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I'm just waiting for Kimberley Walsh to come on and murder a showtune.
#263565 Olivier Awards On ITV Late
Posted
on 28 April 2013 - 10:03 PM
#260637 A Chorus Line
Posted
on 01 April 2013 - 03:44 PM
Saw this on Saturday evening. Very very impressed.
It's a beautiful, poignant and honest piece. To be honest, I wasn't all that familiar with it. I knew a couple of the songs and the basic premise, but that was about it..
It's been very well cast. And what makes it all the more moving is that these are very much individual characters, each with their own life and personality, trying to survive in this tempestuous business, and we get to see that. It takes something to be able to carry off a spoken monologue on the Palladium stage, but Gary Wood pulls it off. As does Victoria Hamilton-Barritt with Nothing. You were drawn into the lyrics.
Scarlett Strallen as good a usual- so disciplined and tight in her dancing. And I can see why Leigh Zimmerman has been nominated; I wanted Sheila to succeed. John Partridge surprised me - I;d only ever seen him in my local panto. The way we suddenly see his human side is v touching indeed.
The choreography is thrilling. And the lighting design is one of the best I've seen. It manages to transform the space instantly, adding depth to the work. The moments of inner thought are afforded a fantasy feel, before suddenly being brought back to the cold exposing light of reality.
It's a beautiful, poignant and honest piece. To be honest, I wasn't all that familiar with it. I knew a couple of the songs and the basic premise, but that was about it..
It's been very well cast. And what makes it all the more moving is that these are very much individual characters, each with their own life and personality, trying to survive in this tempestuous business, and we get to see that. It takes something to be able to carry off a spoken monologue on the Palladium stage, but Gary Wood pulls it off. As does Victoria Hamilton-Barritt with Nothing. You were drawn into the lyrics.
Scarlett Strallen as good a usual- so disciplined and tight in her dancing. And I can see why Leigh Zimmerman has been nominated; I wanted Sheila to succeed. John Partridge surprised me - I;d only ever seen him in my local panto. The way we suddenly see his human side is v touching indeed.
The choreography is thrilling. And the lighting design is one of the best I've seen. It manages to transform the space instantly, adding depth to the work. The moments of inner thought are afforded a fantasy feel, before suddenly being brought back to the cold exposing light of reality.
#256378 A Chorus Line
Posted
on 27 February 2013 - 03:31 PM
lesterf, on 27 February 2013 - 02:42 PM, said:
yes Seriously - have you never heard of show adaptations or rewrites ? It is not a huge change just an improvement in my opinion. It was originally written in 1975 so there is no reason 38 years later why you can not make some small changes .... audience expectations in 2013 are rather different to 1976 and productions have developed a hell of a lot since then.. a small change / changes I have mentioned will not take away anything from the feeling of the production and might just add in a little more interest..
What you say makes no sense. The whole point of the show is to get the audience to connect with these 'faceless' ensemble members but this would never happen if there were the proverbial falling chandeliers and helicopters taking off to disctract us. When I saw the show last week, the whole audience was drawn in to point that at times you could hear a pin drop in the auditorium. The moment at the end when the lights around the proscenium came on (the simplest stage effect imaginable) produced a gasp and a cheer because it was like a tension had been released. This is simply one of the most moving and at times devastating musicals in the West End at the moment...and you write it off because it doesn't have a flying car.
If 2013 audiences struggle with A Chorus Line then I think it says more about how lazy and fickle we have all become rather than how dated this show is.
