One Touch Theatre

[Sean of the Shed]

Tonight we are going to Hull New Theatre to see the stage version of The Commitments. I cant remember the last time I was at a theatre, probably as a kid watching pantomime.

[Benjm]

I wouldn't trust myself not to climb onto the stage and attack the Andrew Strong character as the first bars of Mustang Sally kick in;

[DCI Harry Batt]

Why? Is it the song, or the character?

[Nocturnal Submission]

How did you like it? It just closed on Broadway after almost five years.

Much more than I expected. Well acted, quite funny, heart-warming fare and the music was all up-tempo stuff, which is much more to my taste than a series of ballads and duets or whatever. The audience went wild at the end.

Odd concept (commercial airliners diverted to Newfoundland on 9/11 and the reaction of the passengers and locals, thereof, for anyone who doesn't know) but it worked surprisingly well.

I'd forgotten how cramped and hot London theatres can be though. It's not a particularly comfortable experience even for those of modest dimensions, especially if you are in the dress circle.

[WOM]

The audience went wild at the end.

Ah, I'm glad to hear it. I've been a huge cheerleader for this play and it easily ranks in my top three ever.

The 'went wild at the end' is one of the things that really stuck with me. That has been a singularly rare experience for me; that sense of release / joy / catharsis. Someone knowledgeable about such things wrote that the writers were wily in how they paced the show so that you didn't have the typical points of applause throughout, so that it builds to a big burst at the end.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Ah, I'm glad to hear it. I've been a huge cheerleader for this play and it easily ranks in my top three ever.

The 'went wild at the end' is one of the things that really stuck with me. That has been a singularly rare experience for me; that sense of release / joy / catharsis. Someone knowledgeable about such things wrote that the writers were wily in how they paced the show so that you didn't have the typical points of applause throughout, so that it builds to a big burst at the end.

Yes, that's very true - the musical numbers almost always segued immediately into dialogue. I think that there was applause after the opening number but that was about it, until the end.

You'll be glad to know that the moose in the road part got the biggest laugh, quite possibly from the Canadians in the audience.

[Benjm]

Why? Is it the song, or the character?

The song, I think. I remember growing to detest it when the fictional band became prominent off the back of the film. The singer seemed like a bit of a dick but he was a teenager suddenly showered with success and fame so I doubt I'd have been any less of one in his situation. We watched a fairly enjoyable Irish-Belgian Eurocop thing on BBC4 a while ago starring one of the backing singers, for balance.

Yesterday we went to see Blues for an Alabama Sky at the National Theatre. The play is set in Harlem in 1930, as passing time and the Depression take their toll on four bohemian friends. Compromises made as dreams seem to slip out of reach lead to tragedy. The playwright's name is Pearl Cleage, which made me think that it might be a contemporaneous piece but it actually dates from the mid-90s. This was a fantastic production, with a detailed and fully realised period design and engaging performances from all of the cast bringing the play's world to life and holding the audience's attention from beginning to end. Yesterday was the final day of the run, otherwise I would have heartily recommended it to anyone with the opportunity to go.

[DCI Harry Batt]

I like the song, but that's largely because it's fun to sing.

[Benjm]

I like the song, but that's largely because it's fun to sing.

Now I'm reimagining the lost in development AFCW film as a jukebox musical. It's got solid gold hit written through it like a stick of rock.

[The Mighty Trin]

Miss TMT took me to go see something called Marvellous at the new Soho Place Theatre last night (the one that is opposite where the Astoria was before it got demolished for Crossrail back in 2009). I knew nothing about it so just rocked up after a couple of beers with friends, only to discover that it was about a lad from Stoke called Neil Baldwin who ended up as the Stoke City kitman and mascot amongst other things in his challenging but interesting life. It was indeed marvellous and at the very end we discovered that the real Neil Baldwin was in the audience and happy to sign programmes. Great evening. On until 26th November and well worth a visit.

[WOM]

Mean Girls at The Princess of Wales Theatre. Part of the Mirvish Subscription. Just a lot of fun. Light, musical, colourful fun. Based on the movie (by Tina Fey) which was based on a book (not by Tina Fey). Audience, 95% women.

[Patrick Thistle]

I went to see My Fair Lady at the Wales Millennium Centre last night. It was an impressive revolving set... that broke down prompting a 15 minute unscheduled break. Overall though I really enjoyed it. There's some good songs in it and the cast did well to improvise through the rest of the show given the set wouldn't revolve any more.

[RobW]

Watching Best of Enemies tonight featuring David Harewood as William F. Buckley Jr and Zachary Quinto as Gore Vidal. Heard very good things, and deeply enjoyed the 2015 documentary of the same name.

