Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

One Touch Theatre

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Ooh, that sounds interesting.

    I've just booked for Mark Bruce's Macbeth at the end of February, at Wiltons. Best seats are filling up.

    Comment


      I enjoyed it. I think he's hoping to motivate us so-called liberals to not give up and to commit ourselves to protesting and phoning up our reps in Washington every day. It felt similar (in parts) to some of the Christian "revival" services my parents took me too when I was a kid. But in a good way. I don't want to spoil the ending for anyone, but that wasn't like any church service I've ever been to.

      Comment


        I went to see The Magic Flute at the Royal Opera House yesterday, which was very entertaining and a bargain at £11 for a standing spot at the back of the stalls circle. I'd been warned that the plot was a bit silly but seen as a musical pantomime it works well. The cast sheet said that some critics have seen the piece as being in part a masonic allegory which, given that the story is largely about someone having to complete various trials in order to join a mysterious all male secret society called The Initiated, suggests that being a critic may be easier than you'd imagine.

        Comment


          So happens that we saw it at the Met on Thursday.

          The current Met production (by Julie Taymor) includes more or less omnipresent Masonic symbolism

          Comment


            So, Come From Away....which I've been blathering about to anyone who'll listen since last fall - has remarkably recouped its initial investment on Broadway and is now making money after just 8 months. Still playing to standing room crowds, it's also launching touring company and a second standing production returns to Toronto next year for an indefinite run.

            http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...oadway-1047483

            Comment


              I've been to see the Peking Opera at Sadlers Wells. Didn't enjoy the first half much ... second half, I absolutely loved. First half, too much sub-Austen angst about whether the pretty daughter would get as good a match as the ugly daughter, sang in really harsh, loud voices.
              Second half, an amazing acrobatic ballet, some comedy which didn't require looking at the subtitles on the screen, as it was so universal, and not so much singing.
              There were a lot of Chinese people there, I was told they were "invited" by the Embassy (semi-ordered, in other words).
              I'd say about half the audience were Chinese in appearance, meaning I don't know whether they were born here or not.

              Comment


                I think that is a common "western" reaction to the genre. It certainly matches my feelings about the productions I saw at the Met (which also featured a similar differences in the two acts).

                At least here, there were definitely older Chinese people who exhibited a deep appreciation for the genre, which I found interesting. I would imagine that generations that lived through the Cultural Revolution in China would not be as enthused by it.

                Definitely worth seeing, in any event.

                Comment


                  Touring Chinese Opera companies are about the only things that regularly sell-out the biggest theatres here. I've been to several though not for over twenty years. It helps to prep with some background research. Checking out the Monkey King stories, for example, can be helpful. Getting used to the audience takes awhile too. Everyone's up and down, going out to get food, waving to friends four rows behind. It's all part of the experience I guess.

                  Comment


                    Yes, there were notices saying that cheering and clapping throughout the performance was part of the culture, it certainly isn't with most Sadlers Wells performances. Glad we were warned so I knew not to get worked up about it, and actually it wasn't bad. We moved to the front for the second half anyway, another reason I enjoyed it so much more.

                    Comment


                      That wasn’t part of the deal at the Met, which is huge (3,800 seats) and quite stuffy.

                      I’ve never been to Sadler’s, something I need to remedy

                      Comment


                        MsD did it have a live orchestra? I've stopped going to things (excepting Tanztheater Wupperthal for whom I'll put up with a lot) there that do recorded sound as their sound system is awful. Which may be cutting my nose off but still...

                        Comment


                          Not a full orchestra, but a group of musicians playing Chinese instruments- what looked like a wooden banjo and a wooden violin played with a mallet, and some percussionists I couldn't see.

                          Comment


                            That's usually all there are I think. Ordinarily they sit on the edge of stage in front of the wings.

                            (BTW, You may already have heard, but The Grenfell charity match at LR raised almost a million pounds. Good job.)

                            Comment


                              I hadn't heard, that's great.

                              And yes, the musicians were at the side of the stage.

                              Comment


                                I'm going to see The Seagull at The Lyric Hammersmith on Saturday, partly to show support for them not continually running Bugsy Malone outside of panto season.

                                Comment


                                  Just booked tickets for The Idiot here in Zilina on 28th November. Stage adaptations of Dostoyevsky seem to be popular in Slovakia. This is a guest performance by a company from Bratislava, but we also saw the local company doing Crime and Punishment last year, and that was superb.

                                  In September, we had the Bratislava company here for a performance of 'Tiso', a play about Slovakia's wartime president (and Nazi puppet) Jozef Tiso. It was actually a revival of an older play, with the role of Tiso taken by the son of the guy who'd played him years before. People who'd seen that earlier version didn't seem to rate this one too highly. Personally, I don't think I've ever seen evil, personal and political, conveyed quite so effectively on stage before.

                                  Comment


                                    Bat Out Of Hell: The Musical, with music, book and story by Jim Steinman. At the Ed Mirvish Theatre, which is a lovely place.

                                    Uh....the songs are fantastic, the performances great, the dancing wonderful. The story and 'book' (the dialogue) are dogshit.

                                    I avoided reviews before I went, but every one that I've now read says the same thing.

                                    Steinman can write an epic power ballad, but he can't cobble together a decent dialogue between two people in an apartment.

                                    Nor a compelling story, no matter how far-fetched jukebox musical storylines typically go.

                                    He's like the George Lucas of musical theatre, dialogue-wise.

                                    It's quite something.

                                    Anyway, it's a big-tent musical in Toronto that's probably going to run for a couple of months, but the house was 60% full...for good reason.

                                    Comment


                                      Originally posted by imp View Post
                                      My cousin's playing Mr. Clough in The Damned United at the Pleasance Theatre in Islington with the Red Ladder Theatre Company, November 13-18, after a successful run at the Edinburgh Festival (mentioned in latest WSC). Tickets here.
                                      Just a reminder. It's running tonight through Saturday.

                                      Comment


                                        Very rarely do I go to the theatre, but looking forward to Glengarry Glen Ross tomorrow evening. Would like to see Network too.

                                        Comment


                                          I'm really not a theatre person, but I went to see The Red Lion at the cosy little Trafalgar Studio 2 tonight and thought it was very good - I reckon anyone who has a fondness for lower league football would find it enjoyable (presumably that didn't include a great big fat cunt in the back row who started snoring half way through). There was a Q&A with writer Patrick Marber afterwards but sadly we'd already made plans and had to miss it.

                                          Comment


                                            I've won tickets to Dick Whittington at the Palladium. Starring Julian Clary.

                                            Includes slap-up meal in a top London restaurant, as much booze as you can shove down your neck, and a hotel stay.

                                            Comment


                                              Sweet!

                                              Comment


                                                Yes, initially I thought I'd have trouble finding people to come with me but I've had three friends jump at the chance and it should be a laugh. The hotel's near my office, too, which will save me a commute.

                                                Comment


                                                  Off so see Die Dreigroschenoper aka The Threepenny Opera aka The Beggar's Opera this evening.

                                                  The number of operas I've seen live you could count on one hand. Still, looking forward to it.

                                                  Comment


                                                    Snootier operaphiles would say that it isn't an opera, but rather a "play with music", and it is only very rarely performed in opera houses.

                                                    That is, of course, snootier operaphiles' loss.

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X