robg

Jon, on 03 May 2013 - 06:39 PM, said:

Really looking forward to this. I've got the cast recording on pre-order and already have one of the tracks- Sex is in the Heel on my i-Pod. Massive Cydni Lauper fan- have been ever since she wanted to have fun over 30 years ago. That it itself is incentive enough for me to go and see this. Looks like a transfer next year is already on the cards.

But once again I see that the FOH staff, of two theatres, (Les Mis was affected as well) adopted the "let's just ignore it & see if it stops" policy! Literally an "Audience" member had to sort it out..not getting at all FOH people, but it annoys me when there is clearly a problem & they don't react.

Good on Dame Helen I thought, it makes you wonder what would have happened if the late great Richard Griffiths had been disturbed by the drummers.

An interesting point I feel also is customer perception of the theatres in Birmingham - particularly between the Hipp and the Alex. We get a lot of comments from customers at the Hippodrome who have been to the Alex and had bad experiences (customer service often comes up) but also other factors such as the decor of the theatre itself - the Alex is looking rather tired at the moment comparative to the Hippodrome, and also ticket prices.  The Alex is part of ATG, who naturally charge "premier seating" prices (the whole concept really grinds my gears) and a restoration levy (seemingly not used for restoration) compared to the Hippodrome where top price is top price, simple as.  Maybe this is the effect of large, national, private company with shareholders to please, versus charity trust. Hm.

robg, on 22 April 2013 - 09:44 AM, said:

I loved both of those, and especially the latter. Hard Times really struggled to get anyone through the door at all, which was surprising because there was nothing about it that screamed "avoid me at all costs" and it seemed to go down exceptionally well with those who did buy tickets. (It's also one of the few shows that ended up as a framed poster in my house.)

This theatre is special to me (being a local Brummie) as it was the first proper professional theatre I had ever been to (aside from the Palace in Redditch). But I must admit I haven't seen anything there since Spamalot in Christmas 2010 just as its over-shadowed by the Hippodrome's large scale hit shows.
Not to say there haven't been any shows recently that I regret not booking, i.e. One Man Two Guvnors, Chicago, Sweeney Todd or Scrooge (which I later saw at the Hippodrome anyways) but it seems the line up is mostly one-nighters like comedians, psychics, singers and kids shows.

However I can't help thinking that there have some recent Hippodrome shows that have looked to small there and probably would have been better suited to the Alex such as Avenue Q, Little Shop of Horrors, the countless number of Blood Brothers visits (however I suppose that's due to the combination of the  popularity and the larger capacity).

MrBarnaby, on 26 March 2013 - 09:33 AM, said:

Melanie  C makes sense. She's just won an award for JCS, and she's fine, and a bit different,  in that. She was superb in Blood Brothers (as an refreshingly young and realistic antidote to the dodgy accents, dull portrayals and overly old characters often playing that role) and deserved her  nominations for that  too . Kimberley is inexplicable - unless she has another role coming up - though I suspect she would look better/slicker now after doing SCD.

More inexplicable is the lack of West End talent singing anything else much. You could easily find current performers who could sing most of the songs given to celebrity/US stars  as well or better.  He could even find people from his own TV shows who could sing many better. its just a bit odd  - why you would  fill a show with non West End people if you want to advertise your wares, and one or two big names would do to get the TV audience in?  You would think he would  want to show his achievements off at their  best, rather than jump on the lets use a name bandwagon.

I think the score is superb ... saw it in London and thought it was just ok, but I loved the Australian version on DVD - so I for one am very much looking forward to seeing it again :-)

There are a lot of flaws in the story but i loved the score so would happily go see it. I quite liked the Australian version from watching the dvd, it was improved by a much more elaborate stage and less of the videos.

O.K.then.I saw Marti Pellow for the first time ever in Jekyll and Hyde on tour.I have seldom seen such a poor performance given on the professional stage.He couldn't sing;his acting was wooden;he moved round the stage in a strange jerky movement.His first entrance at the deathbed of his father was greeted by the screams of women of a certain age (younger than me!)I too felt like screaming.I laughed quite a lot.The whole sorry show was fortunately saved by the 2 female leads and an excellent ensemble.He was worse than Paul Nicholas in the same role.

Although having to keep standing up to let people into your row is annoying, you can hardly expect everyone in the row to take their seats in order, so I think that's just something we have to put up with.

I get very annoyed at latecomers too & shows going up late.

Much prefer the "latecomers will not be admitted until a suitable break in the performance" policy, which some theatres adopt and I think more should. My least favourite theatre for this is the Apollo, watching Wicked now is like being in a cinema with people wandering in & out throughout. I think the audience should have more respect for the performers - and indeed the rest of the audience.

Yes great review in the Guardian.
It was an amazing night from a true legend. The audience reaction was fantastic and just would not let her get off the stage at the end.
I have seen Liza live many times over the years and she is my all time favourite performer.

I did know Clare Teal's work having heard some of her stuff and also seen her at the John Wilson Orchestra concert at the Proms. She has a great voice. You could tell at the beginning that a lot of the audience were not familiar and were only half paying attention but by a couple of songs into her set they started to listen and she got a great reception at the end.

Moan coming up now.
I could not believe the "bad behaviour" my many people in the audience.
Now if this was a pop concert at the 02 I could almost expect it but the RFH at £120 a ticket....................
People constantly talking during the show, lighting up the hall with the glow from their smartphones whilst they took pictures, sent texts etc and a woman near me even on the phone to her babysitter during Liza's set!!!! I must have also been sitting in the weak bladder section as there was a constant flow of people going to the loo.
Am I turning into a Victor Meldrew in my old age or are people getting worse when they go to the theatre?

Brujon, on 28 February 2013 - 04:06 AM, said:

I have a sad feeling that we will be getting Amanda Holden singing Don't Cry For Me, Susan Boyle with Memory, Ronan Keating singing No Matter What, Kimberly Walsh doing Another Suitcase (from her album), Alfie Boe, Il Divo, Leona Lewis, Alexandra Burke, Shanyne Ward, Ricky Martin, Gary Barlow, Nicole Scherzinger, Melanie C, Chris Moyles and the Superstar cast, and all the other ITV 'stars'.

What I really want is a Phantom Of The Opera (at the R Albert Hall) type group performance of something from Sunset Boulevard with Lupone, Faye Dunaway, Betty Buckley, Ma'am Paige, Barbra, Glenn Close and co fighting for the role of Norma.

That bloke in The Telegraph has a go today, basically saying same as we do on this thread. Wonder where he gets his ideas from?

Went to see this on Thursday night, didn't find any staff rude at all, all very polite and courteous. As to the show, short compared to some, finisnhed just after ten and was 5 to 10 minutes late in starting although from my perspective it meant I was home earlier - travelled from Bristol to see it. The first half I thought was a bit slow, the sets though are very good, loved the log cabin creation. Like previous life stories etc, you know the script / story, sure there isn't a great deal of acting to be had but overall it is a show that is hard not to enjoy. The first half is ended with a big number just like the end and that is obviously deliberate. On the night, Heather was replaced by her understudy, Gloria. Competent perfromances by all but nothing spectacluar, enjoyable yes, more so I guess if you are a WH fan. Would I be prepared to pay £67.50 or even £55 to see it, then the answer would be no, in that respect it is overpriced.