bickypeg

No I have to agree with Bowlerhat, I think Liam is really weak (as he was in Hairspray).  He doesn't have a very strong or  masculine presence either which doesn't help for a part like Enjolras

Am bemused by previous posts. Who cares what happens to the General? The opening of Act Two was as good as it gets and the dialogue is to the point and there isn't much of it. I suppose I don't see the more contemporary work out there now so my idea of a good Musical stops circa 1960 ( when was My Fair Lady? )

David J, on 18 December 2012 - 02:40 PM, said:

Saw same show on the first December.  Agree Geronimo is excellent, Sierra was off but was excellent the time before that. AJ Callaghan was on and really good too - she's mastered the art of falling increasingly sick without dying as a shock to everyone, or dying mid IDAD -  as some  did.  Danielle has developed into a really strong  Eponine ,  who gets a suitably strong response.  They have reverted to nice Cosettes,  and as there's nothing obviously wrong with, an otherwise stunning, Eponine,  Cosette wins because thats what  Marius likes - thats fine but there's more to play  for there.   We had the/an Enjolras understudy on and I missed the name - which is a shame because he was really good  - he looked and sounded the part - helped by literally standing over the other students and having striking long hair. I pretty much convinced myself he's the most commanding/impressive Enjolras I have seen since David Thaxton.

I love Tam's Javert.He's the latest in a series of successful perms (and some less successful ones)  on the role who have ranged from the languid to the hyper. I can't see anything wrong with the movement. The guy is effectively  having a nervous breakdown as his value system falls apart, the river beckons,  and he's not going to be seeing the face of God either. People that  stressed, might well look a bit hyper??

The Thenardiers were both excellent.  Monsieur T - Cameron  Blakeley -  has got just the right mix of evil and humour .   Linzi Hateley as Madame T was giving a masterclass. - interesting to hear a top singer sing the role - while the script was fully mined for acting gems.  Its a shame she's off in January as i would buy more tickets just to see her.

While I agree that Brush Up Your Shakespeare went on a tad too long in Chichester, I thought the rest of the show was heavenly!

I went to see this again on Saturday for the umpteenth time and WOW. This is the best I have ever seen the show. The cast are fantastic, the direction slick but real and the tempi are perfect (wonderful conducting).

For a while (and I felt this when I saw it last year) the show got really crap. After the 25th anniversary concert, it got so overblown and the people in it became bigger than the show (Alfie Boe, Matt Lucas etc.) Which is fine for a lot of shows, but not for Les Misérables. When I saw it last year, it was rushed, badly sung, lazily acted and felt like some kind of X Factor crapfest.

Now, however, it has gone back to what the show should be and always was.

Gerónimo Rauch is astoundingly good as Valjean, second only to John Owen-Jones for me. His acting is realistic and meaningful, but he places a huge importance on the singing. Whereas other Valjean's would shout their way through some passages, Rauch is right on the melody and the money notes are not only there, they'll blow you away.

Sierra Boggess as Fantine? Sublime. Right up there with Ruthie for me, she was heartbreaking and though the way she was singing concerned me initially (knowing the classical soprano background she comes from) her belting worked for the character and after a minute or two I just forgot that I was watching Sierra.

Special mentions to Danielle Hope (who, whilst not the strongest Eponine vocally, is pretty darn good) and Adam Linstead who was on for Thénardier. Just as brilliant in that role as he is as Grantaire.

Two disappointing parts for me: Tam Mutu (far too much movement, and vocally not good enough for Javert) and Liam Tamne (not a terribly good singer. Flat in places.)

I wasn't expecting to be as impressed with the show as I was which makes me very grateful.

cat123, on 11 December 2012 - 10:37 AM, said:

Depends a bit where you sit in the show?  From row A or F it may not look so different. You also have many of the  same cast looking at you. One of the  interviews has Eddie/Marius talking about how he eventually twigged that the students around him had all played on a les Mis stage and Alistair had actually played his character and could offer him ideas.  The casting of everyone but the top leads has  been a bit left out of the coverage. it looks as if the quality  shows in the ensemble  singing,  and its going to be really interesting for example  to hear the Eponines singing Lovely Ladies and Cosettes  and a Matilda  singing Turning.One difference I will be interested in is how much its been secularsed, and how it works without so much of its religious overtones.

I booked this last night for the beginning of Jan using GILT. I can't wait!

I went to the matinee yesterday and had a thoroughly enjoyable time, and have just booked to go again in Feb!  Also want to mention Clive Rowe and David Burt who are both excellent.

To be fair, you'd have to be really inept to make a mess of MFL.

Bodyguard

Rozzi Rainbow, on 14 December 2012 - 02:14 PM, said:

Went today and things may be  a bit more complex. Quite a few of the newspaper critics were never going to like it anyway - as they are pretentious and could never admit to liking the Spice Girls even if they did. Other people though identified massive problems with it -  and they are right. It got a better response though than I was led to expect,  and  the  critics,  or logic, suggests. No standing ovation, but good applause, clapping along when the script finally allowed it  and a few positive shouts. There are some funny bits that work well,  and some unfunny funny bits. The audience was very predominantly young and female. Comments after overheard were along the lines of I quite liked it, it was fun anyway, and its still no better...  If its attracting its niche audience, there's not much else left  aimed at them,.  and they were applauding rather than booing, and went  out looking reasonably happy rather than angry,   it may survive until they have to decide not to go again. You may just like enough of it.

