33 replies to this topic

[Minsky]

MrBarnaby, on 20 January 2013 - 09:08 AM, said:

I'm shuddering at the thought.

Same here.

Just for a moment I thought it was a new musical "Woman in White Chocolate"

[MusicalTalk]

Women in White Chocolate would be more appealing

[Ian]

Make that a third. A show that I hated restaged in a venue I dislike.

This is only very slightly above Viva Forever at the bottom of the "to see" list!

[QuincyMD]

I liked it but to get me to see it again they would have to rework the first half to remove the continual "I know a secret" interludes and move the story along quicker.

More importantly as much as I loved the digital projections it needs to be done on a smaller stage as it was odd watching people who were about 20 yards in front of the screen and thus who looked at odds with what was going on behind them.

[The Scorpion]

Seriously?

I was expecting this to happen around 2023, not 2013. Isn't it far too soon? Not to mention it hasn't helped that ALW, in one of his many cringeworthy attempts to absolve himself, has practically disowned the show in very recent times; in several of his interviews promoting the (far worse) Love Never Dies (the London production of which he then in turn disowned...), he called the entire show "a mistake", which I thought was a little OTT.

I wasn't a fan of the show or the incredibly lazily directed and poorly designed original production, and though it would be interesting to see how it could be "fixed" in a revival, I think that ultimately the material is just not cut out to be a musical. A play, yes (Wilkie Collins adapted it himself for the stage), but a musical?

I remember thinking at the time that David Zippel's lyrics were the worst ALW had ever had, but that was before we experienced Glenn "empty as a tomb" Slater. Maybe as a result that aspect of the show won't bother me as much; there again, there was an awful lot of recitative...

[Max Von Mayerling]

Well, let it be whatever it can turn into; a fringe-y small scale production can't do any harm.  Funny that these big composers have to work backwards - big splashy production (often misconceived) that newbies dream of, heading towards exploratory fringe production (often excellent) that is the most most new writers will ever get.  Not that I think this is even official yet - don't know if it's just a rumour.

[Distant_Cousin]

How lovely - looking forward to seeing it back in a new guise.

[MrBarnaby]

If its going to be done, I'd rather it was somewhere more atmospheric.. Or even an Almeida style site specific version or something.

Any projections should be BANNED completely.

[Max Von Mayerling]

MrBarnaby, on 20 January 2013 - 08:31 PM, said:

If its going to be done, I'd rather it was somewhere more atmospheric.. Or even an Almeida style site specific version or something.

Any projections should be BANNED completely.

I agree, how about the Old VIc Tunnels.  Wouldn't it have been great at the Southwark Playhouse in their sadly now departed London Bridge days?  Those scenes on the edge of the train tunnel would have been amazing.

[wickedgrin]

I look forward to this if this is happening. I always thought that this piece was a chamber musical really (like Apects of Love) and that a small scale production (without the ridiculous projections) where you could concentrate on the characters would work well.

But who could forget the dizzying projections at the Palace theatre! Moments which will be forever etched on my memory are -  the running up the stairs - clinging on to the outside wall and of course the train heading for the audience - just hysterical! Oh how we laughed!!