but it IS an odd one, and nowhere near as good as it could or should be.

It's absolutely not a fit for Sheridan's target audience, too. They surely want big brassy showtunes and a bit of fun, not an avant garde musical about a lady haunted by the vision of a dead girl, a barely there plot, and crucially NO TUNES.
 
Finn said:
I quite liked Opening Night, but it IS an odd one, and nowhere near as good as it could or should be.

It's absolutely not a fit for Sheridan's target audience, too. They surely want big brassy showtunes and a bit of fun, not an avant garde musical about a lady haunted by the vision of a dead girl, a barely there plot, and crucially NO TUNES.
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A very very rare one star review from this site who are normally incredibly positive about most things:

www.allthatdazzles.co.uk

Review: Opening Night (Gielgud Theatre)

Baffling choices and poor writing make this world premiere musical the most disappointing West End show in many a year.
www.allthatdazzles.co.uk www.allthatdazzles.co.uk
 
Let's not give attention to the weirdo theatre blogger 'Daz Gale'.

It looks to have split the critics though - 1 star from the Standard and The i; 4 stars from the Guardian, Time Out and Daily M@il; 2s and 3s from others.

I reckon I'd give it 3 stars, but only just.
 
I’ve just walked out of a West End musical for the first time. The bloody Best New Musical from the Olivier Awards last year, Standing At The Sky’s Edge. I was quite looking forward to it based on the awards performance, which looked brilliant.

I didn’t like to tag it or say the name on social
media, but all I did was tweet a photo of the stage to say I’d walked out. I don’t have many followers, but instantly got 3 replies from people saying they wish they had done the same.

New theory on professional critics (and freelance amateurs are included I suppose) - they didn’t pay for their ticket so don’t have anything to lose by sitting through this kind of guff. Also thought it was a bit weird that they had the “House Full” sign up outside when inside there were whole empty rows in the premium section. Someone, somewhere is just a big fat liar about this show.

It’s barely a musical. Quite clearly written by someone who HATES musicals. The sound was utterly dreadful with the songs bland and ill-placed in a show. Either too quiet or too loud. They never really progressed any part of plot or character, and most of the cast were a little pitchy. Choreography was amateur at best.

Also, I’m a 43 year old white, middle class person. The ENTIRE audience (yes, I was looking around out of boredom, and did go to the loo in the interval and saw the masses of queues) were middle aged, middle class looking white people. I can’t explain it, but in London that always makes me feel kind of uncomfortable for some reason.
 
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Oooo that all white middle class audience thing in the middle of London freaks me out too. It’s happened to me twice - both at things I didn’t really want to be at in the first place (both tickets from my parents because they assume ‘everyone will like it’): at Wembley Staidum for ELO (the only face in the entire place that was non-white was my boyfriend at the time and it was so weird for him though my parents didn’t seem to notice) and at Peter Kay at the O2 (and a couple of his jokes without being racist per se I did wonder to myself if they felt a bit weird to be doing with no ethnic minorities in the room).

Anyway… back to your musical. That’s so interesting - I always thought it was a bit weird how a bunch of Richard Hawley songs would sell a musical anyway.
 
Saw Sister Act the Musical last night.

Had great seats which was a plus, and Bev Knight of course brilliant with the voice. It was fun all in all, as expected one for the masses, huge theatre I don't think i've been in the Dominion since Bat out of Hell and was reminded how huge it is, Ruth Jones was amusing as expected, the welshness worked well for Mother Superior and she threw in at least one Gavin and Stacey phrase (after a shout out/heckle from the crowd - ( :goodgrief: )
Good to see Lesley Joseph running about in the comedic role still - lots of energy, no voice - but it fits the character obviously.

All very fun, and quite long - the cast really do put in the work on this one.

I know its a different type of show, but it was no Sunset Blvd with Nicole, but then, WHAT IS?!
 
I saw this a couple of years ago with Bev and Jennifer Saunders and it was fine, but I really do think the stage version is so disappointing compared to the movie.
 
