The Musicals/Opera/Live Shows/Whatever Thread

[OnlyShallow]

I went to a show called "The Architects" by the theatre group Shunt at the weekend there. It was really strawberry floating good. It was in a disused biscuit factory in Bermondsey. You had to walk through a labyrinth to get to the bar/performance space. All I could think about when walking through it was the House of Leaves. The initial performance space itself was like a bar on an ocean liner at the end of the world.

Then you get taken through to a holding space and things go a bit Portal. Then a bit pitch black. And then something else.

I think this is the last week, so catch it if you can.



http://vimeo.com/susannedietz/the-architects-by-shunt

[Frank]

Think I'm gonna nab a few tickets for Ghost in December. Priority booking ftw Will be my second fake-Swayze musical. Exciting times.

[OnlyShallow]

I've got a few things lined up in the next few weeks/months

http://www.fourthmonkey.co.uk/content/forthcoming

Project Colony, a new adaptation of Franz Kafka's In the Penal Colony is the follow up to Fourth Monkey's award winning production of Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychosis at the Edinburgh Festival. Project Colony runs at the atmospheric Trinity Buoy Wharf on the River Thames from 2nd-27th April.

http://punchdrunk.com/current-shows

Most theatre companies announce new productions in a press release. Only one would deliver that release by asking journalists to go to a mysterious video shop in east London, have them go down dark corridors and stairs to meet a slightly creepy old man repairing his film equipment who then proceeds to tell a puzzling and scary story, before sending them on their way with a copy of the announcement.

The theatre company is Punchdrunk and on Thursday it unveils its first big production in London since The Masque of the Red Death six years ago.

Details are fairly scarce. What is known is that it will be called The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable; that it is based on Georg Büchner's unfinished masterpiece, Woyzeck; that it is a co-production with the National Theatre; and most remarkably that it will be staged in a secret, disused 19,000 sq metre venue – about as big as three football pitches – in central London.

It is never an ordinary night at the theatre with Punchdrunk. At the 2009 production of It Felt Like a Kiss for the Manchester festival, audience members found themselves being chased by a maniac with a chainsaw. The Doctor Who show that Punchdrunk produced for children, The Crash of the Elysium, was fine for most kids but a bit too real for some.

There are no interval drinks at Punchdrunk shows. "We do all-the-time drinks," said Barrett. "Over the years, we have had audience members who come and barely leave the bar and that's fine, so we have had to make sure that there's enough show in that bar. With this new show we're trying to take it up a notch and if you do choose to spend slightly too long in there it will be worth your while."

[Denster]

Saw To kill a Mocking bird recently and saw a romantic opera night last month.

Hoping to go to see the Halle orchestra in a couple of weeks - Excerpts from Fidelio by Beethoven, Italian Symphony by Mendelssohn and The 3rd symphony (organ) by Saint Saens.


Should be tremendous!

[NBK]

Couldn't think what to call this thread and I couldn't see one like it even though I know there are people here that do enjoy going to see musicals and what not. Just wanted to post anyway that I saw Les Miserables last week for my Mrs birthday. It was awesome! Really should go and see more stuff like it, nothing compares to hearing this kind of thing live. So yeah, last thing you saw or did or whatever?

I've got tickets for Les Miserables over the Christmas break, really looking forward to it. Also been to Chicago, Avenue Q and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy this year. Avenue Q was awesome as we had front row seats and I got singled out during 'The Internet is for Porn'.

Hope you enjoyed it, Jebus. My wife and I got to see it in London the year before last and it was fantastic. I'd booked tickets specifically so she could see Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean but he was off sick that night. I think his understudy actually did a much better job, Matt Lucas also did a brilliant Thénardier to top it all off. Brilliant night.

I've got tickets booked for The Lion King in Edinburgh this November for my daughter and I, hadn't realised it was the only show in Scotland so pretty lucky to get them...despite the massive price tag.

[Frank]

Went to see Rent last night (it was actually the "Rent: 20th Anniversary Concert", but it seemed to pretty much be the stage show with a live band on stage).

It was actually really good. I went into it relatively blind (literally all I knew was that it was all about gay people), but I ended up getting the soundtrack stuck in my head for the whole way home, which just shows how chuffing catchy it was.

Going to download the film version now, to see if it's any good. It's got Adam Pascal in (AKA the guy from Goyband), so I'm not hopeful.

The tubby guy from the ensemble was actually a really good singer. During Seasons of Love he pulls that note out of nowhere. Just listen to the reaction. Ridiculous:



(his solo starts at 1:25)

Got really good seats as well, front row of the dress circle, slap bang in the centre (and right next to the aisle, so you've got side legroom ). Got the same seats again for Ghost next year, so I'm actually kind of looking forward to it now.

[Frank]

Guys guys guys!

