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The Musicals/Stage Productions Topic!!!

I went to see Singin In The Rain at the Mayflower for the first time on Thursday evening and I thoroughly enjoyed it. :)
 
As I said, during my insomnia this morning I was looking for clips of Tommy. I found a complete show split in to clips, of an am dram production in America. (I believe that while it was at a high school, the cast was not exclusively students, there were several adults in it as well.)
As am dram goes, it's a pretty good show. Mrs Walker and Uncle Ernie are especially good. Tommy himself was also very commendable.

But one of the worst examples of casting I have ever seen goes to The Acid Queen. If you are not familiar with the show, the role is a drug crazed prostitute who attempts to "cure" Tommy with sex and drugs. In the film, she was played amazingly by Tina Turner, as seen here:



Unfortunately, this am dram production seems to have cast a girl soley on the criteria of "she looks hot in knee high boots", and forgot to check if she could sing. I warn you, this may be unwatchable...



I almost feel sorry for the lass. Almost.
 
Went to see Curious Incident at the Regent Theatre in Stoke tonight. It was fantastic. Definitely think it's the best theatre production I've seen. It's still got several venues to visit on its tour around the UK, so if you want to go and see it (and I definitely think you should), then check this link out!
 
Thought I'd drag this topic back up again. :p Since the last post in this thread almost two years ago now, I've finally managed to see a couple of shows on the West End. Both are shows that I'd been waiting to see for a long time.

First up was Les Misérables, which I saw back in October 2015. It felt strange to be such a fan of the show and not even seen it on stage. In all honesty, it was definitely worth the wait. By far the best musical I've ever seen. I simply cannot rate it highly enough. I got to the point where I was singing along to the finale - I was getting into it that much! :p The set alone is a work of genius with the turntable in the centre just proving so versatile in terms of what goes on it, and the barricades are just phenomenal. Seeing the classic tricolor lighting finale topped it off for me. Even within the first couple of songs, I got shivers down my spine. I do also remember quite clearly, at the end of 'One Day More', after the applause had died down and the interval had started, just sitting there open-mouthed, astounded at what I had just seen. I think the exact words I spoke to Mike once I'd picked my jaw up off the floor were "Why the hell have I not seen this before?" It fully deserved the standing ovation that it got.

Then, a couple of months ago, came Curious Incident. Again. :p First time I'd seen it on the West End, second time I'd seen the show performed live, and the third overall. It's blown me away every single time I've seen it. Each time, I've taken something new away from it. There's the bit at the end of the first act when the train set and all the accessories light up, and the train moves as well. When I saw that again, my face just lit up. I'd forgotten that that happened, and it was one of those rare moments that just felt so magical. As soon as the house lights went up for the interval, Mike turned to me and said "I'd forgotten how good that was." Which, funnily enough, were the exact same words I was going to say to him as well! :p Honestly, it is so worth it. I'm just gutted it's closing in the West End later this year, but it's still on tour for a while yet. Definitely a show worth seeing, and one I'd love to study in further depth!
 
BUMP!

Had a great night out, seeing a limmited run revival of the show that first made me notice lighting as a kid, and think "I want to do THAT!": Joseph [etc. etc.] Dreamcoat. Had I not seen it when I did, my life would certainly be unrecognisable to me now.

This was an all-new production, rather than just digging out the old set plans and blocking, and on a smaller scale than I expected, but it works well.
Technology has moved on just a bit since the early 90's, and now the entire proscenium of the stage is framed in LED strips that change colour in time with the lyrics of "Josheph's Coat". I dread to think how many LX cues must have been in that song alone, and I pitty the poor SM who had to call them!

