Made in Dagenham

[KermitTheFrog]

Posted: 11/1/14 at 6:05pm

Surprised there hasn't been any talk of this anywhere on this board as it has been previewing for a couple of weeks with an opening night on Thursday. Saw a week ago and must say I thoroughly enjoyed it, its far from a revolutionary musical but has a certain charm and a great cast. I've put a full review on my blog if anyone is interested.


The greatest of all forms: REVIEW - Made in Dagenham

[ggersten]

Posted: 11/2/14 at 9:10am

Kermit - this board just doesn't seem very active with respect to London - so, I (and others) frequent www.theatreforum.com. There's ample discussion of this show over there - including many pages before the show ever opened predicting doom doom doom.

[Whileshesleeps]

Posted: 11/3/14 at 6:50am

Saw this on Friday night. Overall very impressed and good balance between good script, plot and songs. Very strong company and nice to see it being played very much as a company effort, rather than Gemma Anderton being in the spotlight throughout.
Whilst she's not the best of singers (compared to the rest of the company) she can sing well enough and her acting was certainly convincing.
Most of the songs, whilst catchy and upbeat are forgettable.
A lot of the 60's political jokes were lost on the younger audience (great to see it's attracting a younger crowd) and I thought the 2 actors playing Harold Wilson and Barbara Castle were excellent (sadly old enough to remember these characters and how accurately Barbara Castle is played).
Thought act one flowed well despite being 1 1/4 hours. Act 2 was a bit slower with less upbeat songs and seemed to end rather suddenly with an odd summary from Barbara Castle character.
Sets were really impressive and didn't detract from the performance.
There was some very odd over exaggerated cheering from the audience in inappropriate moments - I got the impression friends and family were in attendance and were a bit over exuberant when individual cast members entered.
I thought the opening to Act 2 with the American head of Ford Motors was completely pointless - it added nothing to the story and was completely over the top and felt out of place with the rest of the pastiche score.
Overall, a great night out and thorough enjoyable. A show with a real heart and message at the same time that portrayed the feel of the late 60's well. The audience certainly enjoyed it and it was great to see in preview a show packed.
Theatre staff were being very vigilant to people filming (which I suppose is a good thing) but was quite distracting at times, but probably reflective of the demographic attending that performance.

[rjm516]

Posted: 11/4/14 at 10:04am

People were filming?? Wow! I've seen tons of people texting and stuff but never actually filming. That's horrifying.

I try to see everything but I just haven't been interested in seeing this one. But maybe I should!

[Whileshesleeps]

Posted: 11/5/14 at 6:34am

I got the distinct feeling people filming their friends and relatives as they were the same people cheering inappropriately as certain individuals came on stage for their first scenes.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 11/5/14 at 8:06pm

Guardian - 2 stars
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/nov/05/made-in-dagenham-play-adelphi-gemma-arterton

Independent - 4 stars
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/made-in-dagenham-first-night-review-gemma-arterton-leads-the-cast-beautifully-9841220.html

[Gary Naylor]

Posted: 11/6/14 at 8:18pm

I didn't like it - https://www.broadwayworld.com/westend/westend/article/BWW-Reviews-MADE-IN-DAGENHAM-Adelphi-Theatre-November-5-2014-20141106. Most, but not all, other reviewers did.

[Gary Naylor]

Posted: 11/6/14 at 8:33pm

The guy at the FT didn't like it at all!!

[rjm516]

Posted: 12/10/14 at 3:32pm

Oh my god I saw this today. I thought it was HORRENDOUS. I wanted to like it but the music and lyrics were like amateur-hour.