Has anyone here been to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria in the West End? Trying to find out what the legroom is like in the dress circle, but my musical-going amigo has only ever seen it from the stalls

Theatremonkey seems to say that it's ok...:

Legroom:
Many feel row A and aisle seats satisfactory. Some find the seats narrower and more cramped than the stalls, but most are satisfied that it's acceptable unless particularly tall.

But I wanted to see if anyone else here has any experience with it before I go wasting £70 a ticket...

[Tragic Magic]

Seeing Derren Brown next Tuesday and should be getting tickets for West Side Story in London later this year.

Sorry Frank, haven't seen Wicked.

[Frank]

Well, got tickets for Wicked anyway

Managed to get an aisle seat, so if there's legroom trouble then we've got options.

Also, ATG have a sale on soon. Definitely going to get tickets for The Woman in Black, and I'm tempted to try and see One Man, Two Guvrnors.

Was thinking about seeing Viva Forever too just to see how bad it was

[Frank]

Tickets for the Woman in Black are here!

Got the back row aisle seat of the dress circle (F7 & F8). Sounds like it's an absolutely tiny theatre, so I'm hoping the view won't be too obscured by everyone else's fat heads.

[Frank]

Triple post. Man, more people need to go to the theatre here

The seats for Wicked were actually really good (F 10-15 of the dress circle). Great view of the whole stage (dragon and side stages and all). Right next to the toilets and the way out, so as soon as the curtain came down at the end we were pretty much in the underground station. Legroom was... about as good as you're going to get in a theatre, tbh. Disappointing, but expected.

We ended up with the understudy (Hayley Gallivan) for Elphaba, but she was still decent enough. Wasn't a huge fan of the mixing, mind you. There were times when it was all just too loud (the finale of the first act, for example, was verging on the painful). Gina Beck was absolutely incredible as Glinda, though (toss toss! ), which more than made up for all the other niggling little issues. I had no idea that the second act takes place at the same time as the original Wizard of Oz, either. Mind blown.

With the exception of the dragon, the set didn't seem that complex, so I'm probably going to go see it when it comes to the Hippodrome too. Still debating whether we should go for good seats or cheap seats...

[Frank]

Oh no, quad post.

Still, new year, new theatre card Just got back from Ghost: The Musical at the Alex in Birmingham. Had the same seats we had for Rent in Concert (front row of the dress circle, bang in the centre). So good. Such a sad story, though. I've never watched the film, so I'm probably going to need to do that now.

Some of the effects in it were pretty cool, for a tour production. The subway scene and the poltergeist-y bits in the office were amazing. There's no decent videos online, though.



Just downloaded the soundtrack, too. Thought it was a lot better than Dirty Dancing, although every woman in the place still made a ruckus when fake-Swayze got his chest out.

Might be going to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (starring Gok Wan) next week if there's any tickets available. Finger's crossed. Danielle Hope better be amazing in it

[Denster]

Going to see Swan Lake next week.

[1cmanny1]

I heard Wicked was a bit gooseberry fool, is that true?

[Frank]

Wicked's amazing. The book is pretty poor though (it's a lot darker), so I'm not sure how they managed to get such a good musical out of it.

[Benzin]

I heard Wicked was a bit gooseberry fool, is that true?

Ignore Frank, it isn't great... Defying Gravity is good, but nothing else stands out...


I've had a bit of a theatre binge over Christmas, with Matilda (fab), Lion King (also fab) and Book of Mormon (FABBBBBBB)...

Mormon is just immense, even on second viewing (I saw the first London preview showing)... Theatre is decent as well... I cannot rate it highly enough...

[1cmanny1]

My Sister and Mother saw Mary Poppins followed by Wicked. They thought Mary Poppins was much better. So I concluded Wicked must not be that good.

I would like to see one though, I like any form of entertainment provided it is good.

[Frank]

I heard Wicked was a bit gooseberry fool, is that true?

Ignore Frank, it isn't great... Defying Gravity is good, but nothing else stands out...

I'd agree that Defying Gravity is probably the standout song (although it depends who's singing it. The understudy in London went I went to see it wasn't brilliant, so I wasn't a huge fan of it on the night. The Idina Menzel version, though... ) What is this Feeling, Popular and No Good Deed are all pretty good songs on their own and I quite like As Long as You're Mine and For Good.



Is Matilda better in the theatre than they made it look on Children in Need, then?:



Really didn't do a great job of selling it.

[Benzin]

I saw it in New York before Children in Need (not that I watched that) and thought it was good... The dependence on child actors is a tad problematic (in London Matilda had a cough, which was amusing), and it is a bit of a weird tangent story however it's certainly worth a viewing if only for the lyrics (Minchin ) and Miss Trunchbull...

[Miguel007]

I went a bit nuts last year for my 30th year and went to 49 Gigs (Music & Comedy), become quite addicted to it and had a great time, I'm going to try and beat it this year hopefully. I'd like 52, then you could say I'd been to 1 a week technically.

Got 14 booked for this year so far.