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The Musicals/Stage Productions Topic!!!

I’ve also seen Inside No.9 Stage/Fright (once or twice……) and it really is a fab show that alludes well to the TV series. A good mix of fan service and new material that everyone seems to really enjoy! Great news that it’s going on tour later in the year as it’s been such a smash hit down here.

A truly fitting end to what was a phenomenon of a TV series.
 
Just got back from seeing Red Or Dead at Liverpools Royal Court theatre.

Adapted from David Peace's book of the same name it tells the story of Bill Shanklys arrival at Liverpool, his success, shock retirement, and what happened next.

Peter Mullan was great as Bill Shankly.

Really enjoyed this, obviously as a Liverpool supporter it's massively in my wheel house having grown up on tales of Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, and the boot room.

Good use of songs of the era, as well as terrace chants, and of course you'll never walk alone.
 
Just been to see Hamilton at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool.

My third time seeing it now after London and Manchester. Such a great production this, nice thing now having seen it a few times I'm able to catch more stuff going on in the background and how the actors are interpreting the roles and songs slightly differently.
 
Last night I saw Cockfosters.
A very entertaining comedy set on a Piccadilly line as it leaves Heathrow and heads east. A cast of six play the various characters that come and go, leading to some rather surreal sketches. Loads of jokes only a true Tube regular would get.
Pretty much the entire audience was made up of fellow tube geeks. 🤣

Was surprised to see they made use of a certain Jay Foreman song. I assume he was more than up for letting them.

My personal highlight was
The rivalry between north / south and east / west coming to a head, via the medium of a rap battle.
 
Back at the theatre today at Liverpool Playhouse to see an adaptation for stage of Alfred Hitchcocks North By Northwest.

NORTH X NORTHWEST

Official website for the new UK stage production of Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller NORTH BY NORTH WEST. Adapted and Directed by Emma Rice.
www.northxnwplay.com www.northxnwplay.com

A play consisting of 6 actors, 1 playing Roger Thornhill, with the other 5 playing a multitude of roles. Plus a surprising amount of coats and suitcases.

The films a massive favourite of mine so was interested to see how it would work, and for the most part it stays very faithful to the plot of the film.

It's dramatic, brilliantly staged, a surprising amount of dance numbers, and very funny throughput.

Would definitely recommend it if your able to get to a show.
 
Rowe said:
I thought the nerds might like to see these recent documentaries by Brendon Henderson (Wait in the Wings), about Little Shop of Horrors and Chess.



Click to expand...

Funnily enough I was watching that Chess documentary the other day there (underrated musical IMO!) And I remember laughing at that Spiderman musical documentary also done...one of those shows that is like watching a train wreck in slow motion haha.
 
Just seen Hercules, Frozens replacement at the Theatre Royal. Technically still on rehearsals but it officially opens next week so apart from couple of misfiring effects I think they've pretty much got it all together.

It's obviously not been press reviewed yet, but public reviews I've seen have been middling to negative. A lot of that seems to come from those who were big fans of the original not being happy with the changes in story and character, which are undoubtedly large. I'd never even seen the film until a couple of weeks ago, so have none of that nostalgic expectation.

Comming at it completely fresh, I thought it was decent. There's a good amount of humour, an impressive and engaging set (even if it doesn't have some of the grander effects and illusions of most modern productions), and the narrative romps along at a decent pace. If there's a weakness it's the songs themselves, it lacks a big memorable number that pins down the likes of Frozen or The Lion King, but the gospel muse quintet are truly spectacular and go a long way to covering for the weakness of some of the material. They had the crowd whooping and cheering mid song repeatedly, a rarity in a west end show.

I don't really know how to grade it, partly because I don't really know who it's for. The best bit (the muses) will probably be a bit lost on the kids, but the villan shifting heavily towards panto style gives it a childishness even over the cartoon film. It got about 60% on the 6 year olds thumbometer, and I'd probably nudge that a bit higher. It's no frozen, but it absolutely is worth seeing.
 
I saw Stereophonic yesterday, which was not as good as I was expecting. The story is compelling enough, but would have benefited by trimming down by around half an hour.

It felt overly long and some of the acting was a little ropey - I'm not sure quite how to describe it, but in some places it felt rather underrehearsed and in others the characters felt one dimesional, which I couldn't quite work out if it was the writing or the acting causing the issues.

The real stand out elements of the performance were the set, costumes and music.

The staging definitely evoked the feel of a 1970s recording studio with lots of neat little touches. And the cast were really at their strongest when they were performing the musical numbers, which seemed to pop with a lot more energy than the spoken scenes.

It was quite jarring in a way, because when they were in the 'recording studio' the characters felt quite believable, which they did not in other contexts.

Not a disaster by any means, but hard to see how it gained so many 4 star reviews. Or indeed Tony Award nominations (though obviously that was a different cast, which would account for some of it)
 
Not massively into musicals or the theatre, but a West End show has been on my bucket list for a while. Had to be Phantom of the Opera for me (Cats might have won out had it still been running). Ticked it off this week finally. Fabulous production and performance by all.

I’m intrigued by Mousetrap and the Lion King. Has anyone seen those?
 
Tom said:
I’m intrigued by Mousetrap and the Lion King. Has anyone seen those?
Click to expand...

Both. Very different shows. Mousetrap is fine, traditional play, engaging but not exciting.
Lion King feels dated to me, the staging and effects when compared to more modern productions is a bit lacking. It's The Lion King though, so great songs amd it's certainly not bad.
 
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