Sheridan Smith makes a great narrator, but the real star was Jason Donovan returning to the Palladium once again, this time as Pharoah. His vocal chords may be knackered from 25 years of hardcore partying, but he still owned the role, despite only being on stage for around 10 minutes.
Sheridan and the children play some of the minor characters, usually with little more costume than a fake beard, which just adds to the humour. The narrator's framing device has been changed from a school assembly to a campfire, which seemed to please m'lady no end. ;)

It's safe to say that the whole audience was filled with hardcore fans of the show. Hearing 2,000-odd people all singing along at the end was pretty special.

Thank you, @Kelpie, for treating me. :)
 
So Joseph brought you the revelation of life's journey through bright shining light.
Jesus Diogo, I never had you down as religious.
 
So I went to see Dear Evan Hansen at the Noël Coward Theatre in London last night. I was somehow lucky enough to watch it from one of the boxes right by the stage

Wow. The songs will be going around in my head for ages - and, indeed, they were for a few weeks before - but seeing it live was something else. If it doesn't win multiple Olivier Awards, then I'll be incredibly shocked. Sam Tutty, who plays Evan, was absolutely flawless at portraying a teenager riddled with social anxiety, and he evoked painful memories of when I've let it get the better of me on many occasions. It's worth noting that Sam is 21 and this is Sam's first-ever West End show, but it felt as though he'd been doing it for years. Incredibly talented young man.
 
Saw Hamilton this year in the west end and it truly deserves all the Tony awards it has won. A rap/streetdance/ballet hybrid which blows away any other production I have seen. The sound track may be amazing but the choreography is just as spectacular
 
Only proper production I've seen on the West End was Lion King. It's a 10/10 proper classic with good songs and the puppets can display more emotion that the modern remake I'm sure.
 
Am I the only one who thought Lion King musical RUINED a classic? I was pissed off when the goose-stepping Nazi hyenas were replaced with break-dancing. But when the "it's a Small World" gag was swapped out to "Let It Go", I almost dropped my tray.

If you want to see amazing theatrical puppetry, go see War Horse.
 
I’ve seen a tonne of musicals on stage the best being les Mis but the only musical I’ve actually seen in the west end is phantom of the opera and that was honestly spectacular. We are going to see Wicked in London at the end of this month but the next musical I’m looking forward to seeing is Six.
 
Thinking about going into theatre to escape from the mess that is the UK theme park industry. Their Covid Safety video shows that they are clearly more together and more willing to work together than our theme parks.
Any suggestions what I should see?
 
Thameslink Rail said:
Thinking about going into theatre to escape from the mess that is the UK theme park industry. Their Covid Safety video shows that they are clearly more together and more willing to work together than our theme parks.
Any suggestions what I should see?
Click to expand...


The Book of Mormon is great, although it’s not the most PC musical but that’s probably why I loved it.
 
Team edit: Merged threads due to the topics being too similar. Thank you.

There are many musicals whether they be old, new or medium ish aged and there are many classics success and failures of course but i'd like to hear you guys' favourite musicals?! Whether it be High School Musical, Dream Girls, The Greatest Showman or Grease, we won't judge you (or at least i won't)!
 
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Pleasure Beach Valhalla said:
There are many musicals whether they be old, new or medium ish aged and there are many classics success and failures of course but i'd like to hear you guys' favourite musicals?! Whether it be High School Musical, Dream Girls, The Greatest Showman or Grease, we won't judge you (or at least i won't)!
Click to expand...
I have been to two Musicals, Shrek was so bad it put me off musicals for a long time, then school did a trip to Wicked which I loved, when the world is back to normal I am planning to go to SIX because I am a history nerd.
 
Best one I've been to see was Hamilton back at the start of 2019.

Loved The Book Of Mormon, had intended on seeing it again this year. And I saw Les Mis on stage towards the end of last year.

Was really looking forward to going to see more plays and musicals this year as well.
 
Do you people go to the West End to watch musicals or is there a theatre near you that the tour companies go to?
I always go to the West End because no tour companies go to Luton because we are so close to London (this is actually quite annoying because train tickets to London from the commuter belt are very expensive)
 
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