Its a truly bizarre beast though. Its got some good points.  Lucy Montgomery as Suzi, friend to Viva's mother nailed  her   big laughs, her thongwork  is striking,   and she sings  one of the  best vocals in the show . Tamara Wall is very funny,  and  gets  a too brief chance to show what  else she can do really well - after being  jailed as Brooke. There's lots of potential there. Its a bit odd that they let her show off her superb abs and let  her tattoos enliven a chunk of  act one,   but don't really exploit the fact that they have a really good singer there,  and one of the best dancers around.   Hatty Preston who plays Bubble (or here Bubble's modernised variant  Minty) is also  successfully funny.  Without those three working so well ,  I think big chunks of  the show would cure insomnia.  Sally Ann Triplett  works hard to keep the boat afloat, and sounds really good when  she gets the chance, but even she can't harmonise with herself in songs built for 2 or 3 singers with distinctive voices to sing. There were quite a  few moments when I thought how much better things would be if the group,  Eternal, had been lost in a traffic jam enroute to the studio,   and the story had  been about the new group thrown together from Viva' s mum, mum's best friend, the Essex girl  judge standing in,  and any good soprano they could find who could sing Emma's tracks.

The ensemble is good and enthusiastic  Much of the rest of the cast get too little to do in the  book - and do it wih all degrees of success. The book looks like an abfab sketch with guests and Spice Girl lyrics thrown in,  and its got too many plotlines as it tries to get to another song..Bizarrely,  the programme credits a Professor for advising on emotional relationships - more bizarre when there's not enough depth to many characters.  People appear and then vanish -  including the rest of the group. The girls  sound OK when they get a chance,  and play the characters as interestingly as possible given the book. Their problem is that they sound more similar than the Spice Girls,  and the group sound can't go where Melanie C. Mel B, Geri and Emma's vocals took it. If they wanted people to sound not quite  like the Spice Girls, and wanted not to give them enough distinction or  story to draw comparisons,  they succeeded. Viva isn't given enough to make us actually care about her - Sophie in Mamma Mia and Scaramouche do far better.  I thought she was most like Geri vocally, but, for better or worse, she doesn't have Geri's vivacity or vocal tone,  and she may have been tiring . Its not clear why she's picked as the solo singer in the TV show ,  or that she's the  one best vocally positioned  to try and cover the group's songs solo.  I thought Sally Dexter playing judge Simone was stuck with playing an Edina for what seemed interminable stretches,  and Edina just isn't as convincing, or interesting  as a singer or a judge, as a Sharon or Cheryl. There's something seriously odd  though when you use a song in a way that makes it clear how brilliant at singing her own hits Melanie C is.

Musically,  its consistently odd. There seems to be the alternative musical -  that uses the songs  more like WWRY or Mamma Mia  - more like the original and more as big group production numbers- trying to get out. Spice Up Your Life hints at another show that might have been -  but why raise hope by playing/dancing to it, and  then not have anyone singing  it?  And, as if they realised that they had forgotten the Spice Girls, what a lot of people really really wanted,  turns up at the end.  Before that, it depends if you think its wise to turn one of the best Spice Girl's songs into a (good , effective) comedy sketch,  when you only have a few to sing, or to sing Viva primarily as a male solo,  when its really beautiful conclusion needs two matching female voices,   or to choose  songs that most people will have skipped on the  CD to sing out in full,  while leaving real favourites out. It does  look like what you would get it if you dumped a big heap of lyrics in some writer's lap who didn't actually know many of the songs  at all.  

I thought it was worth seeing. Once anyway.  I would buy a cheaper ticket though as the only advantage of a forward stalls seat is a close look at Tamara's tattoos. 9 to 5 is more fun,  and has a better book and vocals . WWRY has the magnificent Rachel John, bigger numbers and was cheaper last time I sat in the same row. ...........Ghost was far better.

I went to see Godspell and really enjoyed it, I thought the casting was great. The problem was that a lot of people who booked thought they were going to to see the musical and not a sung through version, so were disappointed, hence the clear title of this Rent production I presume.

Parsley, on 12 December 2012 - 01:05 PM, said:

They'll use that star rating outside the theatre.

popcultureboy, on 12 December 2012 - 12:43 PM, said:

The thing about WWRY is that it's got some genuinely brilliant songs incredibly well-sung, and, since Freddy Mercury is sadly no longer with us, people don't have the opportunity to see the original versions performed live any more. Plus, there's a nice little tribute to the man himself in there. And althought the plot is nonsensical, it is quite funny in places. It's basically sing-along-a-Queen, and occasionally Brian May even turns up on stage to join in.

The Spice Girls are all alive and kicking, and reformed for a tour not so long ago - which didn't get great reviews. Really dedicated Spice fans are more likely to want to see the real thing than a pale imitation, especially if the songs are not well arranged or perfromed.

Totally and utterly slaughtered.

They had this coming.

It's made my year.

It has restored my faith in theatre critics and also the whole point of having professional reviews.
To help guide the theatregoing public.
And to avoid them wasting their hard earned money.

I thought it was very odd that the Guardian sent a "music critic" (if you can call him that) to see a theatre show. As a result he has been rather generous with the star rating. Hah!

Otherwise:

Guardian ***
Times **
Independent **
WOS **
The Standard **
The Express **
Telegraph *
Daily Mail *
Time Out *
The Mirror- negative review
The Stage- negative review

Happy Xmas Judy Craymer!

*****************************************************************
Sorry, just read Peter Brown's review on londontheatre.co.uk and almost p***** myself laughing,

"...the production values are high and the songs are well-sung"