[Benjm]

I went to see Othello at the National the other day. This production has been well reviewed and solidly booked but that day's rail strike had noticeably thinned the crowd out. The set was reminiscent of monumental steps and the cast largely uniformed, to 1930s Italian effect. The lighting and music contributed towards an air of menace. I was on the end of a row and could feel the heat from the flaming torches cast members carried while entering through the auditorium, which isn't quite Danny Baker's Hair anecdote but did contribute to the immediacy of the action. Rather than the tragic hero figure, this production's sympathies are directed towards Desdemona and Emilia as victims of male violence and the direction fills out their roles rather then reducing them to plot devices alongside the handkerchief. The violence is brutal in parts and potentially triggering but otherwise it is a thoughtful and fresh treatment of the play and well worth seeing.

[Levin]

Is Noise's Off a good play? I'm familiar with the name for an unknown reason and have just seen it advertised on the tube.

[ursus arctos]

It is a "thinking person's take" on a traditional door-slamming, trouser-dropping farce and plays better among those who have positive feelings towards the genre

[Levin]

Ah, now I have fond memories of seeing Boeing Boeing in 2007, looking online I can that it has a simply ridiculous cast. Roger Allam, Frances de la Tour, Mark Rylance, Mishelle Gomez, Tamsin Outhwaite and Daisy Beaumont.

So I'm not sure if I like farces more generally or just really good ones.

[WOM]

Fisherman's Friends: The Musical.

A painful adaptation of the movie. Hits every single cliche imaginable; small town, insular locals, big-city-fella comes to town, economic need, miracle solution, will-they-won't-they. Ugh.

Some decent singing, but just so earnestly community-theatre shit-direction that it felt like you were being beaten over the head.

Pee-yew. We left at intermission.

[Benjm]

I spent New Year in Port Isaac once but thankfully the lovable shantymen were nowhere to be seen.

[Benjm]

I went to see Watch on the Rhine at the Donmar Warehouse yesterday. It is a 1941 Lillian Hellman play set the previous year in a Washington society household where the daughter has just returned from two decades in Europe together with her anti-fascist German husband and children. In its concerns, it isn't a million miles removed from OTF's favourite film, Casablanca, which was mined from an unproduced play. WotR is somewhat of its time - the action literally all takes place in a drawing room - but resistance to evil and where individuals draw their own lines remain pertinent themes. The production is elegantly mounted in the Donmar's diminutive space and the performances are uniformly strong, with Patricia Hodge the standout name for those of us old enough to remember 1980s television.

On the subject of age, before the show started I sent my wife a jokey text about being one of the youngest in the midweek matinee audience (at 52). As if to prove the point the play was halted for ten minutes during the first half to allow for a medical emergency to be attended to, thankfully with success as far as I could tell.

[EIM]

I went to see Matthew Modine as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mocking Bird tonight. A brilliant adaptation of one of my favourite books. Hard not to get angry at how little progress has been made in terms of eradicating racism, especially when they emphasised the role of the police. Some incredible performances, not just from Modine, and they sell little bottles of Negroni in the Gielgud, which always adds a sparkle to the evening.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Went to see Ayckbourn's Relatively Speaking at the Cambridge Arts Theatre tonight. Bloody hell, it is the most brilliantly funny thing I have ever seen on stage. Just utterly wonderful. Never enjoyed a trip to the theatre so much before.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Went with daughter to see the 70th anniversary touring version of The Mousetrap today, having taken her to Witness for the Prosecution last year.

I genuinely have never known the outcome before seeing it today, so when she asked during the interval who I thought dunnit, and I called it perfectly, it felt like a minor victory.

I did tell her to watch See How They Run as preparation but she never got round to it.

[Benjm]

Standing at the Sky's Edge, a musical based around the songs of Richard Hawley, was brilliant at the National Theatre yesterday. The plot follows three sets of occupants of one flat on Sheffield's Park Hill estate across 60 years, as the development moves from optimism into decline and eventual regeneration. The shifts in time are clearly signposted, assisted by the direction and an excellent detailed production design. A striking set evokes the brutalist architecture of the estate. As the story unfolds it becomes very moving, particularly in the second half. Eyes were dusty. I'm not a follower of Richard Hawley as a performer, finding him a bit trad, but the songs collected here are strong and memorable and well performed by the excellent cast and band. We would have preferred different outcomes for a couple of the characters but were invested enough to care. Thoroughly recommended.

[slackster]

Saw An Evening Without Kate Bush last night. Performed by Sarah-Louise Young, whose a cabaret circuit regular with a cracking voice, it’s part tribute act, part cabaret and with a big dose of affectionate comedy. Started as an Edinburgh Fringe number, then had a decent run in London at the Soho Theatre. Quite an eccentric show, but great fun. Would recommend as it continues touring the UK on the Arts Centre outposts circuit for the next 6 weeks.