Writing this on my iPhone, so sorry in advance for any mistakes.
Was at a very dull and lifeless preview performance of Mary Poppins in Sydney on Tuesday night. The show has it's Sydney opening on Thursday and the production crew where still trying to fix show stoppages and sound issues.
I was speaking with a member of the production team, who works on both productions
Love Never Dies :
Has a brand new book
Story
Ending
Music
The Melbourne production is the do and die for this show
Well I didn't want to get into it, but he's a Satanist.
Every full moon he sacrifices 4 puppies to the Dark Lord and smears their blood on his paino.
This should help you understand the score for Wicked a little bit more.
Tazber's: Reply to
Is Stephen Schwartz a Practicing Christian
I have tickets for July 3rd. Still, "brand new book" could just mean a couple of minor changes. And if "Beneath a moonless sky" is still in, the story will still be horrible.
From what I understand, at least 80% of the show is different to what is seen on the West End.
The advance in Melbourne is sizable, the season is running at about 90% sold.
Well I didn't want to get into it, but he's a Satanist.
Every full moon he sacrifices 4 puppies to the Dark Lord and smears their blood on his paino.
This should help you understand the score for Wicked a little bit more.
Tazber's: Reply to
Is Stephen Schwartz a Practicing Christian
Bugger rosscoe - seems like you caught the show on an off night. The second preview performance I saw was fantastic, it was as exciting for me as the first time I saw in Melbourne and an improvement energy level wise on the last time I saw it mid Novemeber. I have spoken to lots of people who have seen it and they have all been raving about it. What kind of stoppages have been happening? None of my theatre friends have had stoppages the shows they have been to. I am off to the final preview tonight so I will be keen to see if the levels have dropped since two weeks ago. Re Love Never Dies- wow 80% is a massive difference - I hope this is true as it sure does need it from all I have heard and seen of the London production. I am suprised that this hasn't been more widely hyped if true given the bad press surrounding the show around the world. I look forward to seeing it Melbourne end of the month at any rate.
I had a really bad seat upstairs, view was fine. Sound was horrible, no idea what was being said or sung. Stoppage came just before "step in time". And sadly for the show one of the most magical parts of the evening happened not on stage, but in the audience during that stoppage.
A man stood up and said this is my friend Hannah, tonite is her birthday and the audience raised the roof with an amazing version of happy birthday. That was the only time the show came alive!
As I said it was a lifeless and dull, no wit , no spark, no magic and that's what the story should have.
As for "Love Paint Never Dries Dies". By years end a full live recording should be done as well, think Mary Poppins.
Well I didn't want to get into it, but he's a Satanist.
Every full moon he sacrifices 4 puppies to the Dark Lord and smears their blood on his paino.
This should help you understand the score for Wicked a little bit more.
Tazber's: Reply to
Is Stephen Schwartz a Practicing Christian
Fair enough, I always prefer stalls over Dress as I love to see the actors' faces. The Princess front row of mezz is great but aside from that I prefer stalls. Sound issues are frustrating as all get up. Sounds like a fun moment and yes sad it wasn't part of the show. I know it's selling well but once reviews hit I still think LND will close by year's end -BUT hopefully I am wrong and they've managed to fix it. I like the costumes they showed.
Fair enough, I always prefer stalls over Dress as I love to see the actors' faces. The Princess front row of mezz is great but aside from that I prefer stalls. Sound issues are frustrating as all get up. Sounds like a fun moment and yes sad it wasn't part of the show. I know it's selling well but once reviews hit I still think LND will close by year's end -BUT hopefully I am wrong and they've managed to fix it. I like the costumes they showed.
Chewy, Love has been booked in for at least a year and a half in Melbourne. With a year already booked into the Capital in Sydney, November 2012
Well I didn't want to get into it, but he's a Satanist.
Every full moon he sacrifices 4 puppies to the Dark Lord and smears their blood on his paino.
This should help you understand the score for Wicked a little bit more.
Tazber's: Reply to
Is Stephen Schwartz a Practicing Christian
Saw an interview today on youtube with Gangle, saw that the park is still named Phantasma. I would have thought that would be the first thing to go. But I guess if they are going with the updated storyline about Christine coming to sing for Hammerstein and not at some park called Phantasma by some unknown shadowy figure it may still work. I just think the name is lame.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27199361@N08/ Phantom at the Royal Empire Theatre
I wish I saw Poppins in Melbourne, Her Maj is the best venue in the country for any show.
Well I didn't want to get into it, but he's a Satanist.
Every full moon he sacrifices 4 puppies to the Dark Lord and smears their blood on his paino.
This should help you understand the score for Wicked a little bit more.
Tazber's: Reply to
Is Stephen Schwartz a Practicing Christian
Yep alterego I was making a general comment on DC -I saw Hairspray at the Princess front mezz. I think it's wishful thinking for RUG to think LND will run a year at the cavernous Regent lol
I certainly hope that "new ending" doesn't mean they've changed the you-know-what-huge-event that happens in the current ending. That would totally ruin the tragic point of the story... :/
I have a problem believing that 80% of the show is different...Certainly, I doubt that the score is very different from the version at the West End.
One of the hardest things about working on a show over a long period of time is that the creative team imagines that little tweaks are in fact massive rewrites.
As long as this show has the same basic plot, characters, and songs as the West End version, then the end result won't be dramatically different from what's being performed every night in London.
Behind the fake tinsel of Broadway is real tinsel.
I still think they need to wipe any and all Phantom out of it. And make it just another dark style love story. It would work so much better. IMHO.
"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."
So far I am really liking it, it seems darker and cluttered and just how I imagines it should have looked first time around. They also seem to be paying some homage to the use of the whole maze of mirrors in the original novel.
It seems overall to have that nice dark gothic, slightly creepy feel that it needed.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27199361@N08/ Phantom at the Royal Empire Theatre