Company London Oct 26
2018, 07:53:38 AM
Could this production be the best Sondheim revival ever?
Company London Oct 21
2018, 04:49:47 AM
The orchestra/band is probably about 10 pieces (but don’t know the exact number). It’s not large. But not ridiculously small.
Re: transfer. We are assuming it would be a spring transfer - what if it transferred in the summer like Follies? If they really have an Oscar winner (and part of me does raise an eyebrow) what film star worth anything will be available to start rehearsals just a few months later?
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Revisited the show last night: with Craig actually being
Company London Oct 20
2018, 04:02:19 PM
Craig is sounding much much better tonight. Definitely soaring in the right moments in “Someone is Waiting” and “Marry Me A Little”. Very skillfully acted singing too. I guess she really was just sick.
It is not common. But if they cast an a-list oscar winner on Broadway you can almost be guaranteed it will be re-recorded or new vocal tracks overlaid (assuming whoever it is actually sings and wants it to happen).
Network is more of a spectacle and has the star power. I'd argue it is more 'entertaining and easy watching (despite the drama of course). Ferryman is a much more serious piece of art with denser writing, complex themes and complex characters. If this is your thing, you might find it more entertaining. If that is not your thing, you might find it a bit slow and boring.
Company London Oct 20
2018, 06:54:26 AM
The producer tweeted (I believe) they are trying to make a cast recording happen. I’d blindly speculate at this stage the chances of a recording would be extremely high.
Company London Oct 20
2018, 06:18:47 AM
I really want a cast recording too. If any production needs one it’s this - with the lyric changes, female ‘Bobbi’, gender swapping throughout nearly every song is different in some way. I can’t wait to hear the harmonies of ‘Poor Baby’ and ‘You Could Drive a person crazy” again.
I think the main reason she was brought up in this thread is because they are both Broadway divas of a similar age but do indeed conduct themselves completely differently in a public/PR/interview context.
But as far as any perceived rivalry - if I recall someone asking Patti about it they don’t really know each other. But although Patti has never said it, surely given her insecurities about her relationship with Sondheim and some of her career interests there must be a tiny b
I just wish she’d be a little less private. Bernadette Peters is both a public persona and performer. She has had among the most amazing career experiences of any Broadway performer and worked with many of the greats, but we don’t really know about them. And we don’t really know about her or her personal life. What keeps her up at night. What are her highs and lows. It’s all “Bernadette Peters” smile and look preserved for decades.
I prefer Patti
Patti's At It Again! Oct 11
2018, 10:15:09 AM
I love that she calls out the ‘Christian right’ in the USA and compares it to Islamic extremist groups. She is so right.
To describe how awful “another hundred people” is - there are two subway carriages* on either side of the stage and while singing the guy snaps his fingers to one carriage meanwhile people start dancing inside the carriage suggestively as if they’re meeting. Then after a bit he will snap his fingers and the other carriage will start. It’s so bizarre and cringeworthy. After his does the monologue about how gays and blacks are his best friends, and suggests Bobbi ha
* Tick Tock has been replaced with a new kind of nightmare sequence that shows Bobbi forecasting various negative futures with people she is dating. Completely new scoring with a ‘tick tock’ sound. In general the production is very conceptual with occasional surreal moments and odd transitions with underscoring I hadn’t heard before. Might polarise some here. * The transition into the bar with LuPone and Bobbi is preceded by loud techno music and dancing - i.e., modern.
Company London Oct 8
2018, 04:17:45 PM
If I had any criticism of LuPone it’s that she isn’t chewing the scenery enough. She has a lot more room to ‘be Patti’ than she is and could go completely crazy over the top, but it seems like she is still at least trying to play a real person. Give the audience what they want in my opinion!!!!
Typical West End awful handling of cast absences. No one could tell me right up until the lights dimmed if Craig was off. I was simply told that ‘there would be an announcement’ if she wasn’t but that ‘Patti LuPone is on’.
The show starts with Patti saying to not take any pictures and turn our phones off, completely off “trust me”, she says. Hilarious!!
Finally the show stars and Craig is performing.
Company London Oct 6
2018, 12:56:56 PM
Apparently the lead is already off? Understudy on?
The Inheritance Oct 6
2018, 05:32:22 AM
With the melodrama and annoying characters you just have to spend a few nights going out with a couple of gay groups in the scene and you’ve seen it all before. Queer as Folk and Looking mashed with The Normal Heart and Angels in America - voila you’ve got The Inheritance.