I’ve heard there have been updates to this version. Only saw the one at the Palladium years ago so am looking forward to this. Got front row centre in just over a week.
 
Sister Act has always been one of those ones I saw when younger but seemingly couldn't remember all the way through, I was obsessing over Sound of Music and Annie and never really gave SA a chance although was familiar with it. I don't think i would have gone to this if my friend wasn't so wanting to go. These are all new songs in the show I was told? I spent all week telling people at work I was going to see SISTER ACT TWO BACK IN THE HABIT they must have quietly corrected me in their head. BUT I am going to watch the second move with Lauryn again at some point this weekend, people rave about it and I need to remind myself of it :disco:
 
Ellie said:
I’ve heard there have been updates to this version. Only saw the one at the Palladium years ago so am looking forward to this. Got front row centre in just over a week.
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Oh front row! :disco: Did you get a deal? We were 5th row I think and £104 each
 
Maybe Rachel Tucker's going on for her instead
 
Well it’s FINE. Is it being broadcast on the night? I’ll be at Cool Rider Live instead!

Anyway, 4 times a charm as I did a last minute call to MJ tonight. Both Myles and the alternate have been unwell and they cancelled the last 2 days of shows. So they got the US tour alternate on a long haul flight, touched down in London and he performed the matinee and evening shows having never even met the cast before.

You hear of emergency covers making their way across London at a moments notice, but this is something else! He wasn’t as good as Myles Frost but under the circumstances he did an incredible job. The only real problem - facially he looked a lot like Prince.
 
Halli said:
omg
wtf is cool rider live
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Grease 2 in concert as a 10th anniversary of their one week run at the Duchess Theatre. But this time at the Palladium! Bit of a difference in size :D

coolriderlive.com

Cool Rider: 10th Anniversary Concert

Cool Rider is back for it's 10th Anniversary Concert, for one night only at the London Palladium on Sunday 14th April at 7pm.
coolriderlive.com coolriderlive.com
 
Ellie said:
Grease 2 in concert as a 10th anniversary of their one week run at the Duchess Theatre. But this time at the Palladium! Bit of a difference in size :D

coolriderlive.com

Cool Rider: 10th Anniversary Concert

Cool Rider is back for it's 10th Anniversary Concert, for one night only at the London Palladium on Sunday 14th April at 7pm.
coolriderlive.com coolriderlive.com
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Oh I would love that, One night only though and I am away in Egypt! (Not a weekend break, either!)
 
Sheridan Smith and Ivo von Howe’s “musical misfire” Opening Night is closing two months early.
 
Ellie said:
Unsurprising!

Kinky Boots tour has just been announced with Johannes from Strictly as Lola!! No London dates :(
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I've booked for Kinky Boots.

Just come out of I Should Be So Lucky. Quite possibly the worst thing I have ever seen.
 
I saw it a few weeks back and felt similar. I normally love a jukebox musical (I'll pop my brain out and have a LOVELY TIME) but this was too ropey. And those songs have never sounded so bad.

In the interval we checked the cast list on the website and were AGOG to find that pretty much everyone was played by the intended cast member, as we'd assumed it was understudies agogo.

I did enjoy the fact characters drank KYLIE WINE throughout, coz clearly they weren't paying Kylie enough outright to do her pre-recorded magic mirror scenes. I also enjoyed the token homosexual hen party friend, performance-wise
 
Honestly Mamma Mia is SURELY just as bad as far as plot and performance goes. I see very little difference apart from the song catalogue.
 
I went to see Cabaret last night. I went in with low expectations of the STAR CASTING but thought Cara Delavigne and her great eyebrows did a pretty good job as Sally Bowles.
 
Was tempted by Opening Night and wasn't going to let talk of walkouts or bad reviews in THE SUN dissuade me but my friend who is into that sort of AVANT GARDE nonsense saw it and his response was pretty MEH so I think I'll save myself the pennies.
 
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