[Magenta]

Has anyone been to see a preview of Bad Girls ??

[Owen]

Hands up I attended last night. Show needs a hell of a lot of tightening up which no doubt through the preview process it will receive in preperation for the inevitable critical mauling it will also receive. Music is totally unmemorable as too the lyrics and the staging with video projected screens of the inside of the prison quickly becomes very boring.

Oddly no recognition of the musicians who I presume were somewhere backstage playing but were certainly not acknowledged? No one really stood out in the cast, in short the question WHY? kept coming to mind and how on earth did it raise the funds to transfer?

[smelly1345]

What tosh in my opinion of you owen. Yes it needs tigethening up but i found the show very enjoyable and i myself have seen every musical in the west end and found it funny, entertining and some brilliqnt performances. Im sure this will be a rock that turns into a diamond.

[link-larkin]

I saw the show last year at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds where it has transferred from.

It was really good and apart from a bit of a shaky set - I had a really enjoyable evening. I found some of the songs very memorable - especially the one with the two Julie's cleaning and one with lots and glitter and glam called 'The A-List'.

Also the End of Act I is really good and I really didn't expect it! Won't spoil it for anyone but I felt sorry for those doing the interval change!

I've noticed that most of the cast is totally different from its run in Leeds, so they will still be getting used to the whole musical - hence the need for the Previews!

I can't wait to see it when it opens properly and I'm very keen to see what the London critics say as the ones in Yorkshire loved the show! Also at the end of the day it's up to the west end audience who will decide how long the Girls are in town!

[Boob]

Are there any ticket offers floating around for Bad Girls at the moment?

[bambi]

I saw Bad Girls on Monday night and I thought it was excellent. Bodybag was hilarious and Sally Dexter was absolutely fabulous as Yvonne Atkins.

The lyrics were brilliant - my favourite song being 'All Banged Up Without The Bang' along with the accompanying dance routine

The set and costumes were also first-rate, I really want the outfit the prisoners had on for Jim & Sylvia's big showbiz number!

To be honest, I wasn't sure about the actress playing Shell Dockley at first(having not liked her character, Snowball Merriman, in the show) but she soon got into it and was truly embodied the evil slag that is Dockley!

So, yeah, two thumbs way up. It's funny, fabulous but also touching in places. The Helen-Nikki dynamic and Julie's phonecall to her son especially

[smelly1345]

Totally agree bambi although i loved the actress playing shell dockley but absoloutely hated the actress playing nikki wade, ive seen more stage presence in a jaffa cake, and that singing voice just why.

[Seriously]

i myself have seen every musical in the west end and found it funny

Bless!

[I Carried a Watermelon]

Last year I worked at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and saw the show the entire run, and subsequently loved every moment. Since moving to London and seeing that it has sucessfully transfered, I had to see it again, if only for nostalgia.

I couldn't believe how much it had adapted and how each new member of the cast had added they're own flare to it. It felt like a new incarnation of the show that was already good but was now fantastic.

The stage it was on in Leeds is larger than Drury Lane, the set was huge and the cast was smaller than it is at The Garrick. But the re-design by Colin Richmond is amazing, as it now gives it an intensity and adds much more intimacy that the production needed, which I feel was possibly missing last time. The musical numbers are still the big, brassy showtunes, that gives 'Bad Girls' it's dynamical change from screen to stage.

The cast that have stayed on are so much better than they were last year as they're characters have so much substance now. As for the new "inmates" like Caroline Head, following Hannah Waddingham's big and bolshy performance is no easy task, but I feel she has a lot to give and the evening I saw her she moved me in a way I had never really expected. She gives Nikki Wade a different dimension.

As for the lack of the band, they were projected onto the front cloth during the curtain call when I saw it...??

[Aranel]

I thought there were strong performances from several cast members (Sally Dexter and Camilla Beeput particularly standing out for me) but not sure about the show itself.

I know it was very tongue in cheek but I found the numbers performed by Fenner and Bodybags were just too over the top for a musical where the storyline is about a girl being raped and committing suicide.

It was like they couldn't decide whether to be cheesy or serious.

I'm all for cheesy light hearted musicals (love Avenue Q and Spamalot) and you can't beat a good 'serious' musical (I'm always up for Les Mis) but can the two really be mixed succesfully?